disappointed with Eclipse customer service

[bnorth]

I have been very disappointed with my PC and subsequent customer service from Eclipse computers.
When it arrived in early Dec it arrived with a Red Tint screen.
I admit it took 18 days to set up the PC and fiddle with the monitor controls before I reported this as a problem but felt that should entitle me to have the PC collected under the Premium30 warranty.

I initially wondered if it was the VGA cable "perhaps you can send another" - I'm not a PC expert. Anyway it wasn't : I think had Eclipe suggested I switch to the onboard graphics card via the BIOS it would quickly have shown that the card was faulty.
Eclipse's next suggestions were to contact the monitor makes and downloads new drivers. The first, which I didn't do, was bound to be time-consuming,

Now Eclipse say I'm over 30 days and I have to send it back to them at my own expense.
Worse ... much worse .. is that now in addition my DVD drive tray is jammed in the out position to so its very fragile to parcel and send.
So my question is: Eclipse suggest "I would suggest if the CD Tray is jammed open, that you firmly, but gently, push the draw back into the drive, so as not to cause any further damage to this, or anything else on the system"

its honestly frozen solid (out), both via the button and pushing it, can using force be safe ?? I don't think so ! I've heard mixed views.

 

[Ian]

Switching to the onboard video card should take 5 minutes (honestly!), so it might be worth trying that. I imagine if you are getting a red tint to the screen that it may be a simple software configuration issue - either with the graphics card/monitor drivers or on the monitor controls. Have you had a look in the monitor manual to see how to reset the colour options to default?

How hard have you pushed the CD tray? A firm but gentle push sounds reasonable enough It shouldn't get stuck though, do you know how that happened?

 

[bnorth]

thanks for your post, Ian.
sorry I should have made clear I have switched to onboard graphics now - under a friends guidance and it is fine.
since I'm not a gamer that might do me except I now have a £50 graphics ccard I'm not using.
I think my friend also downloaded the latest card drivers too - in fact I think it arrived with the latest as it turned out.
the suggestion with monitor drivers is interesting - I hadn't though of that and might google Hannspree.

to be honest now I have onboard graphics the DVD drive is more of a worry to me. I appreciate your opinion that it might be OK to give a firm but gentle push but not sure gentle will do anything, it'd have to be quite forceful I think.

I might just give up on it and replace the DVD drive which would also tear up teh 1 year warranty.
Either that or complain bitterly to someone higher up at Eclipse or advise my credit card company or consult Citizens Advice or the Which magazine lawyer.
Trading Standards suggested I get a "written assurance that if the DVD drive breaks during transit, you would not be liable"
I doubt Eclipse would give one though - I have to pay postage to send my faulty-on-delivery PC up to them - bah

anyway thanks again for your views

 

[Ian]

What is the graphics card you have at the moment (not the onboard one), as it might be the driver colour settings.

It's not ideal, but it it might be cheaper and hassle free for both you and Eclipse to send a new DVD drive over - they are really easy to fit. That is of course that the graphics card can be made to work

 

[floppybootstomp]

bnorth, do you feel confident enough to take out the graphics card and the DVD drive?

If so, do that and speak to Eclipse to see if they're willing to inspect those two items and replace if faulty.

Damn sight cheaper than sending the whole unit back.

And yes, what is the graphics card?

From the sound of it the DVD drive tray may have jumped the loading cogs and be jammed. By all means push firmly but not with excessive force, that may break it.

To remove the graphics card after disconnecting from mains take the side off the computer. Undo one screw and disconnect any power cables from the card and lift it out of it's slot. You may need to use push on a retaining clip at the rear of the card to free it.

For the DVD drive you'll have to take off both sides of the case, remove two screws from each side then remove the data cable and the power cable. It will then slide out the front of the machine or you may have to slide it backwards into the machine and out through the side.

Of course I'm not sure how removing components yourself would affect your warranty.

I've never heard of Eclipse, whereabouts are they based?

 

[FSman]

http://www.eclipsecomputers.com Are just down the road from me near Radford in Coventry, its where i go to get all my PC parts / consumables from, normally good prices on components etc but ive heard mixed views about there systems.

Cheers Lee.

 

[bnorth]

thanks for your opinions and sorry not to get back sooner ...
I realised I didn't answer Ian on how the DVD tray got stuck - I don't know - I opene it, removed and repackaged a DVD,then pressed toclose and it jammed - I have tried firm press but it does seem frozen,I think I might break it further.

I am wary of opening the PC as that will invalidate the warranty - I am sure Eclipse will leap at any opportunity to wash their hands of me !
It may come to replacing the DVD but I wouldn't use Eclispe of course.

yes they are in Coventry - my card is the Eclipse Elite i675n86gt's GeForce 8600 GT in the budget PC top rated by PC Advisor at the end of last year http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=1194
So its a PCI-express chip though sgtrangely my BIOS was set to just PCI before I set it to onboard -
I was surprised setting it to PCI-express didn't fix the problem.
Is it 100% sure that replacing the card will fix the problem - a friend (who is not a huge expert) said it might possible be the card itself or the communication from the motherboard.

PC Advisor are also plugging another Eclipse at the moment, I'm not sure howthey rate PCs - more on bangs per buck (ie value spec) than on product reliability and company customer service maybe ?

I am still keen to make Eclipe collect the PC under my premier 30 warranty that they now say doesn't apply - although their web doesn't give details of what the warranty means this says they collect for faults within 30 days.
My PC arrived 5 Dec (a month after I ordered as they were - erm - thoroughly testing it) -
I reported the red tint problem on 23rd Dec (a bit late I know but I was busy and did try to remedy the prob with monitor controls) and,stupidly, suggested it might be the VGA cable and said "I wonder if its possible that the easiest solution is just to send me a replacement VGA cable ?" - wellI'm not the expert and I did ask it as a question !!!!
On Jan 3 - back after XMas - I emailed Eclipse that the cable hadn't fixed the problem and said : "Please let me know how I can get this problem investigated and fixed under the warranty." 29 days after delivery !

that - to my mind entitles me to collection under the Premier 30 warranty - I both reported the problem and requested my warranty rights within the period !
twice since Eclipse have said " I can arrange a collection of the system should you wish." (17/1) and previously - after first suggesting I take it up with the monitor maker Hannspree "if the problem is confirmed not to be with the TFT Panel, we can arrange collection, for repair of the system accordingly." (10/1)

now though they have backed away from this saying I am out of the 30 days period and its return to base only - bah bah bah !

thanks again for your helpful posts - sorry to have posted such a tedious saga !!

 

[floppybootstomp]

They seem to be bang out of order then don't they?

Must add Eclipse to my **** list.

Don't ever trust sites like PC Advisor all they do is pose as being honourable when in fact all they do is take back handers in the form of 'advertising' revenue from companies like Eclipse.

Mesh are one of the worst offenders for this type of corruption.

In their own way they're no better than the spam you get for time shares and stuff - just conning the general public.

Good luck with your repairs.

If it were me I'd accept you've been sold a turkey and to save postage costs and long delays when you'd be without your computer, fix it yourself or get a friend to replace the parts.

 

[bnorth]

thanks for the advice, floppybootstomp,

I might well just get the DVD replaces and hope nothing else falls off !!

I guess you're right re PC advisor - I spose they're all the same (computer shopper, PC PRo etc) - do they ever have a "do not buy" recommendations ?
finance pages in newspapers do and I think Which magazine does

its funny I google chilliblast, arbico, adeptac - and only with Eclipse to I find a string of posts saying how terrible they are !!!

 

[floppybootstomp]

This originally posted by bnorth:

I'ved moved this post by bnorth here as it was out of place in Taffycat's mp3 player thread:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I posted a tale of woe on Eclipse Computers on this site a while back and I'm not the only one below
I know its only £48 but there are numerous reports of long delivery times, product (lack of) reliability and poor customer service .. so just thought it'd be useful to know

e most part the feedback on numerous boards is frighteningly negative.
"I wonder if some big anti-Eclipse banner could be made a sticky?
Complete with links to all our horror stories about them..."
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=279147&page=2
"Delivery date was given however date arrived and no computer ....
The computer has been nothing but problems since purchase and
it turned out that I did not get what was ordered"
http://www.customercomplaintsuk.com/forum/index.php?topic=30.msg40
and
"I paid for a computer in Nov 07, arrived 3 weeks later, not 10-14 days.
Faulty on arrival - notified them immediately.
Collected computer on 3rd Jan, tried to charge for repairs, which I refused.
Still waiting for money back 25 Mar 08.
They've had my money for more than 4 months and for most of that they've had my computer as well!!
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=315059&forumID=2
and
"The Worst Computer Company EVER conceived in British Computing History (Eclipse Computers (Coventry))"
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/electronic-stores/eclipse-computers-coventry/1028131/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~