Here is the question: What would you do?
Really Short Version:
Computer hasnt worked properly at any time for 2 years despite extensive cooperation with VM to repair.
Short Version:
Machine returned twice for rebuild. Three new motherboards have been sent to me and installed. Computer still crashes within 10 minutes of game play.
WHAT IS A REASONABLE COURSE OF ACTION?
Long Version:
I did a lot of research in advance before buying a new deskopt box. I work 60-80 hours a week typically and I simply dont have the time to be on the phone with tech support all the time. Because of this, a lot of times I just stopped using the machine because I didnt have time to get on the phone with tech support for two hours to go through another useless trouble-shooting list. It's also because of this that I purchased the 24 hour support contract (rarely honored by the way) and on-site repair service.
I could have purchased a Dell for almost half the cost but went with VM because I thought there was a high probability that I would be getting a "no worries" computer that worked from Day 1 without failure. I am very very fortunate that I can afford to pay for a premium product. Here is my experience:
1 - I get the computer after modest delay from noted delivery date. I hook everything up and power it on. Fans spin and lights come on, but machine doesnt boot up. I spend a lot of time making sure the connections are right and that the monitor isnt bad. I power on and off a couple times, and eventually it boots up. This turns out ot be an ongoing problem where I have to power it on and off 2-3 times to get it to boot up, but one that tech support never seems to care too much about whenever I mention it, and one I grew to live with and not complain about.
2 - Machine finally boots up for the first time and crashes to blue screen within 10 minutes. Obviously my optimism for the "no worries" box is now wanning. I reboot the machine and seems to be working okay.
3 - Over the ensuing days the blue screens occur randomly and frequently. I call tech support and go through a bunch of BIOS changes and driver upgrades / checks, and they send me on my way.
4 - The machine continues to bluescreen constantly- even using just a web browser and nothing else. After a couple more calls to tech support they decided to recall the machine. I think that I probably could have mandated on-site support since I paid for it, but nonetheless I try to be reasonable and cooperative and spend the time disconnect everything, pack it up, haul it into work and wait for 2 weeks to get it back.
5 - I get the machine back and the multiple power on issue has not been resolved. The computer doesnt bluescreen as often (ie not when I'm checking hotmail) but is still completely unusable for playing games. After several more calls over weeks to tech support trying various troubleshooting options they AGAIN recall the machine. I think that I probably could have mandated on-site support since I paid for it, but nonetheless I try to be reasonable and cooperative and spend the time disconnect everything, pack it up, haul it into work and wait for 2 weeks to get it back.
6 - I get the machine back and the multiple power on issue has not been resolved. The machine is still unusable playing games. And to be clear, this isnt any particular game, it is basically any game. Also be clear that I'm not overstressing the system. I can play the same games on the same settings on a mid-grade laptop without crashing, so the carshes are really inexplicable for a VM machine of this supposed quality. More calls to tech support and now they think my video card is overheating. I'm not sure why they would build a machine that overheats, but nonetheless I spend MY OWN TIME AND MONEY and buy additional fans for the box. It doesnt help.
7 - I had basically given up playing games. Seriously- I just dont have the time or energy to fight any more- they've won- they defeated me. However, soon thereafter the mother board fails to read the hard disk and the machine becomes completely inopperable. Forget games- I cant even turn it on. Tech support says they'll send a new mother board and a tech to install.
8 - Two weeks later I get the board installed. They sent the wrong board and NO DRIVER SOFTWARE so the tech has to spend over four hours downloading and installing new drivers, often with some confusion as to what drivers exactly need to be installed. They also didnt think to send a new I/O shield with the new board and the old I/O shield doesnt fit so they agree to send a new I/O, which takes 3 weeks to arrive and requires the mother board to be removed and reinstalled just to fit the I/O. More of my time accomodating tech scheduling.
9 - After the tech leaves from installing the motherboard I discover that some of the USB ports on the motherboard dont work. This is after at least an hour of MY OWN TIME troubleshooting why my devices arent working. I get on the phone with tech support again, and change a bunch of BIOS settings and it still doesnt work. The machine also refuses to "restart". When you tell Windows to Restart it shuts down and just beeps constantly. They conclude that the board is bad and agree to send me another one. I'm livid at this point because I feel like they've pawned off a knowingly defective motherboard on me- AGAIN. If this was the first trouble with the machine I would have taken it, but after everything else it is just unacceptable for them to expect me to take on more substandard equipment.
10 - By the way, other than the USB and No restart issues, at this point the machine is actually performing competently for the first time ever. After a 2-3 more weeks I finally get the new board to fix the USB issue and have another tech come out to install it. The tech spends an hour installing the new board and I/O shield. Goes to boot it up and DOmfA. D O A. DD OO AA. UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE. He spends another hour removing the new board and installing the old one- which works except for the USB ports. By the way I called tech suppport several times over the weekend that this occured relying upon my 24 hours support contract- and as in many other instances I received NO RETURN CALL WHATSOEVER.
11 - What do you do at this point? I'm months and months of frustration in on this machine. People at work are amazed that I have been so accomodating for so long. I want to fly to Virgina and throw the machine through a VM window- but I'm a rational person, probably the most rational person I know. So I finally get Jessica on the phone and tell her that this is unacceptable. I explain at this point that I'm willing to accomodate two options (a) please refund my money so I can go buy another machine and never have to think the words "Velocity Micro" in my head again, or (b) send me a completely new machine of roughly no better or worse quality (other than being better in so far as it works).
12 - Velocity refuses options (a) or (b) and offers only to recall the machine again to be rebuilt. This isnt acceptable to me because the previous rebuilds have done nothing but get me to this spot two years later. I have no confidence at all that they will repair the machine properly and have no interest in going without a computer for another 3 weeks in a futile effort to fix it. I consider retaining counsel.
13 - I continue to use the bad-USB motherboard while I weigh my options, but get this: it fails too! Not just he USB- within a couple weeks it refuses to boot up altogether! Hahaahahhahah. I laught only to avoid crying.
14 - I call tech support and tell them to send me a new mother board. They initially refuse saying they need to test the memor and video card and other b.s. that costs me time on the phone with a tech troubleshooting. Yet they know the board is bad, because the already sent me a DOA board to replace it. After about an hour on the phone I eventually get them to send me a new board. Another hour of my life, like so many others with this machine, that I will never ever get back. I will be sitting on my death bed one day thinking back to the 50+ hours I spent troubleshooting, and unhooking and hooking cables, and installing fans, and doing my own research. All for nothing!
15 - They say the board will be here Monday. I get it Thursday and the tech installs on Saturday. They again send a different model board. THEY AGAIN DIDNT SEND THE I/O SHIELD OR SOFTWARE! The tech installs the board and splits. I have no I/O shield and its CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH. I cant play a game for more than 15 minutes without it crashing. The rear USB slots are inoperable so I have to plug my external hard drive into the front slot. Lastly the clock loses about 15 minutes each hour, which I've concluded is due to a faulty battery on the mother board.
So here I am. Two years later (a long struggle indeed) and despite cooperating at every turn I have a machine that doesnt, and never has worked as promised upon purchase. So I ask this of the community:
WHAT IS A REASONABLE COURSE OF ACTION?
What is a reasonable amount of time to expect a consumer to expend to fix the problems of the manufacturer? It's a good question. If you were to specify this number in a contract with the purchaser in advance of buying the machine, what would it be? I would say maybe 10 hours. That's a long time, but things go wrong, and I understand that. I am well over 50 hours in on this machine.
And that is just MY TIME trying to get it to work. That doesnt include countless hours of down time that I didnt even bother turning on the machine I paid almost $4,500 for because I knew it wouldnt function properly and knew that I didnt have the time to devote to getting it to function properly.
The machine used to be a VELOCITY MIRCO CineMagix S95. With all of the swapping in and out, I'm not even sure what's in the machine at the present time. To be honest, given that they never send the approprirate hardware, I'm not sure that VM even knows what's in the box. It may have a 550 wat PS, Asus A8N SLI NVIDIA nForce 4 MB, AMD 64 FX-60 processor, 2 gigs of DDR400 memory, 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX. I have one piece of non-factor hardware- a wireless card. And I'm highly highly confident that it isnt the culprit because I've purchased and swapped out three different wireless cards and the machine functions similarly with all.
Really Short Version:
Computer hasnt worked properly at any time for 2 years despite extensive cooperation with VM to repair.
Short Version:
Machine returned twice for rebuild. Three new motherboards have been sent to me and installed. Computer still crashes within 10 minutes of game play.
WHAT IS A REASONABLE COURSE OF ACTION?
Long Version:
I did a lot of research in advance before buying a new deskopt box. I work 60-80 hours a week typically and I simply dont have the time to be on the phone with tech support all the time. Because of this, a lot of times I just stopped using the machine because I didnt have time to get on the phone with tech support for two hours to go through another useless trouble-shooting list. It's also because of this that I purchased the 24 hour support contract (rarely honored by the way) and on-site repair service.
I could have purchased a Dell for almost half the cost but went with VM because I thought there was a high probability that I would be getting a "no worries" computer that worked from Day 1 without failure. I am very very fortunate that I can afford to pay for a premium product. Here is my experience:
1 - I get the computer after modest delay from noted delivery date. I hook everything up and power it on. Fans spin and lights come on, but machine doesnt boot up. I spend a lot of time making sure the connections are right and that the monitor isnt bad. I power on and off a couple times, and eventually it boots up. This turns out ot be an ongoing problem where I have to power it on and off 2-3 times to get it to boot up, but one that tech support never seems to care too much about whenever I mention it, and one I grew to live with and not complain about.
2 - Machine finally boots up for the first time and crashes to blue screen within 10 minutes. Obviously my optimism for the "no worries" box is now wanning. I reboot the machine and seems to be working okay.
3 - Over the ensuing days the blue screens occur randomly and frequently. I call tech support and go through a bunch of BIOS changes and driver upgrades / checks, and they send me on my way.
4 - The machine continues to bluescreen constantly- even using just a web browser and nothing else. After a couple more calls to tech support they decided to recall the machine. I think that I probably could have mandated on-site support since I paid for it, but nonetheless I try to be reasonable and cooperative and spend the time disconnect everything, pack it up, haul it into work and wait for 2 weeks to get it back.
5 - I get the machine back and the multiple power on issue has not been resolved. The computer doesnt bluescreen as often (ie not when I'm checking hotmail) but is still completely unusable for playing games. After several more calls over weeks to tech support trying various troubleshooting options they AGAIN recall the machine. I think that I probably could have mandated on-site support since I paid for it, but nonetheless I try to be reasonable and cooperative and spend the time disconnect everything, pack it up, haul it into work and wait for 2 weeks to get it back.
6 - I get the machine back and the multiple power on issue has not been resolved. The machine is still unusable playing games. And to be clear, this isnt any particular game, it is basically any game. Also be clear that I'm not overstressing the system. I can play the same games on the same settings on a mid-grade laptop without crashing, so the carshes are really inexplicable for a VM machine of this supposed quality. More calls to tech support and now they think my video card is overheating. I'm not sure why they would build a machine that overheats, but nonetheless I spend MY OWN TIME AND MONEY and buy additional fans for the box. It doesnt help.
7 - I had basically given up playing games. Seriously- I just dont have the time or energy to fight any more- they've won- they defeated me. However, soon thereafter the mother board fails to read the hard disk and the machine becomes completely inopperable. Forget games- I cant even turn it on. Tech support says they'll send a new mother board and a tech to install.
8 - Two weeks later I get the board installed. They sent the wrong board and NO DRIVER SOFTWARE so the tech has to spend over four hours downloading and installing new drivers, often with some confusion as to what drivers exactly need to be installed. They also didnt think to send a new I/O shield with the new board and the old I/O shield doesnt fit so they agree to send a new I/O, which takes 3 weeks to arrive and requires the mother board to be removed and reinstalled just to fit the I/O. More of my time accomodating tech scheduling.
9 - After the tech leaves from installing the motherboard I discover that some of the USB ports on the motherboard dont work. This is after at least an hour of MY OWN TIME troubleshooting why my devices arent working. I get on the phone with tech support again, and change a bunch of BIOS settings and it still doesnt work. The machine also refuses to "restart". When you tell Windows to Restart it shuts down and just beeps constantly. They conclude that the board is bad and agree to send me another one. I'm livid at this point because I feel like they've pawned off a knowingly defective motherboard on me- AGAIN. If this was the first trouble with the machine I would have taken it, but after everything else it is just unacceptable for them to expect me to take on more substandard equipment.
10 - By the way, other than the USB and No restart issues, at this point the machine is actually performing competently for the first time ever. After a 2-3 more weeks I finally get the new board to fix the USB issue and have another tech come out to install it. The tech spends an hour installing the new board and I/O shield. Goes to boot it up and DOmfA. D O A. DD OO AA. UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE. He spends another hour removing the new board and installing the old one- which works except for the USB ports. By the way I called tech suppport several times over the weekend that this occured relying upon my 24 hours support contract- and as in many other instances I received NO RETURN CALL WHATSOEVER.
11 - What do you do at this point? I'm months and months of frustration in on this machine. People at work are amazed that I have been so accomodating for so long. I want to fly to Virgina and throw the machine through a VM window- but I'm a rational person, probably the most rational person I know. So I finally get Jessica on the phone and tell her that this is unacceptable. I explain at this point that I'm willing to accomodate two options (a) please refund my money so I can go buy another machine and never have to think the words "Velocity Micro" in my head again, or (b) send me a completely new machine of roughly no better or worse quality (other than being better in so far as it works).
12 - Velocity refuses options (a) or (b) and offers only to recall the machine again to be rebuilt. This isnt acceptable to me because the previous rebuilds have done nothing but get me to this spot two years later. I have no confidence at all that they will repair the machine properly and have no interest in going without a computer for another 3 weeks in a futile effort to fix it. I consider retaining counsel.
13 - I continue to use the bad-USB motherboard while I weigh my options, but get this: it fails too! Not just he USB- within a couple weeks it refuses to boot up altogether! Hahaahahhahah. I laught only to avoid crying.
14 - I call tech support and tell them to send me a new mother board. They initially refuse saying they need to test the memor and video card and other b.s. that costs me time on the phone with a tech troubleshooting. Yet they know the board is bad, because the already sent me a DOA board to replace it. After about an hour on the phone I eventually get them to send me a new board. Another hour of my life, like so many others with this machine, that I will never ever get back. I will be sitting on my death bed one day thinking back to the 50+ hours I spent troubleshooting, and unhooking and hooking cables, and installing fans, and doing my own research. All for nothing!
15 - They say the board will be here Monday. I get it Thursday and the tech installs on Saturday. They again send a different model board. THEY AGAIN DIDNT SEND THE I/O SHIELD OR SOFTWARE! The tech installs the board and splits. I have no I/O shield and its CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH. I cant play a game for more than 15 minutes without it crashing. The rear USB slots are inoperable so I have to plug my external hard drive into the front slot. Lastly the clock loses about 15 minutes each hour, which I've concluded is due to a faulty battery on the mother board.
So here I am. Two years later (a long struggle indeed) and despite cooperating at every turn I have a machine that doesnt, and never has worked as promised upon purchase. So I ask this of the community:
WHAT IS A REASONABLE COURSE OF ACTION?
What is a reasonable amount of time to expect a consumer to expend to fix the problems of the manufacturer? It's a good question. If you were to specify this number in a contract with the purchaser in advance of buying the machine, what would it be? I would say maybe 10 hours. That's a long time, but things go wrong, and I understand that. I am well over 50 hours in on this machine.
And that is just MY TIME trying to get it to work. That doesnt include countless hours of down time that I didnt even bother turning on the machine I paid almost $4,500 for because I knew it wouldnt function properly and knew that I didnt have the time to devote to getting it to function properly.
The machine used to be a VELOCITY MIRCO CineMagix S95. With all of the swapping in and out, I'm not even sure what's in the machine at the present time. To be honest, given that they never send the approprirate hardware, I'm not sure that VM even knows what's in the box. It may have a 550 wat PS, Asus A8N SLI NVIDIA nForce 4 MB, AMD 64 FX-60 processor, 2 gigs of DDR400 memory, 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX. I have one piece of non-factor hardware- a wireless card. And I'm highly highly confident that it isnt the culprit because I've purchased and swapped out three different wireless cards and the machine functions similarly with all.