Kobalt Computers - Lead times

No he didn't accuse them of fraud and I didn't say that he did. What he did do is to say that he has been purposefully been lied to and given false information which is pure speculation, however most people will read it and think it is fact. That was the whole point of my last post - peoples statements and opinions on forums are not always fact, far from it in some cases but other people will come on here, read the post and take it as fact.

It does mention the delays on their website by the way, there's a long post on their forum and I know that they are quoting 3 weeks for delivery at the moment. You need to read that post and the one I quoted, that's why I quoted it - because people haven't read it properly. On their forum it says that the longer lead times of the past are not representative of the lead times of the future. It is not a factor that should come into play when looking to order now as it was a problem of the past that is not going to affect orders placed now. Ironically you will make it the case now if you continue to bash them. If you don't understand how having the MD of a small specialised company being to ill to work for 5 weeks can have an impact on refunds then you have no understanding of business.

Posting that link only goes to prove that all you're out to do is take them down, not to advise people. The thread was closed because they were sorting it out with the customer - that's the end of it surely?

 

I give up if you really think I'm out to take them down.

I reserve the right to post when I actually receive my refund other than that I think I'll abstain.

 

I had my order from Kobalt computers cancelled almost year ago for the same reasons why this topic was started. And it also took them quite long time to refund me (but it was within 30 days). While initially being promised a quick refund, later they replied they have 30 days for it. Long refund times have nothing to do with MD ilness in this company, that's a fact. I kept quiet to give them chance to improve, and I didn't want to drag them down, as its their family business. But it seems they are dragging down themselves.

 

My 30 days, under UK consumer law, was up yesterday. I contacted Consumer Direct and sent them the information I have. They then referred my case to the Office of Fair Trading who have put my case on record and suggested that the quickest way to get my money back is to issue a Visa charge back.

I've contacted my bank and they are now investigating. Hopefully I should have my money back in a few days.

 

well the snow and ice effect the company for 4 days also if the MD who was ill is the one does the refund this may explain why they taken so long.

 

I found the same issues when I was ordering from Kobalt. Although the machine I have seems solid and is very powerful, it did bug the **** of me the time it took to deliver and the amount of times the ETA was moved. I wouldn't buy from them again.

 

Thats why i like mysn.de

They offer reimbursment as paying option.

I keep my money in my pocket, and once the laptop arives at my doorway i pay up.

No hassle, so i am not worried it takes a little longer to receive tha laptop, because nobody has taken my money yet.

 

Visa have refunded my money from the purchase today.

The nightmare is over. Hurray!

That's me signed out for this thread hopefully.

Now to research and buy a new laptop.

 

Congratulations, mwalter, on getting your money back and thank you for bringing this situation to the attention of many potential Kobalt customers which could have become additional Kobalt victims.

Koblat should have stopped taking orders or at least quoted a lead time of "Indefinite" once the seriousnous of the illness was known. I think this thread should stay active to keep warning potential customers until it can be confirmed that Kobalt is meeting their commitments and providing good service. What about the starving bunnies? Kobalt should have protected them by being more honest and accurate to their customers. The delay in mwalters refund is proof that Kobalt still isn't giving proper customer service.

 

Glad you have your refund dude! I am currently at 59 days without a refund! Could really just do with acknowledgement from Kobalt that the refund is imminent or something! I'm kind of getting to the stage now where I may ask my card company to refund me! I think I have been fair in leaving it this long! but its now nearly kind of well 2 months! I don't think they should be able to have my money for that long!

Really quite disheartened as had no problems at all with Kobalt in the past! I found out today too that I can now not contact them via their telephone system as they have taken it offline to try and sort out all of the back orders!

Has anyone got any advice for me please!

Regards

 

I've met with the Kobalt guys a few times. Andrew in particular is a top notch bloke and am sorry to hear he is sick. I've bought 2 Kobalt machines, both were late although not excessively late. One was faulty and they sorted it out no problems.

However, I've followed the Kobalt forums and I have to say I've never seen so many issues in a company in my life, there is absolutely no reason why a refund should take so long other than the funds not being available to be refunded. Having to do a chargeback is outrageous (anyone remember the Rock fiasco?!) anyone personally reading this should put anyone off buying a machine from the company. Even my recent dealings with Dell aren't as bad !
Anyone posting anything else about how great they are has no credibility at all whilst they owe customers money.

Kobalt you have a great product- get your act together whilst you still have a chance to turn it around. I want to buy more from you but simply wont until things have improved.

 

Alienwarez,
do a chargeback via your credit card company pronto.

Neil.

 

It would be a pity if this was a sign of cashflow issues at Kobalt. They were great for customer service in the past.

That said, I personally ignored those signs with Rock, and then was left with a letter from the administrators saying that *if* there was any money left over after Rock's mortgage was repaid, I might, after 6 years, get 67 pence out of the 2,140 pounds paid...

 

Rock is back in business. Pay by Credit Card and you shouldn't ever need to worry.

The posts about poor comms and delays in refunding is sad to hear and I suspect it bothers Kobalt as well that service has suffered.

However there is no evidence to suggest they have problems other than a series if bad luck hits to there business so I don't think speculation like above is fair.

The guys waiting for refunds have paid by credit card so are gteed to get their money.

 

I know Rock is back, but once bitten, twice shy. Your comment about the credit card is wrong - you are assuming all buyers are using a UK issued card. If not, they are actually left peniless.

That - almost exactly, word for word, is what a colleague told me two weeks before I placed my order with Rock. I chose to follow these comforting words, and ignore all the (with hindsight obvious) warning signs (orders taking weeks, refunds taking weeks) and lost a heap load of money as a result. In these economic times, you have to doubly look after yourself. If Kobalt are not following the law regarding refunds, why should I risk 2,000 pounds with them? And if they are not abiding by the law, is that, in your view the dictionary definition of "no evidence" of problems?

I sincerely hope I am wrong on this - I don't wish insolvency on any company, much less a friendly family business like Kobalt. But in the meantime, if it were my money, I would place it elsewhere right now - it's not as though they are the only Clevo reseller in the world.

 

Neil, what this thread has to do with the "Rock fiasco" is completely beyond me. The reasons for the issues we have had recently are clearly detailed on this thread (more than once) and also on our forum. Your comments are pure speculation and given the fact that we know you (spent a lot of time on the phone and met you three times) I am a little disappointed that you have chosen to give us "advice" in public. You can already see that your speculation and comments have caused Varadeo to question cash flow problems and we are now being compared to a company that went out of business three years ago due to employee fraud. There is one sure fire way to ruin a company and that is to post speculative information in public. This will kill market confidence in our company and will thus cause the exact problems you have suggested we have and that others are already drawing conclusions about, because everyone will be scared off purchasing from us.

Alienwarez doesn't need to do a chargeback via his credit card company because the refund has already gone through.

You are completely correct! It does bother us that our service has suffered and that is why I have spent so much time on our forum and on nbr trying to explain what happened. The simple fact is that this year has not been an easy one for us but the issues have been clearly explained and are all totally legitimate. Companies have always experienced problems, however now that the internet is such an open place everything is reported and discussed. The side effect of this is that wrong conclusions are always drawn and it is the company that is in the weaker position because they are always limited by they can say in public.

Though against forum rules I need to mention Rock quickly because of what has been posted in this thread and that we are being mentioned in the same vein as them. Rock went bust because of employee fraud and convictions were brought against those involved. They were then bought out by a very large company and so aren't the same company as before. All this information has been released in public by ex Rock representatives. I have mentioned this for two reasons 1/ because it has absolutely no bearing on Kobalt and comparing what happened to Rock with Kobalt is scaremongering in the extreme and 2/ I have met ex Rock directors, directors of the company who purchased Rock and also Rock staff - I am sure they would act in the same way and correct what has been posted if given the chance.

I would like to finish with this - this thread was started about lead times and has now progressed onto refunds. Now it has descended into speculative scaremongering. I can't force people who read this thread to believe what we have posted and stated, however it is the truth and I would appreciate it if what we have said were taken onboard and reacted to sensibly. We have been very open about everything and it was our hope that in doing this we would be able to avoid the type of negative posting that has occurred. All this uninformed speculation does is weaken a company to the point where it would experience the kind of problems that have been mentioned. This thread has had 3,600 views - it also comes up on Google therefore it has a big impact on the way people view our company. Whether existing customers, potential customer or forum members. If, god forbid, we did ever have serious financial problems they would likely be caused by the kind of speculative posts that have been made here.

 

I really feel for people who've had issues, we all hate waiting, especially when by right (or if everything went as planned), they'd never happen and shouldn't happen.

If it makes anyone reading this feel any better though, before words of fraud etc are uttered again; laptops and equipment ARE going out from Kobalt, I've also met Andy and Neil and like a few people have said, they're good blokes, so I sincerely doubt these problems are simply from them wanting to screw people over. I've had severely bad luck with performance laptops since way before ordering from Kobalt, I've never had a performance laptop work 100% over its warrantied lifespan (according to my brother I was the famous german leader in a past life), but Kobalt have tried to rectify every issue as best as they can, and have done more for me than either Dell or Fujitsu-Siemens with thier infinately greater manpower and cashflow.

This time my laptop was in for looking at due to a heat issue, and that's arrived back on my doorstep today.

 

Neil - when you see a number of people owed money and it taking weeks for it to be re-paid - then there is only one credible conclusion you can draw - anything else is quite frankly BS or incompetence. Perhaps the rock comparision was unfair but nevertheless even without me mentioning it, looking here and on your own forums (where posts are being deleted!) renders a conclusion that not all is well and its costing you business, which is a great shame as the product you guys have is fantastic.

Here is one suggestion that I think you may choose to consider:

Don't take anyone's money until the order is ready to ship.

It would make nearly every issue you have go away.


Regards,
Neil.

 

Your only contribution to this thread is to incite scare mongering and give out condescending advice. Why not just leave it alone.

 

Well, here's how things are going for me:

29th October: Order placed. Was told immediately before I placed the order that it would take three weeks.
10th November: Enquire as to the progress of my order. No response.
15th November: Enquire as to the progress of my order. No response.
22nd November (after initial delivery estimate has passed with no response): given new estimate of 3rd December.
8th December: told to expect delivery by the end of the next week.
16th December: told that the parts are available and that my order will be shipped in time for delivery by Christmas.
21st December: told that they don't have the stock, and that I won't have my laptop for Christmas.
21st December: cancelled the order. Told I'll get my money back within 30 days.

So far: no refund.

 

If you used a Visa or Mastercard you can give your bank a call and if you keep the above info handy they will probably be able to refund the money to your account within 3 days or so. I was actually quite surprised how helpful they were.

 

I am quietly closing this thread. Please take up your disputes with kobalt personally and in private. Alternatively/additionally, go over to their forums and post there.