Boycott Toshiba

I vow that I will never buy another Toshiba product. Join me.

I may not be able to sue them, but I sure can spread the word!

I bought a Toshiba SD-V280 (U) VCR/DVD combo unit through Amazon.com on June 10, 2002. On July 29th, 2002, the machine simply would not turn on - the power supply was dead. Since it was past the Amazon return date, I took the unit to the nearest Toshiba authorized repair company, who held it for a month, and then returned it saying that it "wasn't worth repairing." They said that the "failure was typical of lightning or surge damage." Since there was no storm, and it was on a power strip that was not tripped, and our computers and other equipment showed no sign of damage, I was skeptical. Then I discovered that if they feel that they can say it's caused by a power surge, Toshiba does not honor its 90-day warrantee!

This is consumer fraud. The power supply (and perhaps the whole unit) was inferior and/or defective. It is a little suspicious in the first place that my particular unit had a "U" after the standard model number. My previous unit from another company worked just fine for over 20 years. However, when the Toshiba product stops working after 6 weeks, they ignore the rights of the consumer. Sadly, they have gotten away with it in my case, and probably with other buyers as well. The machine is sitting in the garage, still in its original packaging, with all the receipts - it just doesn't make any difference what I do

My emails to their so-called "customer service" department went unanswered. No response either through the Better Business Bureau or the consumer sites. Finally, I got a telephone number to call - there is no actual connection between the customer service department and the email address! Their "investigation" resulted in a simple restatement that the repair person said that the damage was "not incompatible" with lightening or a power surge! They instructed me not to call again when I suggested that they put a big red sign on the box warning of the need for an expensive power surge protection system, since even if they are right (which they are not), the unit would then have proven to be so sensitive that the power supply blows up even when other equipment is not affected whatsoever. Just as a side note, this unit didn't even have a manual eject, so I had to throw myself on the mercy of Blockbuster Video for a month's worth of viewing frees for a new-release dvd (unlike Toshiba, they were terrific, and waived the fees).

This is the second time that I have purchased a product from Toshiba that was defective (a motherboard blew on a Satellite notebook computer two days after warrantee expiration). Between the two purchases, Toshiba has cost me thousands of dollars in defective product. If you look around on consumer complaint sites, you will see that there are problems with both Toshiba's quality of product and its responsiveness to their customers.

I welcome all opportunities to testify to this experience: Consumer Reports, Clark Howard, consumer investigators, class-action suit lawyers - feel free to contact me.

Warning: The CEO, Shunichi Yamashita, does not respond at 1420-B Toshiba Drive, Lebanon, TN 37087. The email Customer_Support@tacp.com referred to at the website http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/ does not respond to consumer complaints - that's in a completely different location, which can only be reached at 1-800-631-3811.

Seth agrees:

"I am going through the same agony and frustration in regards to my 4 month old Toshiba laptop that for two months now is still sitting at the repair shop for motherboard problems. They say the part is on back order. Yeah right. Customer service told me to F*** off. Corporate will not return my calls after talking with a corporate pr*** who said he would get right on it. I even paid $400.00 for the Systemguard warranty for accidental damage. They said this warranty does not cover "manufacture defect". This is the biggest nightmare I have ever experienced with a company or its products. I am telling anyone I can to boycott Toshiba."

Kixdemp agrees:

"The __SHI*TT**ST__ laptop ever in existence. I bought a Satellite A75 like 2 years ago. On the 3rd or 4th day of using it, I was in the car, and the thing just shut off. I've had that problem all through my warranty period, calling Toshiba about it every half a month or so. They always either told me to buy a cool pad, which doesn't work, or sell it on eBay. You know what? The store I bought it from told me that they accepted exchanges if you didn't like the laptop. I went over to that store and they told me that they didn't, but Toshiba did. I called Toshiba and they said they didn't either. I took the laptop to the Toshiba-certified repair store near my area - they fixed it, I was happy. 2 months later, random shut-offs again. ARGH. Now, I spent $1,300 on this laptop... Now I gotta save that amount of money to buy a better one. B_O_Y_C_O_T_T__T_O_S_H_I_B_A!!!!!!"

Important Update! There is a class action against Toshiba for their DVD Players. If you were also given the runaround about a defective player, go to http://www.dvdnotice.com/ and print out and mail the pdf claim form! Thank you Maynard, for sending me the link!

This was reposted from http://www.virushead.net/consumer.html