Games Nexus - Do Not Buy NZXT | Predatory, Evil Rental Computer Scam Investigated

MacLeod said:
I knew my post wouldn't be very popular. This is the age of angry mobs and you dare not say "I don't think this is a big deal". Enjoy your witch hunt. Down with the establishment and all that.
Click to expand...

I appreciate people not caring if their comments are popular or not. Good on ya
 
MacLeod said:
I knew my post wouldn't be very popular. This is the age of angry mobs and you dare not say "I don't think this is a big deal". Enjoy your witch hunt. Down with the establishment and all that.
Click to expand...
I agree with you. Nexus has a big witch hunt fetish they enjoy every so often. I'm sick of it and don't find this such a horribly monstrous thing nzxt is doing. Witch hunt ahoy!
 
MacLeod said:
I don't know, I'm having a hard time getting upset about this. Guess I'm just getting tired of witch hunts that GN is doing more and more now. I mean when NZXT cases were a fire hazard that's one thing but coming out with rental PC's?

Maybe it's me, I may just have run out of outrage.
Click to expand...
Apathy happens.
 
MaZa said:
Did you actually watch the video or are you jumping into conclusions?
Click to expand...
Given the hit job they did on newegg, I simply don't care what they have to say now. That's the thing about reputation. They have a bad one. I also don't watch long sensational tech news videos. I read.
 
GoldenTiger said:
Given the hit job they did on newegg, I simply don't care what they have to say now. That's the thing about reputation. They have a bad one. I also don't watch long sensational tech news videos. I read.
Click to expand...

What? Even by the standards (or lack of) of USA consumer protection laws the Neweggs RMA process was notoriously bad and well worth shitting on. Hopefully that hit job resulted on improvement on that department.

Anyway, you ARE jumping into conclusions. This isn't just NZXT renting PCs that is the issue here.
 
LurkerLito said:
And yet everyone is fine with not owning anything in the digital space. 🤯
Click to expand...
From private corporations that have a good history of shepherding those bits better than I have throughout my childhood, time in service, and in an adult civilian life. The only discs left are blurays and dvds that were gifts and a few box sets like the wire and tng. I have some files from before Steam but not many.
 
Wade88 said:
From private corporations that have a good history of shepherding those bits better than I have throughout my childhood, time in service, and in an adult civilian life. The only discs left are blurays and dvds that were gifts and a few box sets like the wire and tng. I have some files from before Steam but not many.
Click to expand...
I knew a Wade back in the day. Cool dude. He was an AO i believe.
 
I found this very informative from the perspective of the "family's tech guy" especially during the holiday season.

Most of us have been there, youre gathered around the turkey and ham when uncle/cousin Joe asks for PC recommendations. On one hand, you don't want to offer your time to build a custom state of the art rig then get saddled with tech support for it the rest of its life, and on the other you don't want your flesh and blood to get fleeced. A quick glance at NZXTs rental service might seem innocuous, or even a silver bullet to this problem. But GNs research has revealed a lot of bait and switch tactics that many of us wouldn't have actually caught until going through the check out process ourselves. This is more than just a shitty deal, NZXT is offering the "same PC" with actually different specs and pricing that contradicts itself on the same goddamn page. I know this will prevent me from recommending NZXTs rental service, but I'm not going to shout it from the rooftops.

You don't have to be outraged or even informed, but the idea that GN is being dishonest, sensationalist, or click baiting here is a weird take. Especially considering they burnt a $20K+ quarterly advertising contract with NZXT in the process of uploading this video. There's very little chance this video, and any follow ups on the subject, will ever break even with that contract.
 
Last edited:
MacLeod said:
I knew my post wouldn't be very popular. This is the age of angry mobs and you dare not say "I don't think this is a big deal". Enjoy your witch hunt. Down with the establishment and all that.
Click to expand...

Yessir, the internet is a series of angry mobs and GN is their Pied Piper, doesn’t make GN wrong, just… Sensational.

You’d think GN just broke the story exposing the scam of long term rentals.

Music stores from the 70s want their scam back.
 
LurkerLito said:
And yet everyone is fine with not owning anything in the digital space. 🤯
Click to expand...
Most people don't know that. If people found out then expect laws to quickly change.
bigddybn said:
Watch the full video. The contract parts were really what got me. I agree with you that a fool and his money will just be parted eventually but their agreements are pretty heinous.
Click to expand...
This is the problem with America today in that they believe it's totally OK to be scammed. Is the limit when the scam has gone too far?
1.1.2.3.5... said:
Apparently there's still enough market demand for this that they're still in business.
Click to expand...
Wait until after the new year when they join the many companies closing down.
 
The goat bleats from the mountain, "Follow the shepherd, and you will be fleeced every day of your life all the way to the slaughterhouse!"
The sheep say, "What a sensationalist goat."
 
Twisted Kidney said:
Yessir, the internet is a series of angry mobs and GN is their Pied Piper, doesn’t make GN wrong, just… Sensational.

You’d think GN just broke the story exposing the scam of long term rentals.

Music stores from the 70s want their scam back.
Click to expand...
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't actually watch the video. This goes WAY beyond a rental being a bad deal.

- Music stores didn't con people into signing agreements that say all of their data and personal information belongs to the store without restriction and in perpetuity.

- They don't allow themselves to charge you whatever they want unless you specifically object, in writing to each occurrence, within a 60 day period.

- They don't advertise a PRINCE CD and then provide a cover band instead.

- They didn't trick people into agreements saying "if the song on the CD isn't what we promised it is then your only recourse is the return the UNOPENED CD" (meaning you couldn't have checked in the first place)

- They don't insist that you keep the plastic wrapper that the CD was in or they'll charge you the full retail value of the CD when you return it.
 
Last edited:
bigddybn said:
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't actually watch the video. This goes WAY beyond a rental being a bad deal.

- Music stores didn't con people into signing agreements that say all of their data and personal information belongs to the store without restriction and in perpetuity.

- They don't allow themselves to charge you whatever they want unless you specifically object, in writing to each occurrence, within a 60 day period.

- They don't advertise a PRINCE CD and then provide a cover band instead.

- They didn't trick people into agreements saying "if the song on the CD isn't what we promised it is then your only recourse is the return the UNOPENED CD" (meaning you couldn't have checked in the first place)

- They don't insist that you keep the plastic wrapper that the CD was in or they'll charge you the full retail value of the CD when you return it.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't think about music store meaning more than one thing. I meant musical instruments, and yes: They did every dirty trick except the data brokering, that didn't exist. Back then most local newscasts had a consumer advocacy segment that put a fair number of these music stores out of business.

I should have thought about what angle of music I was referring to.

Appliance companies did it, and continue to do it on a massive scale to this day. Water heater rentals are pretty much exactly what NZXT does, somehow people have accepted spending five to ten thousand dollars on a water heater that they could have just bought for $1500. Though I would be interested to see some kind of data on what NZXT actually does when a machine that's rented out breaks down, those water heater companies tend to get you new shit free of charge and fast when something breaks.
 
SPARTAN VI said:
I found this very informative from the perspective of the "family's tech guy" especially during the holiday season.

Most of us have been there, youre gathered around the turkey and ham when uncle/cousin Joe asks for PC recommendations. On one hand, you don't want to offer your time to build a custom state of the art rig then get saddled with tech support for it the rest of its life, and on the other you don't want your flesh and blood to get fleeced. A quick glance at NZXTs rental service might seem innocuous, or even a silver bullet to this problem. But GNs research has revealed a lot of bait and switch tactics that many of us wouldn't have actually caught until going through the check out process ourselves. This is more than just a shitty deal, NZXT is offering the "same PC" with actually different specs and pricing that contradicts itself on the same goddamn page. I know this will prevent me from recommending NZXTs rental service, but I'm not going to shout it from the rooftops.

You don't have to be outraged or even informed, but the idea that GN is being dishonest, sensationalist, or click baiting here is a weird take. Especially considering they burnt a $20K+ quarterly advertising contract with NZXT in the process of uploading this video. There's very little chance this video, and any follow ups on the subject, will ever break even with that contract.
Click to expand...


This, is the issue, GoldenTiger while you may think it is a hit piece, if you watch it, this is more than just "hey we rent PC's" it is shady borderline illegal bait and switch.
 
GoldenTiger said:
It's not apathy, it's a hate of bandwagon witch hunts by sensationalist media. They're dumb.
Click to expand...

Disagree.

Every last one of these companies deserve the treatment.

Complacency and internet misinformation and disinformation have resulted in a lot of bad actors out there, even among previously reputable brands.

I'd argue they have gotten off lightly.

Every last one of them should be burned at the stake.

I'd like to see their CEO's, boards, and executive teams arrested and led in a parade of shame before the masses.

I'd also like to see the entire discipline of "marketing" be shunned as the disgusting manipulative cesspool it is, trying to utilize psychology and known defects in our monkey brains and how their function to sell "concepts", "aspirations" and "lifestyles" that don't really exist, and sell inferior garbage in pretty packaging instead of boring high quality products.

The world needs to burn. I'm all for it. Something better needs to rise from the ashes.

As suggested in that video posted by someone on the last page, everything these days is a scam, and quite frankly, the scammers need to pay the price.

"Tar & feather", "up against the wall in the revolution" or "Federal - pound me in the ass - prison", I don't care.

Whatever works, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
 
The companies on the receiving end enable a "hit piece" like this to happen. Let them burn; it's a shame they probably won't.
 
GoldenTiger said:
It's not apathy, it's a hate of bandwagon witch hunts by sensationalist media. They're dumb.
Click to expand...
While I think GamersNexus can find the longest way to say anything or say things over and over again in different ways making their videos way too long (a critique I have of all their videos which is why I am not a regular watcher), it sounds like you haven't actually watched the video.

They did a very deep dive into the NZXT site, their contract for rental, had a lawyer on video who at least for their jurisdiction, interpreted the language and ultimately they uncovered quite a bit of scummy behavior, false advertising, bait and switches, etc.

What did they find?

  • NZXT markets this as a way of getting the "latest and greatest" but is regularly using 4-5 year old components (5600X in one config, 12400f in another) for example.
  • They kept raising the monthly cost of the rental after initial rental period started
  • They are not accurately reflecting performance expectations in their FPS numbers on each config, largely because they keep changing the configs and getting sloppy about updating the page
  • Saying they have a "sale" after raising the price
  • Lot of language in the rental agreement / contract ultimately bad for the consumer's privacy rights among other things
  • It's not a financing or rent to own program. It's literally a rental for something you can never own, its rent for perpetuity
Ultimately seems they had stock of some old shit in a wearhouse and thought this was a way to flip it, but did it in the most scummy manner that further preys on the financially illiterate, kids / teens, etc.

I thought GN reached a bit with some of their points, like come on "original packaging" does not mean they counted the number of packing peanuts, but ultimately I can't disagree with their findings and conclusion that NZXT is being very scummy in how they are going about this.
 
Last edited:
The Lurker said:
Its a rent-a-center for computers. Is it really a surprise that its not going to be benefiting the consumer?
Click to expand...
You at least own the item at the end of a rent-a-center term don't you? You don't even get to own the computer at all with NZXT.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
The world needs to burn. I'm all for it. Something better needs to rise from the ashes
Click to expand...
The politicians will sit back sipping their drinks and remarking how the plebs are ,"once again", burning their hovels, knowing they are the real criminals and are completely untouchable.
 
Last edited:
Sir Beregond said:
You at least own the item at the end of a rent-a-center term don't you? You don't even get to own the computer at all with NZXT.
Click to expand...
If I can convince you to give me a million dollars for a pencil, that's legal and should not be an issue.
 
1.1.2.3.5... said:
The politicians will sit back sipping their drinks and remarking how the plebs are ,"once again", burning there hovels, knowing they are the real criminals and are completely untouchable.
Click to expand...

It is indeed rare, but sometimes in history they actually pay the price.

It usually has to get really bad though. I'm thinking like Gaddafi.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
It is indeed rare, but sometimes in history they actually pay the price.

It usually has to get really bad though. I'm thinking like Gaddafi.
Click to expand...
Based on our recent and not recent history, the political class is feeling very safe while we plebs destroy ourselves.
 
Funny part is, other than this, I wasn't under the impression that NZXT had a bad rep in the community. That's not excusing this line of business as it's ALWAYS a scam.
 
OFaceSIG said:
ALWAYS a scam
Click to expand...
Most used car dealers a scam. NFTs are/were a scam. Snake oil has and will always be around. Making consumer protection laws just gives the scammers indemnification from anything and they can lobby to have the laws written.

There's no easy solution and there never will be.
 
Sir Beregond said:
While I think GamersNexus can find the longest way to say anything or say things over and over again in different ways making their videos way too long (a critique I have of all their videos which is why I am not a regular watcher), it sounds like you haven't actually watched the video.

They did a very deep dive into the NZXT site, their contract for rental, had a lawyer on video who at least for their jurisdiction, interpreted the language and ultimately they uncovered quite a bit of scummy behavior, false advertising, bait and switches, etc.

What did they find?

  • NZXT markets this as a way of getting the "latest and greatest" but is regularly using 4-5 year old components (5600X in one config, 12400f in another) for example.
  • They kept raising the monthly cost of the rental after initial rental period started
  • They are not accurately reflecting performance expectations in their FPS numbers on each config, largely because they keep changing the configs and getting sloppy about updating the page
  • Saying they have a "sale" after raising the price
  • Lot of language in the rental agreement / contract ultimately bad for the consumer's privacy rights among other things
  • It's not a financing or rent to own program. It's literally a rental for something you can never own, its rent for perpetuity
Ultimately seems they had stock of some old shit in a wearhouse and thought this was a way to flip it, but did it in the most scummy manner that further preys on the financially illiterate, kids / teens, etc.

I thought GN reached a bit with some of their points, like come on "original packaging" does not mean they counted the number of packing peanuts, but ultimately I can't disagree with their findings and conclusion that NZXT is being very scummy in how they are going about this.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the summary. That is quite scummy and they deserve to be called out for that.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Huh.

I had no idea NZXT was in the rental business.

I bought some stuff from them back in the day. A fan controller back in like 2010, and that Darth Vader looking case (but in red) for a PC I built for a kid maybe in 2011 or so...

This one:

View attachment 695028

I also bought one of their budget Source 210 cases in like 2011. That one was a real shocker.

It only cost me $39.99 and it lasted first as my first NAS, and later as as a testbench/secondary workstation build up until just last year.

View attachment 695029

Absolutely stellar basic bang for the buck case that I got a shit ton of mileage out of.


It's a shame to hear that they have gone to shit.
Click to expand...
I had the black/green Phantom case. The quality was actually pretty bad, but I think I bought it for only $90-100 at the time. Those plastic panels were garbage.
 
MacLeod said:
I knew my post wouldn't be very popular. This is the age of angry mobs and you dare not say "I don't think this is a big deal". Enjoy your witch hunt. Down with the establishment and all that.
Click to expand...
Then again, sometimes being contrarian is the retarded position.
 
Armenius said:
I had the black/green Phantom case. The quality was actually pretty bad, but I think I bought it for only $90-100 at the time. Those plastic panels were garbage.
Click to expand...

I actually remember next to nothing about it. I remember that I built a system into it, and I vaguely remember the rough specs (Phenom II 1090t BE, GTX 470) I remember close to nothing else.

The Source 210 - however - i used for a long time and was very happy with. That was a high quality bang for the buck case. Basic, but huge capacity, and just kept on kicking ass.
 
It's a shitty thing to do and there's a ton of info that take things well beyond "misleading." I appreciate GN exposing them, but I also kinda hate the tone GN takes with everything. Even when they're 100% right they rub me the wrong way. It's just Steve's tone. Probably not his fault, but his video persona makes me irrationally not want to side with him.
 
Last edited:
Okay, so i watched it. I don't understand why there's a freakout here. Just sue them. GN had a lawyer there, why not just ask someone impacted by this to sue and GN fund their lawsuit? Only takes one or two wins and the flood gates would open on that.

Tort laws are specifically in place to address this kind of thing.

Not all soft pulls show up on credit reports. So that bit is probably a nonissue.

Also, i am a bit shocked they don't know how to do a simple amortization table for a loan...jfc, that's middle school math.

That all said, GN can do whatever they want with their content. I hope this video kills NZXT, they're clearly shitty.

The "not owning" things isn't going anywhere. It just isn't. Rage all you want, it's only gonna keep coming.
 
Tech Jesus has a rather large pair of man boobs.

Anywho, back to the point…who rents a pc and thinks it’s a good idea? Shady company doing shady things for sure. I appreciate gn calling them out, kinda seems like that’s all they do these days but if it helps clean up crappy companies then I’m all for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top