My Experience with Xoticpc (Order #74822)

So on August 1st I decided to finally order a Sager NP7352 (Clevo W30ST) from Xoticpc. The main reason being that it has a GTX 765M while being a little under 6 pounds.

A little back story, I am currently living in Jakarta, Indonesia, but am moving the USA soon, so I had my brother order the laptop using his credit card but from my xoticpc account, hoping that the laptop will be there once I am in the USA. The first problem arrives, the shipping address was not tied to the credit card account, and the phone number was not in file with the credit card account. No biggie, so my brother decided to call the bank and fix that up. Second day, the people at xoticpc said it was still the same problem. My brother was getting frustrated because he never had this problem before when ordering anything.

After attempting to jump through several hoops and cutting several red tapes
later, we finally gave up and decided to cancel the order and use Paypal. Naturally, I thought to cancel and just place a new order, but it seems that there is a cancellation fee even if the order has not been put through the production phase yet. So we decided to call xoticpc and tell them we want to switch to paypal. Though my brother has not used his paypal account in a while and mine was an Indonesian account. Since xoticpc only shipped to confirmed addresses, I had my brother use his. Though he needed to link his most current credit card account to his paypal account because he has not used it in so long. The problem was, it needed to be confirmed because the access was limited. This means we had to wait 2-3 days to get the code from Paypal since we cannot pay for an order so large with limited access. This red tape is entirely Paypal's bs, so I'm not gonna blame xoticpc there. Fast forward to August 6th. The required amount of money was finally sent to Xoticpc. Though after 1 business day, there was no email reply at all, and any attempts to call the person who managed the process (names will not be mentioned) seemed to be futile as she seemed to always be on "lunch break". Finally my brother called without the extension and asked what is going on. I finally got an email, this time from a different representative who will now take care of the order.

The email said all was well, the payment has been received, world peace will come soon. And it offered rushed production which I did not pick before because I did not foresee all the hindrance and red tapes to my order. So I decided to get it for the extra $49 because I need to make up for lost time. The last email I have just received said the order change I requested (the change to rushed production I assume) is being processed. I just hope it doesn't delay the process as a whole, would defeat the whole purpose of rushed production. It also said if I do not receive an update in 24 hours, I should contact them. Which is bs, they should contact me to tell me what's going on if there is a misstep in the production process, not me having to contact them. So right now I am waiting for that update.

My order is currently in Phase 2. So basically, I tried ordering on 1st of August, and it finally went to Phase 2 at the 7th of August. I did not order any xoticpc augmentations, so it should be shipped straight away to my brother who lives in New Jersey. If I can get an estimate (a specific one) of how long it will take to get there, it would be really nice.

Overall I would have to say it was a very frustrating experience, although I cannot say it was all xoticpc's fault either. It was the combination of the insane amounts of red tape (which is tolerable to a certain extent because safety measures for credit cards are necessary for orders of large amounts of money) and the fact that I did not expect such insane amounts of red tape. If I had known they were so strict about billing address, phone number, etc. I would make sure everything was in order before I ordered. Also, xoticpc staff, please post some kind of work schedule (when you get in work, when your lunch break is, etc.) because sometimes it seems like you guys have 2 hour long lunch breaks.

I can't say that everything is negative though. If this thing ships fast, it would definitely be a saving grace. And I did save a whole bunch of money with their very competitive price.

 

HI Pathfinder634,
I do apologize if placing the order was difficult.
To address the billing information needing to match I think all the other resellers have the same policy about having to be able to verify the address provided is the same the bank has on file. As we all sell expensive items online we are a target of fraudulent use often. To help protect you and use we have to be able to verify the information.

During checkout we do have listed on the payment page:
If Paying by Credit Card: For your protection, we call to verify all orders before they ship. Please ensure you have provided your Billing Phone number as on file with your credit card company along with your proper billing & shipping information. Any missing or incorrect information will delay the processing of your order. If shipping to a different address than your billing address please ensure your shipping address is notated on your Credit Card Account. Some orders may require additional verification that will be reviewed during the processing of your order.

Getting ahold of the processing rep should not have been that difficult. If you dont mind please PM me the processing reps name and I'll be happy to check it out. We all check our voicemails many times during the day so if the person was not available a return call from them should have followed as long as a voice mail was left.

We do sometimes ask if you dont have an update within 24hrs to let us know. Its not meant to put the liability on you, but it does help us ensure it does get processed properly. 99% of the time everything goes as expected but an occasional reminder from you sometimes does help. I will follow up for you so you dont have to worry about it.
If there is an issue during the production process we do let you know asap.

Again I do apologize if the payment policies made it difficult to make payment and I will be happy to check into the rep you were having problems with contacting.

 

@Hutsady

Would you mind telling me in what form this update will come in? Will it be an email? Or will something in my order page change? Also is it possible for you to tell me how long shipping to New Jersey would take? (Without getting any xoticpc specific services)

 

Updates are done by email and your online status will change at the same time.
Sager to New Jersey via UPS ground is estimated a 4 business days per ups.com. Once it does ship we'll email you a tracking number and that will provided their estimated first delivery attempt.

Edit: Looks like you've been updated :thumbsup:, next email to expect is that its shipped and an tracking number will be included then.

 

@ Hutsady

Thanks a lot. Final question. Could you give me an estimate of how long production time for a W350ST on rush build is?

 

Happy to help out. Rush builds are estimated at 1-4 business days, we've been seeing around the 3-4 since there are a lot of back to school orders going through right now.

 

Hi Pathfinder634,

I am living in Bali currently and want to order a notebook from xoticpc in the next week, but someone told me I might end up paying up to 50% import tax. I tried to google it, but there is a lot of contradicting information out there. It said somewhere I am only allowed to import electronics from the US with I have the KITAS and am registered here. I am only on the social visa so no luck for me there...

Did you have any experience with this when you ordered your notebook or was it completely taken care of by the shipping company?
It would be a great help if you could share your experience.
All the best!

 

hi
this thread is almost 1 year old and the poster hasnt posted since August last year so it looks like they no longer visit the forum so i would contact Xoticpc by email and ask them for advice.

 

Yeah you are probably right. I will drop them a line.
THanks

 

We suggest contacting your local customs agency or you local post office/UPS may know what to expect. Typically you pay for them at the time of delivery and are not taken care of by the shipping companies ahead of time.