Tom's Advocate: Got A Manufacturer Grievance?

Do you need a little help dealing with a computer company? Let us help you.

Here at Tom’s Hardware, we’ve always taken pride in being an advocate for our audience. That means providing the most straightforward, comprehensive reviews, taking your feedback and applying it to our stories, and pointing our readers in the right direction when we’re able to help answer a specific question.

Sometimes, though, we receive more worrying correspondence—concerns that a particular vendor isn’t supporting its products, features missing, discontinued drivers—the list goes on and on.

Well, we’re not afraid to step up when a vendor lets you down. We have much respect for our friends over at Maximum PC and their old Watchdog column. Much time has passed since we've seen it, though, and we don't want the enthusiast community to go unrepresented to the companies from which you buy your hardware.

That's why Tom’s Hardware is introducing a new feature that lets you write in about your unique situation (with all of the relevant warranty information, photos, and contact information), so that we can go to bat for you. Think of this column as a mail bag with incisors. Believe it or not, most companies want to do right by their customers. Sometimes, somewhere along the way, however, signals get crossed. We know how to go about getting better reception, if you catch the drift.

Now, we can’t promise a response to every single email that comes in, nor are we guaranteeing a favorable resolution. We can, however, leverage our contacts to make your voice heard when there is clearly something amiss. Is a vendor not honoring it's warranty policy? Is a company giving you the run around? If you have a grievance, drop us a line at advocate[at]bestofmedia.com, and we'll see what we can do for you.

Keep in mind this column is intended for people who need help addressing a missing feature, ignored warranty claims, or some other support disconnect. If you have general tech support questions, you are encouraged to start a thread in our Forums, where literally tens of thousands of members can help you solve your issues.