Unfiltered Story #297309

For Christmas, my dear parents sent me a frankly over-generous amount of money, and while I squirrelled most of it away, almost serendipitously my now 10-year-old computer started failing on me, so I put some of the funds into buying a decent-spec gaming computer – nothing top-of-the-line, but nicer than my previous rig by a mile. I purchased through a well-known company that sells gaming PCs, including the one that my husband has.

And then the waiting begins.

For context, this was early January 2021. On top of the pandemic, I knew there was a parts shortage in the tech world, so I was prepared to have to wait a while. Given all that, the estimated ship date of 3-4 weeks seemed reasonable enough to me. And even when, about 2 weeks in I got an apologetic email stating that my computer would be delayed and my shipping ETA was updated to 4-5 weeks, I was fine with that. Things still weren’t exactly business-as-usual, right?

However, when week 5 came to a close with no further communication, and according to their online tracker, they hadn’t even begun gathering parts for my computer, I began to get antsy. I sent a polite email to their customer service address asking if I could get an idea of when my computer might ship. The response I received read thusly:

“The estimated ship date for your order is looking like late February.”

That was the *entire* email, mind – no apologies or even a greeting, just that single line. It didn’t exactly inspire confidence, and I was disappointed to tack another 3 weeks onto my wait time, but at least I had an ETA, right? And 2 days later my parts had begun to be gathered, so all seemed well, right?

Well, after they finished gathering the parts a week later, they apparently sat. And sat. And *sat*. For three more weeks. It was now March, and my computer was a box of parts on a shelf. Now, even at this point, I would have been willing to give the company a pass. Had I not, in the meantime, found their reddit page, featuring customers showing off their shiny new computers that they had ordered in some cases a full month after I did.

I sent a decidedly less polite email this time, pointing out that now three promised ETAs had come and gone, meanwhile people who purchased well after me were happy as clams. When the f*** was I getting my computer, and how the f*** did I go about getting a discount?

I was told that in order to apply a discount, they would have to cancel my order and reprocess it, which would make the machine even later. I shot that down. I would have disputed the charge at this point, but alas, I had purchased through a loan company (foolishly thinking this would be an easy way to bolster my credit score) and their dispute period had already passed. I finally left a complaint on the BBB website, out of ideas, and that at least netted me a measly 5% discount, but at this point, I just wanted the damned product.

After another 2 weeks of back and forth, my computer finally has been assembled, and then after yet another 2 weeks, it actually ships.

I am now writing this from in front of my fully functional gaming computer… after purchasing separately the power cord they shorted me, and the keyboard they forgot altogether. No word yet about a refund on those items, and frankly, I don’t expect there to be one. At this point, I’d rather just have done with the whole mess, to be perfectly honest.

At least the keyboard I got off amazon is cuter than the one I bought from them anyway.