Mitac Mio 168 PDA - I purchased the Mitac Mio 168 PDA in Hong Kong just three months ago, and obviously knowing that I was returning to the US, I had assured by the sales rep that there is indeed an US office and this product is cover under warranty

Mitac Mio 168 PDA - I purchased the Mitac Mio 168 PDA in Hong Kong just three months ago, and obviously knowing that I was returning to the US, I had assured by the sales rep that there is indeed an US office and this product is cover under warranty

The following letter was sent to the Consumer Union __________ October 23, 2004 cc: Kevin Ho Mitac Corp Fremont, CA 94538, USA Dear Consumer Union, I would like to request you assistant. I purchased the Mitac Mio 168 PDA in Hong Kong just three months ago, and obviously knowing that I was returning to the US, I had assured by the sales rep that there is indeed an US office and this product is cover under warranty. Just last week, the PDA finally gave in and did not work. I immediately e-mailed the technical support, Email User (Information that I found on the web) I received no reply communication what so ever, and to my anxious desire, I went to the Fremont CA (US) office personally hoping to speak to a live person.

I was received by the service and repair manager name Eric. (He said he was the person in charge of the service area when I asked) Eric informed me after a one second examination of the PDA in the doorway of the lobby (he didn't even take out the cover of the PDA) that the screen of the PDA was cracked and that it will cost $160 USD to repair.

I repeatedly told him that the PDA was not dropped or damaged by excessive force, then to my surprise, he answer, "oh we got a lot of them return because of cracked screen; they crack easily!" My immediate reaction was, "so the screen is very fragile! So fragile to the point that it may have defeated the purpose of a PDA when users are expected to carry it around! I struggled for a good 20 minutes with Eric discussing the fact that if you know the quality of the screen is so bad, why isn't there a recall or warning? The generally answer from Eric was if customer are sending them back for repair, we will benefit from the repair fees. I am disappointed on how Mitac company handle customer's request. I also feels that Mitac did not spend the time to resolve international warranty issues before the product gets to the US market, and I am extremely sad to learned that Mitac knew there is a problem with the product and did nothing to improve or caution consumer, but rather allow them to return in order to benefit from the repair fees. At the moment, the Mio 168 that I purchased is still nonfunctioning. I would like to know are there anything you can do to assist (communication with Mitac directly) to have it repair under warranty? Your prompt reply is requested. Sincerely Yours, Benedict L Consumer

Benedict L

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