XoticPC- a pre-arrival review

Hello all,

I decided to write this review on XoticPC today because I feel it will be informative to those of you who will potentially be using the company's services.
As a note before I start, I have ordered the new Sager np8660. I ordered it almost two weeks ago, and my review on the actual product will be posted upon its arrival. I do live in Canada, and XoticPC is a company based in the U.S.

Having ordered the system for around 2,200 dollars USD, I realized that I had to pay them exchange rate since the Canadian dollar is only 96-97 cents USD at the moment. I emailed their customer support promptly to resolve the issue. I had originally been a slight bit testy with their customer support, as I believe there may have been a few misunderstandings between me and the tech guy, but these problems were quickly rectified by the company; and they have been nothing but caring since that time. I was pleased at how fast Justin was able to help me with my payment questions, and he was very knowledgeable about the tax situation and shipping.

I have been pleased with the level of customer support I have received in the last few days; the only blip on that record being the first two days in which, as stated, there were small issues.

I mailed my cheque to the company a week ago, and I am told that it has not yet arrived. This concerns me a little bit, but since I am in Canada there is no express postage to the States. So I suppose I should give it a little bit more time until I start calling people up and knocking blocks off...

The following responses to this post should not be considered valid, as my original review was written only after I had become angry with the first gentleman I spoke to. The fact is that it was my fault for writing a hasty review, and I hope that XoticPC does not take any sort of heat for my original words. I highly recommend this company because of their ease of use, and depth of care for their customers.

A review will be posted soontimes once I receive the actual np8660, and this will contain game benchmarks and general comments about the machine.

An additional thank you and sorry goes out to Justin at Xotic for being so helpful to me. I look forward to getting my system asap.

Johnny

 

Hmm...wow..I do plan on ordering from xoticpc in the future for the first time so I found this very informative...And I don't think this is a rant of any kind...ur stating ur experience, which I find to be very sad...and upsetting for me to read..because if it was me I would have been very mad...My venting response here might not have been so nice as yours...all I can say is I hope the laptop when u get it is more than what u expected, quality and performance wise. And thanks for sharing!

 

wow, for a company that prides itself in their customer service so much
this is kinda dishearting...esp. since i ordered from them.
blowing off emails by sending automated scripted responses? lazy and sarcastic? seriously xoticpc?

edit: hopefully you just got unlucky the same Single support rep, and doesn't reflect how the rest of the customer support department is. and that action will be taken so that person could learn to do his job. =)

 

Ya, thanks for this. I too was thinking of possibly purchasing from XoticPC in the future. This kinda makes me be more hesitant with them. The main reason I was looking into them is because it seems most of my favorite online community loves them. Hmm... :\

 

Thanks for posting your experiences.
To be on the defensive side of Xoticpc, I recieved nothing but excellent support from them as of now. The replies I recieved from Xoticpc were definately not automated responses. Although I suspect some parts of their E-Mails are, I am more than satisfied with their replies, and would like to say they probably have the best computer purchasing service I have experienced to date. All of my E-Mails were answered in detail within one business day from sending them. The next time I buy a laptop, I will definately strongly consider them as one of the alternatives.

 

I agree with everything you said dude. I am not that down on them and you are probably correct. I am simply stating what my own experiance with them has been in an attempt to inform prospective buyers. I am not trying to dissuade them, just inform. Sorry if it seems like the former.

 

To the OP Johnny, did u try calling them after receiving these ridiculous replys via e-mail?

Edit: Didn't see any mention of this in ur post...just curious!

 

@ Makaveli72

No I did not, and the reason for that is simply that I do not have time. I am 18 years old and have a summer job where I work for almost 12 hours 5 days a week monday to friday, and they are closed weekends. I would like to call them, but as I said, its not an option for me. Good idea though...

 

nah.. I didn't think of it that way. It's really a good thing that you posted this, as this can give buyers an idea of the negative side of XoticPC. It's really informative . I hope your future experiences with XoticPC (if you choose them again) will be better than this one.

 

ok cool!, this is no excuse on their part for the poor e-mail responses..just wanted to know.

 

Lets keep in mind that I did only speak with one or two different people. I may have just got a dud. haha. If I had phoned it might be different, or if I emailed a different person it also might have been different. The fact is that I really dont care anymore. They have made it so hard for me to succeed with my order that I could not care less whether or not they process it. As soon as I see that my cheque has cleared I will be all over those guys, but if they do not have the energy to process my cheque and MAKE MONEY, I will not hassle them. I would simply take my obscenely large amount of cash over to Alienware.com and order from their competitor, no skin off my back at all...

 

i sent dozens of emails before I purchased mine and they usually responded within 3 hours (office hour), and were written by a real man. let's see what Justin say.

Well you can switch to PNB or eurocom, but don't get AW!!

 

@ jmstewart93 - I am sorry to hear of this and would like to review this with your further. After searching your name (using a combination of your member name and Johnny) I believe I have found all the replies going back and forth to you. We inform customers of the final USD price. As conversion rates change almost daily, we always recommend to make the Payment is US Funds. If you send funds other then USD the conversion rate could cause the order being paid short or long depending on the day.

From what emails I have found I don't necessarily see any issues with the replies coming from one of our sales staff. Please PM me and we can review this further and get to the bottom of it for you.

I didn't notice any emails being sent over to us via email addressing anything other then order details? (again if i have your correct information)

 

12hr work days? what kinda crazy summer job do you have gesh

do you mind posting your emails and the replies. im curious =)

 

I too ordered a NP8660 from XoticPC within hours of its pre-order availability. Since then, I have communicated with Justin many times through either PM, email, or phone. Through any and all of these interactions, he has been cordial, honest, and prompt in his replies. Simply put, the level of service I have received thus far from Justin specifically is excellent, even better than what my experience with Apple or IBM has been.

Additionally, I have spoken with someone in the sales department regarding some credit card-related inquiries; this person shared the same attitude as Justin, with brisk and cheerful responses (within 30 min at times) in correspondence.

I am not defending Xotic PC, and it's unfortunate that your experience with the company has thus far been sub par. However, since I have had such a great experience so far, which is what I expected after reading all of the praise about them (and PowerNotebooks) on these forums, I felt that it was only appropriate for me to post my recent experience in ordering the same product as you did.

I hope everything works out for you in the future

 

Great news everyone! I hereby retract all negative statements made about XoticPC. After reading my post here one man of the company contacted me IMMEDIATELY to help. He seems very nice and is out with my best interests in mind. I am very much pleased by this, and I see now why so many people rave about their CS. I apologize for sounding so harsh if anyone thought I was mad, but I was feeling a little edgy about signing a cheque for over 2 grand and receiving no information about what it was going towards.

I will keep you guys posted on the proceedings, but I can tell you now that I am much more happy about this whole thing!

@ spexc31- I am a landscaper for my summer job. I work for a very popular company and we landscape high end residential and commercial properties. I work 6 till 7 on a good day . Crazy eh?

 

P.S. I did not post the emails for a reason. I do not wish to single anyone out here, and I feel that the issues I was on about have been more than rectifued as of a few minutes ago. So if it is okay, I still do not wish to post the emails, sorry

 

umm..... YOU JUST WRITE AMERICAN DOLLARS ON IT!!

that should be all thats nessecary. hope it helps^_^

edit: oops, guess someone already said that.

 

Yes, as suggested by Justin as well Heliosvector! I feel silly about this, but the cheque that I wrote to XoticPC was the FIRST cheque I have ever written. As such, I was not aware that writing USD would change that. Its not necessarily something one would think about when the cheque is brand new and you do not even know what you are doing. So I appreciate the help on that one, but we'll see how it goes. I want to once more appologize for judging the CS of Xotic. They are proving to be extremely helpful to me now, So consider this review a POSITIVE one...please thankyou

 

I too have had a mixed experience with xoticpc. On one hand if you keep communication online it is generally fast response, excellent effort in getting what you need want done. The phone answering guy, however, and only 1/2 of the people on the phone has had a negative attitude. Whoever is answering the phone needs to lay off the exasperated tone when he says "xoticpc." The other guy who called to leave a followup message from a phone mesage question I had.actually doesnt get a copy of your message just the number that called, and should you answer I can only assume he must pull it off the computer, otherwise this guy isn't half bad ie. good attitude. So thats guy #2.
So, yeah. I'm not saying I have had a bad experience, just maybe caught somebody on a hung over morning.

Email/support ticket is probably the best way to contact these guys, especially when a flood of new orders come rolling in for montevina laptops.

So lets see if any defensiveness comes of it, it wasnt my goal, but I do work in the psychiatric field.

 

Hey, OP - who was it you were speaking with over e-mail? I've ordered an NP8660 from XoticPC, and have been regularly corresponding with someone named Brad Moore. The e-mails have been polite, and informative all the way. I live halfway round the world - in Singapore - and XoticPC has been very helpful with helping me get my money into their coffers. As it should be, I guess XD

 

Not sure if you've heard of Cube in Singapore.

Note, they claim to be original Sager resellers, but after emailing Sager, I was told that they're not.

PS: I was wondering about that. (location)

On-topic:

I'm impressed with how fast Justin responded.

 

To the OP: Thanks for sharing. I think you should edit your first post just to show that your review is NOT negative about XoticPC afterall.

I just read this thread and if I were to stop reading after the first post I would definitely think their support is really bad.

btw I also ordered my notebook from them last year and most of my emails/PMs were replied by Justin usually in 1-2 business days, which is good.

 

I ordered my NP8660 fron Xotic PC 2 days after it became available.

Admittedly, I am frustrated about the delays as well... Late July/Early August has now turned into Mid August/Late August, but this isn't the fault of Xotic PC, they have to wait to get the laptops from Sager just like we have to wait to get them from Xotic.

I used the live chat and had all my questions answered while buiding the computer. Justins input on this forum goes a long way for helping the company as well and their processing time is very fast and so is making order changes.

As for the US/Canadian Conversion... I can relate. I'm paying via credit card but I have run into a bit of an issue now that hasn't really been addressed in the E-mails I sent previously to them. That being that I need to know when my credit card will be charged in order to tell the credit card company to accept the charge and not block it as fraud. I haven't recieved any word from Xotic saying they will tell me before they charge it so I can let the credit card company know.

The other is relating to Xchange rates... When I ordered the laptop the Canadian and US dollar were equal.. had the charges been done then I would have been happy. Now the Canadian Dollar is worth 93cents US which ends up meaning I'm looking at spending another $150 because I still haven't been charged. At this point I want them to delay the charges (except I dont know when they are coming) until the Canadian dollar goes up again because I don't want to be spending an extra $150 because of delays... especially since it's $150 I don't have to spend.

I'm not upset with Xotic PC really, I realize it's not their fault and their customer service has been great.... I just don't want to have to wait for a delay and then ontop of it have to pay extra because it was delayed.

 

Cube? Never heard of 'em.

I have, however, heard a lot about XoticPC, and most of it good... which is why I decided to place my order with them.

 

I think you can't have any perfect company, especially in customer service but XoticPC should be close of perfection. And its really easier for everyone that you mail in US fund. Also, please make the difference between "duties", "brokerage fees" and "taxes".

Duties are what government chargs items coming into the country for various reasons, eg so foreign products are more expensive so people buy locally. You don't have duties from product made in the US because of the North American Free Trade Agreement

Brokerage fees are what UPS charges for passing your item through customs and filling all the paperwork for you.

Taxes is what you buy on almost every item you buy, ie GST and PST.

So much people preordering...should I do it now or wait?

 

I have never bought anything from XoticPC but I have gone on their websites thousands of times, and have used the live-chat line oodle-hundreds of times to ask questions. I have emailed, PM'ed Justin countless of times, and each time I have received nothing but the utmost courteous and professional treatment. I suspect that Justin, and company, know that I have never bought anything from XoticPC the thousands of times I've contacted them. However, never once have I ever been made to feel that I've wasted their bandwidth and time to ask questions. Never once was I ever pushed into buying anything as well. No sales pitch, no pushy sales rhetoric, nothing but straight talking, patience and kindness in answering even the dumbest, inane questions.

 

XoticPC is evil I ended up buying a 5796 and now I'm addicted to it. BEWARE they get you addicted to your laptops !!
Such a great company!

 

After reading through most of the post I felt I needed to post my own GREAT experience with Xoticpc.

First off Amber and Justin are wonderful, I spent many many days calling, e-mailing, posting, and live online chat with many many questions. Not only were they patient, cheerful, AND VERY HELPFUL. But they even lowered the price of my laptop by telling me what I needed and did not need!!!! (crazy but true i know!!!)

Second when it came to ordering and me confirming that everything was ordered correctly, the amount I needed to pay after I selected the pay cash for a 3% discount, they were very prompt with replies and detailed instructions on how to send the payment.

Third they have always, always wanted to give me any and all information i have asked for if it was avaiable to them. EVEN WHEN THERE SALES DEPARTMENT WAS GONE SOMEONE FROM SUPPORT TRIED THERE HARDEST TO GET THE ANSWERS I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!!

I really hope this reply helps other people who are trying to decide who to buy with. I will glady tell my friends, family and strangers to go with xotic (THUS FAR!).

Look for my review on my NP8660 as soon as i get my hands on it.

 

I also pre-ordered from XoticPC and have a similar experience... not necessarily negative but not great either. Using the live chat (pre-order) was quick and easy, but email (post-order) was a bit frustrating. To change your order you have to email them, but they did not respond until I sent them another email 4-5 days later. They finally responded/acknowledged the change, but did not answer one of my questions. I have to send another email. Anyway, I never heard of this company before I started looking for a new laptop. I heard they were great and that was the main reason I went with them. I'm sure that others, including the original poster, thought the same. So it was this high expectation that causes us to rethink, if/when we felt that we did not receive the same level of service.

 

I believe this post should be sticky just like another post. To inform the consumer public of the potential deficiencies of a normally well considered company. So they can judge for themselves who they would like to purchase their system from.

 

Yeah deathwinger...on the one hand, you have xoticpc who not only responded to this thread, but also immediately did some homework to put annonymous internet forum poster with actual customer, and then immediately contacted the original poster and set out to fix things--even though the preferred method would have been a phone call rather than annonymous posting.

And then you have your favorite company that completely ignores you when it's not lying, changes the company name after trashing thousands of customers in a previous incarnation, and has to give you all kinds of after sale discounts just to keep you as a customer after overcharging you in the first place.

Yeah, I think this should be pinned to--showing how a company OUGHT to respond. <==my first smilie, ever.

Seriously dude, xoticpc and powernotebooks don't need me defending them, but would you just give it a rest....

 

^ I like, I like!

 

You know my overal experience has been very positive. Prompt replies to every inquiry I have made as well as FAST suport ticket resolution when I asked to change my order. I understand that everybody has a bad morning and can deal with a little AM hostility. I'm still impressed with xoticpc's service overall, lets see how sager does with the computer itself. From some of the new 5796 woes I almost wish I had gotten the 5793, but like all new adopters of technology these problems shall pass in time, just let the computer function to spec in the meantime.

 

well, darn, I had a good come back, but now it would just be petty....so

I hope you enjoy your laptop when you get it Deathwinger.

 

just because I got a free copy of x64 ultimate from MS doesn't mean they are good company. same theory applies to PCMW.

 

I also received emails that seemed very automated from xoticpc.
I sent an email requesting an approximate ship date of an Asus G50v-A2 that I had ordered. The email i received told me to pre-order the unit now and when it was released, they'd ship it out. Now this would've been fine but i stated my order number not only in the email subject, but also in the body of the email i sent to them. I received 2 emails like this and canceled my order after feeling like i wasn't dealing with actual people.

I know a lot of people have had great experiences with XoticPC, so maybe i just had bad timing?

 

I never received an automated email.....Thats odd.

 

@ Playername That is very strange, we don't use any automated emails whatsoever.
I apologize if a representative didn't notice a order # in the email.

 

I'm also Canadian, and have nothign but good things to say about XoticPC. That said, you do bring up interesting points .. ie: Given the number of people that do orders from Canada or non-USian places, they should perhaps put up a FAQ and some help guides on their site to nail it down. ie: Question sliek -- how much do pay? will uou have to pay duty, based on what options for shipping? and so on.

I ended up pre-asking all my questions here in the forum (and Juston and others were super helpful) and nailed it all down; for a few unknowns (duty?) I had to wait and see, but as I and others have posted.. hopefully you can find out what you need with searches, and so on.

But as a customer, you shouldn't have to ask questions from a third party forum to get answers..

But for my experience, XoticPC was win, and theyr'e first on my list next time I need to buy a lappy Hope you can get your issues sorted out painlessly. Give them a call..

I didn't email support much.. just called them on the phone, and got a real human. (Then again, my order was very straight forward; ordered online, paid with a CC, got shipping. They didn't have to do anything special for me.)

jeff

 

NOTICE TO EVERYONE:
THE REVIEW HAS BEEN CHANGED AS A RESULT OF XOTICPC'S STELLAR RESPONSE TO MY PROBLEMS. I CONSIDER THIS A NON-ISSUE AS OF YESTURDAY AND I WANT EVERYONE TO REREAD MY FIRST POST.

Apologies to Xotic for being negative. The original person I spoke with DID aggravate me and he DID NOT read my emails, but the company is not bad; as they have shown.

Justin was able to somehow link my name here with my account on Xoticpc.com and found out my information and contacted me within an hour of my post. That's some service right there, and I can say that I have never had a more dedicated CS to deal with.

So lets call this thread at that...

 

Is changing the first post that good of an idea? All the following posts on the first page kind of fall out of context.

 

I don't think changing the first post is a good idea either. I mean this thread is at least informative to some people. So if you or I had a bad experience, but then Justin or whoever fixes it then it's a credit to their company. The following posts show that. Let others see it and decide on their own.

 

Well I have been told to do both things. I have been told to change it and leave it. I am obviously unable to do both so I chose to change it because I feel that my original opinion was incorrect.

Note that I did edit the old post to say that one should not take the following post in context as the original text has been changed. I prefaced it and I also stated it a few posts ago. I think that it's more than enough to be effective. That's why I would like this thread to be closed and/or deleted, simply to eliminate confusion.

As per the comments above:
Yes it is important to tell the truth in my review. I feel as though I still conveyed that there were issues with customer service initially. I just didn't want people to be unaware that they had been fixed. Take a look at the old post to see that it is still quite representative of the situation...

 

just update the first post........by adding the good part......make sure you post it in another color

 

Perhaps you could bold "the post-thread response" of Xoticpc, this would allow you to both highlight the corrected service rendered by Xoticpc, as well as the negative service that prompted this thread.