Acer Design Flaw, Customer Service Experience

[ITlyon]

I wanted to share my Acer experience for those thinking about buying Acer. My son saved for over a year for his tablet. He bought the Acer Iconia A500. He did not get to use it though until he received the protective screen cover and case. We immediately found a problem with the unit. It had an incredibly short cord and so the tablet could only be charged on the floor or if we dragged a chair over, on the chair. We had a good run of 6 + months before his younger brother knocked the chair which knocked the tablet (1.5 feet to the ground no less) Of course the unit hit right where the case had a space and the plastic edge around the USB port cracked. The wifi now only works intermittently.


So I went to Acer support. First - their online support insisted the unit was no longer under warranty so I had to find the receipt and prove again when we bought it. It is still under warranty. Then to find the support phone number on their site was difficult so we 'spoke' to staff via chat. We received no satisfaction via the chat so it was escalated to a real person! The response was that he would have to pay $199.00 plus shipping for it to be fixed because he dropped it. The thing is, he didn't drop it. It fell because the unit has an incredibly short cord which is a design flaw created by Acer. Their response, no it isn't. "We only fix unbroken units under warranty and for normal wear and tear". I asked how this was not normal use since the cord determines what someone can do with the unit? Their response was to repeat the cost. So I asked to speak with a manager. The response? Our managers do not speak to customers. Really? Really? If you are looking for a tablet, I strongly urge you to select a different brand other than Acer because customer service is part of what you're paying for..and we apparently paid for nothing but script following folks who will not and cannot own that their system design was flawed. So I urge you - DO NOT BUY ACER.

 

[kwhabq]

I've had my A500 for almost 2 years. Through my negligence, it has been dropped from about 5 ft. once, and 3 ft on another occasion. The unit survived without damage. Just recently, I decided I wanted to get a smaller 7" tablet, and after comparisons, I chose the Acer A110 for its features which includes an SD micro slot, HDMI output, and USB, not to mention Jellybean. The display is lower resolution than some other 7" tablets, but it is very good for my purposes. Videos look fine. Just thought I would post my experiences with Acer products for any who are skeptical about the A500 andA110.

 

[detz]

I've had my tablet for a little over a year now and i've only had one thing break on it that I (and others) think is a bad design flaw. That being the power switch. After reading a lot about it and how to fix it, from this site..."broken power button" post and watching a youtube vid., I was able to fix it myself using the suggestions from the post. I believe the A500 is one of the best tablets out there for the price. I picked mine up after x-mas sale, its also a refurbished one for a great price.

As far as the short power cord is concerned, there is a post under accessories, the last post saying how to go about getting a longer power cord. Longer power cord source. by fixingstill is the post.

 

[gerryex]

Hi ALL,

There's a very simple solution to the short charger power cord. Just get a cheap AC extension cord. Plug the transformer into it and then the "effective" cord length is as long as the extension cord is. This is what I've been doing since I first got the A500 and it works that way just fine. And I never had the worry of it falling down.

Gerry

 

[Tom T]

Hi ALL,

There's a very simple solution to the short charger power cord. Just get a cheap AC extension cord. Plug the transformer into it and then the "effective" cord length is as long as the extension cord is. This is what I've been doing since I first got the A500 and it works that way just fine. And I never had the worry of it falling down.

Gerry

Sometimes the simplest solutions get overlooked.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 10.1

 

[JP_Sartre]

I've had good experience with Acer tabs. I've had an A200 for nearly a year, ZERO problems. Such a good experience, I picked up an A110 for better portability. So far, no issues there, either. Dropping your tablet is not Acer's fault.

 

[iamkoza]

Op, sorry you had your accident... but I don't get why you would think Acer would fix it for free when you clearly were at fault.... as another poster mentioned a simple extension cord would have done the trick. I had my fair share of problems on my repair of my a500... but Acer eventually got it right

 

[frnkws]

People must have a design flaw too because they sometimes fall and break bones.
Some slip in the bathtub and break their neck and die.
Come on, anything will break if it lands in the wrong place.
All tablets are made to be lightweight and need to be handled with care, just like a baby.

 

[Greg_E]

I've got lots of design flaws, half are mental

 

[Douvie]

Another option is to get a DOCKING STATION. Mine sits on my desk in its dock. I've used an AC extension lead to plug the powerpack into so I can get power to the docking station. Simple.

Sorry accidental dropping is not ACER's responsibility - It pains me to say it but to put it on a chair is not really a clever thing to do. Also, you don't need the tablet plugged in all the time.