Toshiba laptops in India......sigh! Don't bother buying them

It seems no amount of waiting is enough, and I've now given up on Toshiba ever replacing my sound card even though the laptop was in the warranty period. It's been now over 5 months, and there has not been a single call from the Toshiba repair centre in Vimannagar, Pune about the replacement sound card.

See my previous troubles with Toshiba

Every week for the past 5 months I would visit the service centre to ask if my sound card had indeed arrived, but the highly inefficient staff, as usual had no answer, apart from saying it would arrive soon.

I've indeed given up on Toshiba, and hope all Indians are spared from their highly inefficient after service and warranty.
I'm planning to email their main service centre, lets see how that goes, and if they continue to play the same game as the one played by the Toshiba service centre in VimanNagar, I might just consider taking these guys to the consumer court.

Why not to buy a Toshiba Laptop in India

I have a Toshiba laptop which I had bought more than a year back, it worked great and was everything I wanted from a laptop.
But around 4 months back, the sound stopped working. Not only that, the laptop started getting hot around the region where the sound card was located. Since my laptop was in the warranty period then, I took it to the HCL Infosystems servicing centre in Pune at VimanNagar in Feb 2009 (Since Toshiba has a tie up with HCL for servicing it's laptops).
I was advised to keep the laptop at the centre for inspection, and since then my troubles with Toshiba's After service has started.

At the centre, I was told that since there was a problem with the soundcard, it would be replaced free of cost, and it would take around a week for the part to arrive.
That was in Feb 2009. It's now been 4 months and my laptop has still to get it's sound card replacement. Not only that, the employees at the centre (who don't bother picking up phones) are extremely slow and ill mannered with the way they talk to their customers. They do not bother calling you or mailing you of any status updates.
The first time I left my laptop at the centre, there was a mark on my screen (caused by a pen) and the left side of my laptop, just above the USB drive was cracked.

Since I have visited the centre umpteen time now, I have interacted with their other customers also having laptops belonging to HCL and Toshiba. Their stories are the same as mine. Delayed servicing, rude employees who make them wait forever and multiple trips to the centre, just for getting their laptops fixed.

All this, because Toshiba couldn't make a laptop that does not fail in it's warranty period. I've been made to run around, trying to fix my laptop for around 4 months now, and it's getting really tiring, especially, if you have a job.

Not only that, last week, when I went to the centre, I was told that the soundcard had indeed arrived and I had to send them my laptop, but in the afternoon, I get a call from the centre saying, that the sound card that they had was of the wrong type for my laptop. Here, I wait for 4 month to get my laptop fixed, and they cannot even get the part right.

My advice to any potential Laptop buyer in India: Avoid Toshiba and HCL if you value aftersales support, especially after seeing the pathetic kind of service that they provide at the service centre in VimanNagar.

Will try and post updates here....