Toshiba support center service sucks!

[Brett's Honey]

I got a Toshiba laptop for Valentine's Day, tried yesterday for the first time to open the CD / DVD drive , and it will not open. I called the 800 help number and was given the location of the nearest service center - 140 miles away! I told them that was not an option, and was told to send it to them at a cost to me of $24.99, or drive 45 miles to a participating UPS center where it can be mailed to them for free. I suppose I should've tried to open it the first day, although I don't know if that would've made a difference.
The folks that I talked to were nice enough, and the call didn't take long at all, I just didn't like the answers I got.

[WabUfvot5]

Very obvious but is there any (clear) tape over the drive? Also a lot of drives have a small hole you can push a bent paperclip into to force the drive to pop open... if it's just stuck that might help.

[SteveDallas]

I can't help you out. All I can say is Toshiba is the only laptop maker I will categorically recommend AGAINST. My employer owns about a dozen of them (the BIGGEST FUCKING PURCHASING MISTAKE OF MY ENTIRE LIFE) and I am not exaggerating when I say that in the last three years, they have been repaired more times than all the other computers we have owned put together over the last five years.

[mbpark]

I have a Toshiba laptop.

There's a reason it sits in parts in a storage unit. The machine is an unstable piece of crap.

Every Toshiba I have seen fails in new and interesting ways, and they have some of the worst drivers for their hardware that I've ever seen.

Here's what I would do if I were you:

1. Find some way to return the Toshiba.
2. Take the money, go to Newegg.com, get a Lenovo ThinkPad, and be happy.

I have seen them at my customer sites. They just don't last long, and are built like crap.

They are the Packard Bell of the 21st century.

[zippyt]

They are the Packard Bell of the 21st century.

DAMN !! That bad ????

[mbpark]

Yes, they are. Their drivers and bundled support software put them at that level.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by Brett's Honey

I got a Toshiba laptop for Valentine's Day, tried yesterday for the first time to open the CD / DVD drive , and it will not open. I called the 800 help number and was given the location of the nearest service center - 140 miles away! I told them that was not an option, and was told to send it to them at a cost to me of $24.99, or drive 45 miles to a participating UPS center where it can be mailed to them for free. I suppose I should've tried to open it the first day, although I don't know if that would've made a difference.
The folks that I talked to were nice enough, and the call didn't take long at all, I just didn't like the answers I got.

Where was it purchased from? Again, I'm hampered by not knowing local laws, but if a product is deemed faulty (not fit for the purpose it was sold) within the UK it can be returned to the vendor within the first 28 days. It's only after this period that the issue of repair becomes relevant.

Even if you don't have a local vendor - ie purchased via the internet - do try and find out exactly what your rights are. I find it hard to believe that you aren't protected against distance purchase of faulty goods. Full refund including postage is a distance selling requirement in the UK.

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by mbpark

They are the Packard Bell of the 21st century.

Damn, that's the OTHER computer maker I would recommend against! (Of course I don't bother these days since they're not around any more.)

Some years ago I read that Toshiba and UPS were cutting a deal to train employees at UPS hubs to be Toshiba-certified repair techs. The reasoning was, if the repair could be done at the hub, it would remove a lot of the shipping time and get the laptop back to the owner faster. I remember thinking, the very fact that they were even considering this, meant that their repair volume was beyond all reason.

[Brett's Honey]

Originally Posted by Jebediah

a lot of drives have a small hole you can push a bent paperclip into to force the drive to pop open... if it's just stuck that might help.

A straightened out paperclip inserted into the small hole by the "open button" did the trick. The laptop was an impulse buy from Wal-Mart - a Valentine's Day surprise for me. The asst manager on duty at Wal-Mart last night fortunately knew more than the two guys I talked to at the Toshiba 800 number tech support.
And of course...all of these comments on Toshiba laptops are very depressing.....cannot take it back, it was purchased on Feb 12th and Wal-Mart has a 15 day limit on returns on certain things such as computers.

Thanks all!!! Knew I could get an answer here! I knew I should've posted that instead of even wasting my time calling tech support!

[Elspode]

Also, if the drive door steadfastly refuses to open when using the button, going to My Computer and right clicking on that drive should bring up a context menu with "Eject" as an option. See if that doesn't make it open.

BTW...where the hell have you been, BH? How's the sand drag biz going?

[SteveDallas]

If it was paid for with a credit card, your credit card might have some kind of "buyer protection" kind of thing. I wouldn't give up on Wal-Mart either... they do that to keep people from "renting" stuff for a business trip or something. If you've got a clearly defective model, they might make an exception--especially if you are willing to get an exchange rather than a refund. Of course all that's highly dependent on the people at a particular store.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Call Juju, he works for the evil empire in it's lair. Naw, he's a pussy.
If you can prove you contacted tech support within the 15 day time frame, you could plead trying to do the right thing and avoid hassling walmart.