Help! My Acer computer screen cracked — again

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By Christopher Elliott

Rachel Huff’s Acer laptop breaks again, and this time she has an unhappy 11-year-old to contend with. Can we help?

Question

I purchased an Acer V5-571P in 2013 at Best Buy. Last year, I had the hard drive replaced at Best Buy and while there, the hinge came up and cracked the screen. Best Buy kindly fixed it.

I thought it was a one-off. However, here we are less than a year later and the same problem with the hinge has happened again. We did some research and found that this is a common issue with this model of Acer computer.

Best Buy will not repair it. Their tech support person refused to assist me and said I would bear all costs. This is clearly a design flaw in this computer model. Can you help me? I have a sad 11-year-old son at home with no computer. — Rachel Huff, Camarillo, Calif.

Answer

This is truly a crisis. I also have an 11-year-old, and he would not be pleased if his computer stopped working. Also, I wouldn’t get any work done, guaranteed.

Let’s have a look at that warranty. It looks as if you had a standard one-year warranty, which probably would have covered the broken hinges and hard drive. In other words, Best Buy was under no obligation to do anything for you at all.

You might have appealed to Best Buy; after all, they already serviced the computer for you even out of warranty, probably because you purchased it there. You can find customer service contacts for Best Buy on this advocacy site.

It’s difficult to tell if your hard drive was a manufacturer’s defect or if it just broke and needed to be replaced. (We’ve had cases like before.) Fact is, neither Best Buy nor Acer was under any obligation to fix your PC.

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Still, you would think Best Buy might at least take a look, since the very same part it repaired broke again. Who knows, maybe it didn’t repair the unit properly the first time? I think there’s enough doubt about the origin of this second problem that you could have made a strong case to get Best Buy to review your issue.

I love the resolution on this case. You used our own advocacy techniques to find a direct phone line to a U.S. executive representative (a number I hope you’ll share with us when we update our Acer company contacts) and got in touch with the CEO’s office. (Here’s our guide to contacting the CEO directly.)

As a “one-time” gesture of goodwill, Acer is replacing your computer.

Congratulations, Rachel. You are now one of us.

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Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can't. He's the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can't solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter. He is based in Panamá City.

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