C90S (BtoTech.com support log)

Hi. I'm a dude who's willing to shell out a couple grand to get a good laptop. I was willing to pay btotech.com said couple grand in order to get said good laptop, but I just had a few questions about pricing discrepancies, security, warranties, etc. before taking the leap and I was met with underwhelming customer service, to say the least.

Here's the log of the chat I had with their customer service operator. I am [Potential Customer].

[Operator] Hello, thank you for contacting BtoTech.com. How may I help you?
[Potential Customer] Just have a few questions regarding the C90.
[Operator] ok,
[Potential Customer] Before I get to that though, is the site fully secure for credit card information, and are any additional warranties offered for purchases made via credit card?
[Operator] site is secure
[Operator] what additional warranties ?
[Potential Customer] Nevermind about that. When is the C90 supposed to be in stock again?
[Operator] no ETA for today
[Operator] can't get any info from ASUS
[Potential Customer] Why does the C90, by default, cost $1099 from btotech.com, but it's only $979 from other sites?
[Operator] why it cost 1200 from other sites?
[Potential Customer] For instance, the C90 costs $979.00 from GenTech.com
[Potential Customer] However, btotech.com's price is $1099.00
[Operator] now
[Operator] tomorrow it can be 900
[Potential Customer] Huh? Why would your price drop by $199.00 for no reason? What I guess I'm asking is... why do you guys charge $120.00 more than another company?
[Operator] that is site price for today
[Operator] was 979 couple days before
[Potential Customer] When will you guys be offering the C90S Laptop for 900? The last time I checked the base price (two days ago) it was $1079.00
[Potential Customer] And why does the price vary so much?
[Operator] market ?
[Operator] not in stock now
[Operator] price went up when we have a few left
[Operator] when we get new pallet price will go down
[Potential Customer] So because it's not in stock, you charge more? It would make more sense to lower the price to entice people to pre-order.
[Operator] price went up when we had a few left
[Operator] now we got none left
[Operator] not interested in preorder to be honest with you

It was at this point that I was abruptly disconnected from their chat client.

I understand the fluctuations of the market very well. However, drastic price changes from day to day, and company to company, on a new laptop like the C90 isn't something I expected to see. Most other sites seemingly want to compete and offer the best price. Most other sites want to have good customer service to either get more customers or keep their current customers coming back. Why, then, was I met with sarcasm, a distinct and pronounced lack of professionalism, and then disconnected for no reason and denied service?

Needless to say, even though I appreciate Eddie (Geared2Play)'s hard work in testing the C90S, I wont be buying one from his companies.

Does anyone have any comments on the log or suggestions regarding good retailers of the C90S? Thank you.

 

Gentech!!!

 

When on the verge of entering in credit card information for GenTech, have you ever noticed that the "Lock" (meaning the page is secure/encrypted) has a red slash through it? When I double click the lock to see what the slash means, it says:

Connection Partially Encrypted

Parts of the page you are viewing were not encrypted before being transmitted over the internet.

Information sent over the Internet without encryption can be seen by other people while in transit.

What's the deal with that?

Also, this is GenTech's site, right? http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=SFNT

 

Gentech is still the way to go. While I have had issues in communication, they are at least testing everything before they are sent out. They offer the best prices and while it is taking forever to ship, nearly every other company is out of stock (and more expensive) so it is unlikely you would get it too much sooner anyway.

 

In firefox mine says it is completely encrypted at Gentech.

 

Its secure in safari to

 

What makes you think we dont test our product? My friend when it comes to testing and repair work we are #1 in this business, we have been for years.

 

Why, then, was I met with sarcasm, a distinct and pronounced lack of professionalism, and then disconnected for no reason and denied service?
How do you gather that from the conversation?
Why do you post what is suposed to be private on a public forum? Would you like it if I posted all your emails or address on a forum? you probably would not. It is live chat. Live chat is private. It should be kept that way.
As for your disconnecting. Try and connect again. You asked questions you got straight answer. Nobody tried to pitch you. Nobody tried to convince you. Nobody tried to take your money for a needless preorder. What is the problem? Straight answers and no pitching. I monitor both my aids who handle chat when i am not around. The first part of the chat was not me. The last 3 lines was me. I did not disconnect you. All your questions were answered in courteous manner. If you rather have enthusiasm over post sales service (warranty) there are many other companies out there that will provide.

 

Why in the world would you assume that would be a private conversation? There's nothing to state that it would be...or should be for that matter.

I've read many of your posts, and there's no way I'd every buy from your company and you're the last company I'd recommend to anyone...well maybe I'd recommend you guys before CyberPower but I'd have to think long and hard about that.

Running a good business is more than taking orders and sending products. Customers spend a lot of money at your store and deserve some courtesies because of that...that's just simple Customer Service 101.

 

You have no clue what good business is. Good business is being able to offer what none other can. We are pro's in our business. No other vendor can come close in our business. Dont buy from me. you obviously have something against me and my personality. Now that that is out in the open.... Bite me!
Running orders and taking products is exactly NOT our business. Our Website if mediocre at best so is our order processing. We excell further then any other vendor in availability, support, warranty, policies, exprience and turn around. That is the most important aspect of business. any idiot can get a website and process orders all day long. Nobody has thus far came close to our policies and offerings.

 

I didnt want to comment here but just thought its unfair. you asked 3-4 questions and got answers for each of them.

just imagine how many such 'potential customers' they'd be talking to each day. Its too much to expect essayish answers for every question.

about the disconnected part, you probably could have given them benefit of the doubt and tried again.

I really didnt want to involve myself in this but felt it was quite unfair. especially when you say "I've read many of your posts, and there's no way I'd every buy from your company and you're the last company I'd recommend to anyone" after being their "potential customer" few hours ago.

 

on a slow day we will get a dozen live chat requests, on a good day close to a hundred. Some people just take things personally because i can seem like i dont care if you buy or not. I only care about one thing. our existing customers and their satisfaction. I care not about potential clients. I answer questions in the order they were received to my best ability. dont expect me to go out of my way for a potential sale. Thats me

 

You know all and all I think its unfair to just criticize BTO without even trying the rest of their service...

someone else posted that courtesy, better price, testing and customer service are very important but that he would glady give in in those areas for faster speed and waranty... each person is going to have a different opinion about whats important to them, for example some people are complainig about Gentech for taking too long to ship units (20+ days) even though they have a cheaper price and are very extensive in their answers..

I guess what Im trying to say is dont assume just because you think its a bad service everyone else will think the same I know many Gentech customers would switch to BTO for the speed of their shipping..

(I wouldnt but thats because I value more price than speed)

 

You know i appreciate that however there is nothing wrong with any of our service pre and post sales. I am friendly, trustworthy, open minded, funny guy (my ad on myspace). I treat most everyone with respect pre and post sales except the people that say something that hurts my personal feelings. That is the way business should work. I can kiss your a$$ all day long however in the long run of we dont deliver what is promised i call that a disservice. that is exactly why we can and do charge higher prices. Higher prices generally go with higher service.

 

lol, didnt mean to imply that you werent courteous but, like you said, you could be extra extra extra courteous and some will think better of your business others wont care about that and just judge based on service and speed

 

I could be..........i would make a horrible telemarketer....i would probably call back everyone who hangs up on me and curse them out....that is why i am not a telemarketer

 

You tell it like it is. No fluff. Good stuff.

 

i hate fluff! fluff is for pu$$es

I take alot of offense to that one. i own a 3 yr old m5n. If i told people not to talk to you do you think it would be ok?

 

The following line is a modified line based from a line from the movie Ocean's 13 (yeah 11 was still the best, nonetheless a good comeback to Eddie):

Well, I know all the guys you would tell not to talk to me, and they like me better then you.

 

that guy clooney was voted the hottest man of the year in 2004. I dont know why i remembered that. a strange feeling surrounds me.

 

I just had to post!!! HAHAHAHAHA you're so funny dude!!!

 

Hey geared2play, if I were to order a c90 from BtoTech.com within the next couple of days, would it ship by august 13th? I know that you guys are all out of stock and everything, so that's why I'm asking.

 

You Deserve a Smili. (or two) :GEEK:

 

Lol!! You seem to be the guy on fire these days...

Anyhow, seriously, there seems to be a lot of btotech bashing these days...
I dont see how the original message transcript can be said as of being sarcastic and lack of professionalism as he has answered all the questions of the OP. Moreover, a disconnect doesnt simply imply that the operator has dc the phone..

If customers from btotech dont seem to have a problem with the service, I dont see why others would need to go the extra mile to show the company in a bad light...

Anyhow, one thing that can be said against BTO is that Eddie can be sometimes a hot head though i find most of his posts to be straight on point and very informative. Just a point of view of most ppl i guess..

Though one thing, I dont agree with the viewpoint that the livechat is a private chat and is not something akin to posting private mails/talks on a public forum.. If anything it can show the dealings of the customer support to others...

 

Sorry buddy they are out of stock for a few days now. eta for mid-late august. ken is probably the only dealer in this country that still has some

 

i am feeling love now! a strange ora surrounds me again and a need to eat cheesekake

 

Okay, thanks for the quick reply. I was going to switch my order to btotech if it would allow me to get the laptop on or before the 16th, but it sounds like no matter what I do it probably won't be possible. Thanks.

 

if ken told you to wait for the 16th then they are out of stock too. dont count on the 16th. i have a feeling it will be late as always. if you have a time constraint you should look into alternative notebooks

 

Yay for ordering mine a month before they came out!

 

Well, I have an important event going on the 16th and 17th, and I was really hoping I'd have my c90 by then, but I ordered my c90 from gentech on july 26th, so really the date that I absolutely have to have my laptop by is august 25th (when I leave for college that's a 6 hour drive away).

 

I'm the one who slams Eddie and he gets all the love for some innuendo about himself. Injustice is what surrounds these forums...

 

Karma's a *****

 

personally i am glad that i ordered from btotech, i had the system 3 days after ordering, no problems and i was able to get a better warranty then gentech offers.

and on resellerratings.com - btotech has an excellent rating, from many many reviews, and alot talk about their warranty service being great!

 

To the original poster: when I was also trying to communicate with BTO in the beginning (no easy thing considering our timezones are completely opposite), I would occasionally get disconnected from chat as well. However, my net connection's not the greatest, and occasionally it was also browser related. I tried switching browsers or waiting a couple of minutes and was always able to reconnect.

Don't be too quick to attack BTO/Eddie. I will be the first to admit that approachability on Eddie's part could be better, and he does come across sounding uncaring/harsh occasionally, but he was always quick to respond (and I'm now waiting for another reply to a query *hint* ) and my G1S was shipped out reasonably quickly (under a week).

See Eddie, what you gotta do is get someone who's really people-friendly to handle the initial communications, kinda smoothen your image out (but never compromising your realiabilty/ethics) and then you'll get so popular you'll have to open more stores nationwide and you can even focus on international customers (like me) too!!

Can't wait for my G1S!

 

Yeah...I haven't read anything about BTO screwing someone over...quite the contrary actually...but yeah...home-boy's people's skills could use some work.

Then again...Eddie, you're from New York right? Maybe the attitude goes with the territory???

 

I almost choked on my pepsi reading that. Friggin hilarious.

 

you guys are bundling a sales man, and a person. Most of you never spoke to me on the phone as a potential customer. ON a slow day i can be as friendly as any other on a buisy day unfortunately my self and my help have no time for chit chat however it is not uncommon for my self to spend an hour on the phone with a client who has tons of questions. Notebookreview is my stompin ground for years now. I feel at home here. My intention is to please my self first, then help others who want to be helped. Some people here dont see me as a person. They see me as a service. I am not a service. If you come across the wrong way i will flip you the bird, on the forum or on the phone, or on live chaT. The customer is not always right. I am a fond believer of that. I am not a script reader.

 

It has to! if i left my tude at home when i went to work i would feel fake. I am not a fake. I tell it how it is. If i feel it i will speak it. been doing that for most of my life at home and at work. why change?

 

The price fluctuation is a bit unusual, but understandable given the basic principles of supply, demand, and price. As far as buying from BtoTech, I could care less about a guy who smooth-talks me and fakes a personal interest in my life, etc. What I want is a guy who knows what he's doing, can answer my questions straightforward, and is the best value. If BTO fits the bill, I have no problem buying from them.

It's when you start getting emotional about a purchase that things go downhill. You have to be objective.

 

it has been my experience that smooth takers are fast walkers or runners.