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

[Commodus]

4 hours ago, LAwLz said:

Did someone touch a nerve?

This thread has in general been quite negative towards Microsoft, yet somehow you only react to someone saying something slightly negative about Apple.

It certainly has been at points, but I saw it drifting over to people dumping on Apple while acting as if Microsoft was somehow above reproach.

 

Apple is far from saintly, to be clear, and it has a bad habit of waiting until a problem has lingered for a while before fixing it.  My beef is that there's a camp that would say "well, Apple's worse" even if the Surface exploded in their hands.  I'd be happy to have a Surface, but I don't think Microsoft is significantly better than Apple at building reliable hardware and owning up to flaws.

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, mr moose said:

Whilst I agree apple did not need to be brought into this, You are wrong about MS doing the exact same thing, the last two major issues apple had were design faults also (I consider this a design fault), but they tried to hide one with an update that slowed the processor to hide the symptoms and the other is now part of a class action.  That is not the exact same thing as MS voluntarily replacing effected devices and offering reimbursement to those who have already paid to have them repaired.

 

So no, it's not O.K to bring apple to an MS debate, just like I hate people dragging MS into a lInux/mac/facebook debate, but lets not start ignoring facts to make a point.

I'm not sure if I'd call the iPhone 6 throttling an attempt to hide symptoms, since this was mentioned in the update notes and was clearly going to be noticeable for users (even if they didn't know exactly why it was happening).  It was more about mitigating symptoms with poor communication and a lack of options for those who wanted to opt out of the throttling.  The keyboard is a different story and doesn't look good for Apple, although I wonder how quickly the company could have realistically dealt with it (not saying that it couldn't have addressed it, I just don't think we have enough data).

 

And remember, Microsoft actively resisted acknowledging the Surface Pro 4's flickering problem for more than two years.  I'm not sure how pretending a problem doesn't exist is somehow better.

[mr moose]

6 minutes ago, Commodus said:

I'm not sure if I'd call the iPhone 6 throttling an attempt to hide symptoms, since this was mentioned in the update notes and was clearly going to be noticeable for users (even if they didn't know exactly why it was happening).  It was more about mitigating symptoms with poor communication and a lack of options for those who wanted to opt out of the throttling.  The keyboard is a different story and doesn't look good for Apple, although I wonder how quickly the company could have realistically dealt with it (not saying that it couldn't have addressed it, I just don't think we have enough data).

 

And remember, Microsoft actively resisted acknowledging the Surface Pro 4's flickering problem for more than two years.  I'm not sure how pretending a problem doesn't exist is somehow better.

Of course they did, hence my distaste for the applaud when they acknowledge it.  But in the end they did acknowledge it and aren't making customers go to a lawsuit or try to hide the issue further.

[AlTech]

Update. It would appear they're 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 or ghosting that is not satisfactory to obtain a refund. 

 

Which I think is complete bullshit.

[mr moose]

5 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

Update. It would appear they're 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 or ghosting that is not satisfactory to obtain a refund. 

 

Which I think is complete bullshit.

oooh that's a tough one,  what of someone damaged theirs and the repair had nothing to do with this issue?