NZXT BLD predatory practices

[Lord Bloobus]

So my buddy didn't know I was into gaming and PC hardware to the point where I could help him, so he went over to NZXT to get a nice looking prebuilt. He tells me some of his stuff that he has and I'm explaining good practice for choices, difference between motherboard types, ram speed support, OC support, etc.

 

He said he really wanted a 10 series CPU so his motherboard was pretty expensive, I think "that's to be expected if you get a good CPU that has extra features."

And then he shows me his motherboard, it's $300, there is also a $400 option as well that he might actually have instead. Now I looked up his supported CPUs, and I'm pretty much betting he has 10400, since he's certain its not an i7. Now first off, I was ok if he'd paid a bit extra for a good solid motherboard, but they have no business upselling what could very well be ignorant first time consumers into a board that out prices the CPU and god forbid almost the GPU.

 

I'm going to be contacting their support for my friend, because to me this 100% predatory to customers. If you're going to offer 10 series chips, offer a motherboard to match, paying twice or almost 3 time as much for a motherboard is a SCAM.

[Guest]

So you're upset at a prebuilt service, but aren't at all sure what parts he actually has?

I am missing something here.

[Elisis]

5 minutes ago, Lord Bloobus said:

Now I looked up his supported CPUs, and I'm pretty much betting he has 10400, since he's certain its not an i7.

10600k is a thing that exists...

[Lord Bloobus]

1 minute ago, Den-Fi said:

So you're upset at a prebuilt service, but aren't at all sure what parts he actually has?

I am missing something here.

If you plug his parts into the config for BLD those are the parts that it defaults to, and I know he has an msi 2070, and a 10 series CPU, which means it defaults straight to their cheapest board for it, which is $300.

[Lord Bloobus]

2 minutes ago, Elisis said:

10600k is a thing that exists...

They skip it for an i7, which I'm ok with if it's not within their ability to get, but they straight up fucked over my friend with this configuration.

[Guest]

Just now, Lord Bloobus said:

If you plug his parts into the config for BLD those are the parts that it defaults to, and I know he has an msi 2070, and a 10 series CPU, which means it defaults straight to their cheapest board for it, which is $300.

I just looked it over.

They seems to have just a handful of SKUs when it comes to mobos they use.

This is a prebuilt service. They're not going to have every motherboard ever.

If that was the case, they'd be newegg. The more SKUs you have, the more inventory you have, the harder it is to run a business.

I see no fault in them for not wanting warehouses full of mobos.

[TempestCatto]

You've clearly never heard of Apple or Adobe. While I do not think it's right, it's pretty standard practice to upsell parts. Your local car mechanic does it all the time.

[Lord Bloobus]

1 minute ago, TempestCatto said:

You've clearly never heard of Apple or Adobe. While I do not think it's right, it's pretty standard practice to upsell parts. Your local car mechanic does it all the time.

So I'm not allowed to be upset that they did a good job till they fucked him out of over $100? Pretty much the feel I'm getting from every reply. That you're fine with this.

[Guest]

Just now, TempestCatto said:

You've clearly never heard of Apple or Adobe. While I do not think it's right, it's pretty standard practice to upsell parts. Your local car mechanic does it all the time.

 

They don't seem to be upselling. They pick from a handful of instock boards and you have the CHOICE for a more expensive mobo if needed.

Their selection is limited, but hey... they are a prebuilt company, not a boutique shop.

[GDRRiley]

they just don't keep many low end boards in stock. yes its a pain for lower end systems.

really ryzen is what he should be getting

[Lord Bloobus]

2 minutes ago, Den-Fi said:

They don't seem to be upselling. They pick from a handful of instock boards and you have the CHOICE for a more expensive mobo if needed.

Their selection is limited, but hey... they are a prebuilt company, not a boutique shop.

So it's alright for them to sell something that has no business being in there, to people who don't know better? That's called bad business practice, and I call it predatory to the consumer.

[Lord Bloobus]

1 minute ago, GDRRiley said:

they just don't keep many low end boards in stock. yes its a pain for lower end systems.

really ryzen is what he should be getting

Then they should list the lower tier anyways and add a caveat that it might take an extra week to ship, not straight up jump to a board that has no business being paired with a 10400.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

18 minutes ago, Lord Bloobus said:

10400

It might be the 10600/10600k

[Guest]

Just now, Lord Bloobus said:

So it's alright for them to sell something that has no business being in there, to people who don't know better? That's called bad business practice, and I call it predatory to the consumer.

That's your opinion.
If NZXT deems these the parts they want in their computers, then that's what they picked.

Better value systems exist at different companies. No one forced him to pick BLD.

It could have been avoided with more research on your friend's part.

If NZXT had a bunch of cheaper options and simply did not offer them to you friend, that is one thing. But that is NOT what happened here.

This is like being mad at your friend for buying a $50k car from a brand that doesn't make a car cheaper than that, but $20k cars exist from other makers.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Lord Bloobus said:

Then they should list the lower tier anyways and add a caveat that it might take an extra week to ship, not straight up jump to a board that has no business being paired with a 10400.

And who is going to manage the extra inventory?

They don't have to have lower tiers just because you don't like the higher ones.

There are other brands.

[Lord Bloobus]

I underestimated how completely fine you people seem to be about someone new to PCs getting screwed out of money, get out of this post if you think this is fine.

 

Seriously, it's not, you don't want to be taken advantage of. Now keep that same mindset for others.

[TotallyNotGigabit]

If you're that much in doubt: Build your own. If anything this is one of the downers with builders. If I ran a business doing so I'd have to profit somehow in order to afford more parts to build more desktops for people.

 

 

I get that you're not happy, but this is the reason I ended up building it myself. And it was fun doing it that way.

 

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Lord Bloobus said:

I underestimated how completely fine you people seem to be about someone new to PCs getting screwed out of money, get out of this post if you think this is fine.

 

Seriously, it's not, you don't want to be taken advantage of. Now keep that same mindset for others.

I understand that you're upset that your friend spent more than he needed to, but you have to understand that NZXT has to stock, warranty, support, test, validate, etc everything that they sell. Doing this for 5 boards vs 20 is the difference between then existing as a company, and not existing. BLD is smaller than you're imagining. There are bigger SIs that can afford to have a better selection. BLD is not one of them.

 

This is why research is important. BLD is for people who want to select a few games, then get a system that has been validated to run them. You pay a premium for that convenience.

[IkeaGnome]

But I have a 10400 picked here and another prebuild site offers Z series mobos...

 

Spoiler

 

[Moonzy]

9 minutes ago, Lord Bloobus said:

get out of this post if you think this is fine

this isnt very discussion oriented mindset, now is it?

 

10 minutes ago, Lord Bloobus said:

you don't want to be taken advantage of.

then do 5 minute of research before clicking the purchase button

maybe asking someone who knows about it is a good start

[GDRRiley]

11 minutes ago, Lord Bloobus said:

I underestimated how completely fine you people seem to be about someone new to PCs getting screwed out of money, get out of this post if you think this is fine.

 

Seriously, it's not, you don't want to be taken advantage of. Now keep that same mindset for others.

I really don't care because to me NZXT build is for 1 of 2 camps. select game and res leave it at that or I know what i want but I don't want to spend the time building and testing it.

and if your in boat 1 and you want some more info ask around. I started out on this forum years ago asking some really stupid questions.

[IkeaGnome]

6 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

I really don't care because to me NZXT build is for 1 of 2 camps. select game and res leave it at that or I know what i want but I don't want to spend the time building and testing it.

and if your in boat 1 and you want some more info ask around. I started out on this forum years ago asking some really stupid questions.

Even on their site if you look at the "less GaMeR" builds the prices aren't too bad. They do use the EVGA BR series which isn't too hateful from a builder. Left to right is $699, 899 and 999 USD. Decent mark up still, but they have to make money somewhere. 

 

Spoiler

 

[Lord Bloobus]

20 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

this isnt very discussion oriented mindset, now is it?

 

then do 5 minute of research before clicking the purchase button

maybe asking someone who knows about it is a good start

I realize that, but I'm blown away how okay everyone is with this in our niche. This isn't acceptable in any sort of way, and to most users here hardware knowledge is casual, but to anyone else what we know is very advanced. The majority of first time buyers will not know it, and we should call out bad practice when we see it, especially when we're passionate about it and getting others excited about it.

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, Lord Bloobus said:

The majority of first time buyers will not know it, and we should call out bad practice when we see it, especially when we're passionate about it and getting others excited about it.

I can see what you mean, but also what other people are saying makes sense.

BLD is not the service to use if you want a lower budget PC, if you ask me.

Their lower end options might be lacking, causing them to configure very skewed rigs like what you've shown.

[Lord Bloobus]

1 minute ago, Moonzy said:

I can see what you mean, but also what other people are saying makes sense.

BLD is not the service to use if you want a lower budget PC, if you ask me.

Their lower end options might be lacking, causing them to configure very skewed rigs like what you've shown.

Once again, the ignorance of first timers is to blame, but it doesn't mean that we should allow it to go on. My friend moved from console to PC, so he probably only heard of the NZXT site and didn't know of any others. If he'd come to me I'd have saved him hundreds of dollars.