My Kobalt Comptuers Saga

Hi All,

I've only just registered but I've been a lurker for a while, I just wanted to share my experience with Kobalt Computers with you all, hopefully so that some of you can avoid getting into the same situation I am in at present!

Firstly let me briefly explain what has happened so far:

Sunday 24th April 2011 - Order placed for GS150 laptop.
Tuesday 26th April 2011 - Received order confirmation - ETA set to 18 May 2011.
Tuesday 17th May 2011 - Posted asking for an update in Order Queries forum.
Friday 20th May - Received reply via Order Tracking - Explain that staff have been off with Norovirus, ETA updated.
Friday 3th June 2011 - Posted asking for an update via Order Tracking.
Wednesday 8th June 2011 - Posted AGAIN asking for an update via Order Tracking.
Wednesday 15th June 2011 - Posted YET AGAIN asking for an update in Order Queries forum.
Wednesday 15th June 2011 - Received reply via Order Tracking - Was advised of problems with Matt screens and the latest GS150s, was told that "The revised matt screens are now coming in first thing next week so we would be looking at delivery to you Wednesday/ Thursday." and "As soon as they come in we'll be able to get your machine out immediately".
Friday 24th June 2011 - Posted asking for an update in Order Queries forum.
Wednesday 29th June 2011 - Posted asking for an update via Order Tracking.
Wednesday 29th June 2011 - Received reply via Order Tracking - Was advised that Matt screens are taking much longer than expected, should be in next week.
Wednesday 6th July 2011 - Received reply via Order Tracking - Was advised that "your ETA has been updated and your machine is going into production Monday". ETA is now set to 14th July.
Wednesday 12th July 2011 - Order status changed to "Build in Progress".
Thursday 21st July 2011 - Posted asking for an update via Order Tracking.
Monday 25th July 2011 - Received reply via Order Tracking - Was advised that "The shipment of screens has now finally 100% shipped from our supplier and they will be here later today. We have tracking details and we are following the shipment. This was not the case previously so this will be the last update on the screen. Your machine will be completed within a few days from that point."
Sunday 31st July 2011 - Posted asking for an update via Order Tracking.
Thursday 4th August 2011 - Posted asking for an update via Support Ticket as recommended on the forums.
Thursday 4th August 2011 - Received reply via Order Tracking - Generic update to all about issues with order tracking system.
Friday 5th August 2011 - Posted another message via support ticket - I've finally lost it and asked how I go about getting a refund....
Saturday 6th August 2011 - Post a message on Kobalt forums stating I'm not at all happy, this is promptly added to my original Order Query post (I completely understand it was just a moderator doing his job).

So as it stands now, I spent over £1300 on a Laptop over 3 months ago and I still have nothing, other than higher stress levels to show for it.

I have seen numerous posts on this forum and the Kobalt forums from people who ordered during May who have received their orders, now I'm not expecting that just because I ordered in April that I should get my laptop first... BUT I was at LEAST expecting an update of some kind!

Now as mad as it sounds, I would still really love this laptop.... but I get the feeling that I will never see it! I have been holding out as long as I can, but I've started to think, what if something went wrong with the laptop? Would I have similar service in trying to get it repaired?!?!

I hope this may help others choose who to order their laptop/desktop from and at least give them an idea of what they could expect (other than the 3 weeks ETA you are given.....).

Cheers,

James

P.S. please move this post into the resellers sub forum if its deemed appropriate

 

What a horror story. Possibly this should be moved to the Reseller sub forum so it isn't lost in this forum.

I'd get a refund either way. Why help their profits? Even if it cost me a tad more with someone else I'd be happy.

 

Wow that really sucks. Will be interesting to hear Kobalt's side.

 

I always assume the pre-sale support will be better than the post-sale support, simply because the seller has your money.

You've been more than patient, in my opinion. I wouldn't have waited so long before asking about a refund. (I'm also surprised they charged you before it shipped.)

 

Thanks guys, I've always regarded myself as a patient person... so I'm glad to hear that others don't think I'm being unreasonable!

I actually wouldn’t have minded the wait IF I had been kept up-to-date on what was going on.

I'd be interested to hear Kobalt’s side of the story as well....

 

im sorry to here about this, it seems like kobalt has been going through though times but again this is unacceptable. maybe pman might be able to help as he is the company rep for kobalt on these forums.

 

Don't know if it's appropriate or not to post this here or make a new thread but good luck with that refund based on my current experience:

• Placed an order on: 15/06/11
• Received email with bank details as I choose to pay by bank transfer: 16/06/11
  
• Paid via 'Faster Payments' (which processes in a few hours): 21/06/11
  
• Emailed Kobalt noting that payment was showing as 'accepted' on my account, support ticket auto created: 22/06/11
  
• In the meantime I read from here and other places about the ridiculous lead times kobalt have, lack of communication and slow order processing, among other things and was feeling I made a bad decision going with them.
• Then they decide to not put the AMD 6970 cards for reasons about high fail rate (23/06/11), even though I can find no evidence of anyone else having those issues, and it seems like the few other resellers who pulled it were US companies that did so because of shortage/6990 coming out over there.
  
• Email Kobalt to cancel order: 25/06/11 (saturday so fair enough)
  Cancelled on aforementioned basis & because changing cards to 485m means the whole set up would've been then about £80 cheaper from pcspecialist (would've gone to them first, if they had 6970m then)
  
• Response from 'Andy B' (note 1st response from Kobalt since they sent their bank details): 27/06/11
• Asks for my bank details, forwarded them on the same day, 8 minutes after that email.
  
• Sent email asking what's going on, have not received funds: 02/07/11
  
• Forum post made in order tracking asking what's going on: 06/07/11
  
• Email received from 'Andrew' saying that he will look into it: 08/07/11
  
• Email received from 'Andy Beard' saying that they never received my details: 11/07/11
• Replied again with details on the same day.
  
• Another Email sent 15/07/11
  
• Another email sent 19/07/11
  
• New support ticket opened on 20/07/11
• Asked what's going on, clearly stated bank details again just in case they 'don't receive it'
  
• Copy pasted support ticket message on forum in a new thread on 22/07/11 (just after midnight)
• Posted again, late afternoon, quite annoyed, asking for a response, brought up that distance selling regulations state I should be refunded 30 days from requesting it. (That's either 25/07/11 or 27/07/11 depending on whether you mean when they acknowledge the refund request)
• Got a response quickly from 'neil@kobalt' saying sales manager off sick, will get to me on monday (25/07/11)
  
• Posted again in forum, no response 26/07/11
  
• Posted again in forum, noted that distance selling regulations are now breached 27/07/11
  
• Created new support ticket linking to forum posts & previous ticket: 28/07/11
• Hour later received an email from 'Andy Beard' apologising for wait and saying that refund has been processed: 28/07/11
  
• Emailed 'Andy Beard' asking why no funds yet. 04/08/11
  Even if they processed it via 'BACS' transfer (slowest/cheapest) it won't take more than 3 days to a maximum of 5.
  
• Emailed again, and made a forum post with copies of email between 'andy beard' and myself. 05/08/11
• Extremely annoyed now, obviously. Figure they are either lying to me now about having processed it or there's a problem and they aren't communicating it.
  
• Still no response, posted in forum and email asking for a reply: 07/08/11
  
• Posted again to forum: 08/08/11
• Still no response posted on forum, support ticket & email 09/08/11
• Am looking into making complaints against a trader. Have posted that they have until the end of the week to resolve this or give me a satisfactory response or I'm making a formal complaint to the authorities.

So here I am 43 (I think) days after requesting a refund with no money yet. I honestly would not be surprised if this carried into the end of the month with Kobalt making a complete joke of distance selling regulations.

Would be nice if they had a working number I could call to shout at someone, but in the meantime I'm out £1400 and my sister who I got a laptop from pcspecialist, got it built and sent within a week a few days ago. Wish I went with them in the start. Maybe if I ever get my money back, I'll come back and write a nice review about pcspecialist and how quick and responsive they are.

 

Oh man, another one?

I have to commend you guys on your documentation. Hopefully others realize that they too can possibly be taken advantage of and use your example as a guide to document EVERYTHING when laying out this much money. Save it all - emails, screenshots, etc. When interacting, if possible, stick to email as it is in black and white whereas if you make a phone call, there is no way to prove the call ever happened short of recording it which, according to some state laws, you have to inform the other party of which would effectively warn them not to make any incriminating statements.

Hope you both get this resolved, get your money back, and can get a laptop from another vendor.

I'd also recommend sharing contact information and working together to pool your resources be it legal or contacts at agencies which could help you.

 

Thanks for information! I'm quite tempted to look into doing chargeback if refunds don't look like they are going to happen.

One thing that I have just realised, they are only a 30 min drive away from me in Surrey.... I think a visit to their office might be in order... I've got a day off tomorrow....

I was only tempted away from PCS by the 95% Matt screens, so I suspect I will end up going to PCS as well.

 

Honestly I wish I had paid by card but fraud team at my bank got jumpy about the initial attempt and it took them a few hours to clear fix it, so I was impatient and thought 'hey these guys seem nice I'm sure it'll be ok'

Also, I've seen them actually advising people to do a chargeback cause they have some issues with refunding card payments.

Yeah I wanted a 95% too, but at least pcspecialist now have 72% mattes in stock.

Edit:
Just got a reply from 'andrew@kobalt' saying they're having communication issues and are trying to resolve it. Lol talk about a sinking ship. Don't really care about their excuses any more, 43 days with this is ridiculous.

 

Dang :-/

It is taking me 43 days to decide on a laptop (if I ever buy one) if that makes you feel any better

 

well I took like 2 weeks deliberating beforehand, but didn't really know what I was looking for. I guess a silver lining to all this is that I spent the last month going back and forth on to decide a set-up I'm completely happy with rather than a slightly un-informed rush decision.

 

That was the whole idea, lets keep our experiences in one place. Are they positive or no, that's another story.

I would rather change the Titles
My Kobalt Computers Saga >>>> Kobalt Computers (UK)

Lets hope somebody got something positive to say.

Xotic PC >>>> Xotic PC (USA)

I hope I'm right in Xotic case

And hopefully one day we'll have Malibal (USA), mysn (GER), Fortnax (CAN) etc etc

Rather then opening up separate threads all the time to express ourselves, lets keep them in one place. One company one thread.

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.

Thanks

 

for me its already 3 months...Im awaiting answer from my debit card issuer about visa chargeback process right now.

AVOID KOBALT!

 

Keep us updated if you decide to make the drive. I am really interested in hearing what happends.

 

I didn't manage to make it over today, I'm off on holiday tomorrow and I've been busy packing. I also received an update from Neil @ Kobalt, he advised me that my refund is being processed.

If I don't receive any further update when I get back in a weeks time then I'll make the trip in the I have off when I get back... to see if they can explain to me directly exactly whats going on, since their website seems impossible to commmunicate through at the moment.

 

Update: Finally got a confirmation that they have done something after a week of 'our communication systems are down'

Instead of receiving a bank transfer the same way I sent my money in the first place, Kobalt are saying that due to 'anti fraud regulations' they have to send me a cheque. In the post. Which is a bit of a slap in the face seeing as they've already breached distance selling regulations. I guess some regulations are more important than others. I also suppose this apparent cheque won't be sent with any kind of urgency or fast post options so I can add about another week and a half until I get my money in my account, due to waiting for the cheque & waiting for the money to clear.

Wonderful.

On the plus side I've saved enough to afford a better cpu, matte screen and the 6990 is out now lol.

 

I really do hope you get your refund soon. But I'd have to say, that sounds so dodgy, "cheques in the mail...."!

Unfortunately, my order with Kobalt is still outstanding

http://forum.notebookreview.com/reseller-feedback-forum/602359-buyer-beware-kobalt-computers-cant-get-refund.html#post7799920

 

"Due to anti-fraud regulations?"

That SOUNDS incredibly dodgy. Particularly since I was told just yesterday that they would be refunding mine soon, with no mention of anything to do with cheques or anything else, just refunding back to my account.

 

Yeah I know, but I really really hate being a persistent jerk and hounding them every damn second. Unsurprisingly, I haven't received any cheque yet, and I can only hope it will turn up in tomorrow's post, if not I'm going to have to chase Kobalt yet again about this. You'd think that if you were sending someone a cheque for a substantial amount of money, you'd at least send it by recorded/signed for/next day delivery, especially considering the amount of time this has taken and inconvenience it has caused me. I get the feeling that they've lied to me a second time about processing it, and trading standards will be having to get a complaint from myself. Those guys need to take a course in customer service lol. They just can't manage simple, obvious, logical things you do when dealing with customers.

Did they give you a definite date when they would refund you? because they've only ever told me that they've 'processed' it...

 

Nope, no definite dates on a refund as yet (though I have asked). Though I'm a bit annoyed that it wasn't done asap. Their second response to me indicated that it hadn't been done at their end yet, and that was a good 5 days after the original cancellation.

 

So has anyone received their refund yet? I haven't heard a word

I have just orderd a laptop from PCSpecialist, from all accounts they are alot better at communication and delivery of the product itself, so heres hoping...

I'm still planning to drive over to Kobalt if I don't hear anything about my refund... they might be more willing to talk to me face to face to explain what they have been doing with my money over the last 3 months... if not I could always take some mates with me haha

 

Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far - Teddy Roosevelt

 

Not sure about the laws over where you are, but 3 months into it without purchase would definitely make for a happy small claims lawsuit here in the U.S.

I would definitely consult with a lawyer if you can; a sternly worded letter demanding a refund within X time or this is what we will file may be just what is needed to settle this once and for all.

Regardless of the situation or circumstances it is my opinion that 3 months is simply too long a wait for delivery regardless of any circumstances behind it.

 

If you live anywhere near there I would definitely go down there and see what's going on. I would leave my mates at home though.. Just demand (politely) to know why your order has been delayed so long (truth please) and why can't you pick it up right now? or Why can't they write you a cheque right now?

 

Personally, I'd keep all communication in written form from here on in. If you do talk over the phone, check the local laws to see if you can record it without the other party knowing (in the U.S. for example only some states allow that).

You always want to keep a record of what was said, because verbal agreements without solid evidence are worthless in court unless both parties agree that the agreement was made.

 

Same story here...
I ordered on 21/2, cancelled on 18/4, got an email saying that I will get my refund within 30 days. After this nothing.. I've issued some tickets, sent some emails but got no answer... 4 and a half months after and no refund....
I don't know what to do.. I live far from UK, and I have paid by bank transfer, so I can't do a chargeback like some others can..

I think I found the worst company I could give £1400 to for a laptop...

 

I guess in that situation the only thing you can realistically do is try and get the law involved. I don't know if the distance selling regulations that I've seen some people talk about cover international orders, but at the very least, there has to be SOMETHING legal that can be done. I don't suppose there's any trade law type people around who can help clear that one up?

Still waiting for my refund too... but mine's only a few weeks now. (funny, they can TAKE money in 2 days... )

 

have you joined their forum and posted in the secure order queries section. its a bank holiday here in the uk today and they will reopen tomorrow.
if you add your name and order number to the post hopefully they will get back to you tomorrow.

 

Seriously getting tired of seeing this bs answer. When you own your own business you don't take bank holidays off....Can they process orders? Probably not, can they answer their forum better freak en believe they can. Xotic pc has been doing it for years.

 

Kobalt takes off for bank holidays while other resellers like Malibal answer PMs on a Sunday night.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/607272-p150hm-485m-heat-problem.html

 

But let's not forget - it's only 2% of customers that are unhappy. The other 98% are so happy that they never post on forums. All in all Kobalt offer excellent service.

**And that my friends, is sarcasm**

 

4 1/2 months and no refund! That is a disgrace!

From what i understand if you live in the UK, distant selling regulations apply on all EU and International purchases. If you live anywhere else in the EU this should also apply, elsewhere i do not know. But i would definetly seek legal advice wherever you live.

Main lesson here is to always pay by credit card in the future, where you are covered if things go wrong with Chargeback and Section 75 claims.

Hope you get you're money back soon.

 

Dandelionz, I am in the EU(Greece), so I think this DSR applies to me, but yet, I can't get a lawyer.. They are too expensive

MrDJ, is it a bank holiday 4 months now? And I'm pretty sure I've made a thread there about the refund on May. I can't find it now... In any case, I just made another one

Yeah, PowerNerd, I must be on the 98% of unhappy customers.. Sorry, 2% *

zep07, tell me about disgrace... You seem to know about DSR.. Can you explain me how this works? because all I found from a quick google search was looong articles from the UK goverment saying all I can do is complain to them or get them to court.. And yes, I surelly learned my lesson...



Nice company though, they keep their word...
«Please accept this e-mail as confirmation of your request to cancel your order from Kobalt Computers Ltd. Your order has been marked as closed in our order tracking system.

In accordance with Distance Selling Regulations and the purchase of goods from a website, we hereby confirm that a refund has been actioned and will be refunded to your credit / debit card that you originally paid for the order by. If you paid by bank transfer please e-mail us your bank details and we will set up a BACs refund to you.

Please note that although we are obliged to refund your order within 30 days (in accordance with the DSR) we always aim to ensure it is with you as quickly as possible but in some cases the transaction process may take this full period. Once we have received notification that your refund has been authorised by our merchant bank you will receive an e-mail confirming this.»(18/4/11)

"The process MAY take this full period"... Hmmmm...

 

Update:
Finally got a cheque on 25/08/11, apparently I was sent one on 16/08/11 but that never appeared and they've cancelled that one and sent a new one by tracked delivery. Cashed it on 26/08/11, I'm sure it won't bounce.

Just to be clear that made it about 50+ days ( 27/06/11) since I requested a refund to receiving it. I can't help but wonder if my refund would have ever been processed by now if I wasn't chasing it every other day and occasionally making threats. I've noticed from reading other's cases and my own experience that the biggest issue Kobalt have is their lack/speed of communication. Most of the complaints here could be resolved simply by:

• Responding to customers in a reasonable/possibly guaranteed time frame: no more than 2 days realistically
  
  
• Making it easier for customers to communicate: working phone lines, clear indication about best form of communication & quick responses to it so people aren't sending out emails, making support tickets and forums posts all at once because no one has responded to them for a week.
  
  
• Giving people immediate/automated updates about orders, so they aren't having to wait on some tech/sales person to update it. If there is an unreasonable hold up at any stage, send the client an email explaining the situation. People shouldn't have to chase down kobalt to find that the reason their order was held up for a few weeks was because a part on order or some backlog, and shouldn't be expected to check their forums for announcements on holdups.
  
  
• Issues regarding orders that have nothing to do with build; ie payment or refunds, should be sorted as soon as possible. Most companies realise that this area more than anything can permanently sour their reputation, so go out of their way to deal with the 'paperwork' side as quickly as possible. I think a company with a bad reputation of 'it took me 50 days to get a refund' compared to 'a customer service rep was rude' or 'my order took a long time to build' is worse off. You can dismiss long orders as one-offs with reasonable explanations from the company. Even bad customer service can be forgiven just a bad service rep who could be reported to management.

Bad customer service is probably better than non-existent/sparse customer service. I think I would've even preferred a company that treats me with disdain but actually gives prompt responses and deals with things within a day or two.

In contrast I can livechat or phone someone from pcspecialist within a minute. Also, they are within the top google results for 'custom laptop' on google(UK), kobalt are no where to be seen on the first page. I can't even remember how I got to them in the 1st place because I was considering pcspecialist for years. I only remember choosing them because they had the 6970m, but pcspecialist got it a few weeks later anyway. I wish I had waited a bit. Though, these last 2 months have meant I can now afford a better laptop (2630->2720, 6970->6990, glossy->matte) instead of an uneducated config so I guess there's a silver lining to all of this.

Hopefully the money clears into my account by the end of the week.

Edit: statistics like '98%' are useless without source, and most likely a guess, rather than any kind of quantitative check, like a survey. Also, it's not about the 98% it's about the 2% and reducing that 2% to a minimum. That '2%' wouldn't be an issue if Kobalt did all it could to ensure that when people decide to cancel their order or just are a bit disgruntled about their experience, those consumers are treated in the best possible way, so they are just 2% of quietly unhappy people instead of 2% of angry vocal people. I'm one of those who hates complaining and if this was resolved even within 40 days, just before I posted in this thread, I would've let it go and would probably only mention kobalt ever again if someone asked me specifically about them. I hate being negative as well, so I wouldn't go 'don't buy kobalt' if someone asked about custom laptops, rather I'd just say who to trust.

Edit2: I think I got Kobalt from researching UK Based Clevo sellers.

 

Spyros2309, I would make a final attempt to contact Kobalt demanding an immediate refund, if they do not respond then I see no alternative to the legal route.

As you live in Greece DSR applies, you have also received confirmation of this from Kobalt so looks like an open and shut case. I'm no legal expert but in the UK you would take them to small claims court. I would still ring up a local lawyer for some free advice or the Greek equivelent of the Citizens Advice Bureau on how to proceed.

Hope this helps.

 

Johnan,

Thanks for the update. All the points you make are completely valid and well argued. If they had processed my refund quickly I would never had said a bad word against them, instead they drag it out and bring a whole lot of bad publicity for themselves.
I'm now slightly more optimistic for my refund, though its only been 2 weeks so may still be a long wait.

 

Kobalt Computers is obviously a dying company. There is little that can be done to help it. It's been dragging on like this for at least 2 years (although back then it wasn't so severe). They also had huge delays back then although refunds were actually processed unlike now. They are always quick to respond to questions until you pay. I also don't believe its just 2% of unhappy customers. It's a pitty that no Kobalt employee has the guts to tell us whats really going on there (anonymously). I wonder if their salaries are paid on time and how many people are waiting for order/refund. I wouldn't be surprised if a notice appears in a few months about bankrupcy, but that of course wouldn't stop few enthusiasts on this forum from recommending to buy from Kobalt!

 

zep07, thank you for your help.. I spoke with a lawyer, sent a final email, and if they don't answer me again I will take the legal route.

johnan, I don't know about you, but i would definitely go "DONT BUY KOBALT"

 

After ordering from Kobalt on the 4th August and cancelling on the 15th August, I received a refund today (1st Sept). So it took them two weeks, from other peoples accounts this is relatively quick for a refund.

Unfortunately it took 3 support tickets, 2 PMs, 2 private Kobalt forum posts and 1 public Kobalt forum post to get to that point, with only the 3rd support ticket being answered at all.

When I cancelled I would not of had a bad word to say about the company, they were struck by many problems beyond there control. But the complete lack of communication was both worrying and angering, and made me lose faith in Kobalt (I ordered and received the same P170HM from PCSpecialist in the time it took them to respond to a message).

To Kobalt's credit they appear to realise there problems, they are hiring a customer service rep and started a new customer promise (with free stuff if the laptop takes longer than 6 weeks). I imagine they will get there act together but it will certainly take a while to repair there image, at least on NBR, and I will be shopping elsewhere until it is clear things are working differently.

It's a relief to get the money back, and while communication is not there strength (to put it mildly) I've no doubt Kobalt are honest people and will eventually complete all refunds. It may be a slow process but don't lose hope!

 

He's one of the lucky ones, the forum has quite a few examples of people waiting much longer. I'm on 2.5 weeks since requesting a cancellation and still waiting, my credit card number is only 16 digits - shouldn't take that long to type it in

 

When I placed the order the Kobalt servers crashed, so they never received my order in full and so never sent me a confirmation number or any proof of purchase in the 25 days they had my money. This was stressing me out at the time but perhaps I was lucky and it was because of that they processed my refund "quickly".

Best of luck PowerNerd, keep us updated.

 

For what it's worth, I cancelled my order on the 12th of August (Ordered it on the 26th April ;P), as yet, I haven't received a penny. Though they have said that the actual date that I receive a refund is totally out of their control as it's down to their payment service provider, or bank, or whoever it is they process payments through.

Well... that's reassuring isn't it?

I'm totally expecting to have to take alternative action once their 30 days are up... but... your news at least gives me hope!

 

It's also rubbish, if they process a refund then there will be agreed timescales for how long it takes depending on the original payment method. If these processes don't work it's up to Kobalt to sort it, as the supplier the responsibility is theirs to deal with such problems not yours.

The more I see issues with refunds the more I start to think Kobalt are deliberately stalling In an attempt to cope with cash-flow issues. Maybe it's time to get Surrey Trading Standards involved en masse?

KOBALT - I know you won't comment on specific customers (and yes MrDJ I know it's a family run business and the people complaining are supposedly only 2% of customers) but it's probably time to start taking some action to give people their money back. Most refund channels don't take as long as DSR allows (30 days if you aren't sure) so if you can't even do that then it's legitimate to ask if the problem is cash-flow (not long before folding) or you simply just don't care.

Please, explain what's taking so long for people. Even the alleged and seemingly very vocal 2%

 

After starting this thread I thought I should update it with my current situation.....

I have been chasing Kobalt re my refund, although I have heard nothing at all since 9th August, which doesnt look good! I'm fully expecting to have to go there in person... not that I think it will make much difference, but at least I will be able to confirm that they actually still exist as a company! I think legal action will be the only way that many of us will see our money

On a happier note, I ordered an equivilent laptop from PCSpecialist (it actually cost less for a higher spec) and it was with me in 6 DAYS!!!! I'm over the moon with the service they provided (real time monitoring of your order status, real people to talk to etc). So I just wanted to recommend that anyone who has had problems with Kobalt to give PCS a try!

 

I'd love to!

Unfortunately, I need my money back before I can spend it anywhere else...

 

I'm tempted by PCS but still have half my heart set on dual GPU, so we'll see. Kobalt have now started ignoring my thread on their forum, so as next Monday marks four weeks to the day when I requested a refund I will then be straight on the phone to by Credit Card Provider to begin chargeback proceedings.

I'm probably going to write to Trading Standards and BBC Watchdog, will direct them to these threads and see what they have to say, if get the time to do it this week i'll start a new thread with my initial note and follow it up with any other correspondence.

 

I hope you get your money back, dude

Mr. Mysterious

 

Well, I figured no time like the present. So have written and sent an e-mail outlining my complaints with links to all of these threads here. Before I post a verbatim copy can any mods confirm if this is ok? I don't want to get into trouble here on NBR nor do I want to open myself up to being sued if Kobalt don't like what I say!! I will definitely summarise any responses I get either from the BBC or Trading Standards regardless as that must be fine.

 

Hi

There are very good reasons why some of our customers refunds have taken longer (sometimes a lot longer) than they should have done and we have explained the reasons behind this to those who have been affected. Unfortunately we are limited in how we are able to discuss the reason behind this problem in public and I have explained to nbr moderators why this is. This is not through lack of wanting to explain the situation in public as if I did do this it would answer almost everyone's questions imediately and would resolve the incorrect views that are circulating.

This problem is not an indication of the financial status of our company and any comments to this manner are ill informed.

Regarding any comments about lack of professionalism or lack or work ethic such as not working bank holidays or weekends, I can assure everyone that we all work extremely hard at Kobalt and we often work late at night, weekends and public holidays. Just because we are "officially closed" on any day or weekend it doesn't mean that we aren't working. Similarly just because we don't post on nbr it doesn't mean that we don't exist - nbr is not our forum and we don't use it for marketing our company or providing support.

There was a time when I was on here a lot and often very late at night but this wasn't appreciated at the time so I ceased to post.

If any one on nbr has an outstanding refund situation and hasn't been contacted by us then please send me an email directly (in my sig below).

Please note that we will not discuss individual orders or customers on nbr, I will happily respond to anyone that I can help but I will only do this via email and not through this forum.