Well time for a few more emails about my favorite company.

From what appears to be the only tech ever at adamant, and one of possibly two employee’s total. On Oct 23:

Your Z81K laptop notebook has arrived at Adamant.
Right now it is being tested and double checked to make sure it
is in working condition before we send it back to you. It looks like
we should be shipping it to you on tuesday.

thanks

tech

Its a bit of a odd thing to come home, and not actually work on Gentoo. I’ve been working on it for more or less a year daily to some extent and its in some ways left a void.

I’ve actually been doing a combination of things to keep me busy and just straight out vegging like all the high school kids who don’t work do. Today I should be getting a laptop back once again, but I’ve gone and asked my uncle for a bit of advice as he’s a lawyer. He’s been more then helpful and even is getting in contact with some local lawyers to talk about the situation. I was hoping that I’d never have this process to go down as I would hate to think of myself as yet another sue happy person.

Even with a cause, if it gets to that point, I will be saddened that it had to involve the court. Where really, there were some very simple ways out and Adamant has not taken any of them, nor addressed the resolutions that I asked about in the last week. If that’s a surprise to any of you..then you’ve not been reading very closely. Nothing against lawyers I just don’t have much faith in the judicial system that we are under currently. It just seems whimsical and like most things..those with money can do what they want when they want…and get away with it. Its not a lesson that we should be teaching the kids.

UPDATE: Got the laptop, and had a bit of a problem as fedex allowed someone else to sign for a personal item instead of my directly. Machine works, however the “new” machine is not new in fact as I was told. It is a refurb unit that has got some massive scratches on it (which my machine did not have as I baby my laptops), some what appears to be coke soda residue stains on the cover, the base is scracted up pretty badly and looks to have whiteout on it. Keyboard area has scratches as well…yeah who didn’t expect this when I was told it was a new machine over the phone. I’m not trying to be difficult but massively scratched machines..don’t sell well..

Well I just sent a complaint to my Attorney General about Adamant Computers. We’ll see if they can do anything to stop this company and their unfair practices. Don’t know..I just hope something comes of it. Not much I really can do at this point, over 4 months invested with Adamant alone, add in a few for Asus directly and I’ve spent more time trying to get the machine fixed then I have actually using the thing.

At this point beyond serving as a warning…and getting our legal system involved for business practices there isn’t much I can do. I just get to sit and wait some more, and call later this week to see if the “new” machine is going to be a downgrade as well.

Well time for yet another minor laptop update.I talked with Tom today at adamant, asked him to try and get a hold of Dima. I actually did get a call back and it seemed like a positive this time. I was told that they are in contact with not one but two people at Asus. They also have supposedly put down the law and said that it needs to either be a Z81k (which is discontinued and unlikely) or a better machine then I have now.

How much is to just make me feel better, we will see. For now it looks like I get to wait a while longer to see what happens. Which reminds me that I need see if I can get into contact for the us Asus pr person to see what they can do to help the matter. It is after all back in their court, and apparently it was Asus who sent out the pentium 4 based machine as a replacement..that wasn’t really a replacement.

If its not one..its the other thats in trouble with me it seems. I hope that Tom or Dima call me to let me know what they plan on sending before they actually do it. So I can get a idea if its a upgrade or not.

Well, its been a horrible day all around. At work a raid array with a good portion of our data was destroyed more or less, and I find out that the backup is over a month old. A major ouch for anyone who’s had that happen. As I took over the it admin related tasks fairly recently its a bit of a bad foot to start on.

The other news was of course related to my laptop that is still missing after nearly four months. At this point I don’t think I’ll actually be getting a machine back to be put simply. When one is told that you are going to get a new machine, a natural assumption is that you will get the same exact machine as you have currently, or a model that is comparative in features. This of course does not happen with me and Adamant. In my call with Tom today I find out that they the Asus Z81K machine is no longer in production and that I was going to be upgraded to the Z81L, they were just waiting on the processor to come in. Some chief difference between the machines…

Z81K (This is the machine I purchased)
1680×1050 resolution
Athlon64 4200+ processor
built in wireless g
ATI 9700 video card
gigabit ethernet
base price $1299

Z81L (This is the machine that it’s to be replaced by)
1280×800 resolution
Pentium 4 (supposedly) 3.2 ghz
built in wireless b
SiS based video card with shared memory.
10/100 ethernet
base price $1049

I don’t think I really need to say more then that.

Well, I have yet another reason to talk badly about Adamant computers as well about Asus now as well.

Asus, is getting the bad rep this time because, they not only took supposedly a month and a half to fix a simple motherboard problem, but they couldn’t even get that right. That is correct people. I’ve waited over two months to get a laptop back that is indeed still broken in the same exact way that it was those many months ago now. How do you like those apples? Want to trade places with me and the fact that I’m just laughing about the machine being fixed…

The fixed machine was directly from what Adamant has said, and it would appear that they didn’t even bother to open the machine and see if it was indeed fixed. So I get to call them tomorrow and attempt to get a hold of Dima, the ceo, and see what options he has for me. I’m sure he’ll tell me that it was fixed and that I need to send it in again for repairs. Which will take another two full months. One can guess what my general response to that will be…

At this point I almost want to think that Adamant held onto the machine and never sent it to Asus, and instead just kept me waiting, to send me back the broken machine. I certainly have no way to prove that they sent it off currently and I’m sure they will refuse to show me proof that they sent it off to Asus for repair.

Now, tell me do you want to shop at Adamant Computers or with Asus again….’

Anyone happen to have the Public Relations email address for Asus?

Update #1: Called Adamant at 9:20 am, got dima and told him calmly that my machine was still in fact broken. He said he’d talk with the tech who worked on the issue, and then go and give Asus a piece of his mind. He also said that he’d give me a call in a couple of hours. However, he did say that we’ll have to do something about the issue..so that’s a good sign at least.

Well, I try to remain a cool and level headed person who doesn’t try to rock the boat. I hear you laughing already, thanks for the vote of confidence. I’ve however been pushed over the edge recently by a company that goes by the name Adamant Computers, based out of Cleveland, Ohio. The full story starts a bit sooner however.

Points of contention:

• Bait and Switch Techique on warranty, who its with.
• Refusal to work with me for a proper resolution, 2 months of extended warranty is not a resolution.
• Saying that to get a refund I have to deal with Asus directly as they are the manufacturer and its their machine. Apparently as the people who took my money and sent me the machine, Adamant had nothing to do with it.

Short version:

• keyboard breaks, as does the power supply
• Get run in circles by Asus and Adamant saying who’s the first level contact for issues.
• Get Adamant to accept responsibility and take machine back at my cost to ship.
• Machine is gone for over 2months under the initial 1year warranty with very little information and very far between replies to my emails and phone calls.
• About 5 weeks in I inquire to a refund and get ignored for three weeks while they get the machine back and ship it off so that they don’t have to deal with the request, and refuse to work with me as they didn’t do anything wrong

About june of 2005 I started looking for a new laptop as I was in the process of selling the older one. I wanted an amd64 and at the time there were very few manufacturers who were making amd64 laptops. I decided on the asus Z81k as it was likely to be the best supported under linux, even if it had an awful ati card (which has never worked for me properly, nor ever had direct rendering..thats another story though). I put in a call to Adamant to find out about the extended warranty and the basic warranty and how they actually work, as on their site they say all service goes straight through the manufactuer. I was told by the sales person at the time that the contract including the extended warranty were covered directly with the manufacturer and that they would be able to handle it. With that confirmation I went and places the order in August. For the first six to eight months things were fine..a wee bit warm as the processor runs warm in laptops anyways. However, what eventially happened has turned into somewhat of a nightmare to get resolved.

The keyboard started to act up at this point, I’d hit shift and instead get alt, ctrl, down and enter all at the same time. This happened for a majority of the keys and made the keyboard useless. I contacted asus and they were quite friendly and helpful in replacing it the first time. However, when that didn’t fix the issue, I called back and was informed that I would need to ship it out at my own cost and that to replace the motherboard that I’d be charged 400 dollars to replace. My first reaction, quite naturally as it was still under the initial warranty was that it was a joke and I simply laughed and said sure thing. When he informed me he was serious all joking stopped and I was told that they couldn’t confirm that I had bought the laptop and thus would be charged.

The next day July 7^th I wrote a email to tech@adamant with some of the following quotes.

Morning, I’ve talked with asus and I’ve talked with you folks
previously and have gotten a he says she says type of situation. I was
initially told that support should go through the vendor directly
instead of through you folks from one of the adamant tech support
people at the time. In talking with asus about the the issue I was
informed that you should be the first line of support for issues, and
that if i go through them directly and the motherboard needs to be
replaced on my z81k laptop, that its likely that I’d be charged for
it. This is quite disturbing as the machine is not even a year old,
and I also purchased the two year warranty plan.

The issue is this. The keyboard started acting up about a month or two
ago, I’d hit the shift key and it’d go about hitting.. alt down left
and enter. Other keys would do the same thing just with a different
combo of keys. However plugging a usb keyboard into it worked fine.
Initially asus’s response was oh just use a usb keyboard then…which
got a what kind of tech support is this. After explaining a bit more
they replaced the keyboard however the issue did not get resolved and
I still had the issue. The issue then went dormant for a bit of time
as I was away on business for about a month. I come back and of course
the issue is still happening, and call asus again. Which they explain
to me about the potential charge, they only cover the 1 year
directly..and as the serial number has rubbed off the bottom, as they
tend to do that there’s the potential for charge even with a invoice
that proves it was purchased less then a year ago. They also said that
I should get in contact with you because of the entire issue.

As well now, the power supply has gone out, its making a incessent
beeping and won’t charge the laptop so the laptop is now a paperweight
til it can again be charged in a consistent manner. I’d like to hear
what exactly from your side the deal with support is so that way I can
either deal with you folks to get some kind of resolution, or with
asus directly.

A prompt reply would be greatly appreciated.

Joshua Jackson

Tom (I later found out his name is actually Robert) replied with the following on the same day.

Hello

I am sorry to hear you are having problems with this z81k laptop.
I am so surprised that Asus is treating you this way. This is so
unexpected by them.

I would like to help you out with this issue.
What is your phone number for me to reach you?

What I can do is have you ship us the unit and we can deal directly
with Asus.
I am supprised that they did not take care of the battery issue with
you. This was a common problem with the notebooks you have.
Asus should replace that for free. On the keyboard issue. we can
look at that and find a solution.
We mostly just sell the laptops but we can do some changes and
upgraded.

Will look forward to hearing from you

Tech

I gave tom my direct number and he called me up asking for some more information about the issue before telling me that he would get an RMA # for me to send my machine back to them to handle the problem with asus. I thank him for his assistance and start to feel better about actually getting my system fixed. As I know that adamant had no intentions of paying to ship it to them as they didn’t even offer, I package it up myself and send it off to them at a out of pocket expense of almost 60 bucks.

The package arrives on the 14th, and I wait a few days to hear anything back from Tom or anyone else at Adamant. Having heard nothing I write a email on the 18th:

Just doing a followup to see if you’ve made any progress with the
vender, asus, to repair the laptop I sent to you folks. A update would
be greatly appreciated

Tom replies on the 19^th that they are:

Hello

We are still working on the keyboard issue. We did fix the power
charger problem. Hopefully soon we will be shipping it back to you.

Thanks

Tech

So being the patient and good natured person I am accept that they are working on it and let it go for a few days assuming that they are getting replacement parts and testing to ensure that all is well. On the 25^th of July I write another email asking for a status update.

Morning once again,

Just writing to see if there’s been any progress made with asus on the
keyboard issue. Please let me know one way or the other, and a time
frame if there is one.

Thank you,

Joshua Jackson

I get a reply from tom once again, that shows that hmm..they hadn’t requested a replacement keyboard as I had previously though..and quite possibly had powered it on..tried it saw the problem and then dropped it in the waste bin for a week.

Hello

We had to send out for another keyboard to Asus.
We are still waiting for it. Hopefully sometime this week we will get
a replacement.

Thanks

Tech

I respond as I had mentioned in the only phone conversation I had with tom that the keyboard had been replaced once, and asus should be aware that it had been already. It hadn’t fixed the problem and could thusly be ruled out but if they wanted to go down that route they could.

I believe that I mentioned already that through asus, the keyboard has
been replaced once. This did not fix the issue, and I’m quite certain
that it won’t fix the issue this time either, but if its the process
they want to go through…

Having heard nothing to my pointing out of what had transpired previously, I fire off another email on the 27^th asking if the keyboard has come in and if it had fixed the issue. I place a couple of phone calls and only get the answering machine, without a call back on any of the calls. I don’t receive a reply, so I again wait a few days before I fire another email off on the 31st, to see what exactly is going on.

August 1^st I get a reply from tom:

Hello

We are still testing your keyboard on your laptop to make sure it is
working. So far it looks like it is working fine. But I want to make
sure because you told me that the keyboard was replaced.

Thanks

Tech

I’m glad that they are working on it again and that I’ll get it quite possibly soonish as it apparently is fixed. I also during this time get shipped out for work for some business without net access and don’t have time to really follow up with it immediately. I do however put in a few more calls and again only get the answering machine leaving at least one message talking about a refund. That call goes unreturned. When I get back I write a note on the 10^th of August:

Any word from asus about the machine? It’s been approximately a
month(well over a month since I’ve been involved, right over one since
you’ve started to get involved, and just under from when it reached
your hands) now since the start and while I don’t have any ill will
towards Adamant(you’ve been more then helpful) this is getting quite
extended and to be quite honest, not worth the entire problem. I’d
almost like to go about some kind of refund process depending on how
much if any fee there would be associated with the action.

As you can see I even give them a option for a restocking fee or something of the nature. To just get out of the deal that has entirely turned sour at this point. Another few days and calls later I write a email on the 16^th of August.

Well its been about a week since my last email, over two since I last
heard from adamant, something would be nice. A response to the inquiry
would be nicer still.

Nothing is returned as well and I start looking into what options I have and can possibly take to get this resolved, however I still want to get it resolved with the company. Aug 23^rd rolls around and a few more calls as you can guess go unanswered and there are more messages left on the voice mail system.

Well almost another week and no reply, this is getting quite
unacceptable as well, that I’ve not had a reply since august
1st…that’s 3 weeks now.. without any replies to my queries on
multiple items….please respond post haste.

On the 24^th I get a reply that completely ignores any of my issues and does nothing to resolve it.

Hello

We are still waiting on your laptop to return from Asus.
I will call Asus and check the status on your laptop.
I am sorry for the delay.

Tech

The following day tom replies to me and says the following:

Hello

I called Asus and your laptop and it should be returning to Adamant
by tuesday the 29th. I was told they fixed the problem with the
keyboard and also fixed the battery.

Again we are sorry for the delay.

Tech

I’m now as you can probably quite upset that its been this long, that I’m just now getting a response and its a response that ignores everything that the company doesn’t want to hear. I fire back an email:

While I’m glad to hear that the machine is fixed however at this point
its an unacceptable item to be received. This is a full month and a
half that it has been trusted to your hands, 2 weeks of it being with
you and then another 4 for it being with asus, and of those 4 weeks I
got replies today 3 weeks later that there was something done about
it. This is after 3 phone calls at my expense to a number that I’ve
had picked up once out of a dozen calls I’ve made to your support, as
well I’ve not had a return call at all with the ones placed during the
last week. The inquiry that I’ve made about other options as this is
unacceptable have been entirely ignored.

I am by and far a patient man as has been I believe shown by keeping
patient for 5 weeks. For the most part however this situation has
pushed those limits and the lack of support, customer relations afther
the initial and that fact that I’ll have been without a machine for
1/4 of the time that I’ve owned it have pushed me beyond the
reasonable time period. As the machine at the time of all of this
started was 6 months old, only half way through its initial warranty,
not including even the extended warranty I believe that it should not
be unacceptable to receive a refund. Please respond to this third
request on this matter, or the person who can make this decision. As
ignoring the issue will not alleviate the issue and only further
complicate the matter.

Awaiting a response.

Joshua Jackson

I try and remain calm but I’m losing my patience as you can tell. They again ignore attempts to solve the issue and ship out the laptop. I call them up and don’t get a reply, so I try a new tactic. Keep calling til someone picks up. Which actually works after the 8^th call. I’m talking to robert, who as I said earlier I learn is tom at a later point in time. I’m quite upset explain what the situation is and what I expect to happen. I get a standard wall of can’t do it, refunds arn’t possible etc. I then ask for the contact number of Dima the CEO, Victor the CFO or Juliya the CSR. I’m imformed that Victor is out for the day but I should call back tomorrow and he should be in. I call back and find out he won’t be in til after one so I call around 3pm today and get ahold of Robert again. I explain the situation once again and the phone gets handed over to someone else.

This new person I find out after about 15 minutes of being interupted every time I try to say something is Dima, and that Robert is in fact tom. I try to remain calm however Dima continutes to deny anything is wrong, and that he in fact was involved with this the entire time. I wonder if he was involved the entire time why the customer service was allowed to be attrocious and for long periods of time that no responses were given. Not to mention the fact that I gave him a way to settle the dispute while not taking a full hit on the laptop. That there was any baiting and switching and basically offers me 2 months of extended warranty time to compensate me for all the problems that have been caused. If dima was involved the entire time he should of seen the emails requesting a refund, however he hides behind a “maybe they got lost in the spam setup or virus protection we have”. To avoid being caught in yet another situation he can’t seem to come up with a solution thats easy to solve.

At this point I’ve put in a complaint with the BBB which won’t resolve it, am looking into chargeback options with my credit card company and basically trying to serve as a warning to avoid this company and hit them where it hurts the most their pocket. In this case, the Reseller ratings which at the time was over an 8.5 failed to help cover the issues that I would run into later.

I don’t typically do this as you don’t see digg this on my site but please do actually digg this

Well, I’m apparently somewhat interesting with my writing. Even when I tend to meander over subjects. Horray, and here I thought that people visited without actually reading.

I’m still in Burbank as things are still going on with the customer, however I’m feeling somewhat silly so lets talk about hotels. Staying in a little place that has the individual serving of soap and shampoo etc. One has to wonder if the hotels wander around to all the local bed bath and beyonds when they are giving out samples to supply to their rooms for a month or so. It’d certainly save quite a bit of money. Second note, is that I’ve been in one other hotel like this, it was in Europe and I had to in that particular one, kneel to get my head under the head of the shower. This time I only need to tilt forward a good way. Ah the joys of traveling, even if its a nice hotel actually. I’ll be hopefully home tomorrow.

Other news, I’ve yet to receive a reply about my notebook and I’m starting to get annoyed at the company who sold it to me as well. I’ve even put in at least one call to their offices, which I’ve had one pick up ever in about 9 calls I’ve made to them. Its just not a great situation all around and I’m contemplating a BBB complaint due to the nature of what going on and the lack of response. I try and be a patient bloke but you can even push me to the point that I’ll take it to points that no company really wants to go. Again as I’m sure you will want to avoid this company in the future, this is Adamant computers and of course asus as I’ve talked about before is the laptop manufacturer.

Back to Burbank. Ended up in an Hungarian resturant with a chicken paprika that had great flavor, along with a Czech beer that was not a pilsner. It was a decent beer, even if I’m not a beer drinker. I’ll be done with alcohol for a while again.

Hopefully I’ll be back home tomorrow so that I can again start working on gcc-4.1.1 stuff. Its been a nice break of sorts from gentoo stuff, but I’m ready to get back to working on this for all of us to use full time…like I’d like to be using my personal laptop again =/

Once I’m back I’ll be writing a bit about the foundation again.

Tsunam, “the town cryer” out *wink*

Well its been a while since I’ve discussed my laptop troubles and figure its as good of a time as ever. As a refresher for those who don’t know the history. I have a asus laptop that started to act up with a keyboard that would do multiple seemingly random keystrokes. I started to work with Asus on it and hit a brick wall that they wanted to charge me to repair it. I’ve had the laptop for seven months at the point this started and all machines come with a one year contract by default, I even went and bought a two year upgrade because I’ve had issues with laptops having things break.

So my first reaction was to laugh in their faces and just try and work through and get them to do it for free. I fax them a copy of the invoice proving that I had bought it and was then informed that I should go through my seller to get it repaired. Well as I already knew that the seller by default sends you to the company who made the product. So I try again and get the charge as they can’t prove that I am using the machine in question. At this point I should go about asking for a refund, but I instead take the matter up with adamant computers who I bought the machine from. They agree to take it back and try to work some magic with it. They seem to have better luck with Asus and get them to send out a laptop keyboard the third one for this same issue. It supposedly fixes the issue on this third time, however the power charging brick pops yet again and kills that. So there is yet another issue with the machine. This is now 4 weeks after I’ve sent it to Adamant to attempt to resolve the issue. A week I can understand two its starting to get long, but four weeks for it to head towards Asus for repair is unacceptable.

It is now 5 weeks and I’ve not gotten a reply to a request for a refund that I sent in at the end of the fourth week. I don’t have problems with Adamant as they’ve been working on getting it fixed but it has taken a overly long time for a fairly simple issue. I’m still covered under the original warranty at this point with 4-5 months of that left and another year on the extended contract. I don’t like to make a stir, but having no laptop for a month and a half, Asus basically saying that the contract is absolutely worthless and the fact that its been with the seller for over a month has me crying for the ability to get a refund. Even if I have to take a small hit on it to be done with it. I’ll at this point do it.

So I’m waiting to see what Adamant comes back with on that front, though I don’t expect it to work out as well as I want it too. They’ve gone two weeks without letting me know any details so we can see what most likely going to happen.

Basically this is as much a warning as anything else. Don’t step foot anywhere near asus for laptops. Motherboards they do good work with, but other items I’m going to avoid them for a long time. Its quite sad as before I bought I only heard good things about their support on laptops and the quality of the machines. It just goes to show you that you really do need to stick with major brands

I am no longer the grandest of slackers when it comes to getting my laptop repaired. As I’ve actually sent it on the path to being repaired. A indirect route of going through the company that sold me the laptop but it will get fixed one way or the other. I’ll be happy when I get it back though as I’ve grown quite used to being able to lay down on the couch and do the gentoo work I need to remotely. Xnest still rocks for that feature.

So for the time being I’m using works laptop which is also a gentoo machine for the most part. I have windows installed for visio but such is life. Its amazing to me that we’re a linux shop and yet everyone’s desktop is windows. Just boggles the mind in weird ways.

Also excuse the note to myself to look over a couple of quizzes that I have to look at.

P.S enjoy this as this is the shortest note I’ve ever done I think.