I just purchased a DYI Framework13 AMD, I got it this Friday.
On opening the input cover, I could see that it was slightly bent and had a key falling off.
I put the unit together and while everything works, it is as noticed and the input cover is slightly warped causing it to not be flush on one side of the baseplate. The side that is warped is the side that has the keycap falling off.
So anyway, I immediately emailed support to inform and request a replacement input cover kit, and described the details of the defective one that I received.
They requested pictures, which I responded with multiple pictures showing various angles of the “good” side, the warped side, a picture of the keycap being separated, visible damage on the input cover’s box, etc.
After waiting all day and hoping to get word on my replacement part, I’m now being asked for additional pictures as evidence? Can’t I just send this back to them and they send me a proper part?
Has anyone had better experience with support on such things? I’m about to just say “f it” and refund and send back the whole unit because I feel very undesired as a customer right now.
Hi Dan, I’m sorry to hear that the unit you received has a defect. From the way you described it, I understand that our support team is trying to assess the extent of the damage and check if any other parts are defective, so they can provide a solution for you. Have you had the chance to provide the additional pictures as requested? Thanks!
Honestly this is just a confirmation or clarification on the damage.
Why are you so impatient? Framework does stand behind their products and will send you a replacement when they finished with the support analyzis.
Hey friend, lets sheath the hostility. Thus far, Framework has not stood behind their product. I anticipate and hope they do, but that is the entire reasoning behind making a post about the frustrating experience.
I shared my experience and asked if anyone in the community had a similar one, seems that you haven’t so I’m not sure why you felt the need to post.
Hi Dan, I’m sorry to hear that the unit you received has a defect. From the way you described it, I understand that our support team is trying to assess the extent of the damage and check if any other parts are defective, so they can provide a solution for you. Have you had the chance to provide the additional pictures as requested? Thanks!
I have; as posted in my original post- I provided them with each picture requested.
Upon asking for why I would need to provide further, and additional pictures when a key falling off, for example, is pretty simple evidence to the defect; I was informed that they wanted to make sure no additional parts would be needed.
Frustratingly, that detail was already shared eight emails ago when I expressed nothing but praise and positivity towards the unit, and again, highlighting the focus on the key falling off and the bend on the right side of the input cover.
I still have yet to receive any notice, word, or correspondence as to my original request of simply replacing the input cover kit, again, 8 emails and 5 pictures ago.
Thanks for your reply. I understand that communicating back and forth can be tiring or frustrating, especially after receiving a unit that has issues. That being said, I’d like to assure you that the support team is not requesting additional pictures just to be difficult; they are trying to help you. I strongly suggest sharing the additional pictures requested. Thank you for your continuous cooperation.
I’m still waiting on support to respond to my most recent inquiry.
As such, that is why I feel the can is being kicked down the road. At the end of the day, I’m the one who spent $1800 on a new laptop and I still don’t know if I’m going to get the $100 replacement input cover, or if I will need to refund the entire unit.
I’d say consider this feedback that Framework may need to reconsider their processes.
I just experienced the same issue with customer support. A Framework Laptop in our company, which was mostly sitting on a desk and had not been subjected to any physical force, suddenly displayed vertical and horizontal lines on the screen. It is still under warranty, so I issued a ticket.
After a very frustrating series of communications involving multiple disassemblies for yet another set of pictures, I was simply told that this was considered “customer-induced damage” - without any further explanation.
I have never had such an experience with any of the “established” manufacturers, where clear manufacturing defects were replaced with no further questions asked, nor did I have to jump through any of these hoops.
I am truly disappointed, as I was under the impression that a company focused on repairability and customer rights would be genuinely committed to those principles. Now I am less convinced. If this is indeed a pattern, we will likely have to switch back to Lenovo, Dell or the like, which makes me a bit sad.
This is indeed really frustrating, and I am shocked that it is so widespread. All these people are coming out of the woodwork with a suddenly and inexplicably broken screen that results in vertical lines and a $170 replacement part. I wonder if there will be an engineering response of sorts on this? There is a legitimate design or manufacturing flaw here that they need to acknowledge. The laptop it replaced was from 2011, and is still doing just fine.
Even more disturbing is that support seems to be universally upsetting folks. My unit was quite literally one week old, and instead of saying “gee that’s really odd lets help” I could tell they were railroading me to a “yeah you broke it” result.
Precisely, they cannot come up with an engineering solution if they don’t ask all sorts of seemingly unrelated questions.
It would be all simple if the aim was just to satisfy the wish of the customer, without even considering root cause tracking.
On my side, the times I had to contact Support it went quite well and they were helpful, solving the issue. The diagnostics took some amount of emails but that’s fair.
I was asked questions and various pictures over few days. Nothing was “delayed” or “dragged”. It took some time, but as there are no Framework “genius bars” to come and show damaged/not working laptop, evidence is collected remotely and it takes some time to process it, confirm, maybe to ask additional questions/pictures.
No big deal to wait a bit, IMHO.
I returned them my SSD which took maybe 4-5 email exchanges.
If you had faster experiences with other (bigger) companies, this is probably because they already calculate with returns with unknown reason.
But this they do by inflating the price. So they calculate that 10% will be returned and increase prices by 10%.
Then, if a defect occurs (or the customer is just unhappy) they dont really care and accept the item, because they wont loose money and they dont even need to go and ask the producer or insurance for the money back.
I believe Framework is not doing this, so every returned item is potentionally costing them money (especially if it wasnt broken in the first place but is due to user error).
I am not from Framework, just giving my 2cents how other companies operate.
I can understand that you are excited about your laptop and want to just focus on setting it up and using it. Trust me, I get it!
But just understand that the mainboard and the components attached to it are all very complex. Just because you don’t see physical damage does not, in fact, mean none is there. Framework knows how the laptops are manufactured. They know, for example, if the input cover is warped there is a reason for it, and this could cascade with other elements of the laptop. In all honesty, it is because of their willingness to stand next to their product that they are trying to be thorough with you and ensure that you really do not have any more problems after this.
Also please remember that while Framework is growing they are still very small. They do not have the capacity to respond to your emails in a matter of minutes. This is just the reality of life.
Please just hang in there. You will be taken care of, and your Framework laptop will be awesome.
There are ways things break. The laws of physics apply even on a laptop. I’m not saying anything here is intentional or even that Framework couldn’t have gotten it wrong in your case. What I am saying is that I know that Framework support does not RUSH to build a CID case. However, if they just blindly sent out replacements to every person that drops, spills their coffee, or is careless with their laptop, (and you would be surprised how many of these cases the people say NOTHING happened to the laptop) they would go out of business.
My support experience with a broken display was OK. I would have wished it to be faster, but it was during AMD Batch 1 and after some back and forth I got a replacement which fixed my issue. The whole thing took about 10 days, which felt like an eternity.
BUT comparing that to a more recent experience with a Lenovo monitor which had to be replaced I think that is just how it is. They took 14 days before I could send in the old monitor and then another two weeks until they finally sent out the replacement.
So in my case Framework did a lot better than Lenovo. At least I had the feeling they knew what they were doing in stark contrast to Lenovo support asking for things which felt completely unrelated to my problem. No one of Lenovo ever acknowledged my specific problem and they at some point seemingly just gave up diagnosing and send me a replacement.
Yes, but they took a month to give up Could have done that a lot faster and maybe I would still consider Lenovo for new devices. I don’t, but I will buy from Framework again.
Hi.
I think this discussion might be a little more balanced here if the people complaining posted the same pictures here as they did send to support.
I am going to do my own unboxing video when I receive my FW laptop. Then if any components are broken in the box, I will have clear proof of that and that I did not drop them.
I do that with any high priced items I purchase.
Could have done that a lot faster and maybe I would still consider Lenovo for new devices. I don’t, but I will buy from Framework again.