Customer Reviews

Computrace LoJack for Laptops: 3 Year Subscription

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I am an IT consultant and in my life time have never come across and more disreputable company. I spent the money for 3 year protection, premium level. My laptop was stolen from an hotel in Florida, Feb. 09. Police report submitted with 2 hours of theft and reported to LoJack. I had to contact them 9x over the next 2 weeks with different paperwork, police reports, etc. One thing after another. After no luck finding the laptop after 30 days, they did not refund the $$, they extended it another 120 days. After the additional 3 months, they did not refund the $$. They wanted to extend it another 120 days. I contacted customer support and no refund will ever be coming. LoJac customer service rep: "The laptop is still trying to be located." and the ever famous, "we reserve the right to keep looking for the laptop." They never refund the money you spent even if the laptop is never recovered. After 6 months I realize the theives took my laptop, but I willing paid LoJact to take my $110. for absolutely nothing. Do NOT recommend. DO NOT BUY, EVER. Lojack For Laptops Premium - 3 Year

I recently had a laptop stolen December of 2008. I was ready for my peace of mind experience that supposedly came with the purchase of this software. The good news is they can track when the laptop is used unless the thief is smart enough to disable it. It will ping the lojack server when the laptop comes online. However, you need to keep in mind that LoJack is only going to request your local detective do something about it. You have to ask yourself, "If the police know the phone# that is calling in are they going to act on it?" Their thinking is, "Even if we do we cannot make a case on who exactly is using it so why put any effort forth." As a result, I had to really push to keep LoJack communicating with the detective and push the detective to look into it. There was very little will to follow through on either party. In addition, you have to fight to get your money-back gaurantee dollars. To this date I have received no money and no piece of mind.

I wanted LoJack for my new Sager NP9262 notebook running Vista Ultimate. It wouldn't install. Customer support sent me a customized installation package, which worked okay.

After installing LoJack, I began to notice mysterious problems. My Sager would sometimes freeze in the BIOS during boot. After a 3 minute delay, it would then proceed and boot normally. Other times Vista would freeze during startup with a blank screen, and I would eventually have to force a power-off and reboot (which usually worked fine).

I had numerous contacts with LoJack's customer support. They did their best to be helpful, but could never determine the cause of my problems. I eventually gave up and returned LoJack. (Amazon accepted the return without any problems, which is why I always try to use them, even when other vendors may have a cheaper price!)

When I asked LoJack's customer support how to uninstall LoJack, they sent me a procedure, which I followed. Unfortunately, this seems to merely have disabled it, rather than uninstalled it. Its files (rpcnet.exe, rpcnet.dll, rpcnetp.exe and rpcnetp.dll) are still on my hard drive, and I still occasionally have these mysterious hangups.

Aside from these problems, LoJack did work as advertised. While it may work just fine for you, I advise caution with this product, as it may modify your BIOS, and it does not seem to be easily removed. I found lots of information on the web, but too late.

After having a laptop stolen, here's the catch:

They will only honor their money back or service guarantees IF your computer calls their center within 60 days of being reported as stolen. However, once you report it stolen, they block your access to see if the computer is actually calling in or not.

If your computer does call in, then they're on the hook for a refund or replacement. If it doesn't ever call in, they don't have to pay. But, since they've blocked you from seeing the call-in logs after its reported stolen, you have to take their word for it.

I have no direct knowledge that they have withheld information to avoid paying claims, but the way it is set up provides every incentive for them to do exactly that and no way for you to verify what they're telling you.

Based on my experience, I'd say save your money.

I bought the three year contract for my son's Mac laptop, It was stolen at a New Year's party and so far there hasn't been much support from Absolute or the police. It looks like there no hope at getting the computer back and I suggest keeping your money and buying a good lock for the computer. As far as I can tell it doesn't work!

Good luck.

I bought a one year subscription when I bought my laptop a year ago. It was a replacement for one that was stolen so when the sales clerk recommended Lojack for Laptops, it seemed like a good idea. I had actually forgotten that I bought it until that laptop was stolen too. The laptop was stolen on Oct. 22nd. I reported it stolen on the Lojack website the next day. Today, Nov. 3rd, I got a call from the local police saying they had recovered it. I've read a lot of negative reviews about how Absolute doesn't honor the cash back guarantee and how long it takes them to respond, but for me at least, it was worth every penny. I only gave it 4 out of 5 stars because I think their website could be better. As others have noted, once you report it stolen, you lose the ability to monitor it and if I had pulled the trigger on the data delete, I wouldn't have gotten confirmation of the delete. There are other, perhaps better, security utilities out there, but for me Lojack for Laptops performed as advertised.

Lojack For Laptops came pre-loaded on my computer, so after my initial subscription expired I decided to renew, and was informed by them I would have to go through the entire process, including downloading the software again. After doing so, I was assured by them I was protected, and sent confirming e-mails, however the service failed to activate, and wouldn't recognize the account registration. Once they had my money suddenly the customer service literally became non-existant, and after 5 days and sending 4 requests to customer support, they have yet to provide the tech support they promised twice to send. I have threatened to go to my credit card company and dispute the charges, and that appears to be what I'll have to do. Now I'm faced with how to remove their software from my machine, and I've read numerous instances of that being very difficult to do. Worst customer service I've ever had....or should I say never had? DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT-THEY CLEARLY PUT THEIR RESOURCES INTO MARKETING AND NOT CUSTOMER SUPPORT!

Do not buy computers or cars with lojack installed. Their Lojack 'Second Owner' program makes it very hard for you to transfer everything into your name even though you have all the paperworks from the previous owners. BEWARE!!

My laptop was stolen in July of 2009 along with my two roommates' laptops when our apartment was broken into. It took Lojack quite some time, but they did get it back for me. In the beginning of December, it was recovered and returned to me. They told me that it took a long time because the laptop was moving from place to place as if it was being used in coffee shops or other mobile locations, but once it started reliably showing up at the same IP address, they were able to get it.

I see a lot of people complaining about it not working, but it seems like unrealistic expectations have been placed on the product. It might take a bit of time, but in my experience the product works. I received my laptop back while my two roommates without Lojack never saw theirs again.

We purchased a three-year Lo-Jack contract on a Mac Laptop. It was stolen in the third year. A report was filed with the city police department immediately, submitted to Lo-Jack / Absolute Customer service, and a confirmation with all relevant details was emailed from Absolute. We spoke often with the city police detective assigned to the case, who reported that, in his experience, this service has never proven helpful in recovering a stolen laptop. We contacted the website often and the status was always "in progress". Because recovery seemed hopeless, we had to purchase another laptop. It has been almost one year since the theft and Absolute is doing everything possible NOT to honor their commitment. They are requiring all sorts of documentation which had already been filed at the time of the theft. As far as we are concerned, the ads are all hype and no substance.