Dont buy Fujitsu Siemens laptop

Maskhadov

I bought a fujitsu Siemens laptop last year and Im having nothing but problems with it. My advice to anyone thinking of getting a laptop is DONT BUY A FUJITSU SIEMENS laptop because you will spend most of your time on to techincal support trying to fix it.

Its not just me who is having this problem, some friends of friends are having it and I recently got contacted with someone from Sweden who was having the same problem with the hardware components.

Save yourself the hassle and go for another brand. Their entire service is a joke. Expect to wait up to 4-6 weeks for a repair on your machine and when you get it back it may well have return it for more repairs.

PM me if you want the full list of problems and service reports.

commited

What model do you have?
I have an FS laptop, and apart from a slightly noisey DVD-RW with certain discs and having to buy a new Power Supply, this laptop has served me well.
It's on 12hours a day and has been for a year and a half now and its excellent.

Maskhadov

1840 D. There are a few people I know had some problems with Fujitsu and 2 people I met who are having serious problems.

The worst of it is,
problems with the motherboard,
problems with the screen,
problems with the Hard disk.

All these components needed to be replaced and it means several trips to Fujitsu.

Fenster

Not that I'm a regular on the laptops forums, but in general if you're going to rant about something, you need to be detailed and provide times, dates, faults, etc. Saying "well there's stuff up with my laptop and I was waiting a few weeks for repair" isn't the way to get a sympathetic audience.

Bard

I sell laptops in work and we generally have no problems with the Fujitsu Siemens brand. Recommending that nobody should ever buy that brand because you've had a few problems with your own one is a bit silly, if you don't mind me saying so. You may have just been unlucky.

That said, from my own experience I'd never again touch an Advent or Packard Bell...

Fenster

Bard wrote:

That said, from my own experience I'd never again touch an Advent or Packard Bell...

QFT

Maskhadov

Well, i dont mean to be vague lads. It may well be a freak incident but as I say a few people I know had problems with Fujitsu Siemens. I had mine a year before it started to act up. It worked almost perfectly until after 12 months and I treated it like it was made of glass.

Im not looking for sympathey. I just started this thread to let people know that I did have problems with Fujitsu and they arent all what they are made out to be.

eth0_

I used to have a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D about 2 years ago and it was absolutely fine. Two of my friends got Amilo's in the last few months and they're grand..I think you've just been unlucky.

Laguna

eth0_ wrote:

I used to have a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D about 2 years ago and it was absolutely fine. Two of my friends got Amilo's in the last few months and they're grand..I think you've just been unlucky.

Yeah, I'm thinking the same, I have (well had, gave it to my Dad) an Amilo model Fujitsu-Siemens and it has been perfect for 18 months now. The only brand of computers that I've had any reoccuring and serious problems with are Compaq's.

Maskhadov

well im glad most people are not having the same nightmare I am. I would recommed getting at least a 3 year comprehensive warrenty when purchasing a Fujitsu Siemens. Either that or buy yourself a seperate motherboard, hard disk and screen

p~b

i have an amilo l series 1, and i had to get a new mother board and power supply within the last year.

other than that its great other than the noisy fan

dazberry

A friend of mine had his IBM laptop die before it was 3 months old recently - turns out it was a known fault. I know it was a known issue because he works for *cough*.

Like anything I guess, laptops are being built by fewer OEMs than ever before, so I suspect it would be more common to have bad runs of laptops based on model/OEM rather than end-"manufacturer".

D.

mukki

Maskhadov wrote:

1840 D. There are a few people I know had some problems with Fujitsu and 2 people I met who are having serious problems.

The worst of it is,
problems with the motherboard,
problems with the screen,
problems with the Hard disk.

All these components needed to be replaced and it means several trips to Fujitsu.

sometimes you can be unlucky,
hope you got it all fixed for free

Laguna

To be honest mate, when it comes to laptops, I look no further than an iBook or PowerBook. Of course I have the desktop PC running XP as well, butI have three main 'issues' with x86 laptops in comparison with iBook/PowerBooks

• **** battery life
• Heavy and cumbersome (well most x86 laptops are)
• XP based (usually, unless you're chic and run linux on your laptop)

thecivvie

I have had an Amilo L series for the last year and it is in daily use and have never had a problem with it. In fact I am considering replacing it with a newer FS laptop. Like the rest of the replies, seems you were just unlucky

Maskhadov

In fairness to FS, they are replacing the parts for free (even after my 12 months warrenty) so i cant fault them there.

What is a real sickener is the fact that my laptop has been 10 odd weeks in repair. Phoning every other day is a pain in the ass. I bought the machine in August 2004 and didnt start having the problems until June/July 2005. Since June/July I have had the continued problems .

Thats a long time to be with a machine thats having intermittent faults. The FS laptop is great apart from that.

wet-paint

Twelve months? One of the lads had one and the battery died after abous six weeks, he had to plug it in to use it. I kept at him and at him to get on to them before the warranty ran out. He finally did 11 months into it. They said "Oh I'm sorry, the warrenty is only six months."

PFO.

Bard

There's only one brand of laptop I've been proven right to have almost unshakeable faith in so far, and that's Toshiba.

That said, I could probably be convinced to maky my next laptop purchase a Sony Vaio.

Maskhadov

i think i will get one of those Sony Vaio's as well. They have a serious good rep !!

Bard

Well one of the main reasons I'd consider the Vaio is the wealth of bloody useful software that comes bundled with it - from Adobe Photoshop Elements through a professional DVD movie authoring package to a full 90-day (I think) trial of MS Office 2003. Great stuff...

Maskhadov

The mother board had to be replaced as well and I have to wait yet another week.

The only thing that didnt need to be replaced is the CD ROM Drive and memory (which I bought new after the machine).

Struth, I might as well get a new machine !!

thelad

wet-paint wrote:

Twelve months? One of the lads had one and the battery died after abous six weeks, he had to plug it in to use it. I kept at him and at him to get on to them before the warranty ran out. He finally did 11 months into it. They said "Oh I'm sorry, the warrenty is only six months."

PFO.

I sell these and minimum warranty is 12 months...read the documentation..

Splinter

on nearly all laptops the warranty on the battery is only half the units warranty if even that. i have a fujistu m7405 and have had it near 14 months now and only had one issue (self induced, i blew the motherboard usb with an unpowered hub,few of u may remember me posting it here) but FS collected it and had it back to me in about 8days all brand spankers. had an issue where i lost my recovery disk and i got a new one in the post in bout 5 days(64 bit too but thats another story) and i sell em just like Bard does and i have to say the rep they have is pretty localised. they have a great range of laptops and i would always have faith in them

Karoma

thelad wrote:

I sell these and minimum warranty is 12 months...read the documentation..

Batteries, as consumable items, are usually exempt from the complete manufacturer's warranty.

OP: The fact that there's so much wrong & they're dragging their heals would suggest that we're not getting the full story.. either there's a history or suspicion, or else there may be a known issue with that model? From my limited experience with FS, I'd have to say you were unlucky.


Re: VAIO's - The bundled software is one of the biggest annoyances for most people - you get some "full" packages ..but these are the lite versions i.e. Photoshop and Premiere "Elements". You get a lot of bundled trialware like NIS which causes an unbelievable amount of headaches for everyone & the MS Office trial was available from microsoft.com .. Not to mention the pile of VAIO Media & related software that is installed and insists on being on your startup list (Thus hogging memory and HDD space).
But... all in all... they do look nice...

Flukey

Those annoying freebies come with most computers, unfortunately. You get the odd gem amongst them, but most of it you'd not have much use for. I am tempted to get a VAIO myself, probably the VGN-FS315E.

Like their technology, their shops are all really small. Even the larger one on the corner of St. Stephen's Green, doesn't have much to see. There is not much of any particular type of product on show and browsing is a bit more awkward. You have more comfort looking at them in somwhere like Peats or Dixons etc.

Karoma

Sony Centres are a franchise.. not directly Sony...
You should always check sony-europe.com for a better deal if you're considering it.. FS aren't so bad - an approach on a mixture of style, and affordability. The FS4 will be out at the end of this month AFAIK -little or no difference.. just a few Fixes (Don't touch anying pre FS3)

Maskhadov

They replaced the motherboard. I couldnt belive it. Either i got a dodgy laptop or that whole range is faulty. The only orginal part left is the outer case and the CD drive. (the ram i bought myself later).


Im not complaining too much because Fujitsu Siemens are replacing the parts free of cost:). The only real cost is my time without a machine to work with.

Wolverine_1999

Heh, I've had similar problems with a Targa XP10. The only original part left in the computer is the graphics card! They have replaced:

- Motherboard
- Memory
- Hard Drive
- CPU
- Casing!
- Keyboard
- TFT

I've practically gotten a new laptop 4 times already!

blondie83

My mum got a FS laptop there for Christmas - and the touchpad seems to have gone for some reason, the mouse won't move at all whatever we do. Has anyone heard of that happenning? Hope it's not going to be the first in a line of problems...

Tony H

blondie83 wrote:

My mum got a FS laptop there for Christmas - and the touchpad seems to have gone for some reason, the mouse won't move at all whatever we do. Has anyone heard of that happenning? Hope it's not going to be the first in a line of problems...

reinstall the mouse driver from the driver disc that came with the laptop

as for fujitsu laptops , my amilo k is a year and a half old , the dvd drive is broken the battery is dead and i have a problem with the screen that i sent to fujitsu to be repaired and after "intensive testing" (they told me they left a dvd in the drive for two days playing over and over )i was told there was nothing wrong with it , the problem with the screen still persists and the lappy is out of warrenty

Maskhadov

Hey Fitz... they told me the same.. i think they take the laptop in and just glance at it. You have to get them on the phone and make sure they record everythign that goes wrong with the machine and then send it back in.

Those tests they do arent that intensive. They run SOAP or something but it never picks up the problem.

kwalsh000

hey thot i mite chime in aswell,
have an amilo d 1850 i think, 3.2 ghz...after previously having the 3 ghz version which caused me too much hassle with over heating and battery probs, same prob witht his one, never used the battery always left it on power supply when in use and now the battery wont work when i put it on to charge..madness! but in general i think they are ok except for problems with power supplies (no laptop is meant to be faster than a desktop!)

oh and this one gets very hot sometimes but i got a cooler consisting of four fans to place under d laptop from peats n works like a charm now..so anyone experiencing overheating, i would recomend one

Flukey

Well I did it. I got myself a Sony Vaio FS315E. Still getting used to it and configuring etc., but as you can see, I am using it, even though I still have my desktop! I hope it does not get jealous.:)

Maskhadov

I phoned up Fujitsu Siemens again today and guess what ? The laptop needed a new DVD drive so its on order. What a joke. 6 weeks (on top of the 4 weeks previous to this with the same problems) in repairs now and every other day I phone in they tell me just another few days.

Thats every part replaced now bar the graphics card. What kind of computer is that ?

What a nightmare.

slocanny

i got a cooler consisting of four fans to place under d laptop from peats n works like a charm now..so anyone experiencing overheating, i would recomend one

- Kwalsh, how much are you lookin at for these fans/ do you have a link?

Have FJ laptop, no major problems aside from occasional blistering heat, and also the built-in memory-card reader won't work any more... still in warranty thankfully.

Maskhadov

Dean. A 06 Jan 2006 03:59 pm

Sales:
9
Overall:
9
Hi there all

Just recently purchased a Amilio M3438G Lappy, i was originally going to purchase itfrom CETUK but ended up buying it from Micro Anvika instead (straight off Tottenham Court road as well as cheaper too) and i must say WOW what a lappy, now i hear the above were dissapointed with theres but i am happy with mine. no problems at all fast and quick and the wireless has a huge scan area

in terms of heat output i only noticed the laptop heat after stress testing it through 3D Mark 2003 and 2005 and i must say it did pretty well and its damn quiet even when the fan accelerates.

Only downfall was that crappy Norton Antivirus software which it came withmade the laptop take 2mins and 55secs to boot. I quickly replaced this with a proper copy of trend PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 so now it takes less than a minute to boot.

Those experiencing problems with speed and stuff get rid of that nasty norton and replace it with something like Trend or AVG

Paul 09 Dec 2005 12:40 pm

Sales:
5
Support:
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Overall:
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November of last year we bought an Amilo D 1845 A V2 3200Ghz P4 with an extra 256 meg of ram as a Christmas present for my 13 year old daughter to use for her school work and hopefully for university. The machine has allways been very slow and hangs frequently and wont wake from Hibernation or standby the help desk @ Fujitsu couldnt get the infra red port to work with her phone (I managed to do it with the help of my HP laptop for the settings) and it has allways run very hot both on the top and the underside even though she only uses it on a table, in the end it was burning her left hand although she only made a passing comment to me, and I didnt take too much notice. three weeks ago it stopped working properly so i took a look at it, the hard drive seemed corrupt and wouldnt boot so I took it out to recover her files before formatting the drive, I put it in a usb caddy but still wouldnt read. I put it back in the laptop and ran XP setup to re format the drive, it wouldnt format.
I then rang Fujitsu Siemens who told me the hard drive had gone and that I was lucky because my warranty ran out the next day. I argued that i still had 2 years warranty to go as I had puchased from them the warranty upgrade for £116.00. They told me i hadnt bought the computer from them and that i had been redirected to CET`s website without knowing and had bought it all from them. Fujitsu arranged for the laptop to be collected the next day which it was, under the remining warranty.
I phoned CET (UK) only to be told that i should have activated my extra warranty as per the instruction pack that i hadnt recieved and that as it was a year on it was too late to activate it anyway and i had lost it, even though they kept my money I get nothing. So be very aware of CET`s jubious practice with regards to warranty.
Fujitsu repair centre repaired my laptop and returned it two weeks later, not bad i suppose and great value for no money, they had fitted 2 seagate hard drives, 3 mother boards, 1 power board, 1 double layer dvd drive, 2 x 256 memory modules and a new bottom case taking with it my licence sticker. what chance do i stand for the next two years without any warranty when it needs all of this after one yearof very light use.
I spent a lot of time researching laptops before selecting this one, i was sold on what seemed like a quallity machine at a reasonable price, and the deciding factor a warranty that seem to cover the things i was concerned about for a reasonable price, i thought if they can offer a warranty such as this for such a good price then it must be reliable and they dont expect to pay out. How wrong can you be what a pile of crap the machine is and how right can i be about the warranty, they knew they wouldnt have to pay out as i cant proove that they never sent the pack if they ever did. their attitude leads me to believe the never did.

Buyers beware seriously of Fujitsu Siemens and CET (UK) ltd or you too could get seriously short changed. I have £1,100.00 worth of CRAP.

If anyone wants to contact me regarding this you can by e_mail
paulchbln@aol.com
Jonny 04 Oct 2005 11:24 pm

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I've got the amilo d 1845 series from cet uk when i first got the laptop it was so slow even with a 3.2 ghz processor and 512 mb ram, it would turn off while on charge and freeze all the time i hate this computer and i am very unhappy with their service, i called them and explained them the problem they picked it from me and returned it back to me after a week. apparently, they couldn't seem to find what was wrong with this stupid laptop. i've had it for three month now and all of a sudden the wireless lan stopped working, and i can't connect to a wireless network, it makes me so angry this stupid computer, i will never buy anything again in my life from fujitsu siemens ever again, i hate them, not only their products are crap, but their service too, cuz they wont return my money and im not happy with their laptop. guess what the battery doesn't even last half an hour for just leaving the computer on, let alone use it. i hate it i hate it i hate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **** fujitsu siemens they shouldn't even exist!!!!!!!!
Chris 01 Oct 2005 04:00 am

Sales:
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Overall:
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Like most of you, I chose my Laptop not only based on the specs but mainly on the Brand, thinking the service and quality would be higher.

I chose Fujitsu-Siemens, so I looked on their website for a good laptop and came across the AMILO A1630D.
The specs were amazing and the price was very affordable so I clicked to buy it and they forwarded me to their official reseller: CETUK (www.shopfujitsusiemens.co.uk).

I bought the laptop and on the day I got it the screen started freezing and showing yellow pixels across it, and that was when I got "phone kicked" from one place to another.
Fujitsu-Siemens would not issue me with another laptop because they say that "we do not handle faults that are not hardware ones" !?!
CETUK also didn't want to issue me with one so they kept stalling thinking the problem would go away...it didn't.

After a week of expensive phone calls, they finally decided to pick up my laptop to try and re-create the fault.
Another week went by and then they told me "we found no fault with the machine, we are sending it back".
I thought, ok then maybe it was a one-off thing. On the day I got it back I was extremely angry.

After using the laptop for a couple of hours, I noticed that the sound was irregular and that the screen was still doing what it was in the beginning...freaking out. Ten minutes later the laptop switched off by itself (even though it was connected to the wall socket) and would not re-start.
It just would not switch on!

The next day I called everyone again and after feeling a bit dazed from all the phone ringing, I was told that Fujitsu-Siemens would authorize CETUK to give me a replacement.
Ooh, CETUK changed their story now: "yes sir, certainly...we will pick it up tomorrow...guaranteed!"

So I took a day off work and waited...next day, still waited...I then called CETUK and they said: "What sir, didn't they contact you? They must be around the corner..."
10 days went by until they finally picked it up!!

Then CETUK told me that I should get a replacement in a couple of days when in actual fact they were just LYING.
After I hounded them down with more phone calls they told me: "we no longer have that model sir...someone will contact you regarding other options"

2 days went by until I phoned and this was my "other options":
"We will offer you the AMILO A1667G model which is similar but has half the RAM. Due to this fact, we can either refund you 30 pounds or you can upgrade your RAM for a cost of 90 Pounds"

I told them I was disgusted with their service and that I was not happy with any product they had to offer unless it was the AMILO A1630D.
They said that they couldn't find one so I could have a refund.

I am completely APPAULED at their service and consideration! The refund does not pay for the phone calls I made in an excess of 100 Pounds and the days I took off work and all the hassle I had.

I will never buy anything from either CETUK or FUJITSU-SIEMENS again in my life, and I am only writing this so that others do not fall into they same "hell" that I did.

If you think I am being dishonest or want more information then you can e-mail me at:
cloutsaris@gmail.com

aido_2006

I've had a fujitsu siemens amilo nearly 2 years now and i havent had to replace anything and is still running fine and it stays on quite a bit.. I would recommend these laptops to be honest!

kwalsh000

hey slocanny
it acually cost me just 25 euro, there was another make from alska for 35 euro. sorry i dont have a web link but il give you the details of it.
its called the Titan notebook fan, can be found at titan-cd.com

http://www.titan-cd.com/eng/fanpad/g1t.htm

not sure if they stil have any left in peats but you could try maplins or the peats in blanch aswell. the left sid eof the laptop near the processor gets warm, thats it, no warmer than a centrino would even while doing intense work. hope you can find one

Dan_B

I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll find similar neagtive comments being said about all manufacturers.
The fact that FS have replaced all components free of charge is a positive.
I use and support dozens of FS notebooks and they are as good as anything I have dealt with.

While I am also a fan of Sony Vaio laptops, sony's customer service and repair center in Ireland are nothing short of a joke to deal with.

Maskhadov

You reckon Dan_B ? I dont know... all i can go on is my own experience. In fairness you can slate Fujitsu Siemens too much since they are replacing all the parts for free. But I have lost an awful lot of time... 10 weeks now. If they gave me a spare laptop I would have nothing to complain about... it was just an unlucky one in a million chance

Maskhadov

Im still waiting on this DVD drive. Its over 6 weeks in repair and I phone up every day and its the same story. Siemens are a pathetic joke. I would advise everyone NEVER TO GO NEAR A SIEMENS EVER IN YOUR LIFE.

Its almost 10 weeks (4 weeks previous) in total that my machine has been in for repairs. What a fcuking joke. The technicans dont even have the intelligence to stock enough parts in order to test every component in your machine.

E.g. you do a test, one part comes up as failed, they have to send off to germany for that ONE part. You wait 3-5 days, part comes back, they run the stupid SOAP test for 48 hours. Guess what ? another component fails, that Single part has to be ordered from Germany. Waiting another 3-5 days, then the SOAP tests then another broken part. FCUKING IDIOTS AT WORK!!!

WillieDH

it's SOAK test btw

I know someone senior in FS, if you keep accepting the tinkering the helpdesk assume you are not losing the plot.

PM me or post your helpdesk reference number and I'll email it to him, he'll sort it quickly for you.

I use an amilo myself and have never had a days trouble!

Maskhadov

I sent you a PM there. I dont know what tinkering goes on at the help desk :S

Maskhadov

My laptop is being shipped back to me now. What I can say is, Fujitsu Siemens offer a great customer service. I got an extra 1 year warrenty with the laptop and several parts were replaced without charge.

Maybe its going a bit far to say you should never buy a Fujitsu Siemens again.

Ill see how things go with the laptop now

Cheers WillieDH.

ShelbourneUltra

I think you are being very generous Maskhadav. If i had went through that nightmare I would have thrown the laptop back at Siemens. Seems like a very poor service.

Cryos

Maskhadov wrote:

My laptop is being shipped back to me now. What I can say is, Fujitsu Siemens offer a great customer service. I got an extra 1 year warrenty with the laptop and several parts were replaced without charge.

Maybe its going a bit far to say you should never buy a Fujitsu Siemens again.

Ill see how things go with the laptop now

Cheers WillieDH.

Fujitsu Siemens desktop stuff is pretty solid, i work for hp on a bank contract and alot of the stuff is fujitsu simens (eD, proD7's or the newer 900mhz 256mb ram stuff YBBR serials) these machines would probably be 5 years old and to be honest you can throw anything at them or put any o.s on them and there certainly gona stand upto the test. So 10/10 there.

However the laptop end seems to be diar at times, in our enviroment we used to run Lifebook E Series and S Series (the last 3 generations) While they worked without fault for a few months we were soon replacing hard drives and mainboards like sand in a dessert; generally hard disk first and then mobo or the both together.

I cant comment on service because we have same day Siemens Business Service.

FYI 99% of helpdesks would have SLA's (Service Level Agreements) whereby problems would have to be resolved within a certain timeframe or the customer gets X, Y or Z.

Generally for stuff that users can do over the phone its 48-72 hours, for hardware stuff it should be no more than a week from collection.

I would reccomend the pcs, but id be cautious of the laptops; on the upside ive never seen a dead FS battery LOL unusual with laptops!

melekalikimaka

Dan_B wrote:

While I am also a fan of Sony Vaio laptops, sony's customer service and repair center in Ireland are nothing short of a joke to deal with.

i heard that, but they're so cool...my dell latitude cpx, looked like a concrete slab beside them, my dells lovely, had it colse to 4 or 5 yrs and it still runs lovely, no upgrades(tho i recently switched to linux to speed things up)