Microsoft crack habit reports: User claims Surface Laptop 3 screen fractured again after repair Screens on Microsoft's Surface Laptop 3 have appeared to develop a crack habit, with one of the latest complaints claiming this happened even after repair. Reports on Twitter noted whinges sprouting on Reddit and Microsoft's own support forums last week about the new hardware appearing to suffer from spontaneously cracked …
"It's always nice when customer support basically tells you to your face that you're a lying twat, isn't it ?"
Unfortunately having been a helpdesk monkey in the past, one of the truisms of the industry is that Customers Lie. Which means that when YOU call with something like this; a completely legitimate yet (on the face of it) difficult to believe problem, you're typically following a long line of people who HAVE dropped/mishandled their shiny yet are also claiming it 'just fell apart in their hands'.
That's why companies that do proper defect analysis and proactively take action when a recurring design fault is identified are so valued.
Yep. Many years ago I worked for a PC manufacturer and laptop screen issues would not be logged for replacement without pictures of the screen. This was due to the cost of sending engineers out to replace parts which were clearly user damaged from the visible outline of the pen they had left on the keyboard when they closed the lid. Or in one case, a tin of Vaseline lipbalm.
"I dropped it down the stairs a day before the warranty expired. What do you mean you are not giving me a free replacement? What point is the warranty if I don't get a free one?"
Actual conversation with a customer. No they did not have a paid for warranty either.
Ah yes I remember a brand new Panasonic Semi Rugged Toughbook was sent to site, was reporting not working.
Photos showed clearly something sharp had been stabbed at the screen and I could see remotely it had been used that day, after some denials I gave up and got it repaired making sure to cross charge the department for the repair (Which was 1/3 of the price of the machine).
Ah, the good old 'semi'-rugged. Users would see 'rugged' in the description and believe that their laptop would somehow survive being dunked in concrete (true story), left on a car roof until it took flight (true story) or put through Heathrow baggage handling without any protection whatsoever (true story). And then return them saying "It's rugged, so should have been able to handle it".
Sweet memories.
I had an issue like that once before - old nokia phone, put the end of it into my pocket and dropped it the rest of the way, then realised that I wanted to set an alarm and instantly pulled it out again. It wasn't the glass that had broken though, instead, the LCD display had cracked and the liquid had gone everywhere inside.
IIrc it was eventually replaced under warranty, but after a rather long 'fight'. I'm still not quite sure how I would have broken it in that manner without destroying or obviously damaging the externals of the phone.
The golden rule of technical support, if someone sends a SYN packet requesting to connect to the "I know what I am doing" port you reply with a RST unless the correct options are present.
The problem is that these days "technical" support is staffed by people who also don't know about packet headers.
Actually the article states:
"Another user who had not paid for the extended warranty was told to be prepared to stump up an eye-watering $700 to get the thing fixed."
So, it was $700 (not "quid", though the exchange rate makes it almost 1:1) and they didn't have the extended warranty.
One assumes it was free if the extended warranty was taken up, at least for the first instance of a cracked screen...
"One assumes it was free if the extended warranty was taken up, at least for the first instance of a cracked screen..."
With Apple Care+ you usually have to pay a small excess for claims of damage - probably about £50 odd for a screen but it varies so could be a bit more.
I've broken the screen on my Surface Pro 4 twice now. First time was about 2 years ago, cost £400+VAT. That was for a replacement unit though, so I didn't think it was too bad.
Broke it again last week, now it's closer to £500+VAT, but the SP 4 is no longer available so they're sending me a new device (not sure if SP5 or SP6 yet). Again, not bad.
Naturally, it would be better if the thing wasn't so fragile, but now I'm just viewing it as £200 per year rental for a very smart device.
Slurp is a bit weak on IT so why would anyone be surprised when they are even less competent with material science. There are numerous reasons for glass to crack without being abused and they usually stem from either sloppy manufacturing or spec the wrong kind of glass. Unless Slurp does a proper investigation they will not know what the root cause is and blaming the users is not a good way to endear you to potential customers.
A comment was made about no rubber bumpers. If the lid closes glass to glass, when opening there will be suction between the two surfaces, quick opening could increase that causing repeated slight flex on the screen which could lead to hairline stress cracks. Closing with something between would show clear impact cracking.
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