seattlesage wrote:I bought two of these cause a friend told me in the last hour that there was a great deal on them at Woot.com. It was my first purchase from woot. Got one for me and one for my GF. They showed up fast and both worked out of the box and came with AC adapters. One did not have the port cover for the docking station port and one did, not a huge deal but when I buy something I like to get all the parts it should have.

So I updated both and one accepted all updates through 3.2 and is working find AND does write to SD card. Works awesome on HDMI on my 50" tv.

The second one has same issue as most on here, won't update to .0032, still stuck on .0018. I called Toshiba, did the factory reset which didn't work and they offered me the $24.95 option to send in for repair which I took. Went online last night to see what status was and when I could expect my return box from Toshiba and status of my order was 'Canceled/rejected'. Spent 35 mins on hold this afternoon to get through to a Toshiba rep and he said it had been escalated to level 2 and I would get a call from a specialist in 24 business hours. So now I am waiting for their call.

I never in my wildest nightmares expected to see all these people having so much trouble with a refurb product. I've bought plenty of refurb stuff in the past (never from woot) and had no issues. So I will wait to see what Toshiba says if/when they do call and update with their results.

But, the tablet with the update issue is working just fine on .0018, all seems to be working except it won't update to .0032 and therefore can't get the updates after that.

Now we wait for Toshiba's call....

Well after 2 days they didn't call back so I called in and after 30 minutes on hold I spoke with Christina in the warranty department. Their direct number is 855-641-6920, they are in the USA, not India like when you call the 877-457-7777 main support number.

She stated that refurbished units have a 90 day warranty, so ours is up in March 2012. She said my FEDEX box would arrive in a few days and I would send it in to be repaired and returned in about 7 business days.

So we shall see if they can get it solved and make it work properly. What an ordeal everyone is going through! Never imagined anything like this or I would have spent a few more bucks and purchased it new.

We are loving our Thrive tablets though and already using them a lot. Hope everyone else gets their issues solved. I'll update when I get it back and find out if it was 'fixed' properly.

I went to check my Toshiba repair order because it has been since Monday, and we still haven't gotten a box. The link my confirmation takes me to says it was rejected and there's a number to call. I'll get my husband to call them, since he made the first call to set it up. It that can't be sorted out, I guess I'll send this one back to Woot, and if and when I get my money back, I'll go somewhere and just buy one.

What a cluster!

Has anyone heard anything from Woot about what and why all of this is going on? Is anyone researching it?

Same issues as everyone else has posted, but, cannot adjust the brightness; anyone have this issue?
- Brightness NOT set to auto.

Thank you to Theologian!

It's nice to know that I wasn't alone in receiving a unit that would not update. I'm very disappointed with Toshiba. I spent a total of an hour and 15 minutes today talking to tech support. After a factory refresh (that didn't do anything), it was determined that my unit would need to be sent into the depot service center to the tune of $24.95 to ship it. Um no... I just purchased this thing. I argued with level 1 and level 2 customer support.

Ultimately, I followed the directions that Theologian posted... thank goodness there are smarter folks in this world than I. It's just too bad that they're not working the refurbishment center at Toshiba.

One thing I've learned from this whole ordeal... Won't buy a Toshiba product again and will be spreading the bad word about their ridiculous charge to repair something under warranty. Both Dell and HP sent a prepaid, no cost to the consumer shipping box for items covered under warranty.

The Thrive is a great product... I really like it, but won't be buying Toshiba again.

95Integra wrote:Thank you to Theologia...
One thing I've learned from this whole ordeal... Won't buy a Toshiba product again and will be spreading the bad word about their ridiculous charge to repair something under warranty. Both Dell and HP sent a prepaid, no cost to the consumer shipping box for items covered under warranty.

The Thrive is a great product... I really like it, but won't be buying Toshiba again.

Same here... HP laptop had to be repaired under HP warranty TWICE during the 12-month warranty... BOTH times, completely free no charge whatsoever. Why Toshiba would ask us for $25 is beyond me. Shame on them for selling us a product that is not working correctly and then charging us to get it working the way it should have worked to begin with.

For anyone who might be reading this on 12/30/2011, http://1saleaday.com/ has the 32GB model for $299 + $4.99 shipping.

It is the refurb model as well. I am not taken any more chances with them. I have to pay the 24.095 fee as well to have them fix my wifi issue. I am not even sure if it will update or not. This is ridiculous. I think I will look into a class action for having to pay to have it repaired in the least.

I suggest everyone go to the Better Business Bureau website: http://www.bbb.org and file a complaint against Toshiba. It's really easy, only takes a couple of minutes and companies take these issues very seriously. Here's a copy of what I submitted, for example.

I HIGHLY encourage everyone here to do this. Remember, Woot is just a reseller, these products are being provided as "certified refurbished" and they are clearly not.


Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc.
9740 Irvine Blvd
Irvine, CA 92618-1697
Website: http://www.toshibadirect.com
Phone: (949) 461-4321

Complaint Text:
I received my "certified refurbished" Toshiba Thrive Tablet approximately one week ago. Immediately out of the box, the unit required a "system image update". The update failed to install. Upon calling Toshiba customer service, I was walked through a procedure to reset the device. This process did nothing. The Customer Service Representative concluded that the unit must be sent in for "depot repair". I was sent information on how to return my unit for repair. Only when I logged in was I shown that there would be a $24.95 charge to send my DEFECTIVE unit in to be fixed. This is absurd. I called back Toshiba customer service and asked them to waive the shipping charges as this was a "certified refurbished" product that didn't work from day one of receipt. I was denied by level 1 technical support and subsequently denied my request by level 2 customer support and told that paying the $24.95 was my only option. I asked to speak with customer service and was denied being transferred and was instead advised to use the contact information on Toshibadirect's website. Upon further investigation, it appears that Toshiba has supplied a substantial lot of defective "certified refurbished" Thrives to consumers, examples being: developer builds of the operating software, incorrect power supplies, broken screens and in my case (and many others) unable to update the operating system.

Resolution Sought:
Apologize for the inconvenience they have caused to their consumers. Offer to replace the defective units at no charge to the consumer and additional compensation for wasted time, effort and frustration.

Date Problem Started: 12/29/2011
Date of Transaction:
Amount in Dispute: $0.00
Invoice Number:
Complaint Type: Guarantees or Warranty Issues

Product or Service: Unwilling to repair defective hardware covered under warranty.

The Toshiba people are indeed going to send the box now so I can send it in BUT now my screen won't unlock this morning. I'm going to see if Woot will take this back. I'm tired of messing with it, and it all it cost was the original charge, 24.95 shipping from fed ex that I'm not going to use, and hours of hassle plus any interest I'll pay on my credit card waiting for the credit to post.

FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL

I am an unhappy camper, but I don't think WOOT or Toshiba cares. The sad thing is that every laptop device I've ever gotten was Toshiba, and i have 2 Toshiba TVs, and I have always thought they were good items. Maybe I was just very lucky!

apiehl wrote:Mine worked okay except it wouldn't update, so I'm going to send it in to Toshiba for repair. I'll pay the $24 to ship in, and hopefully, I'll get it back in proper working condition in the 7-10 Days they promised.

This will be my last and only purchase from WOOT. Major dissapointment.

Get burnt by Toshiba => boycott Woot (who are actually trying to make this right by a no questions asked, free ship RMA). Makes perfect sense. *rolleye*

jhaide wrote:Get burnt by Toshiba => boycott Woot (who are actually trying to make this right by a no questions asked, free ship RMA). Makes perfect sense. *rolleye*

Heard right back from WOOT with my label to return. You are correct to 'rolleye' at my venting. All my dealings have been with Toshiba, not Woot. Woot did send out all the defective tablets, which I guess is not their fault. At any rate, this whole experience has been disappointing, and Woot has done nothing to help make it easier other than email me a label once I gave up trying to get it fixed by Toshiba.

95Integra wrote:I suggest everyone go to the Better Business Bureau website: http://www.bbb.org and file a complaint against Toshiba. It's really easy, only takes a couple of minutes and companies take these issues very seriously. Here's a copy of what I submitted, for example.

I HIGHLY encourage everyone here to do this. Remember, Woot is just a reseller, these products are being provided as "certified refurbished" and they are clearly not.


Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc.
9740 Irvine Blvd
Irvine, CA 92618-1697
Website: http://www.toshibadirect.com
Phone: (949) 461-4321

Complaint Text:
I received my "certified refurbished" Toshiba Thrive Tablet approximately one week ago. Immediately out of the box, the unit required a "system image update". The update failed to install. Upon calling Toshiba customer service, I was walked through a procedure to reset the device. This process did nothing. The Customer Service Representative concluded that the unit must be sent in for "depot repair". I was sent information on how to return my unit for repair. Only when I logged in was I shown that there would be a $24.95 charge to send my DEFECTIVE unit in to be fixed. This is absurd. I called back Toshiba customer service and asked them to waive the shipping charges as this was a "certified refurbished" product that didn't work from day one of receipt. I was denied by level 1 technical support and subsequently denied my request by level 2 customer support and told that paying the $24.95 was my only option. I asked to speak with customer service and was denied being transferred and was instead advised to use the contact information on Toshibadirect's website. Upon further investigation, it appears that Toshiba has supplied a substantial lot of defective "certified refurbished" Thrives to consumers, examples being: developer builds of the operating software, incorrect power supplies, broken screens and in my case (and many others) unable to update the operating system.

Resolution Sought:
Apologize for the inconvenience they have caused to their consumers. Offer to replace the defective units at no charge to the consumer and additional compensation for wasted time, effort and frustration.

Date Problem Started: 12/29/2011
Date of Transaction:
Amount in Dispute: $0.00
Invoice Number:
Complaint Type: Guarantees or Warranty Issues

Product or Service: Unwilling to repair defective hardware covered under warranty.

I was in the same boat as you, I had given up & asked w00t for a rma number, they were very apologetic & gave me a shipping label to use to return the Thrive by a certain date in January. I then found the Thrive forum & rooted the tablet & installed the newest update. This thing is everything I thought it could be, I still need to test the HDMI hookup, if it works I will then send w00t an email cancelling the return. I have dealt with Toshiba before on a laptop issue, they are not very helpful, but this product had so many positive possibilities.......I am typing this message on my rooted refurbished Thrive.

Toshiba dropped the ball here. But Woot (Amazon) sold unrepaired merchandise as refurbished, so they're not absolved of their responsibility.

The letter to the BBB seems less likely to have a positive result than a letter to the appropriate executive of Toshiba's consumer electronics division. Secondly, a letter to Jeff Bezos (Amazon's CEO) has a pretty good chance of getting Amazon/Woot to pressure Toshiba to waive their ludicrous $25 warranty repair shipping fee for a product that never worked properly for the buyer.

If Bezos heard about this debacle, I'm pretty sure he would ensure that Woot (and Toshiba) satisfy the customers here. He has worked hard to give Amazon a reputation for fairness and quality customer service. It's not worthwhile for Amazon/Woot/Toshiba to appear arrogant, stingy, and lazy when they clearly made a mistake here.

If Bezos (or his direct staff) heard about this, I'd bet that Amazon would quickly convince Toshiba to pay for the repair shipping AND give customers a $25 coupon towards a future Toshiba product purchase.

This isn't about picky customers. This is a lesson in how NOT to do business (that is, if you're in business for the long haul).

Maybe all the important Amazon/Woot/Toshiba customer service managers are not at work due to the holidays, and we're dealing with lower level employees who don't have the power or motivation to fix this situation in a smart way.

In some companies, this screw-up would cost somebody a job or at least a demotion.

I finally got home from visiting Relatives out of state, and took on the Challenge of fixing my Toshiba that I received from Woot.
It was the dreaded version 0018 rom, that does no allow updates, and is stuck at 3.1 OS.
I utilized the instructions posted on the Thriveforums.org web site and now I have a fully functional and current Tablet: Everything the Toshiba Thrive should have been out of the box.
For those that do now wish to deal with this self service, I understand the reasons to send it either to Toshiba (for $$24) or Woot for refund.
If you are even a little technically literate or savey, I encourage you to do the repairs yourself, or seek out a good friends who can do it for you.
Is it disappointing that Toshiba and Woot sent us broken units? Yes of course it is. But make lemonade out of that lemon!!

Without going back through the pages of posts, I recall that one of our esteemed community was told by Toshiba that they were planning a new ROM release to replace the one that won't update OTA and that was to be released, according to Toshiba, by the end of last week.

Has anything more been said about this?

Has anyone who has contacted Toshiba been told the same thing?

Waiting with baited breath...not.

Colby

GMWoot wrote:the good>ordered 2 ... shipped before christmas as promised A+
the bad> one is DOA and now I get to deal with Toshiba because woot just sells DOA crap .. but they are not responsible evedently to support the products they push because" you'd get a better deal, discussing with the manufacturer" hummm we will see
update::
2 hrs later STILL on phone with Toshiba
"not there problem " bought from some others supplier, 3 calls to "tech support" ( is like windows help icon , no HELP at all) transfer to "sales" call dropped twice, then "its a tech support issue their claims manager should handle it"
we will see

1-03-2012
The one that works works great, but as these were a CHRISTMAS gift and I had to find something comparable locally I am DISSATISFIED and Still waiting for Woot to either replace or refund.... SAD after all the successful woots of the past... certainly reflects on "new mangagement"

I'm having a problem with updating and after some very gentle usage, the volume rocker no longer functions in the "up" direction.

Will Woot help here or do I need to go to Toshiba?

Just a note. The resolution from my Better Business Bureau complait was that they would waive the $24.95 Depot return shipping fee.

I already spent the time and fixed mine, so no need to return it, but for any of you out there with units that will not update. This is an option for the warranty repair work to be truly free.

I just pulled the trigger and bought two of them. I keep hearing all sorts of good things about them and I figured my fiancé would love this for a wedding gift. : ) Thanks everyone for the info. This is only the 2nd thing I have bought on this site and it's been great so far.

Got the box from Toshiba and sent it in, now they have it at their repair facility and it is in the process of being re-refurbished i guess.

Will update when I get it back.

Dealing with Toshiba customer "support" has managed to put me in a frightful state. I've never been so appalled by a company's unwillingness to help its customers or take responsibility for the product they put on the market. If I wanted to spend an extra 25 dollars on a tablet I'd have bought a new one. This is an extra 10% cost in order to have the working unit we should have originally recieved, except now we have to wait an extra 10 to 15 days in order to have it. This is class action material. Not only has Toshiba support wasted my time, they have not taken responsibility for their product. I submit that woot.com or amazon.com refund all customers who are being forced to pay the 24.95 shipping cost to have their units "repaired" to the condition they should have been in when they were purchased. Then, if either woot or amazon want to confront toshiba about this, they are welcome to that headache. If Toshiba won't treat the buyer decently, perhaps they will listen to a major retailer.

furi0usfungus wrote:Dealing with Toshiba customer "support" has managed to put me in a frightful state. I've never been so appalled by a company's unwillingness to help its customers or take responsibility for the product they put on the market. If I wanted to spend an extra 25 dollars on a tablet I'd have bought a new one. This is an extra 10% cost in order to have the working unit we should have originally recieved, except now we have to wait an extra 10 to 15 days in order to have it. This is class action material. Not only has Toshiba support wasted my time, they have not taken responsibility for their product. I submit that woot.com or amazon.com refund all customers who are being forced to pay the 24.95 shipping cost to have their units "repaired" to the condition they should have been in when they were purchased. Then, if either woot or amazon want to confront toshiba about this, they are welcome to that headache. If Toshiba won't treat the buyer decently, perhaps they will listen to a major retailer.

I paid ~$13 to ship it to them, not utilizing their $24 box. It was received on Tuesday (1/10), but they have not logged it into their system at depotgateway.toshiba.com

Is it possible to get in on the class action for my expense too?

The intention is for the android tablets to run Google’s Android Honeycomb operating system, which is loosely expected in summer (though rumors suggest it might ship sooner than that)–the same time that Toshiba Tablet is expected to ship. The demos shown at CES reflect Android 2.2 (Froyo), so realistically, it’s an inaccurate reflection of just how the Tablet will perform as an integrated platform when it ships. But it was good to see the hardware up and running, and the actual ports instead of a wood mockup. But it will run Adobe Flash, a bonus over Apple’s popular iPad.
http://www.espow.com/wholesale-computers-networking-tablets.html

Bought this in December. Right after 90 days, the tab stopped working and whenever i turn it on, it stays at the start up screen and continues the start up screen cycle until the battery runs out. Nothing I do fixes this problem.

drlisa wrote:Bought this in December. Right after 90 days, the tab stopped working and whenever i turn it on, it stays at the start up screen and continues the start up screen cycle until the battery runs out. Nothing I do fixes this problem.

Sounds like your tablet might of taken a bad update. There is ways to do a full reset on the device if this happens. I would look online for the steps to do this and reset the unit back to factory new and it should should get you back up and running.

I just bought a refurbished Thrive Tablet
few days ago. It came with build numbertostab03-eng3.1 HMJ37 eng.ron.20110622.191714 test-keys, Without Google Play and with no possibility to download or use of any applications.
I tried to root the device using a flash tool which I downloaded from ToshibaThrive forum and afterwards I flashed clockwork recovery mod as well using the same tool.
Then I've wiped all cache and reset the device to factory setting (using clockwork recovery 5.5.0.4). I've Installed Dalepl custom rom (have tried 4 different Roms...) and now my Thrive tablet is stucked in boot loop . I don't have any backup and from what I read in the forums, the only way to get it back to life is to reflash it using nvflash mode.
Can someone help me with this process ??

roymaster wrote:I just bought a refurbished Thrive Tablet
few days ago. It came with build numbertostab03-eng3.1 HMJ37 eng.ron.20110622.191714 test-keys, Without Google Play and with no possibility to download or use of any applications.
I tried to root the device using a flash tool which I downloaded from ToshibaThrive forum and afterwards I flashed clockwork recovery mod as well using the same tool.
Then I've wiped all cache and reset the device to factory setting (using clockwork recovery 5.5.0.4). I've Installed Dalepl custom rom (have tried 4 different Roms...) and now my Thrive tablet is stucked in boot loop . I don't have any backup and from what I read in the forums, the only way to get it back to life is to reflash it using nvflash mode.
Can someone help me with this process ??

Toshiba needs to reflash the tablet - nvflash for the Thrive is not available.

I just went through this same 'process' last week.

To get the Thrive up and running again, I had to download and restore the Clockworkmod backup linked in http://www.tabletroms.com/forums/toshiba-thrive-general-discussion/4751-test-rom-ota-rom.html#post60729 , then use 'adb push' to put a wifi driver into /system/lib/modules.

Note that the linked file is on one of those download sites that is really difficult to get files from - they *really* want you to sign up for a premium membership - but if you are persistent, you should be able to get it.

Although you will end up with a 'working' tablet, it really needs to be sent back to Toshiba for a re-flash.

I'm going to be calling the number listed a few posts ago later today to schedule the return of my tablet.

-

ewm wrote:Toshiba needs to reflash the tablet - nvflash for the Thrive is not available.

I just went through this same 'process' last week.

To get the Thrive up and running again, I had to download and restore the Clockworkmod backup linked in http://www.tabletroms.com/forums/toshiba-thrive-general-discussion/4751-test-rom-ota-rom.html#post60729 , then use 'adb push' to put a wifi driver into /system/lib/modules.

Note that the linked file is on one of those download sites that is really difficult to get files from - they *really* want you to sign up for a premium membership - but if you are persistent, you should be able to get it.

Although you will end up with a 'working' tablet, it really needs to be sent back to Toshiba for a re-flash.

I'm going to be calling the number listed a few posts ago later today to schedule the return of my tablet.

-

thanks a lot ewm. I'm not a president but I managed to download the backup file. My thrive is now up and running , after all these years in the dark ...
I've pushed also the wifi files -
1) bcm4329.ko which I took from one of dalepl roms) using the commands -
adb push bcm4329.ko /system/lib/modules/bcm4329.ko

and - adb shell chmod 644 to this file.

2) wpa_supplicant to /system/etc/wifi/wpa_supplicant

I've done also a factory reset but my wifi still shows an error message.

do you have a different bcm4329.ko for me or I've forgotten something ?

hi,

please let me know, how do I use 'adb push' to put the wifi driver into /system/lib/module ?
Do I take the files from the backup file that you sent me ? Do I need to edit them before ?