Conics or PriceJapan

bon bon no good!!

 

I understand why people may be frustrated with some companies not undervaluing, but if it got broken in transit, how would you feel? I know that VAT is probably a pain, but it seems like you'd be rolling the dice ...

 

Seriously, facilitating tax evasion does seem to be beyond reasonable service expectations

 

I can personally say that I have not had any issues with Conics. I asked them to look into a few more options as well as adding some additional accessories to their order page, and Brett was more than accommodating.

I'll post the same thing I did in another thread here for other's benefits.

Conics.net offer similar deals as PriceJapan.com, but also offer a higher level of service and other options. Take their warranty options, for example:

VOS (Vaio Overseas Service) -- It will give you one years international warranty
Wide coverage -- It turns your 3-year Japan warranty into 3-years with accidental damage coverage.

I asked them for both (it is an option you will have to ask for), and am happy to take care of of the remaining 2 years warranty. The reason why it is not offered is because, for VOS, the notebook needs to be registered under your own name, not Conics as it normally would be (which is why they can normally act on your behalf for warranty claims).

Another service is that they will also install English Vista, although you may want to install you native language Vista yourself.

If anyone else decides to read through all the posts, they can decide what they value more.

 

It sounds interesting but I am not fully getting what you mean.

So now you have 3-years with accidental damage coverage.

So let's say you would break your TZ after two years. What would happen? Would you have to send it to Japan? Will they send it back for free?

 

Yes it seems like rolling the dice. But 20% taxes can be a lot of money.

But let's say it got broken in transport. Wouldn't warranty take care of that? I guess it depends on the kind of damage.

Shipping with DHL seems very reliable though so chances of it getting lost are very slim I think.

 

Because I went with VOS, I am responsible for taking care of all my own warranty claims. I will 3 years warranty in Japan, as well as one years international warranty. Because I also purchased Wide coverage, my 3 year warranty in Japan will also cover accidental damage coverage.

Because the notebook will be registered under my name, instead of Conics', for VOS, Conics will not be able to act on my behalf for ANY warranty issues. I will need to organise everything myself.

There is a high possibility that I will be working in Japan now and then over the next three years, so I should able to take care of my own claims. Regardless, Sony only offer a one year warranty on notebooks sold here, so I am not losing anything by purchasing a VAIO from overseas with VOS.

 

Does anyone know why Pricejapan stresses to use DHL instead of EMS?

While Conics chooses EMS.

 

DHL may be slightly more reliable while EMS is considerably cheaper. I have shipped many things EMS from all over the world and have never had an issue of lost or damaged shipments - and insurance is always available anyway.

 

Here's the final update on the story above.

My colleague has just received the refund. PriceJapan apologized many times (and so they should) but this whole thing could have turned out much better if they had just read and responded to his worried e-mails along the way. I think they have a big problem coping with demand and inquiries. Sometimes they are fast at responding and sometimes (like in the case of my colleague) it will take forever with devastating results.

In any case, things have taken a turn for the better. My colleague was in a hurry to buy a new laptop before leaving for his business trip. The Vaio TZ is available in our area, but not with SSD. We tried the different TZ models and found them to be a bit too "weak" without the SSD boost, so he didn't want to buy a "low spec TZ" as an alternative, even if it was nice with more capacity compared to the 32GB SSD.

During this time, I had gotten the task to buy a Lenovo Thinkpad X61 for a friend of mine and hence suggested to go to the local authorized dealer. And so we did. And the story ends like this:

He liked the X61 and so did I. In fact, I became so facinated and impressed by the X61's performance that I decided to sell/swap my TZ. So now he has my 1 month old Vaio TZ and I have a Lenovo Thinkpad X61 . So now he is finally happy and so am I.

I have always liked Thinkpads. Used to have one before buying the TZ and have used tons of them in work situations. But despite prior experience, this X61 manages to surprise me in a very positive fashon. It is by far the most powerful ultraportable I've ever experienced. 2Ghz T7300 Core2Duo and 3GB PC5300 RAM (upgraded on the spot) make this really fast. The form factor is really nice as well. A bit deeper than the TZ but less wide. The things I miss from the TZ are the SSD and the nice screen. The screen I can definitely live with and I'll be buying a Hitachi 7K200 drive soon, to improve harddisk speed. Luckily I don't need to take the whole laptop apart to do this due to the upgrade friendly design.

And so the saga completely ends.

 

The way Pricejapan setups their price like:
Sony price+ 5% comission, 0.9% insurance
Is their any room for negotiation, or is it more like a fixed deal?

What about Conics, is there room for nagotiation on their webprices?

 

Well that turned out... odd. The X61 was on my short list, but the "look" wasn't something I wanted to portray in presentations. I'm glad you are both satisfied.

You are already getting very good deals from both, when comparing them to your own country's prices. I doubt either will budge on price, and both prices reflect the value and service given.

 

I agree with that part. I was just wondering if people negotiated better deals or just went for the standard deal.

 

Thanks Nanaki. Yes, I hadn't imagined it to turn out this way either. But then again, prior to ordering the TZ I was thinking about the X61 as well. I basically chose the Vaio because I liked the design (although I think the screen doesn't fill out the lid well enough, i.e. too small for the lid).

The Vaio is obviously more "trendy" and modern looking whereas the Thinkpads distinguish themselves by keeping to a very consistent (old) DNA. Interestingly though this old design has become very trendy amongst my European business partners.

In any case, I have always liked the feeling of the Thinkpads (love their lids, hinges, keyboards and the plastic texture) and although their design might seem boring or conservative for some - I am a big fan. In any case, both notebooks are very nice. If I start missing the TZ luckily my colleague is just a few metres away.

Hope everythings turns out fine with yours as well.

 

I just got my order update from conics man their pretty fast. Exactly when my credit card was charged they sent me an email stating I would receive my laptop on the 2nd half of august. Also about EMS vs. DHL I had far better service and experience as for me with EMS. For some reason EMS arrives earlier to me in houston, texas. I've ordered maybe 4-5 times from EMS straight from japan and it always got to me in 3 days with no problems and very fast. But with DHL it always took 4-5 days to receive and 2 of the times the driver left my hdtv and my nec projector at the door steps of my next door neighbor. Luckily both of the times my next door neighbor that I personally dont know or spoke to was not home so I went over and took the note that was left for the missed delivery and I called them and since I complained about them delivering my package to the wrong address they sent the driver back to my house in within an hour both times. That was good but they should NOT have to deliver it back to the CORRECT address the 2nd time.

And this not only happened to me it also happened to my cousin as well, they delivered some parts he needed to the neighbor across the street and that neighbor was an *******. They opened up his box to "see" if they wanted to keep it and they didnt keep it, I guess they didnt need the light bulb for his projector and the reason my cousin knows this is because he got his box back with the first delivery. But the 2nd delivery months later from DHL, ended up with them delivering it to that same neighbor and it was an expensive laptop I think from dynamism and that one the neighbor kept it. So my cousin complained that he never gotten it with dynamism and dynamism claimed it as lost and had it redelivered via ems and he had it in 3 days (this was back in 2005 I believe). At least they were good about it, and that A$$hole got to keep a brand new laptop.

 

I've always liked ibm thinkpads but their not built as they used to be. I guess lenovo had something to do with it. If you compare the older t series before lenovo took over to the newer t or x series you can see that the material is different while the lenovo laptops seems a bit plasticy and the older ibm are more solid and sturdier. Also I was looking at the x61 but no led backlight which I wouldnt even consider buying a new laptop with no led meaning its a huge step back with the ccfl backlighting. I hate for my screen to be dimming 50% per year even for the human eyes its hard to see the difference but once you have it next to your buddy's new laptop from a year now it'll look sooooo dim, or better yet try comparing your sony vaio tz's led screen to your buddy's laptop in 4-6 months time. I will guarantee yours will look still brand new while his look a bit muddier and not as clear and dimmm =).

 

I'm also considering ordering at Conics, right now they seem to be slow responding at respondiong to email and order inquiry's.

What has your experince been like, how fast do they respond?

 

I noticed they at least respond back by the end of the day but make sure you have all your questions typed down in that one email because I also noticed 1 per day as well..

 

Yeah conics never responded to my email so I am going with price japan. They respond in the evenings because it is morning time in japan at that time. 8:00 PM = 10:00 AM Japan time.

 

Hey, I dont think PriceJapan had the 2GB version, right? I initiallyed ordered from PriceJapan, but cancelled because the payment procedure was little bit strange, and didnt have the option of 2Gb.

 

Just took the plunge and ordered the tz90 from pricejapan. It comes with 2gb.

Directly from their page

Maker Sony
Japan model name VGN-TZ90
USA Model Name Premimum carbon, Core 2 Duo U7600（1.20 GHz), 2G memory, 160G HDD, 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless LAN,
Other Name English keyboard, standard battery(VGP-BPL11), finger-print sensor and security chip
Voltage 100 ~ 240V all

Price 212,800 Yen
Pure Weight 1.1 kg
Total Weight With Box 4.8 kg
Size(width*length*height) 0 cm * 0 cm * 0 cm
Cubic Weight 0.00 kg

 

either companies will deliver your laptop and it will take 2+ weeks to do so.

 

I ordered mine with PriceJapan, they responded quick on my emails. I ordered mine on July 24th, they shipped it on August 4th and it should arrive today according to DHL.
The only thing is that they undervalued it even though I didn't ask them to do it.

Oh, I've ordered the one with nothing fancy. The standard one from PriceJapan's homepage.

 

wow thats exactly 2 weeks from when you ordered... where are you located btw..?

 

Sure they have. The config on their website is 2GB default.

What was strange about the payment? I need to pay upfront in a german bank account. seems good to me.

 

PhilFlow,
yes, I did not know they were 2GB by default, and seems a lot cheaper (about 300USD cheaper) for PriceJapan, than Conics...

well basically, the payment does not directly go through their account in Japan, rather, they seemed to have random accounts in many of country.. So, I felt that the payment does not go through directly, and felt a bit dodgy.

Yeah, but, it's just my preference, obviously, I should have gone with PriceJapan, cheaper, and DHL services, etc...

 

I don't know, both have some things going for them.

Conics seems to deliver better service with vista and warranty, and they speak english well.

Pricejapan is a bit cheaper, and sofar lots faster to reply to email inquiry's.

So yeah, it's just a matter of personal preference.

 

From the website of PriceJapan:

"...You don't need to go customs office for receiving it in case of DHL delivery. DHL will serve as your agent for customs clearing process. Just wait at home for its delivery. But in case of EMS delivery, it may need to go to customs office to receive machines..."

But I think this refers to european customers only.

 

I've never had to go to customs to revieve an EMS delviery be it goods with or without duty - but I can't speak for countries other than the U.S.

 

Anyone took the Recovery DVD(s) Image from conics?

 

Glad i'm in the good ol US OF A =D

 

Conics have added their Skype details for those that want to nag them directly. They are based in Japan, but you will generally get Brett (who is Australian) on Skype through that account.

Skype details: https://conics.net/catalog/skype.html
Local Japan time: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_JP.aspx

 

man i'm so bored waiting for the sony vaio tz!!!!

 

Sony needs to ramp up their production!! I cant believe it takes this long to receive a laptop... has this ever happened when the tx models were out??

 

Posting here won't make it come any faster. One thing is that its custom ordered and there's a lot of us Westerners AND Japanese going after the TZ90 CTO model so of course you'll see bottlenecks here.

 

yea I know =( I've even ordered one and never even seen it in real life =/ I'm just so eager to see it lol

 

lol, jjahshik32.

You and both. I've played around a lot with the TX's back when I worked retail, but that's it. I ordered the TZ because I received a $3,600 tax return and felt like wasting some money!

 

Im really bored waiting for my TZ too, although Im supposed to be very very busy with my researches, :-(, I got email from Brett (Conics) that my laptop will arrive between 24th to 31st August..

 

Were you bored before you ordered the TZ? Just find something to do, like buying accessories/programs for it in advance before it comes or whatever. At least you guys can afford it unlike me.

 

I'm so bored that I cant wait to start school =/ on the august 20th at least that'll kill me that extra week to wait with school work to receive my new toy! But then again I want to carry it around campus soon too!!

 

Considering I have not had to work since November last year, yes, I have been very bored. The TZ will be my play toy, until I find something that interests me enough to put my intellect to it. Youth is so boring.

 

guys, make sure u get a BAG !! i dont mean some crappy ones.!!

Things to do

- get a stylish bag (small, 11-12inch size bag for TZ)
- get an external DVD-reader
- get a BPX-11 battery (or after when the price goes down, etc)

Nanaki, what do you mean Youth is boring? u mean 20s? well surely, at the moment Im dying from my researches, etc, but when its over, I shall enjoy my life. .
Still, I want to be forever young, ahahah.. it's cool. Plus I need to get married (in next 5 years maybe!)

 

I'm browsing through some guns that I want to purchase =D yes I'm from Texas where guns are plenty~ I got my eye on the hk usp 9mm, my cousin just bought one and its gorgeous and I love the way it fires! Anyone else own any guns? Also have my eye on some .22's maybe a sig or another hk? Colts are nice as well... damnit sony!!

 

I ordered the SSD+DVD model with the leather bag and the large capacity battery. So, check, check, and check.

You really don't want me to dabble into my philisopical side. But, here is a snippit:

Youth is boring for me. But, then again, I am an odd consciousness.

I find my youth boring because I've never found anything particularly challenging or interesting enough to hold my attention for too long. I have bounced around from B Laws trying out 2 majors, to B Business trying out 3 different majors, to B Arts trying out 4 majors, to working full-time washing dishes, to being in management handling over 30 staff (while being, arguably, better at each of their jobs than they are).

I'm a 22-year-old with no direction, no real goals, no close family, and an intellectual and social intelligence that makes any goal I set myself towards attainable. I am a somewhat arrogant, jaded individual who finds the directionless of his youth overly mundane.

Passion is to be envied.

By the way, we are so off topic. lol

 

Man either it was a sony vaio tz + an hk p2000 or compact usp or no sony vaio tz + an expensive colt..

 

hey anyone knows on ebay if the tz carrying case are anygood I found one for like 39.99 http://cgi.ebay.com/Leather-Case-fo...yZ140084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Please go to another forum with your gun interests, i.e. off topic or a dedicated weapons forum. Some people might actually take offense to your comments and don't see them as toys or gadgets. Many people actually despise guns and what they enable people to do - let alone young students.

 

hey I love the shooting ranges and i'ma true texan =D anyways fair enough aside the gun talk any response to the ebay bag?

 

hey jabbajabba, you have all those laptops and was wondering which do you prefer compared to the x61 vs. tz90?

 

I really wonder why that person never got replies on several emails to Pricejapan. Maybe it did really get in their spam, or maybe PJ changed something to their practices.

Sofar I am really impressed. Last email I sent got replied in 11 minutes. With accurate, short answers. Sofar they answered all 5 emails i sent.