Remember Hybridgear.net? It appears that they've been reincarnated as PCMW - UPDATED

lol PCMW used the second picture and added the lamborghini. Atleast it shows that they are well informed

 

Tuesday seems like it will never come =(.

 

man that thing is hot. I kinda wish the m570tu was as sexy but alas we can't have it all. It is very fine though and I hope that it lives up to expectations. Thanks for posting Donald.

 

Again then, your *****ing about them not doing things but your not willing to contact them to point out the mistakes. I agree that the mistakes should never have happened in the first place but this is the real world. It's not really fair to bash on them when you made no effort to contact them and tell them that there was a mistake.

I've been on the forums a while and all the people that have had problems with their PCMW orders called them and the problem was rectified. Thats what I'm getting at you didn't even bother...but your quick to slam them.

I think ANY reseller on these forums would want the consideration of being contacted prior to someone venting about how bad xxx is, if you didn't contact them about the mistake and give them a chance to fix it then IMO you really don't have a leg to stand on.

 

I saw m860tu with black audio jacks on this forum 2 weeks ago.

 

^--^
Can you link to them?

If you did, they were from unauthorized use of Sager copyrighted pictures.

Do they also have the green tint in the upper corner of the keyboard?

 

I tried, but the search function has been disabled the whole day. they were from another clevo reseller, I don't remember about the green tint tho.

 

We're just going to have to agree to disagree. I can't imagine ANY reseller on these forum would want to pay shipping back to them and back to me to install an OS they didn't do properly in the first place (and I had the skills to do). So what would their resolution have been? And just from reading numerous posts from the visible resellers on this forum, I bet I would get an invoice and most likely a thanks for ordering from one of them. I do find the part of your post "all the people that have had problems with their PCMW orders called them" telling and wished I had thought to look here and do some research prior to purchasing (as I did before buying my Dell).

As the "customer", I certainly feel that I do have a leg to stand on to voice my concern when what I ordered wasn't delivered. I also have zero obligation to do it to directly to the company that erred in their business practices. If you don't think that that is done daily, read any number of reseller, amazon, nextag, or any other such place where people daily post their purchasing experiences about a wide range of products without feeling it necessary to contact the company and point out their poor business practices. I personally felt it was more logical to post issues with a computer reseller here where people likely to do business with the company might it.

Nowhere did I say I expected any compensation for the product I received arriving in non-working order...I do, however, reserve the right to let others know of my experience with this or any other company I do business with and any product I have first hand knowledge of when I actually purchased it, paid for it, and received it...and that goes for the good as well as the bad (if you notice I have repeatedly maintained no issues with the laptop after I properly loaded the OS)...bill

 

Here it is: http://www.m-techlaptops.com/specifications/mtechm860tu_images.htm

 

I agree with both positions here in that the manufacturer or reseller should deliver a properly configured and built laptop, but when that doesn't happen, and on rare occasions there will be human mistakes made, Wu Jen is correct in that it doesn't take any more time to contact your vendor for help than it does to talk about it on a forum.

Speaking for all manufacturers and resellers, we would all appreciate being given the opportunity to make things right before the issue is talked about negatively in a public venue. It will get your issue resolved more quickly, and it is a more fair treatment for both the vendor and the customer.

 

I may not be here for the NDA expiration on the m860tu (going to las vegas) or the actual shipping of the notebooks (going to london), but if I must leave one thing in my absence for the defense of PCMW. They have removed the word Montevina from the description of the EDGE. Hopefully INTEL and PCMW have kissed and made up and there shouldn't be any repercussions to anyone who has orders left.

Let's see what starts happening next week Tuesday. Or in my case, next week Saturday.

 

Have PCMW responded in any way to the allegations in Shyster's post?

 

I also ordered from them and am getting concerned so I contacted the sales rep that took my order and asked for feedback from them. The sales rep said he will look into this matter, still waiting to hear from them. And no I do not work for them or anything, I ordered from them because they are local and they said I can pick up my order directly when it is completed and took out the shipping fees from my order. I emailed the rep a link of this thread to see if they would post here, have been following it very closely but don't see anything yet.

I found this forum while doing research on a gaming laptop a few weeks back. So please do not flame or throw wild accusations at me, just another guy trying to game on a laptop

 

Thanks Nirvana, that is just what I needed...

 

So you know without a doubt that you would have had to pay shipping both ways? The company told you this right?

Again you didn't even bother to contact them to tell them about the error, so how can you know what would have been done to rectify the problem?

I have a hard time finding sympathy for someone that is unwilling to put forth any effort whatsoever, but who is willing to complain about a problem that could have been fixed if they had sent an email or made a phone call.

Again, IMHO its an unfounded gripe. It's baseless and does nothing to add to the discussion.

 

When did you contact them, and when did you send the email? I'm not trying to be pushy, I'm just interested in the timing.

 

REDACTED: The unnecessary ramblings of someone who was more than just a little too tired when he read that to which he was responding; namely, post #163. It sufficeth to say that I recognize that Doc Z did not intend to mean "unsubstantiated assertions of fact" when he used the word "allegations"


Almost everyone overreacts to something once in a while. My apologies for having overreacted.

 

talk to the guy in person who physically hands you the PC.. and let us know what address they give you to pick it up from.. lastly, wat condition is the place in!?

 

You need to seriously calm down and take it easy; not everything is an argument. I was in no way trying to attack you or the research you've done nor was I trying to somehow belittle your OP. I will agree that "allegations" was a poor choice of words on my part but I had no idea someone would take it so literally.

 

I appreciate you position, however I didn't need help. I've said many times I was able to properly load the OS...my issue is that it arrived that way in the first place and there is nothing PCMW can do to change that.

In further response to this (and perhaps another instance of Karma), and an answer to Wu Jen a few posts down...I received this (below) from Tiger Direct this morning on a hard drive I purchased from them 10 days ago. This is how a company truly interested in their customer responds to purchases (and this was a $100 purchase, not a $1600 purchase). If PCMW was actually interested in what their customers thought/customer satisfaction, they would send the same type of inquiry a week or two after the purchase...and you'll notice they even gave me a way to get my invoice a second time...bill

Dear WILLIAM BRADLEY,

Thank you for your recent order. Our records indicate your order was completely shipped approximately 10 days ago. At this point, you should have received every item of your order.

YOUR OPINION
Let us know what you think. Click here to tell us about your recent order experience. We value your honest opinion.

INVOICE COPY
For your convienence, a copy of your invoice is available for download by clicking here.

REBATES
Note: Some products on your order may have an available rebate. To learn more and download available rebate forms, go to our Rebate Center.

RETURNS
If you need to return an item, just click here to login to your account. Then, click on "Order History" and select order number W3600784. Follow the link under Returns/Exchanges to get your Return Merchandise Authorization Number. It's that easy!

Should you have any further questions or comments, please visit our customer care center by clicking here.

Regards,

Carl Fiorentino
President, TigerDirect.com

 

If you read a bit closer, you'll see that I stated that it was unlikely the resellers would want to pay shipping both ways (EDIT - because I was capable of fixing the OS myself), not that I thought I would pay the shipping (because that is the LAST thing I would do). See my response to Paladin's post for an example of a company with solid customer service and interest in their customers (Tiger Direct). If PCMW was interested in my experience with them, they could do exactly the same thing. Finally, receiving an inoperable laptop due to an improperly loaded OS is certainly on topic when it came from the company that is being discussed here...and whether or not others are going to get what was ordered from them.

EDIT - I also assure you that should I receive an e-mail from PCMW as I did from Tiger Direct concerning my purchase satisfaction, I will let everyone know. I do not, however, feel it is my responsibility to contact PCMW and consult with them on how to improve their customer relations. I do think that others have the right to know they might receive a system with an improperly loaded OS that may render their purchase immediately unusable...as some folks don't have a clue what a clean install is, let alone how to do one. Why I should be expected to hide that information from other perspective purchases in beyond me. Most companies employ quality control and actually do their burn-in to prevent these issues from happening.

 

I sent them the email on July 9th and recieved a response the following day. I am assuming the address they have posted on their site is where I am going to pick up the laptop. They gave me an eta of mid to end of July for when the laptop will be complete. They're about 15 minutes from where I live. This is the first laptop I'm buying so I have no base for comparison or anything but so far sales rep handling my order has been very nice and responds to all my concerns promptly. I'll compare my pricing with the other two resellers here next week and see if I am actually getting a good deal or not, if not I'm cancelling.

 

So again, you "assuming" which since we are just going to go down that road, I can "assume" that I'm the king of Scotland, but it's just not going to make it so.

I agree that its not your job to tell them how to do business. But it is disingenuous of you to complain without seeing what they would have offered to make up the mistake. That's only one side of a story. Again, ANY reseller on these forums would want to be contact "if" they made a mistake. It's that simple. Most are good people and work for good companies and would be willing to work with you or offer something to make up for the error.

And as for TigerDirect, they are a horrible company IMO. Your talking reseller ratings 6.9 lifetime there. Since we are digging up dirt on companies TigerDirect has a long and known history with their Infamous rebate scams.

But maybe thats what your trying to show is how TigerDirect has improved itself from what it used to be and with the link between Hybrid and PCMW that maybe they have changed as well. Thats a very well thought out example.

 

I will give only one comment about this "reseller rating".

It is a common practice here in Brazil that people form a "support group". This means: fake comments/ fake votes all favourable. That´s why the Brazilian ebay version (Mercado livre) is a scam party.

How to trust a online reseller when you do a first time buy? There is no formula. Mostly having a address (visiting the firm), knowing names (real ones) and lifetime are factors to considerer.

If PCMW or any other is, or not, a scam project or whatever, hardly anyone gonna find out until it is too late.

Since the art of mass scam is: become trustworthy, wait a big sale and them disappear.

 

Well, this thread is a bit to technical/wordy to get through all of it. Can someone break it down for the simpletons.

Starting with:
-Who was Hybridgear?
-Why did they fold? Ramifications
-What is the connection to PCMW?
- And why I (looking to make a purchase, very very soon...) should/should not order from PCMW's besides that their components are overpriced

I guess what to take from this is that my safest bet is always with the Dell's, HP's, and Apples of the world because I can always hold them accountable without the disappearing/re-appearing act, if I understood some of the OP's concerns accurately.

 

First of all, there's always a risk that any company, even a big one, can go bankrupt.

Then, you should go over to Consumerist and see what is going on with those big corps. There are plenty of stories about people getting bad service or sending their laptops for repair and receiving them back in worse shape than before. Some of them, after a lot of fighting, are able to get their problem fixed but a good deal of them never get satisfaction.

You should also think carefully about the product you are getting. I've owned 3 Dell laptops and I can tell you that the build quality of all three was pretty bad. The first one was the best but I've seen quality go down over the years. Cases easily cracked, parts came off, etc. None of them compare with my Sager NP2090 (aka Compal IFL90) in terms of build quality.

If you go with a smaller reseller you need to do your homework and check out their reputation (e.g. resellerratings.com, BBB, etc.). Also, if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Then, I think a good thing to do is to check out what people are saying on forums like this one. And if you can see how people working at a specific reseller are saying and how they are saying it, that can help you make up your mind. For instance, Donald (from PowerNotebooks) and Justin (from XoticPC) give sensible advice and I've never seen them launch into hype about this or that laptop.

 

Also, commenting on the hps, dells, and apples thing:
So long as you buy from a reseller that is selling Sagers, you have the backing of a gigantic company like all those others (Sager). Better yet, you have the added bonus of service from a third party like xotic or powernotebooks in addition to sagers service. So you may even find yourself with more safety if you choose your reseller correctly.

 

Interesting

 

In what way?

 

wow just read this thread well most of it just to long. I pre order from PCMW but canceled before this even came out. Now im really glad that i did Thanks for the post shyster. I always go with well known companys that have been around for a long time. I not saying PCMW is bad and i hoping that they make it and it all works out i always like choices and companys trying to beat each other good for the customers. But if you are spending 2000 dollars or more why take a chance on something like that. Thats a lot of money i dont want to worry about my product and if im going to have problems down the line. Then again if people didnt buy from new company then their would never be anything new. Im sticking with powernotebooks or xotic and not worry about my purchase and sleep good at night. I will let this all blow over and then see what comes of it.

 

The core material is all in the first post - intentionally, so casual viewers, or those with time constraints, need only read the first post to get the basics (all the nuances are in the remainder).

Brief answers:

• Hybridgear was a sole proprietorship that operated as a computer reseller out of College Station, TX, USA under three d/b/a names: Hybridgear, FutureTop, and EasyPC.
  .
  
• They appear to have folded because of:
  • incompetent employees, at least according to a post in the CNET forum thread that is linked to in the "Update" portion of the original post - the author of that post stated that he was the designer employed by Hybridgear who designed the Hybridgear website, and appears to have moved on to form his own webdesign company and, as a very curious aside, that same company fasttracksites.com, also designed the website for PCMW: if you take a look at the Fasttrack Portfolio webpage, you'll see a banner for the PCMW site at the top of the page, and a banner for the Hybridgear site at the bottom of the page, and
  • most likely, making financial promises they could not keep, such as offering systems at prices that seemed "too good to be true" and, unfortunately, they were
  .
  
• The connection between Hybridgear and PCMW appears to be this: the owner of record of the sole proprietorship that was Hybridgear is/was Matthew T. O'Byrne, and, based on circumstantial evidence in the summary public records available from the California Secretary of State, and from the filings in the Brazos County, TX lawsuit linked to in the "Update" section of the original post, that same Matthew T. O'Byrne appears to be the shareholder and principal officer of PCMW.
  .
  
• The ramifications of this are matters of degree, not matters of yes/no, and basically fall into one of two general categories:
  • Business practices, which is basically the question of whether or not a past record of poor dealings with customers by Hybridgear bears any material relationship to same business practices of PCMW and, in particular, whether the same poor treatment is, or is not, likely to occur to PCMW customers as occurred to Hybridgear customers, and
  • Financial Insecurity, which is basically the question of whether, and to what extent, the debts of Mr. O'Bryne from his Hybridgear sole proprietorship, in particular the potential default judgment Mr. O'Byrne is about to suffer in the Brazos County case for damages in the amount of approximately $73,000, will have an effect on PCMW; for example, whether the judgment creditor (i.e., Hybridgear's old landlord) will be able to seize the shares of PCMW and then liquidate the corporation in order to realize some cash to go toward satisfaction of the judgment debt.
  .
  
• I am not going to make an evaluation as to whether anyone should, or should not, purchase from PCMW; however, the known facts as derived from the documents in the public record should be carefully evaluated with regard to weighing the risks that you may not get the system you pay for, given that payment must be received by PCMW before they'll authorize shipment (which is standard industry practice - xoticpc and powernotebooks both do the same thing), and to weighing the risks that PCMW may not be around when it comes time to call upon an extended warranty and/or any upgrade rights you may have purchased.

.

On your last point, I'm afraid I have to disagree with that statement in its entirety. As a very easy example, take a look at all of the _Dell/Alienware customers who are have inordinate problems with the .m15x notebooks. No, the real answer to take from this is: contrary to the old adage, you should always look a gift horse in the mouth - if a deal seems to good to be true, it probably is. Also, as other posters have said, you need to thoroughly check out the background, history, and public feedback any particular reseller has. And, if you're going to be buying from a young company without much of an apparent track-record, consider buying with a credit card that provides some consumer protection in the event that the company is unable to perform by delivering the computer you bought, and if you want an extended warranty, consider trying to get a service contract from an established third-party service contract provider, such as Repairmaster, and not paying the company directly to extend their own warranty.

 

wow.....

so many things said and done and still nothing from the actual company or references to either debuke the posting or at least acknowledge the facts or disprove them.

i went to the PCMW site approx 3 days before i even saw this posting. to be honest i was looking at the AW protion of the site as that was my first connnection to this forum site. so - i am looking at thier site, and within 5 minutes, i closed the window and have not looked back since. ever get that feeling? well i got it while looking at the site and something was just OFF for me. (remember when mom and dad kept telling you to listen to your inner self and gut feelings?)

suffice to say to all the other postings regarding 'any company can go belly up.' yes they can, but look at the history (good and bad) of the companies mentioned....
apple, ibm, dell, AW, and add just for giggles GM, ford, toyota, WalMart, et all....
good and bad have happened to all theses companies. this will continue and never cease, but on the flip side, the odds are that they will not run off with your product or $$ as they have the resources and backing of not only the US Government, (not saying that is a great positive (another post)), but they also have the backing of the population as a whole....remember - both good and bad.
easier to get a brand name company to own up and correct and issue or issue a refund, then a smaller one.

just my .02

 

1. Companies just as big as those you mention have gone bankrupt before.

2. Backed by the US government? In which universe, pray tell? (Exercise left to the reader: There is a company in the list of "US-backed" companies provided by ryujin which the US government would very much like to see disappear. Which is it?)

 

Welcome to Clevo forum ryujin!

 

lol thx nirvana...

to lemur: backed by US Gov in regards they have multi-million dollar contracts (some on the verge of billion) for services and products.
yes - companies just as big have gone belly-up, but on a percentage bases compared to smaller companies your better with the larger ones in the long run for reasons stated previously.
one could compare buying a vehicle from a dealership (known to the area and person) or buying from the little guy on the corner. i have never, nor ever will buy a vehicle (used or new) from a little place on the corner (or any such establishment similar in nature - i hope you can all understand what i refer to) when making such a purchase as compared to a large dealership. i may pay a few dollars more, but i get a better backing and/or ability to resolve issues or get my money back.

or maybe i am just rambling....gotta get some food -

 

Im not saying that even bigger companys dont have their problems of course things happen. But I feel that Dell, HP, AW ect. those company will not run off with your money or just go bankrupt. Yes they can go bankrupt it is possible but the odds are they wont or at least better odds them PCMW. And yes if a deal seems to good then it probably is and going with little company that happens more then with other company. When making a purchase you have to do you homework and go with your gut feeling. With AW yes a lot of people had problems with they m15x but AW has to fix the laptops or replace them and guess what AW was there to do it now i dont know how their service was or how fast they got everthing done. In fact AW is not a good example as i dont like them as a company anyways. My point is if you do your homework and go with a company that been around for a good amount of time, has a good record, and people that you trust point you towards them you will more then likly get a good product with a good warrenty. Using a credit card and geting something like repairmaster is really good advice and i would have to agree. As for my statement i think it was right and it was also in no way advice for anyone to follow it was just what i would do. Bring up one thing that happen with AW doent change anything.If PCMW had those problems with their laptops and then disappeared like that company before them then who would fix those problems no one but you.With a company thats already made it you can feel safer most of the time that things will get fixed. No matter how prepared you are thing happen sometimes and theres nothing you can do.

 

K-thanks man.

To think I was about 24 hours away from purchasing a notebook from any and all resellers that offer me the absolute lowest price

Yeah, that is what I was thinking.

 

Really? The big companies will, actually, run off with part of your money if you decide you just don't want the computer and try to return it - something that reputable companies like XoticPC and Powernotebooks do not do.

Specifically, let's say that you bought an _m15x, and that you went through the rigmarole of B.S. those owners have been put through, and at the end of the day you decide to just send the d**ned thing back. Guess what - you still lose 15% of your money - gone, sayonara, see ya later, thanks for the beer money!.

If that's what constitutes staying around for customers, then I sure as shootin' don't want to see what happens when someone who runs their business that way really decides to take off with it's customers' money - but hey! Maybe I don't have to speculate about that. After all, PCMW itself keeps 15% as a "restocking fee" - just like the big nationals, and unlike XoticPC and Powernotebooks. So maybe it looks just like what happened when Hybridgear ran off with its customers' money back in 2006.

The other point to keep in mind is that the big nationals have the staff and the wherewithall to drag things on for ever, and ever, and ever, and ...., way beyond the capacity of any small business like the resellers we've been discussing, before the business will finally give up and agree to do a replacement or a refund (minus that 15% restocking fee, of course, if you're dealing with a big national), by which time they've basically run up your phone bills and exasperation to the point where you would have been better off, economically, if you'd simply tossed the original computer out the window (literally) and gone and bought a second one.

 

your making it sound like im talking about xotic or power and im not, i consider those to be companys that are reputable. They are been around for a while and have a good track record, if you did any homework on them you would see they are a great company to go with. They are good with customers and if you ask anyone in NBR they would recommend them. The restocking fee does suck and i have had to go though that my self. The thing i was saying was to go with a company thats been around for a while, has a good track record and you have done your homework on also to have good people recommend them to you. A lot of times a bigger company has different rules that are they just to get your money like the 15% restocking.Thats the problem with a companys that got really big and is in it just for the money and you can get that feeling that its not personal anymore. All i was saying is you can feel a little more safer with a larger company then a companys that little, been in business like a year and you cant find any good records on. I dont always like the bigger companys either i going to purchase my next laptop powernotes books. I like it when you can tell a company is doing this not just for the money but because they are having fun themself. I guess we both got a little mix up I was just say how it can be a little safer in the way of a company like PCMW.

 

I don't think there's any disagreement between the two of us. I, too, think that Xoticpc and PNB are reputable businesses and provide much more in the way of value-added and customer support than do the nationals, including even to people who aren't customers through the participation of their representatives on this forum - as do other resellers like Kobalt computer. I would certainly prefer to do business with one of these companies than with the likes of some big national brand.

 

bottom line, XoticPC and PNB got better customer service compare to Dell, HP, or any other big national brands.

 

For someone who claims not to have a clue, you sure seem pretty clued in!

 

I have to agree to

 

all relative really....

 

has anyone noticed how over ridiculously priced the m860tu is from PCMW compared to Xoticpc and powernotebooks. Thank you guys so much for helping me decide to cancel my order with them... Good Grief!

 

their pricing has been ridiculously for years, you just found out?

 

haha. it appears so. even with the $500 off It was about $500 too high still. Crazy!!! I hope they go down for practicing such ridiculous pricing. lol

No, actually i just hope they learn from their mistakes. I don't wish bad on anyone.

 

I guess I'm the only one who actually got a better price with PCMW.

 

i hate to say it (actually i love it) I/We told you so pcmw buyers!!!

 

Well I disagree the config in my signature with a 320go@7200 is 1950$
Same thing at xoticpc with a 200go is 2017$ (both with shipping) although I'm willing to pay 75$ to go with a more respectable and older company

Hopefully I will be able to cancel tomorrow without any trouble