VERY poor after-sales service with MSI

[Guest]

Well, I think it's about time I made this post in the hope that someone out there is able to see the wood for the trees.

In Jan this year I had to send my MSI GX660R away for repair due no power/dead (turned off a couple of times then wouldn't power up).

MSI europe (I think the Polish base) repaired it over a period of about 6 weeks ("waiting for the part") and was received back all fine apart from one small point: The power plug wasn't a snug fit for the socket, you had to "hold it right" to get it to power. It wasn't extreme, just a bit of adjustment needed.

This was causing the socket to occasionally get a little warm. One day over the summer it was left charging and got rather too warm; the plugs plastic parts had melted onto the pin in the DC power socket. Getting the cable out broke the pin off the middle of the socket. I'm not sure if they are trying to say it's my fault for having to wrestle the plug out of the socket but I can only imagine how much extra damage there would be had if I returned it with the plug still wedged in the back. They'd almost certainly have more excuses to wriggle out of warranty fix on their hands than a crack on the socket.

All this has been explained VERY clearly to both MSI and D&J Henry Ltd, their repair agents in the UK.

Today (after a few mails back and forth re-telling my story and pointing out the previous RMA which D&J had no clue/record of despite me mentioning it) I finally get this mail back:

Dear Customer,



Please find attached photo of damaged DC jack. There is a crack on plastic frame and according to our engineer this is a mechanical damage which cannot be repaired under warranty. Please contact our Repair Agents to inform them how do you want to proceed.



Kind regards,

http/img26.imageshack.us/img26/1489/140048c.jpg

Now I'd hope it was pretty obvious to ANYONE with half a brain that if the pin inside the socket has been snapped off then OF COURSE there is going to be physical damage to the socket. Attempting to claim lack of warranty on this technicality is simply outrageous.

Anyone think they have much of a case or am I on the right track here? Couple of sternly worded emails explaining what I think and what's fair etc.

 

[inerax]

Even you are in the right you are going to be to able to do much

They have guide lines to follow from people above them.

You might want to check how much they would charge to fix the damage

Honestly, you should have called them with the plug was loose/warm the first time. By not calling them to have them correct the issue in the first place the damage was caused and could have been prevented.

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

Well, they are quoting £176 which is parts, labour and shipping.

I'd think it fair that even if the part isn't warrantied the work needed to fix it is (and I've offered to pay just the part as a middle ground).

I've popped mails off to the HQ in Europe (where the first repair took place) so I don't think it's really going to be much of a guidelines thing.

Cheers for the reply tho, will update with how things go

 

[Guest]

Aaand it seems they don't appreciate complains on the their main forum. Post about the issue was locked within seconds. You can't PM the moderators so I raised another (asking nicely) how I could discuss the issue:

Sorry mercutiouk, you are banned from using this forum!
You have already been told not to post bash and you although opened a new topic for the same. Therefor you are banned for three days. Behaving like this again will result in a permanent ban.
This ban is set to expire 14-September-12, 22:50:07.

 

[inerax]

If you have a Better Business Bureau or something equivalent?

A business never likes unsatisfied customers posing public. so the BBB is a good way to get them to look harder.

 

[Guest]

We have citizens advice bureau over here but I can this going a bit over their heads. Raising a fair few awkward forum posts though as a start

 

[inerax]

Ya that is crazy. I would see where you can get. If you cannot get anywhere might have to pay

that would suck if you do have to pay. GL to you friend!

 

[vrumor]

After getting it back the first time and still having an issue, small or not, you shoulda gotten ahold of them immediately and not put it off. If it wasnt working as it should, and it wasnt, you shouldnt have accepted that. Thats on you, not them, sorry.

 

[Guest]

Hmmm, it's rather like a rattle or a scratch tho? I'm sure lots of folks put up with the odd bad connection on plugs etc and just work around it. I'd not had the laptop for 6 weeks while they put the first problem right (the euro repair HQ didn't have a motherboard part that's shared between about 7/8 of their main chassis...) so turning it around would have been another painful wait.

You are right, of course. It's the sort of thing you should complain about right away but it's rather unfortunate it's caused so much issue, this sort of problem is usually just a "niggle" for the rest of the life of the item you're using.