MSI Tech Support Rant

[skulkingghost]

I purchased another MSI Wind U100 from Newegg about a month ago. I currently have 4.

The new ones battery stopped working about a week after owning it so I called and asked MSI to ship me a replacement one. They said I have to ship back the ENTIRE laptop to get a replacement battery.

I stated to the rep that I tried the laptop with other batteries, it works fine, I would just like to get a new battery. He tells me "There may be a problem with the laptops charging mechanism and you will be doing harm to any new battery you put in it, you need to return the whole computer"

I told him it works fine and has not harmed any other batteries I have put in it. I asked to speak to a supervisor, he puts me on hold for about a minute, and then just repeats what he said earlier.

In the end I asked if I could purchase a new battery from them instead (the laptop itself is currently in California.) They said no.

Its really annoying to me when companies won't just fix whats broken. I know the laptop is fine, I just need a new battery and am more than ok with shipping the old one back. Its really frustrating, especially when this laptop has a LOT of work data on it that I do not feel like backing up.

So MSI's support score for me: 2/10 for short hold time, and they would actually fix it.

Cliffs:
Msi support wont replace laptop battery without me shipping the whole laptop back to them. Even though I know other batterys work fine.

 

[TruePaige]

Op is below...

It's one of their netbooks, they are a small manufacturer of them and aren't doing much to help themselves break into the market.

 

[shortylickens]

HE TOLD YOU WHAT WAS BROKEN! YOU DIDNT LISTEN! YOU ARE FAIL!

Seriously, having worked as a technician at Tektronix for a few years, we really hate it when people call up telling us why things are broken. If their policy is for you to send the entire unit in, just do it. You already have 3, did you really need 4 at one time?

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
HE TOLD YOU WHAT WAS BROKEN! YOU DIDNT LISTEN! YOU ARE FAIL!

Seriously, having worked as a technician at Tektronix for a few years, we really hate it when people call up telling us why things are broken. If their policy is for you to send the entire unit in, just do it. You already have 3, did you really need 4 at one time?

People also feel angry dealing with tech support that is inflexible. It's a two way street, with no always right answer.

 

[skulkingghost]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
HE TOLD YOU WHAT WAS BROKEN! YOU DIDNT LISTEN! YOU ARE FAIL!

Seriously, having worked as a technician at Tektronix for a few years, we really hate it when people call up telling us why things are broken. If their policy is for you to send the entire unit in, just do it. You already have 3, did you really need 4 at one time?

But its NOT broken, laptop works fine and charges with other batteries.

 

[shortylickens]

You just said:
"The new ones battery stopped working after a week."

The tech support dude said: "There may be a problem with the laptops charging mechanism and you will be doing harm to any new battery you put in it, you need to return the whole computer".

Did you use all of your other batteries in that 4th laptop for a week each?
Do you really need to break all your batteries before you finally get the idea?
Do you REALLY need all 4 laptops at one time?

Sorry man, I want so badly to agree with you but this is giant fail right here. In the time I spent at Tektronix I must have had a hundred customers try to tell me what was wrong with the unit. They would look up the part number and just ask for that. I would always tell them its better to send in the whole unit so we could check it out.
IF they sent it in: 99% of the time their diagnosis was wrong or incomplete. We actually have statistics on this stuff because it relates to customer satisfaction.
IF they did not send it in and just ordered a part: 100% of the time they would complain it didnt work right or didnt fix the problem. The only time they should try to install the part themselves is if its a more advanced unit that can get onto a network and we can analyze the problem remotely. IF (and thats a big "if") it turns out to be a relatively minor issue and one easy-to-replace part is all thats needed, then we may have sent a part out to the customer.
As I seriously doubt the MSI wind has the ability to properly analyze a charger issue remotely, you should just send the damn thing in.

The dude on the phone is probably not a technician but a Customer Service Rep. He has a list of instructions telling him how to deal with each issue for every unit. The reason he has those instructions is because the actual technicians are sick of dealing with angry customers who think they know how their stuff is supposed to work.
They are giving you a solution.
Its a good solution. Its not quite as fast as your request but its a lot more reliable in the grand scheme of the computer.
In the case of a netbook they will probably replace the charger or the whole damn thing since thats much easier and faster than component-level repair (of which I have done a great deal).