Kobalt Computers (UK) experiences

Hi everyone,

Finally registered - no more lurking around in the shadows of guestdom!

I made a purchase back in May from Kobalt Computers.
They took payment almost immediately and I have yet to receive my machine

For these 3 months, it has been quite literally one excuse after another.
Some understandable (component fail rates), others quite frankly not.

Their lack of any telephone access and slow response to enquiries have left me very disappointed.
To purchase an almost identical machine from them today would be £200~ cheaper than what I have already paid!

I'm not here to moan (too much ) but to ask those who have a machine from Kobalt - or have had some experience with them in the past - should I wait any longer?

Are there any other companies in the UK you would recommend for Clevo?

This forum was one of the driving forces behind my original purchase.
I'd not heard of them till I saw a mention here - and I would value your opinions.

Stay safe.

/warlash

 

PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK - Custom PCs, Custom Computers, Custom PC, Desktop PC, Custom Built Computers, Gaming PC

p.s.
this belongs in the Reseller Feedback Section

 

To be honest with you, I was going to buy from Kobalt. Heard about them on this forum but over the last 2 months and all the horror stories of people paying them money and not getting their system for months if it all, I decided to go for an Alienware M18X. My main concerns were that I needed a warranty that covered pick up and return to Ireland and none of the US or Euro sellers would cover it, so that left Kobalt. But for the reasons highlighted above, I've decided on Dell. The fact that they haven't even got a phone that work's worried me a lot, the message is still a recording made in January....

 

Kobalt is bad. If only for the reason that you've now lost 200 just waiting for it.

Call your bank and do a chargeback. I don't know if you have the same terms in the UK, but thats what I would do.

 

did you enquire on their forum?
what has happened in the past is if the hardware is updated or the price drops you are normally auto updated the hardware or refunded the money.

swings and roundabouts. i had a nightmare with alienware so i hope dellienware is a lot better for you.

 

No - I posted a comment in the order system.
I'm not terribly interested in making posts on their own forums when I should be able to speak to someone directly about my concerns.

It's called customer service.

You are directly affiliated with Kobalt are you not? (Forum moderator/employee?)
The "nightmare" you experienced with Alienware, and the opinion you were left with for that company is what Kobalt has been doing for last 3 months - certainly to me.
Please use your position to feed this back to them.

After these kind responses, and browsing the other 11 page thread I think the consensus is clear.

Such a disappointment but it is indeed the nudge I needed... 3 months out of pocket is long enough.
I'll investigate PC specialist.

Thanks you very much for your help all.
Take care


/warlash

 

if you had read or posted on the forum you would have seen the well documented problems they were having with their website and would have been advised to post in the secure order queries on their forum which would have got replys by mail or a callback on the phone.

yes i am a voluntary moderator on their forum but i have nothing else to do with the company at all. i am a customer just like you who was very happy with my 3 year old nexus and the service that i got from them that i offered my services to help them out on their forum.

 

Just to re-iterate MrDj's position

He is not an employee of Kobalt Computers and has at no point ever worked for us, his Moderation of our forum is voluntary and his time we are grateful for but he receives no payment from us for this.

He is and continues to be a customer the same as all our others

 

Pman,

There are currently 129 posts about Kobalt in the Resellers Feedback Forum, the vast, vast majority of them are not positive. Yet your response is to clarify that MrDJ is not an employee of the company. I do not think that this is the most serious matter at hand.

Many people appreciate that there have been problems beyond the control of Kobalt but there have been chronic customer service issues that need to be addressed. Could you respond to the customers awaiting accurate ETAs for their machines or the delay people have in receiving refunds?

 

Our customers are welcome to contact us via our official contact methods,

This is not one and from now on we will not be drawn into debates regarding individual customers and their own situations.

This is not an official communication method for our business and as such we will not get into debating orders/customers here

Pman

 

I understand that Pman but since you are here you could at least PM them or clarify the situation like most reps do.These people posting and getting unanswered and their problems remain unsolved only become a bad reputation for your company.
Not too insult or sth just to state my opinion

 

I understand that, however we have emails, tickets, our own forums as well as Pm's on our own forums. These are the correct methods to contact us, not on NBR as we do not watch NBR that closely and it often requires a fair amount of time to look into details of an order from the snippets that are posted on NBR

We have always recommended that our customers contact us through the above methods and continue to do so.

 

Pman you mention official communication method's. My question is how are we to get in contact when your phones system has been disabled, order tracking system is (apparently) not working and you do not respond to emails? Do you actually intend on refunding customers money or do you just expect people to get tired of waiting and end up doing a charge back?

 

I have mentioned the methods above, We do answer tickets/emails/al other forms of communication daily, even over weekends.

I will not get into talking about orders or customers on NBR.

This will be my last post on the matter, any of our customers who wish to communicate with us know how to do it and do use those methods daily.

 

I'm still waiting for a response to my last post in the ticket system on the 7th of this month. I know I have canceled my order but that is no excuse to just ignore me.

One more thing thing to add: That is the fastest anyone at Kobalt Computers has ever gotten back to me. It's a shame you can't respond through the any of the official methods as you have through NBR. This goes to show you care more about your reputation and new customers than you do about existing ones.

Seeing as your likely to respond to this quicker my order number should you get round to refunding me is TT101200.

 

not clever posting your order number on a public forum.

they are not ignoring you. it was well reported on the 9th august that they had major problems with the database. this may be why you have not had a response. could you post it again or even post in the order queries section.

 

Whilst I completely agree that this is not / should not be an official customer comms channel, I think it's worth bearing in mind that this is essentially an advertising/marketing channel. Every person who comes here and sees pages and pages of complaints about Kobalt with few if any positive reviews is potential lost business. Some official company comms offering the other side of the story may go some way towards balancing this.

As an example, I originally ordered from Kobalt back in July due to a recommendation from Mr DJ. If these feedback threads had been here I'd never have done so (though I'm a bad example as I'm currently waiting for a refund).

 

its like most forums. you only see the bad side of things as happy customers just dont post on forums like this. it is a shame as what you read on nbr is only a small % of their customers . the last 8 months they have been so very busy that theve even been working some weekends and bank holidays. the main delays started with sandy bridge and then ssd recall and finally 6970. of course this is going to throw a spanner in the works for any company whether big or small. im not making excuses for them and theve even put their hands up and feel gutted theve let customers down due to the backlogs after the recalls.
Kobalt will bounce back i have no doubt about that but im just sorry it didnt work out for you after my recommendation.

 

While this is undoubtedly true, it's hard to ignore the fact that there are significantly more complaints about Kobalts service (or lack thereof), their delays, their inability to meet deadlines that they specify less than a week beforehand, and so on, than any other company I can see in the Sager/Clevo boards.

Surely this is a sure sign that something is terribly wrong?

I keep seeing people say they've "turned the corner" or that things are better and all sorted now.
Well, I saw posts saying much the same thing back in March and April... which is what led me to order from them, thinking I'd give them a chance, it sounded like they were really trying.
It's now left me over a grand down on my distinctly small bank balance for 4 months with NOTHING to show for it other than a very genuine concern that I may never see my money again. (Having encountered one poor soul who's been waiting for a refund for FOUR months, surely you can understand my concern? Would YOU be happy in this situation?)

 

Generally, where there is smoke...there is fire.

Regardless of the respective percentage of people posting here or other avenues, of happy customers to unhappy customers, it is abundantly clear that Kobalt Computers should be avoided until they get their act together. Buy at your own risk.

 

People come here to post because there is nowhere else to vent. This whole thing about only a small % of people post good reviews and more post bad ones is a joke. All good reviews seem to be by the same few people. I have emailed them once a week since the 7th I have no confidence that Kobalt computers refunding me I suspect they are only inches away from going in to administration. Type Kobalt computers in to google search and two of the top 5 searches are Bankrupt and problems say no more.

 

We have tried this in the past and tbh no-one listens to what we say anyway and quite often the people who post here do not give the full story to as to the back orders that are going on. Usually its just a good excuse to bash at us for what appears to be our failing but when people are actually in full possession of the facts 99% of the problems people experience are out of our control. But we can not go into them here, people can say what they like in forums, thats the joy of the internet.

Our customers are well aware of reasons why some orders may be delayed be they changes to specs, people being away and delaying delivery, choosing to wait for new components etc...

Hence why we will not go into detail on order on here any longer and any concerns regarding orders need to be directed through our website as they will not be addressed here.

And yes compared to the amount of customers we serve be they business, hospitals, companies or individuals the concerns raised here are a very small proportion.

This literally is my last post on the matter. If people want to discuss thier orders do it in the correct places, This is not one of them.

Pman

 

i am now saying this as a customer and not a moderator.
you are totally out of order and talking out your backside posting that. did you actually click on the bankrupt link and read what it said?
let me save you the trouble. it said:
Don’t worry not from Kobalt.
My tale of woe starts with Rock but ends happily with Kobalt.

 

I'm sorry, but this is just ridiculous.

I, and many others, gave you thousands of pounds of our money and we were badly let down. In my specific case I waited six weeks and had to chase for order updates every step of the way, I was given an ETA which turned out to be complete fiction (at this point my order hadn't left "processing" despite my chasing) and when the ETA came and went NO ONE TOOK THE TIME TO CONTACT ME.

In six weeks I did not have one pro-active piece of contact from Kobalt. So don't try and tell me

"Our customers are well aware of reasons why some orders may be delayed be they changes to specs, people being away and delaying delivery, choosing to wait for new components etc..."

because to those of use ( allegedly in the minority) who have had major issues with you it just comes across as arrogant posturing. And I'm sorry but you're not a big enough company to be able to treat customers with such disdain.

But maybe I'm wrong, in which case give all of us who are awaiting refunds our money back in a timely manner without quoting DSR or waiting for people to do chargebacks.

 

From the horses mouth - Kobalt are not in control.

I encountered 2 component issues with my own order and was only notified of one of those - almost 9 days AFTER my ETA.
This is the epitome of Kobalts general lack of communication.

For both issues I was advised (by Kobalt staff) to wait for newer generation hardware which was apparently being tested - or soon to be received.
Everything is always just around the corner.

I'm still awaiting a response to my enquiry posted 5th August (over 2 weeks ago).

From my experiences over the last 3 months, I would highly doubt this.

On one hand it is not uncommon to see requests for consideration due to Kobalts size (quote "small family business").
Now now on the other, they suddenly fulfil so many orders that any issues are just a minority?

Can this be true? Are companies and hospitals willing to wait 2 weeks for a supplier to respond?

Regardless, if we indeed take such comments in good faith then there is clearly triage happening somewhere.
A decision is being taken as to what orders will be prioritised - beyond initial order dates - leaving low volume orders (individuals) out of pocket.

Personally I did not post to raise order-specific concerns, but to ask for advice & opinions.

However, if people have experienced the truly dreadful turnaround on key enquiries, coupled with zero possibility of a phone conversation - meanwhile this company sits with £1000's of their money...
Can we really be surprised they are seeking other avenues for communication?

If anything this should indicate to Pman et al. that these "correct places" are not meeting the needs of their consumers.
Taking fed-up customers and *demanding* they address their concerns via faulty channels is unhelpful.

Sorry for this "War and Peace" sized post.
For those scan readers wanting a soundbite.

Avoid Kobalt.
Claims are one thing. Delivering them is another.

Thanks guys & take care
/warlash