In July I purchased a 24" widescreen monitor from NEC through Newegg.com. The monitor was great for about two weeks then it stopped working. Like most computer parts, they must be returned to the manufacturer for warranty repairs/replacement. I contacted NEC, who had me bring it to their nearest PC service center to verify why the monitor was defective. They found a solder joint lose where the ribbon cables hook up and did not have the correct soldering equipment to perform the repairs there. They contacted NEC, who gave me a RMA document to return the monitor directly to NEC for replacement.

I am currently stationed with the US military in Europe so NEC could not give me a pre-paid return label like most companies would have but I was willing to suck up the small $15.00 shipping charge loss. I mailed it off via DHL in Europe and it arrived in under a week. I received a confirmation email from NEC stating they received the monitor and it would be a few days before they verified the problem and sent my replacement -- that's fine ... I expected that.

After about two weeks, I did not received a call or email so I contacted NEC. They informed me they did not have my correct mailing address and it had be returned to sender. I was 100% sure I gave them my mailing address in the box with the RMA items but oh well, mistakes happen. I gave the person my mailing address over the phone and that was that. They expected the monitor to be to me in a week or so.

After three more weeks, still nothing. I called them back once again. The same process over again -- "We do not have your correct mailing address." I got a little upset now and explained how long I had been without a PC monitor and how many times I have given them my information. I was able to speak with, who I was told was a supervisor.

After about 15 minutes of him trying to figure out what had happened, he narrowed it down. He said my mailing address is an "APO" address and their computer system cannot support APO address because their "drop down menu does not have 'AE' as an option in the state column." Military addresses overseas use "AE" in the state column to show European address.

I asked them to just write the mailing label out but he insisted they could not, it was against their rules and he could be fired. He said I had to come pick it up from 7, 000 miles away or give a "real US mailing address." For those who don't understand, a APO address is a legal US mailing address and I contacted the US Postal Service to verify that. The US Postal Service even three-way called NEC with me to inform them that APO is a legal US stateside address and they, by law, have to support all APO addresses to be a legal stateside business. Even if that means they have hand complete the labels. So, NEC led me no where -- I them had to file a complaint with the US Postal Service and my State of Michigan senator to inform them that NEC was not abiding by laws with the Soldiers and Sailors Act and were discriminating against me because I had a APO mailing address.

After about 3 months, I received a call from the office of the State of Michigan Attorney. She informed me, the company NEC has had a complaint filed in Federal Court for their attitude against me and apparently other US military service members with APO addresses seeking warranty repairs.

About two weeks later, I received a phone call from NEC -- finally, I thought I was getting my monitor back. NOPE. This time it was from their shipping company stating (and I'm not joking), "We do not have anyone here paid to complete a US Customs form in order to ship items via APO addresses." A US customs form was holding this up? Turns out that was it the entire time. Both previous attempts to mail my package they had to fill out a US Customs form (which is free, by the way) and explain what was in the box. NEC shipping warehouse did not have anyone whose job it was to complete the form and everyone was passing it around saying "that's not my job."

So ... I then gave them a novel idea -- I asked if NEC could mail my monitor to my parents house and they will mail it to me and complete the task of ''filling out a US customs form'' seeing as it was so terribly time consuming. They agreed and mailed it off -- my parents got it in 3 days and mailed it on to me. I had it back in a total of 9 days after my parents mailed it off.

I get it home, open the box and guess what? They mailed me the exact same monitor back and had not attempted to OPEN the box I mailed it in. Guess how I know? They mailed it in a box, inside another box. The inside box was my box I mailed out 5-6 months earlier with my tape and handwriting still intact. I opened that box up and yup ... the monitor had the same problem as before and the PC repair shops receipts still taped to the monitor inside. I called NEC, bitched them out for a good 30 minutes and pretty much got run in circles. They wanted me to "mail it back to them" so they could check it out again.

I had enough -- I left them a few four letter words and hung up. 6 months went by, I was out $250 for a monitor and $30 shipping from my parents house to me (let’s not forget the free US customs form that was so hard to fill out -- bless my momma's heart for doing that horrible task).

I emailed Newegg and left a complaint on NEC. They offered to give me a discount on another monitor and said they would investigate the matter. I copied them all my emails and receipts from NEC as well as a telephone log of who/what/when/where I called at NEC.

The next day I got a phone call from Newegg!

Newegg.com did me an incredible favor after they heard my story -- they replaced my monitor free of charge and said they would figure out a way to return my monitor through their channels. They even paid for my return shipping with their FedEx account number with a pre-printed shipping label.

I now have the next model up from my original monitor and an apology letter from Newegg even though it was not their fault.

I have now had over 10 laptops, all different brands, none have ever been as bad as this NEC Versa S9000. I had it for two weeks before it failed to work, it was then sent away for over a month (it had over 60% of components replaced)it arrived back and still did not work. I have now had this computer for 7 months and used it for two! This is a business computer, bought from NEC direct who really couldn't care less. My advice is computers are a large market with much choice, so what ever you do, do not buy an NEC from NEC.