Originally Posted by
jk2317
Umm... do you see what's wrong here? Some of us would give a company grief for 2 hard drive, keyboard, video card, heatsink/fan assembly, and palm rest/bezel failures in only 5 years.
Through two Toshibas in the last 5 years (that I beat the crap out of), I've had ZERO components fail and never filed a warranty claim. I did have one screen hinge break (but remain functional) after a 4 foot drop onto a tile floor.
Even if I'm lucky and you're unlucky, that's a pretty stark contrast in failure rate. I don't care how fast these things get repaired-- not breaking in the first place is the most important thing.
Uh, to be fair, the keyboard and video card was due to "Pepsi Syndrome." Dell didn't ask, and I didn't tell.
The hard drives in question were Hitachis, among the mosty highly regarded 2.5" drives. One failed, I'm sure, because I used it regularly on the Downeaster, the train that runs between POR and BON. It's probably the roughest stretch of railroad track in the country, and the Downeaster's suspension sucks. Dell was still the vendor, however, but I'm reluctant to place the blame squarely in their lap (although I accepted the warranty replacement without qualms). The fact that they replaced the drives with higher capacity models was a nice bonus, given that I was considering replacing them anyway.
The heatsink/fan and 2nd hard drive were most likely a result of a design flaw in the Dell 5150 (there's currently a class action suit concerning premature failures of this laptop due to heat). For 2 years, though, other than than feeling somewhat warm to the touch, I really had no problems with it. With the new heatsink/fan assembly, it never gets past lukewarm.
Finally, the cracked bezel was a minor cosmetic issue; the cracks were tiny, and one needed to examine the laptop closely to see them. I only had it replaced because the Dell CSR asked me if there were any blemishes or scratches on the case that could be eliminated with replacement trim. I took him up on the offer.
Your laptops may have operated flawlessly for some time . . . mine had (very) brief periods of downtime, but when they were back up again, they were better than what I'd bought in the first place.
I guess I'm unconvinced that you got the better deal. I've heard less than flattering stories about Toshiba's customer service; had you actually experienced a problem, my guess is that you wouldn't be expressing such a high regard for them.