Avoiding PCMicroworks in the future

I think my next Clevo purchase will certainly be from another vendor other than PCMicroworks. I am a power-user and have the cash to buy the best, but it won't be from these guys anymore.

Here's my review, cut and pasted from my complaint over on ResellerRatings.com. (Edited for typos.)

 

I guess you missed this thread? http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=270105

 

Sadly I did miss it. However, since I bought my PC back in Dec 2007 and the post was written in mid-2008 it wouldn't have helped me anyway.

But what a great research job! It confirms what I already suspected--PCMicroworks is a just a rip-off, fly-by-night outfit hiding behind a slick website.

They simply close shop after existing customers warn future ones of their shoddy business pactices, and then reopen under another name where they can start the cycle all over again.

What are some other retail rating websites? I'd like to give my feedback and experience with this company.

 

How about a lawyer? That sounds like a mess.

I would have sent it back to them and ordered from another vendor had they not shipped both Video Cards... and not honoring their warranty? Come'on...

 

No need for a a lawyer, I use my credit card for *every* purchase over the internet, just to protect me in these situations.

As I mentioned above, I already received a refund for the upgrades I purchased but didn't receive. Now I will be contacting my credit card again for another refund, this time for the warranty potion of the purchase, the MS Office potion of the purchase, and the cost of one hard drive.

 

A very wise person, indeed. I hope things get worked out to your satisfaction.

 

That sucks you went through that man. I guess I just have to count my blessings.

 

Wow...I can't believe I came so close to using this vendor. This was one of the three I had narrowed my decision to. I came to my senses only after I got email from one of the other vendors that contained third party information that educated me as to why the build that I was looking at for my laptop was outside the scope that Sager allows for (thank you Donald).

This sent up red flags and I moved another direction. These forums are filled with great advice and vendors like Powernotbooks.com and XoticPC not only are actively engaged with the community but seem to really care about those who are purchasing these units.

My Laptop won't be here until Monday, but I have to admit that at least so far, I'm very impressed with the whole experience.

 

I'm guessing you're talking about the M860TU?

To be fair though, PC Microworks uses a different supplier, (not Sager), the Sager resellers are restricted to the components offered by Sager, while PC Microworks uses Eurocom, which does offer components not officially offered by Clevo.

 

oh...ok. Thanks for the information dtwn. It would appear that I still have a lot to learn here.

 

and learning is half the battle

 

Essentially, Sager plays according to Clevo's guidelines, Eurocom doesn't. The X9100 in the Eurocom/PCMicroworks M860TUs are an example.

I do believe, however, that Eurocom does cover the M860TU's in the event of the unit overheating due to the CPU, whereas Sager wouldn't, seeing as to how they do not officially support that particular CPU, which is perfectly fine, seeing as to how they are merely following Clevo's guidelines.

 

no one reseller cant put in Clevo laptops parts that Clevo donst support they cant change the bios support

 

So what do you call the X9100 in the Eurocom supplied M860TUs? Imaginary?

 

no support by CLEVO MADE BIOS and not just eurocom sell them also xicomputer.com and if you search will find that many other also
just no way some reseller to sell CLevo laptops with parts that Clevo dosnt support to the special model

 

This is not working out.

I don't understand what you're saying.

 

i'm just saying that other reseller also sell M860TU with X9100 CPU
and no one cant sell Clevo laptops with parts that isnt support originaly by Clevo
with other words the Resellers cant change the BIOS Support only Clevo can
made changes in the bios related to the Support of NEW CPU and GPU

 

....

Eurocom was merely an example.

What do you define as being supported originally? Do you mean supported by Clevo officially, or supported via bios but not officially supported due to issues, regardless of what those may be? That's where you lose me.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3438633&postcount=1
The X9100s aren't supported by Clevo due to the thermal budget, but some of the resellers do offer it, with the North American ones presumably supplied by Eurocom.

I am merely pointing out that the X9100 is NOT officially supported by Clevo, regardless of whether the hardware/bios supports it.

 

they maybe not offer the cpu but they made bios support for him if they didnt add this cpu in the M860TU bios no one can add it thats what i mean

 

I understand. I agree, but I was just pointing out that, Clevo no longer officially supports the X9100, which is why some importers won't support it.

 

yes thats right but why they sell it if the laptop cant handle the heat

 

Well, perhaps the laptop can handle the heat, but with unacceptable failure rates or unit lifespan for Clevo. Some resellers don't mind, as it offers them an extra product that their competitors are not willing to provide.

 

yes just look this

http://www.discountpcsales.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=MTECHm860tu

 

Probably because the extra heat doesn't cause immediate failure, it just causes the components to have a much-shortened useful life, so that the buyer gets a machine that runs - initially - and by the time the components begin to fail from heat-stress, the vendor is probably hoping that the standard 1-year warranty has expired (or even less time, if the vendor's standard warranty is only something like 90 days - a lot of people see extended warranties as a waste of money and won't buy them, even when it would be in their own best interests to do so).

 

Update from original poster:

On 18 March I received an email from Fedex saying PCMicroworks has sent a package to me. I have no idea what is in this package since PCMicroworks did not contact me in advance.

Worse, I work at a US Embassy overseas and PCMicroworks sent it to my home address and I will not be home for another 5 weeks. Had they emailed me in advance and asked for shipping instructions, which I repeated asked them to do, I would have provided my work address.

I sent PCMicrorks support an email about this situation but they have not responded.

So I have no idea if the package they sent contains a new hard drive, which I asked for, nor a resolution for the problem of the invalid product key for the Microsoft Office Small Business software they sold me.

Bottom line: Both the hard drive issue and invalid software product key problems are still unresolved at this time.