More than 50 percent Main board failures in OQO O2 and E2

There is a poll going on in the OQOtalk forum (most popular OQO community) regarding the Main Board failures. Quite shockingly, the poll is reflecting some really strange results. More than 50-percent people had to get the main board changed atleast once. Some users had to get their OQO’s main board changed twice in an year.

Clearly, this reflects the poor manufacturing quality of the OQO. Too many failing main boards are not expected from a product that costs $1000+. Couple that with the EXTREMELY poor customer support and bleak future of OQO (canceling all OQO 2+ orders), things do not look so good for the current users.

OQO cancels all preorders for MODEL 2+

First we saw the disappearance of the OQO models from the expansys store and now we get the news that OQO has canceled all the preorders for the model 2+. This further makes us think one think: Is OQO on the brink of getting bankrupt?

Clearly, UMPCs are now dying due to their huge price tags and poor demand. Companies need to realize that in such tough times, it would hard for the consumer to shell out $1000+ on a UMPC. ASUS has pretty much understood this fact that they released their tablet/UMPC at a fair price tag of $549.

I am personally not at all surprised due to the fact they were NOT able to offer satisfactory service to the customers in US or anywhere around the world. See this POST for more information about the extremely poor OQO customer support.

OQO customer support sucks in Asia? [UMPC]

OQO customers are facing a lot of problems in providing services to the OQO owners located in Asia. Look at this reply to the customer’s repair query:

Unfortunately we are unable to ship outside of the US. If you could provide a US address that you could use then we would be able to set up an Out of Warranty RMA, but you would also need to have a credit card issued through a US bank in order to pay for the repairs. If this is not able to be done than you can go through Dynamism where the original purchase was made and they will send it to us and they will bill you. Thank You, OQO Customer Care

So, you need to have a US address + Credit Card issued via US bank.

The horror stories do not end there. It took one customer nearly 2 ½ months (living in Asia) to get his power adapter replaced. And to get the replacement, he had to specify a US address even though he had bought the device in the US itself.

Due to the poor customer support, there is no doubt that OQO has lost many of its potential customers. Those have now shifted their minds towards other netbooks/UMPCs. However, we must understand that OQO is not a big company. Most of its resources are outsourced for parts and repairs. And it is quite natural that the customers who buy these $1500+ devices are going to be angry when they will not be provided with the service they expect. Although, it may sounds a little unfair that the US and EU/EFTA countries enjoy direct OQO support while the rest of the countries have to undergo grueling and time-consuming process to get their OQO repaired.
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