Worst computer purchase experience ever
Written: May 25 '09 (Updated Nov 04 '09)
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I have seen this company on the Internet for a long time, with some really great prices and the latest hardware. I try to read a lot of reviews, and although I did some research on this company, I did not do enough. It's very, very tempting to see a fantastic price on a PC, and think you can "beat the odds." Even though all these other people had trouble with theirs, you think yours will probably be fine. You're thinking, worst case, you just have to work with support and get your PC fixed. Either way, you get a good deal. The problem is, when you deal with a company like this, you are getting more than you bargained for.
I've bought more PCs than I can count in my 17 years in the software industry. This is my worst experience ever, possibly barring one guy that burned me on Ebay and then disappeared.
The short of it is I ordered my (approximately) $1700 PC on December 12, 18 minutes after the 12:00 noon cutoff for the "guaranteed Christmas delivery." So after Christmas I call to check on the status. I had to call repeatedly because they send all status calls to tech support, and nobody answers the phone there. Nobody replied to my voice mail messages either, but after long periods on hold, I eventually got someone on the phone. They said my PC had failed the second quality control check, but there was no reason given in the notes field, so they couldn't tell me what happened exactly. It shipped on the 30th and arrived on January 7th. It would not boot up, giving me an error. I finally got someone in support to troubleshoot it with me, and turns out a power cable to the hard drive was broken and came loose. I found another and used in instead. Next up, I needed RAID drivers, and I had to spent many phone calls on hold, and several times I hung up after 15-25 minutes. I had a driver disk, but there were drivers for every chipset and I needed to know which driver was the one my motherboard needed. He just said, "Sorry, I don't know. You'll need to contact the motherboard manufacturer." So I looked up that company, and they were based in KOREA with no phone number. I sent them a couple of emails, but no response, so I called Cyberpower back and eventually got another support person. This one was happy to help and started guiding me through the directories, but then got stuck, promised to find out which one I needed and said he'd call back. I never heard from him again.
So I started emailing. And emailing. I started posting on their support forum, which had great nail biting subjects as "SHOOT YOURSELF FIRST", "a new low for Cyberpower", "new PC locks up", and "dead rig after 5 hours." You'd expect some negativity on a support forum, but the level of aggravated people was just phenomenal. I mean, so many people really, really angry.
So I posted my problem. No response. I posted again. No response. I called. Could not reach anyone. Finally, I guess that negativity started spilling over, because I started getting snippy with Cyber_Tech, the forum moderator, who repeatedly kept asking me for my contact info and my order number, and I repeatedly gave it to him. He just kept asking, "Sir, sorry for your trouble. How can I help?" Then I'd explain the problem, and he wouldn't help. Or even call or make up an excuse or give me a time when he could call. He just came back again on another message and said, "Sir, how can I help?" Finally, a senior support tech named "John" asked me to send him a private message with my contact info, and I did. Still no response. I sent him another, and Cyber_Tech as well. Then I received an email from "Danny" that said they'd tried to call me, but my contact number was wrong. I gave it to them again. Never heard back.
I ended up fixing my RAID driver problem on my own, fixing two loose connectors (that hard drive I mentioned and the SLI bridge between video cards), setting up the SLI video on my own, finding all the drivers that were missing, and in the process, I found out that they had installed a BETA(!) version of my BIOS, because it supported SLI. Who puts beta software on a PC that is sold to customers?? I've now fixed everything that was broken except that my video is not performing as expected. I have two 9800GTX+ cards using SLI, which should give me very fast performance, and according to all benchmarks (3dMark06 and PassMark's PerformanceTest) and my own eyes, they are only performing about half of where they should be. Something is still wrong. I suspect it's the beta BIOS that is enabled SLI, but not sure yet.
At the end of my rope, I send Cyber_Tech another private message. He said he'd emailed me and still did not have my contact information. I provided it again.
This is now the current situation. I am waiting on a call that I know will never come. I was advised by my salesperson that I have a 30-day warranty from the day they mail the computer, yet everyone on the forum that has dealt with them say they will not honor that, and will instead count my warranty period as starting the day I order. That means I am past my 30-days, even though I just got the computer last week.
I checked their California BBB rating, and although the BBB gives them a "B-", don't get encouraged by that. Instead, look at the text of the mediations the BBB provides on their page. It's denial after denial on warranty claims. Also, check out their forums at http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=37 to see some of the hate I'm talking about. People are ticked.
PC World even has a small writeup about them:
http://www.pcworld.com/blogs/id,44/on_your_side.html
If you do any searching at all, you will run across horror stories on blogs and various web sites. Don't be taken in when you see the BBB giving them a B- and ResellerRatings giving them an 8.16 score. Reviews can be faked and we all know how "impartial" the BBB is.
These review sites are all pretty suspicious. If you look at ResellerRatings, a lot of those reviews look fake. I've seen the same thing here. You can really only rely on the ticked off customer to give you a straight answer. Well, here I am!
ResellerRatings got very upset when I said in my review that I thought a lot of the positive reviews were fake. They made me change my review. They also have an account on the CyberpowerPC support forum and decided to debate one of my posts there. I couldn't help but ask them if they had an account on every support forum and logged in to debate review writers? They did not respond. It did not strike me as a particularly reassuring or impartial act. Why are they debating negative customer comments on Cyberpower's forum?
Avoid at all costs. Go pay more with a reputable company and feel assured that even if something is wrong, you know they will fix it.
**** May 25, 2009 UPDATE:
Wow, a lot has happened (nothing good), but suffice to say that I had a 30 minute conversation with Danny one night, and he promised me a refund minus $75 shipping. When I told him that was fine, I would just file a credit card dispute for the remainder, he tried to blackmail me by saying if I am going to file a dispute, they would not give me any refund at all! "We can solve it that way", were his exact words. He told me to return everything, "even the free t-shirt" he said. I had given it to my daughter, and I told her I needed it back, and returned every single item. My refund was short $90.00. I emailed Danny twice and asked why for an explanation, but he would not respond. I was forced to dispute the charge with my credit card company, and am awaiting a decision from them. Again, I can't warn you strongly enough to stay away from CyberpowerPC.
**** May 26, 2009 UPDATE:
It looks like my credit card charged me back the $90. I guess I will receive a letter explaining why. I think I will next file a complaint with the California Attorney General. It's not the $90. It's the fact that these companies take advantage of you, and the credit card companies say they offer "protection", but it's all a scam. I should not owe this company anything, this company that tried to sell me a PC with untested beta software and support people that won't answer the phone or return calls. We are not done yet, Cyberpower.
**** November 4, 2009 UPDATE:
Not to make this review about Capital One, but I wanted to leave this story as complete as possible. I never received a letter from Capital One. I even sent them a registered letter, but received no response. When I canceled my card, I told the specialist in charge of retaining customers about my experience. He didn't seem to care, and just wanted to talk about their "great rewards system."
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Cyberpower PC, Intel i70 740 chip, 2TB HD
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Epinions.com ID:
bkiser
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Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 18 members
About Me:
I'm a Systems Consultant for the Kentucky Commonwealth Office of Technology.
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