What are my options? $3k SGD laptop now a metal brick after 20 months
Hi everyone,
I am, I admit, quite angry. I bought a late 2018 model Razer Blade Advance 15 in the beginning of 2019. I live in Singapore, and therefore no extended warranty, in addition to the fact i bought it on Amazon US.
I loved my laptop. It worked very well, it looks great, was everything I expected it to be.
Until, early this year, the front of the laptop swelled. Battery bloat! Great.
I contacted support, my laptop was under warranty, I walked it into the service centre here in Singapore and I got it back a week later. Fine and dandy, laptop turned on, it worked.
Now, for most of this year I haven't been using my laptop. Why? Due to COVID, i work from home, and at home I have a desktop. I turned my laptop on 2-3 times after I got it back, but basically left it alone in the drawer in my desk for about 5 months.
I need some files. I take my laptop out, it does not switch on. Huh, ok, so, hard power cycle, LED light flickers. No joy.
I take in my laptop the 2nd of November, they tell me that in a couple of days they'll get in touch and let me know what the diagnosis is. It's out of warranty so I'll have to fork out for repairs and diagnosis.
I don't hear anything for 4 weeks. I contact support, basically asking, umm, hello, whats going on? Oh! They say, yes, we have your laptop, we'll get you a diagnosis soon.
Day later, I get the great news that hey, new motherboard please AND keyboard assay (no idea what that is). No reason why, nothing, just a can we please have $2,000 to fix your laptop (circa 1.5k USD)
Now I'm clearly not going to spend that amount of money, money that is enough to buy a new laptop in its own right. Now I also understand that I'm basically crap out of luck and poor me. But as I said, i'm also angry. I spent $3k on a laptop and just over a year and a half later, its basically a metal brick, after I get it back from Razer for a replacement battery, and I didn't touch it for months.
So hence here I am, asking, what are my options?
Cheers.
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Thank you FiszPL, appreciate it.
I've asked Razer how they can dispose of it and have been ignored with this standard email today: Basically feels like, hey, thanks for buying the laptop from us and spending your money, don't really care that you getting a brick back, sorry!
Edited to add: I realise the message below means nothing without context, but it's really grating. Basically told them i settled the diagnosis fee and asked how they will dispose of the machine.
Thank you very much for informing us.
We have notified the repair team that payment has been settled and to return the device with out repair.
Should you have further inquiries, feel free to reply to this email.
Thank you for your continued patronage of Razer Products and please remember that you are the best part of our Razer Team.
Warmest regards from our Customer Service Team. Stay Safe. Be phenomenal. Be Razer!
Team Razer
I think this is pretty common, almost every company does this. The easiest way for them to solve any hardware-related problem is to slap on a new motherboard. Easy diagnosis, quick cash.
I used to own a Blade 2015 and one of the USB ports died after two years. If you come to a professional third-party or independent repair service, they would suggest you get a new daughterboard (a board that includes the internet port, USB ports, and such), and plus the repair fee it would top $200. I sent the laptop to Razer and was told the same thing. The email said it would cost around $1000 to $1500, for a laptop that already costs $2400 and two-year old that's absurd. So I just went to a repair store, waited a bit over a month for the part to arrive and replaced. Cost me $170 and worked magic until later last year I gave it away and got myself a late 2019 Blade Stealth.
That said, most companies don't sell replacement parts, so their solution is to just replace everything for the cost of a new device. But for $3000 you really deserve way better treatments. And the fact that the laptop of that price dies almost untouched after being repaired, says how crappy it was serviced. If you really like Razer my best bet is to stick to its peripherals, their laptops are crappy with all kinds of issues (battery bulging is so common).
Edit: added information.
- Razer Support
- 7663 replies
leetAntiqueBronzeroad595Hey there! Thanks for posting your feedback/concern here. Also, thanks for FiszPL for notifying me. Please send me your email address or case number via PM so I can review your contact history. I'll be locking this thread now. I'll wait for your follow-up.
Hi everyone, I am, I admit, quite angry. I bought a late 2018 model Razer Blade Advance 15 in the beginning of 2019. I live in Singapore, and therefore no extended warranty, in addition to the fact i bought it on Amazon US. I loved my laptop. It worked very well, it looks great, was everything I expected it to be. Until, early this year, the front of the laptop swelled. Battery bloat! Great. I contacted support, my laptop was under warranty, I walked it into the service centre here in Singapore and I got it back a week later. Fine and dandy, laptop turned on, it worked. Now, for most of this year I haven't been using my laptop. Why? Due to COVID, i work from home, and at home I have a desktop. I turned my laptop on 2-3 times after I got it back, but basically left it alone in the drawer in my desk for about 5 months. I need some files. I take my laptop out, it does not switch on. Huh, ok, so, hard power cycle, LED light flickers. No joy. I take in my laptop the 2nd of November, they tell me that in a couple of days they'll get in touch and let me know what the diagnosis is. It's out of warranty so I'll have to fork out for repairs and diagnosis. I don't hear anything for 4 weeks. I contact support, basically asking, umm, hello, whats going on? Oh! They say, yes, we have your laptop, we'll get you a diagnosis soon. Day later, I get the great news that hey, new motherboard please AND keyboard assay (no idea what that is). No reason why, nothing, just a can we please have $2,000 to fix your laptop (circa 1.5k USD) Now I'm clearly not going to spend that amount of money, money that is enough to buy a new laptop in its own right. Now I also understand that I'm basically crap out of luck and poor me. But as I said, i'm also angry. I spent $3k on a laptop and just over a year and a half later, its basically a metal brick, after I get it back from Razer for a replacement battery, and I didn't touch it for months. So hence here I am, asking, what are my options? Cheers.
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