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General discussion

Experiences with Toshiba

Feb 7, 2005 12:13AM PST

Toshiba makes good computers, I have to admit, but the level of customer support offered is pathetic. The following is the text of a letter I'm sending to the head of Toshiba America and Toshiba Japan. "*****" indicates an omission.


February 7, 2005


Hideo Ito
Toshiba America, Inc.
1251 Avenue of the Americas
Suite 4110
New York, NY 10020
**************

Dear Mr. Ito:

I?m writing out of anger and frustration at my treatment by Toshiba. I purchased a Toshiba Tecra M2 through Toshiba Direct earlier this year. The computer has given me nothing but problems ? all of which are Toshiba?s doing (as you will see below). I need you to help fix this problem. I?m a ****** and I should be in your target market for the computer, which, as you know, is the top-of-the-line business mobile laptop. Instead, after spending over $2,200 on the computer, I?ve gotten nothing but excuses and lies from Toshiba personnel. If I receive no help from you, I intend to publicize this treatment by Toshiba to every person I can ? I am that fed up.

I configured and ordered the computer on Jan 15, 2005, and the computer was shipped to me on January 24, 2005. I have included the email receipt. The Serial No. of the computer is **********.

There was an immediate and serious problem with the computer: The Super Multi CD/DVD Drive would not close. I spent many minutes talking to Toshiba technicians who at first tried to treat this as a ?software problem.? After much back and forth, I was sent a box to send the computer to the Toshiba repair Depot. I specifically asked that the computer be sent back to me overnight because I was in urgent need of it. I also sent the following note in the shipping box:

I need this computer for work, so I would appreciate your taking care of the problem soon. If you replace the drive, please make sure that the new drive is also a super multi drive, because I will need to record DVDs.

The computer was sent back after ?repair? by 2 day mail. I found out that Toshiba had ?fixed? the problem by replacing the defective Super MultiDrive I had ordered and received (which supports ?RW and +RW formats) with a Multidrive (which does not read +RW) formats. This is either incredible incompetence, theft, or downright fraud. Because of my note above, which specifically pointed out that I had ordered the Super multi drive, I am inclined to think that this was theft or fraud, and also that it was a deliberate policy on the part of Toshiba.

I have now spent several additional hours on the phone with Toshiba Customer Support, most recently with a ?supervisor? named ?*****? at your Toronto, Canada customer support center on ********, 2005. There is still no solution in sight. I do not appreciate being treated this way after paying so much money. Unless this problem is fixed immediately, i.e. a new drive is sent to me or a properly configured computer is sent to me overnight at your expense, I intend do what is in my power to spread the word about Toshiba America?s shabby treatment of its customers. I will also pursue any other remedy I have available.

One unacceptable way to fix this problem is for me to have the computer sent to the depot again. I cannot part with the computer since I use it for work. Further, since my personal data is now installed on the computer (after many hours of downloading) I will not ship my computer anywhere for fear of identity theft. This is a problem that Toshiba created ? and it should be fixed by Toshiba. You should either send a technician to my office or you should send me a super multidrive with instructions for installing. (I?m pretty capable technically and can do the job. Indeed, the first time I called Toshiba Tech Support, technician had me remove the and reinstall the drive.) I will send Toshiba the other multidrive provided you send me a postage paid envelope.

I also want to bring to your attention the treatment I received at one of your customer support employees ? somebody named ******** ? who I spoke to on February 5, 2005. He was rude, dismissive, and incompetent. He asked me to download a patch to a program, without making sure I had the program I was downloading the patch to ? another example of Toshiba wasting my time.

Here are the details you will need to fix this problem:

? The latest ticket no. is *********.

? The computer was sent to your Louisville, Kentucky depot. The technician who did the repair and stole my super multidrive is identified as *****. The bottom of the Repair Summary indicates that this person?s last name is ?********."

? I am including copies of the following to assist you in fixing my problem:

1) Original email receipt showing that I ordered the Super MultiDrive in the Tecra M2;
2) Repair Depot Packing Slip;
3) The note I sent with my computer to the repair depot; and
4) The Repair Summary sheet.

Again: Words cannot describe how fed up and angry I feel towards your company at this point. Toshiba has wasted my time, drained my energy, destroyed any good feeling I might have had towards it. I need you to fix this problem right now. Please call me at ********** to confirm that you are dealing with this.


Sincerely,


**************

Cc: Yoshihiro Matsumoto,
Toshiba America Consumer Products
82 Totowa Rd
Wayne, New Jersey 07470

Tadashi Okamura
Toshiba Corporation
1-1, Shibaura 1-chome, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 105-8001, Japan

Deborah Majoras
Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20580

Discussion is locked

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they may make good ones.but thay dont stand behind the bad 1
Feb 8, 2005 3:05PM PST

nuff said

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you sure told them
Feb 8, 2005 10:56PM PST

WOW, good going. I would like to hear what the response is. let us know if they fix it Wink

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Welcome to Toshiba
Feb 12, 2005 3:49AM PST

I say this with all the compassion I can muster as I definately feel your pain here, but Toshiba is known for this.

Quality sucks. Support sucks. Customer Service sucks.

That's Toshiba in a nutshell. You have my sympathy, I just wish I could help you. In fact I can. I can tell you with personall vigor that Dell's tech support and in fact HP's support is MUCH better.

Maybe that's a lesson for next time, I just hope they do you right in this instance. Man I feel for ya. Good luck.

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UPDATE on Experiences with Toshiba
Feb 14, 2005 12:47AM PST

FIRST, a clarification: Unlike others who have posted on this thread, I do not agree that the quality of Toshiba Computers sucks. Many reviews posted on this and other web sites imply that other brands are faster, better, more value, etc., but in my experience that's just not true. For instance, I've heard horror stories about Dell -- far worse than mine. The Vaio line is pretty much banking on the Sony name -- delivers lousy value for money (compare the prices on sonystyle versus toshibadirect). I didn't like the "feel" of HP/Compaq laptop keyboards (although this brand is being pushed hard in BestBuy, Staples, etc.). IBM is wa-ay too expensive. So that leaves (among the top brands) ... Toshiba. I agree that their customer support is terrible, hence my initial post. But that should not take anything away from the general quality of their computers.

Here's an update on my experience: After sending my letter to various corporate offices, I received several calls from "corporate referral" departments. In the mean time, I was working through the customer relations channel to get the computer fixed. Unfortunately, I did have to send the computer to the repair depot one more time. But I got the sense that the corporate referral people were genuinely concerned. I'm currently testing my laptop; it *appears* to be fine, but I will post a final update after further testing.

ADVICE: Here are some pointers for other customers who have problems: Your initial "problem" call is directed to a call center somewhere (mine was directed to Toronto, CA and Istanbul, Turkey). You need to get past this hurdle to really get your problem fixed. My advice to you is to stay calm and go through the motions with these people as they make you perform stupid computer tricks, e.g., "have you tried restarting your computer? let's do it now". Once they run out of tricks, and if your computer is still having problems, INSIST on speaking to "customer relations." These are the people who can really deal with your issue.

Good luck. I will post a final update after testing my computer fully.

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Love Toshiba if you want....but.....
Feb 15, 2005 9:34PM PST

My company ordered 60 Toshiba Tecra S1 laptops less than a year ago. We had to send 8 of them back right out of the box. In the last 2 months, we have sent an additional 6 laptops back for various defects; mainly defective hard drives. When we called Toshiba for support, they asked us things like "Are you sure these are Toshiba devices?" Well...it has the Toshiba name on it, I think I can still read. We were then instructed to go back to the person we bought them from who said it was up to Toshiba to provide support.

I will never buy a Toshiba product for myself in light of this situation. Even if they happily replaced every defective laptop we had, I still cannot believe a company can still be in business by distributing such junk.

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Similar experience with Toshiba
Feb 23, 2005 12:45AM PST

I sent my laptop to Toshiba over a month ago to have the LCD replaced due to an internal crack. I spoke with them before sending it and they said the rapair would take 3 to 5 business days. They neglected to tell me that they had no idea how long it would take to get the part from "overseas". Since having it, the repair depot tells me each week they expect the part on Tuesday, the day they say the overseas shipment comes in. I call every Wednesday morning only to be told the part hasn't come in yet and that it is on the list of parts to be delivered the following Tuesday. I have asked for managers, supervisors, an executive director, anyone that could possibly tell me more. They will only transfer me to a case manager, a different one each week. I am so frustrated that I went looking for others' experiences with Toshiba and found your great letter. I am going to send one too.

I wondered if you could post the number that you called to speak with customer relations?

Thank you!

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Toshiba Cust Relations
Feb 27, 2005 5:22AM PST

Ok -- here it is. Happy coaxing.
1 866 673 8414 ext 3.