Ritchie Street, Mount Road is a popular shopping spot for computer enthusiasts. Even people who look for good quality computer hardware and electronic goods come to this place. It so happened that one of my friends, living in Thirukazhukundram(nearly 100Kms from Ritchie Street) wanted to buy a computer. He approached a popular computer store, Mahavir computers and got a quotation for a good PC with the latest configuration. The mother board was from Intel, a very trusted and the most widely used brand in the country.
The total cost of the computer came around Rs.35000, the transaction was swift and the complete shopping took two days (normally it is a long process). This shop like many other shops does not deliver the components to long distances and hence we had to arrange for transportation. I had helped my friend with the PC configuration, and also told him how to fit in the various hardware components into the PC. It was a job well done. The PC was up and running from the first start up.
The charm of the new PC lasted hardly a month. After that, the motherboard’s performance became highly erratic. The motherboard began to heat up a lot. The temperature reached almost 60′C as against the previous operating temperatures of 45-50′C. The system was used for playing games and all gaming systems are usually very hot due to the extensive processing that a game employs. Keeping the cabinet open did not help as it only helped in heating up the room altogether. One fine day the system did not turn on. I went to his house and checked the components and everything was fine. The system kept on restarting again and again.
I told him to take the motherboard to the shop and get it replaced. The shopkeeper told that it was not possible and it was due to the consumers fault. Something that the user did might have triggered the problem in the computer. It was a futile attempt to convince the shopkeeper. Finally he told us to get in touch with the distributor whose office was in another part of the city.
The same story was told by the distributor. They even refused to check the motherboard to find out if the problem was with the manufacturer or the user. The dealer told us to try out each component separately to determine the root cause. That was something we had done already and we had concluded that it was the motherboard at fault. Finally out of frustration I told my friend to send an email to the company directly. We got hold of their customer support helpline and sent him a mail regarding the problem along with the necessary attachments. There was no reply for a week. I sent a harsh reminder to the company and this time there was a response saying that I have to contact the company through the seller or the wholesaler. I replied saying that after multiple futile efforts I had got in touch with the customer support and that if no action is taken I would send an email to their superiors.
I was told to wait for a couple of days, after which I got a mail saying that I had to courier the motherboard to a company service center in Hyderabad where the problem would be looked into and handled accordingly. They also agreed to pay the cost of mailing the motherboard. After a week I got a mail from the company saying that the board contained a manufacturing effect. The customer support guy also told that he would send a brand new mother board within fourteen days. I got the new mother board and my friend was more than happy.
I wish the guy at the customer support for Intel had looked into this matter earlier instead of telling us to check with the distributors and the retailers. This was not a very tough job for the retailers. He could have done it himself, but he chose not to do it. As far as the shop was concerned he had made a sale and the product was no longer in his custody. He was not going to be paid anything more to get the motherboard replaced. It is very unhappy to know that customer service is being done for money. It is more of a sale than a service.
by bittoo
I work for www.consumerdaddy.com. It is a consumer protection website. it provides iformation and customer reviews and complaints for a large number of products in India.
Tags: Encounter, motherboard, With
