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William of Tariffville CT writes (1/16/02):
I purchased an Etower 366C computer from Ubid in Sept. 2001 for a disabled friend from my church. This machine was represented as having 90 days of support thru Emachines. (factory refurbished) The machine would shut down and reboot after about 30-45 minutes of use. After repeated calls Emachines reluctantly offered tel support. They agreed to send me a new power supply which the technician felt would fix the problem.
The power supply they sent was dead on arrival and would not even start up. They then agreed to send me another supply if I gave them my credit card number etc. after another couple of week the new unit arrived. The computer then would start but only run for about 30 minutes before shutting down on its own. This was early in Nov. They gave me an RMA and the machine was shipped to them.
They acknowledge receiving it on Nov. 15th 2001 I refunded my handicapped friends money she had expended for this machine and hoped I could get it returned in operable condition so I could recover some of my own money. It is now over 2 months later and apparently they have lost my computer. Laurie Smith of Corporate Headquarters is now handling my case. I wrote repeated emails and letters in the interim and never received an acknowledgement or reply.
After 4-5 calls to the regular technical service I was given Laurie's telephone number at Corporate Headquarters. Laurie indicated she handles some 60 calls like this per day and she would refer my case for consideration to the Corporate decision makers.
It is obvious if one doesn't pursue this company vigorously you will not get the service to which you are entitled. I am retired and do have the time and ability to pursue at this point. I am out of pocket some $201.53 at this point and have probably 30-40 hours of my time invested.
Brian of Hagerstown MD (8/4/01):
The same problem that others have incountered with the powersupply in the emachine. I even went so far as to replace the powersupply with one from a reseller that had a link on the emachine costumer website. What I got was a duplicate of the orginal that caused exactly the same problems after the warranty had expired (coincidence?) As I'm sure your aware the defective units are manufactured by Sparkle Power, S.P.I.
The computer would go through normal shutdown and then reboot. I replaced the power supply at my on expense, app. $70.00, rather than deal with emachine's return policy. Now after about a year I find myself in the same situation.
Next step? Brian can buy a new case and power supply and move all the other components into it. Since the emachine power supply is a custom size, this is the only solution we know of.
David of Camp Hill PA writes (4/14/01):
When I bought my 366c Emachine I tried many, many, many times to register it and buy the extened warranty and the software froze my machine or my attempts to web register failed repeatedly. And attempted to talk to someone at 1-877-566-e4me failed miserably.
Tonight (04/13/2001) the power supply "blew up" now I have fix the machine or worse buy a new one. And I can GUARANTEE you it won't be an emachine and I can GUARANTEE you I will tell anone who will listen to me not to buy them either (I am studying to be MCSE, A+, CNA and other certs. so I am not a boob.) unless I receive some sort of satisfaction. I will be even more upset if 128megs of ram, 20gigs of hard drive space, network card, and modem (all added by me) are toast.
Denise of Staten Island, NY, writes:
I purchased an eMachines computer from Circuit City in September, 1999. At first everything was fine. After about 2 months the tower started to make an extremely loud humming noise. Then the computer began "turning itself on" at all hours of the day/night and would not go off. I had to physically unplug it from the outlet to shut it down.
Luckily, I have a one year warranty. I called their technical support dept., which by the way is located in Oregon and does not have an 800 number (I live in NYC) to get assistance. I described my problem to the rep and was told that the unit had a defective CPU fan and a replacement would be issued to me once I returned the current one to them. I was told that I would have to pay the cost of shipping the unit back to them, which cost $42.35.
I received the replacement a few weeks later. To make matters worse, after I'd given them my address several times they spelled my street name wrong and UPS had trouble identifying the address, which further delayed my shipment.
All was well with that machine for about 4 months. Now the replacement began to turn itself on all over again. I was extremely angry and dissatisfied with the computer and the company. I again called tech support and this time they tried to charge me a $20 fee just to ask a question about what was going on with their equipment. I asked to speak to a supervisor because I was not about to pay the fee, in addition to the cost of the call and another shipping fee (I knew I was going to have to ship this unit back, as I had the last one). The supervisor sensed my dissatisfaction with the whole situation and didn't charge me the fee, . He again instructed me to send the machine back at my own expense for a replacement. He would give a $200 upgrade for my "troubles".
I was told that the new machine would go out once they confirmed receipt of the defective one. I was given an RMA number and sent it back again. On April 24, 2000 I received confirmation from UPS that the computer was delivered back to eMachines. I called eMachines to confirm and was then told that they had no record of the RMA number I'd given them. I was issued a different one and was now told that the new computer would go out in 24-48 hours. I called every day to see if it had gone out; each time I called they had no info and the unit hadn't gone out. Nobody has answers, not even the supervisors.
So, today is Friday April 28 and it has been 24-48 hours since they received my old computer and the new one still sits in their warehouse. Nobody has done anything to ease the tensions caused by this situation. Who knows when I finally do get the new computer that I won't have the very same problem a third time? I have lost all faith in this company.
I am very nervous that I will have the same problem again, only this time if it happens after September my warranty will expire then I'll just have another lemon on my hands. I am so sorry I didn't purchase another brand of computer, one with reliable merchandise and customer service reps.
Eileen of Royal Oak, MI, writes:
I purchased an eMachine in September, 1999. After a few weeks the fan began to make a terrible noise and the machine would not shut off without pulling the plug. In fact if you could get it to shut down without pulling the plug it would start itself up in the middle of the night. After a couple of calls to tech support I was told to return the tower only to eMachines and they would send me a new one. This meant I had to back up all my files and remove any software I had installed. It also cost about $25 to ship.
The tower I received in exchange was a refurbished machine with a newer version of windows 98 and a new version of MS Works. So the recovery disk that they told me to keep is not correct for this machine. Works 2000 is not downward compatible with the version on my recovery disk.
Within a couple of weeks it began making the same noises and having the same shut down and "ghost" startups as the first machine. When I called tech support to report the problem I was told that I was beyond the fifteen-day free tech support service (started from the 1st call on the 1st defective tower)and would have to pay to continue the call.
Customer service gave me a Website where I could purchase parts but to have them covered by warranty I would have to call tech support. As I said, tech support would not talk to me without my paying for the call. It seems the only way I will be able to fix this problem is to purchase an new case and power supply locally and ditch the defective cheap proprietary parts that come with the e-machine.
I am out $25.00 for shipping and will have to pay probably $80-100 to repair this problem myself. And then I can only hope that this will solve the problem. It has been months of problems and frustrations and I can't imagine how difficult this would be for someone with little or no computer knowledge. I have the experience of building a computer myself so at least I have a clue where to look for problems. By the time I am done making this computer reliable I will have spent far more money than it would have cost to purchase a better machine or build one myself and will have spent far more time than it would have taken to build one myself. I would never recommend these computers to anyone!
Thomas of Niagara Falls, NY:
eMachine purchased through Circuit City. Within first month power system failed. Circuit City replaced tower promptly and without hassle, they are the good guys. Computer offer included $75.00 rebate check. Check was received and bank would not cash it, referring me back to eMachine. Numerous e-mails, and phone calls and eight months later I still have not received any reply. Was very dissatisfied there was not even the courtesy of a reply - let alone still no reissue of the check for $75.00.
Amanda of Greensburg, PA:
I purchased a eTower 400i3 on November 26, 1999. I brought the machine home and it seemed to work fine. Less than two months after the initial purchase and very little use, I encountered a problem. I would shut the computer down as you would normally. It would shut down for a second then turn itself back on. I bore with this problem for a week or so, hoping it would go away. It didn't.
I contacted eMachines technical support. The gentleman I spoke to knew exactly what the problem was. He said it was a faulty POWER SUPPLY. He said if I sent it back to them they would send me a brand new one. I had to pay to ship it to them (at a cost of $40). They then shipped the new one back to me.
I received the new machine on February 18, 2000. On April 19, two months to the date, the same problem began to occur again. Once again, I would try to shut the computer down and it would turn itself back on. I once again contacted eMachines technical support. This time I was incredibly upset, and I feel rightfully so. I had to arrange again to return the computer to them.
In the process of arranging this, I expressed that they need to pay for the shipping both ways this time. I feel it's just wrong that I should have to put out another $40 to ship this back to them when they continually send defective equipment. To top it off, they could not even assure me that the next machine I receive would be in proper working condition. According to the manager I spoke with this problem has been happening to a large number of eMachines on all models -- a statement that another manager seemed upset that the first had expressed to me.
Corinne of Cloquet, MN:
I too bought an Emachine in December of 1999, and within the last several weeks it will not shut down unless I unplug it, while other times it restarts itself after a few hours. I'm really mad because I've loaded so much original information on it I'd have to do a complete backup to zip drives.
Here's (the company's) response to an email:
Thank you for choosing eMachines. At eMachines, customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance to us. If the computer is starting up or powering off on its own, the power supply may need to be replaced. To have the system diagnosed and if necessary, to arrange for service, please contact the technical support department directly. They may be reached at (541) 938-6492, 7 days a week between the hours of 6am-10pm PST. We are unable to arrange for service via email.
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to assist you. Should you require further assistance with your eMachines service, please feel free to send another message. All your comments and suggestions are welcome. We love to hear from our customers! Again, thank you for choosing eMachines. Sincerely, John
The economic damage is I paid $499. They've obviously known about this problem and should not put the customer through more aggravation by making them do the work of packing it up and sending it back when all of us have serial numbers matching their rebates. eMachine should ship free computers to everyone, rather than putting them through the hassle of buying another, and paying for shipping and handling. They should be ashamed of themselves for marketing the product without testing it.
Jewel of Keyser, WV:
I bought a eMachine from QVC. I paid $1266 for it. It was great for 2 days, then the monitor lost all color. Now the tower is Vibrating like crazy. I took it apart with a eMachine tech on the phone, but it is still sounds like a car without a muffler, plus it won't shut itself down. eMachine wants me to pay to have it mailed to California. I think eMachine should send me one then I will send the old one back.
Robert of Crosby, TX:
I purchased a computer from Circuit City on 3-2-2000. It was marked a 466is on the box and still has the original stickers on it that say 466is. After a couple of months I went in to the system and found out that they had sold me a 433i not what I paid for.
Being the 14-day return is now past they will not accept it back. Called eMachine several times and spoke with many people. They say I would have to send the computer to them at my expense and then when they receive my computer they would send me another in 5 to 10 working days.
I don't think I should have to pay anything and I can not afford to be without a computer for that length of time.
Anna of Ripon, CA:
I bought a eMachine on Sept 6 1999. It worked fine for 6 weeks, then it would not shut off. I called the company and they said that I must have a defective computer and for only $139.00 they would send me a new computer, but I had to pay for postage and purchase a 3-year warranty for $89.00 and $50.00 to pay for postage. I told them that I thought the computer should be refunded for free since it was only 6 weeks old. In their words, "too bad."
Mark of Portsmouth, RI:
We bought an E-Machine 5 months ago. It worked fine for
2 weeks and then the fan would vibrate so badly you could hear
it downstairs! Now it won't shutdown at all! We have to unplug
it to shut it off! The is a loud squeal coming from the power
supply! and it smells like it is burning!
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