10-28-10 Noticed problem with laptop. There were red shadows appearing on the screen.

11-8-10 I called Toshiba Tech Support and they gave me two options: pay to take the unit to a UPS Store to ship unit back or wait for a from Toshiba box to ship the unit for free. I chose to wait for the box since the unit was still operational.

11-11-10 I received the box.

11-12-10 I arranged to ship the unit back.

11-16-10 According to the Toshiba Depot website Toshiba Depot had received the unit.

11-23-10ish Repair status as follows:

Repairs to your computer have begun, but a required part is not immediately available at the Toshiba Depot. When this happens, part availability typically extends the time it takes to complete a repair by no more than 10 business days, and often by just one or two days.

A technician will continue repairing your computer as soon as the required parts are available at the Toshiba Depot.

12-14-10 Repair status unchanged called Toshiba @ 7:45PM and waited on hold for 45 minutes.
Spoke to Willy. Willy advised I needed to call between 8AM 8PM EST. I was upset that I had called during those times and was on hold for 45 minutes. Willy refused to be of any more help. Very Disappointed with Willy.

12-15-10 Repair status still unchanged called Toshiba around 5. Stuck on hold for another 30 minutes. Transferred to another rep, waited on hold another 10 minutes. Was informed that company policy states that if laptop repair will take more than 21 days (day 29 at that point) a new laptop will be sent out. Rep wondered why the Repair Depot didn't call me or send me a new laptop since they knew the part my laptop needed was on back order til January 16th! Rep assured me that he would forward my case to the order desk and someone would call me within 3 business days, hopefully by the weekend (2 days). Gave that rep an accomendation.

12-21-10 No callback yet, called Toshiba. Only on hold for a combined total of 15 minutes on this call. Pretty irate at this point. Spoke to Chris. Chris said he didn't call because the flooding in California made it tough to find out if the warehouse has stock. He gave me three options:
1. Fair market value of my current laptop as a credit towards the purchase of another Toshiba laptop.
2. Wait for my laptop and they will give me another 6 months on my warranty making my laptop warrantied till 1-1-12ish.
3. Replacement with a new unit - only unit available has faster processor and 2GB more RAM. I accept option 3 and try for a Targus laptop case. Chris tells me no on the case but I could get the laptop by the new year if he can secure it for me by Friday - varifies my address.

12-28-10 No word from Toshiba call them back. Only 5 minutes on hold this time. Was told that Chris has no update at this point. Will call me tomorrow. Guess I won't have any laptop for the new year.

12-29-10 Called Toshiba back. Explained my situation to the customer care rep only to have her argue with me over something a previous rep had told me, something we had already gone past. On hold for 5 minutes while she gets Chris. On the phone for a total of 45 minutes. Chris said I have two options. He thinks he can give me a credit equal to the cost of an x500-q900s or I can wait to see if he can get me an x505-q8104 which would be a signifigant upgrade. I like the idea of an upgrade so I chose that option. Chris says he won't be able to get me an answer on that laptop till Jan 3rd. I was told he also tried to secure m an x500-q930 but was old no.

1-3-11 No word from Chris at Toshiba. I called at 7:15 and was told he left for the day. Asked the rep to have him call me tomorrow after 5. Rep checked the notes, nothing was noted on my reference number.

1-4-11 6:45, didn't hear from Chris so I called to Toshiba and spoke to a woman named Lacey. Explained my situation and she put me on hold. on Hold for 3 minutes, not too bad. Lacey informed me that Chris has left for the day - without calling me back to update me. Lacey left him another message to call me back. I told Lacey I will give him one more chance before I try to escalate this further.

1-5-11 Received Email from Chris saying the unit he was trying to get for me has been denied.

Email as follows:

Mr. Gordon,
I apologize that I have not been able to get in contact with you yet. I had seen a note on the case that it is better to attempt to contact you after 5 pm your local time which has been difficult as I have left work early the passed couple of days. I wanted to make sure that I could update you as to what has happened so far:

As of now, the request for the unit we had spoken about I was waiting for a response, was denied. At this point, the only real options we have is to give you the credit to Toshiba Direct to purchase the unit that had the same specifications as your current unit, or you can wait for the repair on your unit to complete and have the warranty extended on that unit. I will be in the office at my normal hours tomorrow, so I will check if anything else becomes available by then and still call you sometime around 5:00 pm your time.

Thank You,
Chris
Toshiba Order Desk


Unfortunatly I had my hopes up on this x505-q8104. Now the best he can offer is either wait for my current unit or enough credit on Toshiba Direct for a new x500-q900s. Since I was hoping for - nearly expecting - the upgraded x505 for all my troubles I am very disappointed in this development. I have been without a laptop now for 55 days so I decided to accept this offer (grudgingly) just to get his whole thing over with, I need a laptop. I called back within 15 minutes of receiving this email and was informed that Chris has again left for the day.

1-6-11 4:35 Chris called me back but since I asked him to call after 5 I was not able to take his call. I called Chris back at 4:54 and spoke to Josh, who was very nice. He put me on hold for 2 minutes to get Chris on the line. Chris reiterated to me what he said in the email. Since I need my laptop soon I chose to accept the credit to Toshiba Direct for the x500-q900s. Chris requested and I forwarded the original receipt for my original purchase which he received while on the phone with me. He said he will call me when the credit has been processed which will be in a couple of days.


1-8-11 Received an email from Toshiba's depot. My repaired laptop has been shipped back. I guess I can forget about that credit and new laptop.

1-10-11 Chris left a message on my answering machine telling me that the "Goodwill" credit he offered me for the q9005 has been denied. Now I can either wait for my repaired laptop, accept a laptop with only 564gb of hard drive space or accept the cost of my unit minus depreciation as a credit to buy a different Toshiba laptop. I did not call Chris back - I was too disgusted.

1-11-11 I emailed the Depot because their email to me didn't have a tracking number. They replied that I got a replacement unit so I will not be sent my repaired unit.

I called Customer Relations and explained my situation AGAIN and was told that Chris has left for the day. I requested to speak to anyone and was told that no one will take my call. I asked for the supervisor at the order desk and was told that all they have are email addresses and they will not give it to me. I asked for a supervisor at Customer Relations and was told that they do not take calls. The only thing the girl could do for me was to email the Depot to see if they sent my laptop to the refurbish center yet, if not she will ask them to hold onto it. I won't know till tomorrow if my laptop is gone.

1-12-11 Did not hear back from the rep who said she will call me back when her email is answered. Received a reply from the Depot instructing me to call Customer Relations @ 1-800-457-7777. Called Toshiba back got Chris after 9 minutes of hold. He informed me that my unit will not be returned to me because once they begin the replacement process the repaired unit is sent to the refurbish center for resale. To be clear, I WAS NEVER INFORMED OF THIS, IN FACT CHRIS KEPT OFFERING ME MY REPAIRED UNIT AS AN OPTION. IT WAS ONLY AFTER I WAS TOLD IT WAS REPAIRED AND I WOULD NOT BE GETTING WAS I TOLD ABOUT THIS POLICY. So I can buy another unit with a "courtesy" credit of the full purchase price and (of course) pay them even more money to get a comparable unit (q900s, the only comparable unit is $100 more) and I got angry (in my opinion justified) and raised my voice and used foul language - but did not attack Chris personally. He hung up on me, telling to call back when I have calmed down.

Called back. Told the Customer Service rep that Chris hung up on me after I got angry and started yelling. Customer Service rep transferred me again to Chris even though I requested a different rep. She didn't even give me a warning that she was tranfering me to him. I was civil with Chris this time, kept my emotions, language and volume in check. I pleaded my case once more and explained to him that either choice he has given me leaves me worse off then when I bought the laptop. Told him that I paid for a laptop that had everything I needed and since through his actions - that laptop will not be returned to me (which would've meant no out of pocket expense for me) I have to accept an inferior model which does not have all I require, namely hard drive space, or pay them another $108 (figuring for tax) to get a laptop that includes what I originally purchased. Chris wouldn't budge, honestly the impression I got was that he wasn't paying much attention. I again requested to speak to someone above him and he said there was no one above him to speak to. I then mentioned that I made a complaint to the Better Business Office and he said, with a condescending tone in his voice, that he too works with the BBB point of contact and he has no doubt that she will come to him to find out what happened and when he talks to her he is sure the options will not change for me.

OK, now I definitely feel like I am being taken advantage of by someone who now just flat out refuses to budge. I am beginning to think Chris just doesn't like me.