Consumer Advocacy / Feedback Forum Rules

Share your experiences about noisy computers and components, and vendors responses to your valid complaints.

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MikeC
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Consumer Advocacy / Feedback Forum Rules

Post by MikeC » Tue Jan 11, 2005 9:39 am

The idea for this forum came to me last night after an exchange with a non-technical PC user who had unwittingly purchased a brand name notebook on the basis of salesperson recommendation only to discover that it was unacceptably, absurdly noisy. There is no fix he can apply to quiet his beast, and the retailer will not consider anything but an exchange for the same product -- if the item is not working right.

"It's too noisy for me to use; I want an exchange for a quieter one or get my money back."

My goal is to help make that statement an acceptable one at PC retailers. We have to take the message to the retailers and manufacturers that they ignore noise in the PCs they sell only at their peril. Or reputation and expense, at least. Computers are supposed to help people think better and work more efficiently with their minds. One that stresses the user with invasive acoustics is unsuitable for that task.

Furthermore, the industry needs to understand that when they promise quiet, they must deliver. As "silent" and "quiet" become increasingly sellable, those words are being abused to the point where they are virtually ubiquitous. Let's try to limit such false advertising and promotion!

So here are the Rules for this forum:
  • Post only about noisy components. Details are important: Make, model, etc, seller.
  • Describe the marketing / PR promises about the product's acoustics -- if any.
  • Describe attempts to quiet the item -- if any were made.
  • Tell us what happened when you tried to exchange or return the the item.
  • Share your strategies for dealing with uncooperative vendors / makers, including the ones that didn't work.
NOTE: Any attempt to unfairly criticize or condemn a product vendor or maker w/o clear substantiated evidence will be deleted without warning. This is not a place for gratuitous brand-bashing. Keep it civil and don't use uncouth language please! Repeat offenses will lead to excommunication from SPCR forums.

RULES ABOUT PRODUCT USER FEEDBACK POLLS

Such polls are intended to gather hands-on user feedback to help gain insight that no single product review can hope to achieve: A handle on long term reliability and sample variance. These can become extremely useful for all SPCR visitors... but there is a hitch.

There is only one way such polls will work:
1) Only hands-on users of the product may participate and comment, and
2) they must be totally honest.


Otherwise, such polls become useless, skewed and just another source of untrustworthy information. In other words, these poll threads can only be as good as YOU make them.

Anyone found to be breaking the rules above will be immediately banned from SPCR, without exceptions.

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