VPR Service turnaround

[nedlyj]

Sent my VPR 200A5 back directly to VPR in the pre-paid box they sent me last Monday. My wife just called to say that it was just delivered back to me today - a spritely 5 business days from the day I shipped it to them. They only kept the laptop for 3 days.

I won't know until I get back home if all the repairs were completely satisfactorily - but if they are, Wow - what a great turn-around time.

Beats the hell out of dropping it off at BBY and waiting for 8 weeks (sorry Ioman!).

Makes me all the more happy at this point that I cancelled my BBY extended warranty and got the American Express 1-year extension.

-n

[Ioman]

You like making me feel like cow dung don't ya? ;)

I am glad to hear that you recieved your laptop back in a timely matter. It is unfortunate that VPR Matrix is associate with Best Buy in this manner as it is probably tarnishing their image. I know that at my local Best Buy, they pitched to me that VPR Matrix is owned by Best Buy and therefore the extended warranty would allow my computer to be worked on by the same folks at VPR Matrix and within the same time frame. Now we know this is not true.

[kozz]

what's wrong with your 200A?

[nedlyj]

Well, the good and the bad:

I had returned the laptop to service for the screen buzzing (when brightness turned down), loose bezel and also asked them to check the heat issue and see if it was consistent with their experience. Oh, and I also asked them for one of the rear rubber cover blocks (over the rear ports) because mine hadn't come with one.

The laptop was returned and was excellently packaged. Nicely held in the foam inserts and with a protective covering on the screen, and fully encased in a plastic bag/cover.

The screen buzzing was fixed and the checlist noted that they had also replaced the hard drive (apparently for the excess heat) and had replaced the LF inverter - whatever that is. I also had a brnad new rubber cover for the back installed.

Color me impressed!...and then...

I went to turn on the wireless LAN and low and behold that damn little switch broke. Just loosely flops back and forth now like it's not connected to anything. Not five minutes after having it back! I guess it's possible it got disconnected when they were working on it if they had to open the case (again, don't know what the LF Inverter is), or else it was just a "lucky" coincidence.

Oh well, they are sending me another box today to ship it back and get the switch replaced. So I have two days to play some more before having to send it back.

And get this - the rep was VERY apologetic. No hassles.

Regardless, so far I am very impressed with VPR's service directly.

PS - since I have two days before sending this back, anything else I should be testing to make sure it's not broken too? Like those buttons on the front panel. Is there supposed to be much travel and/or an audible "click" when you push them? There's not with mine, so it's real hard to tell if/when I've actually pushed the stop/eject button. Eventually it works, but it might take 3-4 times before I get it to work. It's just hard to tell.

-n

[budsaint]

Curious about the bezel you had repaired. I too sent my box in directly with VPR and experienced a quick turnaround.
However, my bezel looks the same and the rubber feet I had asked to be replaced were never touched. WTF? Is it normal for the screen bezel to have a slight seperation near the latches, and what is the consensus on these feet? Anyone come up with a different idea?

Thanks...

[nedlyj]

budsaint,

I had asked them to check and repair the bezel "if necessary" due to its being loose near the latches and being loose and having a slight gap at the bottom. To fix my screen buzzing issue, they had to remove the bezel altogether anyway. My bezel is now no longer loose at the bottom, but it still has the gap at the bottom when looking down at it (actually it looks like parts underneath the bezel are pushing it out a bit because it's not loose).

But it is still a little loose near the latches. However, from what I'm hearing that appears to be more of a design issue than an assembly issue. The bezel simply snaps in place along the top edge, and because of the cutouts around the latches it's not a snug fit. I think the clips for the bezel are just a little too far away from the area of the latches to hold the bezel tightly there. In other words, short of glueing it in place, there's probably nothing that can be done. No big deal to me.

The one thing I do find annoying is those stupid stick-on dots over the panel screws. If they would have simply made the screws a nice polished stainless (instead of black), they wouldn't have needed to cover them up in such a cheesy way. Hey, does anybody know if you can find a stainless screw in the right size somewhere to replace these? It would definitely fit with the contemporary techno look.

As for the rubber feet, are you talking about the feet on the bottom of the laptop, or the two "feet" at the top of the LCD panel?

-n

[nedlyj]

Aarghh! On further review, it appears my bezel is bent (with a large gap too) near the left latch. It wasn't like this originally (and they did apparently "fix" the other gap at the bottom) so this has now been duly noted on the repair form. Don't know why I didn't notice this at first, but it's a good thing I saw it while boxing it up for its return for the LAN switch repair.

We'll see if they fix it.

-n

[nedlyj]

Well, my laptop arrived back safely and repaired yesterday. Why am I empressed? I shipped it back last Friday in the pre-paid box VPR sent me, it was received by them Monday, it was repaired in a day, and I received it back Wednesday.

My wi-fi switch and motherboard were repaired (replaced?) and my front LCD bezel was replaced - and is perfect. As you all know, it is NOT tight around the left latch, but at least it now fits properly, and my gap at the bottom left is gone as well.

So, needless to say - I am very happy and impressed with my experiences so far with VPR's service center. I can honestly say now that I will NEVER drop the laptop off at Best Buy. And even if I had to pay for service at VPR, it would be worth it.

-n