Recently, a family member of mine was in the market for a new laptop. She had gone through numerous other Windows laptops in the past several years, all of which suffered minor issues with things like the charging ports, trackpad, screen, etc. Being the tech guy in the family, I had recommendations, and the Framework Laptop 13 seemed like a no brainer. For those not familiar with this laptop, it is a repairable, upgradeable modular laptop that promises to fix many of the problems that plague the laptop industry. Considering all of the problems she had with laptops in the past, she decided that the repairability was worth it, so she purchased a DIY edition Framework Laptop 13. Once the laptop arrived, I was tasked with assembling it. However, while building it, there was an issue. The cause of the issue remains unclear, but when I installed the bezel and tried to close the laptop, there were cracking noises. To my horror, the bezel had broken and the bottom laptop casing had been damaged. Because of this, one of the screws would no longer open, rendering the laptop’s easy repairability useless. It seems like problems with bezel installation are somewhat common on the Framework Laptops; after all, there is a warning on the online setup guide saying to contact support if the bezel isn’t installing easily. I will be fully transparent here and say that this problem could just as likely have been user error as it was a manufacturing defect, however the bottom line was that this laptop had been out of the box for just fifteen minutes and now it was useless to me. We had no choice but to contact support, though little did I know that this would be the start of a month and a half long nightmare that would expose the numerous flaws in Framework’s business operations. The next few paragraphs explain in detail the terrible experience my family member and I had dealing with Framework customer support.

A complete retelling of the customer support experience

Unlike many companies of their size, Framework does not have a customer service phone line. Instead, you must fill out a support ticket on their website, and then the rest of the correspondence is done via email. This did not seem like a red flag to me at first. Though Framework is relatively new as far as companies go, I figured they must have a pretty good system in place for dealing with this kind of thing. After all, the company is fiercely pro-consumer, and I thought that perhaps dealing with a company that’s a little smaller than the likes of HP or Dell would be a better, more personal experience. Anyways, I wrote out an email detailing the problem and sent it under my family member’s email address. That same day they wrote back asking for several photos of the laptop and a further description of the problem, which we provided that night. This was on July 11th. The next response we received from Framework was July 17th (nearly a full week later), where they asked us to try a step of their repair guide to see if that would fix the issue. Understandable, considering they are a company focused on making consumer repairable electronics. However, the fix they asked me to perform showed they did not fully understand the problem I was having (I could not do it because I could not open the laptop). In the email, they also asked some more questions about the issue (whether or not I could install memory/storage, if I tried a different screwdriver, etc), as well as asked for a video showing the problem. Once again, we responded that same night with everything they asked. It had been a week and they were still in the diagnosing phase. My family member was becoming frustrated because she needed this laptop for work; her old laptop had a faulty charging port and was hanging on by a thread.

On July 19th, Framework responded saying that “after carefully reviewing the submitted photos, we've come to the conclusion that there is a need for further review and diagnostics of your laptop in our repair center,” and to “please note that this is an exception since the information is available in our guides and documentation and there may be a charge for any issues found that is not covered by our warranty​.” Despite the chance of additional charges, we were happy to get this response; it meant that they might finally make progress on actually repairing her laptop. Framework asked for us to confirm her address in their account, which she did a couple of days later in a response (she was on a camping trip at the time with spotty internet). Three days after that, Framework responded with information on how to create a return shipping label and send it back. As they asked, we provided them with the shipping label so they could keep an eye out for the package. My family member asked if there was a general timeframe to expect for the repair, however they could not provide one, stating once again that their repair center was experiencing high demand. A couple of days later the laptop was dropped off at the FedEx center with a 2-day shipping label. It seemed like there was light at the end of the tunnel, yet little did we know that it would be weeks before there was any resolution.

Over a week passed and my family member had heard nothing about her laptop. On August 8th (nearly a full month since the first email), she sent an email expressing her frustration at how long this had taken with no solution in sight. Framework responded with a generic response saying “we're under heavy load,” which seemed to be a favorite phrase of theirs, and that they would email with updates when they had them. Once again, she responded with a frustrated email about why this couldn’t just be a simple refund or replacement and that she had been without a functioning computer for a month now. Their next response was one of the most exasperating yet and really highlighted the flaw in their whole customer support experience. “We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you,” they wrote. “Just to confirm, have you already received the laptop back from our repair center? If yes, is the issue with the broken Bezel already fixed, or have you encountered a new issue after receiving it back from our repair center?” She had received no laptop yet, nor would she, however this email made it seem like they thought this laptop had already been sent back. The issue here is that the repair center and the customer support team seemed to be operating completely separate from each other. The left hand did not know what the right hand was doing. This is also evident in the fact that seven times throughout this process my family member’s emails were responded to simply saying, “we've escalated your ticket.” When your ticket has been “escalated” seven times, it is meaningless and shows there is no continuity in working towards a solution. Anyways, my family member responded saying she had not received the laptop nor notification that it had been sent back. Framework simply responded saying they would let her know when they had an update. At this point she gave up on the repair and simply asked for a refund. They responded asking if she had included everything she received (power adapters, expansion cards, etc) in the box she sent to the repair center, which she had. On August 15th, they said they would check with the repair center to make sure they received everything and then they would contact her regarding a refund. Once again, it seemed like there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Those hopes were dashed quickly. Five entire days passed since this response and she had heard nothing. Finally, on August 20th, she emailed them threatening to file a report with the Better Business Bureau. After all, it seemed like that was the only thing that could be done to finally resolve this situation and get her money back. Yet again they responded with an infuriating email saying that they were under high demand and that they were working on it. Finally, she gave them an ultimatum: “If I do not receive a refund by this Friday, Aug 23, I will be filing with the Better Business Bureau.” Threatening them with the Better Business Bureau worked, they refunded her on August 22nd. 42 days later, this issue was resolved. 42 days. 37 emails. This is absolutely unacceptable for any company, and despite this section being a bit monotonous at times, it was important to emphasize just how long this took.

Why this is a problem

When someone buys a new laptop, it often means their last one broke. As with my family member, the laptop is an essential tool for the workplace. The fact that this dragged on for six weeks highlights a fundamental flaw in Framework’s business operations. Their customer service department is so dysfunctional that even the simplest of tasks took an eternity. If your company does not offer a customer support phone line, your email responses better be quick. However, with Framework they were not quick in the slightest. Days were left between responses, and if not for her constant follow-up emails and threats of filing a Better Business Bureau claim, she may have never gotten her refund or even her laptop back. The laptop was at the repair center for three weeks when all was said and done, with no indication whatsoever that this would ever be shipped back to her. Framework had her laptop and her money. With this in mind, it is beyond ironic that the Framework Laptop 13 landing page says, “This isn’t our computer. It’s yours,” in a large font right at the top. For a company who claims to be so pro-consumer, she had no consumer rights whatsoever; she was powerless.

This whole experience is more disappointing than anything to me. I was so sold on Framework’s vision for the laptop market, however this experience has me thinking that the old way of doing things in the laptop industry may have been that way for a reason. I still do believe that they have a well-designed product; it is just a shame that they do not have the customer support infrastructure in place to back it up. I have multiple friends who are happy owners of Framework laptops, but the difference is that none of them have had to try and get their laptop repaired. My experience, however, is not an anomaly. In the past few days there has been a great deal of talk on the r/framework subreddit about the problems with Framework support. A post by user ponyaqua on August 28, 2024 titled “Let’s talk about Framework’s Customer Support” that detailed a bad experience similar to mine was quickly taken down by Framework’s moderators. Another thread titled “Let’s talk more about Framework’s Customer Support” opened shortly, where more members of the community talked about the bad experiences they had. If Framework is so open to taking feedback to improving their products, why would they suppress posts that offer constructive criticism?

The communication experience could most definitely have been improved had there just been a customer support line available. Much of the frustration here comes from the fact that simple yes or no questions could take days to answer over email. Of course, big laptop manufacturers like HP, Dell, Acer, etc, all have customer service lines available. Though some may argue that I should cut Framework slack for being a smaller company, this is not an excuse. After doing research, I found that there are even smaller companies in the same space that have a customer support line. One example is System76, the Denver-based maker of the Pop!_OS Linux distribution as well as laptops and desktops. While I do not have specific figures, their sales are certainly lower than Framework’s. Despite this, they have a customer support line listed on their website. This proves that it is not unreasonable for a semi-small company to also have a customer support line instead of solely corresponding over email.

After all of this, I want to warn anyone considering buying a Framework laptop. It is more than likely you will not have a problem like this with your laptop and none of this will matter to you. However, in the event that you do and are forced to make use of your warranty, you will be met with a customer support experience that will frustrate you and probably take ages to resolve your problem (if they even do). And if someone from Framework reads this, please improve your customer experience, because it is a shame for such a great product to be backed up by such lousy support.