[EXPERIENCE/RANT] System76 send me the wrong config computer that I spent $2700 for and their customer service is TERRIBLE.

[LordZeuss]

Hello. I am posting here due to the BAD experience I have with system76 so far and I wanted to share with others

 

I am a Linux user, and I have used PopOS for awhile and liked it. I am in the market for a new laptop, so I decided I would support them - and I speced out a Serval WS for ~2500 ($2700 after tax and etc). The estimated build time is a business week or two, so I paid an additional $60 to have expedited assembly (3 business day guarantee). You also pay for shipping, so I paid 40 for shipping, 60 for expedited assembly. I ordered on a friday, and it shipped on tuesday. Arrived on thursday (yesterday).

 

I purchased a 4k screen (additional like 400 from the base price) and I received a 1440p display on my 'custom built' machine. Frustrating, considering I just spent $2700 on a computer.. I expect it to be correct the first time. I submit a support ticket, and give them a call. I am told from Stetson - an employee there, that I will have to ship my machine back, and once they have it, they will "expedite" shipping me a new one. Sounds to me like its no big deal. However I just paid a lot, and this is a $240 mistake. I paid for a higher spec - I want it.

 

He follows up with me in email to my ticket, saying that someone from the hardware team will be in touch shortly. I respond to that email basically saying thanks, and I would like to get this process going quickly, as I need this computer and I just spent a small fortune to purchase it, and for a company that isn't huge and has a reputation of good customer service, I would hope that this gets addressed rather quickly and promptly.

 

I received a new email (today - one day later) from Jordi - again not sure what department - that they will setup an RMA request and that could take a business day. Today being a friday, I likely won't hear back until monday, but I understand that, although frustrating that since this is THEIR mistake, and that it's not being pushed to the top of the pile.

 

However Jordi's email is about a RMA RETURN. I have specifically stated in both my email and over the phone to Stetson that I want a correctly configured system to be shipped to me. I now have responded asking if that is the case or what the actual deal is.

 

Am I wrong for wanting to have some form of compensation either? I'm hoping they prep the system and essentially overnight it to me once I have put this one in the mail OR once they have it in their hands. Is wrong of me to expect this for such a premium product? It doesn't seem they will do that. Quite a shame really.

 

Overall, I'm disappointed. Angry, but more disappointed and bummed about the whole situation. I purchased this computer for work, as my other one was on its last legs, and now I'm going to have to jump through several hoops, and nobody over at system76 seems to give a shit frankly that they messed this up. No apology, just a "we understand you're not happy with your product" type of response. Seems auto-generated than from a real human, or a copy-pasta. It's a real shame because this laptop is actually pretty nice and I'm mostly happy with it - minus the fact that I didn't get what I paid for. Literally.

 

TLDR: system76 sent me a computer under the spec that I purchased, and they don't really seem to give a shit that they inconvenienced me, and I'm going to have to jump through hoops to get it fixed. I think that is ridiculous since this isn't a mega corp like a dell/lenovo/razer etc.

 

 

 

UPDATE: I managed to get on the phone with them again. They filed my claim wrong, they put it in for a return, even though I had requested a replacement with the right spec. They had to create a new ticket. They said they will work on shipping it to me ASAP but have to clear it with their team lead - and he even agreed that something needs to be done about express assembly that I paid for and was all for nothing since it was the wrong thing.

 

I admittedly am frustrated and a little impatient because I did the express assembly and everything for a reason, and now it's my time that's lost because I have to deal with this. I understand mistakes happen, but I don't think I'm being too ridiculous.

 

Also - I didn't pay $240 for RMA. That's the difference in spec from the 1440p config and 4k config.

[podkall]

3 minutes ago, LordZeuss said:

However I just paid a lot, and this is a $240 mistake. I paid for a higher spec - I want it.

did you pay 240$ extra for the RMA, or what is that about?

[LogicalDrm]

Honestly. This sounded like two things. One is human error. It happens, and so far they seem to be doing what they can to fix the mistake. And two, you being in hurry and extra stressed because of that.

 

If you take a breath and think this through, nothing catastrophic has happened yet. You've lost maybe that $100 for express handling, and that's what you could be compensated for. But other than that, it seems like Systems76 is going through with standard process. RMA = return merchandise authorisation. Yes, usually related to warranty, but also just return of wrong products and purchase errors.

 

$3k for custom PC is not small fortune. It's big sum, sure. But at the moment, it's not lost money.

[Dutch_Master]

You have every right to be upset about this as well as being vocal about the situation you were put in by no fault of your own.

 

However, stay civil and courteous, especially on public platforms like this. Not doing so will actually harm your case should it ever get out of hand and you'd have to resort to the Court system.

 

Best of luck!

[podkall]

6 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

If you take a breath and think this through, nothing catastrophic has happened yet. You've lost maybe that $100 for express handling, and that's what you could be compensated for. But other than that, it seems like Systems76 is going through with standard process. RMA = return merchandise authorisation. Yes, usually related to warranty, but also just return of wrong products and purchase errors.

it's funny that "express" doesn't handle on weekends, like sure people get to have day-offs, but shouldn't you get the $-off if your express feature gets expunged because of weekend?

[IkeaGnome]

26 minutes ago, LordZeuss said:

that I will have to ship my machine back, and once they have it, they will "expedite" shipping me a new one. Sounds to me like its no big deal.

Correct, this is no big deal and is in line with how almost any other company would handle this. 

Graphics card breaks? Take it out of your machine and send it to them. They'll test it then send you either it back repaired or a repaired one.

 

It's also not uncommon for the customer to foot the bill for shipping back to the manufacturer. 

26 minutes ago, LordZeuss said:

Am I wrong for wanting to have some form of compensation either? I'm hoping they prep the system and essentially overnight it to me once I have put this one in the mail OR once they have it in their hands. Is wrong of me to expect this for such a premium product? It doesn't seem they will do that. Quite a shame really.

What kind of compensation are you wanting? The rest of this paragraph reads as you're angry about something you think might not happen and are jumping to conclusions.

26 minutes ago, LordZeuss said:

However Jordi's email is about a RMA RETURN. I have specifically stated in both my email and over the phone to Stetson that I want a correctly configured system to be shipped to me. I now have responded asking if that is the case or what the actual deal is.

And I would wait until their response to get angry. You'll need an RMA to be able to send the laptop back to them. They might have said Return based on how they have to handle it in their own inventory as they're likely going to have to return the laptop and parts, and issue the ones you were meant to get. 

 

26 minutes ago, LordZeuss said:

Today being a friday, I likely won't hear back until monday, but I understand that, although frustrating that since this is THEIR mistake, and that it's not being pushed to the top of the pile.

Why should your RMA be pushed to the top of the pile in front of others who are waiting? This hardly seems fair to anyone but you.

 

26 minutes ago, LordZeuss said:

and for a company that isn't huge and has a reputation of good customer service, I would hope that this gets addressed rather quickly and promptly.

This all reads like you contacted them first a few days ago about this. I'd almost hazard a guess at maybe Wednesday? 

 

Calm down. As you said, it isn't a huge company. Give them time for man power to keep up. As you said, they have a reputation for good CS and I see now where that they're giving you bad CS besides you being impatient.

5 minutes ago, podkall said:

it's funny that "express" doesn't handle on weekends, like sure people get to have day-offs, but shouldn't you get the $-off if your express feature gets expunged because of weekend?

That $60 was express assembly. Not RMA.

 

24 minutes ago, podkall said:

did you pay 240$ extra for the RMA, or what is that about?

Guessing this is where they got the $240 cost. 

[Dedayog]

4 minutes ago, Dutch_Master said:

You have every right to be upset about this as well as being vocal about the situation you were put in by no fault of your own.

 

However, stay civil and courteous, especially on public platforms like this. Not doing so will actually harm your case should it ever get out of hand and you'd have to resort to the Court system.

 

Best of luck!

What situation?  He has a 1440p screen and not a 4K one.

 

On a laptop this is a very small issue.  So yes, while it needs to be fixed... he can either get a refund for it or get a 4K properly installed.

 

The machine still works, we assume.  No hardship is incurred.

 

The $100 is lost cuz it's spent for a 100% working machine anyway. 

 

I would ask for shipping there and back to be paid, so you're not out of pocket ANYTHING after the initial spend.  You can ask for something for your inconvenience, but don't hold your breath.

 

Again, no hardship was incurred.  A screen res is annoying but not impactful.

[podkall]

5 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

That $60 was express assembly. Not RMA.

they should RMA the "express" "assembly" cost if they effed it up

[IkeaGnome]

Just now, podkall said:

they should RMA the "express" "assembly" cost if they effed it up

How do you send the cost back to the manufacturer to be fixed or looked at?

[podkall]

1 minute ago, IkeaGnome said:

How do you send the cost back to the manufacturer to be fixed or looked at?

I don't know, through reasonable complaining on their support platform?

[LogicalDrm]

19 minutes ago, podkall said:

it's funny that "express" doesn't handle on weekends, like sure people get to have day-offs, but shouldn't you get the $-off if your express feature gets expunged because of weekend?

Usually they state "business days" with handling/assembly. For express shipping, that will depend on the company used.

 

12 minutes ago, podkall said:

they should RMA the "express" "assembly" cost if they effed it up

They could. Or they could compensate what was paid. There are multiple ways to go here, but none will please customer who thinks they have been targeted.

 

Also, I thought this was desktop. And was wondering about the screen and asking whole machine back. With laptop, makes much more sense. And also gives more pound to main notion for OP:

 

Chill.

 

E: And $3k is incredible midtier price for custom laptop. Pretty much every bit beefier business laptop starts at $2500.

Edited March 8 by LogicalDrm

[IkeaGnome]

1 minute ago, podkall said:

I don't know, through reasonable complaining on their support platform?

I think you're mixing what RMA means with "refund"....

[Lunar River]

35 minutes ago, LordZeuss said:

and they don't really seem to give a shit that they inconvenienced me,

Everything in your post is incredibly standard though? Yes they sent you a laptop with the wrong monitor panel, but they are taking it back to fix it... what's the problem? Is it just the money you paid for the quicker turn around?

[podkall]

9 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

They could. Or they could compensate what was paid. There are multiple ways to go here, but none will please customer who thinks they have been targeted.

 

Also, I thought this was desktop. And was wondering about the screen and asking whole machine back. With laptop, makes much more sense. And also gives more pound to main notion for OP:

 

Chill.

I mean I guess so, but also, how can you screw up "assembly" of something that boils down to finding specific product/box and passing it down/shipping it?

[wanderingfool2]

7 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

$3k for custom PC is not small fortune. It's big sum, sure. But at the moment, it's not lost money.

I mean, isn't it a bit condescending to state $3k is not a small fortune.  Some people in my life would consider $3k a small fortune because they don't have the luxury to save up enough money to just drop $3k; so for them making a $3k purchase can seem like a small fortune.

 

Also, it technically is lost money if one has to wait additional time after paying for an express service.  If someone was willing to pay for the express service, then the company delivering essentially has so far responded in a way that will make the whole process a lot longer than normal service then it's lost money in the sense of lost time. [It's actually why if a company offers an express service they should be very quick if there was an error on their end to rectify the situation].  If it's meant for work purposes as well then the delay in getting the system is also lost productivity.

 

Mistakes do happen, but again if the person paid for express and reported that the wrong one was sent actions should be take within a few hours; not over the course of business days.

 

Like honestly, even a smaller company I worked for had a FedEx account where if need be we could just quickly generate a return slip send it to them [it's not something that should take a business day or two to sort out].  I get that they would want to verify they have the computer first, but again if they offer things like express assembly and such then those are the risks you take [in the sense they should be responding within a timely manor]

 

5 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

They could. Or they could compensate what was paid. There are multiple ways to go here, but none will please customer who thinks they have been targeted.

Honestly though, if someone is paying extra for a specific service just plain compensating the fee should never be an acceptable route [especially when their mistake makes the experience overall worse and counter to the service they paid for].

 

As an example for a plane, if you purchased priority 1st class seating and they overbooked and made you sit in economy...I guarantee no airline would ever consider the price difference to fair compensation.

 

As per their site, express [well rush assembly] guarantees 1 day assembly to shipping point vs 10 day normal.  So yea, I'd argue that he would be entitled to a bit more than just the refund of the service paid for...especially given that best case scenario it's going to be another 3 business days.  

[LogicalDrm]

Just now, podkall said:

I mean I guess so, but also, how can you screw up "assembly" of something that boils down to finding specific product/box and passing it down/shipping it?

That would be it. Mislabeling, haste, multiple similar configs etc. Making mistakes is easy, fixing them in satisfactory way is hard. More so when your customer hasn't done customer service job ever in their life.

[LogicalDrm]

2 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

I mean, isn't it a bit condescending to state $3k is not a small fortune.  Some people in my life would consider $3k a small fortune because they don't have the luxury to save up enough money to just drop $3k; so for them making a $3k purchase can seem like a small fortune.

It is and it's not. It's big money if you don't usually spend that kind of money to anything, or overall have low income. But there my own thinking process would not even think of that kind of spending. So if you are willing to spend that much on PC, it's not fortune.

 

2 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

Also, it technically is lost money if one has to wait additional time after paying for an express service.  If someone was willing to pay for the express service, then the company delivering essentially has so far responded in a way that will make the whole process a lot longer than normal service then it's lost money in the sense of lost time. [It's actually why if a company offers an express service they should be very quick if there was an error on their end to rectify the situation].  If it's meant for work purposes as well then the delay in getting the system is also lost productivity.

I didn't get the feel that OP would have lost revenue from this mistake. Just that they feel entitled over paying for something that's luxury/fortune for them, but mid to high tier for the manufacturer.

 

2 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

Honestly though, if someone is paying extra for a specific service just plain compensating the fee should never be an acceptable route [especially when their mistake makes the experience overall worse and counter to the service they paid for].

 

As an example for a plane, if you purchased priority 1st class seating and they overbooked and made you sit in economy...I guarantee no airline would ever consider the price difference to fair compensation.

With flights I would argue it's different. But you are correct. After certain threshold, they will be adding gift cards etc. Though we are talking about individual customer. Not company.

 

I'm not business owner. So I don't have proper answers here. Maybe gift card, maybe something else. But like I said earlier, if customer is pissed enough, nothing short of full refund and free product is enough.

 

2 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

As per their site, express [well rush assembly] guarantees 1 day assembly to shipping point vs 10 day normal.  So yea, I'd argue that he would be entitled to a bit more than just the refund of the service paid for...especially given that best case scenario it's going to be another 3 business days.  

I saw that rush is 3 business days. Shipping could be 2 days fastest probably, unless there's border crossing included. Another 2 days return, then couple of days to verify condition and do reconfiguration.

[manikyath]

i agree about the refund on "rush assembly" - in my opinion due to the error that was made they did not meet the delivery of this service, so it should not be billed.

 

but having that said...

 

like most businesses, system76 is staffed mostly by human beings, and there are two things about human beings:

- humans make mistakes.

- humans dont like their customers going irate over due process, and are less likely to aid you towards a solution if you immediately go irate about little things.

 

yes, it sucks.. just the other week i've had to contact a webstore about 50 cents worth of fuses.. it's BS, it took several E-mails, their customer service was dense AF.. but in the end they sent me 50 cents worth of fuses free of charge. 

 

so.. System76 made a mistake, you're handling this process poorly, and the more infuriated E-mails you send them, the slower they will be at responding because they now need to spend time dealing with your infuriated E-mails.

 

from plenty of experience being at both sides of an RMA process.. this is how you handle it:

- after noticing the error, you package everything back up as neatly as it came out the box, because the device will most likely be going back.

- you E-mail or call their support, explaining your issue briefly, but detailed enough to contain all the necessary information (when you made the order, when it arrived, what the mistake was, and you express polite disappointment in the fact you paid extra for a rush order). express what you would "prefer" the outcome to be, and ask what the options are (do you want a partial refund on the misconfiguration, do you want to receieve a correct spec laptop, something else?)

- they will most likely come back to you quite quickly with some options, if you called initially they'll probably ask you to fill out a form by E-mail because handling long order numbers over the phone is literal hell..

- be civil with the customer service agent, they're just doing their job, they're as willing to make it right for you as you are willing to let them do their job. if you push against them, they will push back, that's human nature.

- dont EVER ask them to make exceptions in their returns handling.. it's probably listed as an RMA because that's the most efficient way for them to handle it.. and what's more efficient to them makes it faster for you.

 

in the end, there's nothing they can do to speed up the process at this point.. and while that sucks, this is something that happens on literally every online retailer on a daily basis. and i'm sorry to inform you.. customers like you are very common, and very disliked by support staff, because of how much extra effort you take to handle.

 

besides that.. there's a few specific things i want to touch on:

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

considering I just spent $2700 on a computer.. I expect it to be correct the first time.

every client expects it to be correct the first time.. that's how it works. and in over 99% of cases it is correct the first time.. but since humans are involved, so are mistakes.

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

that I will have to ship my machine back, and once they have it, they will "expedite" shipping me a new one. Sounds to me like its no big deal. However I just paid a lot, and this is a $240 mistake. I paid for a higher spec - I want it.

uh.. yes? they do expedited shipping on the replacement to correct your $240 mistake. why is this a problem?

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

I would like to get this process going quickly, as I need this computer and I just spent a small fortune to purchase it, and for a company that isn't huge and has a reputation of good customer service, I would hope that this gets addressed rather quickly and promptly.

you just made yourself today's lunchtime topic. you spent just as much as any other customer, and stating this honestly implies that they "wouldnt normally" make a habit of handling issues as fast as possible.

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

and that it's not being pushed to the top of the pile.

to the top of which pile? the pile of customer service issues of people with a similar cost order? do you assume there is some sort of "waiting list" for them to work trough? there's a lot of moving cogs in setting up an RMA - it needs to be processed internally, the correct machine has to be set aside, shipping both ways needs to be arranged, etc.

 

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

Am I wrong for wanting to have some form of compensation either?

like i've stated before, i'd friendly request a refund on the rush order cost.. but if you've already been grinding their gears that possibility is decreasing because it's a courtesy thing on their end.

 

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

Is wrong of me to expect this for such a premium product?

the more premium and small quantity a product is, the larger the chance for mistakes gets.

at my place of work we have two 'services': production and repairs. the production side makes large scale orders for big customers, repairs is essentially 'single units' other than the occasional pair or a handful.

production sees maybe one or two returns on hundreds of batteries, repairs sees a few percent in return rates, because the chance of errors is bigger when doing custom work, and unfortunately the chance of misunderstandings grows too.

 

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

It doesn't seem they will do that. Quite a shame really.

here's your key problem.. you're already assuming they wont handle it well, before they've started handling the actual return.. you've put yourself in a position where whatever the outcome is, you will never be satisfied with it.. and their experienced service reps have already realised this too.

 

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

disappointed

understandabel, i'm disappointed every time something i order is wrong.. i'm also disappointed every time a thing i've done at work ends up as an RMA.

 

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

Angry

that's a you problem. just saying it as it is. anger only slows down this process..

 

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

No apology, just a "we understand you're not happy with your product" type of response. Seems auto-generated than from a real human, or a copy-pasta.

pre-formed messages allow their customer service to move faster..  again.. it's a thing done to get the correct item in your hands FASTER.

 

1 hour ago, LordZeuss said:

 

TLDR: system76 sent me a computer under the spec that I purchased, and they don't really seem to give a shit that they inconvenienced me, and I'm going to have to jump through hoops to get it fixed. I think that is ridiculous since this isn't a mega corp like a dell/lenovo/razer etc.

you assume they dont give a shit, because you've already decided to be an unhappy customer from the very start of this.. nothing points towards this being true, other than that you somehow expect to be treated like the king's arse because you bought a product they probably sell douzens of each day. you're not special.

also.. have you been trough dealing with HP? even as a HP partner dealing with their "premium" support it's INCREDIBLY dense to the point setting up an RMA can take HOURS on the phone if you're not prepared.

(and yes - HP has premium support and peasant support, depending on how much you paid...)

[LordZeuss]

2 hours ago, podkall said:

did you pay 240$ extra for the RMA, or what is that about?

No the 240 is the price difference between what I received vs what I ordered.

[Godlygamer23]

Mistakes happen, and while you expect it to be correct, errors do occur, and you just happen to be the one guy that became part of the statistic. Unless you're paying for some kind of accelerated RMA process, you're gonna through the same process as everyone else. 

 

At my workplace, we have a percentage of "on-time delivery" and it's rarely ever 100%. Why? Because we're either late on certain shipments, or we get RMAs. Every customer wants their shit correct...if they didn't get what they ordered, then it definitely should be made right. However, there's likely a process/procedure in place for RMAs for this company, just like my workplace has a procedure.

[LordZeuss]

2 hours ago, podkall said:

it's funny that "express" doesn't handle on weekends, like sure people get to have day-offs, but shouldn't you get the $-off if your express feature gets expunged because of weekend?

In some cases yes, but I understand most companies don't work weekends, so I'm not bothered by it. I ordered on a Friday, and was hoping to have it by the third day. And they did, on the 3rd day they shipped it.

[LogicalDrm]

9 hours ago, LordZeuss said:

No the 240 is the price difference between what I received vs what I ordered.

Then that's not what you should be compensated on. You are asking what you paid. If you in the end get it, only thing lost is express fees and shipping. It's only lost money if you accept what you get and don't go through process.