The thread for flipping shits (and tables)

Some of you who follow me on tumblr and twitter have heard a bit of the laptop saga. It appears to finally be coming to an end, 2+ months later. I'm going to write it up here because i'm so angry about it i'm literally crying, right now.

Okay, so. Near the end of March, Ren and i ordered a laptop each from mightyape (a company based in auckland, up north, that has in the past been very reliable. They mostly do tech related products but do all sorts tbh). Ren likes gaming and i need to run a bunch of art programs, so we figured the same laptop would be best and so cool whatever ordered it. Two weeks later, we hadn't been charged and we didn't have any laptops.

We email mightyape to find out what happened; apparently the laptops (that were listed in stock, then later listed as in stock with a supplier aka it's going to take you a few days longer to get them) had apparently stopped being made and didnt exist any more. They apologised, and suggested a replacement. We agreed, and ordered the new laptops.

After a little while, the new laptops arrive. Ren opens his and starts installing things etc and is well set up by the time i wake up and start unpacking mine. I turn it on, try to set up a windows live account and suddenly the screen goes black. Hmm, weird. I fuck around with it for half an hour (the screen intermittently flashes and comes back a couple times) before deciding nope, this laptop is definitely fucked. Ren offers his to me but i tell him no, he already has his set up so we'll just contact mighty ape and get a replacement.

We email them, and they send a shipping label to us. It arrives a couple days later, and we box up the laptop and send it off. It takes their expert tech guys over a week to decide yes, this laptop's screen cuts out when you do something sch as: open the lid, try to log in, use it at all

They email us saying okay yea this laptop is toast, we'll send you a new one. I'm kind of upset at this point but figuring that its not their fault, and just a bunch of bad luck. They promise it will be sent with one day shipping, so it arrives as fast as possible.

A few days later we get a notification that it has shipped. It has been sent with economy shipping. It is a friday, and a long weekend (p much every new zealand holiday is moved so that they can create long weekends, which is important in this story. i don't think i mentioned but this happened with the original laptop too). it doesn't arrive till wednesday, at which point i am fuming. I open the box, take out my new laptop, start getting it set up and then the screen cuts out again. Oh no, i think. Maybe its not broken and its just a small glitch. I reboot it and it happens again, though this time i can use it enough that i set up an account etc. If you knock the lid, the screen dies. This laptop has a touchscreen, which is now pretty much non functional because you can't jostle the screen too much. You can't close the lid without playing the half hour which angle can i open this laptop to at a usable level game (when the screen cuts out, it has to be put into sleep mode and reawakened for the screen to even turn on again).

Its not as bad as before, so i decide that i'm sick of dealing with mightyape and will just deal with it. I install my programs, decorate it and then after a week or two decide no, i actually cannot and should not have to deal with this so send mightyape another email saying that we're going to pick a repair company down here and they'll pay for it, because i have no faith in them shipping anything, They reply oh okay but anyone but our certified repair folks will totally void the warranty, and considering how terrible the experience has been so far i don't want to do that.

So we do the wait for shipping label/send it away/let them check it etc dance again. The distinct implication we've gotten from these messages is that mighty ape has an in-house repair team; in fact that wording might have even been used? we get informed that the laptop will need to be sent away for repairs, making it take even longer. We are given a refund on shipping costs and a $20 credit for the store.

Weeks pass. The repair is finally complete. It gets sent to us with economy shipping again despite promises, and again over a long weekend. Miraculously, it actually arrives on the tuesday this time, and Ren opens it before i wake up to tst it. By the time i wake up, he comes into our room to tell me "bad news; it's still broken." You've got to be kidding me. He thinks it's less broken than before, but by the time i try it out the screen will not work at all at anything greater than a 45 degree angle to the keyboard and cuts out if you dare try to log in. We send a couple of angry emails to no reply, and so i decide no fuck that i'm going to call them.

I called them yesterday. The person on the other end apologised at me for about 20 minutes solid and told me neither of her managers were here so she couldn't do anything. Can i call back tomorrow after i've talked to them? Ugh, fine. They call back today and Ren takes the call. He tells them at my request that we want a refund, and they tell him basically that its all asus's fault and don't offer any sort of compensation or sya that they can do anyting. We'll only get our 1.8k (of money we really don't need to be spending!!! but i need this laptop to work!!!) once they get the laptop back and confirm that yes, they managed to not only not fix it but make it worse. They send a shipping label.

I'm lying in bed during this. I'm having a bad time with my depression right now, and my doctor has basically told me it's all my fault and i'm not trying hard enough, plus reduced my meds. i let ren take the call for this reason despite him having huge phone anxiety and generally not being good with phone calls, so he kinda lets all this slide and then tells me this and i just lose it. I get super angry at mightyape and have spent most of the day lying in the dark crying? This is just another setback that i really don't need right now. I've been without a functional laptop for over 2 months. Down $1800 with nothing to show for it.

"oh but have a $20 voucher"