Eric Mack On-Line

Ti Le, Market Research Manager, Toshiba America Information Systems, sent me an email (perhaps you received one too?) with a generic reply-to address asking me to complete an on-line survey to find out what I think about my recent Tecra M4 purchase. I guess Ti Le does not read my blog. :-(  

From the wording of the survey questions, it appears that they were more interested in looking for additional sales opportunities than they were in knowing what I thought of my recent purchase.  I decided to tell them anyway, in the tiny comment field provided at the end of the survey form:

As a technologist, I purchased the Tecra M4 with great interest to recommend it as a tool to all of my eProductivity clients. I've had many problems with this unit, and several problems with Toshiba Tech Support. As a result of this unfortunate experience, It will be very difficult for me to recommend the Tecra computers without sharing my personal (and unpleasant) experiences with Toshiba. That's a shame. I influence a very large number of computer purchases each year, and the M4 was going to be my preferred Tablet PC. I'm very curious to see if this survey response, like many before it, falls on deaf ears at Toshiba.
Eric Mack
eProductivity Specialist,
ICA.COM, Inc.

Now, I must say that I do like most aspects of my Tecra M4 and I continue to show it to friends and clients. I still have issues with dust specs, fan-noise, and a power supply squeal. To be fair to Toshiba, I have not ventured further with Toshiba tech support to fix these problems - I've been afraid to. I'm glad I was able to help Tracy get her tablet back from Toshiba Support, but I'm not ready to risk my own tablet to the same fate. Even though I've paid for all of the super-fancy extended and on-site warranties, I'm not sure I'll use them. I guess that's good business for the Toshiba folks.

The sad reality is that while I could jump up and down and state that I won't buy another Toshiba, my experience with other vendor's support has not been much better. That's too bad. As I said. I like my M4, and for the most part, I would buy another. I suppose that when this dust ball under my screen gets so big that it blocks letters, then I'll have to call Toshiba Support. Hopefully then, it will be a positive experience. It would please me greatly to be able to make a happy blog post about tech support.

Something to ponder: if a company had a truly exceptional product AND great service. I would send all of my clients to them in a heartbeat.