Ever gotten the run-around from a tech company?

I ordered a product at $200 over what I could get it on the internet for because the hardware vendor guaranteed (verbal - no paper) that he could get it to me overnight. I figured fine, 2 days out, no product, now here I am 1 week later, with a Bank opening a week late, and the vendor gives me a bogus tracking number claiming that he just UPS'd it to me because it accidentally was sent to him. I verified the tracking number with him (doesn't exist at UPS) and he claims that it probably isn't in UPS's system yet, WTF. Accel Computers can bite my shiny metal a$$. No more biz for them, anyone else have a rant about a local company or advice on who can/cannot be trusted in your area.

If possible, report this to your credit card company(the card that u used) and stop payment on it. Also, report them to the Better Business Bureau. Hopefully, it will either get the products you ordered to you or you may get your money back. Good luck.

I agree, using a crdit card online really has it's advantages. And getting your money back from dishonest people is certainly one of them. If you say that you haven't received it and the merchant has made no effort to prove that he has shipped it, the credit card company will likely let you off the hook for the bill. Then they will go after the jerk instead. Merchants don't like this because the credit card company can revoke their ability to use their credit card, essentially putting the company out of business.

The place I work has had some problems like that, "Oh, I'm sorry we no longer ship out of Minneapolis or Chicago it goes out from Texas, sorry it took those couple of extra days!!"

I also got the run around from a warranty company on a family members laptop. I ended up talking to 4 or 5 different techs over the course of 4 or 5 hours. Their final result, "Sir I guess you'll have to send it in. "

" Thank you that's what I've been telling you for the last 5 hours! The modem is shot this is the second one you will have replaced! It's not software, I AM a tech you know."

GLSmith

Yeah, I ordered $1300 worth of new parts for a new computer from <a href="http://www.ncix.com" target="_blank">ncix</a>, , and they didn't send the cheapo JMC Artic Wind Heat Sink with it. Needless to say I couldn't boot up my computer without a heat sink. I emailed them, and they were really nice, and said they were sorry for the mishap, and that one was on the way. A week later, I mailed them again, and complained. They appologized and claimed to send out another one, not wanting to be fooled twice, I emailed back and asked how they were sending it, (UPS, Canada Post, etc.) and how long that it would take, etc. I got no answer, and no HSF. Anyways, I finally just went out locally and bought a Super Orb. My problem now is that one of my 256 MB sticks of RAM isn't working. :rolleyes:

What's the Canadian way to put the pressure on them? Who should I call?

find out where they are and abduct the CEO and threaten him and his children....Just Kidding!!!

Well as for shops. I useually go in looking all offcial carrying a breif case, and let thyem know exactly what I wantstraight away, and when I buy it I ask the returns Policy, if it's not in the shop the the time I go to another shop to get it, as Ordering stuff from shops is a waste of time.

As for online orders I recomend <a href="http://www.insight.com," target="_blank">www.insight.com,</a> I have used them for years, I have had no problems with any of ther hardware, and ther customerservice is excelent,if you have a problem they will solve it in one call usually without passing the buck. As they do and Essential 6 hours delevery for impotant parts, it does cost the 6 hour delivery but if you need that raid array working by the end of the day it's a must. Other delivery options such as the 3 day delevery is the best. ALso if you have a problem with there stuff they will useually replace it in less than 24 hours.

I haven't had a problem with local shops but I do have problems with those chinese show dealers. They are some of the most dishonest people I know. They sell system pulls with no warranty as brand new. They sell motherboards with previous revisions that were improved because of bugs and these are the left overs. They restamp their ram, sell overclocked processors, pirated software and anything else they can make a buck off of. After building 4 systems based on show parts, I stopped and buy online only. I go to the shows only to buy cases, floppy drives, cd-roms, kb, mice, and if I need anything else, it has to be retail boxed. Have you ever tried to return something to a show dealer? No matter what it is, it's your fault. "Nonono, sir, you have bad part, you put in wrong, no warranty, you go now" "But, when I was in school getting my degree and working with pc's all day, I learned that scraping sounds coming from the hard drive are usually a problem with the drive" Damn dishonest people, we should sell them all on ebay and hopefully hell will bid a couple bucks. Shipping would only be a couple bullets. :mad:

I ordered about a half dozen printers from a company called A Matter of FAX. They delivered the product no problem. What the company failed to mention was that the product was a refurb! Since the product was HP laser printers it caused me no great deal of grief. I did feel, however, that the fact should have been mentioned on their website or at the time of purchase. I later sent a note the the CEO of HP from the HP website. I got an email and an actual phone call from an HP rep asking the details of the deal. I told him and that was the last I heard of it.

The moral of this story is to be sure to ask about what you buy. Remember that a great deal of responsibility lies in the hands of the buyer. Also note that the company mentioned above is still a company I would do business with and have since the event described. But I ask more questions.

Unfortuately I can't recall which software company did this to me. I had a problem that was very tenacious and causing me endless grief. I called the company many times, answered their questions on email, etc. They couldn't/wouldn't help. Just got alot of "Duhs" from would-be-techies. Finally, I figured it out and to this day I have not revealed the answer to them!!

My advise on dealing with companies...Kick their butts everyway you can. Tell all your friends. Ask them to tell their friends. In your spare time call them and ask dumb questions. Call their 800 numbers randomly as this costs them $. Send them 27 emails about nothing. Look up their info at the internic and call the technical resource person and ask how he likes working for cretins. Forward your spam to their webmaster. But don't do anything illegal. Remember, this business is hard enough without the crooks making it harder.

I called NEC about a printer once. The guy told me that he did not know what was wrong, it could not be fixed, it is Friday at 4:30 pm, and almost time to go home. He did not have time to fix it. He said it had printed too much and was out of warranty. When I asked him how he knew this, he said that just knew. I printed the sheet that said how much it printed, and he thought I was lying to him about the number of pages. I will never order anything from NEC again due to this.

Solkanar, I've been going to the computer shows in Ct. for years and have found most of the dealers to be very reputable. One of the largest (and lowest priced) is a thief as you suggested. There is little doubt that they are selling remarked CPUs. I simply stay away from them and tell everyone I know to do the same. I always buy retail boxed CPUs and don't have a problem. Many of these companies have retail outlets and online shopping, but the sheisters usually have only a P.O.Box number and a phone connected to an answering machine that never returs calls.

[quote]Originally posted by Fubar:
<strong>Look up their info at the internic and call the technical resource person and ask how he likes working for cretins.</strong><hr></blockquote>

:) :D LOL :D :) :D

Tim, you're right, I should mention that there are reputable dealers there as well and anything retail boxed should be fine. It's those few dishonest guys that make you inspect every component trying to find something wrong with it. I personally fell for the old motherboard revisions before I knew what to look for and had no end of problems. Two of my friends bought games from one of the software vendors in the inner circle and when they got home, they found that they both had the same cd-key. Are you headed to the show on the 26th? I'm helping a friend build a computer and I'm going to take him around and help him buy the "show safe" parts.

I almost forgot, since I have another CT guy here, the absoulute worst thing at those shows and I know you'll agree with me Tim is those two guys that get all sweaty and don't wear deoderant. One time they stunk up the whole wing of Southington high school.

If you find a deal that is to good to believe, it probably is.

I got burned once buying "Jumbo Toner Cartridges" that were simply refurbished cartridges refilled with toner that was leaking out, when I called the guy I ordered them from he told all the major resellers did the same thing and he wouldn't refund my money. I turned his company over to consumer affairs and the BBB.

Now before I buy anything, I always check out the return and refund policy first. If it's a really big purchase, I ask for a "Current Customer List" and I call a customer at random and ask what they like and dislike about the company.

One over trick I found useful before buying an item either online or at a retail location is call their customer service line and see what the wait time before you get a live body and if they can tell me what their return or RMA policy is with out putting me on hold. Same with the retail store, how does their customer service desk personnel treat you.

Just some of the things I’ve learned the hard way.

Most retailer will rip you off. If you go to CompUSA and special order a part, they jack the price up %40-%100. Thats the problem nowadays with bestbuy and compusa, they have quotas and receive pressure but they dont make commission. At least at circuit city they dont want to see you again unless your buying more stuff so they are more likely to give you better product/deal/etc.

anyhow, those shows are cool and suck at the same time. This one i went to in philly rocked. some asian was selling mod chips which i never seen before. alotta selection. But then theres the guys like the asians/russians/indians. I dont trust em. not that i'm prejeduce but because i've been burned by them too many times. One russian guy was in some kinda mob. everything was stolen.

I used to get bad tech support all the time. Now when the phone tech start saying that he cannot fix the problem because of something I did, I ask for his supervisor. If he doesn't help, I ask for his supervisor. Eventualy you will get someone that will help.

:p

i'd report them to the better business bureau

I usually turn them over to the legal department at work.

If it's me personally, I burn them every way possible. Last year I bought a hard drive from a Yahoo auction. I ranted and raved for a month, "Yeah, I'm shipping it out today I'll email the tracking number" which never was put in UPS or FedEx. I finally got his home address and had booked a flight and everything to go out there and bust my foot off in his *** , when the drive finally showed up. No appologies, no nothing.

Just goes to prove the old adage : Caviat Emptor - let the buyer beware...

Use every means possible to let their potential customers know how you were treated. Hell, even contact their customers if possible. You put enough heat on these people and they eventually buckle...

Kenny P.

[quote]Originally posted by Shard92:
<strong>The place I work has had some problems like that, "Oh, I'm sorry we no longer ship out of Minneapolis or Chicago it goes out from Texas, sorry it took those couple of extra days!!"

I also got the run around from a warranty company on a family members laptop. I ended up talking to 4 or 5 different techs over the course of 4 or 5 hours. Their final result, "Sir I guess you'll have to send it in. "

" Thank you that's what I've been telling you for the last 5 hours! The modem is shot this is the second one you will have replaced! It's not software, I AM a tech you know."

GLSmith</strong><hr></blockquote>

I'm sure you are a tech, but if you heard "I'M A TECH" from as many people as those guy's do, when a lot of them just claim to be a TECH because they changed their CDROM drive once, you'd be skeptical also. I understand tech supports a pain, but sometimes its a pain for them too. Just an observation. :)

I had a customer phone me today with a problem. He has an HP MFD and he scans a typed document into Word 2000. Not knowing any different he thinks he can now add more pages an edit his "recollections" with MS Word. It's not working so he phones HP.

Tech #1 says take it off the parallel port, go out and buy a USB cable. ???

Next day he phones HP again.

Tech #2 says make sure you have a IEEE1284 cable and that the printer port is set to ECP. ???

Later that day he calls me.

"Did HP supply any OCR software with the MFD" I ask?
"Ahh... I don't know, what's that?." he replies.
"Well bring your manual and disks and I'll have a look."

Obviuosly he has none so here's my question. Can anyone recommend a downloadable trial version or shareware OCR software he can use. I only know of Textbridge and OmiPage which are pricey for a one time use. He has but a few pages to scan in and then he won't need it anymore as he'll type in the rest of his life story.

If I'm not going trade for whatever reason, I buy locally. I've only had a problem once, and I solved that quite easily, I walked through the shop, into the manager's office, stuck my knife in his desk and told him what I wanted, no problemo