A warning for those wanting to buy Toshiba laptops....

Firstly, Disclaimer: I'm writing this as a very bitter, angry customer, having been screwed over for the last 12 months....

At my work, we purchase ~400 Toshiba laptops per year, and including extra parts, that means we spend about $1.5mil (aus) per year. You'd think we'd get decent service. Apart from the verbal abuse (some of it quite personal) that we receive from Toshiba and their dealers, they are now renegging on many of their warranty obligations (design faults appear to be a key to Toshiba's success). For instance....

1. Say we damage the network point. The point is built into the mainboard, so $1,100 later, we get another mainboard. Not a new one, but a refurb. We apparently don't deserve new parts. Often the 'new' mainboard has a pre-damaged NIC.

2. Hard Drives. I have had 7 new drives since November, and my laptop doesn't leave my desk. Again, they are refurb drives... ???

3. Screws. They aren't lock-tighted in, and so fall out as soon as you look at them. They cost us $2 per screw to replace. Toshiba admit that they 'screwed up' the design, but still charge anyway.

The problems caused by design faults (which Toshiba refuses to acknowledge) are rejected by the insurance company, on the grounds that they are design faults (clause in the policy - bummer).

Of course, we will never buy Toshiba again (and almost every other organisation in our area are the same), but does anyone have an idea of what we can do? I guess part of my motivation for writing this is to alert you to Toshiba's intense hatred of their customers (at least in Australia), also 'cause I just needed to get this off my chest and I want to know if someone else has had the same problems. Are their support groups? :)

Please feel free to PM me or email me if you have similar experiences :)

wow, that sucks to hear. I was just looking into Toshiba as their laptops tend to have the latest ATI graphic chips.

I dont' want to be a complete turd and just lambast them completely. In US it may be different, so make sure you research more than just the bits in the laptop. Talk to the guys at the local repair centre. Talk to organisations in your area that use Toshiba. There's more to a laptop than just ATI video :)

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Originally posted by Mojo
I dont' want to be a complete turd and just lambast them completely. In US it may be different, so make sure you research more than just the bits in the laptop. Talk to the guys at the local repair centre. Talk to organisations in your area that use Toshiba. There's more to a laptop than just ATI video :)

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You know... you have a very good point. Which is actually why I'm leaning towards an HP. While I've never loved the company I have a couple friends with HP laptops and they say their service is excellent.

Weird, my impression of Toshiba is really high-quality stuff.

Two of my friends have it and they are really happy with it.

But I guess I can't speak for you since you have 400 of them.

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Originally posted by Terry
Weird, my impression of Toshiba is really high-quality stuff.

Two of my friends have it and they are really happy with it.

But I guess I can't speak for you since you have 400 of them.

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We have 1200 of the things, we just cycle 400 per year..... I run the service centre, so please have pity :)

Like I said - it may not be the experience in the US. Maybe you guys get looked after better. Maybe the bigger the customer you are, the more they hate you :)

I just got around 3 to 4 toshiba's laptop around me(including mine) and they all worked great(2 users were new to computers that they call the customer service all the time and they are happy with the service).
However you got 400 for every cycle that might be huge work for them to speed up the production and lowered the quality(maybe?)

Well I've no clue as long as I'm not facing that yet(the probably I'll upgrade to a new one before it's broken) :P

Years ago I had similar experiences with Toshiba America. I moved the notebook business to Dell (~250 units per year).

Geez, I only buy about 20 per year, and IBM treats me like the Golden Child. They'd probably come shine my shoes if I was doing 400 a year! IBM is also coming out with more "flexible" laptops since a lot more users are simply wanting desktop replacements. They've got screen stands for the LCD and detachable keyboards. I saw the prototypes on CNET.

I've had two Dells for about 4 years and haven't had issues with either of them. My last company used Dells and Microns and after about 2 years they phased out the Microns. I haven't even considered buying a Toshiba laptop when shopping. Not that I have anything against them, I just don't consider them in the top 5

Dell
Gateway
Hp
Sony
IBM

These are not in any particular order. These are just what I think are the top 5 laptop companies.

If your company is purchasing so many units, maybe you can negotiate with Toshiba to give you a dedicated support guy.

400 units a year is a drop in the bucket compared to the big purchasers.

I've consulted at several companies that purchased/leased more than 10k units each year since the first Toshiba 80386 luggable was introduced. A laptop in daily use by traveling workers has a lifespan of 2-3 years, if careful.

What kind of discount can you get if you buy 10k units? :)

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Originally posted by ua549
400 units a year is a drop in the bucket compared to the big purchasers.

I've consulted at several companies that purchased/leased more than 10k units each year since the first Toshiba 80386 luggable was introduced. A laptop in daily use by traveling workers has a lifespan of 2-3 years, if careful.

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So a customer buying 400 a year is worthless? I know that's not really what you're saying, but it seems to sum up Toshiba's attitude to us/me. If you considered our buying power as a whole (through our parent offices), it probably is over 10k units per year, with each area making their own decisions. Essentially though, other areas follow us, and so we are realistically worth about 2-3k units per year for Toshiba. Much of the problem actually comes down to one person at Toshiba, and when we leave at the end of the year I/we won't be making a secret about our 'personality clash'. Hell hath no fury like a pissed-off tech with a big budget... :)

What model Toshiba laptops are you buying 400 of a year? Certain Toshiba models like the 2400 series are actually built by Compal. I hear these are of lower quality than those actually built by Toshiba!

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Originally posted by Sparrow
What model Toshiba laptops are you buying 400 of a year? Certain Toshiba models like the 2400 series are actually built by Compal. I hear these are of lower quality than those actually built by Toshiba!

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The problem is very much the quality, but a large complaint of his is also the customer support.

For me, if a computer tends to be golden and never break down, but then I hear their tech support sucks.... Yeah, i'll look elsewhere.

Wow, I never hear any complaints about Toshiba (normally it's from compaq).

Well, an update for those interested...

It's been confirmed that in our area approx 50% of industry are leaving Toshiba this year. Most are blaming ONE person at Toshiba (no names given). I'd hate to be that person. I'm tipping thats about 4-5k units per year, though probably more. Just in one state of Australia. I've been speaking to project managers, and other IT managers in other industries throughout Australia, and they're all leaving Toshiba in droves. Again, many are naming that one individual. Again, I'd hate to be that person.

Toshiba will probably pick up again in Aus, but not before they loose 10... 20.. maybe even 30% of their entire corporate customer base. Maybe none of this relates to US customers, but I'm sure many of you are interested in how they are travelling over here. A loss of this magnitutude will probably be felt across the pacific, I'd be thinking - unless the problem is arrested quickly, and their is no sign yet of that happening.

Oh - and most of those in our industry are going over to Fujitsu, some to Acer. Fujitsu never had much of a presence in Aus until 12-18 months ago, but that's changing. Curious how quickly things move.

400 u/y is a lot of units, but not enough to get you any special consideration. You might want to see what you can get from someone other than the big four. An un-named government div. got 24 hour swap out service on a 50 system order from a small manufacturer. It breaks, it goes back. The first few replacements will be new units, but they will ship the repaired units as replacements once the have some to repair. They also beat one of the big four by $250 a unit on the price.

i have always liked sager and asus for quality and support

but toshiba is pretty bad with post sale support!