A Complete Lemon
Written: Feb 11 '02
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About 2 years ago, I purchased a system from Neocomputers. I found them from ebates.com, a website that gives its commission for linking people to business websites back to the consumer.
I was looking for a company that would allow me to select as many components within the system as possible. Neocomputers offers exactly that--a huge number of components that allows you to build a system that will meet your specific needs. I was looking for a low-cost system with a fast CPU and high end graphics capabilities and decent sound for gaming. I didn't need a huge hard drive, nor did I need speakers, a keyboard, or other peripherals.
The computer was nothing but trouble. It started to crash without warning, giving me various "blue screens" in Windows and periodically rebooting itself. Customer Service was difficult to get ahold of. I was given the names of two people in technical support, neither of whom seemed terribly enthusiastic about solving my problems. I believe that, at the time, they were the only two technical support people employed by Neocomputers.
They identified the problem as a motherboard issue and sent me a new one. Given my relative experience with computer hardware, I found this acceptable. However, the new motherboard proved to be just as problematic. It came without adequate documentation and soon started to exhibit the same problems.
After another call to Neocomputers, I was advised to try loading all new drivers. I backed up my hard drive and reformatted. I downloaded new drivers for all of the hardware. Did it help? No.
My problem at that point was not simply shipping the whole system back. Instead, I put up with the periodic crashes. When the system finally started rebooting itself frequently, I called back.
My mistake was that it was at 14 months--2 months out of warranty. Of course, they would help me at that point--if I sent the machine back and paid for all repairs. This is one issue you have to be well aware of when working with a mail-order company like this. You may be without your computer for several weeks if there is a problem such as this. I told them that the problems with the system had been documented, but it had no effect.
I recently purchased a new computer. The Neocomputer is sitting in a box. At some point, I will remove the hard drive, which has personal information on it. I will take it into my backyard and take a sledgehammer to it. I think my wife wants the first shot at it.
Recommended:
No
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