Grex Consumer Conference

View Responses

Grex Consumer Item 61: Packard Bell lack of customer service
Entered by mcpoz on Wed Feb 28 23:35:41 UTC 1996:

A coworker of mine bought a 133mhz Packard Bell Computer 90 days ago.  He has
had some problem with it and has totally given up trying to get PB on their
800 number lines.  He has tried over and over and when he gets through, he
gets a voice that says they are tied up and to try again later. 

He got ahold of a non-800 help number and tried that.  They said their
technicians' time is valuable and would not talk to him unless he gave them
his credit card number and agreed to a $35.00 charge.  

How about that, sell a $3000 computer which does not work, and get paid to
give advice on fixing it?

11 responses total.

#1 of 11 by kaplan on Fri Mar 1 06:30:24 1996:

I agree that PB has dismal service on the 800 help line.  What's the problem?
Maybe the store where the computer came from can help.  Maybe someone on grex
can help!

#2 of 11 by scg on Fri Mar 1 06:39:40 1996:

Is it still possible to return it and get something else?  There are plenty
of reasons to avoid Packard bell, other than lack of support.  Anybody who
buys a Packard Bell is just asking for trouble.

#3 of 11 by kaplan on Fri Mar 1 17:44:59 1996:

The Packard Bell I bought at Office Max in about 1992 is still working (as
far as I know).  I'm happier with it than I was with the Zenith I had before
the PB.  When I worked in the computer department at Best Buy, I told anyone
who asked my opinion about PB that I thought it was more likely to have
trouble than the other brands we sell.  But that's not to say that they all
go bad, they all have complaints, or they all get returned.  I ask again
what's the problem.  Maybe it's something easy to fix and hopefully it's not
worth returning it.

#4 of 11 by mcpoz on Sat Mar 2 02:09:51 1996:

He appears to have two problems.  (1) it warm reboots right in the middle of
MSWord with no rhyme or reason.  (2) For some reason he felt the need to
reformat the hard disk.  When he tried to install the software again, it
refused to take.  The $35.00 hotline call he made informed him that they were
aware of that problem and they now are sending him a disk to install to take
care of the problem with re-installing.  

That's about all that I know, except he tried to return it to CompUSA and they
refused because more than 30 days had passed (I believe it was close to 90
days).

The first problem sounds like a virus (Stoned?) to me.  The second sounds like
a problem which PB knew about all along.

#5 of 11 by kaplan on Sat Mar 2 02:41:28 1996:

I can't speak for CompUSA but at Best Buy, the CPU extended warranty does not
cover software so if the problem was caused by the reformatting and/or a
virus, he'd have to pay for our computer tech to work on it by the hour.  And
the exchange policy for CPUs and monitors is now down to 14 days.

#6 of 11 by mcpoz on Sat Mar 2 02:46:47 1996:

Ok, thanks.  I have been misinforming people that Best Buy has a 30 day
policy.

#7 of 11 by omni on Sat Mar 2 18:06:01 1996:

 Sounds like CompUSA would be better to pull the hokey ads, and start backing
the products that they sell. Remind me never to darken thier door.

#8 of 11 by popcorn on Mon Mar 4 11:14:48 1996:

This response has been erased.

#9 of 11 by kaplan on Mon Mar 4 16:37:05 1996:

Re 8, no, BBY warranty on computers is 4 years if you buy the optional
extended warranty.  BBY honors the manufacturer's warranty and on most
computers that's one to three years.  

It's the return policy which is 14 days on computers and monitors and 30 days
on most other items in the store.  The return policy entitles you to return
an item for any reason for a full refund.  It was reduced on computers because
it was expensive for the company to be in the free computer rental business.

#10 of 11 by jazz on Sun Jul 7 11:40:31 1996:

        It's partially a change in philosophy - a lot of companies these days
are beginning to view technical support hotlines as a value added service
rather than a part of their computer packages.  

        Then again, from the other end of the desk, I do know that there's also
been a major change in the kinds of people who call technical support
hotlines, the amount (or lack of) experience they generally seem to have, and
how much they expect technical support to do.  It's only been about two years
since I worked support last, but when it's needed I do pick up the phone for
my coworkers, and yeesh!

#11 of 11 by n8nxf on Mon Jul 8 13:49:31 1996:

(Customer service has never been easy.)

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.