Just to throw in my 2 cents here…
We bought an eMachine last February. I will attempt to give you a short version of what followed. (Then again, this is me, so grab a soda and sit down):
2/21/00: We purchase eMachine at Circuit City.
4/00 (last weekend of the month): eMachine crashes. I call tech support (long distance number). We get the machine up and running. For about an hour. I call back. This happens three times in one day.
7/00 (last weekend of July): eMachine stops making sounds. I call tech support. Guy says sound card is fried. While having me check some info on the machine, it crashes. We cannot get it back up. He says to send it in, and we get a new one. He stresses a few times that this will be a “new” machine.
8/24/00: “New” machine arrives
10/21/00: Machine crashes. I call tech support. Am told machine is refurbished, not new. Ask why I was told “new,” Guy says, “I dunno, they shouldn’ta said that.” Get the machine running…no, wait, crashes, no wait, running, no, wait… I tell them I am not paying shipping again. I say I want a refund. Please, can I have the corporate number. “Manager” says they are “not allowed” to give corporate number to customers. Okay, I want to speak to someone in charge. He is the “the highest authority” available to customers.
10/24/00: I call the corporate office (got the number online at work). Am told that “Of course we love to hear from customers.” Am offered an upgrade. Okay, I’ll take it.
11/00 (middle of month): Get computer. Wrong model. Call customer service. They say they’ll pay our shipping to send it back, and as soon as we send it, we call them, and they’ll ship us the right model.
11/27/00: We send it. We call. We are told, “Two weeks at most.”
12/14/00: We call. Are told, “Oh we forgot.” (I swear, I am not kidding, they told us they forgot to send our machine.) We complain. They promise 2-day shipping.
12/21/00: We call. Are told that the model we were promised is unavailable. Will we accept a different one. Okay. I ask for corporate number. They tell us that they weren’t allowed to give it out up until the end of October, when the policy was changed. Hmmm… Next day, hubby calls corporate, and leaves them home number, his work number, my work number, and my cell phone number.
12/26/00: Another call to corporate.
12/27/00: Another call to corporate.
12/28/00: We get the machine. Less than 30 hours later (no joke, I counted), it froze, and the “D” drive stopped working. Also, no sound. All I could do was go online. I wrote an email to every department listed on the website, telling them the whole story in detail, and that no one would return our calls. I say I expect a response within 3 working days.
1/2/01: The phone rings. It’s Mike from eMachines. He tried “all last week” to call us, but kept getting a recording. I explain that he was given four different phone numbers, and little wonder that he couldn’t reach us at home, since we both work, and did he not know how to leave a message. “Oh, you work?” This was his response. :rolleyes:
Pieces of that conversation:
Mike: I understand that you’ve had some trouble with your eMachine.
Me: Make that plural, Mike. This is the third one that’s busted on us since February of this past year. Even considering that the last two were “refurbished” what do you think are the odds of that happening? We want a refund.
Mike: (long pause) Would you consider trying another of our machines? I’d test it myself?
Me: I cannot believe you just said that to me. Tell me that you are kidding. Because if you are, you’re not funny.
Mike: Are you sure you wouldn’t…
Me: Mike, we’ll be making a report to the Better Business Bureau no matter what. The result of this conversation right now will determine what kind of report that is.
Mike: Did you want that check made out to you or your husband? (okay, it wasn’t what he said, but he did agree to refund our money, along with reimbursing us for the extended warranty from CC – I even had him offering to pay the long distance bills from my calls to tech support)
A week later, they sent us another machine. No joke. My husband called (I think Mikey was thrilled to not hear from me). Mike apologized and they paid to ship both machines back. Mike called a couple weeks later to say he had received the machines, and the copies of our receipts (he had asked for originals, and I asked him if he really thought I was that stupid). When I picked up the phone, he asked for my husband about three times before realizing he was stuck talking to me.
So, that was our experience with eMachines. Sorry it was so long, but I really did leave out most of the details (you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff the tech and cust. service people said). I wouldn’t take one of their machines if they offered it free. The hassle was too much, and lasted almost a year. (In fact, we got our reimbursement check one day before the one year anniversary of the purchase).
