HIDevolution Experiences

Hi Guys, I am thinking of buying a laptop from HIDevolution and having them ship it to Australia and I was wondering if anyone here from Australia has ever bought a computer from them before and if so did you have to pay for / arrange customs clearance. What was your general experience with them?

 

Hi FrozenSolid,

I could not recommend buying a laptop from HIDevolution based off of the information in this thread: LINK

However, I do not have any personal experience with them.

 

Hi Optimistic Prime,

thanks for the link and I have seen the thread and I agree that the OP was treated fairly poorly but the company has been in business for several years and this is only one incident. I don't know if it was intentional or an accident and I don't know the conversation that went on prior to the thread being started but either way I am not sure I want to demonise them for one incident. They provide great customisation and I want to know if other people have had similar incidents and more importantly if anyone from Australia has bought a computer from them because I want to know about the Customs / import duty issue.

 

That's fair, I just wanted you to have that information at your disposal.

 

Thanks.... and I appreciate it.

 

If you decide to go with HID I would advise you not to do any upgrades with them. My brother purchased a laptop through them a few years ago and everything went well. Although in light of the above mentioned issue I would advise you to perform any upgrades you are planning yourself. It will rule out any funny business and work out much cheaper and in the process you will learn how to disassemble and maintain/service that particular machine.

 

I would personally look at someone with a better record, such as PowerNotebooks.

The thing that HID did bothers me so much, because they sold someone STOLEN material, simply because he was too far away to ever really get in their face about it. If that's what a company thinks of you, or how they treat you, I say don't give them the time of day.

 

if you can find a forwarding service. i have figured out a way you can order from the US site.
shipping companies just give you a US address. then you can ship to that address within the US then the company forwards the item to you in your country.

i thought about using HIDevolution for my next purchase but then thought if i can buy directly from dell USA why not.

 

I read through all the threads regarding HID and here is what I have come to know.

1) Ted who is the guy who handles sales becomes non-responsive after you have paid for your system.

2) Nearly all the cases of delay are due to delay on part of Dell. They perform the upgrades, if any, and ship out the system within 1-2 days of receiving it from Dell. Dell on the other hand can take 4-6 weeks to build your system and have it delivered to HID.

The reasons why you should buy from HID and not Dell directly

1) HID has listed on his site, international warranty under which you can ship the system 2 times each year and they pay for shipping both ways via DHL. For me this is the only reason I am considering them.

2) International shipping, though by personal experience freight forwarders give better shipping rates and personally will be using a freight-forwarder if I buy from HID.

So if you are not an international customer and have no use of the international warranty then I would suggest that haggling with Dell and ordering from them directly is the best option.

P.S. - All this time I have assumed you are looking to order an Alienware.
Also after going through the above linked thread, I would also suggest you don't get anything installed by them and if possible ask them to send it sealed. This can be double-edged sword if you live abroad and the system is DOA.

Frankly speaking that thread has left a bad taste in my mouth and I might just order a Clevo from Mythlogic as my original plan.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

And that is a big sticking point when you are buying internationally.

Personally, I've purchased two laptops from btotech over the past 2 years shipped to Australia and can't recommend them enough. Any inquires before or after purchase have always been responded promptly within hours. I suggest you drop them a email about shipping internationally and customs .

 

I was only interested in HID because they provide International Warranty with 2 way shipping included. Alienware laptops are not available anymore in India since last year so for a person like me this international warranty would really come in handy.

I already have a freight forwarder which I use that have very cheap shipping rates and get the shipments cleared from customs in just 1 day, so for me the only thing worth considering was International Warranty.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

I used HID twice. First time with M11X with 3G (you can't get that config in the UK).

no problems perfect.

second time.

M14X with WiHD - what a nightmare. they shipped me a system, WiHD didn't work got dell to have a look, basically they'd rammed the card in and stuck it in with scotch tape!

It would _never_ have worked. I had to pay Dell to replace the screen unit with one with the proper aeriel for WiHD!

Got 99$ off the machine which was the extra for the WIHD, BUT ONLY when i complained to paypal/ebay. Avoid.

 

I don't condone or support what HID did to BlueNasser but their major failing, from my view, is their failure to immediately address the problem as soon as he started complaining about it.

My view regarding the 'STOLEN' property; these ES and QS chips are freely available on ebay and if Intel were really concerned about their stolen property being sold then they have it in their ability to stop the practice. They don't and that give me the impression that they don't care. It would have been interesting to see what action they would have taken regarding the complaint made by BlueNasser.

Hi der-kaiser,

What happened with the Australian import duty? Did you need to organise Customs clearance or did the computers just turn up at your door?

 

That is not true. Intel Legal has taken action in the past; I imagine they are mostly concerned with the "big fish."

Have a look at these articles from China Post and TechSpot.

Just because they are for sale, does not mean that no one cares they are available.

 

I think quite a few of us were interested in seeing what the outcome would be. I think that particular instance pretty much ended when BlueNasser sent back the machine, ES chip and all.

After chatting a bit with katalin, he mentioned that this has happened before. I did a bit more digging and found this:

- - - - - -

I do hope you can get the system you are interested in for a reasonable price. Have you considered PowerNotebooks, as Hybrys mentioned? I believe Meaker is their forum representative, and he may be able to help you.

 

Unfortunately, BlueNasser actually sold it to a local friend, and didn't pursue the ES chip mistake much beyond asking HID for a replacement. HID responded with something to the tune of 'Send that one back, and we'll send you a new one.'

I really do wish that we were able to go further with the ES chip being sold, as they could even be banned as a reseller by Dell if you made a big enough fuss.

The fact of the matter is, it's stolen property, could perform less than an OEM chip, risks your warranty, and it's an underhanded way of HID saving a few bucks. No matter what they do to try to fix it, they're lost. The fact that it happened twice? I will make it my mission to respond any time anyone mentions HID.

As mentioned, though, there are alternatives for buying AW internationally.

 

I am really surprised that this is the second time they have installed an ES chip and even more surprised that they did not fall all over themselves in the rush to fix the problem with BlueNasser as soon as he mentioned it

With these chips available on ebay I was under the impression that Intel was turning a bit of a blind eye to it and so was surprised to read the articles provided by Optimus.

 

Not just second. Me and Optimistic Prime are looking for more now, including this one.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/asus-g73sw-c495465.html

Selling a lesser product as a greater one is quite illegal, and they're making a mint off of it.

 

Not to mention unethical!

 

Quite surprised to see this, to be honest.
I am also in Australia and have bought both my M17x and M11x through HID Evolution and both times it was a PERFECT experience. I can't recommend them highly enough. I actually ordered my M17x the day before the 6990M was released, and was easily and quickly able to get in touch with support to update my order to the new card (which was actually cheaper than what I'd ordered, and the difference was refunded immediately). It was delivered to my door a few days later, no tax or anything (they falsely declare the value to be <$1000, meaning no import taxes are due. If you have a moral issue with this or fear the legal consequences, I'm sure they'd be happy to put the actual value on there). I didn't hesitate to get my M11x through them and it was delivered in a couple of days again with no issues. I've had them both for years now and aside from a recent weird little issue with my graphics card (which I assume is due to wear and tear) I've had literally no problems at all.

 

It was to my door.

 

I'd check in CPU-Z if your 2820QM is an ES or QS or not, because all this time, your CPU may have been underperforming compared to OEM spec. They get by on people who don't realize or can't tell the difference.

 

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I have found out things I did not know and improved my knowledge of some things I knew a little about. I have cancelled my order with HIDevolution and when I do decide to buy a new laptop I will probably buy from Dell Australia and install any upgrades myself. Thanks to all for sharing your knowledge and experiences.

 

You're welcome. I hope you can find a good deal. Hope to see you rocking the Alienware of your choice, soon!

 

Why not just buy from XoticPC instead? Reliable, trustable and they have been around in this forum for quite some time.

They havent included the newest models yet, but once the shipping from Dell goes without delay, im sure they will include them as well.

Custom Laptops, Gaming Notebooks, Custom Gaming Laptops | XOTIC PC

 

Hi Cloudfire,

Thanks for the suggestion but I looked at XoticPC and as you say they aren't listing the M17 yet and I would have to arrange customs clearance into Australia which would ultimately be the reason I would not order from them. I looked at the choices to customise the older M17X-R4 and the choices are great and I would love to order from them but as I mentioned earlier Customs clearance into Australia is the problem for me.

 

I'm glad you have a plan in action FrozenSolid! Please, come back if you have any issues during your upgrades!

 

Thanks Hybrys.

 

erhem.... NO!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/721984-my-experience-ordering-m18x-r2-xoticpc.html

Note: check the xotic site and all alienwares are on backorder. next to nothing in stock since december 2012. When I ordered after christmas it was labeled limited availability so I thought last units in stock or it would take a while to sort out reserve stock. really it should've been labeled then and there back order and they should'nt have taken money to process an order for something they didn't know they could even get or not. Franbunny's m17x took four months to come through and my experience is in the link, making me think it was dell's fault...

Have since ordered back here in aussie land a base m18x on july 5th and 3 weeks later on the 26th it's at my door step without a hitch. Thank you dell! Thought I could pay to avoid trouble with a good exchange rate etc. it was a fruitless waste of time and there are worse horror stories. had kittens waiting for the refund which thanks to my bank using an agent bank to get the wire transfer from nebrasker to australia it took them 2 weeks longer than it should've had. got VERY lucky to purchase an M18X as they're now on the last few units and i would've missed out if i kept anymore faith with the resseller. xotic bless them have a good bunch for customer relations but there buisness model is a shambles and is costing them in customer confidence and they lost my $6000+ sale.

so seriously you are taking a worse gamble going through resellers rather than the manufacturer. I know the prices seem tempting but you can get a similar overall budget for installing stuff yourself and it will do you good to learn a bit for future projects. Manufactures and their warranties along with installing stuff yourself is a better trade off than hoping a reseller hasn’t cut corners and stuffed your gear up after taking your money. Better to learn the upgrade lessons yourself and to get help from great forums like these with experts who can guide you if you’re lost, confused or need advice. Plus here in the alien camp there are some compony reps around who can also help.

 

I had the same problem with my purchase from xotic, back ordered with a label of limited stock. Luckily I called about it and instructed me that they really had no stock. So i cancelled my order and went to powernotebooks.

 

I'm still waiting on an Alienware 18 I ordered from Hidevolution on July 29, details are here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/709448-what-do-you-think-about-hidevolution-3.html#post9386044

 

Wow, that's crazy. It may not be their fault though, as Dell has been treating resellers poorly for the last year or so, delaying their orders past full paying customers.

More people should pass on Alienware resellers, and order from Dell themselves, using a shipping forwarder (such as Shipito.com, who I used to get my AW) to mail the package to them. Costs around $50-100 more, but it's painless and quick. Once it gets to you, transfer the warranty to your country, and you should be good to go!

 

I eventually got my M17 from Dell Australia. I selected the CPU and Video card I wanted with the purchase and then purchased on ebay the Hard Drives I wanted and installed them. It also took a few weeks and a couple of emails longer to get my refund from HID than I expected. They did refund it eventually so all ended well.

The lesson has been learnt and I would recommend anyone not from the US to buy directly from Dell. The drama and hassles are just not worth it.