Don't buy eMachines!

A handwritten letter I will be sending in the post tomorrow:

To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Christopher Langston and I purchased an eMachines M6811 notebook in August 2004. It was defective out of the box, however the problem was only a minor irritant which I thought that I could live with. Lately, however, the notebook has stopped recognizing when the power adaptor is plugged in, thereby rendering it impossible to recharge the battery. I called technical support and easily received an RMA number for repairs. I was told, however, that under the terms of the warranty, shipping costs are only covered within North America. This poses a problem since I am currently a student in Oxford, England. I phoned again to customer service and asked if any concession could be made, but I was told flatly that "eMachines will not pay for shipping outside of North America." I understand this is eMachines standard policy, and that if they were to offer shipping around the world it would cost too much, however given the current circumstances - the fact that it was a manufacturer's defect and that I am a student who is dependent on his computer - I was hoping that eMachines would be willing to pay the bill. The customer service representative said you would not, and that anyone else I asked at eMachines would give me the same response. I have enclosed a copy of the shipping receipt with this letter to show you the exact cost of shipping this back to North America, with insurance. I could have sent it via surface and lessened the cost, however that would have taken several months and as I mentioned previously, I am rather dependent on my computer. I expect that it will cost equally as much to have my computer shipped back to me here in the UK.

I am writing this letter to inform you that I will never purchase another eMachines product ever again, and will inform my friends and family about my notebook being defective from the start, as well as the poor way that you handled this situation. I will also be posting a copy of this letter on my world wide web site. Once again, I recognize that it is not eMachines policy to pay for international shipping costs, however I learned long ago that the way to make any customer a loyal customer is to go out of your way for them when you make a mistake. You have sold me a faulty product, you have cost me my time while I live without a computer during its shipping and repairs, and on top of that, you have made me pay for the shipping to North America out of my own pocket. This is why I will never purchase another product made by eMachines and advise everyone I know to do the same. I await your response.

Sincerely,
Christopher Langston
[signature]
[England address]
[Canada address]
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So there you have it! Don't buy eMachines! For the record, shipping will cost me somewhere between 65 and 90 POUNDS STERLING, which is around $200 Canadian. And that's just one way! I bought their product expecting that it would function as promised, it's not my fault that it doesn't, therefore I don't think I should have to spend another $300-400 in order to get it repaired. It would be nice to receive a cheque back from them covering the total shipping costs, but to be honest I'm not really expecting anything besides a form letter saying that they're 'sorry for the defect' and that 'international shipping isn't covered under the warranty terms.' Fine, I know...next time I'll spend the extra money on a Toshiba or IBM and get the customer service that goes along with it.