Getting To The Root Of The Matter

I couldn't believe that a memory upgrade could actually cause the voiding of any notebook's warranty, so I sought answers directly from Acer.

From the Acer Malaysia's website, I found two channels to seek further clarification. One of them was MARCOM, Acer Malaysia’s Marketing and Communication team. The other was Highpoint, Acer’s authorized service agent.

Here was my message to MARCOM.

Message: I was initially interested at getting an Acer notebook as I was fairly impressed with the specs of the 1681WLMi notebook. However, I was treated very badly by your representing dealer at the recent ITCS Computer Fair here at PWTC.

Not only was my intelligence on the matter insulted, the dealers even rudely replied (or rebuked rather) all our questions and requests. Is this how Acer treats all their customers? By showing how 'smart' they are?

There's also another case when I, the consumer, tried to bargain for a better deal by comparing with another brand, and was treated as if I knew nothing about computers. They weren't even trying to sell the notebook to me.

Seeing this, I will honestly tell you that I was fairly disappointed by the Acer presence here in Malaysia. Not only I was told that Acer warranty will be voided if I change my RAM modules myself, which I find very ridiculous. I also had my intelligence and experience in the computer industry insulted.

I'm therefore sorry that you have not only lost not one but two potential customers that day, and also a potential review and further exposure of the machine which I still find pretty interesting.

Other Product: Notebooks initially but not anymore after bad sales service from Acer Dealer
Other action: Explanations of the matter, and get a more professional dealer.

Thank you.

One of their personnel eventually replied :-

Dear Mr Ng

Thank you very much for taking time to highlight this issue to us and we sincerely apologise for the unhappy incident that you have encountered.

We at Acer, are taking this complaint seriously and appropriate action will be taken to educate the said dealer who has rendered you bad service at the fair.

With regards to the RAM upgrade by users themselves, please allow us to explain that this is practised by Acer in the interest of our customers. We have a list of "Approved Vendors List" for upgrading of components to avoid incompatibility issues that may affect the performance of the notebook or result in undesirable defects. We would not be able to honour the warranty for such upgrades that are beyond our knowledge or control over the quality of components used by the user.

By having Acer to upgrade the parts for you, you can rest assured that the components used will be compatible and that the warranty will be safeguared.

As for the product, we would like recommend you our latest arrival, "Aspire 1682WLMi" at RM4,988 (approximately USD1312). This model is powered by a higher processor speed of 1.6GHz (instead of 1.5GHz), 60GB and 256MB.

If you are interested, kindly visit:
IT Retail Sdn Bhd
Lot KT-1, 3rd Floor, IT @ Sg Wang
Sg Wang Plaza, Kuala Lumpur

PIC: #########
Tel: #########

We have spoken to ####### & he looks forward to attending to your needs.

We look forward to welcoming you as an Acer user, and once again, our apologies to you for the inconvenience caused by the other said dealer.
 
Best Regards

###########

Welcoming me as an Acer user? No, thank you! But before I comment further on this reply, let’s take a look at what Highpoint had to say about the issue.