Neocomputers: Computers for People with Lots of Patience
Written: Sep 14 '03 (Updated Sep 27 '03)
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| Full Review |
You love your significant other. S/he makes your heart go pitter-pat. S/he makes you swoon. S/he makes you write in gender neutral terms. S/he is the light of your life, the raisin in your bran, the something in your something. Fill in the blanks.
But if your significant other recommends Neocomputers because s/he had a great experience and the prices were terrific and oh, the world is a wondrous place, cover your ears and hum the theme song to The A-Team to drown out the noise.
When a Neocomputers order and shipment goes right, you can probably pat yourself on the back and be secure in the knowledge that you got a good deal. When a Neocomputers order and shipment goes horribly awry, stock up on the tissues because you'll be crying over your bad luck.
THE ORDER
I ordered a new PC (some parts to be assembled later from my personal Dell collection) on 28 July. The parts I ordered were: AMD Athlon 2400+ XP 2.00GHZ; Thermaltake Volcano 7 CPU fan; ABIT KD7 KT400 DDR motherboard; 512MB PC2700 DDR memory; ATI RADEON 7000 64MB DDR; and Evercase Midtower USB 300W ATX. The total cost, including shipping, was $442.92. The main reason I used Neocomputers is that you can order a PC without an OS. Dell and others pretty much ship with Windows XP, which I did not want.
The order arrived promptly on 5 August. Not a bad turnaround, but unfortunately, I didn't get home to inspect it until two days later. I couldn't wait. Glorious lightning-speed computing. But why was I excited? If I've learned nothing else in my life, it's that when something can go wrong, I'll be the guinea pig to find out what it is.
Upon opening the case -- oh, that beautiful case with the USB ports in the front -- I noticed that something was, well, slightly awry. The heatsink, that big hunk of metal that should be attached, had broken off at some point during its journey and was rattling around, doing who knows what kind of damage. The PC was not packed properly, which one can assume contributed to the fan turning solo.
On 8 August, I called the service department. This should be easy, right? Did you not read what I wrote above? Guinea pig? That's me. If it seems easy at first, I get worried.
Employee X answered. X seemed nice and accommodating. "Oh, that's not good," he said, when I explained what had happened. He arranged for FedEx to pick up the PC on Monday, and voila, like magic, my PC would be as good as new and in no time at all, I'd be saving these bitter missives to a luxurious hard drive.
THE RETURN
FedEx picked up the PC on 11 August, as promised, and Neocomputers received it that week. I had the tracking number, so I knew it had been signed for, but no one from Neocomputers called or e-mailed to confirm the delivery. Or tell me what, if anything, had been damaged.
Fine, it's a small company, and I know that the staff might need more time than a Dell or Gateway to diagnose and fix the problem. That's the price of doing business with a small company in order to save money. It didn't help that I was going on vacation and wouldn't be able to keep abreast of any developments, but surely they'd e-mail me or leave a message to update the status. Right? Right? Two weeks later, I called the service department again.
X said he couldn't confirm in their system that they had received the computer. Okay. That's, um, an interesting development. He said he needed to check with the warehouse to see if it was there, and he put me on hold to take a jaunt over to the area of their company that clearly doesn't believe in inventory control. When he returned, he regretfully informed me that Jimmy Hoffa and crew were at lunch, but you know, it just had to "be around here somewhere." That was so reassuring. Todd said he'd call back after la cosa nostra returned from dumping a body or burying a PC or whatever it is they do there.
X returned my call five hours later. The computer had been shipped to my parents' address because my dad's hours allow him to be around when Fed Ex delivers and thus, I provided that phone number. And though I had provided my cell phone number in an e-mail (that I know at least had been read) and told them it was best to reach me there, they called my parents' number. Daddy Dearest answered, and I guess I should be grateful he did because he managed to do what I couldn't: get them to give me a straight answer. Such as they can provide a straight answer.
My dad went into his "I'm a retired cop" spiel that normally bores people to tears, but when a company is giving one of its customers the runaround, it can be enough to scare them into speeding things along. Surly retired cop with a gruff voice and 48 years of urine and vinegar backing him up states that his daughter isn't waiting the additional two weeks they claim it'll take to repair and ship the PC seems to get their rears in motion. Use that knowledge wisely.
The next day (27 August -- nearly a month after ordering the PC), I spoke with X and he seemed a bit nervous. "Well, it was the motherboard, we swapped it out, and it shipped today." Oh, goodie. I didn't pop open the champagne, though.
No tracking number was provided this time, but in reading reviews of Neocomputer, it seems that getting one is hit or miss. As long as I got the PC, I didn't care. Well, I did, but at that point, I just wanted the computer. My precious computer.
So, I waited. And waited. And -- eh, you get the picture. Yet again, on 4 September, I dialed the 1-800 number and spoke those magic words, I'd like to check on an order.
X wasn't manning the phones, so Y tried to help me.
"Hmmm, it appears your order hasn't shipped yet."
What? Excuse me? Eh? Come again? I spoke to X last week, and he said it had shipped.
"That's bizarre, but we'll have it shipped tomorrow. Oh, the heatsink wasn't broken."
But, I never said the heatsink was broken. I said it broke off. The tabs that held it on broke off. Not broken. Broke off. Grrr, argh. Dumb women don't know anything about computers.
By now, I was ready to cancel the order, but I desperately needed a new PC, and I wanted one that I could configure myself. Yes, I could buy the parts separately, which is what I apparently should have done in the first place, but based on the reviews I read of Neocomputers, I thought this would be an easier route. My boyfriend, He Who Shall Not Get Nookie for Quite Some Time Because of This, successfully ordered a computer from them AND had a part replaced with no hassle.
But remember? Guinea pig.
On 5 September, I checked my account history on the Web site. It did not show the computer as having shipped, but it did show a $50 service fee. Um, no, no, no, no. Could this get any worse?
I called Neocomputers one more time and asked to speak with X. I asked him what was going on with my computer. His answer? "That's a good question." No, really, it is? Thanks for the insight. X put me on hold while he checked to see what was a good answer to my good question. That good answer was, "I don't know what happened. That should have shipped a while ago. I'll have to talk to the service department and call you back." Fantastic answer, X, fantastic!
And about that pesky $50 service fee? "Oh, wow, they shouldn't have charged you that." Your good answers just keep getting, uh, gooder.
To their benefit, when I refreshed the order status page about 10 minutes later, the service fee had been removed, but I never received an explanation as to why it was there in the first place.
When I finally got in touch with X again, he apologized for the inconvenience -- unless the apology comes with an upgrade or expedited shipping, I don't accept -- and attempted to explain the delay. Ahem. I'll make my own attempt to explain it, as I'm not even sure what X meant.
The employee who had been working on my computer stopped working on computers. I don't know if that means they transferred him to another department or to Siberia, or if he just got up one day and said, "I'm too old for this crap!" and stormed out. I'm not even sure if that means he stopped working on my computer and someone else had to pick up the slack. Right then, I was just -- wow. "Wow" is the best word for it. I could have used some quiet time to reflect on the sheer idiocy of it all.
X said that he was angry about it, but it was an internal matter, so he didn't want to bore me with the details. Oh, bore away. I need some form of my entertainment until my computer arrives. X swore that the computer shipped that very day and it would arrive on Tuesday, 9 September.
I had been nice up until that point. Perhaps too nice. You catch more flies with honey and all of that other BS that Blanche from The Golden Girls taught us. But it's obvious that nice doesn't get a computer shipped and a bogus service fee erased. The meek shall inherit nothing.
Ultimately, yes, the computer shipped on 5 September, and I did receive it in seemingly working condition on 10 September -- such as you can consider "working condition" to mean the video card and USB plate weren't screwed in, the documentation/drivers that had been included in the original order weren't included in this one, and the fan was replaced with a brand different than the one I had ordered. Oopsie.
After calling about this oversight with the drivers and documentation, they said it was "[their] mistake," they were "very sorry," and they'd ship it "immediately." I did receive it on 24 September.
I've been using the computer for five days now, and I haven't had any problems.
Absolute bottom line: If something does go wrong with your order, there is virtually no customer service and it's obvious that the right hand doesn't know that the left hand is biatch-slapping its customers. They're really nice about being oblivious -- they seem to be well-meaning -- but it's still a PITA if you have to stay after them to do what they should be doing in order to keep customers happy. It just seems that nothing went right this order, except, mercifully, that the computer does work.
I am a very laid-back person, and I understand that there always is the potential for something to go wrong, particularly if you choose to work with a small company. I give companies a fair amount of leeway in rectifying the situation, but I think placing an order on 28 July and not receiving a functioning system until 10 September is ridiculous (and then, without it being truly "complete").
If you're someone who prefers to not be inconvenienced or who doesn't enjoy following up on an almost daily basis, don't use Neocomputers. If you're someone not intimately familiar with computers and cannot crack open the case to ensure parts are where they should be, don't use Neocomputers. If you don't mind calling everyday to check the order status and guarantee everything is done in a timely fashion, then you can get a good deal, but I'll never use them again.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Computer
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About the Author
Member: Nicole
Location: New York City
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 34 members
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