As an owner of an 11th Gen. Framework Laptop that has been experiencing this problem for months now, I just want to add a couple of points. At this point my experiences with Framework Support do not give me much hope that doing so will lead to anything productive; I just feel they should be on the record somewhere.
First. Through its entire handling of this problem, Framework has taken a dismissive tone towards anyone who does not use their Framework Laptop as their primary computing device. I have a desktop workstation I do most of my actual work on; my laptop is a backup device to be used when I’m away from my desktop. This means that, yes, my laptop will sit in my bag for weeks or even months sometimes between uses. I’ve been using laptops of many brands that way for 20+ years now, and this is the first time it’s ever caused a problem. I have never had a laptop with a fully charged main battery fail to power up the way my Framework routinely does. Never. Not once.
But in every communication I’ve had with Framework Support – including the posts in this thread! – they go out of their way to tell me that the actual problem is me. I’m using the laptop wrong.
Even @nrp does this in the post above: “the vast majority of 11th Gen users, who are using their laptops more often than every few weeks or months or who keep their laptop plugged into power when not in use…”
I want to offer you an apology. I’m sorry that I don’t use your product the way you want me to. An easy way to end this heartache would have been to have your Support personnel offer me a refund when it became clear to them that I was the (as you continually tell me, exceedingly rare) customer who is too dumb to appreciate the brilliance of your design. Nobody did that, of course.
Second. Framework has made multiple public statements, including in this thread, about being ready to offer replacement hardware to owners of 11th Gen. devices that have this problem. (In the past that readiness has been said to extend all the way to replacing the mainboard, though now it appears to have been scaled back to just the RTC cell.)
I have been in communication with Framework Support regarding this problem for nine months now. I want to emphasize this: at no time, even today, have they ever offered me hardware replacement. Not once. They simply have not ever brought the subject up.
And it’s actually even worse that that. Not only do they not proactively offer replacement hardware, when I have asked them directly about getting replacement hardware – even pointing directly to those public statements! – they do not answer. They tell me to go update my BIOS, or reset the mainboard again, or try leaving the laptop plugged in for another long period.
They do not offer hardware replacement, or even provide a way to apply for hardware replacement, even when directly asked about it. I’m at the point now where I assume they are actively trying to stall me until the warranty period ends.
All of this has been extraordinarily frustrating. The actual technical problem doesn’t bother me so much – it’s a first-generation product, these things happen. But your support experience has turned me off ever buying a Framework product ever again. I simply do not trust you to stand by your products.
They will not acknowledge it beyond this thread. Draw whatever conclusions you want from that.
