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Velocity Micro Problems - Reasonable Next Steps?

lovemyPC said:
OP - no offense, but it seems like you are mostly on here now to churn up negativity to VM.
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My subsequent posts have all been direct responses to questions, suggestions, and accusations made by other posters. I've just been clarifying the record as they've been raised. If that record is unflattering so be it, but it would seem disingenuous for me to fire bomb my first post and then leave everything hanging as questions are raised.

My original post was to elicit opinion on a reasonable go-forward course of action. The opinions have been widespread from "honor the warrant and send it in" to "demand a new machine", to "get your money back". That pretty much confirms my own conflicting opinions. I agree, this thread is pretty much dead.
 
jmclane said:
My subsequent posts have all been direct responses to questions, suggestions, and accusations made by other posters. I've just been clarifying the record as they've been raised. If that record is unflattering so be it, but it would seem disingenuous for me to fire bomb my first post and then leave everything hanging as questions are raised.

My original post was to elicit opinion on a reasonable go-forward course of action. The opinions have been widespread from "honor the warrant and send it in" to "demand a new machine", to "get your money back". That pretty much confirms my own conflicting opinions. I agree, this thread is pretty much dead.
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I think you have the perfect right to gripe and if this had happened to those who are digging at you now, I bet their response would have been even stronger.
You should get it sorted to your satisfaction now though :)
 
lovemyPC said:
I'm not sure I understand the point of this thread anymore. OP has complained, VM has responded, and the entire community has weighed in on it. I know it may be the popular thing now to howl for VM to build this guy a new computer with all new parts and send him on a cruise, etc, but a couple things to keep in mind:1. both parties agreed to the warranty - abiding by its conditions now is what should be happening2. OP - no offense, but it seems like you are mostly on here now to churn up negativity to VM. Looks like VM has offered on several occasions to work with you and yet you are still on here complaining, Why don't you come back and post after VM has had a chance to make good on their offer.3. Finally - VM is the only company you will see on here discussing the inner workings of their policies with 3rd parties who really have no business in this. I don't see any other companies doing their customer service to a GReek chorus. I think VM has shown much restraint and professionalism by not getting into the details - which could be unflattering to OP. No matter we're really only getting one side of the story.4. at this point (second finally) - this thread is totally boring (I know I know - then stop coming). Can we get back to actually talking about computers instead of weighing in on what should be a pretty much private matter between two parties we have nothing to do with.

OP - let VM do their job and come back when it's finished. I really don't see any point for you continuing to take this onto the forums unless it's just to stir things up.



Looking forward to hearing what happens.
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You are right in that a lot of the details and whatnot between OP and VM is probably not stuff we should have a hand in, however if VM wants us to know how they do business, and most vendors posting here have a vested interest in a good reputation, then this sort of thing becomes public, for better or worse.

I have a post that is quite lengthy publicly extolling AVADirect's reputation. That's great for them and i'm sure they like that. However on the flip side if I have issues i'll also post them as well, maybe not so much enjoyed by AVADirect if that happens. It's just the nature of the beast.

If VM wants to get good publicity then they will respond to this thread in a positive way and continue to address it. That's the bottom line.
 
A reduction in the number of calls for support and customer complaints would appear to be consistent with a decrease in overall sales, possibly resulting from the steady increase in negative forum posts and the decline in reseller ratings.

If you examine the history of forum posts and reseller ratings comments, a distinct shift in these from the overwhelmingly positive to the more negative can be observed that seems to coincide with changes in support policies in response to increased sales and support volume. It’s possible that VM might need to examine their strategies intended to manage this rapid growth.

Most major electronics manufacturers, when encountering issues such as the ones experienced by this user simply replace the entire unit, no questions asked, bring the old unit in and try to recoup some of the loss associated with this practice by refurbishing the unit and selling it as a refurb with no warranty.

This is a more cost effective approach in the long run, and provides a greater degree of customer satisfaction. Considering the cost of each encounter with a support tech, tech salary, operating expense, administrative, etc., not to mention repeated shipping of parts and machines to and fro and the contracting of onsite service providers, cost of depot repair, the business model of complete system exchanges that has been established by these larger manufacturers provides easily the most sensible approach.

VM appears to have taken a different strategy that involves tactics intended to delay any possibility of return for refund or exchange until the unit is outside of the allowable time frame for such a transaction under the strict letter of the product warranty, and a rigid refusal to make allowances, even for high ticket clients. Additionally, I know that if I spent the extra money on a high performance product, I don’t know that I’d be entirely willing to pursue some of the troubleshooting procedures that seem to be required by VM’s support policies.

For instance, if I bought a BMW, and felt that the engine was missing or that the timing was improperly set, upon calling the dealership, I don’t expect that they would ask me to open the hood, get out my wrench and advance the distributor before they agree to bring it into the garage under warranty, much less would I expect to be without my top dollar ride for longer than a day or two. If problems persist, I would be inclined to explore my state’s lemon laws to learn what kind of recourse is available to me legally to recover my monetary losses.

As for the claim that VM does not solicit positive reseller ratings, I have been told that incentives are offered to the VM support techs who encourage the highest number of positive reseller ratings responses, and have read in another forum a post from a VM user who was offered onsite service outside of the warranted period in exchange for a change in their previous negative reseller rating. These practices, if not entirely inconsistent with the policies of the reseller rating site, are at the very least questionable.

Just how and when did VM turn this corner? Who’s responsible? What has caused it and is it too late for them to regain their former prestige in the industry? :confused:
 
they definitely need to do some strategic planning.

and I wonder how the OPC brand is doing. they have dropped off the face of the earth as of late. :confused:

is Mario even at VM headquarters anymore?
 
jmclane said:
My subsequent posts have all been direct responses to questions, suggestions, and accusations made by other posters. I've just been clarifying the record as they've been raised. If that record is unflattering so be it, but it would seem disingenuous for me to fire bomb my first post and then leave everything hanging as questions are raised.

My original post was to elicit opinion on a reasonable go-forward course of action. The opinions have been widespread from "honor the warrant and send it in" to "demand a new machine", to "get your money back". That pretty much confirms my own conflicting opinions. I agree, this thread is pretty much dead.
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Soo... did you call this guy? Did they fix your system?
 
Nenu said:
I agree something may be afoot, maybe a competitor sponsored post :)
He joined 1 day ago and has made 1 post.
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I was, in fact directed here by a competitor, but one has only to read the extensive number of entries in this thread to draw the conclusions I have drawn from this thread and from the wealth of information available elsewhere online concerning this company and their product.

I know where I will and more important, will not be shopping in future, thanks to all the participants in this thread.
 
vegatyme said:
I was, in fact directed here by a competitor, but one has only to read the extensive number of entries in this thread to draw the conclusions I have drawn from this thread and from the wealth of information available elsewhere online concerning this company and their product.

I know where I will and more important, will not be shopping in future, thanks to all the participants in this thread.
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You knew you weren't going to buy a VM PC before you made that post. Go away troll.
 
0mega said:
Go away troll.
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It's plain to see who the loyal VM employee is here, and if this sort of childish retort is exemplary of how VM staff correspond with clients or exchange ideas in the context of an open forum, then thanks so much for making my purchasing decision final.
 
Here's is the update: I really try not to solve customer issues - and especially disputes like the OP had - in a public forum. That said, I want to share with this thread a few things that were not divulged back last week when this brush fire started. The OP did send me an email in response to my request in post #9. I emailed him back the offer to rebuild his computer, as you all know. But in that same email dated 3/3/08 at 8:51pm, I also offered to refund half the price, $2100, even though the computer was 2 years old. He could get a computer that was better in every spec for that price. I didn't publicize it here, because I still think this was a private matter between us. Since then, I reiterated the offer again to him on Wednesday 3/5/08 at 2:28pm. I have NEVER received a response from him of any kind except in his posts. I guess I should just leave the offer open ended so in another couple of years, he can start a new thread and demand his $2100 that he never got. VM will surely be thrown to the wolves in the process.

On to Vega, I know who this person is. BUSTED! She is absolutely a former employee. "vegatyme" is also her IM address that she used at the office, too. (I thought we had a nice talk at the annual VM party after you were not working with us anymore, but I guess not...) No surprise a competitor would have told you about this thread as you stated above... Omega, on the other hand, is not an employee or anyone I have ever met. I also know another competitor has posted a couple of times on this thread, but that all goes with the territory.

OverdrivePC: Mario and crew are indeed here with me in Richmond, and working on quite a few cool things while they get ready to launch a new chassis and some new models.

To conclude the matter at hand: I do believe I owe this customer plenty of help and support for a computer that has not been stellar. We did privately offer to get this guy a new $2100 computer (and suggested he could find many suitable vendors) or rebuild his again with all new parts. He simply did not respond to any offer. I'm not sure what else I could have done, and I believe the OP was trying to expose his frustration with VM while not really hoping to get resolution. I'm going public now with the original offer only because I think the whole exercise was an attempt to make my company look as foolish as possible. I can't let everyone assume we did nothing. There is also alot more to this story that we have skipped for the sake of clarity to the issues.

Last question to answer: Are we "slipping" or letting tech support and our reputation decline? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Why would I sit by and do that? It would certainly mean a less successful future for Velocity. We use third party researchers to monitor our customer satisfaction, and the results prove that we far surpass the industry in customer satisfaction and repeat customer preference. We are not perfect, but I know we do a great job on almost every occasion, and learning and investing more every single day.

The bigger issue for me is why we get so many posters on this particular forum who want to expose their bad experience. To me, it seems that Velocity Micro is put under the microscope much more frequently than any other builder. And then, it also seems that I am the only CEO consistently on this forum. Coincidence? Unhappy customers will always be more vocal than happy ones, and the very fact that I’m here encourages unhappy people to nail Velocity. If I didn’t hang around, what would be the point of venting? We’ve certainly had discussions around the office on whether I need to go anonymous from here on out and not respond. But does that help the majority of you, my fellow enthusiasts? I doubt it. You all have seen me around here long enough to know how passionate I am about the business and how serious I am in meeting customer needs. You know that Velocity Micro does a much better job than most in supporting our customers – certainly better than any multi-national OEM. So please don’t say that we don’t.
 
Velocity_Micro said:
The bigger issue for me is why do we get so many posters on this particular forum that want to expose their bad experience? It seems much more than anybody else to me, and I know for a fact that we are doing a much better than average job supporting our customers, so don't try to say that we don't. I know the answer is that no other large system builder monitors this forum, and is not listening in the first place. The very fact that I'm here encourages people to nail me. If I didn't hang around, what would be the point of venting. I have tossed around the idea that I need to just go anonymous from here on and not respond. Does that help the majority of you, my fellow enthusiasts? I don't think so. I do appreciate the occasional supporter that helps call out the nonsense that gets thrown about!
Click to expand...

I think some people see the [H] forum as a place to take advantage of your kindness and overall concern for your customers. There will always be people out there to take advantage of situations like this, I wouldn't let it discourage you. Personally what I think you're doing is great and I say keep up the good work.
 
Man after reading this, I wonder how much fun it would be to work at a place like VM??
 
Velocity_Micro said:
Here's is the update: I really try not to solve customer issues - and especially disputes like the OP had - in a public forum. That said, I want to share with this thread a few things that were not divulged back last week when this brush fire started. The OP did send me an email in response to my request in post #9. I emailed him back the offer to rebuild his computer, as you all know. But in that same email dated 3/3/08 at 8:51pm, I also offered to refund half the price, $2100, even though the computer was 2 years old. He could get a computer that was better in every spec for that price. I didn't publicize it here, because I still think this was a private matter between us. Since then, I reiterated the offer again to him on Wednesday 3/5/08 at 2:28pm. I have NEVER received a response from him of any kind except in his posts. I guess I should just leave the offer open ended so in another couple of years, he can start a new thread and demand his $2100 that he never got. VM will surely be thrown to the wolves in the process.

On to Vega, I know who this person is. BUSTED! She is absolutely a former employee. "vegatyme" is also her IM address that she used at the office, too. (I thought we had a nice talk at the annual VM party after you were not working with us anymore, but I guess not...) And...I wonder what competitor would have told you about this thread...I have a good guess. Omega, on the other hand, is not an employee or anyone I have ever met. I also know another competitor has posted a couple of times on this thread, but that all goes with the territory.

OverdrivePC: Mario and crew are indeed here with me in Richmond, and working on quite a few cool things while they get ready to launch a new chassis and some new models.

To conclude: We did privately offer to get this guy a new $2100 computer (and suggested he could find many suitable vendors) or rebuild his again with all new parts. He simply did not respond to any offer. I'm not sure what else I could have done, and I believe the OP was trying to expose his frustration with VM while not really hoping to get resolution. I'm going public now with the original offer only because I think the whole exercise was an attempt to make my company look as foolish as possible. I can't let everyone assume we did nothing.

Last question to answer: Are we "slipping" or letting tech support and our reputation decline? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Why would I sit by and do that? It would certainly mean a less successful future for Velocity. We use third party researchers to monitor our customer satisfaction, and the results prove that we far surpass the industry in customer satisfaction and repeat customer preference. We are not perfect, but I know we do a great job on almost every occasion, and learning and investing more every single day.

The bigger issue for me is why we get so many posters on this particular forum who want to expose their bad experience. To me, it seems that Velocity Micro is put under the microscope much more frequently than any other builder. And then, it also seems that I am the only CEO on this forum. Coincidence? The very fact that I’m here encourages people to nail Velocity. If I didn’t hang around, what would be the point of venting? We’ve certainly had discussions around the office on whether I need to go anonymous from here on out and not respond. But does that help the majority of you, my fellow enthusiasts? I doubt it. You all have seen me around here long enough to know how passionate I am about the business and how serious I am in meeting customer needs. You know that Velocity Micro does a much better job than most in supporting our customers – certainly better than any multi-national OEM. So please don’t say that we don’t.
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Well the OP has absolutely jackshit to moan about now, since he didnt take up the offer's of rebuilt rig with new parts or $2100 back then I can only wonder what this thread is all about :confused:

As for Vega, I also Had my suspicions asto who they were, but I think it is obvious, maybe not, but that's who I think it is, to which I could be wrong.

If I lived in the states I would seriously consider VM as an option for me over all the rest, due to the fact that they are well recommended and also that you just dont get support from CEO's from any company like you do with this one, public interaction on a forum with a CEO is hard to come by and to me personally, only those companies that have nothing to fear because they know they are doing a great job post's on public forums, companies with problems always retire from public forums for some reason or another, so I can only say keep up the good work Randy ;)

it's just unfortunate that I dont live there and never will be able to try out VM's finest :( as their is shit in the UK for me.

I hope your response now kill's this thread or at the very least I hope the OP responds and give's us an answer to your question about the rebuild/refund so that this little episode can now be consigned to the pages of history.


 
Velocity_Micro said:
*snip*
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Well, thank you for (IMHO) putting this to rest. If I were the customer here, I would take that $2100 and run before you realized how generous you were being. That is above and beyond what I would expect from VM, and cheers to you for stepping up to the plate. Despite the "increase" in complaints, I think that VM is a stand-up outfit and this sort of this proves it (yet again). I've personally known a couple people to buy VM and they have always been more than pleased with the experience.

To the OP: I am truly sorry about your terrible experience, but I think that his offer of a 50% refund is more than reasonable after all this time. With that money you could easily walk over to AVA or Puget and get a brand new system that would put your current one to shame. I reccomend you take the offer while it lasts, because it doesn't get any better than this.
 
In response to VM's concern about posting here because it can cause more folks to critique him and/or the company: I think yes it is somewhat risky to do so for that very reason, and I also somewhat criticized VM in this thread a bit at various points, but with that being said I think the reward for posting here and putting stories like this out into the public far better outweigh the risks in doing so.

I think the reasoning behind that is because most of the folks who post here and frequent these forums are very intelligent people who, unlike a lot of the buying public, do not read posts criticizing a vendor and just file that vendor away in their head as "do not ever buy from such and such because I once read something bad about them" but instead very intelligently analyze the issues surrounding the issue more than what it appears on the surface. For instance, since most of us here are quite knowledgeable about computers, someone posting something asinine or childish can be exposed quite handily through further questioning.

Bottom line I do think it's worth it for VM and, in general, other OEM's to post here because most people legitimately do give the OEM fair leeway and the benefit of the doubt when it comes to problematic issues. As for the deal VM offers the OP, I am not sure why he did not reply and I won't leap to conclusions about why, but it is a great deal in my opinion as well and I think goes a very long way toward helping the folks who frequent here have restored confidence in VM and their branding.
 
That sounds like an equitable offer made to this user, and one he should accept.

Now that my identity has been revealed, I might encourage you to re-examine my original post. Stated in an academic, objective and civil manner, I believe it does draw attention to relevant issues.

The research I have conducted from the perspective of a potential buyer has revealed a couple of things. One is that quality and support are not what they once were, not only at VM, but with various manufacturers. Another is that you don't see too many CEO's out there who will speak up in this context and really exchange ideas with users. Whether you agree with him or not, Randy is to be commended for that.
 
vegatyme said:
One is that quality and support are not what they once were, not only at VM, but with various manufacturers.
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Sorry, but I have to reject that our quality is not as good as it once was. Our quality today is better than it has ever been. I can't just let that notion sit out there unchallenged. Sometimes quality is better and sometimes it's not where we'd like (cable card used to be a disaster when it first launched, as you well remember, vegatyme) I have the facts, and I have to live with the consequences, and I will restate our quality is the best today that it has ever been. Period.
 
Velocity_Micro said:
Sorry, but I have to reject that our quality is not as good as it once was. Our quality today is better than it has ever been. I can't just let that notion sit out there unchallenged. Sometimes quality is better and sometimes it's not where we'd like () I have the facts, and I have to live with the consequences, and I will restate our quality is the best today that it has ever been. Period.
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I really don't have the facts to substantiate your claims, and I am not disputing them either, but here's how I see it. Most, if not all, computers these days (again, this is just my opinion) are built with commodity components. Even Apple's gone to the "dark side" (don't they basically outsource their production to Foxconn or ASUS or someone along those lines). HP computers use ASUS mainboards and if I recall the systems I've worked on for VM they did as well. How many different companies (indirectly) are involved in the production of a Velocity Micro PC (or HP, or Gateway, or Apple for that matter) from heatsinks to fans to capacitors and voltage regulators... it's a mess.

The way I see it is the bottom line for a consumer is the level of service provided. I don't think anyone here would dare chastise a system builder because a mainboard failed, or memory arrived DOA or what have you as long as the they provide excellent customer service.

I think that there are just some people you can never please.
 
Velocity_Micro said:
Here's is the update: I really try not to solve customer issues - and especially disputes like the OP had - in a public forum. That said, I want to share with this thread a few things that were not divulged back last week when this brush fire started. The OP did send me an email in response to my request in post #9. I emailed him back the offer to rebuild his computer, as you all know. But in that same email dated 3/3/08 at 8:51pm, I also offered to refund half the price, $2100, even though the computer was 2 years old. He could get a computer that was better in every spec for that price. I didn't publicize it here, because I still think this was a private matter between us. Since then, I reiterated the offer again to him on Wednesday 3/5/08 at 2:28pm. I have NEVER received a response from him of any kind except in his posts. I guess I should just leave the offer open ended so in another couple of years, he can start a new thread and demand his $2100 that he never got. VM will surely be thrown to the wolves in the process.

On to Vega, I know who this person is. BUSTED! She is absolutely a former employee. "vegatyme" is also her IM address that she used at the office, too. (I thought we had a nice talk at the annual VM party after you were not working with us anymore, but I guess not...) No surprise a competitor would have told you about this thread... Omega, on the other hand, is not an employee or anyone I have ever met. I also know another competitor has posted a couple of times on this thread, but that all goes with the territory.

OverdrivePC: Mario and crew are indeed here with me in Richmond, and working on quite a few cool things while they get ready to launch a new chassis and some new models.

To conclude the matter at hand: I do believe I owe this customer plenty of help and support for a computer that has not been stellar. We did privately offer to get this guy a new $2100 computer (and suggested he could find many suitable vendors) or rebuild his again with all new parts. He simply did not respond to any offer. I'm not sure what else I could have done, and I believe the OP was trying to expose his frustration with VM while not really hoping to get resolution. I'm going public now with the original offer only because I think the whole exercise was an attempt to make my company look as foolish as possible. I can't let everyone assume we did nothing. There is also alot more to this story that we have skipped for the sake of clarity to the issues.

Last question to answer: Are we "slipping" or letting tech support and our reputation decline? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Why would I sit by and do that? It would certainly mean a less successful future for Velocity. We use third party researchers to monitor our customer satisfaction, and the results prove that we far surpass the industry in customer satisfaction and repeat customer preference. We are not perfect, but I know we do a great job on almost every occasion, and learning and investing more every single day.

The bigger issue for me is why we get so many posters on this particular forum who want to expose their bad experience. To me, it seems that Velocity Micro is put under the microscope much more frequently than any other builder. And then, it also seems that I am the only CEO consistently on this forum. Coincidence? Unhappy customers will always be more vocal than happy ones, and the very fact that I’m here encourages unhappy people to nail Velocity. If I didn’t hang around, what would be the point of venting? We’ve certainly had discussions around the office on whether I need to go anonymous from here on out and not respond. But does that help the majority of you, my fellow enthusiasts? I doubt it. You all have seen me around here long enough to know how passionate I am about the business and how serious I am in meeting customer needs. You know that Velocity Micro does a much better job than most in supporting our customers – certainly better than any multi-national OEM. So please don’t say that we don’t.
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I have been reading this thread for quite awhile partly because I own a VM computer and just curious on how something like this would be handled. One thing I will say is that the VM computer I have is a rock solid performer with no problems. My son has been using it for a types of games. It is the Promagix E2210 probably a couple of years old.
Just my own personal opinion on this but if I was in this situation I still would think that a new computer after all of this would be the most fair option. Yes $2100.00 is a nice offer but it still would make more sense to get a new computer especially since it doesnt seem like the guy has even had a working computer over the past 2 yrs. I think the price of parts has declined over the past 2 yrs also so it wouldnt cost you as much to build him a system that is fairly equal to what he has now.
 
solaris54 said:
I have been reading this thread for quite awhile partly because I own a VM computer and just curious on how something like this would be handled. One thing I will say is that the VM computer I have is a rock solid performer with no problems. My son has been using it for a types of games. It is the Promagix E2210 probably a couple of years old.
Just my own personal opinion on this but if I was in this situation I still would think that a new computer after all of this would be the most fair option. Yes $2100.00 is a nice offer but it still would make more sense to get a new computer especially since it doesnt seem like the guy has even had a working computer over the past 2 yrs. I think the price of parts has declined over the past 2 yrs also so it wouldnt cost you as much to build him a system that is fairly equal to what he has now.
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As you yourself say above, $2100 would buy him what he has or better so they are giving him a new computer basically. I doubt the OP wants VM to build him anything, so that is no doubt why they offered him the ca$h, so he has the opportunity to buy whatever he wants, wherever he wants.
 
solaris54 said:
Just my own personal opinion on this but if I was in this situation I still would think that a new computer after all of this would be the most fair option. Yes $2100.00 is a nice offer but it still would make more sense to get a new computer especially since it doesnt seem like the guy has even had a working computer over the past 2 yrs. I think the price of parts has declined over the past 2 yrs also so it wouldnt cost you as much to build him a system that is fairly equal to what he has now.
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Actually, I would contend that the $2100 is BETTER than a new computer. I am sure they could build him one for less than this, and so they are will to shell out extra cash to make him happy. I would also bet that the OP doesn't want another VM computer at this point and would be much happier taking his money to another vendor.
 
aethelwulf said:
Actually, I would contend that the $2100 is BETTER than a new computer. I am sure they could build him one for less than this, and so they are will to shell out extra cash to make him happy. I would also bet that the OP doesn't want another VM computer at this point and would be much happier taking his money to another vendor.
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True, because if VM were to just build him a new computer and he had the first sign of trouble it would no doubt create a situation where the OP may then question how well and/or with what the new PC was built. This way he can take his $2100 wherever and buy whatever he desires, hell he could go buy a Mac Laptop if he wants.
 
Randy, dont worry. We know you run a great company and when someone asks me what vendor I would recommend for a gaming machine Velocity Micro is the first one on my list. Even though people can be frustrating dont fret, there are much more people here who are happy with you being vocal and helpful to the community. Much more. Please continue what you are doing.
 
My apologies- I thought this thread was dead and I've been swamped at work so I havent checked in a few days. Actually, I've just now had time to go through the annoying process of cleaning a lot of personal information off of my machine to return it to VM, and ran across the HardForum favorite and thought I would check the thread.

Velocity_Micro said:
I also offered to refund half the price, $2100, even though the computer was 2 years old. He could get a computer that was better in every spec for that price. I didn't publicize it here, because I still think this was a private matter between us.
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I never discussed any private communications with Velocity_Micro unless they were otherwise raised here. That's also why I didnt mention the $2,100 offer.

Velocity_Micro said:
Since then, I reiterated the offer again to him on Wednesday 3/5/08 at 2:28pm. I have NEVER received a response from him of any kind except in his posts. I guess I should just leave the offer open ended so in another couple of years, he can start a new thread and demand his $2100 that he never got. VM will surely be thrown to the wolves in the process.
Click to expand...

After a lot of contemplation of all of my rights, and the amount of time I have available to continue to fight this battle, I caved in and contacted VM Support on Monday to get two UPS return labels for the machine and the dead motherboard. The labels were emailed back to me yesterday. I guess VM Support didnt inform Velocity_Micro.

To be honest, I was a bit insulted by the $2,100 offer after paying 2x that for a machine with problems that are well documented here. It's also why I didnt respond to the offer. In fairness that was a gut reaction as I havent gone out to see what I can get for $2,100. Psychologically it's hard for me to get over paying a net $2,200 for 2 years of frustration.

My final decision was to return the machine to be repaired, which I intend to do on Thursday. I intended to post an update to this dead thread when the machine was returned and rebuilt- hopefully successfully.

If VM would rather not bother with troubleshooting and rebuilding the machine, and if the you guys on the board, who all know a lot more about this than I do, really think that I would be insane not to take the money and get something else, I'm happy to do that too. At this point I'm pretty much indifferent- just want something that works.
 
I can't believe you didn't accept that $2100, that was really dumb. You could get a computer twice as good as the one you have now...
 
Yea, props to VM for offering $2100 back. You should have taken it.

I don't understand some people. They offerred you $2100 and from how I understand it, another computer as well...



OP,
But you can justify $4500 loss for a problematic computer? Look, $2200 for that PC back then is fair. Nowadays, it isn't, but when the hardware was new it was. But your reasoning doesn't make sense. Even 2 years after the fact, they are offering to refund half of what you paid. I understand the problems you went through, but this offering is justifiable and reasonable beyond anything I would have ever expected and I give kudos to VM for doing so.
 
Shit I built the rig in my signature, minus HDTV and speaker setup for $1200.

$2100 will buy a nice PC and a GREAT happy ending if you know what I'm saying.

He could use the money to buy one of these:

096_02.jpg
 
jmclane said:
My final decision was to return the machine to be repaired, which I intend to do on Thursday. I intended to post an update to this dead thread when the machine was returned and rebuilt- hopefully successfully.
Click to expand...

You do realize that you can have much better PC for $2,1K..? It would have the latest components.

Seriously, your decision doesn't make sense, however, its your choice..
 
computerpro3 said:
I can't believe you didn't accept that $2100, that was really dumb. You could get a computer twice as good as the one you have now...
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree, the OP must be a sucker for self-torture. Big mistake not just taking the money and buying a new machine from somewhere else IMO.

LOL, sending it back for repair again? What the hell were you thinking man??!!
 
vegatyme said:
A reduction in the number of calls for support and customer complaints would appear to be consistent with a decrease in overall sales, possibly resulting from the steady increase in negative forum posts and the decline in reseller ratings.

If you examine the history of forum posts and reseller ratings comments, a distinct shift in these from the overwhelmingly positive to the more negative can be observed that seems to coincide with changes in support policies in response to increased sales and support volume. It’s possible that VM might need to examine their strategies intended to manage this rapid growth.

Most major electronics manufacturers, when encountering issues such as the ones experienced by this user simply replace the entire unit, no questions asked, bring the old unit in and try to recoup some of the loss associated with this practice by refurbishing the unit and selling it as a refurb with no warranty.

This is a more cost effective approach in the long run, and provides a greater degree of customer satisfaction. Considering the cost of each encounter with a support tech, tech salary, operating expense, administrative, etc., not to mention repeated shipping of parts and machines to and fro and the contracting of onsite service providers, cost of depot repair, the business model of complete system exchanges that has been established by these larger manufacturers provides easily the most sensible approach.

VM appears to have taken a different strategy that involves tactics intended to delay any possibility of return for refund or exchange until the unit is outside of the allowable time frame for such a transaction under the strict letter of the product warranty, and a rigid refusal to make allowances, even for high ticket clients. Additionally, I know that if I spent the extra money on a high performance product, I don’t know that I’d be entirely willing to pursue some of the troubleshooting procedures that seem to be required by VM’s support policies.

For instance, if I bought a BMW, and felt that the engine was missing or that the timing was improperly set, upon calling the dealership, I don’t expect that they would ask me to open the hood, get out my wrench and advance the distributor before they agree to bring it into the garage under warranty, much less would I expect to be without my top dollar ride for longer than a day or two. If problems persist, I would be inclined to explore my state’s lemon laws to learn what kind of recourse is available to me legally to recover my monetary losses.

As for the claim that VM does not solicit positive reseller ratings, I have been told that incentives are offered to the VM support techs who encourage the highest number of positive reseller ratings responses, and have read in another forum a post from a VM user who was offered onsite service outside of the warranted period in exchange for a change in their previous negative reseller rating. These practices, if not entirely inconsistent with the policies of the reseller rating site, are at the very least questionable.

Just how and when did VM turn this corner? Who’s responsible? What has caused it and is it too late for them to regain their former prestige in the industry? :confused:
Click to expand...

I reported this thread to the moderators. I think Kyle would be interested to know a company is attempting to plant people in his forum.
 
BrinNutz said:
I don't understand some people. They offerred you $2100 and from how I understand it, another computer as well...
Click to expand...

Dude, do you just read every other word or what? They didnt offer $2,100 + a new computer. They promised $2,100 OR to repair the current machine.

This is probably hard to believe, and I'm a little ashamed to say it, but the $2,100 matters very little to me. The principal of feeling wronged meant a lot, and pursuing the fastest course to a workable machine means a whole lot. Between the two options, it seemed I would get a workable machine faster by sending it back.

Like I said, I'm pretty much indifferent between the two options.

And as an end note- I have no clue what current comparable hardware is selling for and really dont want to take the time to spec everything out.
 
I think the $2100 is bullshit, myself. You shouldn't be able to buy your way out of a contract like that. If the guy buys in home support, you fix it in his home. Period. End of story.


So to Velocity_Micro...way to air your dirty laundry in public and try to make the guy look like a prick by not accepting your cop out. How classy and professional...best buy must be prowd of how far you've progressed in their 12 step program to becoming an evil conglomerate.

To vegatyme: say it with me "would you like fries with that?". These words will be the key to any future success of yours, I can tell.

To jmclane: I commend you for making them somewhat stick to their warranty rather then buying their way out of it. Yes $2100 would buy you a decent machine, but there's a principle here that's beyond money, and I'm glad to see you are aware of that.
 
Rabid Badger said:
I reported this thread to the moderators. I think Kyle would be interested to know a company is attempting to plant people in his forum.
Click to expand...

lol....way to jump to conclusions

did you NOT read Velocity_Micro's post shortly after that???

That person is not an employee of Velocity Micro, they are a "Former" employee and apparently a disgruntled employee with some sort of personal Vendetta against the company.

besides i really don't think that is Velocity's style to pull something like that.


...on a different note, is this forum always like this?? lol. I signed up on it today because a friend told me it's a good place for tech info and i click "New Posts" and this one shows up with like 6 pages or more of replies...man what a soap opera!! ((I think i need some popcorn for this)) :D

I'm an avid gamer and pc enthusiast myself, i look forward to many interesting conversations here :)

Well I think its time for some COD4...

-ciao-

-Darkon
 
Darkon said:
lol....way to jump to conclusions

did you NOT read Velocity_Micro's post shortly after that???

That person is not an employee of Velocity Micro, they are a "Former" employee and apparently a disgruntled employee with some sort of personal Vendetta against the company.

besides i really don't think that is Velocity's style to pull something like that.


...on a different note, is this forum always like this?? lol. I signed up on it today because a friend told me it's a good place for tech info and i click "New Posts" and this one shows up with like 6 pages or more of replies...man what a soap opera!! ((I think i need some popcorn for this)) :D

I'm an avid gamer and pc enthusiast myself, i look forward to many interesting conversations here :)

Well I think its time for some COD4...

-ciao-

-Darkon
Click to expand...

Now you know why [H]OCP is so sweet. Here, you can actually meet and talk to members of the industry. VM is only one of them. I know that Crucial and Corsair have reps over in the memory forum. Maingear and Puget also had reps check in.
Oh, and there was a great ruckus a few months back over a PSu review with Tagan. THAT was awesome.

Plus, the tech support here is amazing. If you posta questions in the right forum, youwill get several answers within a few hours.


Why I bought a lifetime subscription last night. I'm here enough that contributing $15 was easy. Well... plus I just sold a bunch of crap on Ebay...
 
vegatyme said:
It's plain to see who the loyal VM employee is here, and if this sort of childish retort is exemplary of how VM staff correspond with clients or exchange ideas in the context of an open forum, then thanks so much for making my purchasing decision final.
Click to expand...

You are banned. Come back and comment on VM's products when you have owned one.
 
jmclane said:
Dude, do you just read every other word or what? They didnt offer $2,100 + a new computer. They promised $2,100 OR to repair the current machine.

This is probably hard to believe, and I'm a little ashamed to say it, but the $2,100 matters very little to me. The principal of feeling wronged meant a lot, and pursuing the fastest course to a workable machine means a whole lot. Between the two options, it seemed I would get a workable machine faster by sending it back.

Like I said, I'm pretty much indifferent between the two options.

And as an end note- I have no clue what current comparable hardware is selling for and really dont want to take the time to spec everything out.
Click to expand...

Like I said, I read it once, and put the disclaimer in there that I said from how I understood it at the time of perusing over it quickly. I would imagine the $2100 and the repaired computer. Well, I see your point now.

Well, let us know how the repair goes, again.
 
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