Acer Aspire 6930z

In March I bought an Acer Aspire 6930z laptop for £399.

It's a pretty robust machine and has some good features. It's pretty powerful with an Intel T3400 2.1 gig processor and 3 gig of ram.

After a couple of months, the touchpad stopped working- the pad and the left and right click buttons. I was sure this was hardware related, but went through the usual procedures such as update the driver, system restore, back to factory defaults etc.

Contacted Ebuyer and they didn't try to run through lots of fixes, but immediately arranged a return. They confirmed the fault was a hardware failure and said a new laptop had been shipped, which I received within a week of returning the faulty machine.

What a fantastic service! Can't fault them. I have shopped with Ebuyer for a number of years, never had an issue before and when I did, got a fantastic service.

Then, a couple of months later, the touchpad failed again. Contacted Ebuyer who said I needed to send it back to Acer because they had no replacements and if they attempted a repair it would void my Acer warranty.

Now I know under UK law I could have insisted they deal with the issue since my contract was with them and not with Acer. But Ebuyer have never let me down and I didn't want to get all legal and bolshie with them. So I contacted Acer. A return was arranged for Monday. My laptop was beck today. In fact, about half an hour ago. I haven't unpacked it yet, but assume that it is repaired. (I'll soon let you know if it isn't!) Once again, can't fault the service. I was a little worried since I had read horror stories on the 'net where Acer had held laptops for months, were unable to locate them etc.etc. So I thought let's show the other side- the stories that are rarely reported, where the service is excellent.

Just a couple of issues I have- so let's hope somebody from Acer reads this.

First, the helpdesk seems to have been outsourced to India or some similar country. I had some difficulty understanding them and making myself understood. This of course meant the cost of calling them will be greater than calling a UK helpdesk who would not have needed to repeat, nor me repeat to them almost every statement and comment.

Also, the fact that this is twice the touchpad has failed. It suggests that the touchpad may be poorly designed. Which means it will be an ongoing issue, beyond the warranty. I do hope not!