Key Pad Doors.

Similar situation with Canon. Had a Powershot digital camera for over 5 years, 3.2 megapixel. The LCD display started to fail, looking like it was melting, and sometimes even just going black. The photos echoed what showed on the display. I was about to toss it into the trash and make my way to Circuit City. First, tho, I visited the Canon website to see what the newer models were like. I happened to come across a notice regarding certain camera models that were experiencing LCD problems in humid areas of the country (mind you I live in the desert, but it does get humid sometimes) cause by a manufacturing defect, and that they would repair these units free of charge if this were the problem, no matter how far out of warranty they were. My model was on the list. :-) Bingo.

So I called the number on their website, and asked them for an RMA. They immediately emailed me with an RMA number, and a UPS or Fed Ex, can't remember, shipping label that was prepaid. I sent the camera back. They emailed me when the camera was received, and told me they were about to work on it. Once they opened it up, they sent me another email saying that all repairs would be free of charge. After about a week and a half, I received a package from Canon. I opened it, and lo and behold, there was a letter explaining that they did not have the required parts to fix my old Powershot, and they were enclosing a unit of equal or greater value. My god, this was a 10+ megapixel camera with a large LCD display! Way better than what I had sent them! It's refurbished, but it looks and barks like a new one. I'm a Canon customer for life!

Sue

Well as long as we're on good-customer-service stories, I'll relate one I had with NEC:

Bought a used NEC laptop years ago, guy was selling it cheap because the hinge was super-stiff and in the process of closing it one day, he'd cracked the outer plastic casing. It still worked fine, but it was almost impossible to open/close without a great deal of effort keeping all the pieces aligned.

The laptop was several years old and long out of warranty, but I called NEC (toll-free number, gotta love it) to see if I could just order the piece of the case and replace it myself. As soon as I explained the problem, they told me that this cracked case was a known defect with some models, and they'd repair it for free. They asked for my address to send a courier, and asked if I'd need something to box it up in as well. Purolator showed up the next morning with proper packing material, and took the thing away...

About a week and a half later, I called NEC to check on the status... they apologized profusely for the delay, but they'd discovered another crack in the bottom part of the case as well, and the replacement part was back-ordered a couple days. Two days later, they called me back, apologized again for the delay, and informed me the laptop was on its way back. Purolator arrived that evening with it, looking better than new, and the entire process didn't cost me a cent, even on the phone bill.

Yup, NEC knows how to keep customers happy!

RHC: Ok, if we're into good service stories, I have one as well....

I only buy laptops made by a Canadian company called Eurocom, here in Ottawa

I have a 5 year old $4000 high end Eurocom laptop that developed a bad crack in the case. Since it was long since out of warranty, I called to ask them if there was any way to have this unit fixed at a reasonable price. So I left it with them thinking that perhaps it could be saved, but if it wasn't fixable, it at least gave me good service for a number of years. Well, the next day, I got a call from the fellow actually doing the repair work asking me if there was any data on it that I needed saved. When I asked him why, he said the hard drive was going, and there were other major problems with the unit besides the cracked case. When I told him it wasn't within the three year warranty period, he said something to the effect..." oh that doesn't matter, you've been a good customer of ours (having purchased three laptops from them previously), so we'll just pretend it's within the warranty period".

Two days later, I had it back with a new hard drive, a new case, and several of the input devices having been replaced as well....charge ..zero !...nadda. When I got it home, they had also installed a brand new copy of Windows XP Professional on it. Thinking they must have made a mistake, I called to offer to pay for it. Nope !..they said they'd purchased a bulk lot of this software...it was mine free of charge... and I could comfortably go ahead and register with Microsoft. A couple of days after that, they called to make sure I was happy with everything they had repaired....(duh)

Needless to say, Eurocom is the ONLY laptop I will ever buy, and I have sent them no less than 10 other customers who have also purchased from them with equal satisfaction

What goes around, comes around....

If they make a model or two with TrackPoint-type pointers, you might be able to make that 11 (I DESPISE touchpads, and IBM/Lenovo are about the only readily-available make anymore that still use TrackPoints).