Users lodge big complaints over Tiny computers

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Dozens of Washington state residents who bought computers from Britain-based Tiny Computers have filed complaints with the state Attorney General’s Office, saying the company has refused to provide technical support or refund their money since closing its U.S. stores.

Tiny opened its first store in the United States in Seattle in 1998 and had 10 in the Puget Sound region, including Everett and Lynnwood. It closed them in August, citing slowing personal computer sales.

The company is still operating in Britain, but Washington customers have been unable to get refunds or service for their malfunctioning computers, even though many paid $2,000 for the computers and $100 to $300 for maintenance plans that promised on-site service visits.

So far, the Attorney General’s Office has received more than 70 complaints about Tiny, but has had little luck dealing with the company.

"We have been trying to make contact," said Paul Silver, senior assistant attorney general in charge of the Consumer Protection Division. "It’s looking like they aren’t getting back to us, so now we have to look at investigating it and potentially going the litigation route."

It can be difficult to get money from a foreign company, Silver said, but it can be done.

Company representatives in Britain did not return e-mails seeking comment.

Kirkland elementary teacher Julie Thomas said her computer is "sitting, not working, and nothing can be done with it. We bought a computer for homework, the Internet, multimedia use and haven’t been able to do anything with it."

Thomas’ computer would not open software that came with it, and the print function did not work. Though she paid $99 for three years of on-site repair, Tiny Computers repeatedly refused to come to her home.

Eventually, a repair person did show up — but failed to fix the $1,991 computer, she said.

Robert Eckman, an Eastside software test engineer, said that when he bought his Tiny laptop computer last March, the salesman talked him into buying a $250 three-year warranty.

He thought the warranty would cover the computer’s battery, but it did so for only six months. And the battery is what he’s had trouble with, he said. It only lasts 10 minutes before needing a recharge.

After about five months, Eckman let Tiny know he was having a problem. He followed all the firm’s advice for fixing it, to no avail, he said.

Eckman said the company stalled, and then told him that because of the battery warranty, he was out of luck. The company never replaced the battery.

"The warranty is what makes me so mad because I paid so much money for it," Eckman said.