I have seen in comments reference to “great customer service” of anker. I’m still to experience any CS worth the name; default option is email exchange that takes days, had to search internet for a phone number and the response has been “send the unit in, we are not engineers and can not help you troubleshoot”.
I’m almost wondering if those glowing customer service reviews are written by anker themselves.
My (first) anker product is 13-1 TB3 docking station; anker is new to such relatively complex products, maybe they have not realized the difference of support between a usb charger and a thunderbolt docking station.
If any of you have advice of how to get “great” support from anker, please share.
Thanks
Does Anker have customer service?
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Sorry to hear your experience with customer support hasn’t been great. I can tell you for a fact that the people saying the customer support is great are not written by Anker as I myself have said it countless times. The great customer support I have experienced came through email, yes I had to wait a day or two for a response but they were still polite and responsive and made the process of getting a replacement that was covered by warranty rather easy. For some products they do need you to ship it to them so that they can figure out what’s wrong with it if it isn’t a common problem they are aware of, that way they can help prevent this and solve this with others. I don’t know about calling support but I know that email has always ended really great for me any time I have had an issue. May I ask what issue it is you are having?
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Hi,
The issue is described here: Anker PowerExpand Elite 13-in-1 Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station / HDMI Problems
Regarding the customer service, exchanging the device should be the last resort, or at least not the first thing to do. Besides the huge inconvenience, the issue could be related to the device itself and replacing it with another such device, without understanding the cause will only lead to repeated issue and more frustration.
I expected some troubleshooting but the email “support” pretty much boiled down to “check all the cables, send in the device”. Very robotic, not trying to understand and fix the issue but just going down a fixed checklist where the next thing is “return device”.
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@last22775 Do you get anything from using win+p when you get the ‘no video input’ after a video ends?
It might also be worth checking you are running the latest video drivers for the x360 from HP and not the Windows update defaults.
@ndalby thanks for the response.
win+p allows to switch between the multiple display modes but does not bring the external monitor to life.
Regarding the video drivers, yes, all HP recommended updates are done. I think the issue is with anker though - the video is still present in other anker’s outputs (usb-c), just not in HDMI.
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Hi @last22775 figured that may be the case but it’s always worth asking. Have you tried any alternate HDMI leads such as HDMI 2.0 or 2.1 to rule out any cable compatibilities?
I can honestly say from experience Anker’s reputation for good customer service is accurate and from genuine buyers. This is mainly due to support where possible and standing behind their products by offering replacements when an issue occurs.
I understand it is frustrating that not all answers can be given but the first line teams can only advise based on information they have been provided (and 8 of 10 times most issues are hardware related, so it is case of triage in many ways). The more prevalent an issue becomes with a product it can be looked into by the developers and engineers for resolutions.
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I’ve seen posts where they praise their customer support. I’ve been lucky to never have to contact them (knock on wood)
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@ndalby, thanks for the advice. Will try changing the cables once I get my hands on 2.0+. So far got by without paying much attention to HDMI’s version as the external monitors are just HD and used for trivial tasks (no 4K, protected multimedia streaming, etc.). Also, the video shows up until the stream’s end, so I don’t think it has anything to do with the cable.
FWIW I’ve been an Anker customer since 2014 and have always had positive customer service experiences. I would speculate staffing and supply chain issues may be stressing things.
In the end, Anker held up on its CS commitment.
There is an issue with the device (SW problem IMHO) where HDMI out falters if the streamed video uses Widevine (many sites use it). Anker would not replace the device (which would not have helped anyway) but issued a partial reimbursement.
Good enough as everything else works fine.
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Greatest Title Ever…
Glad they gave you a partial reimbursement
My experience has not been great at all.
I purchased a £1000 Anker Solix C1000 power station containing a 1056Wh Lifepo4 lithium ion battery which appeared DOA (dead on arrival). It arrived with no charge, no display, won’t switch on, will not charge using either the supplied mains cable (or cable from a previous purchase), the power button does not illuminate and the reset button does not seem to reset it either. It was left on charge for 1 hour, then a further 3 hours then 6 hours and then overnight but still failed to charge. I advised the issue to Anker support when I discovered the problem then telephoned customer services the following day. Customer services confirmed it was defective and requested I returned it. This is when the problem escalated.
I was asked to return it by courier at my own expense, itself a breach of consumer rights legislation for a faulty item. I also pointed out that most, if not all, UK couriers will not accept a power pack with lithium ion battery of this capacity (1056Wh) from a personal customer at a residential address, due to it being classed as ‘Dangerous goods’ and a ‘restricted item’ requiring specific labelling and approval for acceptance which Anker will be fully aware of. I was told a collection using Anker’s own courier service, ie UPS, could not be arranged and neither could Anker provide a prepaid label - despite Anker having a contract with UPS and approval for carrying these power stations. No UK courier is interested in collecting my return and the one courier I have found which might be able to help, requires me personally delivering it to their depot, a mere 92 mile trip lugging a 16kg load.
I am aware that if I arranged a courier collection and did not correctly disclose the package contents or label the package correctly, the courier can destroy the package and charge me for the costs of doing so. Similarly, if this defective power pack caused a fire, then I could be held liable.
Having escalated my complaint, the customer services adviser promised I would be contacted within a maximum of 24 hours - I wasn’t.
I ordered from Anker UK believing the company had a good reputation for customer service but this has not been my experience and I now have a very expensive brick. Fortunately I paid by credit card but had not anticipated needing to make a s75 claim via my bank.
A very disappointing experience which has made me extremely wary of buying any further products from Anker.
I have another of these power stations which works as it should and is great for off-grid life. However, this experience has made me very cautious should it fail because the customer support is very lacking.