Toshiba Sucks!
Created: 2 July 2000

An Open Letter to Toshiba

Christopher B. Sullivan
[address deleted]
San Francisco, CA 94117

July 2, 2000

Toshiba America Information Systems
9740 Irvine Blvd.
Irvine, CA 92618

CC: http://www.feedle.net/rants/toshibaletter.html

To Whom It May Concern:

Sometime a few months back, I brought home a shiny, new Toshiba 1605CDS laptop computer, serial number #[deleted]. It was reasonably priced (around US$1,000), didn't have a lot of strange features, and generally looked like a good little machine. I've purchased a number of Toshiba products over the years, including a Toshiba T1200 laptop, which I'm proud to say, still works (even if the battery is getting a little long in the tooth).

Only three weeks after I bought the machine, tragedy struck. I had the machine on my bed, and I ended up somehow cracking the screen. Oh! The horror! *sigh*... I figured that I was now out about $400, maybe $500. So, I called a local Toshiba service center here in town.

"We can't get the part," the guy said on the phone. "You're gonna have to call Toshiba and have them fix it for you."

This began the worst customer service experience I have ever had with a company, bar none. At every step of the way I was lied to, blown off, ignored, and mistreated. I am never purchasing another Toshiba product as long as I live, and I strongly recommend you don't, either.. especially if you expect to ever expect to get the product serviced.

Now, when I started out, I was perfectly honest with Toshiba: I had broken the display out of an act of stupidity, and I expected to pay what I thought would have been about half the price of the computer to get it repaired. I figured this was an expensive lesson learned, and that I'd be more careful in the future. Besides, they promised that I'd have my laptop back quickly.. "we pride ourselves on only having 36 hour depot turnaround" I was told.

At this point, no mention was made of costs or other issues. I expected that the way this would probably work is I'd get a phone call in the next day or two saying "it'll cost $500, give us a credit card number" and I'd see my machine back in maybe a week.

The next day, Airbourne delivered a packing box. I packed my laptop in the shipping container, called up Airborne and had them pick it up. They did, and it was delivered to Toshiba's service center contractor in Tennesee the next afternoon.

A couple of days went by, no phone call from Toshiba. Now, being as I have worked in a computer repair facility myself, I expected that they'd unbox it, look at the display, and go "gee... another screen replacement" and give me a call with the standard screen replacement price. Most companies that sell equipment with LCD displays know that they break with alarming frequency, and they have a standard replacement cost for broken screens. 3COM goes so far as advance-ships you out a refurbished replacement and then uses your old unit for somebody else. To me, a broken screen is one of those "no-brainer" repairs: you unscrew the plastic, disconnect the old display, connect a new one, screw it back in, and make sure the new display fires up. Total replacement time, somewhere on the order of 15 minutes.

So, I called Toshiba's tech support center. I was told that 'yes, they have it, and you should be hearing from a member of the customer support team any moment now'. I asked if there was some way I could speak to them, as I wanted to expidite the process, if possible.

I was then told something that I still, to this day, have a hard time comprehending. "There is no way of calling the customer service department," I was told. There was a long pause in the conversation at this point, because I was stunned. I think I stammered a faint "excuse me, I didn't quite get that" in absolute shock. "The customer service department has no way of dealing with incoming calls from customers," the Toshiba rep stated.

At this point, I must say, I began to grasp that this wasn't going to be an ordinary experience. A customer service department that has no way of getting calls from customers? Something about this didn't seem right. So, I asked the rep what can be done, and how I can get ahold of this (at this point, mythical) "customer service department" that apparently has no incoming phone number. The rep said that they would "escalate" it, and that I would probably hear something by end-of-business the next day.

"Escalate it." In Toshiba parlance, this apparently means type some notes in the computer, and then hope the customer dosen't call back for a few days. After not hearing from anybody for another few days, I called again.

I'd like to, at this point, digress for a moment and say something about Toshiba's wonderful phone system. It would seem regardless of what numbers you push, you end up getting somebody who answers the phone "Toshiba Technical Support, tech id # xxxx". I'm skipping a lot of the details here, where I was told "oh, you can get customer service by dialing 1, then 3" or the five or six other ways I was told to navigate their ACD system... all of which seems to get more or less the same call center. I was also told to call a couple of different phone numbers, including one 888 number that apparently went to a call center in a Mesoamerican country. None of the options I was ever given gave me to somebody who seemed able to help me with my particular problem. Toshiba's voice mail ACD is by far the most idiotic maze I've ever been through.

The next three or four calls with Toshiba went about the same. I'd call in, navigate voice mail hell, get a Toshiba rep, gave him the serial number. There'd be some typing, and I'd be told something to the effect of "Your repair is on hold... you should be getting a call from customer service," at which point I'd say "but they haven't called me" and they'd offer to escalate it. I'd mention that has been tried, and that has not resulted in a call back. On the final call of this sequence, I demanded to speak to a supervisor or somebody in charge, as this had (at this point) gone on for almost three weeks, and I was nowhere near close to getting my laptop back in my hands.

To this person's credit, they seemed somewhat sympathetic to my cause. He gave me a name, and an 800 number and extension I could ask for to reach him again. He promised that I'd be called by a customer service representative within the hour. After some discussion (I wasn't really happy with this, as I had been told this before and nothing had happened), it was decided that he would call me in two hours to make sure that I had recieved a call back. I begrudgingly figured that was the best I could do, and it seemed that he was actually willing to help me solve my problem, so I said that was okay.

Almost exactly one hour later, I got the call from Customer Service that I had been waiting for. But what she told me blew my mind.

"$950.00", she said.

I almost fainted. Now, because of some store credit I had lingering at CompUSA, I didn't PAY $950 for the entire machine. I gasped and said, "um.. you do know that the MSRP of this machine is $999.99... you mean to tell me that the display represents 95% of the selling price?"

She shuffled some paper, apparently verifying things, and said, "Indeed, the replacement cost of the display is $950.00."

I sighed. I then related to her the entire sob story that I've had in dealing with getting this repair done... how I've had to spend hours on the phone to even get her call, and how it seemed unreasonable to me that the replacement of one component would cost more than my cost to purchase the unit. She asked if I could hold for a couple of minutes, and she'd see what she could do.

I patiently waited, thumbing through various websites seeing if I could find another laptop in the sub-$1000 category, because it seemed that my Toshiba was going to be a very expensive doorstop (or more likely, desktop machine for the wife).

When she returned, she stated that she had talked to her supervisor, and they would this one time replace the display under warranty because of the problems that I've had. I was elated. She then recommended that I purchase their "screen guard" insurance, which was only $250. I stated that had I had known of such protection, I probably would have purchased it, but I was never informed at any point that Toshiba offered such a thing.

She volunteered to give my name and address over to the extended warranty sales department, and they'd get in touch with me. She also gave me a phone number (which turned out to either be wrong, or I wrote it down incorrectly). I hung up, satisfied that my laptop would be winging it's way back to me in a couple of days.

I was even more impressed when the support rep that promised to call me back actually called me back. I thanked him for following up (making sure to tell him that he was the first Toshiba rep I've ever dealt with that did), and told him that I believed that my problems were resolved.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

A week went by, and my laptop was not in my loving arms. So I called back in, and the whole routine started up again. Same routine, down to the (apparently) scripted "your repair is on hold... call coming" nonsense. I said something to the effect of, "but I was called, and we had discussed this, and my machine was supposed to be on it's way back to me by now." I was then told that there was no such record of that call. I at this point asked to speak to a supervisor.

At this point, we were getting on 4 weeks. I was frustrated, and was not satisfied with anything less than assurances that my machine would be in my hands in three business days, repaired or not. Some discussion was had back and forth, and I was told that she could not even guarantee that I'd be able to get my machine back in that time, regardless of the circumstances.

At this point, I got a bit upset. Basically, what I felt I was being told was, "we have your machine, you're gonna play by our rules, nahh nahh, and there's nothing you can do about it." The only problem with this is, that machine is my property, and unless I get it back in three days, you will be hearing from an attorney. I even told her that if necessary I'd sit in your Irvine, California office lobby until I got my machine back (I'm originally from Southern California.. in fact, I used to work right across the street from Toshiba's campus on Irvine Blvd.)

I was, at this point, told I was lying. How did the rep know I was lying? According to this person, "we don't offer a screen protection plan for that model." Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, they had. Here I had an actual Toshiba employee telling me that I was lying: there had been no phone call, there couldn't have been... because information that had been related to me on this phone call was wrong.

At this point, I can't even recall what exactly happened. I was not happy, and was now being called a liar by a representative of a company that was holding my equipment after they had been told, specifically, to send it back. I do recall that I had hung up with this rep, with the understanding that another "customer service" rep would be calling me back shortly with a repair estimate (since in their mind, I apparently never got one in the first place). The customer service person did call me, and again quoted me $950.00. I informed this person (like I informed the other one) that that was 95% of the cost of the machine. This time, after some shuffling, it was changed to $750. I asked if I could get a parts and labor breakdown of that cost. "Oh, we don't have that," she replied.

I stated that while I didn't know the rules in the state she was in, in California you are required to break down repairs between parts and labor, if for no other reason because labor is not taxable by our sales tax laws here. After some mental gearshifting, she was able to get a breakdown of $150 for labor, and the remainder was parts.

I stated that I still believed that $600 was a bit high for a display, and stated that I didn't want to go through with the repairs under these circumstances. I also asked if she had a customer service number I could call to speak to somebody who might be able to remedy this situation, in a last ditch effort to try to salvage something out of this relationship. She gave me an 888 number, different than any number I had called up to this point. I thanked her, and called this number.

The rep who answered this call had a heavy French accent. I explained to this person "the story so far", and basically laid it all out on the line. I explained to her that I was "fed up" at being lied to (and called a liar), and that if Toshiba valued my business as a customer they would find some way of accomodating me in this situation. Our conversation was cordial, she spent some time looking through all the notes. As part of our conversation, she noted that she was in Mesoamerica (I'll leave the country name out, but she did say which country). I was a bit stunned at this. After some back and forth between her and her supervisor, apparently there was nothing to be done. I did want to speak to this supervisor, but I was rebuffed through this rep. I further explained the situation as I saw it: that this was going to be the turning point between Toshiba having a loyal customer, or Toshiba having somebody who would never buy another Toshiba product as long as he lived.

Apparently, the answer was the latter, because I got no concessions at all. I even volunteered to pay up to the cost of the parts, but this was rebuffed.

I did get the laptop back. Strangely enough, even in terminating our relationship, Toshiba even screwed this one up. I didn't get the laptop until three days AFTER the date it was promised to me.

So, How Can Toshiba Remedy This?

As a result of the way I have been treated, I have made this an open letter. I have placed it on my website, and will be submitting it to search engines and placing appropriate "meta" tags so spiders can find it. My desire is to inform others about Toshiba's business practices, and hopefully in the process get Toshiba to change them.

It's a real shame, too. I chose the Toshiba laptop over the competing products because I felt it provided superior price/performance over the others. Now, I'll need to find another brand of laptop to buy.

Signed,

[signature]
Christopher B. Sullivan.

From feedle Thu Oct 26 17:36:14 2000
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 17:27:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: feedle
To: Eclaim Message 
Cc: feedle
Subject: Re: Toshiba Survey

Please do not E-Mail me again unless Toshiba plans on
actually supporting their product.  I am very
dissatisfied with Toshiba's lack of customer service,
and these E-Mails serve to only infuriate me further,
as they are a waste of my time.

If Toshiba cared about how I felt, they'd fix the
problems with my laptop, not hire an outside
consulting company to collect information about how
their customers feel.  If Toshiba cared about my
opinions, they would have called me back when I
inquired about the status of my laptop repair.  If
Toshiba really held customer service as their highest
priority, I would not have needed to write an open
letter and post it on my website
(http://www.feedle.net/rants/toshibaletter.shtml, just
in case somebody reads this who actually DOES care).

So, unless you can somehow ensure that somebody at
Toshiba hears my complaints and helps me resolve my
ongoing customer service problem, stop sending me
these things.  They only serve to reopen a very sore
wound.

-Chris Sullivan


--- Eclaim Message  wrote:
> Welcome to the Toshiba Customer Satisfaction Survey!
> 
> At Toshiba, customer satisfaction with our products
> and services is of paramount importance and we would
> appreciate just a few minutes of your time to
> complete a satisfaction survey. Your honest and
> frank opinions, regardless of how good or bad, will
> most effectively help us help you!
> 
> To access the web survey, please click on the
> following URL:
>
> Please be assured Toshiba will hold all responses in
> strict confidence.

Other Toshiba Sucks! Links

• Toshiba, My Worst Nightmare
  I can certainly relate to some of the letters posted on this site.
• Anti Toshiba Rant
  It did take me a second to figure out what he meant by the logo.

Comments

You cracked your own screen! So, let me get this right...you caused it and you're bitching about it?!? GET A LIFE you nerd! Had you not been rolling over trying to get the lube!

Toshiba laptops suck but if you screwed yours up then shut up

Congratulations on finally figuring out how to use a computer. Must be difficult for a pen to be able to bounce around on the keyboard like that.

For the record, when I started I expected to pay a reasonable repair cost for the laptop screen. Since reading comprehension is apparently not your strongest ability, I point to specifically the line where I said "... I expected that the way this would probably work is I'd get a phone call in the next day or two saying 'it'll cost $500, give us a credit card number'".

The whole point of "customer service", however, is to get service (see definition 6 in that entry). Being quoted a price that is in excess of the street price of the machine still seems a bit ludicrous, and having to spend four weeks of phone tag to get that doubly so.

On top of that, I feel that I was entitled to some sort of comprimise due to the way I was mistreated by this same service organization (see definition 8 of same entry above). I won't rehash all those issues here (but please, try reading the above text REAL SLOW and some of it might stick), but I have never been treated so horribly in my entire life for a product that I paid over $5 for. Heck, I've had Wal-Mart return broken $5 toys with less hassle.

Yep. Toshiba gave me service, alright. Unfortunately, the "service" I got was more like definition # 12 than how I feel a customer should be treated.

I can really sympathize with you. I've had a few similar experiences and it really sucks when they sound like they WANT to help, only to screw you every which way possible instead. As far as I'm concerned your time and aggrevation was just BARELY made up for by the new laptop (that is, if it works).

The reason I came to your site was I just bought a Toshiba cable modem and it won't stay connected more than 3 or 4 minutes - it may be Comcast's fault, or it may be the modem, I don't know yet. Your story makes me hope it's Comcast.

Geeeezzz....you spent more time and energy bitching about somthing you did yourself.....you broke it, you should accept some responsibility. I take it your a GEN-X product yourself. I have a real bitch with Toshiba, but because of people like you, they probably wont take me seriously. I bought a new Toshiba DVD player/changer, and after 6 months the open/close function stopped. My 'authorized' service rep. told me that the part they needed was no longer available (after the $20 service fee) so i had to spend another $20 to send the unit to Toshiba America, and they sent me a re-furbished (warranty void) unit that played for about 1 week before it stopped cold. I just wonder if it wasnt for all the unwarranted B.S. complaints, from those generation x'ers who wont take responsibility for what they do, maybe Toshiba would have had the time to treat me right ? Probably not...but oh well........

Having almost the same problem myself. The question is how does one get Toshiba's attention??
I am at wits end after 5 months and five trips to the depot for the notebook. It always comes back unrepaired, or more bizarre, new parts broken. Any suggestions would be appreciated

To the people who aren't paying attention to the gist of the article, or who aren't able to read very well, you are missing the point. This article isn't about someone who broke his laptop and wants it fixed free. This is about taking a broken item in for repair, taking complete responsibility for the damage, and wanting to PAY to have it fixed. The article is about customer support, not about ripping off Toshiba. What if you mistakenly backed your car into a tree branch that broke your window (and admitted that it was your own fault and were willing to pay for it). Would you be happy with exceedingly poor customer support, then happily wait four months to get your car back? Would people call you a whiner and complain about you "bitching" just because you had to be without your car for four months and got poor customer service? It seems unlikely . . .

I too am fed up with Toshiba I thought as them as the best provider of notebooks till I meet with there tech support they suck man. I bought a 1715xcds in 2001 it worked fine until about 6 months latté the speaker just stopped after going through the ropes I got it send off and it came back they said they replaced it they didn’t know what went wrong (sad story) it worked fine after that till about 1 year later then one night while I was doing school work right in the middle of the work the thing stop it has been almost a year now no answers no solution. I mean it is like so bad that I call them like god know how many times and all they do is come one and say they don’t know what to do. What kind of tech support doesn’t have a clue? I think that that is a common problem since then I have studied and obtain my degree in computer engineering but I don’t mess with laptops and I have done research that problem is common with there products yet they don’t know. The article posted is not about dogging Toshiba but rather at getting the point across and if this is the way it has to be done so be it. I was willing to pay for services cause they say the warranty up nonsense that I could have been given an answer with a price nothing I give up and I too will NEVER buy there products not because there bad but because a good product is as good as its support in there case they suck.

There is a tradeoff between rightiousness and ridiculousness and Toshiba blurs the line. I commiserate totally - worst customer service I have ever seen and product quality that is inferior in every way. Never again any Toshiba product.

While I haven't had near the trouble you've had, I'm not surprised at how poorly you were treated. Toshiba really does have terrible customer support. I purchased a e740 Pocket PC last spring. Complaints about its functionality go unheard, and they backed out on their promise to offer an upgrade to MS PPC 2003. I have vowed never to buy a Toshiba product again, and I wish many more people would do the same. When you pay a premium price, you expect not only good hardware but good support as well.

And, to Matt and PilotVBall, you really should try reading the whole page before you post because you obviously don't understand the situation. Either that, or you're retarded. Speaking of which, if you can't compose a post that is grammatically correct and at least somewhat thought out, few people are going to take you seriously. Notice how well written the rest of the posts are. PVB, please never post anywhere again, ever. Matt, work on spelling and learn the difference between "your" and "you're". End rant.

Save time: formerly complain to the Attorney General of your state. When I have, I received VERY fast and accommodating responses.

When I called Toshiba Support:
I never spoke with someone in the U.S. Response and follow-up were horrible...

I am on radio shows on various stations. As I've told listeners: if you're not willing to throw your money down a hole, I recommend that you do not buy a Toshiba.

And stay away from Tracphone...

Yeah, some people obviously commented here without reading the article they're commenting on. These are the kind of people who apparently work for Toshiba. That said, I can totally relate to this guy. I had a similar problem with my DSL provider in moving my service. Lied to, was told there was no record of previous calls, didn't receive promised call backs, was told that I couldn't call customer service (WHAT???), was immediately charged a termination fee of $250 when I wasn't terminating a contract, simply moving it to another site, was billed for equipment that I already had because they processed it as a new order instead of a move order after specifically replying to an email that indicated my equipment would be shipped in a couple days to state that I HAVE THE EQUIPMENT!!! To which I received a reply that stated, although the auto generated email indicates differently, you will not receive or be billed for equipment. WRONG! Oh and the "escalations" my god man, I know exactly what you're talking about. Three weeks on the phone everyday.

Oh, and as I said about the equipment, I got that charge reversed but I did eventually receive an empty box from them via UPS. I guess they had to go through the motions. Money spent to send me an empty box. Unbelievable

I am having a similar experience with Toshiba Canada. My PDA somehow got water behind the screen. My guess is condensation but who knows? Anyway the screen would not respond to the stylus. The PDA is only 4 months old and they tell me this is not covered under warranty and that the repair estimate is 348.34 - basically the total cost of the unit! I am currently waiting for someone from Toshibas customer service to call me back. After a week of waiting still no response. What do you have to do to get action?

I'm writing this on a Toshiba laptop I bought nearly two years ago. It came with XP pre-installed. The first thing I did was to reformat the hard disk and install a clean copy of Win 2K. I've never had a problem with it since, apart from a strange driver issue here or there. After reading this story, if anything ever does go wrong with it, I'll probably junk it and get a new machine.

My personal worst customer service experiences have all been with telecom providers, both voice and data. The most frustrating one was probably Qwest. My solution: I started to send some detailed, polite rants to CEO Joe Nacchio (I didn't know his e-mail address, but I tried various combinations like jnacchio@qwest.net, joseph.nacchio@qwest.com, ceo@qwest.com, etc. and one of them must have gotten through). The e-mails were similar in tone as what is written here, pointing out Nacchio's responsibility to shareholders for maintaining good customer relations, etc. It worked: the next day, I received a call from a Sr. VP in Nacchio's office, and my troubles were resolved the next day.

The moral: if you can't get a resolution from "customer support" in a couple of phone calls, don't be afraid to go to the top.

Hi, I Googled here by chance but this seems like a good place to vent my frustrations!

Last week I had the misfortune of asking Toshiba Canada's tech support for some seemingly simple info regarding an upgrade for my laptop, Tecra TE2100. Wanting to replace my DVD-ROM with a DVD/CDRW combo drive I checked their site first to find that the only replacement offered for my model is outdated (slow) and overpriced. Including tax and shipping it would be close to 40% of the cost of my laptop when new.

Toshiba's response to my query regarding alternate choices and compatibility was that they "don't know"! When I pointed out that they manufacture a wide variety of drives for not only their laptops but many other brands and persisted in wanting someone to point me in the right direction, support said "there's no one at Toshiba that knows".
Incredulously I asked "what should I do then?" Answer: "Buy the unit you think will fit and work, if it doesn't then return it", suggesting a trial an error method!
By then I was seeing shades of red but managed stay cool. I asked support (and I use the term here very loosely) to let me speak to a supervisor, was refused, but given two options: email addy to repeat my request for info or speak to a customer rep. I replied that I wanted both, was given an email and a case #, and told the rep will contact me within 4 hours.
Email bounced back repeatedly with 'user unknown' message and the rep did not call me.
Following day when I called back I got the same 'support' person who politely listened to my rant, gave me a different email and assured me the rep will call in less than 4 hours. Well you guessed it, another email bounce and no call from the rep.

I did get a call from Toshiba the next day. I thought "finally the rep calls" but it turned out to be a 'satisfaction survey' person following up on support's problem resolution. You can imagine my disposition, my short answers and finally the hard slam of the phone receiver. I did manage to remain relatively civil and in control of my language until I asked for and was denied an alternate contact name, hence the slam.

I gave up on Toshiba Canada's support temporarily, mainly to preserve my sanity, and spoke to a technical rep in a local repair facility that handles Toshiba's warranties. He later sent me an email, this is an exact copy: "Unfortunately using Drives from other models will not Work. If Toshiba does not list it as compatible for your model, then we cannot use it. Each Drive has specific requirements and power specific connections (Due to marketing schemes set by Toshiba). The price of the drive PA3137U-2CD2 is $395. Please let me know if you would like to order this drive." The cost of $395CD he quotes is about $300US, before applying tax and shipping, for a 4xCD-R, 4xCD-RW, 8xDVD Read, 24xCD Read drive kit (same as Toshiba's site price).

As my next move I called Toshiba's Global Support Centre, Laptop Division. The person there did try to find the answer, and after looong pauses and searches suggested some alternatives but would only say that "these should work", I tried but could not get him to say "these WILL work". Increasingly frustrated I managed to get two toll free numbers to call. Genamation (in Ontario) was no help at all, National Part(s?) gave me four part numbers for drives that will work, one of those was the slow drive already mentioned. Another is a drive that I do find acceptable although I'm having a hard time finding it at a reasonable price (#G8CC00010D10, Panasonic UJDA740 for those who may be interested). The other 2 part numbers have not turned up on any of my searches yet. Toshiba US offers another direct replacement drive for my laptop that is comparable to the UJDA740 but will not sell it to people outside of USA.
I'm at the point now where I would even consider getting a DVD-RW if a compatible one exists, although that was not my original plan. But if not from Toshiba where can I find the info needed?

What should only have taken a few short calls and/or quick Googles has taken up a lot of my time, so I am taking a respite from all this. I have had a few more dealings with Toshiba's support prior to this but don't have time to detail those. Have read and now empathize with the other people's incidents. At this point, especially when referring to their support, I am definitely inclined to agree that "Toshiba Sucks", big time!! and wish I had remained loyal to IBM.

Note: conversations in quotes may not be exactly what was said but are as accurate as I remember.

R.O.

I made the collosal error of buying a refurbished toshiba pda from refurbished depot. The customer service at that site rivals toshiba's legendary crappiness. I needed a product activation code which was advertised as included witht he all new materials and when I tried to get them to help me they told me I had to get that from toshiba!!! Little did I know how impossible that was going to be. I too eventually got a person to answer a phone however his job appeared to be to hand out other phone numbers that simply ring and ring. No one answers. My shock came when there was no way to use email to contact cuatomer service or support! This was toshiba! maker of all manner of high tech equipment for use across the internet. How was it possible that they would neglect such a fundamental customer support need? As of this writing it appears that there is now an email contact method. I can only hope hat it does not mirror the "phone support". Four months later I still have no damn product activation key and I can't use active sync. Perhaps if I could hire someone to stay on hold while I do the work I can't abandon to dedicate myself to contacting toshiba, I could possibly have gotten that activation key by now. I even tried again to get refurbished depot to join the battle. There's desperation for you.

Its not so bad that my PDA died after only four months of use - or even that they refuse to fix it under warranty - or even that the cost of the repair is as much as the full retail value....after 3 months of waiting for customer service to contact me I still have had no call. The WORST customer service I have ever seen - do yourself a favour - buy an HP.

Its not so bad that my PDA died after only four months of use - or even that they refuse to fix it under warranty - or even that the cost of the repair is as much as the full retail value....after 3 months of waiting for customer service to contact me I still have had no call. The WORST customer service I have ever seen - do yourself a favour - buy an HP.

Hi

I just want to buy a te2100 and i try to look for more information but there isn't. THey stop selling these. Anyone know why?

To tung: TE2300 is the new version of TE2100. You can still purchase a new TE2100, Google for sources. I've had no problems with mine, exept when trying to get info from "support". But that alone should ring warning bells prior to your purchase of a Toshiba product.
Should you need help be prepared to do your own research, as you can read from mine and most other above post. I finally got the answers to my questions (DVD/CDRW compatibility)- but NOT from Toshiba!!

Cheers,

R.O.

How is it that Toshiba is still in business with what appears to be an anti-customer-service policy (that I have experienced first-hand like many visitors to this site)? They have settled a class action lawsuit for 2 billion dollars for putting desktop processors in their laptops, but apparantly unethical business practices pay off, because they're still practicing.....very discouraging.

I have gone throgh the exact same thing with my Toshiba e740 Pocket PC! Those pricks have such nerve. They wouldn't put me through to customer service, i dialed 2 different numbers, both took me to the same guy, he seemed confused becuase he was the one that got the number. Those foreign people who work there seem very uneducated, it took 3 weeks just to get the packaging box to my place, and another 3 for them to contact me with the price quote (had a broken LCD screen for the pda), i paid $379.99 (CAD) for it, they are asking $366.64 (CAD) for the repair, i have seen lcd parts for other PDA's for under a hundred dollars, i refuse to pay it. We'll see how this story ends...one less customer for toshiba!

I am currently going through a similar situation with Toshiba now. I purchased a brand new Toshiba laptop for a little over $3000.00 and had it for two months before the DVD ROM blew and the thing began to over heat and shut off. So I call customer service and they set it up were I can bring the laptop to one of there local service centers, now mind you I brought this computer in September 2003 and brought it to this shop November 2003. Originally they told me it would be fixed in two weeks, i called in every two weeks from the day i droped it off and it was never fixed.So after 3 months of calling and getting the run around, I called Toshiba customer service and they PROMISED if i sent it to there Kentucky service center it would be turned around in 2 weeks. So two weeks has come and gone and I hadn't heard anything from there service center so I call customer service and demand to speak to customer relations who were no more help the the customer service people. I mean what the hell is that department for anyway- to tell you I'm sorry but we can't help you either.So I demand to speak to a manager or anyone higher then that stupid department and all they could do was give me the Irvine, CA address. So basically I have spent $3000.00 on a computer that i have used for 2 months and really haven't seen since. If there is anyone who can give me any advice, names, phone numbers on who to call or what I can do can you please post it at this web site or email: twilight0423@aol.com your help will be truely appreciated.

Here is my ongoing story with Toshiba and their crappy customer support....

February 21, 2003 I purchased a Toshiba laptop, model 2435-S255. This laptop met my work and personal needs by having the following features: Pentium 4 processor, 512 MB of RAM, and most importantly a 32 MB NVIDIA graphics controller. I specifically choose a laptop with an external graphics controller in that I run software requiring hardware acceleration.
October 11, 2003 I started experiencing problems with the laptop, specifically the keyboard stopped responding. The following day I called the Toshiba support hotline to have my problem diagnosed. The technician was unable to diagnose the problem and referred me to CSS Laptop Service Centers in New York City. I took my laptop to them on October 16, and waited 2 weeks for the repair to be completed. Upon picking it up I was told the keyboard was broken and needed to be replaced, which CSS Laptop Service Center had already done. I insisted on testing the laptop while still at the repair center. It failed to work. I then waited another 3 weeks for it to be repaired the second time. This time I was told the mother board had to be replaced and the problem was now fixed.
After this repair the unit worked for a short time (a few weeks at most) then the keyboard problem came back. I again took the laptop back to the service center to receive new hardware. After not being satisfied with the service I was given the clue to ask for a case number so that my computer service problems could be tracked. This only happened after I had spent countless times on the phone calling the support center and not having anyone log my information. Often when calling the help center I was put on hold for over 20 minutes and then asked to recount my entire story. I wasted several hours on the phone collectively. Every time I called I asked that I get a return call updating me on the status of the repairs. Very rarely did I ever get a return call.
Upon return from the service center the computer clock no longer could hold the time of day. Again, I was told the mother board needed to be replaced. When I got the computer back the keyboard problem again showed up. On December 30, 2003, after 4 times of being “fixed” I started asking the call center representative for a way to get my money back or to get a new computer. I then went through the lengthy process to have my computer diagnosed as unfixable. This process took 3 weeks.
I was told I would be getting a replacement computer that would be of equal or greater compatibility to my present unit, and that I should send my defective unit within 5 days of the offer or the offer would be withdrawn. I complied but ended up having to wait another 4 weeks before I received the replacement on March 23, 2004. Upon receipt of the unit I attempted to boot the computer but it failed to start. I called the support hotline and the technician again failed to diagnose the problem. He had me attempt to hook the laptop to an external monitor but that failed to produce any results. I was giving a new case number and told to send the computer to CPU Computer Repair in San Jose, CA. I finally received the computer back a week later.

Upon using the computer and loading software that I previously used on my old laptop, I noticed the video performance to be anything but acceptable. I then checked the system properties and found that the replacement model (A25-S307) does not use dedicated video memory (from a video card) but rather shared system memory. For the software that I use I would never purchase a computer (laptop or desktop) that uses shared memory. I specifically purchased the old model because it contained a separate video controller with dedicated video memory.
I immediately called the service center, and was given a new case number. I was referred to a "Customer non-Service Representative" at the “Toshiba Global Support Center Customer Relations Depot”. I originally dealt with this same representative in reference to my original case number. I found his service previously to be mediocre at best in that I was told numerous times he would call me with status updates but rarely did. This time I was told there was nothing he could do about this computer being incompatible for my needs, and that I should be satisfied that I received a replacement. I find this to be unacceptable in that I purchased something that I could use, but now have something that is basically useless to me.

FYI, the replacement is also a reconditioned unit not a brand new one. Therefore, I've inherited someone else's lemon. As of now, I am waiting for Toshiba's response to see if I can get something more compatible to my needs, not Toshiba's.

remove the NOSPAM if you want to email me

The following is a letter that I sent to toshiba regarding my Satelliet 1900 which truly sucked:

June 20, 2003

cc: Christie Bert, Customer Service Representative, Logicorp 604-647-0261.

Dear Toshiba,

my name is Jonathan Elkins. I am the systems manager at a medium sized charter bus company in British Columbia. I have been a loyal Toshiba customer for over five years. We have a 50 workstation network with six users that are regularly out of the office. Though we do not have a lot of laptop computers at our company the only ones that I have purchased have been Toshiba. My employers are reluctant to provide more laptops because they feel that laptops are too fragile and that the benefits of portable computing are outweighed by the unreliability of the units.

Last year I purchased a Satellite 1900 OFS. from London Drugs in New Westminster, British Columbia. Being able to work on projects on this laptop has been very productive. It became a workstation replacement for me. My enthusiasm for it was going a long way to convincing my boss that maybe laptops were a good way to increase productivity. I thought he was considering getting one for himself.

On April 22 of this year my laptop stopped working quite suddenly. It refused to boot, displaying only a blank screen. I removed the battery and unplugged it to try to reset it but nothing worked. I called Toshiba support and they advised that I send it to an authorized service centre. They gave me the name of Logicorp in Vancouver.

Logicorp said that it needed a new motherboard and that it would take a month for parts from Toshiba. Also in need of repair was the screen case which had a hair line crack in the back from flexing as the case was opened and closed.

A month without a computer is a ridiculously long time for someone that makes their living as a IT Systems manager.

After two weeks I called Logicorp and asked how they were doing with my laptop. The technician said that in fact he had just finished repairing it and I could pick it up. Less than an hour later he called back and said that it was no longer working. He said that it was experiencing the same problem: unable to boot; blank screen. He had to order another motherboard and said that I would have to wait another two weeks.

By the end of May it had been a month without my computer. Logicorp finally informed me that my laptop was ready and I could pick it up or have it sent by courier. I picked it up at their downtown office.

Back at my office I sat down to use it for the first time. I found that it was still broken! To my horror it was exhibiting the same problems that I had originally taken it into repair for: unable to boot; blank screen.

Utterly frustrated I to returned it Logicorp. In less than a week they told me that it was fixed again. They replaced the main board for the third time! I went back downtown and got the computer. This time I checked it at their office before leaving.

It seemed to run without problems for about a week then it broke for the fourth time! Imagine my shock and disappointment. It displayed exactly the symptoms as it had the other three times.

Here was a tool that I was touting to my employers as something to boost productivity and convenience that broke four times in less than two months! It not only broke but seemed un-fixable.
I phoned Toshiba support (Case number 1-2585864) immediately and explained my plight. The technician was very understanding and admitted that something would have to be done to restore my faith in Toshiba. He elevated my case to Customer Relations. The next day I received a call from Mike (Case number 1- 2613857). He suggested that Toshiba look at the unit instead of an authorized service center, which leads to this letter and this package.

I am very clear what I would like. Reliability is of the utmost importance. I no longer think that this computer is reliable nor can it be made so. In fact I am having my doubts about laptops in general. I would like a full refund for this unit. It has caused me nothing but frustration as well as many days of lost work. Why at this point would anyone even bother to fix this unit is beyond me. After three main boards, a new screen, and the associated labour costs the price of the original unit has had to have been exceeded. The unit is proving to be unreliable. I could never trust it to work for an extended period of time.

As a denouement to this sad story: last week my boss said that he was reconsidering his ideas about laptops. He thought that maybe one would be a good idea. He travels a lot and is quite computer savvy. I told him my story. Needless to say he is now reconsidering the purchase. He now wonders if maybe they are only meant to run for a couple of hours a day. That maybe they are too fragile to be used as a main workstation. I pointed out to him that I do not leave it running twenty four hours and that I do not even move it around that much. I don't travel very often, or use it much out of the office. I have not been rough with it in any way.

Maybe I have a "lemon", or maybe this particular model is a poor design, or maybe Toshiba's reputation is in decline, or maybe my boss is right.

Jonathan Elkins.
Systems Manager
Vancouver Tours and Transit
Delta, British Columbia

My own personal horror story with Toshiba is at the link above. While my product still works as it originally did, the experience I have had speaks to Toshiba's obvious customer-loathing. They will not provide an upgrade that every single other PDA maker has provided, even makers of PocketPC phones. They very concept of "upgradable" to Toshiba is laughable. I will NEVER buy another of their products, regardless of what it is.

I'm a little dismayed to find this site, which I found by googling "Toshibasucks" just to see if there were any other people experiencing the same problems I was in getting through to Toshiba customer "service."

In October of 2002 I ordered a Toshiba PDR 3310 Camera, serial #97641627,
through Amazon, and arranged for it to be delivered to my sister in Point
of Rocks, Maryland, USA. I arrived in the USA in late October, took
possession of the camera, used it on my trip, and returned to Thailand
with it in November of 2002. It worked properly until I was on a trip to
Vietnam in December of 2003.

I never registered the camera with Toshiba, taking my chances due to where
I bought it vs where I intended to use it. I have never had any problem
with Toshiba products before, and assumed, as it turned out, that it would
not fail in the first year. It lasted 13.5 months. A technician in Vietnam
stated that the autofocus ribbon cable had broken from fatigue, but that no
parts were available to him at that time.

I approached Siam TV Chiang Mai (Thailand), Toshiba's local representative, and
they sent the camera to Toshiba in Bangkok for an estimate prior to having
the problem fixed. Toshiba Bangkok came back with an estimate of THB
30,000.00 to repair the camera. The head of service at Siam TV contacted Bangkok in
order to determine if they had misplaced a decimal point. This translates
into $767.26 (USD) at current conversion rates, or 154% of what I paid for
the camera new, which was unacceptable.

The camera was then carried to the USA by my daughter, who sent it to the Toshiba repair center (United Camera in Illinois) after they quoted me a cost of approximately $150.00 plus shipping & handling. When the camera was sent, I was charged $167.00. After failing to hear back for about a month (15 day turnaround), my daughter contacted United Camera and was told that Toshiba was slow in sending the part. She then emailed them, and received the following reply:

> I am sorry that your repair is taking longer than
> expected. Unfortunately,
> your camera was re-estimated because the camera is
> in need of a new lens
> assembly Your additional cost for repair is $129.22.

So now they have the camera, and $167.00, and want another $129.22. I can get an equivalent Kodak or Nikon for under $200.00, and am about to do so. Having read all the above stories, which are worse than mine, I have decided to cut my losses and just write the camera off. I'll post another letter if I do not get my money back.

Sorry - I left off the personal information. I can be contacted at robertstem@yahoo.com. If Toshiba management reads this site, as well they should, then they can feel free to contact me. Thanks for creating the site.

Nice blog, just wanted to say I found you through Google

On January 2004 I bought a Toshiba Satellite A30 notebook. One month later some keys started to fall off the keyboard and couldn't get snapped back into place. I called Toshiba tech support about it and was told that even though the computer was under hardware warranty, problems with the keyboard were not, because they are considered "misuse".(I use the computer strictly for business applications.) I was told to bring it to a service centre, but reading this website I think I better keep it with me the way it is.

In contrast, my previous notebook was an IBM ThinkPad T-series. A couple of weeks before the end of its 3 year warranty period I called them because a key in the keyboard was becoming loose. They promptly sent me a prepaid shipping box, and three days later I had my notebook back; they had replaced the entire keyboard and thoroughly cleaned the entire machine. This was followed by a courteous phone call asking if everything was okay.

Toshiba products suck and with them you definitely get less than you paid for.

Keys falling off definitely is something that seems to go around. My company used to use mainly Toshiba laptops... Tecra at that (their top of the line). My 9000 worked great (meaning only replaced the MB once). The 9100's started to have keys falling out, burnt MB, USB slots that don't work and the list goes on.
Their tech support even shipped the wrong machine back to my users!! (Gawd, good thing the HD was first removed from the system, who knows who got my users machine). Sigh...
Anyways...we are now proud users of IBM Thinkpads. :)

I was just looking up an address for the customer service department for Toshiba when I ran across this web site. I bought a satellite lap top from Toshiba about 3 months ago. The power button on the lap top broke, a rather crucial feature of a computer. I sent the computer back and 3 weeks later they returned the computer to me. Guess what, They didn't fix the computer, the power button still didn't work. Not a hard thing to check prior to sending the computer back to me. Six weeks later, and I still don't have my computer back. Its a nightmare!

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