Tell Emachines to Keep their "Free" Computer
Dec 21 '00
Way back in January of '00 I wrote a review of what I felt was a bad product, an astonishingly bad product. I reviewed the emachines etower 433i (a very popular review which was read more than 600 times, check it out at http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-6F2E-3D971EC-388F28E3-prod1) and in that time I detailed what I felt where not only its fatal flaws, but also the flaws of emachines in general. Now here we are, nearly a year later, and emachines hasn't improved at all.
When I first laid out the problems with emachines I was shocked by just about everything about them. From their poor service, to their poor quality. And, perhaps most distressing of all, the systems themselves weren't designed with modern computing in mind at all. A full year ago I complained that emachines's computers were the ONLY brand still shipping computers with a mere 32 megabytes of memory; today, this has not changed.
Emachines has made a business praying upon the new and uninformed masses charging in every day to buy a computer to get on this "internet" thing they keep hearing about. And by giving them a computer that will deliver more headaches than internet content, they are doing the growing internet community a huge disservice. The reason these people are so attracted to emachines is clearly the price. Emachines start at around 475 dollars with a 75 dollar mail-in rebate (still) meaning that once you sign up for 3 years of internet access in the store (and get a 400 dollar instant rebate), you've got yourself a free computer.
But just how free is an eMachine? Is the technical support free? Sure, at least it is for 15 days. That's right, a brand that is marketing itself largely to people new to computers provides those same people with only 15 days of technical support (15 days from the time the first call is placed, whenever that may be). Well what about service, surely that is free during the warranty period (1 year). Yes, yes it is. That is of course if you completely ignore the fact that eMachines will require you to ship it to them in California for service at your expense. Of course then, perhaps a month or so later, you will finally get a computer back. I say "a" computer because its unknown whose computer it will be, as long as it works and its similar to what you had before then emachines feels justified in shipping it to you. Here is the worst scam of all. When you call for service on your emachine you will be asked for a credit card number. Should you fail to provide one, they will not do anything for you. The justification is that if your computer turns out to not be faulty (and emachines will be the judge of this, not you), you will be billed 20 dollars for the phone call. Consider this: How many people who are buying these cheap computers don't have a credit card because of poor credit history (working at a store that sells them, I'll tell you, LOTS). How do they get service?
But poor service and support alone wouldn't be so bad if the darn things didn't need so very much of it. The problem really is that they insist on breaking. The modems are absolute abominations. Emachines has used the cheapest possible modems they could find. These are modems you wouldn't pay 10 dollars for if you could buy them in a store. No other component has yielded such trouble for emachines customers as the modems. They break if you look at them cross-eyed.
And it isn't just the modems. Like most other low cost computers eMachines is using motherboards with integrated components on them. This means that if your sound, video, ide controller, or motherboard itself goes out, its your motherboard that need be replaced. Besides this, other component problems (emachine always uses whatever is cheapest, you don't make a 400 dollar computer by using top-of-the-line parts) have been with emachines from the start. From power supplies to hard drives and especially cd-rom drives.
If you have an emachine and it works fine now, I wish you luck and hope it doesn't break. But if you don't have one and were possibly considering one, take my advice: Save yourself the trouble, the money and the time. A free computer that costs so much and offers so little isn't worth it.
*Disclaimer* For the record, I DO NOT either work for or hold stock in any of eMachines' competitors. I have represented eMachine's policies as I know them to be as of 12/21/00, but if its possible that by the time you read this, they are no longer accurate. If you represent eMachines and believe I've made claims which are currently untrue please email me at ryanmercado_@hotmail.com. Detail that which you believe to be false and I will attempt to redress the situation.
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Epinions.com ID:
Cyberllama
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Member: Ryan
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 11 members
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