An Acer Experience

I first fell in love with an Acer laptop while I was using a friend’s Aspire 5680. Ever since I purchased my Acer notebook- Aspire 5610 a year ago, my experience has been anything but acerbic. I even vowed that my next workhorse would be the 64-bit Acer Ferrari, but that might not be again as a result of my bitter encounter with Redington Nigeria Limited.

Acer products come with a year’s warranty. If you buy your appliance directly from the above-named company as a reseller or indirectly through any of its accredited resellers, you are privileged to bring your defective Acer products to Redington, an Acer service provider, to fix as fit within the warranty product. I did not have any problem with my laptop until the eleventh month. One sultry morning in January 2008, as I powered on my machine, an horrible message dialog informed me that my hard disk might fail imminently. I was therefore advised to save my data, if possible.

That incident led me to Redington. I was promptly attended to and told to come back in three weeks. According to them, they were sending the notebook to an Acer regional office outside Nigeria and it would take that long before it could be returned. Their relatively exceptional work culture was very refreshing and I was soon sharing the news among friends. The courtesy displayed is a trait that is lacking in some Nigerian businesses and institutions.

Two weeks on, I went back to know the current status of my job so that it might not exceed the promised period. I was pleasantly surprised that my notebook was available for collection. “These guys are just great!” I thought. From the attached job card, I noticed that the job was actually done in Lagos. Obviously, the Acer story was just to minimize the pressure from their patrons. They have fixed the hard disk problem but there was another hitch. The door of the DVD drive was not locking properly in place. The service engineer, Ratheesh, said it might be due to poor handling. He tweaked it a little bit to close it but the outer panel was still shaky. He said that he would have loved to change the component right away but the supplies of the pertinent drive were not available at that particular time but I might bring it for replacement later. With my warranty period less than a month to go, when is later? Apparently, the later would be outside the warranty period when I would have to pay for what got damaged at their office! I was reassured that there would be no problem with the functionality of the drive itself as only the outer panel was affected. With slight misgiving, I accepted.

A day later, I realized that the utility software-Acer eRecovery could not be accessed. The program is used to make a disk image of the entire system and is useful for reinstallation in case of some serious problems like malware infections or systems failure. A few days later, I came back to complain about the eRecovery. I was made to understand that the utility comes preloaded with the hard disk right from the Acer plant. This is nothing new to what I have read about in the user’s manual. Nonetheless, if the replacement hard disk as I was made to understand is sourced from the same Acer factory, why was it not preloaded with the utility? They did not have a convincing answer for this.

Since I have a disc image made earlier with Acer eRecovery before the unpleasant hard disk incident, I asked if it could be used to re-install my notebook in case of any mishap. The engineer said it might work but could not guarantee it. Right there in their office, we tried but the process did not work and that necessitated the reloading of the operating system again. For this relatively simple task, I was again given a job card and told to come back for the machine in the next two days.

Two days later when I came as appointed, I found out that the operating system have been upgraded -without my consent - from Windows XP Service Pack 2(formatted FAT 32) to Windows Vista Home Premium (formatted NTFS).Even though the new Windows is a higher operating system with certain new security features, I was not too much excited because I have read reviews, which are freely available on the internet, on the new operating system. All indications point to the fact it is yet relatively unstable, and that means a lot of security updates to be downloaded. In fact, the first comprehensive , post-beta suite of such updates- Widows Vista Service Pack 1, which was released to manufacturing early February was still being awaited publicly then.

In the next few days, I experienced applications closing down inexplicably when you badly needed them and a lot of other computer annoyances. Three days on and about forty Microsoft security updates later, I realized that my Bluetooth application was not working at all. I thought it could be some driver problems as I have read that Vista is still incompatible with certain drivers. I decided to download the Bluetooth drivers from the Acer website.

I ran the software and lo and behold the message dialog came up indicating that the Bluetooth hardware device could not be detected! I was dumbfounded because the discovery was totally unexpected. Stealing is common among the road side technicians. That is why some Nigerians – including me - love to patronize the institutional service providers despite the relatively higher charges. At least the assurance that one’s components would not be tampered with or out-rightly stolen is ostensibly discernible. If my blue tooth hardware device was stolen, in the current circumstance by an institutional service provider, where could one run to? Questions, questions, questions.

Why did they remove my hardware device when the brief was to load the operating system? If they had worked on the hardware itself, one would have considered the case an oversight. This was clearly a case of stealing. It was at this juncture it occurred to me that the DVD drive might have been replaced with another one as well. Now, the audio is barely perceptible while playing back DVD.

Again, I went to their office to register my complaints. The first question the impudent rascal of an engineer asked me was clearly preposterous. He asked how I knew my notebook had Bluetooth! Thumbing through the configuration panel on the notebook, he concluded that since Bluetooth was not listed, therefore it is unlikely the computer came with the device. Since I had long known how to keep my emotions in check, I explained to him without visibly showing much anger – even though I was furiously enraged – that I bought the system principally because it is Bluetooth-enabled, and also that it was still functioning after they initially repaired my hard disk. I demonstrated how I realized that the device was missing. He said he would have to look inside to actually confirm. The day being a Friday, he said I should come back for his findings the following Monday.

Prior to Monday, I had arranged the conclusive evidence that my notebook was Bluetooth-enabled. The first is the sales invoice from Gafunk Nigeria Limited. The dutifully diligent clerk had clearly detailed every configuration from WiFi to Bluetooth. The second is the packaging material, which incidentally I had not disposed of .Clearly inscribed on it is the unique serial number and the fact of Bluetooth-enablement.

On the 25th of February, when I got to their office, my machine was ready with the Bluetooth device restored. Once bitten, twice shy. I had to sit down for almost an hour looking at every aspect of the computer from the Device manager to the System configuration. Eventually, I realized that my motherboard has been changed. My Aspire 5610 board have been substituted with that of Aspire 3690! I called the attention of the engineer immediately.

Sheepishly, he said that there was a slight problem with my motherboard; therefore they had to change it. I protested vehemently why they have to take such extensive liberties with my system without my explicit permission. My motherboard had no problem I knew of and there was no need for a change. It is either of two things: apparently, they got my motherboard damaged while making away with the Bluetooth device or they simply decide to steal my motherboard. What is the guarantee that the new motherboard would function as my changed motherboard? Even though I know (through the user’s manual) that my Aspire 5610 share similar configuration with Aspire 5680/5650/5630/5610Z/3690 Series; why must it be replaced with the lowest configuration in that family? Why must it be replaced at all?

I registered my protest against the appallingly unsatisfactory services they have rendered to me all along. At that moment, he offered to restore my motherboard if I insist on having it back. With my limited experience with this firm, I knew far better than to accept that trouble-loaded offer. He could have swapped in another defective 5610 motherboard from anywhere and call it mine. I was not even ready to extend my relationship with this den of petty rogues for an additional hour. I decided to take my leave. I came with hard disk problem and reaped a harvest of others. The DVD was messed up, the Bluetooth stolen (and restored) and now, a changed motherboard! That is not all. I had to make six trips from Ile- Ife to Lagos when two should ordinarily have been adequate. That translates to thousand of Naira as loss. I lost prepaid money on internet access. Do I need to quantify the wasted time resources?

In retrospect, I know I could have gotten a better deal if I had bought another hard-disk from the open market and have it fixed by a good technician .After all, not all the so-called road technicians are bad. In reality, I have actually not gained anything but lost many things among which is easily the most useful of all Acer software- Acer eRecovery. My laptop is a veritable caricature of its former self. It is definitely much slower and scrappy. The restored Bluetooth is even far less usable than the earlier one. When next you take your machine to Redington, just pray that it comes out better or at least in the same state you brought it in. Terrible things do happen behind those “No Admission” doors.