I'm often asked the question: "Vince, I want to buy a new PC, can you
recommend a PC supplier?" My answer these days is no. I've yet to
purchase a trouble-free PC from any supplier! The following may bore some,
but if you're not careful it could happen to you...
My recent fiasco has been with a company called Insight Direct,
www.insight.com or for us in the UK www.insight.com/cgi-bin/bp/uk/uk_home.html
. In fact this company
were recommended and trade on the NasDaq, so you'd expect them to be OK,
wouldn't you?
I visited their web site and was amazed to see IBM NetVista PCs selling
for £449 +VAT -excluding the monitor. This was a bargain for a reliable
desktop PC, so I ordered two, leaving just monitors to get and since I'd
recently purchased the excellent Samsung SyncMaster 570V TFT
15" flat screen from Jungle.com, buying another from them would've
been a doddle; however, Insight's salesman said he could beat Jungle's
offer with a Mitac monitor of similar quality. I said that the monitor had
to reach 75 Hertz at the resolution of 1024x768 and he said it did. Being
frugal at heart, I went ahead and ordered it.
So the day came when I received the two PCs together with a nice new
monitor. Great? ...Not! The two PCs should've come pre-installed with
Windows 2000 Professional (Win2K), but only one had Win2K, the other had
Windows 98. I phoned Tech Support and was told I had to return the whole
PC that contained Windows 98. "Why?" I asked, "wouldn't it
be easier just to send me a licence for Win2K?" Apparently it is
illegal to do that, so I had to package and return it. What a waste of my
time. I contacted Tech Support asking whether the PC would be replaced?
They said no, as that model was no longer available and I would be
reimbursed my money. How strange! I
checked their site and the IBM NetVista A40P was available but now selling
for £749 - £300 more! 'Nuff said...!
Now Onto The Monitor...!
I connected the monitor to the other IBM PC and guess what? It couldn't
reach 75 Hertz at 1024x768 and there was a dodgy pixel that stood out like
a beacon on my PC. I always have a black background, this dodgy pixel was
white and although it was very small, it did annoy me. Anyway, as I'd paid
over £300 for the monitor, I expected the product to be in full working
order.
So once again I called Tech Support complaining about the monitor's
refresh rate that did not hit 75 Hertz plus the dodgy pixel, and this is
where they really wound me up! They said that their warranty states the
monitor has to have up to 15 dodgy pixels before they'd accept it as a
returned item and they would only accept the monitor back for testing to
prove that it could reach 75 Hertz. OK I said, I'll return it, but I'll
contact the salesman to see what he could do. But can you believe that up
to 15 pixels have to be dodgy before they'll accept it as faulty! (No
Vince, I can't. 15 dodgy pixels sounds as bad as 15 stale bagels! ...Ed)
The salesman told me not to worry, just order a new Samsung monitor and
he'd
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reimburse us the money for the Mitac. Great, I thought. So the
returned items were collected; two days later the new Samsung monitor was
delivered and a few days after, the Mitac monitor was left outside my
front door; no signature was obtained and the monitor was in full view of
passing pedestrians! Now I had one PC and two monitors...
I was beginning to lose my cool. This company were extracting the urine
from me and were really winding me up. As usual, the best way forward is
not to lose your temper, so I let my wife talk to the salesman. (No Vince,
don't tell me you let Sandra loose on him. Poor guy! ...Ed) He mistakenly
forwarded to her an internal email from Tech Support saying we were lying
and that they had contacted us concerning the monitor's refresh rate.
Total and absolute lies! This internal email also said that they would not
accept the monitor as a return, but if we did return it we would incur a
30% charge of the original cost and would have to pay for the postage. How
would you feel seeing this email and being treated like that?
Now we had the proof to bury them in the small claims court and it was
time to send them a nice email. I visited their web site and got the names
of the Chief Executive Officers and others of importance. I compiled a
nice email giving them 7 days to pick up the monitor at their cost with
full reimbursement of any costs to me. To further substantiate my email, I
quoted sections from the Sales of Goods act 1979, of which full details
are available HERE
.
So I Emailed It To The CEO's In The USA...
I also sent it to almost everyone in their company, in fact I blasted the
email to anyone and everyone of importance. I was then contacted first
thing next morning by a high ranking manager who told me that the 'crap
had hit the fan' when they received my email and that I would receive full
reimbursement and that they would collect the monitor at their cost. This
hadn't happened yet and they now have three days left.
So what is the moral of this story? Well I don't know, but if just one
person benefits from my experience, then it's been worth it. I mean, would
you seriously buy any items from Insight Direct after reading my story?
Why is life so stressful when just a little bit of empathy and common
sense could make it so stress free?
Be Lucky and see you next month...
Vince Chin
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