Third SP3 being exchanged for a fourth

[stephen_az]

I must admit I have run out of patience with the junk Microsoft ships out as replacements for defective SP3s. My first was killed by the November firmware upgrade. The second was defective/non-functional out of the box - it also failed completely after installing the November firmware upgrade. The third struggled with a temperamental WiFi connection out of the box but I kept it since at least it was mostly stable and it had no driver/firmware problems. Shortly after getting it though I started to notice a vague, intermittent, and odd smell whenever I used a high CPU program like Lightroom. At first I did not connect it to the SP3 but over the past few weeks it started to become more pronounced; was clearly from the machine; and was also quite identifiable. It was the smell of overheated epoxy (or other synthetic adhesive) out-gassing. Essentially, it is not hot enough to combust but more than hot enough to destabilize. Not coincidentally, as the smell has gotten worse so have the warm spots on the back of the tablet around the processor and power connector.

Long and short of it is before I could call Surface Support to address, the system became unstable and progressively slower. While doing a reset the smell also worsened and the reset did nothing to correct the performance and stability problems. They are now going to ship me yet another unit. Given their track record with sending me refurbished paperweights, if there are any problems this time I will direct it to the Texas BBB and an attorney to address otherwise. I know others love their SP3s but this has become a bad joke and it is very convenient that the return center is in Texas. It makes it easier to take other action if necessary. Even if there weren't performance issues, a computer that smells like it is about to catch fire is hardly a good first impression in a business meeting.

Just a cautionary tale of quality control problems from a very annoyed user. It makes me also miss living near a Microsoft store. Whenever I had problems with a SP1 or SP2 in Scottsdale, I walked in the local store; they checked it out; confirmed the issue; and handed me a new unit. This time there will be yet another hold on my credit card to receive yet another refurbished unit; and then I will have to track them for another week to make sure they release the credit card hold....

 

[Laura Knotek]

Ugh! I'm sorry to hear that every single SP3 you've gotten has been a lemon. Would you be able to just get your money back at this point? If this happened to me, it would be like in baseball, "Three strikes and you're out".

 

[stephen_az]

Getting one's money back is a challenge but the fact the Microsoft facility is in Texas does increase their exposure. Surface Support have, with one exception, been very helpful and have acknowledged the situation is inexcusable. The problem is on the refurbishing end. The second unit was clearly not tested beyond turning it on and doing a wipe because even a cursory check of device manager would have noted it had missing drivers and non-functional hardware devices. This one I expect was probably returned because it smelled odd since the WiFi issues were more nuisance than severe. If one plugged it in and did a legit burn in as a test though it would be hard to miss the fact it smells like it is actually burning.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Getting one's money back is a challenge

I'd suggest looking into the state's "Lemon Laws" at this point.