avoid kobalt computers

I hope all these issues are in the minority. I've just sent my laptop back to Kobalt for warranty repair I'm hoping it's not going to take months to get it back.

 

I guess it depends on the extent of the repair, parts and how time consuming it is. An out of warranty repair took about 1 month for me, part of that was due to it being repaired at a German service centre, no idea about repairs under warranty though.

 

HEY, kobalt.
Can I come and work for you as a technician?
I will take payment in small amounts of food and a place to stay up for 24 hours as long as I can keep working on Clevos.

I don't know who the hell you think you're talking to... because mrdj is not a company...

 

i must have missed that above post.
ive been called a lot of things before but not a company,lol.

just to clarify I DO NOT work for kobalt. i am just a very happy customer of 3 years now who offered my services as a voulantary moderator on their forum.

my nightmare was with alienware but dont get me started on that one.

 

I'm waiting for my laptop from Kobalt Computers for two months, multiple ETAs missed, the usual story. Recently I've received from them another funny excuse for delays. They were fixing their website last week ) . I'm really not sure why they need website to build and deliver laptop. I guess I should cancel my order at Kobalt and order new laptop somewhere else.

 

Hi everyone! New member, just in the last few minutes, mostly because of searching to see if I was the only one with similar troubles to those that a lot of people are mentioning here.

I won't go into the long and laborious details, really that's Kobalt's business (literally... until I get my money back!) but this part in particular caught my eye.

I first placed my order (and had the money transferring out of my account) on the 28th of April.
I also ordered a GS150
My first ETA breezed past (I think it was 23rd of May, it was a long time ago now)
After some polite prodding, I was given a "genuine ETA" (their words) of the 17th June, I was given this on the 9th of June (so 8 days, you could assume they'd know for sure what the production plan was like only over 8 days... right?)
That ETA breezed by.
I prodded a few more times.
Then, at the end of June, I was told it should be shipping out at the end of the next week (so early July)
That didn't happen.
I prodded gently a few more times (they were having lots of forum issues around this time, so kicking up a big fuss really wasn't in order... so I thought) and, to cut a long story short, I was told, in no uncertain terms that it would be done testing by the end of the week, monday at the latest, and should be with me by the end of the week.
It goes without saying that didn't happen.
At this point, I basically gave up, cancelled and asked for a refund. I figured that by this time, I was either being strung along or they were incapable of keeping track of what was going on in their own company.
That was last week. 15 weeks and 5 days after I first placed my order.

The fact that your post quoted above shows that they were indeed shipping GS150's out the door makes me think it must be the latter, and my order was either missed, or lost, and they didn't want to own up to it. (or they just don't like me )

If I'd had an order that had anything particularly unusual about it then I could understand, but it was the stock screen, seemingly the most commonly requested CPU, the default HDD, the normal selection of memory, etc.

(I also asked several times if there was any particular component that was causing the delays and offered to change my order to help out, but that question wasn't acknowledged, and the suggestion wasn't taken up)

All in all, it left a pretty sour impression, as I'm sure you can imagine!

So now, I'm just waiting for my refund. I've been over a thousand pounds out of pocket for four months, with absolutely nothing to show for it... I just hope that their refund process is more efficient than their other processes.

To end on a lighter note, other people (including ScooterA above) seem to have got their machines, and people seem to be universally very happy with the machines after they get them, but frankly, my experience has left me with the impression that I simply cannot trust what they tell me... and for good reason. And how can I support a company that I can't trust?

 

I've had the exact! same experience as #106, only I ordered a danish keyboard, for which I was still waiting until today.

Long story short, I got fed up with their excuses (keyboard in backorder at the supplier) and missed updates, eta's etc. So i called the UK Clevo supplier myself, and they were happy to ship me a danish keyboard today!

Kobalt Computers are nothing more than a crappy run company, with no regard for customer care or integrity. I can see no other explanation to the fact that I've been waiting 3 months for a keyboard the supplier would ship the same day I decided to abandon the sinking ship that Kobalt is.

The worst thing about it all, is that every time they promised an update (does "I promise an update no later than tuesday next week" sound familiar?) I would have to prod them numerous times, before getting any response what so ever.

So I asked for my money back (for the keyboard option), but right now, I regret that I didn't just contact my credit card company and asked them to withdraw the whole thing.

Avoid Kobalt Computers at any cost. Consider every alternative available, and for the love of god and your sanity, don't expect an order fulfilled unless you actually have the unit in your hands.

Should anyone question anything, feel free to pm me, and I will supply all logs, e-mails and other stuff as documentation.

 

Well so much for my hope that the above issues are in the minority. I sent a laptop back to Kobalt for repair. 1 month down the line and they can't yet tell me what the problem is.

 

Im happy I read all these comments before i made a purchase, I went with PCspecialist and got my laptop in 5 working days.

 

I've also just put an order in with PCS. Still no refund from Kobalt (and so far all chaser e-mails and forum posts ignored) so I've raised a section 75 dispute through my Credit Card company.

 

I have to add my own tale of woe regarding Kobalt.

Firstly, let me state that before this, I would have happily recommended Kobalt. I have one of their older machines (G870) which I've been very happy with, and although the GPU has been a source of some issue, they've been prompt at fixing it. Then..... this all happened.

I placed an order for a G170 machine with them on the 22nd June. The order was placed, I received confirmation the following day and the money was taken out of my account. I got a 3 week ETA (12th July), so was happy. Then, the (probably previously mentioned) AMD Radeon 6970M withdrawl occured. They didn't inform me of this, I only found out by looking at their forum, roughly a week after I'd placed my order, and found that the withdrawl was actually implemented not an hour after my confirmation had come through!

It took 2-3 weeks for them to respond and sort out a replacement option, a GTX 485M, at an addtional cost of £129.60, which was promptly paid (at least once they got around to providing me with an opportunity to actually pay them). They gave me another ETA (now 21st July). I sat back and waited. My order was updated as being 'in the build queue'. As that ETA came and went, I placed numerous support tickets, forum posts and PMs to staff asking for updates, most of which went un-answered. The responses I did get assured me that my machine was to go into production very shortly, and to expect a week of build/test before it shipped.

By the time we entered August, they'd stopped replying to all my messages. Over two weeks went by without a response from them. On the 2nd of August , I received a message saying that they'd had an issue with GPU shipments, so this had delayed my machine being built, but I was assured it would be put into production the following day, for delivery the end of the following week. Ok I thought, reasonable enough. Cue another two weeks of silence, followed by a message informing me of the issue with the order tracking messages not being forwarded on to their staff. By this point I was running low on good will for them, since it had been nearly 8 weeks since my order was placed. On the 12th of August, I received an update saying that my new ETA was the 2nd of September. That was the final straw, so I cancelled my order.

I'm still waiting for the refund to come through, and the 30 days they have to complete this under the DSR expires on Monday next week. I'm not hopeful of receiving it by then, based on what I read in this thread, and others. It's safe to say I shan't be recommending Kobalt to anyone else in the future. For me, its not the issues they've had, but their lacks attitude towards informing their customers, who've lets not forget paid large amounts of money to them, of issues prior to their actually affecting their build.

On the plus side, I ended up placing an order with Dell (for an Alienware machine) and received that in an astonishing 10 days, only 6 of which were spent building the machine, and I'm really happy with it.

 

Well my wonderful credit card company have now refunded my money - as of yesterday Kobalt had still not bothered to reply to me so three cheers for Section 75!

I have no intention of ever ever going near Kobalt again. All in they had my money for two and a half months, so I hope I helped their cash flow a little

 

The worst company I ever dealt with.
They got many many official channels for communications except (live) phone line. You got Order Queries section on their forum, then you got e-mail, then brand new Support Center, then Order Status section on their web page. If you have posted on all of them and still don't get any response, you'll post on public forum, you'll get some attention even 9pm in the evening. Your post will be removed and suggested to communicate via official channels.
Plain and utter ignorance.
Haven't seen so poor logistics anywhere.
And thanks again Kobalt wasting my time.

 

Well, after my bank returning the monies I today get a note from Kobalt confirming my refund. And get this - the money is £111 short due to an "Adjustment Fee"

I've told them not to process this, as I already have the funds back from the credit card company in full. But are they seriously thinking that they have a right to attempt to keep money. It beggars belief.

So careful everyone, if you have a refund from Kobalt ensure it's a full refund (which I'm sure you're entitled to due to the non-delivery of goods).

If they do refund it, maybe I should return it - using standard Kobalt timescales ha ha ha!

 

Well like I said as I've already had my funds back through the credit card this is one fight I don't need to have. If not I'd be well hacked off at yet more hassle - turns out even cancelling with these people is not a simple task.

For anyone else in the same boat, I've just read through Kobalts T&Cs on their website and can find no mention of this "adjustment fee". So they can't even say I knew about it beforehand!

 

As of now, Kobalt has another 11 days to refud me £14 +VAT. I wonder if I should file for bankrupcy on the 12th day?

 

Nah, they can afford that amount by paying your refund from someone who ordered later. Possibly, or maybe they have vast reserves of cash to play with.

 

in my instance, Kobalt have until 5pm tomorrow for my monies to be back in my account.

if it's not received by this time they will be liable for damages under breach of contract.

 

Small update for anyone who's following the progress. No new word from Kobalt, waiting to hear back from my back for the chargeback process... not sure hopeful I feel or not! I've already asked Kobalt what THEY will do if the bank can't do the chargeback for any reason, and got a fairly garbled sounded reply that said... roughly paraphrasing and tidying up grammar ;P

If they (the bank) say that they can't act then they (Kobalt) would need an email stating that this is the case. They (Kobalt) would have to ask for this email to be relatively specific with regards to what Barclays say as they (Kobalt) would need to hold this as proof as to how you (ie, Me) were refunded and why the Card Scheme rules were followed.

Which... correct me if I'm wrong, basically makes NO sense whatsoever and essentially says "if the bank can't do it, we need all their reasons why to use as proof that you were refunded"

I'm guessing they mean reasons and proof that I WASN'T refunded.

It's a bit depressing (though rather expected by this point!) that they seem to hold my problems in rather little regard (ie, it doesn't actually make sense) and want other people to do all the work they aren't able to do.

 

Dandelionz
Was it credit or debit card?

 

Don't worry Dandelionz, chargeback can take a few weeks but you will get a full refund plus the interest.

Got my chargeback through last week, just glad my dealings with Kobalt are over. Worst customer experience i have ever had without a doubt.

 

Few articles on that matter & just an interesting reading for future on tech (online) shopping for UK costumers
Consumer law: your rights explained - Computeractive - Consumer rights

Top 10 myths about your consumer rights - Computeractive - Consumer rights

 

But you'd have to be owed >£750, and the court would have to determine that Kobalt cannot pay, which seems unlikely for a small sum like that.

But if the court did agree, you could end up like me when Rock went into receivership owing me >£1.5k for an M570RU. I got 46p back out of all that after 2 years, because Rock's cash was first used to pay a bank (mortgages on land & buildings) and one or two other preferred creditors. I and all the others that had paid upfront for laptops were the very last in the pecking order.

 

I know, but the weed has to be cut...