My Troubles Dealing with ViewSonic

Introduction

2006-01-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

On September 20, 2005 I purchased a ViewSonic N3250w Wide-Screen LCD TV from Gateway.com. This was listed, and purchased as, a monitor for a job I was putting in.

What began as a simple return of a defective item, turned into a three month-long consumer nightmare that has cost my small, personal business thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

I have posted everything here just as it happened, under the original dates that everything took place.

It is my hope that ViewSonic will take a good look at their customer service department, and changes will be made so that no one has to go through anything like this ever again.

This problem is currently on-going; please check back for updates.

Thank you for your time.

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You may view the posts in order here, or individually by clicking on the links in the Trouble Log or Timeline to the right.

Monitor Purchased

Monitor Received & Put to Use

Monitor Has Problems

First Request for Help

Second Request for Help

Defective Monitor Shipped Back to ViewSonic

Monitor Arrives at ViewSonic

"Repaired" Monitor Shipped Back to Us

"Repaired" Monitor Received

Monitor Has Same Problem

Monitor Never Arrives

Still No Monitor

No Monitor, No Tracking Number

Still Nothing

Progress?

As Luck Would Have It

Still in Limbo

Still In Limbo

2006-01-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

On January 13, I called ViewSonic Technical Support and requested a new unit.

I requested that a new unit be shipped out to me immediately; prior to their receiving the one UPS had damaged, since that was, now, between ViewSonic and UPS. I told them, again, that this had gone on entirely too long already and I was still (and now even further) behind on my thousand dollar job installment.

The young woman I spoke with said this could not be done, so I asked to speak to a supervisor.

I was put on the phone with supervisor Adrienne once again. She informed me that she could not issue a new monitor until the damaged one was returned - even after I repeated everything I had told the first woman.

I asked to speak to her supervisor and she told me that all of her supervisors were "in a meeting and would not be available for the rest of the day"; this was at 3:30pm PST.

I told her I would call Monday (16th) and speak to her supervisor.

And that is where we are now.

As Luck Would Have It

2006-01-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

The new monitor was delivered to the job site, at a West Monroe, Louisiana facility. I was not present, but the people who worked at the facility called me and told me what was happening.

The UPS driver took the box out of the truck and the monitor began to fall out of the bottom of the box. I was told the top of the box was already open and the package appeared to have no packing tape on it whatsoever. In light of what I had already gone through, they told the UPS driver they would not accept the package. They feared that it would be four more months before anything would get resolved should this one turn out to be as damaged as it appeared. They called me and explained the situation, and I agreed.

We did not accept the package.

UPS marked it "damaged property" and shipped it back to ViewSonic with the same tracking number. It is supposed to arrive at ViewSonic on January 17.

I then called ViewSonic and spoke to the same young man from Monroe, LA. I asked to speak to a supervisor but was informed they were "all on break". He said he would have one of them call me back, and agreed to email the return freight for the defective unit.

Not surprisingly, no one called me back and I never received an email.

Progress?

2006-01-09T12:03:00.000-08:00

I called ViewSonic Technical Support and talked to a young man there. I did not get his name, but he informed he had grown up in Monroe, Louisiana (where the monitor was supposed to be shipped to).

He issued a tracking number and said the monitor would be picked up from the ViewSonic dock at 6:45pm PST.

Still Nothing

2006-01-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

After the holiday, I still had nothing from ViewSonic. There had been no phone calls, no emails, no tracking numbers - and, obviously, no monitor.

I called ViewSonic Technical Support once more on January 2, 2006 and spoke with John M. He told me the monitor "should have" been shipped out the previous Friday (12/30/05) with a thousand other units. Because it had not, it could not be shipped out until January 6 because they were "doing inventory".

No Monitor, No Tracking Number

2005-12-29T11:59:00.000-08:00

By December 29, I had not received a phone call, email and/or tracking number - nor had the new monitor come in. Nothing had been told or promised up until this point had been done or - from the looks of things - had even been true.

I called ViewSonic Technical Support once again and this time spoke to Rick. I asked the status of the tracking number and he said he could not understand why the unit had not shipped yet.

He put me on hold a couple of times while he "spoke to a supervisor". He then informed me that he would call me back with an answer.

He never called back.

Still No Monitor

2005-12-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

By December 26, there was no monitor and there had been no email or phone call confirmation from ViewSonic.

I made another phone call to Technical Support and spoke, again, with supervisor John M. He informed me that there was a "conflict" with the serial number information taken from me on December 12 and December 20; interesting considering on the 20th he said he could not a record of me talking to anyone on the 12th.

He claimed that he had tried to contact me and I asked him what phone number he had used - he said he did not know but it was "in his records". I requested that he email me this phone number when he emailed the other information to me, and he agreed to do so.

While on the phone with John M, I re-faxed the filled out Advanced Replacement Policy and Form and stayed on hold until he told me he had received it. I asked him, then, if there was any problem with the form and he said "no". He told me the monitor would be shipped out next day.

I then told John M. that I would not pay for shipping of the defective unit back to them, after all the hassles I had gone through and the money this delay was costing my business. He said that was fine and that he would email a UPS Return package slip to return the original, defective monitor. This has yet to be received.

Monitor Never Arrives

2005-12-20T11:48:00.000-08:00

On December 20, eight days after talking to Adrienne and Daniel at ViewSonic Technical Support, no monitor had arrived.

I called back and this time spoke to supervisor John M. He said that he could find no record of my December 12 phone call to Adrienne and Daniel.

Again, I reiterated to John M. the importance of receiving this monitor quickly - and that this problem had already put me over a month behind on the first $12,000 installment of a project. In light of this, I needed this to be taken care of immediately.

John M. apologized for the mix-up, and issued a VSA Number to us. He said the monitor would be shipped out next day.

He emailed an Advanced Replacement Policy and Form so that I could have a new monitor shipped to me before the old one was returned. I filled this out and faxed it back at 5:40pm PST.

At this time, I also queried John M. on my service to date, and asked why I was usually on the phone an hour or more waiting to talk to someone every time I called. I requested a name, number or any type of contact information to the person I could make a complaint to. He told me, only, that he would email me this information.

Like much else in my dealings with ViewSonic, I still have never received such an email.

For the record, I would like to point out that I asked - again - for this complaint information (a name, a number, anything) every time I talked to John M. in the preceding days. He always assured me that he would send it, yet he never has.

It was on this phone call that I let them know how frustrated I was with the situation. I was not at all polite when I informed them that I felt I had been lied and cheated to.

Monitor Has Same Problem

2005-12-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

At this point, it became clear that whatever had been done to fix the monitor had not worked. The same problems as before were occuring.

I called ViewSonic Technical Support at 1-800-688-6688 and talked to supervisor Adrienne at 5:30pm PST.

I explained to Adrienne that this was being used as a computer monitor and that it was needed for a job being performed by my very small, personal business. Already this problem had put me over a month behind on the first $12,000 installment of a project. In light of this, I needed this to be taken care of immediately.

I requested that a new unit be shipped to me before the old one was returned.

Adrienne said this would not be a problem. She informed me that the order would take 48 hours to process, and would then be shipped out 2nd day. She switched me back over to Daniel, who took down all of my pertinent information for the request to go through.

At this time, I was, understandably, upset - though I manged to keep my cool (albeit through a shaky voice).

"Repaired" Monitor Received

2005-12-08T11:42:00.000-08:00

We received the "repaired" monitor on this date. It was not a replacement, as the serial number was the same.

The monitor was tested, and then re-installed at the job site.

"Repaired" Monitor Shipped Back

2005-12-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

ViewSonic shipped back the "repaired" monitor to us.

Monitor Arrives at ViewSonic

2005-11-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

The monitor we sent was received at ViewSonic on this date. We heard nothing more for four weeks.

Defective Monitor Shipped Back to ViewSonic

2005-11-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

The monitor was re-packaged and shipped back to ViewSonic for repairs or replacement.

Second Request for Help

2005-11-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

Another email was sent to service.us@viewsonic.com; this one requesting warranty service:

I am in need of warranty service for my NextVision N3250w 32-inch LCD TV.

Contact Information:
-removed-

I can make the receipt available by the method of your choice:
1. mail
2. fax
3. emailed pdf format

Serial Number:
-removed-

Problem:
Screen goes black after about an hour or two of inactivity. IMPORTANT! The power save settings are turned off and screen resolution is set to 1360x768 with refresh set to 60 by default. The power light remains green as opposed to yellow or red due to standby or no signal. The screen does not return to normal until the monitor is turned off and on again or computer is rebooted. On occasion, the screen will go black while computer is in use. I have sent two email requests for assistance with no reply.

There was no reply to this email either. That evening, a phone call was made to ViewSonic and we were given a RMA (Return Authorization Number) number over the phone.

(Note: An email confirmation of the RMA number was not received until November 13).

First Request for Help

2005-11-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

On November 2, my associate sent an email to service.us@viewsonic.com requesting help.

The email read:

Hello,

I have a NextVision N3250w 32 in. LCD TV. Purchased it on 9/20/2005. Recently, after about an hour or two, the screen goes black, however, the power light on the monitor is still green. The only way to get the screen back is to reboot my computer or turn the monitor off then on again. My computer's screen saver is off. Power save settings to turn off the monitor are set to never. My computer is not set to hibernate. Your help would be appreciated.

Monitor Has Problems

2005-11-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

On November 1, the monitor began to have problems. After an hour or so of being on, the screen would fade to black.

The monitor was taken from the job site and tested in my home and my associate's on numerous computers, and the problem continued to occur no matter where the monitor was hooked up.

Monitor Received & Put to Use

2005-09-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

The monitor was received on December 28, 2005. It was tested and then installed on the job site in the following weeks.

Monitor Purchased

2005-09-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

On September 20, 2005 I purchased a ViewSonic N3250w Wide-Screen LCD TV from Gateway.com to install at a job site.

The unit was listed as a computer "monitor", not a television, on the Gateway site. This unit was purchased to be used as a monitor at a facility where I was putting in a computer system for a job I had been hired to do.