Home Sweet Home

With nothing to do but three loads of laundry, and to placate three YOU ABANDONED US! LEFT US ALONG FOREVER.... AGAIN! cats.

The company shindig was a lot of fun. Wing works with a great group of people. We didn't have to spend the entire time in their company, so we did some sort of tourist things.

Got up at 5am to go to Sugarloaf Rock before sunrise, so we could get some photographs of it as the sun light was crawling down it. Amazing sight. Also went to a light house, where I not only climbed up the spiral stairs along the inside wall, but actually went outside on the walkway around the 'lamp'. This might not seem too big a deal until I mention this: I have vertigo, and I could see through the stairs to the floor below when going up. I was smart enough to not look straight down the side of the lighthouse, but look outward. It was a magnificent view (have photos, will post them later).

Wing is cooking dinner tonight. Me? I'm the one doing the laundry and (looking down at front of fur coated shirt) placating the cats. heh.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause

Or in this case, a ray of sunshine.

Restored the back up dates May 1st, 2011. Considering the computer was picked up on May 11th, the data loss was mitigated. Thank goodness my nerd self is set up to do automatic disc image back ups.

It worked.

I have to install some updates, but all seems to be functioning without the machine trying to self destruct.

(paused for phone call)

Acer just called, and you could pretty much dust my ass for lip prints. They are not only extending my warranty (again) they are sending me bribes errr hardware.

I'm still going to have a computer built, and probably shelve this one, or make it a back up system. Sad thing is, when this machine is running right, it's great. But 5 services in 18 months? Not so great.

Took a chance

I unboxed the Lemon err Acer and booted it up. Reason is that some of the photo software I have (kudos to the makers of it, once I explained what happened, they put my activations to 0/2, so I can reinstall if I have to) just bogs down my poor faithful laptop to the point of it being unresponsive.

So, plugged in wireless USB keyboard/mouse, and started it up. back to the fugly Acer default desktop. I decided to check the D drive, where the majority of data was stored.

My jaw almost hit the desk. It was still intact. I started up the "restore Windows from disk image" but canceled. I am backing up the data on the D drive first. All the tech forums say I don't have to, but at this point, I'm not taking any chances.

The image I have is dated May 1st 2011. That is just 10 days before they picked up my machine to "only apply thermal paste".

Do these fortuitous events absolve them of performing an unnecessary disk wipe on my computer, and lying about informing me they were going to do so, or the fact that computer is a lemon? Hell no. But until DiscWorld builds me one, I will use it.

Check list

One formal letter of complaint, laying out the entire history of the Z5601, and how Acer "help desk" was as much help as a sponge in a flood: check

5 PDFs of documented proof of said 'help': check.

Printing out three copies of each: check.

Have business sized envelopes for mailing to two different parties, keeping one copy of everything at home: check.

Waiting to hear back from our bank about the credit card purchase of said Lemon of a computer: check.

All that is left is the waiting.

My letter to Acer Customer Care part two

Because I want to be thorough and not have Acer say 'we didn't know', and there was a 2500 character limit I had to break it into two.

I have contacted DiscWorld, where this Acer Fiasco started with me ordering it and then Acer sending the low end model, instead of the quad core duo I had ordered, then jerking me around for months before I resolved it by getting refund from DiscWorld, going to Harvey Norman and getting the Quad Core Duo version. Who would have guessed I would have gotten one with a faulty chipset on the video card that would result is the screen going grey and the computer needing a hard reboot. (Diagnosed by ATi Radeon). Didn't know that at the time, but sent my computer to Sydney to be fixed. It was sent back with a disc wipe, and nothing done. Not only that, the USB Ports on the left side no longer worked. 2 days after setting it up, I got another Grey Screen Of Death. I called Customer Care. It was arranged for JH Computer Services in Perth to come pick up the computer and have it fixed. But you neglected to send the USB port card. It was finally sent after about 2 months. JH Services picked up computer, fixed it, brought it back, set it up, and all was well... for a while.
Then it started overheating. I submitted a support ticket (after noting all previous support tickets and info vanished due to new site design, but I had used FireFox ScrapBook to save every support/repair ticket, from beginning to end). The end result is a work order that sounds like it belonged to the 1st problem I was having with the GSOD, not the overheating problem. I was told in the support tickets that what was needed was reapplication of Thermal paste ONLY. No hardware swap, no HDD wipe.

So, I have called DiscWorld and have asked for a quote for a small footprint Quad Core duo i7, with 8 gigs DDR3 (second generation) with a 23 inch monitor etc. I will be contacting my Credit Card company, to see if there is any protection for me for having purchased a lemon that you/your company has been less then stellar in resolving. My bet is the computer from DiscWorld will cost much less than the $3000 I spent on the Z5610. Even if ******** Mastercard can't help, fine. I will still be getting a computer from DiscWorld as we have two of them here, older than the Aspire Z5610 which have never and any issues at all. So much for Name Brand reliability.

Now that I have calmed down a bit

My letter to Acer 'Consumer Care' (yeah, right)

Although I did call, and spoke at length with someone at Acer Customer Care, I have long learned it never happened unless it was put in writing, so here goes.

Original Case Number: 070511-24: My computer was overheating. I was told it needed new application of Thermal Paste. I wasn't told that anything else would be done to my system, so I agreed to box my computer up and send it to Sydney, even though your Sydney repair center has had a very poor track record with fixing my computer.

I got it back, and read the work order. It was wrong. My system was not unstable, it was perfectly stable, but it kept overheating. Yes, it would automatically shut down, as that is a safety feature to prevent hardware damage. What it didn't need was being reset to factory default. I was in a state of severe agitation about this because had I been told told, I would have made a full disc image back up before agreeing to ship it you your less than reliable repair center. The data loss I suffered is immeasurable.

The work order also said that components were missing. I was distinctly told to not include mouse, keyboard or power cord. Those were the only parts I didn't send along. The work order also states the video card was damaged. It was working when it left. I suggest you read previous case as to how the courier handled the computer upon pick up.
I'm a bit worried about 'installed components originally missing from factory default build. Does this mean I will be having the GREY SCREEN OF DEATh again from a faulty chipset on the video card? (the reason my computer was 1st sent to Acer Repair, and came back without the video card replace and with the USB ports on left side of machine no longer working)

I am upset about the harddrive wipe. No, I wasn't informed this would be protocol, and I don't give a flying fig if it's ticked on the form. You go look at the previous support ticket, nothing was mentioned, and I dare you try to find recorded conversation of me agreeing to it, because it doesn't exist. I used to work in the IT field, computer repairs, and let me tell you I am disgusted with how this has been handled. We never would have wiped a customers HD without getting permission in writing (email counts as writing). With how the consumer market is, I would have thought Acer would have upped their game. This computer has been a lemon from day one. It has spent more time non functioning, being wiped, having to have software reinstalled, wiped again, repeat three times, than it has been used. I have spent over $10,000 on Acer computers in the past 5 years. Might be a drop in the corporate bucket, but you know with the advent of blogs and twitter, this sort of poor customer service, and bad products becomes well knows. I am looking to have a quad custom built instead of using this boat anchor called Acer Aspire Z5610. I remember when Acers were top of the line. Now, more like bottom of the dung heap, or skip bin, where the this Z5610 is destined for

Take deep breath, count to 100, repeat because necessary

My Acer computer was returned today. Now, remember, all that was needed was a reapplication of thermal paste. I even have the correspondence between Acer Help Desk (a misnomer if I ever read/heard of). I tell them the computer will overheat and auto shutdown. That's all.



All he says that will be done to my computer is to have thermal paste reapplied.

(take deep breaths again, count to 100)

I get my computer back, and I read the work order.

"System is highly unstable" (whohuhwha...? It was overheating, not unstable. The OS and programs were running just fine!)
"System is shutting down automatically" (ok, that much is right. Computer will shut down automatically to prevent damage from overheating)

Repair Team have identified the following:

• Miscellaneous part(s) found to be missing (I was told to NOT send mouse, keyboard or power cord, so clueless about this)
  
• Video card was found to be physically damaged (was in working order when it left. See above attachment about my complaint how courier handled box)
  
• Operating system needs to be reloaded to factory default settings (WHAT THE F**K!!?? NO! Nothing was wrong with the OS. If anything, it was perfectly stable and up to date! Leave it alone!)

We have performed the following actions:

• Installed component(s) originally missing from factory default build (does this mean I will be getting GSOD again?)
  
• Replaced faulty Add-on Cards/Boards (huh? All was working when it left here)
  
• Restored system to factory default setting. (You have got to be f**king kidding me!)

You see, the reason this has me fuming, is that had I been told the morons at Acer Repair were going to wipe the drive, I would have made a full disc image to restore on that day. According to the woman I spoke to, the moron claims that he told me the HD would be wiped, to which I replied "That is a lie. Had he told me, I would have made a full system image back up. I dared her to find any telephone recording between him and me where I agree to the HD wipe. There isn't one. Also, there isn't anything mentioned in the support ticket that this was going to be done.

So yes, I am angry. I was so angry and upset, I had an asthma episode. Luckily, puffer was at hand.

So, Acer, f**k you and the horse you rode in on. It will be Sony or a custom built one from DiscWorld.