Crapolla....

[Squinky]

No real point to this thread just to bitch and perhaps throw out  a warning to any folks doing on-line shopping. I had recently ordered up a bunch of stuff to beef up my computer, a spiffy new case, one gig of ram, and a mainboard/cpu combo (athlon 64 3000).

Oddly enough the case showed up in about 4 days, the ram in about 8 and the main board took about 14 days it seems. This main board is really the issue as everything else was fine. I ordered it from a place called Compu-Terra based out of cleavland Ohio, they had a nifty little website where  you could watch the status of your order....which was always "sent to warehouse" for like 10 days. They called me during that ten days and told me the board I had purchased was oem and they wanted another ten dollars to "upgrade" it to retail.

I couldn't understand the guys on the phone, they had an accent that I cannot place to this day. Ishould have just cancelled my order then and I would have been happy. So anyway, mainboard finally shows up, and.....it dosen't work, thats right. Got the new case all set up, hooked up all the little dealys, and no keyboard response (it would detect the keyboard for a split second when it first started, but it wouldn't ever let me get into the bios or anything).

I e-mail the guys, get no response for a few days, then I e-mail a little more forcefully and get a response (of course they didn't bother to edit out the old emails that get hooked on because of replying, and I could read their in house mail where thay stated I was being an Asshole)


I mail it back to them, pay another thirty bucks to do so ( I overnighted, because the return RMA number only lasts 14 days and knowing them I feared it would sit in a warehouse for a year, so according to the post office it arrived there last thursday at some point before noon. So this wednesday  I decided I would e-mail again, they jerk me around a day or so and essentially give me a link to a page that shows my status (same one that showed the warehouse status forever) and it shows that it was just recieved yesterday. Thats so much ass-crap I just can't handle it, because they got it a whole week  ago....

So, I get the fated call today, where they tell me nothing is wrong withthe board and my options are paying another thirty bucks and return shipping to get back my faulty mainboard/cpu combo and live with it. I don't know what my response will be cause I told the guy he better check it out some more.
He will assuredly be calling me soon to give me the good news I'm sure.

so thats 10+30+30+whatever other postage I have to pay to get it back, so atleast $70 more than I intended to spend on this so far. Kinda sucks....


But there is more if you care to read on:

I looked up the betterbuisness burea on this guy in cleavland, which showed he had ran another buisness that was shutdown for conning people and running little bait and switch scams, but now he's opened up this new buisness with all the same phone numbers and stuff, so essentially the same business just a new name. Of course this new buisness was in bad standing with the bbb also. I looked up his site on pricewatch.com and read the negative and there were many complaints similair to mine.....

So basically, I should have done all this looking first, because I'm sure I just wasted about $300 on these bastards....Okay, I'm done....

[LGM]

This is just a lesson on sticking to mainstream sites. Newegg for computers. Amazon for everything else. :-p

[Squinky]

No kidding, I've now confirmed that they are telling me that there is nothing wrong with and and want to send it back for a tech charge and a additional shipping. I'm not sure how to answer them because I don't really want to pay more for a broken board.....bah...

[big brother]

Send him a letter and threaten legal action based on the concept of implied warranty.

[Oliver]

Tell the guy that you checked out his background a bit and stuff. And you're gonna get all "legaly" if he doesn't stop ..... what's the word...oh yeah,  scamming  you. I bet he doesn't want to get in trouble with the police again. That might scare him

[Darth Mandarb]

Tell him you have an evil Sith Lord webmaster friend who could, with little effort, hack into his website and notify ALL potential customers of his 'wayward business practices' ...

That'll get his attention

But seriously ... that sucks big time man.  I had an issue like this with a rebate company (started a post just like this one to vent my frustrations)  It's amazing some of the half-assed people that live in this world.  I too got stuck with somebody who barely spoke English and I could hardly understand ...

I made the decision to just let it go ... I gave up on the rebate.  In your case, I wouldn't give up.  I would call them and demand they send you a DIFFERENT and WORKING mobo back, FREE shipping.

Just tell them you've looked him up on the BBB and you know his story and just suggest that it would be in his best interest to provide you with 110% satisfaction from here on in.

[Squinky]

Well, I think I'll try them one more time. If I get the mainboard back,  and it still dosen't work, I'll take it to a computer place and have it checked out. If it still dosen't work, then, I will file a small claims case against them for my expenses. They will then have to make an appearance here in idaho (the court system I'll file in) and I think they'll probably just settle, if not I'll have my evidence.

What I'm truley expecting to happen is to get back a different mainboard. That way they can charge me for the return and what not and not admit they were wrong.

It just pisses me off, the money I've spent fooling around with them would have bought me a damn nice mainboard and cpu.....but this is still cheaper than what bestbuy and the other stores around here charge....

[Scummbuddy]

talk to your credit card company about a stop payment. even on the previous purchase. they have their board, so get your money back. spend it elsewhere. tell the credit card company that this "company" is scamming, and they will likely be already on your side.

[Squinky]

I used my banks debit card thingy, they apparently don't do that sort of thing....At least I don't think so.

[c.leksutin]

To keep your business, yes they might.


C.

[LGM]

I was just going to suggest you send leks to clear things up.

[Haddas]

You know, I wonder what c_leks reputation would be if he had the spice girls as avatar?

[theyak]

Haddas, you have seen his photo, right? He actually looks a lot like that.

Back on topic: I had nearly the same damned thing happen with Compu-Terra.  In fact, my names probably in the complaint list you saw.  I was supposed to receive a mobo/CPU that were "guaranteed" to work together despite the motherboard not being on AMD's recommended list. I figured they didn't bother to test it and there were glitches.. finally determined (through manufacturer - not Compu-Terra) it was a faulty motherboard.  I ordered it with a case, shipping took forever, case didn't include parts that were listed on order, etc., etc., etc.  I'm amazed they're still in business.  It took me the better part of 7 months to resolve this.

Best o' luck to you.

[Traveler]

I used my banks debit card thingy, they apparently don't do that sort of thing....At least I don't think so.

You should also threaten them with reporting them to the police and your district attorney for fraud. Also tell them that you've already talked to your lawyer and had her start working on paperwork to file a proper suit. Mention kindly that you won't be talking about $400 then.    (I noticed that when you threaten companies with legal action, a woman lawyer scares the hell out of them.)

Also, try talking to your bank and try them stop the payment on your card. And - if you can do so - avoid using debit cards to buy stuff on the net.

I used to buy my stuff from a company called jncs.com, I had a very good experience with them, in case you need to look around for new hardware.

[juncmodule]

They called me during that ten days and told me the board I had purchased was oem and they wanted another ten dollars to "upgrade" it to retail.

Wow. My girlfriends brother had the EXACT same problem. I mean down to the very same words.

This is my big problem with pricewatch, would I be correct in assuming this is where you found them? Great website but, it's kinda like playing russian roulette.

I think your small claims court solution is the best if your bank is refusing to help. If I'm not mistaken my girlfriends brother handled the problem through his credit card company. In the end though I think it still cost him some extra bucks.

Good luck. Keep us updated. I'm curious about how things will turn out.

later,
-junc