Acer Screen Cracked

by Ariel
(Michigan, USA)

Nine months after I bought my Acer Aspire 6930 I was browsing the internet, as I'm prone to do, touching nothing but the keyboard, when my screen spontaneously cracked.

Obviously I was a bit baffled. I looked around (now browsing through the small square that wasn't covered in cracks) and found several pictures and stories of similar breaks-starting to the right of the built in webcam and running down to the left.

Amazingly, they all happened spontaneously, like mine. Taking my new found knowledge, I emailed Acer (after calling about 15 numbers they had listed on their site, all of which were our of service) and demanded that they cover it under warranty, as it was obviously a manufacturing defect.

Well, they refused, stating that any LCD malfunction was the result of physical damage, and not covered under warranty, but they suggested I could still send it to their warehouse to have it repaired.

After reading about Acer warranty service, I opted against that, bought a 3rd party screen and had it repaired locally.

When I came in to get my laptop the day after dropping it off (a quick turnover time compared to the month that it would have taken to mail it away and get it back) the repair technician was very eager to tell me that when my laptop was built they had only installed 4 of the 8 screws necessary to keep the LCD from flexing and breaking, like it did.

He was kind enough to write a statement about it, and with that in hand I was sure Acer would reimburse me. Long story short, it's been 2 months and I haven't gotten any word back from Acer.

I know I could sue, but for the $150 the whole screen replacement cost me, it wouldn't be worth it.

Instead I'll tell you this-Acer isn't a BAD brand, per se, but you get what you pay for. If something does go wrong (and it will), be prepared to deal with it yourself.

If you're fairly competent, you'll probably still get away for less than you would a Dell or a Sony with similar specs.