Kathleen of Winchester, VA, has the ultimate laptop story (or is it the ultimate Tiger Direct story?):

You're not going to believe this...But I purchased a laptop from Tiger Direct. It cost me almost $3,000. I purchased a 3-year warrenty as well.

A year later the adapter (the plug device, an AC Adapter) which is also used to charge the battery goes bad. I called Tiger Direct to order a new adapter but it turns out that the company they contracted to created this computer and which Tiger stamped its name on is no longer is in business with Tiger Direct or anywhere else for that matter.

They offered to send an adapter from one of their newer models which did not fit or work. Other than that they said there was nothing they could do for me. They gave me a phone number for National Warehouse Corporation, who I was told bought the service agreement and would provide me with the adapter.

But when I called that number they said they only purchased the administrative part of the contract which means they can take my name, address and phone number and record my complaint but they have no part to send me.

This part is not sold at any retail store so it is impossible to find, yet they told me that I should get on the internet and find someone who might have this part and if I could find it Tiger would reimburse me. To date I have not found any such part.

My concern is even if I do find this adapter, and then in another year or two the adapter goes bad, where on earth will I find another adapter? It has been five months already and I have not found one yet.

I thought that a replacement computer would be in order since the one I currently own just sits underneath my bed unable to turn on because the battery is dead and there is no way to recharge it nor can they provide any future service on it.

I am, remember, under a three year warranty. But I was told the only thing they are responsible for is the price of an adapter and an equivalent computer is out of the question and total reimbursment in completely out of the question.

So they indicate that they will reimburse me only $26 for the cost of a bad adapter that cannot be located anywhere while the $3,000 computer sits underneath my bed as a worthless hunk of technocrap because I cannot power it on.

I trusted in a company that asked me to put trust in them and then treat me like garbage. I left numerous messages on Alan Jones' voice mail and he never returnes my call. I felt as though their representative was laughing at me. When I suggested legal action, he scoffed and said "well were only responsible for the cost of an adapter" And if I did decide to take legal action, how much would it cost only to find out that these corporations protect themselves with fine print.

Hugh of Boston:

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