Z70va notebooks are being received

Over at notebookforums.com, I read that some people who pre-ordered the Z70va have received their notebooks over the last 24-48 hours. No reviews have been posted, yet, but I'm sure we'll some some soon.

 

Looks like they are finally in stores. I checked istnch and they said all stocks are sold out like expected. I wonder when will they arrive in Canada.

wow.. no one cares? anyone got one?

 

quite a few have gotten theirs over at notebookforums like jackbauer said...but my guess is they're all too happy and giddy playing with their new toys i'd expect a flood of reviews soon tho.

 

I think ISTNC were the only ones to get the 30~ units of the z70va because ASUS gave it to them for some sort of 'educational' sale or something. This is from what I've heard - I don't really know

 

Official release to my knowledge is the first or second week of Sept. The last shipment of 35 that ISNTC recieved for their "educationl bid" were all sold to the same person. As the owner told me, he's a business man, and he sells notebooks. Whatever happend to customer service?

 

Wow, only 35 units?
Well, at least I will be getting one of those 35 units. Don't know when though since I pre-ordered it late.

 

You may not get one if you preordered after the 15th. I don't know why he felt the need to sell them all to one person, many people are dying to get their hands on one so they would have sold out in no time flat. Needless to say, after several conversations, I won't be purchasing from them.

 

The z70va won't be here until mid September I guess, I'll wait. I was pretty close to buying the m6bne last year - learned of its update the z70v, waited 6~ months for that..

I'll wait another month

 

I don't think Rick sold them to a single person. I counted 6 different people over at NBF.com who claim to have gotten theirs... unless they're all lying. I think the notebooks were most likely sold in the order of pre-orders.

I'm with Coriolis. It's only gonna be a few more weeks before other vendors have the Z70va. I can wait a little longer. It'll give me time to evaluate the HP nw8240 I ordered, yesterday.

 

I'm still surfing and using Word quite well on my T21

It'll last the first month of school - it's an unstoppable force(at 900mhz!!)

 

I ordered on 8/11 so hopefully I will get it some time at the end of this month.

 

Where are you getting your information? There have been way over 35 pre-orders from when IST started accepting them until they sold out, a lot of different people on Notebook Forums have ordered them, and at least 4 different ones have recieved them already. If you question IST's customer service, check out their reseller rating and ebay feedback. They may be newer to the direct-to-consumer market, but I don't see a reason to question their business practices.

 

Your naiveté is showing.

Be patient. The whole thing will unravel itself shortly and the truth will become evident to all.

 

ordering them as "educational purposes" is NOT good businessmanship

 

This would be welcome. I've read A LOT of whining about ISTNC here on these forums, lately. To believe that ISTNC was all too willing to risk their company's reputation and serious legal repercussions just so they could sell 35 notebooks before anyone else is a bit much to swallow without real proof. My experience with ISTNC was superb in every respect and I'd have no trouble buying from them again. If I see legitimate evidence that they've acted illegally, then I'll join the revolution. Until then, I'll trust my own experience with ISTNC and withhold judgment.

 

Guys
the simple point is that Rick is not getting all the heat infact he is getting too little. Asus is getting all the heat. Rick is just lucky enough to get cought in the middle. Its not such a bad thing and nobody ever questioned his customer service. If it were me in this situation i would have sold the notebooks retail also if my school bid was false or didnt work out. The only difference is i would not parade it all over the website and ask people to keep the info private. The results would have been more favorable to everyone including Rick or maybee not. Any publicity is good publicity. As far as the numbers go. The 200 paid preorders they claim is complete bs. If they had even one hundred preorders in the month of july that would account for one third of all their web proccessed orders. 35 seems like a very accurate number infact alot more then i had predicted. Keep your confidential info confidential. If you dont your competitors will find way to prove you wrong if they can. The proof is in the order numbers and corresponding dates. Who cares anyways, embelishment is part of this biz. We have all done it at one point or another but having your info posted on forums is asking for it. I learned that the hard way.

 

The 35 units that I spoke of were the last notebooks left for the remaining shipment that was due this coming week. The first shipment was more than likely larger and that was due around the 12th. Those sold out but a new shipment was due between the 22nd and the 27th, that shipment was to contain 35 units which were all preordered and sold to one person. This information is directly from ISTNC.

I simply do not wish to do business with him because of his attitude and almost hostility towards me. Whether or not he did in fact lie to Asus or did something illegal doesn't matter, I don't believe he cares at all for customer service. Therefore, I will take my business elsewhere when they are officially released.

Anubis

 

on a completely different note...now that we know for sure that the z70va's will be coming mid september, are any of you other resellers planning on updating your sites to include pricing or preorders?

 

I'm gonna probrably guess that no 'real' prices will be shown until the units actually reach the hands of the resellers.

What a mess this situation has turned into...

 

Pricing has not yet been released by Asus. The reason you don't see "pre-orders" more than a week or so before shipments begin is that we never know for sure when they will actually be released, what the final specs are, and what the release pricing is until the distributors actually get them in their hands.

 

The point is you can't believe anything he says. He has told people he was in possession of 400 pieces with over 200 sold, neither of which are even close to the truth.

Right now he is slinging whatever he thinks people might believe to try to dig himself out of the hole he got himself into. Anyone who has trust in what he says is going to be mighty disappointed once all of the truth comes out.

It feels awful when you misplace your trust.

 

I have no dog in this fight but I will point out that not too long ago we were told there was no way ISTNC would have the refresh models before the rest and right now the first reviews for that model are up.

I placed my preorder in early August and was told there were already about 125 in place at the time. This fits exactly with what others are saying, some who already have the laptop. Supposedly I will get mine sometime next week or next. We'll see.

 

Exactly.

Plus, we don't know the whole story. I would give Rick the benefit of the doubt here until proven otherwise. He has gone far beyond customary customer service for me and many, many others - both during the sale and after. His reseller ratings show that, too. I think everybody should just chill out.

 

As I see it, the biggest current issue is there's a lot of secondhand info going around about IST and like any type of rumor, things get exaggerated in the retelling. In addition, I'm convinced that resellers have differing types and amounts of information which leads to a lot of confusion and mudslinging. At this point, I haven't seen a deliberate lie posted by any reseller here or on Notebook Forums. All I see is conflicts of information that may or may not be all-inclusive or completely correct. If someone claims that a reseller is deliberately providing false information regarding their business, then the burden of proof rests on the accuser.

Donald, you provided good advice in a previous post. You said to wait and see what turns out. I choose to do that and have seen no evidence to mistrust the veracity of any reseller at this time.

 

Lets put it this way... IST isn't going to give anyone the "full story". The fact about how he wouldn't be able to sell them to anyone before they were released is true. How he got around that is the entire issue that everyone else is all up in arms about. Educational bids are not retail....... they had a deadline and Asus wanted in on the sale which you can't blame. However, a school district isn't going to go online and tell everyone they have these new systems and it's not going to create any sort of monopoly over the product. Asus has told all of their dealers at this point that they instructed them not to sell these units retail when their EDU deal didn't work out... until a certain date that more units could be imported and distributed.

Asus is in a bad position because of this and other things that eventually will come to light but Asus isn't going to come out and say anything to the public as it's not their concern or place to. This is a legal issue and not just he said / she said...... it's not the place for any one to really get involved because all the people who should be, already are and in the end everyone will have a very clear picture as to what has happened.

I understand all sides, but in reality all the situations Asus gets itself into are ones they could have kept themselves out of if their business practices were to the same level their products were. I'm not saying no one's to blame... or Asus is to blame... but the blame falls on the shoulders of everyone involved.

 

Wow. If i lie to my customers every day i just realized i ll get away with it becuase our feedback is good and we have great service and it will only help us in the end. We must seem like a bunch of resellers that were lied to by the big evil empire. No thats not the case. This information did not just come from asus it also came from other sources which were involved in the transaction. Not one sales rep not one company. This is not a big conspiracy. Its a pretty simple situation with a simple explanation. Rick needs to do a better job of keeping his grey area grey next time.

 

You other resellers can say all you want about Rick, but the bottom line is the customers are happy and that's all that really matters. He's not doing business to please you, in fact, its quite the opposite. Its understandable to see guys like Donald complaining and throwing mud all over the place without putting any facts out there, because quite simply you have lost out on some market share, and you were wrong when you said no one would have the refresh until September.

Period.

 

What can't we believe? My truth arrived in the mail this week and I'm mighty pleased with it, and from resellerratings.com it looks like most other customers were as well.

 

Not period. The story is not over yet. Let's wait for the final chapter before we go to ... period.

 

No doubt those of you that received yours are pleased. However you are not the only ones that matter here...there is much more to this, and much deeper ramifications yet to fall.

We are all happy that you are pleased, don't get me wrong. Customer satisfaction is what it is all about.

Just don't get too giddy until the final chapter.

 

I've noticed some resellers, such as Discountlaptops, have now decided not to carry Asus. did something happen between Asus and the resellers?

 

Beantown
The only person who was wrong is Rick for not being able to contain this highly controvercial move. As we have said for every action there is a reaction. The reaction is pending.
Facts:
Around 35 units were received and sent out not 200 or 400 as were claimed.
Customers are happy. Sure why wouldnt they be?. Thing is Rick has to live in this world along with us. Its dangerous to screw over other resellers and play games with numbers and preorders for products that are not allowed for resale. As you can see we all get along fairly well with a few head bumps here and there. I dont know about any one else here but Rick and Asus damaged our business with a move that can cost both of them becuase it is illegal plain and simple. Who is responsible for it will eventually pay up most likely Rick gets away clean.
You seem to be thinking of this from the point of view of a customer. Nobody here said you guys should be unhappy with your product/service.

 

Goren
Yes this preorder thing happen and the "asusnotebooks" on ebay happen. This was a long comming. We will be removing our ensemble notebooks shortly from the site and replacing with other products as well as moving to intel desktop boards and intel products unless asus does something smart. If nothing smart is done the only thing left on our site will be their whitebooks until we find a new manufacturer that is up to par with dealer support. Its too bad. I really liked their brand and hope a favorable resolution comes around soon otherwise alot of us will be moving on.

 

Well, ya you're right I am looking at this from a customer's POV... and I am biased, but I am also very pleased with my purchase and from everything else I read so are others who purchased from ISTNC. So when I read these forums it seems like other resellers are just bitter... whether it be personal or whatever I don't know. But I'm just trying to let other potential customers know that I have had a great experience with ISTNC, so that when they read the ambiguous stuff Don is posting they won't hesitate to do business with Rick.

 

Let me add a bit to this conversation that might better help explain the situation that is at hand.

On a couple of different occasions, Asus has approached us about doing an exclusive.... the last and best example was that for the W5 and V6. They approached us to do it, and we were going to pay for a promotion in which one of the w5 or v6 customers for that month was going to win a 50" sony plasma screen. We agreed to lower margins which means we really paid for the promotion and Asus would get the credit. I was fine with and like to do anything Asus actually comes up with that they're willing to run with. They placed the link on their site, we recieved that entire shipment....... then a couple days into it at least one other reseller cried foul and said we won't sell your products anymore if you do this. Basically we had to agree to allow a few units to go to some other dealers so they could claim to have it as well and with that the promo fell apart. That was something Asus would back and explain what happened.

This is not the case in this situation. Asus was lied to specially ordered and shipped notebooks based on a much larger order. Asus ordered notebooks based on a 200-400 PO which didn't exist. When the notebooks started to come in, after shipping only 35 units they were told this PO no longer existed. Asus requested the units back (obviously did not get them), Asus told them they could not sell them retail (we've seen what happened). This educational order was converted into a retail sale and they recieved quantity and special bid pricing for this job. The problem is when that didn't happen, they converted that order and decided to sell them retail for retail costs. That's illegal. When you're dealing with a company, it's not going to do you good in the long run if you thumb your nose to them and go about doing your own thing.

This is where the situation gets weird. The initial satisfaction is found by those of you who have a Z70va before anyone else and the company who got to say they were the first to sell them. The real disapointment will eventually be felt by all when Asus finally gets things squared away with it. At that time, people will find out they were lied to and future customers of this company will most likely find it hard to order computers when Asus stops shipments to them. Also, future Z70va buyers are going to be sad to know that Asus' price for the units is higher than others have already purchased them for.

I have nothing to prove to anyone at this point and therefore neither does my company. Everything we've done speaks for itself and our business certainly didn't hinge on this product. Others may not want to come out and say it, but we're all on the same page and just waiting for Asus to make their move. I'm not afraid to back these guys up as they do have more information than they are willing to give out at this time.

All of you with Z70va's at this point feel good about yourself as no one can take that away from you. However, all the good warm feeling you have about your transaction will (or should) change when Asus "clears the air". Considering no less than 3 of their top 10 dealers removed their products from their site today shows that there certainly is more than meets the eye. There are issues between my company and Asus which keep us from following suit at this juncture, but those other dealers know they have our support and they understand our position and support us there as well.

...viva la resistance!

 

Okay,

So some retellers are pissed and yes they have a right to be a little mad. But is it really worth it to abandon ASUS as a company? Okay, you guys have a customer base and everything and you are thinking that moving to a different company will make ASUS regret what they did, but think about it a little deeper than that. When a customer buys a laptop they usually either stay loyal to the brand or they buy another brand. Obviously, the people who buy ASUS laptops know their stuff and are loyal to the ASUS brand. If you ditch ASUS you will also be ditching some of the customer base that you have accumulated. Not to mention it is going to be hard to find another company that makes laptops as reliable as ASUS does (unless you somehow convince Samsung to sell in the US). I know you are mad and everything, but I would let ASUS know that they screwed you over and either get a discount on the next batch of laptops or find some other way to resolve this without abandoning ASUS (because, I hate to admit it, but they are gonna get big and you will need them then).

 

Our decision to remove Asus products is principle based, not revenue based. DiscountLaptops.com will only deal with companies we feel do business upfront and honestly. This is the way we deal with our customers, our competitors, and our partners. That is the only way to do business for the long term.

Fact is, Rick pulled a fast one and ASUS is letting him get away with it. Not only did ASUS let him get away with it, they supported him and protected him throughout the entire ordeal. Once we found out about Rick's back-door dealings and about the inside eBay channel, we realized the type of "partner" ASUS is striving to become. So, while Rick may be pounding his chest and declaring victory, it will be short lived. The day will come when he is on the receiving end and a new "Rick" will be in the picture.

Any reseller who trusts a company with a patterned history of doing business like this has little to no excuse for getting upset or burned in the future.

Over the last several years we have worked diligently to develop the ASUS brand and advertise for them. We have sold ALOT of ASUS notebooks, way back to their very first model. After developing such a history, they have nerve to come back and lie to our faces over and over again. That's really some "thank you."

This past month tells us something about the management and direction ASUS is headed.

Don't expect to see Asus notebooks back on our site unless we see ASUS return with a well-thought reaction. We have many other options. I would rather do business with a company I know values our business partnership and relationship. That way I know I will always be able to service my customers to the level of customer service they expect.

Other resellers should do the same. If they don't, then they should stop complaining.

So, sure. A few customers have won throughout this ordeal. A certain reseller looks like a champ. But at what cost? My motto, Karma is a wonderful thing.

I would really like to see ASUS right this ship.

 

Kyle,

I have to agree and disagree with you at the same time and interestingly enough, sometimes even on the same issue. We can't abandon Asus legally and they wouldn't want us to either. This is a legal matter which will hopefully works it way out. The story that would be told if we just disbanded (honestly and not being full of myself) would set Asus back at least a year. I'm not talking about just our sales alone, but everyone would want to know why the biggest Asus advocate would want to stop selling their products. They make excellent products and that would be at the top of my list. However below that would be an explainaton of the moral dilema they've put us in and mainly the treatment some of the other dealers have been getting as well the poor way they may resolve the issues on the table today.

Don't get me wrong, this is like an episode of HardBall or something.... we've got the details but we're guessing on how they're going to play out. I'm confident Asus will take the high ground and do what's right just to do what's right........ not to win anyone back.

If you want to take this to another level....... When Asus cracks those retail chains.... we don't have anything to worry about. The products we sell aren't going to be what they sell in those stores. What they sell there will be strictly competition for what else is sold in the stores, in pre-configured packages, like the current ensembles but in most likely lower configurations for higher prices. They'll good great there and in reality it'll mean more sales for us on our level......... but we won't be competing with those chains, we're already assured of that.

 

so, why doesn't samsung try and enter the US market? looks like they have some pretty sweet laptops, with nice screens, no?

 

Rick what have you to say? Are we just a bunch of bashers? Or do you think you could have done some of this differently? Is asus lying to us? Who do we belive?

 

^ I believe Samsung has some kind of non compete with Dell. A shame.. I'd like to see Samsung, LG and BenQ models here.

 

oh how i wish that too.

on the whole asus thing tho, while i understand how upset all the resellers are at asus, i dunno if removing their product really does them any good. while it definitely gets their message across, i think it'd be better if they all got together to send a message to asus. removing their product does nothing but hurt ur business because although asus business practice is poor their product is top notch and if people dont buy from you, they'll certainly buy from someone else and asus wont really be losing much.

 

How do you guys know all this info about Rick's order and whatnot?

 

hehe, million dollar question; ... corporate spies...

 

Eddie never ceases to amaze me... Get your facts right eddie.

Fact: They put in an ORDER for 400 (waaaay different from the "400 received statement you just made"). Since you're saying its a fact, I'd like you to show me where they said they got 400 Z70Va's in. No really... SHOW ME! Whats that? You don't have any real PROOF? ooooooh, whhhhy am I not surprised.

Where is all of this information coming from? Do you guys seriously think Rick told ASUS that he was going to sell it to a SCHOOL?! HAHAHA!!! I think that is some of the best BS you guys have come up with yet!

Fact: Bahama wants to go to whatever school is getting notebooks with x700's in them!

I'm interested... I can't wait for "The final chapter". Then all this **** might stop (just in time for the next big thing).

 

That would compromise integrity. We have enough other top quality laptops to choose from, we don't have to do business with a company that exhibits the business practices we have recently seen from Asus.

If customers really want Asus, there are plenty of resellers out there that can fill their orders. We may lose that business, but we sleep better.

 

Hmmmm man, i take a weekend off to go out to Santa Barbara to relax and this thread came along. Interesting thread. Interesting of the fact the major Asus resellers are all on this thread, so far minus IST and StarTech.

 

Well, it appears as though i was too rude in my last post. If I hurt either Eddies or Justins (or anyone elses for that matter) feelings, please feel free to e-mail me: [email protected] and tell me how you really feel.

Also, feel free to neg rep me as im sure all of you resellers have just been inching to do. After all, I was given the honor of making the notorious "bigger BADDER z70v" thread.

 

To elaborate on Llama's point... what you guys claim makes absolutely no sense. Why would Rick:


offer retail preorders months before the shipment of the new z70v...

do it on a public forum where asus could see he is not intending to sell them to schools...

risk infuriating many potential customers and ruining his reputation...


it just makes no sense.

 

Agreed...It makes no sense.

Doesn't mean that it didn't happen.