Microsoft to replace defective Surface Pro 4 units which exhibit Screen Flickering [Update: Selectively issued refunds]

[AlTech]

Microsoft has promised to replace defective Surface Pro 4 units which exhibit screen flickering issues. Microsoft has stated that this cannot be fixed by a Firmware update and that affected devices will need to be replaced.

 

Microsoft has promised to foot the bill for replacing affected devices until October 2018. After this time, Microsoft may charge users if they wish to replace the device.

 

I'm very glad that Microsoft is addressing this as most if not all the affected devices are out of warranty. They totally didn't legally need to offer free replacement of affected devices but it's nice that they are.

 

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Back in February, some Surface Pro 4 users began reporting some serious screen flickering issues that they were having. The issue was particularly troublesome for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it couldn't be fixed with a firmware update, and also, many of the devices experiencing the issue were no longer covered under warranty, forcing users to get expensive out-of-pocket repairs.

Today, Microsoft published a support document saying that it will replace Surface Pro 4 units that have the screen flickering issue for three years from the date of purchase. That means that if you bought your Pro 4 on launch day, which was October 26, 2015, you've still got five more months of coverage for this issue.

 

Customers who have already had this issue fixed prior to Microsoft paying for it are able to request a refund through customer support channels. 

 

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But there's even more good news. If you had to pay for an out-of-warranty repair - which might have ran you up to $800 - Microsoft will be issuing you a refund. You can contact customer support for more information about that, so don't expect it to be automatic.

 

So yeah, great stuff that Microsoft is doing this.

 

I was personally affected by this issue and Microsoft originally kept quiet at the time. I did end up paying for a out of warranty replacement unit. I'm looking forward to getting the refund (for me that'd be £333) . 

 

Source: https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-will-replace-surface-pro-4-pcs-with-screen-flickering-issues

 

[Update]

 

Today (May 27th 2018) I tried to contact support to try and get a refund since I was affected by this.

 

It would appear that the Microsoft Surface Support Team are only offering refunds to those who already paid for repair if the word "shifting" or "scrambled screen" or a description of an image moving up and down is given.

 

Even if customers experienced flickering, lines across the screen horizontally, or ghosting that is not satisfactory to obtain a refund. 

 

Which I think is complete bullshit.

[Silentprototipe]

Well that's awfully nice of em   

[Guest The Viking]

yeah, if there's no hidden clauses like *cough cough we all know which amazing company cough cough* then this is a pretty nice move.

 

Not sure how popular microsoft tablets are, i think it's more of a US thing, where they only get 12 months of warranty (24 in europe), so yeah, this is actually a very nice move from microsoft. 

 

congrats to them for fixing their shit for once.

[mr moose]

Isn't it a shameful condition of society when a company honors a basic product warranty and we are all pleasantly surprised? like they've somehow gone one step beyond obligation. 

[Arika]

41 minutes ago, mr moose said:

like they've somehow gone one step beyond obligation.

They have....they are doing it outside of the normal warranty terms and even refunding people who paid for it in the past. There is absolutely no obligation to do so even if it was a manufacturer defect.

 

Plus with all the Microsoft hate on this forum, it's a nice change of pace

[AlTech]

47 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Isn't it a shameful condition of society when a company honors a basic product warranty and we are all pleasantly surprised? like they've somehow gone one step beyond obligation. 

Except the warranty has expired for almost all of the affected devices if not all of them.

 

They had no legal obligation to do this. So yes it is nice .

[mr moose]

5 minutes ago, Sierra Fox said:

They have....they are doing it outside of the normal warranty terms and even refunding people who paid for it in the past. There is absolutely no obligation to do so even if it was a manufacturer defect.

 

Plus with all the Microsoft hate on this forum, it's a nice change of pace

 

2 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Except the warranty has expired for almost all of the affected devices if not all of them.

 

They had no legal obligation to do this. So yes it is nice .

Warranty?  if the product is faulty from the get go and can't be used then warranty period means jack shit.  Obligation to stand behind a product you claim was the best and charged accordingly  shouldn't rely on common law.   A design fault is a design fault, not wear and tear.

[79wjd]

8 minutes ago, mr moose said:

 

Warranty?  if the product is faulty from the get go and can't be used then warranty period means jack shit.  Obligation to stand behind a product you claim was the best and charged accordingly  shouldn't rely on common law.   A design fault is a design fault, not wear and tear.

The point of a traditional warranty is to cover design faults more so than wear and tear though. 

[Arika]

1 minute ago, mr moose said:

 

Warranty?  if the product is faulty from the get go and can't be used then warranty period means jack shit.  Obligation to stand behind a product you claim was the best and charged accordingly  shouldn't rely on common law.   A design fault is a design fault, not wear and tear.

But it wasn't there from the get go

 

3 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

Back in February, some Surface Pro 4 users began reporting some serious screen flickering issues that they were having.

Only just started happening. It's likely that after a few came in they discovered what was causing the issue and decided on this course of action.

If MS was as evil as people try to make them out to be, they could have kept quiet and kept charging for out of warranty service. 

A warranty against defects is not endless and will have a hard limit just like any regular warranty

[mr moose]

24 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

The point of a traditional warranty is to cover design faults more so than wear and tear though. 

 

22 minutes ago, Sierra Fox said:

But it wasn't there from the get go

 

Only just started happening. It's likely that after a few came in they discovered what was causing the issue and decided on this course of action.

If MS was as evil as people try to make them out to be, they could have kept quiet and kept charging for out of warranty service. 

A warranty against defects is not endless and will have a hard limit just like any regular warranty

It's seems more like a design fault than wear and tear to me.  I would not expect issues like this to appear on any device in the first 5 years unless there was a design problem. This device is what? 3 years old tops?  In this case it appears to be a hardware issue that can be mitigated by putting it in the freezer (suggesting either a cooling issue or design defect in either a chip or the layout). 

 

Products only fail for one of three reasons (excluding external physical damage). 1. cheap product and poor quality. 2. general wear and tear or expected obsolescence or 3 design fault. I don't think this is 2 and it certainly isn't sold as 1 leaving 3.  And I personally believe warranty or not, if a company charges top dollar claiming the best of the best then they should be standing behind it for a reasonable period.   

 

 

 

[Arika]

48 minutes ago, mr moose said:

-snip-

unfortunately personal feelings are not covered under warranty.

 

they had no obligation to do what they did and they did it anyway

 

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if a company charges top dollar claiming the best of the best then they should be standing behind it for a reasonable period.   

i mean...that's what they are doing, which again, they didn't have to

[DrMacintosh]

54 minutes ago, mr moose said:

It's seems more like a design fault than wear and tear to me.

Lets assume it was a design flaw, they still didn't have to replace them. 

 

They were under no obligation to do this other than to make sure they don't lose any customers because of the devices failing unexpectedly. 

[mr moose]

9 minutes ago, Sierra Fox said:

unfortunately personal feelings are not covered under warranty.

 

they had no obligation to do what they did and they did it anyway

It's got nothing to do with warranty.  As an entity that sold a product under the premise that it is the best of the best, they should stand behind it and this shouldn't news to anyone.  It should be normal practice,  common decency dictates we honor our claims and support our products,  it should be no different for any company to do the same.

 

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i mean...that's what they are doing, which again, they didn't have to

They shouldn't need to be forced to either, it should just be a matter of principal.  We shouldn't be surprised that they are doing it, we should expect it all the time from every company. 

[mr moose]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

Lets assume it was a design flaw, they still didn't have to replace them. 

 

They were under no obligation to do this other than to make sure they don't lose any customers because of the devices failing unexpectedly. 

Again, the obligation should be one of common decency not law.  That is my point. If a company charges top dollar for a product claiming it is the best then they should be fixing any issues that arise due to the nature of the product regardless of whether it comes under a stipulated warranty or not.  

 

3 years is not obsolete hardware, it should not fail in that time unless something happens too it.  That denotes a faulty product or a product not worthy of the price and quality they insinuate at sale. 

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, mr moose said:

Again, the obligation should be one of common decency not law. 

They did this out of common decency.....if they didn't they could have lost customers 

[mr moose]

6 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

They did this out of common decency.....if they didn't they could have lost customers 

My point is we shouldn't be surprised, it shouldn't be news, it should be common practice  but it's not.  Nowadays it's more common for companies to have hidden clauses, scapegoats, loopholes and just outright dismissal or hiding of the fact the problem even exists.  

 

EDIT:  It's astounding to me that people think the warranty period has some intrinsic merit to it.  It shouldn't, if companies were honest and decent there would be no need for warranties at all.  To think some people are happy that if their $2000 laptop fails one week out of warranty they are happy to let it go and pay for the repair.     Fuck that, I grew up in a time when a lifetime warranty was exactly that,  for the life of the product, not tens years, not for the first owner. LIFE.

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, mr moose said:

My point is we shouldn't be surprised, it shouldn't be news, it should be common practice  but it's not.  Nowadays it's more common for companies to have hidden clauses, scapegoats, loopholes and just outright dismissal or hiding of the fact the problem even exists.  

 

 

It should be news. This tells people they can continue doing business with Microsoft. 

 

This is news, these programs should always be news. Period. 

[Arika]

7 minutes ago, mr moose said:

They shouldn't need to be forced to either, it should just be a matter of principal. 

thats exactly what they are doing, they are not being forced.

9 minutes ago, mr moose said:

It's got nothing to do with warranty.  As an entity that sold a product under the premise that it is the best of the best, they should stand behind it and this shouldn't news to anyone.  It should be normal practice,  common decency dictates we honor our claims and support our products,  it should be no different for any company to do the same.

it should be, but that's not the world we live in. I'm just going to repeat my self for the 3rd time; they had NO obligation to do any of this free of cost AND issue refunds to those who have already paid, regardless of any laws, personal feelings, warranty terms, product support, manufacturer defects, normal wear and tear, customer negligence the list goes on.

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common decency dictates we honor our claims and support our products,

then every company should have unlimited lifetime warranty on all things they make forever. but again, that's not the world we live in

[mr moose]

7 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

It should be news. This tells people they can continue doing business with Microsoft. 

 

This is news, these programs should always be news. Period. 

 

No it shouldn't, it should happen all the time.  It should be news in the same way water is wet.

 

 

7 minutes ago, Sierra Fox said:

thats exactly what they are doing, they are not being forced.

it should be, but that's not the world we live in. I'm just going to repeat my self for the 3rd time; they had NO obligation to do any of this free of cost AND issue refunds to those who have already paid, regardless of any laws, personal feelings, warranty terms, product support, manufacturer defects, normal wear and tear, customer negligence the list goes on.

then every company should have unlimited lifetime warranty on all things they make forever. but again, that's not the world we live in

 

Your not getting it.  It's not about warranty, (I should never have used the word in my first post)  forget warranty, that is a legal definition of time dictated by consumer law.  If you buy a $2000 laptop it should be as good as a $2000 laptop, if it fails in 3 years it is not a $2000 laptop it is an Acer.  therefore if you pay for a $2000 laptop and you get Acer quality then the company should as a matter of common decency fix it for you (warranty or not).  That is what should happen all the time every time and we should not be surprised we should expect it.  

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, mr moose said:

No it shouldn't, it should happen all the time.  It should be news in the same way water is wet.

Well it is news

 

get over it 

[Arika]

1 minute ago, mr moose said:

That is what should happen all the time every time and we should not be surprised we should expect it.  

correct, it SHOULD happen but it doesn't. therefore we SHOULD be surprised when a company DOES do it

[mr moose]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

Well it is news

 

get over it 

If you have nothing to add then add nothing.

[Phentos]

Anyone know which firmware update caused this, if it's a specific one that is?

 

So far my SP4 has exhibited none of these issues but now I'm slightly concerned.

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, Sierra Fox said:

correct, it SHOULD happen but it doesn't. therefore we SHOULD be surprised when a company DOES do it

Which is why I said:

2 hours ago, mr moose said:

Isn't it a shameful condition of society when a company honors a basic product warranty and we are all pleasantly surprised? like they've somehow gone one step beyond obligation. 

My whole point is it is disgraceful that consumers get excited because a company has done what they should be doing rather than the usual screwing us over.

[mr moose]

2 minutes ago, Phentos said:

Anyone know which firmware update caused this, if it's a specific one that is?

 

So far my SP4 has exhibited none of these issues but now I'm slightly concerned.

It's not firmware, it's a hardware issue.  It'll either happen or it won't.