The first time her new Toshiba laptop broke down, Julie Ulaszek chalked it up to bad luck.
After four more repairs, her assessment wasn’t so charitable.
“I got a lemon,” the Naperville resident said flatly. “Without a doubt, I got a lemon.”
Ulaszek bought the notebook computer for almost $1,000 at Fry’s Electronics in Downers Grove in August 2009. By December, the screen began blacking out or displaying a message that said the computer “detects vibration.”
Because the computer was under warranty, she sent it to Toshiba, which returned the machine to her in February. It worked, but not for long — by June, the screen blacked out again. Again she sent the computer in for repairs, and again it came back still damaged.
So it continued through the summer, a string of breakdowns and repairs. Ulaszek said that in some cases, the computer screen would go dark within minutes or hours after it returned from repairs.
When she asked Toshiba to replace it, she was told it did not meet the requirement of three repairs within a month. Since it usually took weeks for Toshiba to repair the computer, Ulaszek realized the company would never send her a new one.
After her computer broke down for a fifth time in 13 months, she e-mailed What’s Your Problem?
“They’ve probably had it more than I have,” she said. “It’s been (broken) four times since June.”
Ulaszek said Toshiba extended her one-year warranty for an additional month past the last repair, but the recurring breakdowns had become a real drag.
“It’s just been a comedy of errors,” she said.
After the fourth repair, her computer broke down within five minutes of use.
“I swear they didn’t even fix it for what I sent it in for,” she said.
Problem Partner Kristin Samuelson contacted a Toshiba spokeswoman, who promised to look into the issue. Several days later, a Toshiba representative called Ulaszek and asked her to overnight the computer to the company’s headquarters. She sent the laptop to Toshiba on Sept. 12, and received it back Sept. 23.
“Believe it or not, it’s working to my knowledge,” Ulaszek reported that day.
In fact, it was still working last week — enough to give her hope.
“This is the longest it’s run,” Ulaszek said. “I’ve been working on it for five days. The other times they’d send it back, I would turn it on and the screen would blank out within 5 minutes to two hours.”
Eric Paulsen, a spokesman for Toshiba, e-mailed a statement saying the company had worked with Ulaszek to reach an “amicable resolution.”
“Toshiba works hard to ensure customer satisfaction and we’re glad that we were able to work with (Ulaszek) to help get her unit back up and running,” the statement said.
Ulaszek said Toshiba also agreed to extend her warranty until Dec. 27. Although she did not receive a new computer to replace her “lemon,” she said she’s happy it now seems to be fixed.
“At this point I should have a brand new computer because I think they’ve replaced every single part,” she said. “As of now, it’s working.”
