Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Toshiba Tech Support Part 2: Son of a...
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 01:00 PM
A few weeks ago I posted a thought about Toshiba tech support. My e570 had a strange flickering at the bottom of the screen, and I wanted to send the unit in for repair/replacement. I called Toshiba USA, and they were ready to give me an RMA - until I told them I was from Canada and the whole process ground to a halt. They had no idea how to service my Pocket PC - the tech support person said he'd call me back soon with a solution.
Weeks go by, and nothing - no phone call. So today I called Toshiba looking for a solution - and was informed that in order for Toshiba USA to service the unit, I would need to ship it to someone in the USA, and Toshiba would send the warranty box to them. Since that's not a great solution, I was referred to Toshiba Canada tech support - and was told that because the unit was purchased in the US, they couldn't offer me warranty support. Back to square one! What a frustrating experience. Compaq didn't care where my device was purchased from - they just fixed it for me. Same with HP.
Note to OEMs: a customer is a customer, no matter where they are. Regional barriers only cause problems for your customers.
Weeks go by, and nothing - no phone call. So today I called Toshiba looking for a solution - and was informed that in order for Toshiba USA to service the unit, I would need to ship it to someone in the USA, and Toshiba would send the warranty box to them. Since that's not a great solution, I was referred to Toshiba Canada tech support - and was told that because the unit was purchased in the US, they couldn't offer me warranty support. Back to square one! What a frustrating experience. Compaq didn't care where my device was purchased from - they just fixed it for me. Same with HP.
Note to OEMs: a customer is a customer, no matter where they are. Regional barriers only cause problems for your customers.
