MSI Megabook S250 - Mini Review

[Dim]

Wow. Surprised you got throgh to anyone. I'd thought they'd gone bankrupt or something in the U.K originally as I couldn't get any answers to emails or phone messages. Sounds like they've got a better dealer network in Europe as I rang the Amsterdam office just to check the UK operation was still there. It's a nice little PC badly let down by the service centre (or total lack of one) in the U.K

Don't envy the MSI UK marketing people if that's the sort of backup they've got. Should've seen what they did to my S250. It was unbelievably bad. Like someone attempted a repair drunk & blindfolded.

[ikonia]

Be interesting to check the quality of the one I've ordered from Germany.

appriciate your insite.

The guy from marketing was really good however as you said MSI in the UK just doesn't look setup or geared up the laptops.

Look at the fact that pretty much no-one in the UK is selling the laptops.

[John - MSI]

Wow. Surprised you got throgh to anyone. I'd thought they'd gone bankrupt or something in the U.K originally as I couldn't get any answers to emails or phone messages. Sounds like they've got a better dealer network in Europe as I rang the Amsterdam office just to check the UK operation was still there. It's a nice little PC badly let down by the service centre (or total lack of one) in the U.K

Don't envy the MSI UK marketing people if that's the sort of backup they've got. Should've seen what they did to my S250. It was unbelievably bad. Like someone attempted a repair drunk & blindfolded.

MSI UK do not generally deal with the end user direct for a variety of reasons. Our website http://www.msicomputer.co.uk (Support Section) is our form of support to our customers, this is in line with the majority of other companies. It is the place of purchase's responsibility to provide direct support for any product sold to you. This is where the differentiation between a *good* reseller and a *bad* reseller happens. If they point you directly to MSI for support within the first year then they are denying their responsibility. You will find some companies do this a lot, and this is generally (but not always) the same ones (through no coincidence), offer the super low prices.

In answer to your problem, MSI UK are not set up to do Notebook support. However it is outsourced to a large & established company called CRC Group (I believe they also are the repair for Nokia in the UK). Any issue with the quality of repair or service is their direct responsibility. MSI UK has no part in the repair process and simply offers support through the website.

If an MSI notebook was damaged in the process of repair I am disappointed, but please make sure you forward your complaint to CRC. Unfortunately there is now nothing that can be done from our (MSI) end. It is a shame that your bad experience with CRC reflects upon MSI UK as we try hard to keep our customers happy. If CRC have genuinely done you a disservice, call them and explain. Any reputable company I am sure would admit if they are genuinely at fault.

I hope you manage to sort the proper repair out anyway. Let me know how you get on.

[John - MSI]

P.S Forgot to mention Morgan are now stocking the S270 (AMD Turion and Ati RS480 model). http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk . This is in additions to the S250 and S260 at a new lower price.

[directhex]

it is outsourced to a large & established company called CRC Group (I believe they also are the repair for Nokia in the UK).

go figure, the reason i don't buy nokia phones is the absolutely laughable quality of their support & repairs service

[Dim]

Thanks John but all they've done is now dismantle the notebook and send me the hard drive, processor and RAM. The guy I spoke to swore the repair wasn't outsourced so there you go. Are you correct or is nbsupport@msicomputer.co.uk lying?

Either way, doesn't help the customer who buys these high ticket items, does it? I've got a nice array of parts for my £700.00 + £120.00 repair. This CRC lot are doing your company a great disservice, not to mention this ex-customer.

I know it's not your fault but maybe you corporate guys aren't aware of what's going on in the after sales service side of things. It's so bad I was going to contact trading standards but figured it's be a lot of hassle and I'd probably still get nowhere so I've given up after 8 weeks of this. It's been an eye-opener.

[John - MSI]

Thanks John but all they've done is now dismantle the notebook and send me the hard drive, processor and RAM. The guy I spoke to swore the repair wasn't outsourced so there you go. Are you correct or is nbsupport@msicomputer.co.uk lying?

Either way, doesn't help the customer who buys these high ticket items, does it? I've got a nice array of parts for my £700.00 + £120.00 repair. This CRC lot are doing your company a great disservice, not to mention this ex-customer.

I know it's not your fault but maybe you corporate guys aren't aware of what's going on in the after sales service side of things. It's so bad I was going to contact trading standards but figured it's be a lot of hassle and I'd probably still get nowhere so I've given up after 8 weeks of this. It's been an eye-opener.

Ok, I have now done a little digging into this... it seems I did not have my facts right so I must appologise for that. The support to some extent IS now done from MSI UK branch. And I am in the process of investigating this particular situation as I feel it needs to be addressed. I hope I can get this resolved and come to satisfactory ending... will be in contact

[Dim]

John, thanks. Any help would be sincerely appreciated. I've pretty much given up at this point.

[ikonia]

additional note the S260's now offered on Morgan have a much better spec

[Dim]

O.K. It turns out MSI are really new to the direct selling notebook business, although they've made them for other OEM's for years.
Seems they don't hold any parts / stock for the S250, S260, S270 in the U.K. It's all on order from Taiwan for anything. Stock they have here is OEM parts which is the lower spec stuff - matt screen LCD's, different lids etc..
Also margins must be thin as RMA,marketing, corporate etc.. have to cross charge for ex-warranty repair & there's no authorised repair centres apart from the MSI one so you can't take these to a dealer if you have an issue.

Bottom line seems to be that you're out on a limb, if you ever need after sales servicing on these units at the present time. They'll probably get it together in the next couple of years but for now, be very careful with one you buy as you can't seem to replace any of it's components readily. You'll either end up with a load of spare parts, like me, or replacement parts that are OEM spec. They fit the notebook but they're slightly cheaper quality.

Big thanks you to John & Don at MSi for trying so hard to sort this out. It seems it's a bit like trying to raise the Titanic though, technically possible but commercially unachievable.

Thanks & sorry if getting off thread. Just thought it was worth mentioning on these forums as you wouldn't buy a new car if you couldn't get service or parts.

[ikonia]

ok question:

The morgan computers are offering 2 years retun collect from MSI. Surly it is against the terms of the warrenty to replace the parts with cheaper versions of the parts ?

How can MSI offer this warrenty if this is the trick/status.

If I have an warrenty with MSI and they do this to me, it would be straight to Watch dog, trading standards any one I could get my hands on .

[Dim]

I don't know how myself. It was the best that they could do in my case but they said anything they ordered from Taiwan takes a LONG time to arrive.

I imagine I'm the first person this has happened to and they were'nt counting on getting any back for repair so soon as they're such new kit. John (from MSI) reads this so he might be able to answer.

[John - MSI]

ok question:

The morgan computers are offering 2 years retun collect from MSI. Surly it is against the terms of the warrenty to replace the parts with cheaper versions of the parts ?

How can MSI offer this warrenty if this is the trick/status.

If I have an warrenty with MSI and they do this to me, it would be straight to Watch dog, trading standards any one I could get my hands on .

Hi again. I must highlight a key point in the issue here. Dim's notebook was damaged by the user (dropped). This is why he came to MSI directly. To clear up what I was saying earlier... we outsource our IN WARRANTY repairs. Anything not covered by MSI is done direct with MSI UK at the discretion of MSI. The user will be charged for the parts and labor.

This is how we offer the collect and return warranty on our notebooks for 2 years. CRC are a big company doing repairs for the likes of Tosh and other big brands. They offer the warranty repairs and I am yet to hear any complains whatsoever.

For out of warranty repairs we at this time had to order the spare parts in from Taiwan. This obviously can take some time. In Dim's case; at the time of we did not have a MSI branded cover lid to give him, but we did have a lid without. It was therefore replaced with an identical lid but not bearing the MSI logo to save the shipping time form Taiwan and get the notebook back in as swift a time as possible. The quality is exactly the same, the only difference being a MSI adhesive lettering.

After some discussion with Dim on the phone this morning he decided not to accept the repair which would consist of a replacement screen and an MSI badge, at no cost. Unfortunately the only screen we could have replaced with would be the standard type and not the reflective type on the original. Apart from this the quality and looks of the notebook would be unchanged and the end result is a fully working notebook and no cost.

[directhex]

CRC are a big company doing repairs for the likes of Tosh and other big brands.

again, go figure, i had a tosh laptop repaired under warranty & the screen came back broken

wheeee!

[Dim]

"the only screen we could have replaced with would be the standard type and not the reflective type on the original. Apart from this the quality and looks of the notebook would be unchanged"

I think that's where we part company in our respective positions though John.

I tend to think if you take payment for a repair, it will be a good job. The screen didn't actually require repair until it came back from MSI which was why I was so upset in the first place. If CRC had done it, I imagine it would be there fault. MSI undertakes the repair and it's who's problem? Oh yeah - my fault. Your RMA guys have photo evidence to show there was no screen damage when I sent it. I guess that's it's so irresponsible the're now saying something else muat have happened. Might as well be flippant and say ambient weather conditions caused it.
I understand you have to protect your companies position, given that they're pushing into the notebook sector now. I also believe you need the after sales backup & service infrastructures in place to deal with customers though, especially if you're shipping £1000.00 items like these. Blaming outsourcers, suppliers, couriers etc.. is fine but when it's a clear cut case of a poor job, sometimes you have to just stand up & take it on the chin.

I never denied I originally damaged it and was happy to pay for a repair. I do, however believe it was a bad repair resulting in further damage and your assertion that similiar parts are good enough is not credible. I challenge you to replace any customers gloss screen with a matte one and see how happy they'd be with this.

Why not replace my LCD with a CRT monitor next time? It works the same. I imagine you'd expect customers to be grateful for that sort of substitution too? Or would they just be being "picky" if they didn't like it?

I hope you see the point.

So in summary,

1. I broke the lid. Uncontested.
2. I PAID MSI to have it fixed
3. MSI (or Act of God?) broke the LCD whilst in your premises.
4. Other parts fell of it when I opened the packaging? (assume further act of god, not poor repair)
5. You offer an OEM LCD & LID (What's the diif, they're all the same computers anyway)
6. It's not your fault.
7. I've got laptop spare parts for the cost of the repair.


Nice.

[Dim]

Some photo evidence in the interests of objectivity.
http://photos.yahoo.com/webtimbo

Getting weary of debating this. Falling back on the "picture tells a thousand words/stories" angle.