Note that there are 3 components to this REVISED review. 1st regarding the product, 2nd regarding the vendor. And the 3rd includes my experiences with both after the unit failed within the warranty period and the vendor's attempts to to avoid complying with the supposed guarantee. ------TL,DR: DO NOT BUY FROM THIS SELLER. With a very low refurbishment process, there seems to be a higher than average number of units purchased that fail quickly and the seller fails to honor the warranty by providing false or misleading information correspondence for warranty inquiries.-----1.) I'll admit I wasn't expecting much from the Chromebook itself. I was specifically looking for a decent, stable, used/refurbished older Chromebook at a great price, which can be used for testing, debugging and experimentation in an educational environment. It's not my primary machine so I didn't need it to be super fast. This model is aimed specifically at the school/student market so I thought it would be reliably robust. I was pleased to find that this device was extremely clean, worked well and was very fast and responsive, even beyond my basic needs us. The only downside to using an older refurb device is the battery performance. This one doesn't last very long or hold a charge well. But I'm pretty knowledgeable about this technology and already knew that this battery design was only going to last about an 18th century -month window is optimal, after which a steady decline in battery performance can be expected. It's only part of the territory. Replacing these batteries is not very complicated Should consider doing the same. This device (true to the lineup in general) has a sturdy, solid feel, a responsive and snappy keyboard, a crisp bright screen, and nice sound. 2.) Firstly, as for the seller, I couldn't have been happier. Not only was the price lower than I expected for a modest overhaul unit, but the shipping was almost immediate and FAST! I got a 2 day delivery through Amazon Expected Prime but my delivery arrived less than 23 hours after ordering. I don't live in an area where faster than 2 day service is typically available so this was a particularly big surprise.----- --- HOWEVER......3.) After less than two months of very sparse and cautious usage (a combined usage of less than 3 hours) the device just died and wouldn't start anymore. After making sure the battery was fully charged, I used the 3-key reset method (esc-refresh-pwr) and the screen flickered "Chrome OS is missing..." before turning into pixelated random lines and colors and quickly settled. Repeated attempts yielded the same results.
Being familiar with this technology (I'm a Chromebook admin on a school site), it quickly became apparent that the device had a logic board failure. Assuming tech support still wants to take all the steps, I did still trying to reinstall Chrome OS, but it froze, flickered, and pixelated every time I tried to boot. A call to Amazon tech support to isolate the symptoms confirmed my diagnosis of a logic board failure.
This despite the fact that this device has been used very lightly for less than 3 hours total since purchase.I wasn't worried as the device died well within the seller's 90 day guarantee and after hearing from the very quick purchase process so Thoroughly surprised, I fully expected them to honor this warranty. However, the various communications I have had with this seller have resulted in confusing replies, with no previous mention of their warranty honor and the device replace or refund the purchase. Information on their warranty coverage. I have also attached the transcript of the chat with Amazon Technical Support identifying the logic board failure them with high priority. I will get back to you very soon with your concerns as soon as possible. Thank you for choosing Blazing Prices! "Have a nice day! noting the 'I' in your reply. An actual contact is typically identified in the context of a ticket being tracked through a technical support chain. This was a leading indicator of an automated response. I received a follow-up email two days later mail that looked similar.
automated, but with the additional note that I should contact the manufacturer for warranty assistance, stating that the manufacturer has been informed of my request and is willing to help me. Now I knew that the rReaction was ridiculously suspicious. Not only did they not provide any identifying contact information on who (or how) to contact "the manufacturer", but I also knew that this manufacturer (Dell in this case) was absolutely not ready was to offer warranty support for a 3+ year old, second-hand, low-end Chromebook. In short, Blazing Prices outright lied. I replied to their email about "the manufacturer" to see what they would say if I asked for more information about the manufacturer. I received the automated response mentioned above. That's when I knew I wouldn't do anything with the vendor. Nevertheless, I followed up on more inquiries over the following weeks. As I'm posting this, I still have a few days left within the 90-day warranty period. But every response from the vendor reflects that as well previously mentioned automated response. You are not necessarily a scammer. They sold me a product at what was, on the surface, a very competitive price. If it had worked at least past the warranty period, the seller would have done their duty properly. However, from my experience and that of other reviewers, it is clear that this supplier has falsified some of the information on the product page. They certainly are not in a position to be responsible for the integrity of the product - and in such cases that is the value of a supposed 90-day guarantee - but this supplier has too showed no signs that he will honor this guarantee - so he added it to the product listing constitutes scams. I already have a tech support ticket with Amazon regarding this purchase and am going with them regarding the Blazing Prices scam at the circumvention of their guarantee obligation. Do not buy from this seller.
