BenQ FP241W Customer Service

[djphatic]

Hi

I am currently having an absolutely nightmare dealing with BenQ/repairtech customer service regarding my BenQ FP241W monitor. Some of you may already be aware of problems with this monitor regarding 1:1 pixel/aspect mapping and those of you with this monitor may have stumbled upon a different forum which has quite a large discussion on the monitor. The reason im posting my issues on this forum is because it is mainly UK based and need UK support on the issues at hand.

For those of you note aware, I will outline the story so far with my monitor.. (i will try and keep it as short as possible)

I purchased the monitor back in january at a cost of £600 from ebuyer and was well aware of the problems related to the 1:1 pixel/aspect mapping.
I held off on the purchase of this monitor for quite a long time until there was evidence of a firmware upgrade which fixed these issues, once this was available I purchased the monitor knowing that I would either receive a new model with the firmware upgrade or would need to send the monitor aware to get the firmware upgrade installed; the most likely the latter which happened to be the case.

I contacted BenQ RMA regarding the upgrade process and was told they would contact me when the firmware upgrade reached the UK. A week later I was emailed by BenQ and was told the firmware upgrade was available in the UK and I could RMA the monitor to get the firmware upgrade; they would collect the monitor, apply the fix and send me it back all covered under warranty. At this point I requested the RMA and also notified them of an issue I was having with the DVI connection and that I was not able to switch the monitor off and back on and it still receive a signal and was told this would also be fixed.

BenQ themselves do not provide a repair service in the UK and contract all there repairs out to a company called repairtech. After the RMA was issued by BenQ RMA all communications would be with repairtech as the RMA process was in their hands. I received an email from repairtech arranging a time for them to come and collect the monitor; everything was go well upto this point.

Firstly, the courier didnt come and collect on the day we had agreed on. After waiting in all day I contacted them and asked what was happening; was told they would come and collect it before the day was over but they didnt. After 3 days of calls to them and being told someone was coming to collect it they finally did.

I wasnt given an ETA from repairtech but people within the US reported the process as a couple of days and in one case only took 15 minutes when took along in person.
I contacted repairtech numerous times by email and telephone to be told it was with engineers and they were awaiting parts for the firmware upgrade, which I found strange as I was told by BenQ that the firmware was available in the UK.

I received the monitor back 2 weeks after it was collected to find that the firmware upgrade had not been installed, the DVI issues had not been fixed and found even more problems regarding the VGA port. The new VGA issues involved the display having a very strong red tint and I was not able to select a resolution any higher than 1680x1050; neither of this issues were there before I sent it and there was nothing wrong with the VGA port.

I contacted repairtech about this immediately and told them the firmware upgrade was not done and made them aware of the new problems and asked what they had actually done; I was told that they replaced the mainboard in the monitor. Why they did this I have no idea? I was told I would need to send the monitor in again to get the firmware upgrade and it would be put on an urgent priority.

That was 4 weeks ago!!!

Within those 4 weeks I have contacted them almost every 3 days by telephone to be provided with no information to what is happening other than:
a) put a chase on it and get it processed as quickly as possible.
b) its with engineers and someone will contact you in the next few days to arrange delivery
c) they awaiting the software from head office to be able to perform the firmware upgrade

In the middle of last week i was started to lose my patient and had ago at someone at repairtech and was told the same story, I asked to speak to a teamleader but surprising no one was there but they would get someone to contact me. I contacted them again last friday (2nd March) and monday (5th march) the person(s) told me that all tasks had been completed and it was in testing and I would shortly be contacted to arrange delivery.

I contacted them again on thursday (8th march) and told them I was awaiting someone to contact me and no-one had and I wanted to make a complaint to a team-leader about the quality of service I was receiving, I explained the situation to the telephonist and he disappeared for a while.

He came back to tell me that they are awaiting the software from headoffice and that no team-leader was available to speak to, so I had a go at him and told him I wanted something done about it and asked why it was taking so long to test the damn thing. He told me that it wasnt being tested and that nothing had been performed and it was on hold as they were awaiting the software.

Needless to say I was extremely annoyed as I wasnt getting anywhere, I wasnt getting told any real information and eventually led to me asking for them to send me the monitor back without the fix.

Straight after this I contacted BenQ UK RMA and had a go at them about the situation and demanded a new monitor under the 3-year on site warranty and I wanted to make a complaint; the person said he would email the details to a team leader and that he would contact me today (friday 9th march) by 1pm. No surprise that I was NOT contacted, so I rang them again and asked to speak to the team leader, the person tried to put me through but the line was busy and told me he would ring me back in 10 minutes after speaking to the team leader; I asked for the team leader to ring me back.

15 minutes later the person I was speaking to rang me, not the team leader, and told me that the team leader was awaiting an email from repairtech regarding the situation and then he (TL) would contact me, I put the phone down in rage.

A few hours later I rang them again and got through to someone who I had not spoken to before and was the most helpful out of the lot, she gave me an email to make a complaint to (benq@hecc.com) and also managed to get the team leader on the phone, Adrian.
I explained the situation and the reasons why I wasnt happy and asked why I was receiving the level of service I was. He wasnt interested in the slightest and displayed no level of concern and was came across as ignorant and arrogant.

In the end I was told he is now personally involved in the case and will get it sorted and will contact me on monday morning. The option of receiving a new replacment monitor is a possibility depending on the stock available at repairtech, which wouldnt be a repaired/refurbished monitor. He basically said they wont issue me with a new monitor, which I find hard to believe as someone has the authority to do so. I also managed to get the name of the other team leader at BenQ RMA and a telephone number which should be the european head-office.

So after a staggering 6 weeks+ I have no monitor, I cannot return the monitor to ebuyer for a refund as it is past 30 days, I have no idea when I will get a monitor back and what state the monitor will be in and I have no confidence in BenQ and repairtech to deal with the situation to result in having a monitor which isnt faulty in someway.

I know I am not alone with the service being received as I am in contact with another UK buyer who is in the same situation after sending his monitor for a firmware upgrade but instead had the mainboard replaced, no firmware upgrade applied and as a result has also created VGA issues.

Now if you have read all this, I am very greatful for it and hope that you can help me out someway to get this issue solved as quickly as possible and perhaps provide info on what I should be doing to get this sorted and make sure this level of service is looked at and dealt with.

If you have any questions related to the issue please ask; I will provide as much informatio as possible to get something done about this.

Mark

[uchiha_itachi]

I did read through your whole post, and I found myself feeling frustrated just reading about how badly you have been treated.

My advice is to contact your local trading standards. If you can convince them how shoddy you were treated, (and in this case it was pretty shoddy) they will do alot for you, or the very least give you some good legal advice as to where you stand and what your rights are.

I have had trading standards come to the rescue before in the past for myself.

[SHare]

Didnt BenQ go bust in a big way lately? That could be the reason for some of the trouble.

[dom_xbox]

Didnt BenQ go bust in a big way lately? That could be the reason for some of the trouble.

BenQ Mobile went bust but i think their other areas of business are doing just fine...

I think they shouldnt be allowed to treat customers like this.. i second "uchiha_itachi" and say Trading Standards!!

hope you get it sorted soon!

[0iD]

Trading standards is a good idea, print this out & take it along to your local Citzens Advice also, they can be of help. Also & i'm sure the mods wont mind, post again in General Discussion where you'll get a broader spectrum of opinion.

You've always got the Small Claims court. Some chap successfully used it against the might of Tesco & won, so the system does work.

[djphatic]

Hi everyone

Thanks for the advice; it looks like I will have to get trading standards involved if this situation isnt sorted by the start of next week.

I will post up in General Discussion as well.

Will let you guys know on any progress.

Mark

[djphatic]

does anyone know if there is a possibility to get a refund on the monitor or am I basically stuck with it?

I dont think i would be able to return the item to ebuyer but would there be anyway to get a refund from BenQ under any rights or law.

I also dont seem to be able to find a detailed warranty from BenQ, there wasnt one included with the monitor and on a small booklet it details the contact numbers for RMA and tech support and points to benq uk website to get warranty details, but there doesnt seem to be anything of any use on the website.

[djphatic]

well I finally got myself a new replacement monitor from them after constantly chasing them up about it and complaining. Manufacture date Jan 07 and includes the 1:1 pixel mapping/scaling firmware.

Just a shame that the firmware has some bugs in it and the 1:1 mode doesnt work correctly with a 1080i or 1080p source; but thats a different kettle of fish. Just glad to have a monitor!