I've been a devout Microsoft fan for longer than I care to remember now. From their obligatory Windows products to the now great range of electronic devices they offer. It all feels like something warm, fuzzy and glowing inside, right? Well, not when shit hits the fan, it doesn't...
I bought my wife a brand spanking new Surface Book 2 about 17 months ago. Ever since, she's been loving it and using it pretty much daily. You know, having a top-end laptop / tablet and enjoying the luxuries of both. However, yesterday she started receiving the unsightly error message you see above. Every time the computer booted up, it froze up within a couple of minutes of use.
So, this morning I dug around a little, went through some diagnostics and came to the horrifying realisation that the hard disk had indeed died. Add to that the trauma of the missus having not backed up any of her personal videos and photos. "Blood on the streets" territory! Anyways, I got on the phone straight away to Microsoft. The lady on the phone was pleasant enough. She ran through all the steps I already had to confirm the problem at hand. And it didn't take long for her to come to the same conclusion.
Now, most products in the UK come with a one year warranty. Unfortunately, we were just out by a few months. I tried my best to argue the case that this was a component issue and requested if she could, you know, "pull a few strings" for us. Alas, it all fell on deaf ears. So, she offered a replacement machine for close to £600 all in. We thought fair enough and grudgingly went ahead with the purchase.
Well, almost went ahead with it. You see, I jokingly asked if our replacement Surface Book was brand new, to which the woman replied, it was a refurb. Jesus, what the hell? She then went on to say that we got a measly 90 day warranty with it. So basically, if it happened again, we're screwed out of a further £600! Well, we thought this was bollocks, seeing as a £2000 top end machine can simply die like that, due to bad components from the manufacture process. So we escalated a new complaints case and are awaiting to hear from management on Wednesday. The woman said no to get our hopes up though.
Are we being unreasonable? I mean, sure, we didn't take out an extended warranty or anything but the UK's "Sale of Goods Act" apparently has a ruling that certain durable items, like a Surface Book, should have a "reasonable lifespan after purchase". I very much doubt one and a half years falls into this category! Or does it? Add to that the fact that I also discovered we aren't the only ones who's machine mysteriously died after almost the exact same period of time and it does make you wonder, right?
I dunno, let's see how this all pans out. But so far, it's been a real stressful one today. Can't believe I'm saying this but maybe Apple... Aren't "so" bad after all. :(
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