My Detailed Experience HID Evolution

To start with I came across HID Evolution in this forum and on Amazon and then decided to buy the laptop GE75-048 from them on Amazon hearing good about the so called great customer service (no comment!!),then I visited their website to ask if they can customize the laptop for me on Amazon to have liquid metal instead of Gelid Extreme, then at that time I spoke to Ted who was in talk with me and he asked me why I am buying through Amazon and not directly from their site, I told him that on their site shipping cost to my country was excessive, he offered to match the shipping cost of my country in their site, so he sent me a quote and he also deducted Amazon referral which was 35$ and I was happy with deal, and I placed the order of the laptop the GE75-048 on their site and not on Amazon (biggest mistake!!), then I later came across this forum and that they can offer forums active so he resent the quote of the same laptop with the forum discount, so far so good with them and they were excellent and I was happy.

Then according to them it should take 7 to 12 working days to get the laptop customized and shipped, at the 10 working day I contacted Ted as I saw no progress in the build !! And told him that I need to travel and why they are waiting for the last working day of their commitment to ship the laptop, any way they worked on the laptop and they shipped it on the 12 working day!!

I shipped the laptop using FedEx ground 5 working days delivery and also FedEx delivered the laptop at the last Working day (shipped the laptop to NY Springfield Gardens to my shipping forwarder as it’s cheaper to use it to ship the laptop to my home country Bahrain).

After I received the laptop it was in good condition externally and I paid the customs for it here in Bahrain and was thrilled to boot it up and then the surprise and the disappointment story starts, heavy back light bleed on the screen so visible at the bottom as if someone is pressing his fingers on the screen, I contacted them and they advised that this is normal screen, I raised the issue in the forums here http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/ge75-backlight-screen-bleed-is-this-normal.829503/ and also in MSI Owners Lounge forum; people have agreed that this is one of the worse panels, I even contacted MSI and they advised to return the laptop, so that’s what I did, but before that I contacted Ted and he advised me that they have selected the best 20% panel, I was confused as I didn’t pay for the 100$ best quality panel!! Anyway I struggled to ship the laptop back as it was so expensive from my country, then I talked to Zoltan from HID Evolution who advised that he can help me get better shipping quote (thank him) from their side which was expensive, and then I asked him if I can buy HID Evolution HIPS service, he confirmed that I can, but later he advised me that there is a grace period of 3 months to buy this service, what!! I argued with him, why is that, you mean I have to wait three months to send this laptop back if I buy the service, what if something happens to the laptop during these three months, Anyway I ended up sending the laptop at my cost.

Once arrived to HIDEvolution and delivered to them, they advised that they will send me feedback or request farther information within 7 working days, I never heard from them I contacted them again in the 6th working day and Zoltan was responsive, and he said that they will have to charge me restocking fees, and the laptop screen was normal and was a common issue among all panels!!! and he advised me that I didn’t select the 100$ quality panel, I told him Ted told me you guys did, he checked with Ted who then apologized and said that my order didn’t have the quality check, they were confused and lost!!, I told him I returned the laptop with this issue with the screen which was too bad, and asked him to replace the laptop but they insisted on charging me the restocking fees, now I got it, I assume HID Evolution since the model I ordered was on offer and almost limited stocks available, I believe I fell a victim of their process where other customers who opted for the better panels got all the best and I got the worse, but as per their guidelines, what they sent me was the best of the worse (if you know what I mean) although in fact it was the worse as per other readers in the forum and also MSI rep, hence I feel I was not treated fair and HID Evolution are robing me off with the restocking fees, and the laptop was returned in the 30 days window.

Games like Doom and resident evil, the glow from the bottom of the screen was so visible and I was very frustrated.

Maybe be If I bought this from them on Amazon and contacted Amazon customer service I am sure they would have returned the laptop without deducting the restocking fees.

Still the matter is not resolved with them and I am very frustrated, now with the restocking fees deducted the only options for me are lower end laptops and I am missing the deals with other retailer and under the mercy of HID Evolution process of panels of quality checks, never buy from them any PC if it’s on offer or soon to be discontinued or you will be treated the same or make sure you select the perfect panel grantee and they send you a photo of the screen before they ship it.

Now I really don't know what to do and I very frustrated.

 

I've only skimmed the post but it sounds like you made some retroactive decisions after making the purchase?

Did you buy the international warranty? That would've covered your shipping fee iirc

Hopefully @Donald@HIDevolution can take care of you though

 

I looked at the original picture and if the bottom panel actually looked like that, then it's defective and should be returned at HIDevolution's expense, under full warranty coverage.
That's ranks up around the worst pictures I've ever seen of abnormal bleed (bottom side only).

I don't have an IPS screen, so i can't even do a comparison shot (both my screens are TN), but when i take phone captures, they look nothing like that.
I know from the OCN monitor threads that the top left and right corners do indeed look standard and what you expect from any phone captures. But the bottom looks plain defective.

Did you buy the minimize backlight bleed guarantee?

@Zoltan@HIDevolution @Donald@HIDevolution please try to make this right for him.
It's already a nightmare for overseas customers to buy and ship to countries not in the "main 5", but RMA and shipping is a whole other ball game.

Please when you receive the screen in shop, please examine it and take pictures of it and then send it to the customer for proof of its quality, then the customer will know what he's getting and whether to proceed. I'm still cautious of the overexposure possibility but the bottom does look abnormal to me.

 

Thanks for your message and for sharing your opinion which is so valuable to me and others as well, much appreciated, and yeah, its the bottom that is the problem and not the top, and no I didn't buy the perfect panel, but never less I still believe its a bad panel and has nothing to do with buying a service from them and I shouldn't be charged the restocking fees, I hope they reconsider the restocking fees.

 

As I mentioned to you in your previous thread about this issue that a picture taken with a phone is nothing like the reality. Even when looking at a perfect screen with no back-light bleeding, if I were to take a pic with my phone, it will look like the screen has excessive back-light bleeding. Cameras magnify back-light bleeding by at least 3-4 times if not more. Read my reply again here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...en-bleed-is-this-normal.829503/#post-10928339

Also take note of @Porter Reply who also shares the same opinion: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...en-bleed-is-this-normal.829503/#post-10933146

Calling out a company in public that they cheated you is a bit of an exaggeration here, any IPS or IPS-level screen is prone to having back-light bleeding. You did not choose the option to minimize back-light bleeding so they just gave you a laptop from the lot. That is why I personally always pay the extra $100 USD for that option because I live in Dubai and understand where you're coming from in the fact that we have to wait for quiet a while before the laptop reaches us so I want 0 mistakes which is why I pay for all those little things like minimizing back-light bleeding and the dead pixel guarantee. The fact that you say they told you in one instance that you did select that option when you didn't is simply a miscommunication.

Looking at the pics you posted in your initial thread, I am not surprised that the MSI rep told you that this is a horrible panel because that pic does not and cannot represent what the actual back light bleeding level of the screen is.

Any other company would've charged you a re-stocking fee if you decided to return a laptop when it has no defect (again, back-light bleeding can happen on any laptop so it's not a defect, that's how IPS panels are.

I also have always purchased the HIPS service which covers shipping and never was it the case that they told me I cannot use the service within the first 3 months. I believe you are seriously misinformed about this and suggest you contact them to re-affirm this info.

Finally, I am not trying to defend them here but I, knowing their great customer service, build quality, etc along with hundreds of others here on the forum who testify to their great service, consider you stating things like " they cheated me" and " they are blackmailing me" is highly exaggerated and offensive as well.

You also posted this thread in the " What notebook should I buy" sub-forum which company reps are not allowed to post in which is also unfair to them as they can't step in to shed some light on this matter and provide any solid facts.

Just to prove the above point, I have a perfect panel with 0 back-light bleeding on my Alienware Area-51m but here's how that perfect panel looks on a photo I just took on my phone:

 

I can understand you are going through a frustrating experience but now that you have vented here, let HID help you out and reach to a satisfactory conclusion. Keep in touch with them to get your issue resolved and update this topic with your situation once you have more information.

 

We feel this order and return for refund was fulfilled per generally acceptable standards within the industry, and HIDevolution policy.

@davaid decided to return the order for credit, and we advised him in writing that a restocking fee would be charged because a certain amount of LCD backlight bleed is normal and virtually unavoidable for most IPS-Level LCDs, so it is not grounds for DOA (defective on arrival) which would not incur any restocking fee.

Davaid did not select our “Minimize LCD Backlight Bleed” quality check and received his MSI GE75 8SG Raider-048 as it was delivered to us by the manufacturer. As others have stated in both threads Davaid created, the camera will always exaggerate Back Light Bleed. Once we received it back, we inspected it carefully and determined that without the Minimize LCD Back Light Bleed upgrade this screen is clearly within MSI standards for Back Light Bleed.

Davaid also did not select our HIPS (HIDevolution International Prepaid Shipping) service. We mistakenly thought he had and communicated such to him on June 28th but corrected that in our communication with him on July 1st. If HIPS service is purchased after the order is shipped there is a 60 days grace period before the customer can start to use the service. There is no grace period if HIPS service is paid in the original order.

While we regret the customer’s disappointment, we treated this case fairly as we would any other, and we think words like “cheated” and “blackmailed” do not describe this case accurately and are in fact very far from the truth.

 

Why was my post deleted?
*edit*. Didn't realize there were two threads.
got owned by a kitty again. Welp.

 

Which post? your post wasn't deleted, it's in his other thread.

 

My bad. I took a few too many headshots from a Widowmaker today.

 

Here is mine in a dark room, the color is not a reflection. I would call the display perfect when I look at it directly, whatever the camera does makes the image look like below. Perfect, as in it can't get any better! I noticed this years ago so I stopped looking for it with a camera, there was no point since it wasn't really there.

https://imgur.com/Sj1Wddo

https://imgur.com/I8TCpz0

 

Very sorry this happened to you, but thank you for warning me. I'm planning to drop 4-5k on a laptop and will likely get it at XoticPC

 

Bought to place an order with HiDev too for an MSI laptop. Might have to consider getting the 'Minimize LCD Backlight Bleed' upgrade after reading this. Decisions decisions.

 

Guys its pretty much like Desktop users spending 5k on a desktop to spend 4 USD on a power strip.

Generally speaking, if you have no plan to use any of their services then you buy from a store front. While Im sure they appreciate the business regardless if you expect tip top inspections and such then you actually have to pay for it. Ive seen far too many threads on how people are pissed they have to ship back internationally when they have a problem but elected not to pay for HIPS and desire retroactive decisions to be available.

 

@Donald@HIDevolution , with all respect, I decided to return the item for repair or replacement under the warranty as the display specifically from the bottom side had unbelievable amount of bleed and glow which is not acceptable to me and also I guess to anyone else who paid a premium for this laptop.

I cannot even imagine someone is considering this as normal, it totally destroys the experience, how can I play dark scenes games like resident evil and doom etc with this glow at the bottom! this is like a retarded laptop screen, maybe its MSI fault and they should fix the situation under warranty or something, I had the MSI GT62 and GT63 and never had this issue.

And thanks for clarifying the fact about HIPS as I though its like that as no body told me that if I buy it from the beginning the 60 days grace doesn't apply.

And also thank you for being there in the chat support room when I was waiting for others to show up.

Also the frustration steams as well that I am delayed until the last working day of every process you have, the build time, shipping, RMA, its like delay him as much as possible feel, although I understand you have busy schedule and you are trying your best, but such expedition in delivery will make any customer happy and might suppress his/her desire to complain.

Now I am working out this with Ted to get a new laptop and still hoping that HIDEvolution consider the restocking fees waive, as I still strongly believe the laptop screen was defective and that I should not bear the cost of restcoking fees.

 

yes you should.

 

Thanks for the message, however I don't agree to your assumptions, I consider this as defective, and I am not exaggerating at all but laying down pure facts, the bleed at the bottom of the screen is so visible and annoying and cannot be justified, HID Evolution should have contacted MSI for this and I am sure they would have fixed it or replaced it under the warranty, I cannot even imagine you calling that normal display, even if I opted for none perfect panel, (maybe I should have), however this seriously beyond normal back light bleed and considered defective, I played doom on it and Resident evil 7 as well in a well lit room and I still can see significant amount of glow at the bottom of the laptop, for me a GTX1060 with 40FPS is better than 2080 on this screen with 100 FPS, the glow looks ridiculous and destroys the whole experience.


And regarding me putting the thread in the “What notebook should I buy”, I didn’t know that HID Evolution cannot comment there, it was innocent mistake, a moderator has moved the thread (thanks to him) as I needed to see HID Evolution responding to this.


For the blackmailing as I said HIDEvolution will charge me 10% restocking fees and 5% reduction if I buy the new laptop from them, I call this blackmailing.


I hope and I am sure they will resolve my case as I am working with them on it and will update this thread once resolved.

 

How I see a second manufacturer such as HIDevolution, XoticPC, etc, to be, besides upgrading the hardware to one's specifications is to be another set of "eyes" to ensure my hardware is in good shape before I receive it. Sure, davaid opted not to get the minimize blacklight bleed option. But that does not mean that he should get a laptop with a significant amount of bleed.

How I was hoping things would go in this situation, would be the HIDevolution specialist would've determined that the bleed was so much that he/she should've returned it to MSI, and then choose another laptop with lesser bleed. Instead, HIDevolution thought it was either fine, or they didn't care. Even MSI customer services acknowledged that the blacklight bleed on this laptop was significant (per davaid). So how I see it is that this defective product was overlooked by MSI, then it was overlooked by HIDevolution.

I don't plan to look into the restocking fee debacle, but there is definitely a component of poor quality control

 

HIDevolution, XoticPC, etc are not second manufacturers, no such term or role exists. They are resellers.

 

Amazon and Newegg are resellers. HID, Xotic, et al are integrators in that they take off-the-shelf PCs available at resellers and upgrade them with third-party components at the buyer's request. Those parts are covered by place you bought the laptop from while issues with things like the motherboard would be handled by the OEM (MSI, Clevo, etc) with the integrator acting as an intermediary.

 

When I bought my GT73 from Xotic PC, the *only* non parts upgrade I bought was the 30 day dead pixel guarantee. Nothing more (I don't believe they had a backlight bleed package), and the screen guarantee was worth it. I believe screen guarantees are something everyone should purchase. The desktop monitor scene is filled with people doing the RMA circus from the bad lottery panels (especially AUO IPS panels!!) before they get one that's acceptable. You can bet that many of those users would pay an extra $100 to get a good pretested panel, over dealing with weeks and shipping costs (or gas costs) from RMA'ing bad panels.

 

Or just pop the bezel around the display with your fingernails, and BAMM, bleed is no more.

 

We did present it to MSI. Their judgment looking at the screen, not a picture, was that it was within specs. The MSI rep you dealt with did not have this advantage.

Please lookup blackmail...it is a crime, and totally inappropriate to be used here:

Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false, and often damaging, information about a person, to the public, family members, or associates unless certain demands are met.

noun - the action, treated as a criminal offense, of demanding payment or another benefit from someone in return for not revealing compromising or damaging information about them.
verb - demand money or another benefit from (someone) in return for not revealing compromising or damaging information about them.

Doesn't this sound more like what you are doing here? Well, maybe not since you are clearly trying to reveal damaging information about HIDevolution...whether it is true or not.

When you bought your laptop from our website you agreed to our published Terms, including our Return Policy including restocking fees. I am just not sure how you can spin this into blackmail...we are not threatening to expose anything about you, nor are we making any demands of payment or benefit to not expose damaging information about you. We are simply abiding by industry standards, and our published policies.

Just a recommendation...if you are trying to work something out with us, this is not the best way to do it.

 

I had similar thoughts but thought it would be in poor taste to state considering I am outside looking in on this thread. Just a feeling I had over looking this thread.

 

I changed the topic title because I don't believe HID cheated you davaid. That does not mean you didn't have a bad/frustrating experience overall with your current situation nor am I trying to diminish what happened, but I don't believe HID was trying to trick you at all.

I hope you can have a positive outcome in the end. A positive dialogue with resellers often has better results. If you feel the title should be different, PM me and let me know.