'Authorized' repair guy borked my laptop

July 3, 2011 4:26 PM

Previous laptop issue fixed (by a certified tech!) resulted in NEW laptop issue. What now?!

I had a rattling laptop fan that finally gave out causing my laptop to overheat when doing something as simple as a flash game, let alone the zillion REAL games I play. I contacted the manufacturer about warranty repair and ended up bringing it to a local authorized repair center.

He had it for ten days instead of the quoted three-to-five. When I got it back, the panels were put in wrong (I was able to fix this myself) but I also had an internet connectivity issue. Before I turned my laptop over to let's call him CGoB, it worked fine. Now I'm dropping connection randomly, and sometimes the laptop can't even recognize there's an internet connection AT ALL! This happens outside the home, with various public and private networks, at random, without any sort of predictability. I went so far as to completely reinstall my OS, and nothing.

I will be sending the laptop back to Toshiba, as I'm reasonably certain CGoB is responsible for screwing something up bad. I've tried contacting him again to see if he'd fix it with priority (as in 1-2 days max) but he's not even returning my calls now!

The question: Bearing all this in mind, is there anything I can do to see that this moron is made aware of his screwup, and is there anything I can do to ensure there are some repercussions for my time that's been wasted because of HIS screwup?

(Will check responses in ~6 hrs; going to work.)

posted by Heretical to computers & internet (4 answers total)

This sounds like a job...for The Consumerist!

There's a site floating around the internet somewhere that is basically the email address for every CEO in America (I'm assuming that's where you're from). You prepare an email "Dear Sirs/Madams, on June the 18th I contacted Toshiba...[details of your story]...I have been extremely unsatisfied with the performance of both Toshiba and your authorised repair centre..." and you send it to a whole bunch of email addresses at Toshiba and CC it to the "authorised repair centre" and then you send the lot to The Consumerist.
posted by tumid dahlia at 4:39 PM on July 3, 2011

I'm not actually unhappy with Toshiba. The company has been quite helpful -- it's the local guy who was a moron.

CGoB has refused to return my calls.
Toshiba is sending me a box to ship my laptop back to them for repair, no cost to me at all, and have been quite apologetic for the trouble I've had.

(I'm also quite happy with the laptop's overall performance.)
posted by Heretical at 12:05 AM on July 4, 2011

Likely, the little antenna cables hooked to the wlan card aren't hooked up right, or are somehow damaged. They are like tiny, concentric snaps, and VERY easy to mess up.

Second most likely is that the antenna cables got pinched somewhere during reassembly and broke.

Third most likely is that this guy swapped the wlan card with a broken one. Accidentally or on purpose. ("Hey, I've got this broken wlan card that's not under warranty, and this person has one that IS under warranty. I get a working card, and they will place another service call to have theirs fixed. No harm, no foul.")

What I would do is pressure Toshiba for a free warranty extension. This solves two problems: who knows what else this guy damaged, and you don't want to be responsible for repairing a laptop that wouldn't have broken otherwise. And second, by costing Toshiba money (having to give you a free extension), this guy will be subject to increased scrutiny and/or revocation of his certified status.
posted by gjc at 10:05 AM on July 4, 2011

That is nice to know, gjc. I'm familiar with desktop hardware, but I have no clue when it comes to laptops. I didn't know it actually had antenna cables.

I'll mention your idea to Toshiba, and see how things work out.
posted by Heretical at 11:33 PM on July 6, 2011