[La1703]

[amanda78]

any1 else having problems with their amilo la1703?
after only about 2 months of having it the screen started to flicker and kept getting worse. the laptop would also freeze quite alot and id have to switch it off then on again. the screen the started 2 go back but u could still see your page faintly then it would go completely black but remain on. i returned it to fujitsu siemens as it is still under warranty and practically brand new they returned it and said they found no fault. i then returned it again as i was not able to even work on the comp for 10mins without the screen going black. after hearing nothing from them after 2 weeks i called them up and they said they are waiting on a part so i asked them that they found the problem then after having to send it back again. i have been calling back every other day since and still no part. they have now had my laptop a month and havent even bothered to phone me and keep me updated. called again yesterday and they said they have the new screen and a cable for it but are still waiting on a particular cable coming in to stock. asked when they expected it in and the lady said she had no idea. so here i am with no laptop and no idea of when im going to get it back. great customer service eh?

[tenchiten]

This cannot be described as customer service.
Phone them back and tell them you are looking at taking legal advice. For them to leave you without your laptop for a month and still not tell you when you are getting it back is un-acceptable.

From what you describe the fault sounds like a dodgy FL inverter board (not sure about the freezing bit though) which is not a rare or particularly uncommon fault so why on earth they have to wait for parts etc is beyond belief.

[rikmos]

I had a similar problem but they did fix it under warranty, see here :

http://forum.ts.fujitsu.com/foru ... hp?t=26243

It was the backlighting that went in mine don't know about the freezing though, it might not be connected. As tenchiten says, it's not rare and should be a warranty job unless it's had a knock thats damaged it. If they refuse to help, it might be worth looking into the sale of goods act :

http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/buying- ... e8600.html

Please let us know how you get on and good luck.

[amanda78]

thanks for your help. it is being repaired under warranty but i feel its taking too long. how long did you have to wait for your repair?

[rikmos]

When they eventually picked it up as arranged, (they actually sent for it early before it was packed up!), it was returned on the day they said. I think it was around a week. They did say that if they didn't consider it a warranty case, they would charge for repairs. I think this would have been something like £150+ AND the cost of parts and labour! That would have been a joke, (not a funny one either!).

[amanda78]

il give them another phone 2moro as a month is a hell of a long time i think

[tenchiten]

A month is a total joke (I would like to put it another way but ladies are present) give em' hell amanda and keep us up to date.

[amanda78]

i phoned up the repair centre today and yet again still no laptop as they are waiting on parts. i told themim seeking legal advice so they told me to phone fujitsu directly as they are just a repair centre. so i phoned them up saying i needed my laptop by saturday as i am working away and if they cant repair mine by saturday i want a brand new replacement sent out (though dont know if its worth the hassle after reading these forums, best with a different company altogether). i said that i know this is a common problem and there should be no reason for them not to have the parts in or have to wait a month for them. the person i have spoken to has now sent an email off to a supervisor to find out what is going on with my laptop and to see if he can authorise for a replacement instead. so here i am now sitting patiently waiting on a phone call as i told them they must get back to me today or il be going to a lawyer to discuss my consumer rights.

[tenchiten]

Ok good stuff. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they see sense.
Let us know how you get on and thanks for posting back.

[amanda78]

after being advised by consumer direct i went to comet which is where i purchased my laptop and advised them about the sale of goods act and it being their responsibility to repair or replace the laptop as i bought it from them. they said as fujitsu had my latop its their problem and nothing to do wif them. eventually i got someone to try help sort it out for me. they phoned fujitsu the next day but just told me what i had already knew. i eventually got to speak to a supervisor at fujitsu after holding on the line and refusing to get off til i spoke to someone (and also having to phone back after they hung up on me). the manager had said he had been waiting on an update and thats why he hadnt phoned me, so he said he got an update and that my laptop was waiting on a part and they dnt know when it will be in. NO UPDATE! I ALREADY KNEW THAT! the manager apologised to me and said that they were going to offer me a replacement but it would take 5 working days. no good to me as i am working away tomorrow and need my laptop. at least i have got somewhere with them now. so now i have to wait on them phoning me on monday to say whether or not my new laptops being sent out.

[tenchiten]

Well I guess it's a partial result and at least you get a replacement (hopefully).
Thanks for keeping us updated amanda.

[amanda78]

phoned fujitsu back again on the 27th to see where my replacement was as they had told me 5 working days. the guy on the phone was very unhelpful and rather cheeky. he snapped at me saying i was told 2 weeks and it had only been a week and that it would take another week. after arguing with him for a while i ended up hanging up on him as he was really frustrating me. the next day my orginal laptop was delivered repaired without any notice from fujitsu. surely the person i spoke to the day before would have seen on the system that my laptop had been repaired and dispatched to me. i think i will wait a week before i phone them back to complain just incase they are still going to send me out a new one

[tenchiten]

I hope they do send a new one as well, at least you would then have a spare

[JDAC]

I was having the same flickering screen problem with my piece of sh I mean fine laptop. I saw elsewhere that people stopped the flickering by having the screen at a 180 degree angle to the keyboard. I took it a step further and removed the plastic flap that has the power button completely off.

No more flickering.

So to recap: Fix your flickering display by removing a piece of the laptop.

On a sidenote: This laptop truly is crap. It would probably be fine with XP but I can't think of a good reason to sell such an underpowered computer with a resource hog like Vista.

[powderedegg]

Glad to see I'm not alone with the flickering issue. Has anyone tried upping the ram to 2 gig with Vista? I should hopefully try this next weekend before it becomes completely unusable. The graphics card isn't worth the circuit board it's printed on, nevermind the poor quality of Vista. It's a real shame that the hardware isn't better supported on Linux, otherwise we'd all be laughing.