Buyer Beware - Kobalt Computers - Can't get refund!

Dear all

For all potential shoppers of Kobalt Computers UK! BEWARE.

I purchased a G150 laptop worth £1400 on 14 June 2011. When Kobalt couldn't fulfil my original order specification due to the ATI graphics reliability issue. I decided to cancel my order on the 2nd of July 2011.

It is now 10th of August 2011, and I still haven't got my refund! With no end in sight. I have referred the case to Barclays to deal with them. As all I get is vague promises and BS excuses.

So be warned about Kobalt computers who seem completely inadequate to process a simple refund!

Oh and BTW, it is now August and they still haven't got any phone lines??? The voice mail still say "due to ongoing problems" since June when I first rang them! The blame seems to be always with some other supplier of Kobalt and not Kobalt themselves...

Update 19 August:

Firstly, thanks all for your support guys.

Emailed Andy Beard from Kobalt on 10 August 2011 - No response
Emailed Andy Beard from Kobalt on 19 August 2011 - No response
Support ticket on 19 August (256674) - No response

Letter from Barclays saying that they need to give Kobalt 45 days from the 17 August to respond before they can take the next steps. So I will be out of pocket until Mid October 2011 from a cancelled transaction that occurred originally in June 2011

 

do a chargeback through your credit card company.

 

same here!

We should go to their office and do whats riots doing instead of calling our banks

ps. How many negative posts needed for stick a thread about kobaltkomputers.co.uk?

 

What a shocker! Seriously though my heart goes out to you guys. I know this has been a terrible experience and I hope you can get your money back. Maybe pursue this via legal means? In the usa, we have small claims court for example.

 

It shocks me how many negative threads there are about Kobalt. There is a new one every week. You can post this information in the reseller feedback forum now.

Good luck getting a refund, do a credit card chargeback immediately.

 

I think that's what he did when he said he referred the matter to Barclay's.

 

had no sleep for 2 days so missed that bit as dealing with patients due to riots in london hospital so been slightly manic lately.

 

I would consider to choose words a bit more wisely and not to ask for riots. Not everybody takes it the same way.

That was the whole idea to have a this kinda Feedback forum and rather opening up thread after thread I would still suggest one thread per Company.

Remember to be factual and do not fall into any conclusions without any proof. And hopefully it gives good reasons to improve any services we get for our hard earned money.

I do hope that then, in the future, Moderators delete just abusive posts instead of deleting the whole thread.

And believe me I do understand your anger. After 10 weeks of waiting I gave up on Kobalt, on my 11th week.

I'm thinking of writing a bit longer review once I get my money back and finally get my hands on Clevo product from another company. Not giving up yet.

Thanks

 

I'm in almost the exact same boat for a G170, right down to the dates. No communication through any channels since I got my refund notice in early July, no response to emails, phone, order page messages, so I got in touch with my credit card company to do a chargeback yesterday.

I see from their forums that there's a sales and customer service rep being hired, hopefully things will improve soon, but I'm fed up waiting, annoyed and out of pocket at this point. The initial problem wasn't their fault but the handling of the order afterwards has been abysmally bad. How hard is it to issue a refund where no goods have changed hands?

 

I was just about to start to make an order with Kobalt for the GS150, but I had the same problem with the phone lines so I emailed them via the site customer service email. They got back very quickly saying they have had problems with BT resulting in their phone lines being down.

As I live quite close to Kobalt computers I was going to go to their offices/factory to place my order and look at the laptop, which again they were very happy to accommodate this so now I'm not sure what to think about them!

Has anyone else had any experience with them? or any feedback?

 

If you value your money order laptop somewhere else. Reliable clevo resellers deliver you laptop in about 10 days. I wonder if the problem with BT has anything to do with unpaid invoices?

 

Take a look here, and here

I ordered my current laptop from them around the time of the Sandybridge nationwide recall and I experienced really good service and quick delivery.

However, something as simple as me ordering a spare AC adapter resulted in over a month of waiting, poor communication and eventually me canceling and getting a refund. Kobalt can be very professional and efficient at one point in time and completely the opposite on other occasions.

Edit:

Mysteriously, both of those thread links on Kobalts forum that I linked to have now vanished.

 

Same thing has been happening to me. They are quick enough to respond to any questions regarding changes in the order or taking payment. When trying to get your money back you are just ignored. I feel like the last 5 months have been a complete waste of my time. I ordered from another reseller and received the unit quicker than it takes Kobalt computers to respond to any of my emails. How is this company still trading? I take it my only option is to do a charge back. Why waste more of my time by saying that they will refund within 30 days. It would be better if they just said to let my bank recover the funds.

 

Update 5th of October:

Well after almost 4 months of this Kobalt Computers UK nightmare! Kobalt still will not refund the £1500 pounds!

But the good news is that Barclays finally agreed to credit my account back with the full amount. I am so relieved and can finally consider buying the laptop that I wanted in June!

So any potential customers of Kobalt Computers UK, BUYER BEWARE!!!

 

how long did you wait for refund from Barclays?

 

Once all the Barclays paper work has been completed, one to two weeks elapsed. They will then write to the merchant (Kobalt) and allow 45 days for them to respond. If they don't respond by 45 days they should then credit your account.