After about a month, there was no word from Acer. I called the service centre and was informed that the stock was scheduled to arrive in July. I was shocked that it takes six months to replace a laptop battery. I offered to purchase my own battery and obtain reimbursement from Acer but was told it was not allowed. I subsequently wrote in to Acer Singapore on Feb 13 and the response was that the 'required parts are not available presently'. I then wrote to the Acer Asia-Pacific office on Feb 16 but there was no reply. In desperation, on March 2, I wrote to the global Acer HQ. This was answered by Acer Singapore with the same brush-off: 'We will follow up this case closely and will inform you once the battery has arrived'.

I can accept that stock can sometimes be depleted but six months to replace a battery? In the meantime, my laptop has lost its mobility and can only function as a desktop. The main reason the consumer pays more to purchase a laptop (compared to a desktop) is the added mobility. By contrast, my son recently had a defective toy made by an American company, which failed to work even after exchanging it at the shop. When we informed the parent company about the problem, they immediately sent a new toy from the United States by courier service to replace it. This is how service recovery should be instead of brushing off the consumer and stalling for time.

Hwang Siew Yoong