Alright Company Unless You Need Help
Nov 22 '00 (Updated Jan 31 '04)
The Bottom Line ABS Computers uses cheap parts that appeal to consumers on price and features, but will put you in a bind if you want them to honor their warranties.
*** OPINION UPDATED 10/30/2002 READ BELOW ***
Back in 1998, I was looking for a new computer system. I decided that instead of building one for myself, that I wanted a pre-built one with a good warranty. This was based on the fact that there were no retail stores around me, and that ordering the parts individually, when factoring in my time, labor, shipping and handling, etc., it would have been more expensive than most of the pre-built systems that I had seen advertised.
After researching through my copy of Computer Shopper long and hard, I decided on ABS Computer Technologies. Their ABS MultiMedia System II,
with the AMD K6-200 MHz processor, 64 MB SDRAM, 4MB ATI Rage II video card, Yamaha 16-bit soundcard, Sceptre Kimodo 15" plug-n-play monitor, 6.4 GB HD, 32x CD-ROM, and USB technology, was priced at $999. Very good deal, I had my tax refund all ready. ABS had received awards from Boot Magazine (now Maximum PC) and PC World as a 'Best Buy' winner. The company seemed solid to me. So I plunked down my money, a week and a half later (because of bungles by UPS not finding my house), I had a brand spanking new system that I was ready to play with.
About a year later I had my first problem - the fan on the power supply failed - it still ran, I just had to run it with the cover off and shut it down every 6 or so hours. Not a big deal, they replaced it fairly quickly. Overall, my rating of the company was high. Tech support was swamped, but I chalked it up to quick growth and not being able to train new people fast enough.
About 4 months later, the CD-ROM failed. Not a big deal, I never bothered to get it replaced because I just didn't use it that often. Then the monitor cable developed a broken wire, and caused the color of the monitor to turn to a blue hue. Not a problem, very common from my experience, just jiggle the cable to restore the color. After all, I had a 3 year warranty, I could just get it replaced down the line.
Then not less than a year later, the power supply fan again failed. They didn't want to replace it this time. After fighting with tech support and customer service for a few days, they finally sent me a new power supply. In the meantime, I gave them my credit card number for a cross-shipping fee, which wasn't to be applied until 14 days had lapsed without me returning the hardware. Instead they pulled a charge that same day, causing my bank account to bounce some checks due to the order they came in. It took about 2 weeks to get the charge reversed after I had shipped the power supply back. My rating of the company went down.
A few months ago, my system went to hell. The power supply fan failed for a 3rd time, and had to go through a hassle to get it replaced. I wanted it cross-shipped, because my computer was still running, but they didn't want to do that. This computer runs my entire home-based business, and to be down even a day is a loss of money and clients. They didn't care. Eventually I spoke with Lap, and after putting up with his condescending tone and continual yelling, he finally agreed to cross-ship it. They sent me the wrong power supply. I had to fight with tech support and customer service to get a new one sent. When they sent it to me, it blew up my floppy disk drive. They sent me a refurbished CD-ROM, when I got it it looked like it had been used as a kickoff tee for the Super Bowl, and it didn't work either. When I called back tech support, I was accused by the tech of sabotaging my system! They wanted me to ship the whole system back and replace the motherboard. Never mind that I used to work tech support, can troubleshoot my own machine and absolutely determine that the motherboard is NOT the problem, my opniion didn't seem to matter. To make things worse, they treated me like a child and that I knew nothing at all.
So, I had my last straw, and got in touch with the Vice President of Operations, Mr. Richard Johnson. At first, he helped me get the right power supply. But when I ran into further problems (the above-noted child-like treatment), he went silent. I've left several voice-mail messages. I've sent faxes to both Mr. Johnson and his boss. I've heard nothing back in nearly 2 months.
I don't know what else to do now, except file complaints with the Better Business Bureau and with the state attorney generals of Kentucky and California. It isn't worth suing over, and I'd have to go to California to do that anyhow. Meanwhile, my ABS MultiMedia System II is limping along with no help from ABS in getting it fixed.
Next time, I'm buying a Compaq Presario. Having previously worked for them, at least I know what I'm getting into, and I know that Compaq will go the extra mile to fix anything that might go wrong.
*** OPINION UPDATED ***
After filing a complaint with the state Attorney General's office in Kentucky and my bank, I got an immediate response back from ABS. They sent me the right power supply, they sent me a working CD-ROM, they sent me a new floppy drive. However, it took another six months to straighten out my bank account. After they failed to respond to VISA over wrongfully charging my credit card, VISA reversed them on behalf of my bank.
The system has worked perfect for nearly two years now. I've upgraded the 15" Sceptre monitor (which held out faithfully until last month when it blew a tube and everything shows up as red now) to a 17" Sony Trinitron, I upgraded the 200MHz AMD K6 processor to an Intel Pentium Pro 233 MMX, dropped in another 128MB of RAM, added a Samsung SW-248F 48x24x48 CDRW drive , dropped in an ethernet card, replaced the internal modem with an external USR v.92 56k modem and a Motorola SurfBoard 5100 Cable Modem, upgraded the power supply to a better one, installed a Belkin 5-port USB 2.0 High-Speed card, as well as a few other small improvements. Overall I've added $300 or so worth of upgrades and the machine is kicking.
This computer is still my primary computer system, even though it is ancient in a world of 2000MHz monsters. It runs Win98SE, QNX, RedHat 7.2 and MacOS 8.1 (via an emulator -- that's right, MacOS 8.1 kicks butt on a 200MHz x86 processor!). It run my entire web design business, including graphics design, and is the primary Internet connection. Why? 1) Because I'm cheap 2) I don't need anything faster.
Does this change my opinion of ABS. ABSOLUTELY NOT! I wouldn't trust them any further than I could throw them. I've noticed that they no longer receive coveted rankings from computer magazines and are generally dismissed as a nobody. They've moved on to trying to cover the gaming market, but they probably wont' make it there, either. Outside of the motherboard, processor and RAM, the problem with this computer was cheap components and POOR technical support.
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Epinions.com ID:
kamnet
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Member: Kevin Fields
Location: Mt. Sterling, KY
Reviews written: 71
Trusted by: 6 members
About Me:
Web site designer & host in KY, MWM, 29, 3 kids
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