Initial Business Response /* (1000, 20, 2015/10/06) */
The amount paid by the customer has already been processed. It should have already reflected on their account. It was processed on the 5th of October and it will depend on how quickly their bank will process on their end.
Initial...
Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 22, 2015/10/07) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
We have received no word or refund from this company since my last attempt to request a reasonable refund time frame by email on 09/30/2015. Over the weekend we received return correspondence from the Attorney General's office saying that Digital Storm had told them our issue has been resolved but we have, of course, so far not been refunded yet. We are tired of chasing down even cursory responses. We have read about the negative experiences reported by so many previous customers who were promised refunds directly or via third party agencies but many never received their refunds while others did not receive their refunds in full. Until we receive the refund directly and in full in our account, we cannot accept or trust any further response from Digital Storm. I do have a Yelp account and am considering going back to it to add our review once we have more time, but in the meantime, it is safe and sad to say that we have fully gone from initial admiration and excitement - to hoping to never, ever having to deal with this company again.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 24, 2015/10/08) */
We have already refunded the amount of the system minus the shipping fee. It is clearly stated in our terms and conditions that the customer agreed upon purchasing of the system. Please refer below for reference:
L. RETURNS
Refunds are only issued for the sale amount at current selling market value (see section "O") of the component(s) inside the computer, and does not include freight charges.
Additionally, a 15% restocking fee is applied to computer system unless all of the three items below have been met:
Your purchase is returned back to Digital Storm within 30 days of original delivery.
There are defective hardware component(s) inside the computer such as a memory stick causing stability/performance issue.
Digital Storm or a third-party computer company contracted by Digital Storm has verified that the stability/performance issues are in direct result of the hardware inside the computer and NOT the software such as the operating system, drivers, or software.
Digital Storm cannot offer a full refund for the purchase price of the product(s) unless there were issues such as defective hardware component(s) inside the computer such as a memory stick causing stability/performance issues. The returned merchandise must include its original packaging, manuals, and all accessories. All sales on software items are final. Opened accessories such as the monitor and speakers will not be refunded. Digital Storm will not refund shipping costs and will not pay shipping for returning packages.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 26, 2015/10/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
It has now been over thirty days since our initial unfortunate purchase date and over two weeks since we have returned the product and done everything we were supposed to have done, and our refund is still pending. We wanted so much to like them since the beginning, however, Digital Storm has lived up to their reputation, and has been, by far and after all, the most difficult and obviously anti-consumer business we have ever had the displeasure of dealing with in a long time. Thank you Revdex.com for serving as a welcome and impartial third-party mediation option in this otherwise extremely trying and unnecessarily extended process.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/23) */
First and foremost, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. The purchase date of the system was December 11, 2013 and we did not hear anything from the customer until April 15, 2015. Customer called in...
due to slow data transfer rate on his hard drives. The the call after did not happen until June 22, 2015 regarding his system having overheating issue. The first call happened a year and 4 months after the purchase date which is why the laptop is already out of part replacements warranty.
The issue with the drivers was due to the upgrade the customer did on his operating system. The customer upgraded to Windows 10 that made the drivers that came with the system incompatible with the new operating system. The system is currently on it's way back to the customer.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/11/25) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I am well aware of the status of the warranty (as I have explained on multiple occasions) and the reason for the time gap in getting service done was done in order for me to find some sort of alternative to be able to continue my work. That is irrelevant to this case. The simple fact is that I contacted management multiple times, requested detailed information about what was done to my machine, and requested the old battery be sent back. Plus their were numerous problems and mistakes on Digital Storm's end that they will not own up to (see the hard drive that broke during their portion of shipping to the manufacturer, which they have flat out denied as their fault, nor will they pursue an insurance claim). None of this was taken care of. Furthermore the replacement motherboard and system was not correctly setup by Digital Storm or Sager. As is explained in the diagnostics by uBreakiFix, a 3rd party I took the machine to upon major crashes within an hour of receiving the machine. I did not cause the problems due to an upgrade, and this is verifiable via uBreaks documentation that I provided to Digital Storm on multiple occasions. Not to mention their initial repair took 4 whole months, during which I initiated over 80% of the communication.
Furthermore... Very little has been done on Digital Storm's end to help (in their wording) "Make this right". I was given promises about how my situation should never have happened, how they would make sure to keep me informed, how they were going to make sure never happens again... And well... it happened again. I once again demand they look back at my requests and provide me the information I have requested.
Also, the computer is supposed to be delivered today. If that information was not sent back with it. I will be contacting them again. If there are continued problems, and I will be having uBreakiFix look at the machine again to make sure thee mobo is correctly configured this time, I will be seeking restitution for the time this has taken and for a 'botched' repair.
Digital Storm has not proven themselves trustworthy by not providing reports on the progress of my issue in a lasting form (email/paper etc...). They also have lied to me directly about the status of my machine, about notes left by their customer service agents for management to contact me. I was told during my last phone conversation that notes from a particularly helpful CS agent were never received by management. I cannot tell you what they have done because they do not provide proof. And I will continue this fight until the information I have asked for is delivered.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2016/01/06) */
We are in constant communication with the customer. In fact, I just got off the phone with him. If you want some clarification, I have informed the customer that you might call for verification. We are finalizing the solution as we went back to diagnosis stage.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 15, 2016/01/07) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This is not exactly a 'no'. As it stands the situation is not yet resolved. However seeing the complaint has helped get my problems escalated to another agent at Digital Storm that actually understands (on the technical side) the the severity of the machine's problems. [redacted] has been quite helpful when responding however I have noted that there has been a constant (and this predates his involvement as well) problem of getting the relevant information to the correct parties. The new contact [redacted] passed ** to yesterday is the first person whom understood and acknowledged the severity of the diagnostic by uBreakiFix. At this time the complaint should not be closed until the machine is again stable, as after running the memory tests the new contact (Keegan) had me run, the crashes still occur every half hour. I should have further information regarding the problems later today or tomorrow after following up with Keegan and [redacted] about the tests.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 6, 2015/03/09) */
In the interim, Digital Storm have provided the refund, less the 4.9% banking charge that had been agreed upon.
The refund was sent to my paypal account. I, in a breathtakingly boneheaded move, inadvertently sent the refund back to...
Digital Storm.
I called and emailed asking them to resend the refund and was treated courteously and professionally by Digital Storm staff.
The refund was resent by the close of business March 6th.
While I have been disappointed by the Company that I had once held such a high opinion of and which in the past had provided me with outstanding computers, I am satisfied with the final solution.
I ordered a high end PC from Digital Storm. Generic specs 1000W PS, Twin GTX 980 Strix Video cards PCI-E and M.2 HDD High end Memory, Z170 Asus Motherboard, liquid cooling, etc.. The whole works cost me around $5,0000. I immediately noted that one of my video cards and my CPU was getting very hot. I contacted tech support, they remote accessed my PC and had no solution. Eventually my PC shut down completely and I had to return it. They claimed one of the GPU slots was bad and replaced the MB. I got it back and the internal fans are making noise, the fan on the graphic card is hitting the PCI-E HDD and the Video card is STILL overheating. WORST COMPANY EVER. I've built my own PC's for the last decade and should have done it here, but thought they were high end. Don't be fooled by the slick web site. Oh, and it took over 3 weeks to get my computer fixed.
Horrible experience with this company. I bought a $3600 computer for it to come broken. I tried to see what they could do for me because it didnt work. I asked for a phone call from management and its been two days and still no call. When I call they say someone will get back to you or send a email. I sent two emails and still nothing. Finally after three days they wanted me to start taking apart a brand new computer that I just paid money for them to build it. Finally I just got a return shipping label to send it back to them. They didnt even offer to help with a different computer or to solve the problem. Another thing is when they asked me to open the computer, I see a fan inside which has dust on it and is used. So now im thinking they salvage parts together and build these computers.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2014/07/14) */
Hello,
Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention. We have been extensive correspondence with the customer since last week. Our phone staff members do introduce themselves to the customers they speak with over the phone. ...
Otherwise, how would Mr.[redacted] know our staff member's last name to begin with.
Our senior technician, [redacted] offered three different options for resolving the ram slot being covered but the customer referred to all of our input/recommendations as "technical mumbo jumbo."
The liquid cooler does have its own advantages and disadvantages. It would allow easy access to the one slot.
Since the customer is still under warranty, we are happy and willing to accept having his system shipped back to our facility for repair and or inspection. However, we are not responsible for covering the cost of shipping or upgrades (switching to a liquid cooler, etc.)
This is clearly stated in our terms of agreement. We do apologize for any miscommunication/misunderstanding which may have occurred between our staff and the customer.
We value all of our customers and want to provide the best possible customer service experience.
Thank you.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2014/07/15) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Dear Mr. / Mrs. / it?
This letter is confusing, mixing up the facts and not helpful at all.
This letter is not the answer I was waiting for.
I stated clearly my problem.
I stated clearly how I would solve the problem.
What else do I have to do?
Why should I have to pay the shipping charges?
Digital storm didn't build the computer properly in the first place.
It is digital storms responsibility to solve this problem for free, including shipping.
Digital storm is not willing to use good business practices to
solve this problem like gentlemen.
I think it would be in both our interests
if I send you your handcrafted masterpiece back,
for a full refund.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
P.S.:
My complaint started in March; not last week; after finding out the free NVIDIA Bundle is missing and "[redacted]" (we talked to him, in March, on the phone) promised to send it by e-mail, he never did!!
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 12, 2014/07/19) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
7/19/2014
Dear anonymous (at DIGITAL STORM)
Let's try this one more time!
I purchased a NEW CUSTOM MADE COMPUTER from DIGITAL STORM;
I chose every part for my computer from your list of available parts;
It is not my fault that you have this monster of a cooler in your program;
If I had known the size of it, I most certainly would not have chosen it;
I would have chosen a smaller one;
That is why I wrote:
DIGITAL STORM installed the wrong CPU COOLER;
That CPU COOLER is TOO BIG;
It is so big it covers memory bay "A1";
You cannot use three memory bays;
You have to be able to use "A2&B2" or "A2&B2&A1&B1;
I simply suggested a liquid cooler because of its size;
How this is accomplished is up to your skilled professionals.
Fixing the random cracking noise needs another specialist. Not me.
How this is accomplished is up to your skilled professionals.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 15, 2014/07/23) */
We can offer him an upgrade to a liquid cooler (Vortex 120mm.) Our senior technician can help him install the cooler over the phone. If the customer would feel more comfortable, he can send it back and we can replace it for him. We will also cover the cost of shipping. We are willing to work with our customers to ensure they are satisfied with our customer service
Bureau:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted]. I would prefer to leave this complaint open until the refund has been processed. Sincerely, Andrew Kutta
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/06/06) */
The customer wanted to do a return and have us waive the restocking fee due to her son not liking the product. The product was not at all defective. We even threw in a free game and didn't even charge her shipping. She is okay to...
return it but we will NOT waive the restocking fee. This is in our terms and conditions that the customer agrees to at the time of purchase. Below is the correspondence. There is nothing further we are able to do for her except honor her refund as long as we receive it in the condition we shipped it out in.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/06/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
My point to requesting a waiver of the restocking fee is that the company DID NOT keep their promises as stated on their website and were dishonest in telling me where my computer was, with terrible customer service except for one representative who was helpful.
I also wanted to cancel the order after the last mix-up of not then shipping the computer via expedited shipping as they promised (I have the shipping documentation)but since it had "already been shipped", I could not.
Here is what they claim on their website just as plainly as the terms they expect of their consumer:
"Ships Within 72-Hours
Forget about the long wait and delays of a traditional custom built-to-order system, VANQUISH II ships within 72-hours from the moment you place your order." This was taken from their site at: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/vanquish-ii.asp
My point is that if they can stick by their terms for the consumer, then I should be able to stick by the terms they set for themselves. Since they did not stick with their own terms, they should waive my fee. I had 2 unreturned phone calls when no one there could find my computer anywhere or a tracking number. I placed this order on 5/14/14 and did not receive it until 6/5/14. Does this sound like what they promise to their customers above?
As for the free game ... if it was in the package, they can have it back. I never used or activated a free game. Let's face it, does a free game make up for a $150 restocking fee? No, this is not a fair deal.I have never in my lifetime been so disappointed with a company.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/06/11) */
Greetings:
We understand and acknowledge the customer's response.
However, We stand by our decision. We are unable to waive a restocking fee.
The customer keeps complaining about shipping terms they were subject to but we didn't even CHARGE her for shipping.
We did this just to make up for the misunderstanding/inconvenience which may have taken place.
We take care of all of our customers in professional and timely manner as practicable.
We spent time building the system and it was in fact shipped. In order to avoid being charged a restocking fee, the customer needs to cancel their order BEFORE it is built.
Otherwise, we lose time and money building it and shipping it.
Finally, to reiterate, in order to be fair to all of our customers and our business, the terms and agreement was agreed upon at the time of sale and we can't make any further exceptions by waiving the restocking fee.
Thank you for your time and consideration in the matter.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2014/06/13) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I would like to know address the business' response as it is false and inaccurate. Please read my last response more carefully Digital Storm before responding.
Digital Storm stated: The customer keeps complaining about shipping terms they were subject to but we didn't even CHARGE her for shipping.
My response: I do NOT keep complaining of the shipping terms I was subject to. I am complaining that Digital Storm DID NOT ABIDE BY THEIR OWN TERMS ADVERTISED AND PROMISED ON THEIR WEBSITE AS TO WHEN THE SYSTEM WOULD SHIP. THEREFORE IT IS ONLY REASONABLE THAT THEY ALLOW FOR AN ADJUSTMENT IN THEIR RESTOCKING FEE TERMS.
Digital Storm response: We did this just to make up for the misunderstanding/inconvenience which may have taken place.
My response: THEY DID NOT OFFER FREE SHIPPING FOR MY INCONVENIENCE. THAT WAS PART OF THE ORIGINAL SALE CONDITIONS. THIS WAS NO FAVOR TO ME. WHAT THEY DID OFFER WAS FREE EXPEDITED SHIPPING SINCE THEY HAD MADE A MISTAKE. THE EXPEDITED SHIPPING DID NOT OCCUR EITHER. I HAVE ALL OF THIS DOCUMENTED VIA TRACKING AND WRITTEN RESPONSE FROM THEM.
Digital Storm response: We take care of all of our customers in professional and timely manner as practicable.
My response: THIS IS FALSE AS I HAD PREVIOUSLY STATED. I HAD 2 PROMISED RETURN PHONE CALLS THAT NEVER HAPPENED OVER THE COURSE OF AT LEAST 4-5 WORKING DAYS. THE 3RD PHONE CALL I MADE FINALLY CONNECTED ME TO SOMEONE WHO ADMITTED "THERE HAD BEEN A MISTAKE".
Please Digital Storm, focus on what the actual complaint is. Admit when you are wrong. Offer your customer something for their inconvenience. Stick by your own terms since you expect your customers to stick by your terms. You had no problem charging and taking almost $1000 immediately after purchase. You have had my money this entire time from the moment I placed the order. Your offers you suggest you made to make up for the inconvenience aren't even what I was promised. You obviously have no taken this complaint seriously as you don't even know what was said or done.
I am still requesting a waiver of the restocking fee. You have provided terrible service and continue to show no remorse or action of making this situation right. I hope that future customers check the number of complaints on the Revdex.com website before making a purchase.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/12/29) */
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We have received your system back the first time on April 3, 2014 for issues with powering on and did our troubleshooting. Upon learning that...
the issue was with the hardware, your system was sent back to the manufacturer. Once we got it back, we did our stress testing and Quality Assurance Check. We shipped your system back to you and you received it on June 18, 2014. Turn around time usually is longer if the system is needed to be returned to the manufacturer. And in regards to the motherboard and disks, please elaborate more so I could fully understand. If you can give the old and the new specifications, it would be great so I could take a look at it further. It would be unfair to all our other customers if a full refund would be the solution for this. Even though your system is out of warranty, we would waive the labor fee. We don't normally do this but I do understand the frustration of not having a fully functioning system . You will only be responsible for any parts that needs replacement and the shipping. And if the same hardware is the issue this time, we will work with the manufacturer in getting you a replacement one at no cost to you. We will also gladly extend the warranty of your system to another 6 months on labor
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/12/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Thank you for your response, however, the above arrangement is not acceptable. I have my receipt and my receipt shows that my system is under warranty for 3 years. So extending 6 months is no extension. Also, the system was shipped to you in the middle of March and not even touched until April. The issue with the computer is again the same issue. The system will not power up. There should be no charge for parts, labor or shipping. Also, we have not had the system that was paid for. Fairness to your customers would be standing behind your product and customers should have the expectation that they should receive their system back as they first purchased it and it should not have service issues in less than a year. Quality assurance should have also confirmed that we got the same system we paid for and that all its parts and disks were included when it was returned.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/01/12) */
I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Your system is technically out of warranty but we will make an exception and gladly fix it for you at no cost provided that the issues are not physical damages or user error. Thank you for choosing Digital Storm and again, I apologize for any inconvenience.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/01/13) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I appreciate the information and offer to fix the laptop at no cost and would very much like to accept, however, the business still does not address the issues in the original complaint. Allow me to reiterate the issues. The laptop was not returned to us after the first "fix" as we purchased it, e.g. the motherboard was changed and no disks were returned. The other issue was that we were without the use of that laptop for five months. Although I appreciate the response, I do not see any resolution for this issue. I am hesitant to accept a "partial" fix to this problem. Further, as stated in the previous response, my sales receipt states "3 year warranty". I would very much like to resolve this issue, however, just fixing the laptop does not address the entire issue. Also, I am not sure what the statement of "technically out of warranty but we will make an exception". Further, a laptop that does not power up is not a "user" error as most people know how to push a power button. Also, the above resolution does not address the cost of shipping.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/01/23) */
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We are more than happy to be of any help to our valued customers to ensure we deliver a fully functional system. We undergo all system returns...
to testing and QA process to check for defects. After carefully assessing your system, our team found no defective issues related to the product. And because of that, we have to charge the re-stocking fee since this was a custom ordered system. On 11 December 2014, one of our phone staff by the name of [redacted] informed you of the re-stocking fee. And if you would also visit our website, it is stated in the Terms and Conditions page. We at Digital Storm value our customers satisfaction and would like to make up any inconvenience this issue may have caused you. Let us know if you would want to give us another chance and we will be more than happy to offer you store credit where you can apply the 15% towards a new purchase of a unit from us. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and you can contact us anytime if you have any questions.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 10, 2015/02/02) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
No, that is absolutely unacceptable. You said it yourself "we deliver a fully functional system" that is not what I received. The statement you've made is absolutely erroneous. It does not surprise me that you found "nothing wrong" with the system I returned. This is interesting because if you are running the same test you did when the laptop was shipped, of course you wouldn't find anything wrong. You performed the following test and still managed to send me a defective product.
"Your order is now placed into one of our specialized test benches. The installation of the operating system, drivers and any applications that are specific to the system you ordered are completed here. Our Digital Storm Integration Engineer will also install any demos, benchmark utilities, and burn-in software necessary to correctly monitor your systems performance throughout our burn-in process."
This is astounding; I am being penalized and charged for a mistake made on your end. That is the equivalent of me selling you a brand new car with a defective speedometer and charging you 20% to return it. In what world of business does that make sense?
Again, I want the restocking fee to be waived. I cannot make myself anymore clear.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2015/02/09) */
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. All systems that goes out from our facility to our valued customers get series of testings and quality check to ensure 100% functionality. I am aware that you called in on the December 11th, the day after you received your system and requesting for a refund. We have offered to troubleshoot any issues you were having and you declined and proceeded with the refund request. You were also informed that if the system is found with no hardware issues, a 15% restocking fee will be charged. We put the system in testing once we received and found no hardware issues on our end. We are still more than happy to work with you to resolve your system's issues and provide a great system.
It is really unfortunate that this has to happen to his system. As much as we try to avoid, there will be times that system issues would just persist. A refund request has already been submitted and it should reflect within the next couple of days back to the customer's account.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/04/24) */
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I understand how frustrating it can be to be in your situation. As for your concern about replacement parts, we do honor that and guarantee that...
we will replace any parts deemed defective and necessary to make your system 100% functional. The warranty covers all parts replacement however, the customer shall shoulder the shipping cost after the 30 day period. In regards to the errors you are encountering, I will try to break down your calls to better see a clearer picture.
1st Call: 26th of January; Seeking assistance removing a trojan virus you mentioned that might have been from your school.
2nd Call: 24th of February; You are requesting information for PDF application that you could use.
3rd Call: 9th of March; seeking assistance hooking up 2 monitors to your system.
4th Call: 17th of March; Reported computer is going slow.
5th Call: 23rd of March; Reported system is locking up and asking for an upgrade in video card.
6th Call: 17th of April; Reported system won't boot up.
Only on your 4th call you have started to report the system having issues that might be a hardware defect. And on your 6th call, we have tried troubleshooting over the phone but our technicians see the need for your system to be checked here in our facility to better diagnose and see the root cause of your issues. We also do not use for new orders nor for repairs used components. If you can elaborate more on your system looking old so I could look into it further.
To resolve all of your concerns, we are more than happy to cover shipping costs to have your system come back here in our facility and for our team to take care of your concerns. Once we get your system here, we will do the stress testing and we will also try to duplicate all the issues you mentioned to see what's causing it. Then we will replace all parts that is necessary to fix your system at NO cost to you. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/04/27) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I want my money back because the parts were bend. and the part came back broken and no handling fees, or restocking fees. all of it back 3,499.94 I want the total price back, I been trying to get it fix but no one seem to be wanting to fix my problem they didnt give you all of the calls they lied on most of it. please just give me a refund full refund.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 21, 2015/05/26) */
1) Apollo Case - $198.00
2) Asus X99 Deluxe - $465.00
3) GTX 980 - $714.00
Total: $1,377.00
The customer has 2 options. First, we are offering to repair the system fully, however, since there are physical damages, we can't cover the replacement parts. We are willing to repair the system for a discounted price of $1,100.00 giving the customer a discount of $277.00 plus we will cover the shipping back to her. Second, we can offer a refund. The total amount the customer has paid is $3,182.66. We would deduct the amount of the damaged parts which is $1,377.00, that will leave her with $1,805.66 refund. She then can then file a claim to the shipping company she used to send her system to us to get the full amount of what she paid originally.
We would have handled the claim on our end if we were the shipper. But since the customer sent the system by herself, she is the only one that can file a claim.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 23, 2015/05/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
They said, that would repair any parts that was damaged, in the process in shipping, I have talked to ups and everything its not there fault, they said digital storm shipped with a big dent, in the side of the case, which I believe was true, and I can't pay 1,100$ I used all my money on that pc, and I can't pay no more if they just repair it fully, without any costs, I would be happy to keep it. otherwise, if they can't repair it just give me a full refund, of the purchase price and the gtx 980 is only 500 dollars, not 747.00 I looked it up. and all those parts are handy downs, from their old computers because when it got shipped here it got allot of errors, and overclocked failed all the time, but many others time it was ok but it failed to boot, I just want it (full) refunded, or (full)repaired.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2014/06/30) */
Hello,
The card and the system is 4 years old, order # XXXXX Should the customer want a replacement, this should be addressed with EVGA which is the manufacturer of the card and it is still covered under their warranty. It has been...
out of warranty with us since 2011. We only cover 1 year warranty for parts.
Thank you for your time and attention in this matter.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 10, 2014/07/02) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The card has a 3 year warranty with EVGA, which is now expired and besides the point. In the warranty information I received with the system, it states, "During the warranty period, DIGITAL STORM will repair or replace, the defective hardware, for defects specified by me, free of charge for labor and parts. I have a 5 year warranty and it does not say anything about only 1 year for parts. You are bound to the terms of the warranty and therefore are required to resolve this yourself. By refusing to do so, you are failing to fulfill the warranty, which is illegal. It would be much appreciated if you could either repair or replace the card, in accordance with the warranty. Thank you.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 12, 2014/07/07) */
Hello,
The 5 year limited warranty covers the parts for 3 years and the labor for 5 years. Since the system is over 4 years old it is still outside of our limited warranty for parts replacements. Even with this it was EVGA that send the defective hardware to the customer. EVGA is the one responsible for repair/replacement of the defective video card. Digital Storm is not responsible for any defect in an RMA component.
Thank you.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 14, 2014/07/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Nowhere in my warranty information does it specify 3 years for parts replacement and 5 years for labor. It simply states 5 year limited warranty. Either way, labor is still covered. And if labored is still covered, then Digital Storm is obligated to repair the card, stress test it, and send it back to me. This is what should of happened in the first place, but instead I received a different card that was not properly tested, even though parts replacement is supposedly no longer covered. I do not have an active warranty with EVGA; I have an active warranty with Digital Storm and therefore they are responsible for either repairing the card themselves or sending the card to EVGA on my behalf for repairs. I should not have to directly work with EVGA, as that would be a failure to fulfill the warranty by Digital Storm. Thank you.
Consumer Response /* (3000, 23, 2014/07/30) */
Was charged $29.10 for shipping and received a broken replacement and was unable to receive a refund.
My order number is XXXXX. I was charged $29.10 on my credit card for shipping as part of their warranty service and received a replacement that was dead on arrival. I have tried to contact the company about the refund, but didn't receive a response. I was able to have the manufacturer of the item replace it, as that is what Digital Storm advised me to do. I was told before I ordered the replacement service that if the replacement doesn't solve the problem, then I would receive a refund on the shipping, as that is Digital Storm's policy. However, I have yet to receive the refund of $29.10 or hear anything back from them.
Business Response /* (4000, 25, 2014/08/07) */
Hello,
Generally if a customer has paid for a part to be shipped and the part shipped is defective, we cover the cost to reship the item. The customer does not get a refund of the original shipping paid. If the part was shipped by EVGA and it arrived defective, then it is up to EVGA to cover the cost of shipping out the replacement. From our perspective, we do not owe the customer any refunds.
We would cover the cost to ship out additional parts if the original replacement part fails to resolve the issue. However, Digital Storm does not have a policy in which we refund the shipping fee is a replacement part fails to resolve the issue.
Thank you.
Consumer Response /* (4200, 27, 2014/08/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I spoke with EVGA on the matter and this is what they had to say: Good afternoon,
I'm not showing any transaction taking place through us, EVGA. According to your RMA we shipped the product back UPS ground, which has zero cost to you. Which means the only cost associated with your EVGA RMA was using a shipping company to have the product sent to the our warehouse. EVGA then generate a shipping label to have the product sent back to you. If you had to pay shipping both ways, my assumption is this was with the other company. If you paid to ship the card to your system builder, then unfortunately, we would not be able to cover this charge. This would be something that you would have to contact the system builder to see if they can work with you to have that refunded. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Once again I do apologize for any confusion with the RMA process with EVGA, however we are unable to refund your shipping cost. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.
Not to mention the charge on my card showed up as Digital Storm. Therefore EVGA did not receive any of the money that I paid, but that is beside the point.
I am clearly being conned by Digital Storm and I will not stand for it. You made my pay $29.10 for a defective product. If your policy says you shouldn't give me a refund and instead you are supposed to cover the shipping of the defective product back, then how comes when I wanted to ship the card back to you, Digital Storm said that I have to send it to EVGA because it's not Digital Storm's problem anymore? You are contradicting yourself and makes me wonder if Digital Storm cares one bit about customer satisfaction. In line with your policy I am supposed to have the shipping of the defective product back to you covered, but you would not let me ship it back to you. You made me ship it back to EVGA instead, which is a violation of your policy and my trust. So why was I not allowed to ship the defective card back to Digital Storm and have the shipping covered like your policy states? Why was I forced to deal with EVGA instead and have to pay more shipping? Please explain that to me.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/10/03) */
Thank you for bringing to our attention the issue with [redacted] (Order # XXXXX)
Unfortunately, after speaking with our technicians, we are learning that Mr. [redacted] indicated he would be filing a complaint with the Revdex.com against us...
because we explained to him that we do not cover USER DAMAGE.
The damage done to his pins on the cord are user caused. Therefore, we can't cover the cost of replacing the power cord since they were bent by the customer. In order to replace the pins, the entire cord would have to be replaced.
The battery is considered to be USER CONSUMBALE PART which is not covered under warranty.
If the customer had contacted us in regards to the failure of his battery, or the ring having issues, we would have been happy to assist him if we were aware of the defects. However, the product is now outside of warranty.
We would be happy to assist him if he would wish to purchase replacement parts.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/10/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I did contact Digital Storm in regards to the bad battery clasps where the call technician was rude and was also given the run around. The damage to the pins is constantly plugging the cord back in because of the ring coming out of the charging port. Also how can 1 $4000 custom laptop have a shorter warranty than a $650 acer. Clearly the Digital Storm realizes how poorly they are built.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/10/13) */
Greetings:
The manufacturer's warranty on the hardware is one year. Unfortunately, it is beyond that time frame. Therefore, it is not covered.
If Mr. [redacted] had called, there would be a record of his calls made to reach us as we keep records of all correspondence with customers and all technical issues related to an order.
We do apologize that he states our staff has been rude to him.
We are willing to offer a discount for the cord if he would like to purchase a replacement.
However, the customer would still be responsible for shipping fees.
Thank you,
Digital Storm Management
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2014/10/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Because a $250 charging cord should last longer than a $50 cord especially since it hasn't left the bedroom I live in. If this product's quality was as great as Digital storm says it is then it either would not have gone bad yet or it would be a fluke and be replaced.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/17) */
As per my conversation with our customer, we normally do not approve a refund request on systems almost a year old but we would make an exception with Mr. [redacted]. We would refund the customer 50% of his total amount paid minus the shipping...
charges which he is aware of.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/08/02) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Initially, Digital Storm was very responsive and agreed to provide the refund. After the system was received, I started to receive updates that they were fixing the system to be resent back to me. This was confusing as I thought we came to an agreement about the refund. I even received a call explaining the problem they found and how they had a technician working to fix it. When I told the person I was speaking to that the system was a refund system she seemed confused. I had to call Digital Storm again and remind them of the refund at which point they began the refund process. It goes to show that their is an obvious lack of employee coordination and pretty sad that I have to do a follow up call to get a refund properly processed since the email I sent to the admin went unanswered.
In the end however, they agreed to the refund which is what I wanted so I have no further complaints or problems.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/01/26) */
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I understand that you have reported your issue prior to the expiry of your hardware warranty. We would be glad to have your system shipped here...
in our facility to do a thorough testing and quality check to resolve the issues you're having. However, a full refund cannot be issued at this time as the system is more than a year old. You received your system 22 January 2014 and reported first issue on 17 February 2014. We had that issue sorted out and no issues were reported until 31 December 2014. If there will be parts that needs to be replaced, we will do so and will be at no cost to you. We do not normally do this but we will make an exception to make up for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We at Digital Storm value our customers and strive to provide 100% satisfaction. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2015/01/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Well, I have received your response, and have also told you in private email (as opposed to using the Revdex.com response system) that your technicians have inadequately already dealt with this problem, and this legally represents the repair services (whether on-site or not) necessary for the purpose of warranty consumer law. I have been incredibly patient with your company by allowing them to rectify this issue multiple times and over a course of months in dealing with them, and your HR employee [redacted] even suggested a laptop replacement while on the phone with me after he suggested warranty repairs (this can be verified by the fact that you should be utilizing recorded lines, and can therefore listen to the conversation). He may not have been informed to the amount of time already spent where Digital Storm performed warranty work through your technical support tickets, and I took the liberty of explaining that to him in summary. The latest technical support ticket was opened around December 15th, which means your previous statement of said support not being sought until the 31st as you just claimed in your Revdex.com response is false. Whether such falsity is malicious or accidentally stated I do not know. It did, however, take your technical support employee a month to finally reach the point where he attempted to deny that my system was covered under parts warranty, even though when I first started talking to him in reference to the support ticket it was still covered. But, regardless of that fact, the point remains that this issue existed before the warranty expired, and as stated in the California Civil Code 1793.1(B)(2) that your company has to adhere to because it operates out of California, that:
"If a defect exists within the warranty period, the warranty will not expire until the defect has been fixed. The warranty period will also be extended if the warranty repairs have not been performed due to delays caused by circumstances beyond the control of the buyer, or if the warranty repairs did not remedy the defect and the buyer notifies the manufacturer or seller of the failure of the repairs within 60 days after they were completed. If, after a reasonable number of attempts, the defect has not been fixed, the buyer may return this product for a replacement or refund."
Your technical support staff, as well as your HR representative, attempted to tell me that my system was out-of-parts warranty. As you can see from State of California law, this is most definitely not true, so what they had originally asserted to me was technically in violation of the Civil Code. Being covered under warranty, this does allow a certain level of options available to me as the consumer to seek relief from your defective hardware. Now, your technical support people have attempted to perform warranty work a total of 3 times to rectify this problem. The first was a hardware replacement that proved ineffective. The second was a driver update on hardware that might have been malfunctioning due to outdated drivers (as suggested by your technical support staff) and those drivers are required for proper operation of hardware within an Operating System environment, and the third was a final resort effort by your technician to solve this problem with a complete reformat and reinstall of the OS and all associated drivers. The "good faith effort" so far is representative of the legal amount of reasonableness to rectify this problem, all of which happened while the computer was under both parts and labor warranty periods. The Revdex.com stated in their email to me as the consumer to assist this process along by indicating:
"whether the business' response has resolved the complaint. If you find you are dissatisfied with the company's response, please provide us with a MIDDLE GROUND offer we can present to the company in an effort to resolve this dispute."
Therefore, as a middle ground resolution, instead of opting straight for a refund, I will allow your company to rectify this problem with a laptop replacement as dictated by law. This replacement can be in the form of a 1-for-1 laptop replacement, or if you no longer carry this particular item in stock, then a laptop you do carry in-stock for a price similar to that of what I paid would be sufficient. Granted, I would want to pick out the model laptop, to ensure it could meet my specific needs, and any overages on the amount of money it would then cost versus my original paid price due to hardware choices available I will be willing to pay additionally. The original price paid for the unit was $2,610 to be exact. Therefore a laptop replacement that goes over that amount I will gladly pay the difference. Either way, the defective hardware will be returned to you. Also, as I have said in private email to your HR employee ([redacted]), I have already given your company the allotted amount of reasonable attempts as dictated by law to conduct warranty work through your technical support staff, leaving only two possible solutions to rectify this problem, which is a laptop replacement or refund. As I have also stated to your HR Digital Storm employee, were the informal complaint attempts through the Revdex.com lead to an unsuccessful result, then I would also be contacting the State of California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General to file formal complaints with them for business practices that violate California Civil Code. Your company policies do not supersede the State laws through which your company operates when discussing matters of warranty work, which is thankfully why those laws exists, because they protect the consumer from such practices. Repeated attempts to fix this through your technical support staff has already been done, and I have sufficient evidence to prove as much with the emails I was sent through the warranty work that was performed. There were also repeated attempts to contact your customer support staff through technical support tickets, many of which were never even replied to, even though they most definitely were received because your automated message would show after hitting the submit button that it was sent. Also, repeated emails were sent to managers to rectify this issue before it escalated to the point we are at now, and not one single time did a manager respond. Survey's with negative reports were also filled out, and an email was sent to me that the negative survey was received, attached with an apology in the email. The original message said:
"Dear [redacted](edited out for privacy reasons),
We have received your unsatisfactory feedback, a Digital Storm supervisor will review your feedback and be in touch with you shortly to find a resolution that will hopefully change your experience.
We are sincerely sorry and we understand that your happiness is a direct reflection of our efforts. By reviewing and learning from valuable customer feedback, we are able to constantly improve Digital Storm for our valued customers.
If there is anything else you would like to add to your comments below, please feel free to reply to this email. a manager would be contacting me to discuss the issue."
Unfortunately, I never received a response, and this has been indicative of my whole experience not just with your technical support staff, but also with your management group. Your overly insistent efforts to rectify this problem now that I have filed a report with the Revdex.com differs greatly than what my experience was prior to this point. You can obviously see my issue with trusting your company will continue to provide quality service in the form of repairs. So, because of this we are now past the point where warranty repairs will be an acceptable resolution, and will therefore rely on the other suggestions to rectify this problem as dictated by law. Your company's written contractual agreement on your limited warranty just so happens to mirror a few critical sections of the State law, one of those part which states: "Digital Storm's sole liability, under this warranty, for failure to repair or replace the hardware system after a reasonable number of attempts is limited to replacement or, at Digital Storm's sole discretion, refund of the original purchase price."
Now, the law does not explicitly state under what conditions a seller or buyer can make that determination, and instead I will rely only on your own contractual wording. The warranty work for the system repair has been performed though and fulfills the reasonable attempts necessary for legal liability. I will wait for your response on how to proceed. Your HR representative has already been informed of the legal recourse I will take if unsuccessful.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2015/01/29) */
As per your email today, you have agreed to send your system back to our facility for assessment. Once we have your system here, we will do the evaluation and determine if it's a hardware, software or user error issue. By doing this, we will have your system back here in our facility for the first time to check and confirm the issues discussed over the phone with our technical support team. We highly recommend doing this to better identify the issue you reported. There is a big difference, support wise trying to identify and troubleshoot your system over the phone and checking it on hand here in our facility. There are a lot of limitations with remote troubleshooting. From then, we can proceed with the corresponding action accordingly. Attached is your email today for reference:
"From: "[redacted]"
Sent: Thursday, January 29, XXXX X:XX AM
To: "[redacted]"
Subject: Laptop
I have wonderful news [redacted], my computer has just crashed again, which collectively over the year, and through 2 complete reformats and reinstalls of the OS by advisement of your technical support staff, has shown the inadequacy of Digital Storm's technical support efforts thus far. I will be attaching a diagnostic document to this email for your technicians review, as well as a picture of the screen error itself, so that all corresponding technical information can be reviewed by your technicians to determine the cause. Also, I will allow you to send out the prepaid shipping label, to ship the defective unit back to your facility to be analyzed (even though all analyzing of the system crashes has already been done remotely thus far). The reasoning behind this is simple. In just the same way your technical support has failed to adequately identify the source of these crashes and fix them appropriately, I am willing to bet they will receive the unit, diagnose it, and fail to both identify and fix the unit still. Through this additional attempt, which would now represent four attempts by your technical staff to fix this problem (that is, of course, for the support tickets they actually responded to, because many others were ignored), I will be able to show without a doubt that I have done everything I could do as the consumer to be as flexible as possible. Not only that, when your technical support team fails to properly identify the issue, and your company subsequently chooses not to replace or refund the unit, then I will take that additional evidence when I appear in court and will make a motion for summary judgment. In doing so, I will likely receive a favorable verdict with little to no effort. So, now that I am willing to fulfill Digital Storm's request to ship the unit back to them at no cost to myself (as explicitly stated by you that Digital Storm would fund the cost of shipping the unit, analyzing, repairing and replacing the unit if needed), I expect this to be done in a timely manner, and to receive the unit back in a timely manner as well. Otherwise I will also be taking that evidence with me to present to the court for failure to comply with California consumer protection laws against such hassling business practices and policies.
I expect to hear from you very soon, and with a prepaid shipping label no later than 7-10 days from now, which should be more than enough time to get said label. Additionally, as stated in my previous email this evening, I also do expect the contact information of the company owner. Seems how when I have reached the point necessary to file the lawsuit (if your company chooses not to repair or replace the unit after its 4th repair), he will likely have to be named on the suit as the owner of the privately owned company. Although I will leave that direct advisement on court procedures for filling out documents and naming individuals in the suit up to my attorney. "
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 14, 2015/02/02) */
The company was insisting that I send the computer to them to be analyzed. After it crashing twice within the last week, I have reluctantly agreed. This will be the final repair I will allow the company to perform to meet the legal obligation for reasonableness defined by law as a necessity before any replacement or refund. The competency of the technical support staff is truly telling based on their successes or failures. After repeated attempts to fix this problem, it will be interesting to find out whether they finally succeed after many failed attempts. If this final repair attempt does fail, I will notify the company within the allotted amount of time specified by law to then replace or refund the unit (California Civil Code 1795.6 subsection b). Also, the company has conceded the point after being showed the civil statute that explicitly states my unit is still covered under parts warranty, and is conducting this as a warranty repair after they were explained exactly how the law is written. Once the unit is returned after this repair, I will ensure that it meets the conditions or standards for merchantable items, otherwise appropriate notifications will similarly be made. The cause of the defect will be irrelevant at that point, and replacement or refund once again becomes necessary if they fail to fix it (see Oregel v. American Isuzu Motors, Inc. (2001) 90 Cal.App.4th 1094, 1102, fn. 8 109 Cal.Rptr.2d 583.). The company has also been notified in advance that failure to comply with the law by replacement or refund if the repair is unsuccessful will lead to costly legal repercussions pursuant to Civil Code 1794(subsection a & b). The time requirement for complainant/business responses through the Revdex.com will be too short now that it is being sent off, because the time needed to receive the unit back to ensure its conformity to consumer goods that are fit for their ordinary purposes will extend beyond this period. Therefore, I will be closing this complaint ticket, as it will no longer be useful. However, that does not imply that the company has met its legal obligations yet, as that will be determined in the near future. If the repair attempts are unsuccessful, and assuming the company violates the Civil Code sections requiring replacement or refund, an additional complaint with the Revdex.com will not be made, and instead this will be passed on to the Office of the Attorney General to investigate their noncompliance just prior to any lawsuit. So, once again the Revdex.com can officially close this complaint ticket even though the problem is not yet solved, because of the timeframe restrictions put in place by their system. If anyone is curious to whether the company has complied or whether this situation led to a lawsuit, local public record searches for docket numbers between now and no later than a year from now for Alameda County, CA could be utilized, as this is the predetermined venue for any such litigation. I appreciate what the Revdex.com is able to do as an informal dispute option, and it becomes a good gauge for the specific issues people might encounter with a business. I do not wish that any person have the same problems as I did with the company, and there is no saying that you will. But, always understand your rights prior to pursuing any action against the company, because there are many Consumer Protection laws that must be read before you will be well-versed. When in doubt, hire an attorney. You will be glad you did.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 20, 2015/10/06) */
The amount paid by the customer has already been processed. It should have already reflected on their account. It was processed on the 5th of October and it will depend on how quickly their bank will process on their end.
Initial...
Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 22, 2015/10/07) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
We have received no word or refund from this company since my last attempt to request a reasonable refund time frame by email on 09/30/2015. Over the weekend we received return correspondence from the Attorney General's office saying that Digital Storm had told them our issue has been resolved but we have, of course, so far not been refunded yet. We are tired of chasing down even cursory responses. We have read about the negative experiences reported by so many previous customers who were promised refunds directly or via third party agencies but many never received their refunds while others did not receive their refunds in full. Until we receive the refund directly and in full in our account, we cannot accept or trust any further response from Digital Storm. I do have a Yelp account and am considering going back to it to add our review once we have more time, but in the meantime, it is safe and sad to say that we have fully gone from initial admiration and excitement - to hoping to never, ever having to deal with this company again.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 24, 2015/10/08) */
We have already refunded the amount of the system minus the shipping fee. It is clearly stated in our terms and conditions that the customer agreed upon purchasing of the system. Please refer below for reference:
L. RETURNS
Refunds are only issued for the sale amount at current selling market value (see section "O") of the component(s) inside the computer, and does not include freight charges.
Additionally, a 15% restocking fee is applied to computer system unless all of the three items below have been met:
Your purchase is returned back to Digital Storm within 30 days of original delivery.
There are defective hardware component(s) inside the computer such as a memory stick causing stability/performance issue.
Digital Storm or a third-party computer company contracted by Digital Storm has verified that the stability/performance issues are in direct result of the hardware inside the computer and NOT the software such as the operating system, drivers, or software.
Digital Storm cannot offer a full refund for the purchase price of the product(s) unless there were issues such as defective hardware component(s) inside the computer such as a memory stick causing stability/performance issues. The returned merchandise must include its original packaging, manuals, and all accessories. All sales on software items are final. Opened accessories such as the monitor and speakers will not be refunded. Digital Storm will not refund shipping costs and will not pay shipping for returning packages.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 26, 2015/10/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
It has now been over thirty days since our initial unfortunate purchase date and over two weeks since we have returned the product and done everything we were supposed to have done, and our refund is still pending. We wanted so much to like them since the beginning, however, Digital Storm has lived up to their reputation, and has been, by far and after all, the most difficult and obviously anti-consumer business we have ever had the displeasure of dealing with in a long time. Thank you Revdex.com for serving as a welcome and impartial third-party mediation option in this otherwise extremely trying and unnecessarily extended process.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/23) */
First and foremost, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. The purchase date of the system was December 11, 2013 and we did not hear anything from the customer until April 15, 2015. Customer called in...
due to slow data transfer rate on his hard drives. The the call after did not happen until June 22, 2015 regarding his system having overheating issue. The first call happened a year and 4 months after the purchase date which is why the laptop is already out of part replacements warranty.
The issue with the drivers was due to the upgrade the customer did on his operating system. The customer upgraded to Windows 10 that made the drivers that came with the system incompatible with the new operating system. The system is currently on it's way back to the customer.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/11/25) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I am well aware of the status of the warranty (as I have explained on multiple occasions) and the reason for the time gap in getting service done was done in order for me to find some sort of alternative to be able to continue my work. That is irrelevant to this case. The simple fact is that I contacted management multiple times, requested detailed information about what was done to my machine, and requested the old battery be sent back. Plus their were numerous problems and mistakes on Digital Storm's end that they will not own up to (see the hard drive that broke during their portion of shipping to the manufacturer, which they have flat out denied as their fault, nor will they pursue an insurance claim). None of this was taken care of. Furthermore the replacement motherboard and system was not correctly setup by Digital Storm or Sager. As is explained in the diagnostics by uBreakiFix, a 3rd party I took the machine to upon major crashes within an hour of receiving the machine. I did not cause the problems due to an upgrade, and this is verifiable via uBreaks documentation that I provided to Digital Storm on multiple occasions. Not to mention their initial repair took 4 whole months, during which I initiated over 80% of the communication.
Furthermore... Very little has been done on Digital Storm's end to help (in their wording) "Make this right". I was given promises about how my situation should never have happened, how they would make sure to keep me informed, how they were going to make sure never happens again... And well... it happened again. I once again demand they look back at my requests and provide me the information I have requested.
Also, the computer is supposed to be delivered today. If that information was not sent back with it. I will be contacting them again. If there are continued problems, and I will be having uBreakiFix look at the machine again to make sure thee mobo is correctly configured this time, I will be seeking restitution for the time this has taken and for a 'botched' repair.
Digital Storm has not proven themselves trustworthy by not providing reports on the progress of my issue in a lasting form (email/paper etc...). They also have lied to me directly about the status of my machine, about notes left by their customer service agents for management to contact me. I was told during my last phone conversation that notes from a particularly helpful CS agent were never received by management. I cannot tell you what they have done because they do not provide proof. And I will continue this fight until the information I have asked for is delivered.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2016/01/06) */
We are in constant communication with the customer. In fact, I just got off the phone with him. If you want some clarification, I have informed the customer that you might call for verification. We are finalizing the solution as we went back to diagnosis stage.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 15, 2016/01/07) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This is not exactly a 'no'. As it stands the situation is not yet resolved. However seeing the complaint has helped get my problems escalated to another agent at Digital Storm that actually understands (on the technical side) the the severity of the machine's problems. [redacted] has been quite helpful when responding however I have noted that there has been a constant (and this predates his involvement as well) problem of getting the relevant information to the correct parties. The new contact [redacted] passed ** to yesterday is the first person whom understood and acknowledged the severity of the diagnostic by uBreakiFix. At this time the complaint should not be closed until the machine is again stable, as after running the memory tests the new contact (Keegan) had me run, the crashes still occur every half hour. I should have further information regarding the problems later today or tomorrow after following up with Keegan and [redacted] about the tests.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 6, 2015/03/09) */
In the interim, Digital Storm have provided the refund, less the 4.9% banking charge that had been agreed upon.
The refund was sent to my paypal account. I, in a breathtakingly boneheaded move, inadvertently sent the refund back to...
Digital Storm.
I called and emailed asking them to resend the refund and was treated courteously and professionally by Digital Storm staff.
The refund was resent by the close of business March 6th.
While I have been disappointed by the Company that I had once held such a high opinion of and which in the past had provided me with outstanding computers, I am satisfied with the final solution.
I ordered a high end PC from Digital Storm. Generic specs 1000W PS, Twin GTX 980 Strix Video cards PCI-E and M.2 HDD High end Memory, Z170 Asus Motherboard, liquid cooling, etc.. The whole works cost me around $5,0000. I immediately noted that one of my video cards and my CPU was getting very hot. I contacted tech support, they remote accessed my PC and had no solution. Eventually my PC shut down completely and I had to return it. They claimed one of the GPU slots was bad and replaced the MB. I got it back and the internal fans are making noise, the fan on the graphic card is hitting the PCI-E HDD and the Video card is STILL overheating. WORST COMPANY EVER. I've built my own PC's for the last decade and should have done it here, but thought they were high end. Don't be fooled by the slick web site. Oh, and it took over 3 weeks to get my computer fixed.
This is a update to my previous Digital Storm has made things better, they offered me a free case change and a upgraded Warranty. :) super happy.
I would infact now recommend them. It just took a bit of shoving to get them to fix the situation.
Horrible experience with this company. I bought a $3600 computer for it to come broken. I tried to see what they could do for me because it didnt work. I asked for a phone call from management and its been two days and still no call. When I call they say someone will get back to you or send a email. I sent two emails and still nothing. Finally after three days they wanted me to start taking apart a brand new computer that I just paid money for them to build it. Finally I just got a return shipping label to send it back to them. They didnt even offer to help with a different computer or to solve the problem. Another thing is when they asked me to open the computer, I see a fan inside which has dust on it and is used. So now im thinking they salvage parts together and build these computers.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2014/07/14) */
Hello,
Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention. We have been extensive correspondence with the customer since last week. Our phone staff members do introduce themselves to the customers they speak with over the phone. ...
Otherwise, how would Mr.[redacted] know our staff member's last name to begin with.
Our senior technician, [redacted] offered three different options for resolving the ram slot being covered but the customer referred to all of our input/recommendations as "technical mumbo jumbo."
The liquid cooler does have its own advantages and disadvantages. It would allow easy access to the one slot.
Since the customer is still under warranty, we are happy and willing to accept having his system shipped back to our facility for repair and or inspection. However, we are not responsible for covering the cost of shipping or upgrades (switching to a liquid cooler, etc.)
This is clearly stated in our terms of agreement. We do apologize for any miscommunication/misunderstanding which may have occurred between our staff and the customer.
We value all of our customers and want to provide the best possible customer service experience.
Thank you.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2014/07/15) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Dear Mr. / Mrs. / it?
This letter is confusing, mixing up the facts and not helpful at all.
This letter is not the answer I was waiting for.
I stated clearly my problem.
I stated clearly how I would solve the problem.
What else do I have to do?
Why should I have to pay the shipping charges?
Digital storm didn't build the computer properly in the first place.
It is digital storms responsibility to solve this problem for free, including shipping.
Digital storm is not willing to use good business practices to
solve this problem like gentlemen.
I think it would be in both our interests
if I send you your handcrafted masterpiece back,
for a full refund.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
P.S.:
My complaint started in March; not last week; after finding out the free NVIDIA Bundle is missing and "[redacted]" (we talked to him, in March, on the phone) promised to send it by e-mail, he never did!!
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 12, 2014/07/19) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
7/19/2014
Dear anonymous (at DIGITAL STORM)
Let's try this one more time!
I purchased a NEW CUSTOM MADE COMPUTER from DIGITAL STORM;
I chose every part for my computer from your list of available parts;
It is not my fault that you have this monster of a cooler in your program;
If I had known the size of it, I most certainly would not have chosen it;
I would have chosen a smaller one;
That is why I wrote:
DIGITAL STORM installed the wrong CPU COOLER;
That CPU COOLER is TOO BIG;
It is so big it covers memory bay "A1";
You cannot use three memory bays;
You have to be able to use "A2&B2" or "A2&B2&A1&B1;
I simply suggested a liquid cooler because of its size;
How this is accomplished is up to your skilled professionals.
Fixing the random cracking noise needs another specialist. Not me.
How this is accomplished is up to your skilled professionals.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 15, 2014/07/23) */
We can offer him an upgrade to a liquid cooler (Vortex 120mm.) Our senior technician can help him install the cooler over the phone. If the customer would feel more comfortable, he can send it back and we can replace it for him. We will also cover the cost of shipping. We are willing to work with our customers to ensure they are satisfied with our customer service
Better Business...
Bureau:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted]. I would prefer to leave this complaint open until the refund has been processed. Sincerely, Andrew Kutta
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/06/06) */
The customer wanted to do a return and have us waive the restocking fee due to her son not liking the product. The product was not at all defective. We even threw in a free game and didn't even charge her shipping. She is okay to...
return it but we will NOT waive the restocking fee. This is in our terms and conditions that the customer agrees to at the time of purchase. Below is the correspondence. There is nothing further we are able to do for her except honor her refund as long as we receive it in the condition we shipped it out in.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/06/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
My point to requesting a waiver of the restocking fee is that the company DID NOT keep their promises as stated on their website and were dishonest in telling me where my computer was, with terrible customer service except for one representative who was helpful.
I also wanted to cancel the order after the last mix-up of not then shipping the computer via expedited shipping as they promised (I have the shipping documentation)but since it had "already been shipped", I could not.
Here is what they claim on their website just as plainly as the terms they expect of their consumer:
"Ships Within 72-Hours
Forget about the long wait and delays of a traditional custom built-to-order system, VANQUISH II ships within 72-hours from the moment you place your order." This was taken from their site at: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/vanquish-ii.asp
My point is that if they can stick by their terms for the consumer, then I should be able to stick by the terms they set for themselves. Since they did not stick with their own terms, they should waive my fee. I had 2 unreturned phone calls when no one there could find my computer anywhere or a tracking number. I placed this order on 5/14/14 and did not receive it until 6/5/14. Does this sound like what they promise to their customers above?
As for the free game ... if it was in the package, they can have it back. I never used or activated a free game. Let's face it, does a free game make up for a $150 restocking fee? No, this is not a fair deal.I have never in my lifetime been so disappointed with a company.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/06/11) */
Greetings:
We understand and acknowledge the customer's response.
However, We stand by our decision. We are unable to waive a restocking fee.
The customer keeps complaining about shipping terms they were subject to but we didn't even CHARGE her for shipping.
We did this just to make up for the misunderstanding/inconvenience which may have taken place.
We take care of all of our customers in professional and timely manner as practicable.
We spent time building the system and it was in fact shipped. In order to avoid being charged a restocking fee, the customer needs to cancel their order BEFORE it is built.
Otherwise, we lose time and money building it and shipping it.
Finally, to reiterate, in order to be fair to all of our customers and our business, the terms and agreement was agreed upon at the time of sale and we can't make any further exceptions by waiving the restocking fee.
Thank you for your time and consideration in the matter.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2014/06/13) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I would like to know address the business' response as it is false and inaccurate. Please read my last response more carefully Digital Storm before responding.
Digital Storm stated: The customer keeps complaining about shipping terms they were subject to but we didn't even CHARGE her for shipping.
My response: I do NOT keep complaining of the shipping terms I was subject to. I am complaining that Digital Storm DID NOT ABIDE BY THEIR OWN TERMS ADVERTISED AND PROMISED ON THEIR WEBSITE AS TO WHEN THE SYSTEM WOULD SHIP. THEREFORE IT IS ONLY REASONABLE THAT THEY ALLOW FOR AN ADJUSTMENT IN THEIR RESTOCKING FEE TERMS.
Digital Storm response: We did this just to make up for the misunderstanding/inconvenience which may have taken place.
My response: THEY DID NOT OFFER FREE SHIPPING FOR MY INCONVENIENCE. THAT WAS PART OF THE ORIGINAL SALE CONDITIONS. THIS WAS NO FAVOR TO ME. WHAT THEY DID OFFER WAS FREE EXPEDITED SHIPPING SINCE THEY HAD MADE A MISTAKE. THE EXPEDITED SHIPPING DID NOT OCCUR EITHER. I HAVE ALL OF THIS DOCUMENTED VIA TRACKING AND WRITTEN RESPONSE FROM THEM.
Digital Storm response: We take care of all of our customers in professional and timely manner as practicable.
My response: THIS IS FALSE AS I HAD PREVIOUSLY STATED. I HAD 2 PROMISED RETURN PHONE CALLS THAT NEVER HAPPENED OVER THE COURSE OF AT LEAST 4-5 WORKING DAYS. THE 3RD PHONE CALL I MADE FINALLY CONNECTED ME TO SOMEONE WHO ADMITTED "THERE HAD BEEN A MISTAKE".
Please Digital Storm, focus on what the actual complaint is. Admit when you are wrong. Offer your customer something for their inconvenience. Stick by your own terms since you expect your customers to stick by your terms. You had no problem charging and taking almost $1000 immediately after purchase. You have had my money this entire time from the moment I placed the order. Your offers you suggest you made to make up for the inconvenience aren't even what I was promised. You obviously have no taken this complaint seriously as you don't even know what was said or done.
I am still requesting a waiver of the restocking fee. You have provided terrible service and continue to show no remorse or action of making this situation right. I hope that future customers check the number of complaints on the Revdex.com website before making a purchase.
Great experience shopping here.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/12/29) */
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We have received your system back the first time on April 3, 2014 for issues with powering on and did our troubleshooting. Upon learning that...
the issue was with the hardware, your system was sent back to the manufacturer. Once we got it back, we did our stress testing and Quality Assurance Check. We shipped your system back to you and you received it on June 18, 2014. Turn around time usually is longer if the system is needed to be returned to the manufacturer. And in regards to the motherboard and disks, please elaborate more so I could fully understand. If you can give the old and the new specifications, it would be great so I could take a look at it further. It would be unfair to all our other customers if a full refund would be the solution for this. Even though your system is out of warranty, we would waive the labor fee. We don't normally do this but I do understand the frustration of not having a fully functioning system . You will only be responsible for any parts that needs replacement and the shipping. And if the same hardware is the issue this time, we will work with the manufacturer in getting you a replacement one at no cost to you. We will also gladly extend the warranty of your system to another 6 months on labor
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/12/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Thank you for your response, however, the above arrangement is not acceptable. I have my receipt and my receipt shows that my system is under warranty for 3 years. So extending 6 months is no extension. Also, the system was shipped to you in the middle of March and not even touched until April. The issue with the computer is again the same issue. The system will not power up. There should be no charge for parts, labor or shipping. Also, we have not had the system that was paid for. Fairness to your customers would be standing behind your product and customers should have the expectation that they should receive their system back as they first purchased it and it should not have service issues in less than a year. Quality assurance should have also confirmed that we got the same system we paid for and that all its parts and disks were included when it was returned.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/01/12) */
I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Your system is technically out of warranty but we will make an exception and gladly fix it for you at no cost provided that the issues are not physical damages or user error. Thank you for choosing Digital Storm and again, I apologize for any inconvenience.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/01/13) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I appreciate the information and offer to fix the laptop at no cost and would very much like to accept, however, the business still does not address the issues in the original complaint. Allow me to reiterate the issues. The laptop was not returned to us after the first "fix" as we purchased it, e.g. the motherboard was changed and no disks were returned. The other issue was that we were without the use of that laptop for five months. Although I appreciate the response, I do not see any resolution for this issue. I am hesitant to accept a "partial" fix to this problem. Further, as stated in the previous response, my sales receipt states "3 year warranty". I would very much like to resolve this issue, however, just fixing the laptop does not address the entire issue. Also, I am not sure what the statement of "technically out of warranty but we will make an exception". Further, a laptop that does not power up is not a "user" error as most people know how to push a power button. Also, the above resolution does not address the cost of shipping.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/01/23) */
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We are more than happy to be of any help to our valued customers to ensure we deliver a fully functional system. We undergo all system returns...
to testing and QA process to check for defects. After carefully assessing your system, our team found no defective issues related to the product. And because of that, we have to charge the re-stocking fee since this was a custom ordered system. On 11 December 2014, one of our phone staff by the name of [redacted] informed you of the re-stocking fee. And if you would also visit our website, it is stated in the Terms and Conditions page. We at Digital Storm value our customers satisfaction and would like to make up any inconvenience this issue may have caused you. Let us know if you would want to give us another chance and we will be more than happy to offer you store credit where you can apply the 15% towards a new purchase of a unit from us. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and you can contact us anytime if you have any questions.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 10, 2015/02/02) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
No, that is absolutely unacceptable. You said it yourself "we deliver a fully functional system" that is not what I received. The statement you've made is absolutely erroneous. It does not surprise me that you found "nothing wrong" with the system I returned. This is interesting because if you are running the same test you did when the laptop was shipped, of course you wouldn't find anything wrong. You performed the following test and still managed to send me a defective product.
"Your order is now placed into one of our specialized test benches. The installation of the operating system, drivers and any applications that are specific to the system you ordered are completed here. Our Digital Storm Integration Engineer will also install any demos, benchmark utilities, and burn-in software necessary to correctly monitor your systems performance throughout our burn-in process."
This is astounding; I am being penalized and charged for a mistake made on your end. That is the equivalent of me selling you a brand new car with a defective speedometer and charging you 20% to return it. In what world of business does that make sense?
Again, I want the restocking fee to be waived. I cannot make myself anymore clear.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2015/02/09) */
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. All systems that goes out from our facility to our valued customers get series of testings and quality check to ensure 100% functionality. I am aware that you called in on the December 11th, the day after you received your system and requesting for a refund. We have offered to troubleshoot any issues you were having and you declined and proceeded with the refund request. You were also informed that if the system is found with no hardware issues, a 15% restocking fee will be charged. We put the system in testing once we received and found no hardware issues on our end. We are still more than happy to work with you to resolve your system's issues and provide a great system.
It is really unfortunate that this has to happen to his system. As much as we try to avoid, there will be times that system issues would just persist. A refund request has already been submitted and it should reflect within the next couple of days back to the customer's account.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/04/24) */
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I understand how frustrating it can be to be in your situation. As for your concern about replacement parts, we do honor that and guarantee that...
we will replace any parts deemed defective and necessary to make your system 100% functional. The warranty covers all parts replacement however, the customer shall shoulder the shipping cost after the 30 day period. In regards to the errors you are encountering, I will try to break down your calls to better see a clearer picture.
1st Call: 26th of January; Seeking assistance removing a trojan virus you mentioned that might have been from your school.
2nd Call: 24th of February; You are requesting information for PDF application that you could use.
3rd Call: 9th of March; seeking assistance hooking up 2 monitors to your system.
4th Call: 17th of March; Reported computer is going slow.
5th Call: 23rd of March; Reported system is locking up and asking for an upgrade in video card.
6th Call: 17th of April; Reported system won't boot up.
Only on your 4th call you have started to report the system having issues that might be a hardware defect. And on your 6th call, we have tried troubleshooting over the phone but our technicians see the need for your system to be checked here in our facility to better diagnose and see the root cause of your issues. We also do not use for new orders nor for repairs used components. If you can elaborate more on your system looking old so I could look into it further.
To resolve all of your concerns, we are more than happy to cover shipping costs to have your system come back here in our facility and for our team to take care of your concerns. Once we get your system here, we will do the stress testing and we will also try to duplicate all the issues you mentioned to see what's causing it. Then we will replace all parts that is necessary to fix your system at NO cost to you. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/04/27) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I want my money back because the parts were bend. and the part came back broken and no handling fees, or restocking fees. all of it back 3,499.94 I want the total price back, I been trying to get it fix but no one seem to be wanting to fix my problem they didnt give you all of the calls they lied on most of it. please just give me a refund full refund.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 21, 2015/05/26) */
1) Apollo Case - $198.00
2) Asus X99 Deluxe - $465.00
3) GTX 980 - $714.00
Total: $1,377.00
The customer has 2 options. First, we are offering to repair the system fully, however, since there are physical damages, we can't cover the replacement parts. We are willing to repair the system for a discounted price of $1,100.00 giving the customer a discount of $277.00 plus we will cover the shipping back to her. Second, we can offer a refund. The total amount the customer has paid is $3,182.66. We would deduct the amount of the damaged parts which is $1,377.00, that will leave her with $1,805.66 refund. She then can then file a claim to the shipping company she used to send her system to us to get the full amount of what she paid originally.
We would have handled the claim on our end if we were the shipper. But since the customer sent the system by herself, she is the only one that can file a claim.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 23, 2015/05/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
They said, that would repair any parts that was damaged, in the process in shipping, I have talked to ups and everything its not there fault, they said digital storm shipped with a big dent, in the side of the case, which I believe was true, and I can't pay 1,100$ I used all my money on that pc, and I can't pay no more if they just repair it fully, without any costs, I would be happy to keep it. otherwise, if they can't repair it just give me a full refund, of the purchase price and the gtx 980 is only 500 dollars, not 747.00 I looked it up. and all those parts are handy downs, from their old computers because when it got shipped here it got allot of errors, and overclocked failed all the time, but many others time it was ok but it failed to boot, I just want it (full) refunded, or (full)repaired.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2014/06/30) */
Hello,
The card and the system is 4 years old, order # XXXXX Should the customer want a replacement, this should be addressed with EVGA which is the manufacturer of the card and it is still covered under their warranty. It has been...
out of warranty with us since 2011. We only cover 1 year warranty for parts.
Thank you for your time and attention in this matter.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 10, 2014/07/02) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The card has a 3 year warranty with EVGA, which is now expired and besides the point. In the warranty information I received with the system, it states, "During the warranty period, DIGITAL STORM will repair or replace, the defective hardware, for defects specified by me, free of charge for labor and parts. I have a 5 year warranty and it does not say anything about only 1 year for parts. You are bound to the terms of the warranty and therefore are required to resolve this yourself. By refusing to do so, you are failing to fulfill the warranty, which is illegal. It would be much appreciated if you could either repair or replace the card, in accordance with the warranty. Thank you.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 12, 2014/07/07) */
Hello,
The 5 year limited warranty covers the parts for 3 years and the labor for 5 years. Since the system is over 4 years old it is still outside of our limited warranty for parts replacements. Even with this it was EVGA that send the defective hardware to the customer. EVGA is the one responsible for repair/replacement of the defective video card. Digital Storm is not responsible for any defect in an RMA component.
Thank you.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 14, 2014/07/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Nowhere in my warranty information does it specify 3 years for parts replacement and 5 years for labor. It simply states 5 year limited warranty. Either way, labor is still covered. And if labored is still covered, then Digital Storm is obligated to repair the card, stress test it, and send it back to me. This is what should of happened in the first place, but instead I received a different card that was not properly tested, even though parts replacement is supposedly no longer covered. I do not have an active warranty with EVGA; I have an active warranty with Digital Storm and therefore they are responsible for either repairing the card themselves or sending the card to EVGA on my behalf for repairs. I should not have to directly work with EVGA, as that would be a failure to fulfill the warranty by Digital Storm. Thank you.
Consumer Response /* (3000, 23, 2014/07/30) */
Was charged $29.10 for shipping and received a broken replacement and was unable to receive a refund.
My order number is XXXXX. I was charged $29.10 on my credit card for shipping as part of their warranty service and received a replacement that was dead on arrival. I have tried to contact the company about the refund, but didn't receive a response. I was able to have the manufacturer of the item replace it, as that is what Digital Storm advised me to do. I was told before I ordered the replacement service that if the replacement doesn't solve the problem, then I would receive a refund on the shipping, as that is Digital Storm's policy. However, I have yet to receive the refund of $29.10 or hear anything back from them.
Business Response /* (4000, 25, 2014/08/07) */
Hello,
Generally if a customer has paid for a part to be shipped and the part shipped is defective, we cover the cost to reship the item. The customer does not get a refund of the original shipping paid. If the part was shipped by EVGA and it arrived defective, then it is up to EVGA to cover the cost of shipping out the replacement. From our perspective, we do not owe the customer any refunds.
We would cover the cost to ship out additional parts if the original replacement part fails to resolve the issue. However, Digital Storm does not have a policy in which we refund the shipping fee is a replacement part fails to resolve the issue.
Thank you.
Consumer Response /* (4200, 27, 2014/08/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I spoke with EVGA on the matter and this is what they had to say: Good afternoon,
I'm not showing any transaction taking place through us, EVGA. According to your RMA we shipped the product back UPS ground, which has zero cost to you. Which means the only cost associated with your EVGA RMA was using a shipping company to have the product sent to the our warehouse. EVGA then generate a shipping label to have the product sent back to you. If you had to pay shipping both ways, my assumption is this was with the other company. If you paid to ship the card to your system builder, then unfortunately, we would not be able to cover this charge. This would be something that you would have to contact the system builder to see if they can work with you to have that refunded. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Once again I do apologize for any confusion with the RMA process with EVGA, however we are unable to refund your shipping cost. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.
Not to mention the charge on my card showed up as Digital Storm. Therefore EVGA did not receive any of the money that I paid, but that is beside the point.
I am clearly being conned by Digital Storm and I will not stand for it. You made my pay $29.10 for a defective product. If your policy says you shouldn't give me a refund and instead you are supposed to cover the shipping of the defective product back, then how comes when I wanted to ship the card back to you, Digital Storm said that I have to send it to EVGA because it's not Digital Storm's problem anymore? You are contradicting yourself and makes me wonder if Digital Storm cares one bit about customer satisfaction. In line with your policy I am supposed to have the shipping of the defective product back to you covered, but you would not let me ship it back to you. You made me ship it back to EVGA instead, which is a violation of your policy and my trust. So why was I not allowed to ship the defective card back to Digital Storm and have the shipping covered like your policy states? Why was I forced to deal with EVGA instead and have to pay more shipping? Please explain that to me.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/10/03) */
Thank you for bringing to our attention the issue with [redacted] (Order # XXXXX)
Unfortunately, after speaking with our technicians, we are learning that Mr. [redacted] indicated he would be filing a complaint with the Revdex.com against us...
because we explained to him that we do not cover USER DAMAGE.
The damage done to his pins on the cord are user caused. Therefore, we can't cover the cost of replacing the power cord since they were bent by the customer. In order to replace the pins, the entire cord would have to be replaced.
The battery is considered to be USER CONSUMBALE PART which is not covered under warranty.
If the customer had contacted us in regards to the failure of his battery, or the ring having issues, we would have been happy to assist him if we were aware of the defects. However, the product is now outside of warranty.
We would be happy to assist him if he would wish to purchase replacement parts.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/10/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I did contact Digital Storm in regards to the bad battery clasps where the call technician was rude and was also given the run around. The damage to the pins is constantly plugging the cord back in because of the ring coming out of the charging port. Also how can 1 $4000 custom laptop have a shorter warranty than a $650 acer. Clearly the Digital Storm realizes how poorly they are built.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/10/13) */
Greetings:
The manufacturer's warranty on the hardware is one year. Unfortunately, it is beyond that time frame. Therefore, it is not covered.
If Mr. [redacted] had called, there would be a record of his calls made to reach us as we keep records of all correspondence with customers and all technical issues related to an order.
We do apologize that he states our staff has been rude to him.
We are willing to offer a discount for the cord if he would like to purchase a replacement.
However, the customer would still be responsible for shipping fees.
Thank you,
Digital Storm Management
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2014/10/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Because a $250 charging cord should last longer than a $50 cord especially since it hasn't left the bedroom I live in. If this product's quality was as great as Digital storm says it is then it either would not have gone bad yet or it would be a fluke and be replaced.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/17) */
As per my conversation with our customer, we normally do not approve a refund request on systems almost a year old but we would make an exception with Mr. [redacted]. We would refund the customer 50% of his total amount paid minus the shipping...
charges which he is aware of.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/08/02) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Initially, Digital Storm was very responsive and agreed to provide the refund. After the system was received, I started to receive updates that they were fixing the system to be resent back to me. This was confusing as I thought we came to an agreement about the refund. I even received a call explaining the problem they found and how they had a technician working to fix it. When I told the person I was speaking to that the system was a refund system she seemed confused. I had to call Digital Storm again and remind them of the refund at which point they began the refund process. It goes to show that their is an obvious lack of employee coordination and pretty sad that I have to do a follow up call to get a refund properly processed since the email I sent to the admin went unanswered.
In the end however, they agreed to the refund which is what I wanted so I have no further complaints or problems.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/01/26) */
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I understand that you have reported your issue prior to the expiry of your hardware warranty. We would be glad to have your system shipped here...
in our facility to do a thorough testing and quality check to resolve the issues you're having. However, a full refund cannot be issued at this time as the system is more than a year old. You received your system 22 January 2014 and reported first issue on 17 February 2014. We had that issue sorted out and no issues were reported until 31 December 2014. If there will be parts that needs to be replaced, we will do so and will be at no cost to you. We do not normally do this but we will make an exception to make up for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We at Digital Storm value our customers and strive to provide 100% satisfaction. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2015/01/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Well, I have received your response, and have also told you in private email (as opposed to using the Revdex.com response system) that your technicians have inadequately already dealt with this problem, and this legally represents the repair services (whether on-site or not) necessary for the purpose of warranty consumer law. I have been incredibly patient with your company by allowing them to rectify this issue multiple times and over a course of months in dealing with them, and your HR employee [redacted] even suggested a laptop replacement while on the phone with me after he suggested warranty repairs (this can be verified by the fact that you should be utilizing recorded lines, and can therefore listen to the conversation). He may not have been informed to the amount of time already spent where Digital Storm performed warranty work through your technical support tickets, and I took the liberty of explaining that to him in summary. The latest technical support ticket was opened around December 15th, which means your previous statement of said support not being sought until the 31st as you just claimed in your Revdex.com response is false. Whether such falsity is malicious or accidentally stated I do not know. It did, however, take your technical support employee a month to finally reach the point where he attempted to deny that my system was covered under parts warranty, even though when I first started talking to him in reference to the support ticket it was still covered. But, regardless of that fact, the point remains that this issue existed before the warranty expired, and as stated in the California Civil Code 1793.1(B)(2) that your company has to adhere to because it operates out of California, that:
"If a defect exists within the warranty period, the warranty will not expire until the defect has been fixed. The warranty period will also be extended if the warranty repairs have not been performed due to delays caused by circumstances beyond the control of the buyer, or if the warranty repairs did not remedy the defect and the buyer notifies the manufacturer or seller of the failure of the repairs within 60 days after they were completed. If, after a reasonable number of attempts, the defect has not been fixed, the buyer may return this product for a replacement or refund."
Your technical support staff, as well as your HR representative, attempted to tell me that my system was out-of-parts warranty. As you can see from State of California law, this is most definitely not true, so what they had originally asserted to me was technically in violation of the Civil Code. Being covered under warranty, this does allow a certain level of options available to me as the consumer to seek relief from your defective hardware. Now, your technical support people have attempted to perform warranty work a total of 3 times to rectify this problem. The first was a hardware replacement that proved ineffective. The second was a driver update on hardware that might have been malfunctioning due to outdated drivers (as suggested by your technical support staff) and those drivers are required for proper operation of hardware within an Operating System environment, and the third was a final resort effort by your technician to solve this problem with a complete reformat and reinstall of the OS and all associated drivers. The "good faith effort" so far is representative of the legal amount of reasonableness to rectify this problem, all of which happened while the computer was under both parts and labor warranty periods. The Revdex.com stated in their email to me as the consumer to assist this process along by indicating:
"whether the business' response has resolved the complaint. If you find you are dissatisfied with the company's response, please provide us with a MIDDLE GROUND offer we can present to the company in an effort to resolve this dispute."
Therefore, as a middle ground resolution, instead of opting straight for a refund, I will allow your company to rectify this problem with a laptop replacement as dictated by law. This replacement can be in the form of a 1-for-1 laptop replacement, or if you no longer carry this particular item in stock, then a laptop you do carry in-stock for a price similar to that of what I paid would be sufficient. Granted, I would want to pick out the model laptop, to ensure it could meet my specific needs, and any overages on the amount of money it would then cost versus my original paid price due to hardware choices available I will be willing to pay additionally. The original price paid for the unit was $2,610 to be exact. Therefore a laptop replacement that goes over that amount I will gladly pay the difference. Either way, the defective hardware will be returned to you. Also, as I have said in private email to your HR employee ([redacted]), I have already given your company the allotted amount of reasonable attempts as dictated by law to conduct warranty work through your technical support staff, leaving only two possible solutions to rectify this problem, which is a laptop replacement or refund. As I have also stated to your HR Digital Storm employee, were the informal complaint attempts through the Revdex.com lead to an unsuccessful result, then I would also be contacting the State of California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General to file formal complaints with them for business practices that violate California Civil Code. Your company policies do not supersede the State laws through which your company operates when discussing matters of warranty work, which is thankfully why those laws exists, because they protect the consumer from such practices. Repeated attempts to fix this through your technical support staff has already been done, and I have sufficient evidence to prove as much with the emails I was sent through the warranty work that was performed. There were also repeated attempts to contact your customer support staff through technical support tickets, many of which were never even replied to, even though they most definitely were received because your automated message would show after hitting the submit button that it was sent. Also, repeated emails were sent to managers to rectify this issue before it escalated to the point we are at now, and not one single time did a manager respond. Survey's with negative reports were also filled out, and an email was sent to me that the negative survey was received, attached with an apology in the email. The original message said:
"Dear [redacted](edited out for privacy reasons),
We have received your unsatisfactory feedback, a Digital Storm supervisor will review your feedback and be in touch with you shortly to find a resolution that will hopefully change your experience.
We are sincerely sorry and we understand that your happiness is a direct reflection of our efforts. By reviewing and learning from valuable customer feedback, we are able to constantly improve Digital Storm for our valued customers.
If there is anything else you would like to add to your comments below, please feel free to reply to this email. a manager would be contacting me to discuss the issue."
Unfortunately, I never received a response, and this has been indicative of my whole experience not just with your technical support staff, but also with your management group. Your overly insistent efforts to rectify this problem now that I have filed a report with the Revdex.com differs greatly than what my experience was prior to this point. You can obviously see my issue with trusting your company will continue to provide quality service in the form of repairs. So, because of this we are now past the point where warranty repairs will be an acceptable resolution, and will therefore rely on the other suggestions to rectify this problem as dictated by law. Your company's written contractual agreement on your limited warranty just so happens to mirror a few critical sections of the State law, one of those part which states: "Digital Storm's sole liability, under this warranty, for failure to repair or replace the hardware system after a reasonable number of attempts is limited to replacement or, at Digital Storm's sole discretion, refund of the original purchase price."
Now, the law does not explicitly state under what conditions a seller or buyer can make that determination, and instead I will rely only on your own contractual wording. The warranty work for the system repair has been performed though and fulfills the reasonable attempts necessary for legal liability. I will wait for your response on how to proceed. Your HR representative has already been informed of the legal recourse I will take if unsuccessful.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2015/01/29) */
As per your email today, you have agreed to send your system back to our facility for assessment. Once we have your system here, we will do the evaluation and determine if it's a hardware, software or user error issue. By doing this, we will have your system back here in our facility for the first time to check and confirm the issues discussed over the phone with our technical support team. We highly recommend doing this to better identify the issue you reported. There is a big difference, support wise trying to identify and troubleshoot your system over the phone and checking it on hand here in our facility. There are a lot of limitations with remote troubleshooting. From then, we can proceed with the corresponding action accordingly. Attached is your email today for reference:
"From: "[redacted]"
Sent: Thursday, January 29, XXXX X:XX AM
To: "[redacted]"
Subject: Laptop
I have wonderful news [redacted], my computer has just crashed again, which collectively over the year, and through 2 complete reformats and reinstalls of the OS by advisement of your technical support staff, has shown the inadequacy of Digital Storm's technical support efforts thus far. I will be attaching a diagnostic document to this email for your technicians review, as well as a picture of the screen error itself, so that all corresponding technical information can be reviewed by your technicians to determine the cause. Also, I will allow you to send out the prepaid shipping label, to ship the defective unit back to your facility to be analyzed (even though all analyzing of the system crashes has already been done remotely thus far). The reasoning behind this is simple. In just the same way your technical support has failed to adequately identify the source of these crashes and fix them appropriately, I am willing to bet they will receive the unit, diagnose it, and fail to both identify and fix the unit still. Through this additional attempt, which would now represent four attempts by your technical staff to fix this problem (that is, of course, for the support tickets they actually responded to, because many others were ignored), I will be able to show without a doubt that I have done everything I could do as the consumer to be as flexible as possible. Not only that, when your technical support team fails to properly identify the issue, and your company subsequently chooses not to replace or refund the unit, then I will take that additional evidence when I appear in court and will make a motion for summary judgment. In doing so, I will likely receive a favorable verdict with little to no effort. So, now that I am willing to fulfill Digital Storm's request to ship the unit back to them at no cost to myself (as explicitly stated by you that Digital Storm would fund the cost of shipping the unit, analyzing, repairing and replacing the unit if needed), I expect this to be done in a timely manner, and to receive the unit back in a timely manner as well. Otherwise I will also be taking that evidence with me to present to the court for failure to comply with California consumer protection laws against such hassling business practices and policies.
I expect to hear from you very soon, and with a prepaid shipping label no later than 7-10 days from now, which should be more than enough time to get said label. Additionally, as stated in my previous email this evening, I also do expect the contact information of the company owner. Seems how when I have reached the point necessary to file the lawsuit (if your company chooses not to repair or replace the unit after its 4th repair), he will likely have to be named on the suit as the owner of the privately owned company. Although I will leave that direct advisement on court procedures for filling out documents and naming individuals in the suit up to my attorney. "
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 14, 2015/02/02) */
The company was insisting that I send the computer to them to be analyzed. After it crashing twice within the last week, I have reluctantly agreed. This will be the final repair I will allow the company to perform to meet the legal obligation for reasonableness defined by law as a necessity before any replacement or refund. The competency of the technical support staff is truly telling based on their successes or failures. After repeated attempts to fix this problem, it will be interesting to find out whether they finally succeed after many failed attempts. If this final repair attempt does fail, I will notify the company within the allotted amount of time specified by law to then replace or refund the unit (California Civil Code 1795.6 subsection b). Also, the company has conceded the point after being showed the civil statute that explicitly states my unit is still covered under parts warranty, and is conducting this as a warranty repair after they were explained exactly how the law is written. Once the unit is returned after this repair, I will ensure that it meets the conditions or standards for merchantable items, otherwise appropriate notifications will similarly be made. The cause of the defect will be irrelevant at that point, and replacement or refund once again becomes necessary if they fail to fix it (see Oregel v. American Isuzu Motors, Inc. (2001) 90 Cal.App.4th 1094, 1102, fn. 8 109 Cal.Rptr.2d 583.). The company has also been notified in advance that failure to comply with the law by replacement or refund if the repair is unsuccessful will lead to costly legal repercussions pursuant to Civil Code 1794(subsection a & b). The time requirement for complainant/business responses through the Revdex.com will be too short now that it is being sent off, because the time needed to receive the unit back to ensure its conformity to consumer goods that are fit for their ordinary purposes will extend beyond this period. Therefore, I will be closing this complaint ticket, as it will no longer be useful. However, that does not imply that the company has met its legal obligations yet, as that will be determined in the near future. If the repair attempts are unsuccessful, and assuming the company violates the Civil Code sections requiring replacement or refund, an additional complaint with the Revdex.com will not be made, and instead this will be passed on to the Office of the Attorney General to investigate their noncompliance just prior to any lawsuit. So, once again the Revdex.com can officially close this complaint ticket even though the problem is not yet solved, because of the timeframe restrictions put in place by their system. If anyone is curious to whether the company has complied or whether this situation led to a lawsuit, local public record searches for docket numbers between now and no later than a year from now for Alameda County, CA could be utilized, as this is the predetermined venue for any such litigation. I appreciate what the Revdex.com is able to do as an informal dispute option, and it becomes a good gauge for the specific issues people might encounter with a business. I do not wish that any person have the same problems as I did with the company, and there is no saying that you will. But, always understand your rights prior to pursuing any action against the company, because there are many Consumer Protection laws that must be read before you will be well-versed. When in doubt, hire an attorney. You will be glad you did.