Kobalt Computers - Lead times

I'm posting this as I think it's relevant information for anyone looking to order from Kobalt Computers.

I've just cancelled an order from these guys after having missed my third ETA. It's been on order Since the 23rd of September. This seems to be a recurrent theme in their customer forums. Their phone lines seem to be regularly down and I've not had a response yet from my last query 3 days ago.

Here are the screen shots from my order screen with personal information removed:

(images removed by moderator -- posting personal emails in the forum is not allowed)

 

try mySN or Hawkforce

 

You can translate it if you need to...

 

I hope you'll get your refund soon. I cancelled my order on the 24th of Sept and I just got my refund 2 days ago... 6 weeks to get a refund, and I never had any replies to my emails (7-8 sent) and when I called, it went straight to the answering machine... unbelievable.

 

i had the same problem with kobalt. that's why i decided to purchase a laptop from other guys. mySN lines are always available and they reply to you. The best communication so far was with Hawkforce. that guy is awesome

 

Firstly I would like to appologise to anyone who has experienced difficulties in contacting us or who has had delays with their orders. Though the correspondance that mwalter has posted is confidential and between us and a customer (therefore shouldn't be posted in public as we haven't given permission for this) it does illustrate some of the issues we have experienced recently. I would like to clarify some of them here so that it is put into perspective.

We had to make the decision to take the phone lines off purely because of staff illness issues, we simply didn't have the manpower at the time to answer the phones as well as emails, order tracking and of course running the rest of the company. It's not something that we wanted to do however we made the decision based on what we had decided we could focus on.

The answerphone message clearly states the reasons why we did this.

As the OP has already posted the screenshots I also need to explain the personel issues we have experienced recently. Apart from other members of staff being ill (and by that I don't mean they have just had man flu or a cold) our Managing Director has been extremely ill over the last four weeks and as a result has been unable to work. In a small specialised company such as Kobalt this has a very detremental effect because each staff member is an essential part of the team, the MD more so. We have been open about this with our customers so that we can try and explain why things haven't been running as smoothly as they should have recently. Our MD is also my brother and as such his illness hasn't just affected someone who works in the office next to mine, it has affected a very close family member who I happen to run a company with. I am sure you can appreciate that this has not been easy for the other staff members nor myself, both professionally and personally. Whilst I can't hide from the issues that this has caused recently I want to make it clear that this is the reason behind things, it's not because we can't be bothered to do the work.

All this information has been passed on to our customers and as I mentioned we have been open about it.

I'm not going to discuss individual customers on this thread because I don't think it's fair on them, it's also not possible if people have already cancelled. As a general point however I would like to say that there are two sides to every story.

I am happy to report, as we have also done through very recent updates, that my brother is recovering and our company is getting back on track. I want to try and make it clear that we do not have a problem forfilling orders or providing support to our customers, more importantly we have plans in place that mean we will be getting back to a two week delivery time by the end of the month at the latest and by Christmas we will even be able to offer 72 hour delivery on certain products.

If this post seems a little over-defensive then it is because I feel very strongly about the success of our company, which has doubled in size over the last year. More importantly, it is because both myself and our staff have worked extremely hard whilst under a lot of pressure to run the company whilst missing several key members of our team. Personally, I have been working 7 day weeks since September. We can only do our best to get back on track asap but this will now happen very quickly. This might not be enough for some people to go to other companies however the situation over the last 4-6 weeks is in no way representative of the future of the company and in fact with recent developments we will be even stronger than before.

Those of you who know me on nbr and those of you who have met us will be aware of the type of person I am as well as my brother and the rest of our staff. We may be a business but we are also a group of very hard working and professional individuals. This is why I am confident that we will be back to normal operations in a short space of time and also why I can be this confident about the short and long term future and performance of our company.

 

Then best of luck on getting back on track.
It would be best if you let us all know in advance when you are experiencing difficulties which are beyond your control and of course when you will be back on the normal 2 week ETA.

 

My apologies but I didn't think there was anything personal in the comment stream, certainly that wasn't already on the forums other than my order specific information.

My objection isn't to my laptop being late, it's the fact that every time my ETA expires I'm told it will be two weeks later. I've been holding off my work thinking that if it arrives in the next two weeks then I'll be able to catch up and now I'm snowed under and I've got to wait for a refund and then a new laptop to be delivered as with Christmas coming I can't afford to buy another.

All I wanted was someone to be straight with me. There's nothing wrong with delays but it's unfair on customers to keep changing the goalposts with ETAs. If anyone had told me it would take this long in the first month of the order and given me a quick refund then I could have lived with that. I hope that by posting this it will improve things in the future.

Other than my name, address, company details and credit card details I'm quite happy for my order to be discussed.

Those who have received Kobalt laptops seem pretty happy with their purchases on the forums. It's the order process that is causing all the upsets.

I wish you guys all the best in the future regardless.

 

It looks like I'm not the only one who's been affected by the recent run of bad luck at Kobalt, Neil's reply above rather sums up their situation and I can only hope that my own order gets going sometime soon.

 

mwalter communication issues seem to have been ongoing with kolbalt since at least april. Unfortunately every time its been brought up, the threads get closed on these forums and new members have a hard time locating the information again. Kobalt computers is a great company as several forum members can tell you, but their customer care is a bit lacking.

 

i think you will find that is wrong about issues contacting them since april.
even though i help out as moderator on their forum im still a customer like everyone else and have to use the same phone number and have got through almost each time up until about a 6 weeks ago. as a small company they dont have a call centre with 10-100 phone operators answering calls all the time. if a call is in progress then you wont get through so try again or leave a message and they will get back to you when they can.

 

For kobalt staff, the conclusion is:
It is always better to tell a customer that he will receive the order in 30 days and acctualy receive it in 20, then to tell him he will receive in 20 and acctualy receive it in 30.

This is the best advice i can give you guys.
Best of luck on gettin back on track ! I wish you prosper as a company, so you can get more options on your orders, to attract more customers and so on so forth !

 

If it is the one who was waiting for a norwegian keyboard, those posts got erased.

 

Ok, fair point, but tell me 1-2 months and DELIVER, rather than saying all the time 1-2 weeks. Hope your brother gets well soon. You should have made it known to potential customers.

 

Telling wrong ETA to keep the customers not to go to others store might work against you after a while.

 

can't tell if your just stating the obvious or just confused, because they are driving customers away with the delays.

Either way feel sorry for forum members dealing with this, not sure clevoguy is right about contact issues since april, but I definitely recall issues back in august, with people not being able to contact them.

 

Yeah, I just wanted to say that if they know that they are under-stuffed or they are having delay with shipping the parts to them they should be more honest and mention this so people know what to expect.

 

Kobalt's main website makes no mention of their current staff shortage at present, but it does mention their move of offices in their forums and the attendant disruption in communications that brings.

I've been lucky(?) in that my order delay has been explained each time by the staff once a deadline has passed. However it seems others are not so lucky and have decided to vote with their feet and go somewhere else. This hasn't been the best year for Kobalt going by their previous record.

 

I have to say that in general I am also a Kobalt fan. For a custom laptop I think the waiting time is often a month +shipping or more. people who think they get it earlier get frustated, because they expected in two weeks. Two years ago there was a guy who bought from mySN and he he build his working and travel plans on the ETA. Eventually his laptop did not arrive , he canceled the trip, lost money etc...

 

What has really annoyed many Kobalt customers is the overrun from the usual 10-14 working days, although not completely the company's fault.

 

I'm not sure if bringing this up will help my own order, but has anyone else noticed any improvement at all on the production front? By the looks of things Kobalt are no where nearer to finishing my own order in addition to the other request I've put it because of the delays.

 

not sure, i cancelled my order on 21/10 that was placed on 02/09 as there were a few delays! i'm going to wait till the new year and hope to reorder or wait till Sandy Bridge is out they will be sorted by then.............just waiting for the refund atm

Alienwarez

 

Day 11 - I'm still waiting for my refund or an acknowledgement. I've sent an e-mail, put a note on my order screen and sent a letter by special delivery registered post.

I'll be doing the same on day 14 with the section of consumer law about returning money as soon as possible and within a maximum of 30 days quoted.

 

We are shipping a lot of laptops at the moment, problem is that 90% of our customers are not on our forum or on nbr so though it may at first glance not look like it we are firmly getting back on track.

 

Glad to hear the backlog is slowly being cleared, I'm just worried my order is potentially stuck in the queue and not being processed.

 

They closed my order on Monday (22/11/2010) and have authorised a refund. Just waiting for the money to be transferred and to arrive in my account.

 

received my works 3 GS710's on friday so deliverys are going out.
and before people start saying im getting preferential treatment because im a moderator im not. ordered late september and moneys transfered 1st october.
its impossible to compare different orders as they are built to spec and everyone has different configurations so it depends on stock availability.
the guys are working their butts off to get all orders out after theve gone through the rigorous testing/burn in stage.

bear with them guys as its worth the wait.

 

Unfortunately I've also decided to cancel, the staff shortages over there mean their contact points are sacrificed to get production up to speed and with my order impossible to see delivery to its original destination coupled with Sandy Bridge coming so close I've figured I might as well cancel and see what better configurations I can select next January.

 

Well my posts on there forum keep getting deleted, which is fair enough as its Kobalt's forum and its a post about my order. But it is a shame that the customer testimonials topics never get deleted and there are posts about orders all over the place!

Let me get one thing straight, I believe kobalt make great systems there is no denying that, the testimonials speak for themselves but my issue is regarding REFUNDS.

I have only ever used Kobalt's forums to post a question about my refund when i haven't received a reply from my email or my order status comment within 48 hours excluding weekends. In the past before the refund confirmation i got replys within 24 hours for my order questions which was very good at that point.

My order (placed end of september) had confirmation of refund on 27th october, Under DSR (Distance Selling Regulations) they have until the end of tommorrow Friday 26th November to give me my money back!

Im sure you all agree most customers (like me) would accept delays in notebook build times when times are tough (busy periods and staff illness etc...). And so i decided since i need a notebook ASAP why not cancel, get refund and order elsewhere right??? no qualms , no problem with company, its a cancellation based on the situation i'm in as a customer and the money involved, lets just part ways right!

As you can see is wasen't as simple as that, like i've said 27th october was confirmation of cancellation, and 29 days have passed and still nothing and i doubt that will change tommorrow.

Kobalt say "3-5 businesses days they initially said they would TRY to do."

****
The last reply from Kobalt over a week ago is that
"It will probably take the full 30 days for refund, because it has to be authorised by their merchant bank."
****

So i ask to all of you here, is that a reasonable enough reason for the delay of my refund??

Staff illness should not affect refunds right?
I understand delays in notebook builds, but i'm simply asking for money to be transferred from there account to mine, no computer parts involved.

Amazon, ebuyer and others have provided me with refunds within a week in the past, usually 48 hours,
i'm currently on 29 days and counting.......

g10mufc

 

I'll testify to Kobalt's build quality, and reliability. I'm using one of their first gaming laptops the Mojave XI, and it still runs like a dream. O.K. they might not have had as many orders as they do now but I can assure you the build quality is top notch and "worth the wait". You won't get a better service in the long run compared to the more well known brands imo.

 

All custom build laptops are not ASAP. It takes time to build it and to install and do even the basics tests. I am curious about other stores.

 

read the post again mate, i had ordered end of september decided to cancel 27th october, i gave them a month, my situation changed as i needed notebook ASAP by the end of october hence the cancellation request.

my post is about length of time of refund, i already know kobalt is going through a lot and they make good systems, it just so happened my situation changed and it meant i would have to save money and spend some of it elsewhere (off the shelf notebook) meaning i wouldn't be able to take advantage of being a fortunate kobalt owner

also my eta was already extended twice, 15 october, then 23-30th october and then again i got a message saying it'll be longer, so as a customer i'm entitled to a refund after making the purchase of the notebook a whole month before right??

so please no more about building notebook time i am fully aware of that, my posts are only about refund length of time.

 

NBR has the power!! , after many posts on kobalt forums with posts being deleted ( I stress i only posted on kobalt forums because i never received a reply to comments or emails after 48 hours EXCLUDING weekends, yet before cancellation i received replys within 24 hours.) and posts on here I have finally received a reply from kobalt.

I'm not allowed to post emails or pm's from kobalt but just to give you an idea the reply i got was along the lines of

"In reply to your nbr post of course the delay in your refund is unacceptable, under ideal conditions it would go through swiftly"

well at least we agree on one thing it is unacceptable, Neil also went on to say that I should go to the credit card company to start a chargeback request as its taken longer then 30 days and that they are doing there best after there recent problems.

So all in all its looks like i have to do the refund myself but at least i've finally got a reply with a solution

As I will no longer post any more on this topic since my problem looks to be finally sorted, let me get one thing straight.

*** Kobalts testimonials speak for themselves they make great systems, and so I have nothing against them in terms of the quality goods they produce.***

My experince of dealing with them was brillient up untill cancellation, therefore any replys to this post should only therefore be about the length of time i had to wait for a refund. As i have said everything else kobalt do is well above standard its just after cancellation refund support.

I do not take pleasure with these posts and being critical, my only reason for this is so the company can further improve and no other customer goes through the same as i did.

If a year from now i turn out to be the only customer thats had to wait for a refund 30 days onwards from kobalt, then I, and most importantly kobalt have succeeded!

MERRY CHRISTMASS EVERYONE

 

This should not happen. This should just be a place talk about laptops not be used by people to force the seller to give them more attention. Not that you are not right, just it should not be.

 

you're not the only one! i am quite upset about this if im honest! i already had a mojave from kobalt and the system is a dream! it was only that my gpu went up s**t creek i decided to treat myself on new machine!

did Neil honestly say take it up with your credit card issuer?

 

I agree my friend, shame i was taken to such lengths.

yes

..
Peace and happiness to all during this festive season!

 

You guys are praising the clevo build quality not kobalts....they don't really build squat I don't understand how people can say its worth the wait because of the build quality. The only thing they do is insert parts such as the cpu maybe the gpu, hdd and the wifi card. Everything else is already there.

There is either a shortage of the laptops or they are batch ordering and only submitting it when they fill the quota. So for example they order 20 at a time and 10 people cancel, they can't order 10 and make a profit so they wait till they have 20 orders again.

If your waiting 30 days for a refund I sure hope their paying you interest. Otherwise I would seriously send them a bill for it.

 

I order my computer on 24 aug it testing/burn in hopefully should be he on the 1st dec.

 

Wow mate, you must really love me , making your first post on this forum just to point out its 30 working days and on top of that work out just for me that i have to wait until 8th december! Unfortunately darling i think your wrong about the working days bit.

listen i'm sure you will enjoy your new notebook from kobalt its unanimous that you will.

Just to spread the love back here a few numbers from the government in this country!

***
DSR STATES
What if I am unable to deliver the goods or start a service in the time agreed or within the 30 days statutory limit?

3.17 If you cannot meet the 30 day deadline to deliver the goods or perform the service, you must inform the consumer before the expiry of the deadline. You and the consumer may agree a revised date for delivery of the goods or performance of the service. But the consumer does not have to agree to a revised date. If they do not agree to a revised date, the contract must be treated as if it had not been made, apart from any rights that the consumer has under it as the result of the non-performance.

3.18 If you are unable to meet the deadline and have not agreed an alternative delivery date with the consumer, you must refund all money paid in relation to the contract including the postage and packaging. Please see paragraph 3.49 for information on additional services that may have been provided under a different contract. The refund should be made as quickly as possible and within a maximum of 30 days.
***

There were other parts of this pdf stating 'working days' for other different regulations, but for refunds 'working days' is not stated, therefore the 30 day limit does indeed include weekends. 26th November was the deadline and thats a fact! Just to add kobalt have never disputed this fact so they to agree 30 days are up.

 

@cfmuteng

Have you got your refund yet? i'm currently at 40 days and counting hehe

Regards

 

This is only an excuse, of course not true, there are other good reasons for that, already mentioned in the thread.

 

I'm in a similar situation. I've repeatedly had my order date pushed back, had my requests for information ignored, been given deliberately false information about when my order will arrive and was given deliberately false information when I placed the order.

If I've not received my laptop by the end of the week (which is my current estimated delivery date, considerably past what I was told when I placed the order), I'm calling VISA to get my money back, Trading Standards to investigate and my lawyer to see if fraud was committed by the sales staff when they provided me with delivery estimates they knew they couldn't meet. Given what's been said in this thread and in other places, I'm not trusting them to give me my money back on their own.

 

Seems to be a trend of first posters on this thread so I'll join in too.

As it happens I do know the guys at Kobalt and I know what they are like. I have bought desktops (this is a laptop forum but they build a lot of kick a$$ watercooled PCs) and a laptop from them and over the last few years (think they have been running for 7 years now) have seen them grow pretty substantially whilst a lot of other companies have gone bust. Definitely a lot of UK based IT companies have gone such as Rock, Beast, Rizon, UV Machines, Vadim etc. The last paragraph of what Neil wrote is spot on. The brutal truth is that, believe it or not, they are decent honest people who have been working their a$$es off under extremely difficult circumstances and that's why they are still here.

^^^ Wasn't that when they were moving offices?

It's clear that there are people who have been affected in a bad way but honestly what is there to gain by throwing around words like fraud? I know these guys, they won't have deliberately given false information - they just aren't like that. There are some companies who frequent nbr who are unscrupulous, you've only got to look at the top sticky in the Clevo section to see a perfect example. Kobalt aren't one of them. My point is that they have explained what has happened recently, at the same time people have had bad experiences and I sympathise. Considering the circumstances though, all I'm saying is think about the reprocussions of what you post before posting.

I can't see what can be gained from detailing everything on a public forum and throwing words like fraud around in public apart from sympathy. That might sound harsh but it's certainally not going to make matters better. It's as bad as kicking a guy in the head when he's already down. What I'm saying is that they are getting things sorted out, by making it harder for them you're making your own situation worse.

It's clear on nbr and their own forum that they have a lot of happy customers, I am one of them and it doesn't happen by chance - try to remember that and that the recent issues are short term and not because they are bad people.

I was reading a thread on extremesystems last week about the perils of owning an internet based company. In particular they way that positive feedback is few and far between yet negative feedback is jumped on unquestionably therefore snowballing out of control and people on forums tend to treat online companies like they aren't run by human beings. I used to work for one myself (online company that is) and know what it can be like. There's a really bad problem with people posting (talking in general) who have no understanding of the repercussions of what they say online.

Andrew has been seriously ill, it had a big effect on the company. It's short term and from what Neil posted sounds like they're getting back on top of things. My overall point is to let them continue to get sorted out, not to create an environment that causes an exponential amount of problems.

But if people want to bring a good company down then go for it. I'm sure the Kobalt guys, all their staff, their staff's families whose income comes from Kobalt and their existing customers who have warranties and support from Kobalt will be really grateful

 

Noone has used the word fraud on this thread jonob apart from you.

Are you suggesting that reporting negative experiences rather than just positive experiences is unfair on small companies (as long as people stick to the clear facts of the matter)?

P.S Do you think you could cut down on quoting vast swathes of text? It is only four pages back and I'm sure most people have already read it.

 

They are small company they are very simlair size to were i work when people are ill or weather or some other problem. I have to man the phones and make products as well it not easy when you people moaning on the phone or by email they want jump the line. Another thing for people who saying fraud Well They have been on Tv one there machine was on gadget show as for last post I order 24 aug and i am happy as i have being kept in form with problems this nothing try waiting for car which had waiting list of a year.

 

Once again where is this fraud thing coming from? No one apart from the people defending Kobalt are mentioning the word fraud. Are you reading all the posts or just the last one and posting?

Incidentally Day 21 since cancellation and I'm still waiting for the refund.

 

Bouncing this post up also does not help.

 

lol i beat you i beat you

 

Try reading the post directly above mine, of course I read the other posts first. Looks like it is you who didn't bother - I think he mentions the word fraud here:

Still seems like some people are treating this thread as a bit of a joke though. I am not suggesting people only write good things about companies mwalter but slamming a company whose MD has been too ill to work for 5 weeks is pretty callous. It's not like your experience should put other people off ordering from them is it because it was a short term problem?

 

He didn't actually accuse them of fraud though did he and it's the only mention of the word or such a topic in the entire thread, it's hardly representative.

There's no mention about the delays on the website and it would be a factor I'd want to consider if I was buying a laptop so that's why I think it's relevant.

There's a guy on here who ordered his laptop in August. There are people who haven't got their refund within the allotted time the law allows for. I don't see how illness affects refund time, a bank transfer takes three days maximum.

No one wants anyone to go under and to be honest I think that's just scaremongering. I mean seriously, "I'm sure the Kobalt guys, all their staff, their staff's families whose income comes from Kobalt and their existing customers who have warranties and support from Kobalt will be really grateful", why don't you throw in and many fluffy bunnies will die....

The reason I started this thread was to report the facts and let them speak for themselves.

The way I see it the best way to put up a defence is to do likewise and report the facts of the ordering experience.

As to whether or not such issues are linked only to illness, I would direct you to the following post from January: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/472499-kobalt-computers-3.html.