Sour Swinger Predominantly follows my Army & Iraq Deployment. Also has some Geek, School, and other talk.

Its been 8 months since my Tablet took a turn for the worse, 5 months since my open letter to Circuit City, and 4 months since my last post about this whole ordeal. Finally, I can say a resolution has been found and no the Tablet is still broken. Between the Army and bouncing around visiting my family I really didn’t have the patience to continue hounding Circuit City. Were I to send it in for repair…again…I would have to somehow coordinate the return at a different location from whence it came. Granted I could have made it work, however didn’t feel it was worth the hassle.

So where is my Spider-man sticker covered Laptop? Boulder, CO where it is being used my uncle as a web server for his house. The only remaining problem is the tablet writing feature doesn’t work which has no use in a server environment anyway. Initially setting the server up with WAMP was quite the learning experience though I ended up using XAMPP. Much easier process. So now my uncle is satisfied with having his server, and I’m happy knowing I can FTP in from Iraq to backup anything of mine. Note, the server hosting this blog only has 10 gigs of space and I’ve almost used it all up. A far cry to the 60 gigs I have access to on the Tablet.

I got a reply from Circuit City.  It ended up being just a general response they give to all customers.  They did supply me with a special phone number to call for escalating problems with PC repairs.  My next course of action will be to buy a new stylus and cash that check.  When it fails, I’ll call that number and see what happens.  Here’s a copy of their letter to me.

Dear ______ ______:

Thank you for contacting circuitcity.com.  I apologize for any concerns you may have regarding your PC repair.  Our escalation line for PC repairs under warranty is 1-800-950-9036.  I recommend contacting this department if you have ongoing concerns regarding your warranty service.

We value your feedback and appreciate your comments.  Our goal is to provide the best customer service possible, and we regret that, in this case, we fell short of your expectations.  We will work with our management to ensure that all shortcomings are addressed.

If you have further questions, feel free to contact us at 1-800-843-2489.  Thank you for your interest in Circuit City.

Sincerely,

Marty M.
Customer Support Coordinator
Case # _______

Its been very quiet on the Table PC front.  So quiet, I actually began to worry. Hell its only been 1 month since they said a stylus pen will shipped to me.  Had they forgotten about me?  This morning, I got the following email from Circuit City:

“Hello
We have determined that your Laptop needs to be replaced. Please contact 1-800-555-4615 to view the Replacement Offer Available.
Please refer to the terms and conditions of your warranty. The replacement can be new or refurbished, regardless of manufacturer. The replacement has to meet or exceed the specifications of the original unit.
Please contact us via phone or chat with your decision.

Your satisfaction is important to us.  Please respond to this message through our Support Portal within five (5) days if needed. Do not reply directly to this email message. You can access the Support Portal via the internet at http://www.cityassure.com/cityassure/emailCustomerService.do.  If we can assist you with any product additions or upgrade components for your computer, please contact us at 1-800-555-4615 or simply e-mail a time that we may contact you.

Be Encouraged!
Nichole G. Victor
Assurant Solutions-Atlanta
Warranty Replacement Agent
Email:Nichole. Victor@Assurant.com
Internal Ext. 12265
Direct #: 770-763-2265
Fax: 770-459-8030″

Upon first reading this, I was very ecstatic however some odd things started to pop out.  First one was who the email was addressed to.  I was one of twelve other seemingly random email addresses (Commonly seen in spam).  Even if this was intended for more then one person, why not BCC?  You are exposing all the customers’ email addresses.

What’s up with the .do web extension?  I never heard of that.  A quick google search shows that its normally associated with Java pages.  The web address is a valid subdirectory of their main website, CityAssure.  Since I’m using a Mac, I knew I could safely clink the link.  It took me to a CAPTCHA which then yielded a page to fill out a form with personal info as well as info from some ticket receipt that I’ve never seen before.

What further bothered me was that my Tablet is with me.  I never had to send it back out.  The last we talked, they decided to mail me a new stylus pen even though the previous pen replacement didn’t work.  Why the sudden change of plan?  Also, why an email?  Last surprise change they did via phone.  Calling seems a lot more legit in this circumstance.

The 1-800 stated in the email was the correct number I’ve been calling for help, though I never realized the “555″ until now.  I went ahead and gave a call.  Apparently the whole email was, in fact, legit.  The representative (I missed his name) explained it was a standard mass email.  Though Nichole had made a mistake.  She forget to replace the word “laptop” with “stylus”.  Damn!

I informed the rep about exposing the customer email addresses in the TO section as well as my dislike that now my email has been freely given to other random people.  The rep recorded my comments and judging by his inquiries on the matter, I don’t think he ever heard of BCC (Blind Carbon Copying).  That’s bad.  Btw, I sent out an email to all the customer’s informing them of the mistake and urging them to call in to complain.

I was also informed that I will not be receiving a replacement stylus.  Instead they will cut me a check for $69.  It took 1 month to come to this decision?!?!? The price was an average determined by searching Ebay.  Wtf?  Last I remember, you could directly purchase such items from Gateway’s supplier.  Then to use Ebay as the basis for how much the stylus is worth?  Weird.  The rep also said, instead of them going through the trouble of tracking down a stylus, it would be easier (for them) to simply cut me a check and have me buy the stylus.  Sssooooo, how did they replace my stylus previously?  Oh right, that was WAAAYYYY back in January.  They probably ran out by now.

After a rather lengthy talk on the phone, with Patrick, the situation didn’t get as bad as it could have been.  Apparently the techs wrote up a separate report that wasn’t for my eyes.  They were able to reproduce the issue I was having, however came to the conclusion that the battery in the pen was dead.  Unfortunately for me, my extended warranty does not cover batteries.  I was informed then, that I should replace it myself.

Ok, that’s not too bad I thought.  When I asked how to go about doing that, the situation changed.  It took near 10 minutes for Patrick to dig up the answer.  Consumers are not authorized to do such a replacement.  This means it became Circuit City’s problem again.  Now I explained to Patrick, and he verified, that the first time I sent my Tablet out in January the stylus was replaced.  What guarentee would I have that replacing it again would do the trick?  There was non except for the lemon law.  <sarcasm>Doesn’t that make one feel so much better?</sarcasm>

Good thing is that I don’t have to send out my laptop.  They’re sending me a stylus through the mail.  What I don’t understand is how they didn’t catch this when it was in the repair shop.  They should have known that the consumer would be unable to change the battery and hence have to give a replacement battery.  Also, if they were able to replicate the problem and determined a battery replacement was in order, why in the hell did they send paper work back telling me “no problem found”.  What the hell is that shit?

As for that power adapter problem they called me about earlier.  Supposedly the techs were unable to get it to work.  They marked it broken and are sending me a brand new adapter.  I’m now fully convinced that their techs are incompetent as I just tested it and the adapter works fine for me.  Oh well, I’m not gonna bitch about getting a new one.  Had this “broken one” for a while now and it wouldn’t hurt to replace.

Two days ago, I get a phone call from Circuit City. Since I didn’t recognize the number, I let voice mail get it. Apparently my power supply cannot be repaired since it was passed warranty. They suggested I call back and that my tablet would arrive shortly. This whole thing puzzled me. I had sent it in (for a third time), to repair the stylus. The power supply was never broken. Hoping they confused me with some other customer, I decided not to call back and await my laptop.

This morning my tablet finally arrived. Quickly reviewing the invoice, I noticed the technician left a note. No problems found. NO PROBLEMS FOUND!?!?! What the hell are they talking about? I quickly unwrapped my computer and booted it up. I started a new journal document and began writing. As expected the stylus pen did not work properly. How incompetent are their techs? If he only tested pointing and clicking then that diagnoses would make sense.   Where the pen fails is during writing attempts. I specifically stated that when I sent it in. If the tech was smart, he would test that aspect out. Writing with this faulty stylus is equivalent to writing with a pen running out of ink. It’ll write a word or two correctly then start skipping whole pen strokes. I’m sure this guy just drew a straight line and claimed it was fine.

What happens from here will be interesting.  Last we spoke they said I’ll get a new laptop if its not fixed correctly again.  Benefits of the lemon law.  However, this tech specifically stated the laptop was not broken so no repair was even done.  Will they claim it didn’t count as a third strike? Will they take my word or the techs word on it being broke?  I’m gonna assume the worst.  They’ll take the techs word over mine.  This whole process is getting very annoying.

I put off calling Circuit City until last night because I didn’t feel like dealing with them right away. Honestly I’m not really pissed because I’m very happy with my MacBook and have no intentions to use the Tablet again. However, for the phone call I had to get into “angered” customer mood. It can actually be a fun game since the person on the other end thinks your seriously nuts.

My initial call did not go well for the recipient. I didn’t catch her name, but upon getting her I immediately requested the supervisor. She wanted to first get my case # to pull up my info. Understandable. I acted a bit frustrated because I (seriously) didn’t have the number. Right off the bat I realized she was “fragile” as my frustration caused her to get frustrated. Eventually she found my info and continued to ask what the problem/issue I was having. Yet again, I said I’d rather talk to your supervisor.

Now, I completely understood what she was trying to do. She wanted to get all the info possible and perhaps deflect me from going to management. She went about it all wrong though. If you’ve ever seen The Negotiator, then you’ll understand when I say…never say/imply no. No I can’t right now, I need more info. No if you just wait one sec. Not at the moment, hold on. Her such phrases were all the wrong answer. Had I seriously been pissed it would have further escalated the situation, however to keep with the role I got more frustrated with each no.

Finally, after realizing I wasn’t getting anywhere with her I said “Look, I can either yell at you or your supervisor. Which would you rather?” At which point she half wined/choked “don’t yell at me” and click…I was hung up on. Wow! She was audible very emotional and did the worst thing ever. Sooooo, once again I had to go back through the calling process. Luckily the wait was no more then a minute.

The next person I got was Roman. Roman had a very heavy southern accent but handled my “frustrations” excellently. He came across has very sympathetic to my issues and could understand my frustrations. He never once implied or said no. In the end he successfully deflected me from wanting to speak with management. I left the conversation feeling somewhat satisfied. Mostly because he informed me that if it returned broken again, they would simply give me a brand new Tablet. Go Lemon Laws!

I also qualified for a random survey. Had I not been hung up on, I may have missed the opportunity. Questions relating to Roman, I gave very good responses, however those relating to service and Circuit City I gave horrible ratings. All bad ratings they offered me to state why. (This survey was automated.) Of course I accepted and gave very precise and intellectual as possible details. I also agreed to be called back if they had further inquiries. Hopefully my complaints will go somewhere.