Problem with Orange and Asus Repair Centre

stephbond89

Hi,
I have had a netbook with Orange since May 2010- it is on a £30 a month contract (recently it was lowered due to some problems I have been having... to £20 a month), since getting it, it has been to the SBE asus repair centre 3 times for the same problem each time- the netbook has a SIM card which connects directly to the netbook behind the battery (it is an Asus Eee PC) and each time it has broken, the problem has been that it has stopped connecting to the SIM, and after software updates/rebooting and new SIMs nothing worked, and it was decided by Asus it needed a new 3G connector of some kind (i am not very technical so not a sure what it is!!).

Anyway, this third time it broke, we decided once again to send it off to the SBE repair centre as we have usually, as we hadnt had too much trouble before (apart from the fact it clearly wasn't fixed correctly!) we didn't do anything special like taking pictures etc.

2 weeks after sending the laptop off, we got a letter stating that there was work needed on the netbook which was not covered under warrenty- this had happened the second time as my husband lost the "P" key from the keyboard and all i had to do was state i didnt want that work carried out and that was that, they fixed it and sent it back, but this time, I phoned and was told that the LCD screen was cracked, there was cracking to the hinge, there was water damage etc etc...even though there was all this work, it was only going to cost £37 to have it fixed... I told SBE I disputed the work needed doing as when it was sent off the laptop was in perfect condition apart from the P being missing, which was only missing as we had taken it off for something and couldnt get it back on. There was no crack to the screen when it left us, and certainly no water damage as the laptop is never used outside nor is around drinks. They sent me pictures of "A" laptop with this damage but i still disputed it, and in the end the only reason i paid for it to be fixed was because Orange took £40 off my bill to pay for the damage (oh I forgot to mention they wanted £42 to return the laptop to me, which I had not been told before I sent the laptop off for repair!)

Anyway, it took SBE 2 months to do anything, even after I had paid the £37 it was still 3 weeks, I spoke to them a few times on the phone complaining how long it was taking, but they said they were waiting for parts etc.

So today, the netbook EVENTUALLY turned up (2 hours after the delivery slot!), we had asked for the old parts back as we had disputed the damage, when it came back, the pieces were damaged as was said (though what they said was rust on the keyboard looked to me like somethng stuck to the metal and not rust at all), BUT the keyboard had a P in place........the P we had lost and never found...our wondering was why on earth they would replace a key on the keyboard which was going to be going straight in the bin...that aroused my suspition an awful lot! The screen which was supposedly cracked was not actually with the parts, and I never saw a picture of that either, this was the part I was disputing the most as I KNEW 100% it was not cracked when it was sent off! Also, the touch pad on the old case had a huge what looked like a burn mark where it had been melted, to me it looked like a hairdryer had been put too close to it and it had all melted...now this most certainly was not like this when it went, I dont know if that was something to do with them taking the laptop apart, but it seems unlikely, heat an very fragile laptops do not tend to go!!!!

Ok, now we have had the laptop back for 4 hours exactly and it is ALREADY not working!! It keeps going to a black screen and freezing. Someting I didnt mention, the laptop had its motherboard changed, we dont know why that was done as the only problem with the laptop was that the 3G device wasnt working, all it needed was that replacing as in the last 2 repairs.

I have phone Orange who have said they will not deal with it, even though I am now paying £20 for something I cannot use, through no fault of my own, I know it isnt oranges fault that Asus have not repaired it correctly, but at the end of the day, I am paying for an internet connection whcih is no good and cannot be used. If my phone broke, I could easily buy a £10 phone to put my SIM in, but a laptop you cannot do that. The contract has 9 months left on it, and at £25 a month (this is the contract amount with a £5 a month discount added on), I'll have to pay £225 to cancel the contract whcih I simply do not have- even with the discount of £5 a month i'd still need to find £180, and i dont even know about a cancellation fee. I don't particularly want to get rid of the laptop, but I have paid 3 months of orange broadband two at £30 a month and one at £20 with a refund of £40- and if I have to send the laptop off again, with another 3 months of work, I'm going to be paying out a fortune. orange no longer have the laptop deals on (i am guessing they were too much trouble with all this asus repair centre rubbish!!), so they cannot even give me a new laptop on a new contract. I have had less trouble with a £190 laptop from eMachines than we have with this Asus laptop which had an RRP of almost £400 when it was brand new!!

Does anybody have any ideas of what I can do about SBE, is there anytthing I can do about disputing the damage was ever on my laptop in the first place, and also the rubbish repairs which have never worked, and also how I can deal with Orange, how do I go about cancelling the contract without havng to pay the huge cancellation fee? I do not have any problems with orange usually, and I have a lot of phones with them, and i dont want to lose my trust in them, but I am starting to, although they have refunded me for the work needed last time, I am still paying for something I cannot use.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

in_the_Cotswolds

I know this may be a long shot but do you have the original receipt/contract? If you have it should have the serial number on it. Check it against the serial number of the laptop they sent back. If they're different I personally would ring Asus and ask where yours is.

Wannie_2

You can still use the SIM in a dongle. Seems a bit complicated when it comes to the laptop. Not sure what to suggest there.

stephbond89

Hi! I am going to have a dig about for the receipt and contract in the morning!!! See if I can find the serial number, it wasnt that I didnt think it was my laptop, it was that I think they have damaged the laptop either by accident or on purpose to make money out of it as the damage done apart from the damage to the hinge which was only a small slit and could possibly have been missed, was definitely not there!!

Yes the SIM will go into a dongle, but we dont have another laptop for it to be used in. My husband uses his away from home, hence the need for the internet access, while mine is used at home, these last 3 months have been shocking having to try and decide who has the most important work to do on the laptop that night! lol, but at least if i could get a cheap laptop i could use the sim still!

Wannie_2

You might find something here.