Negative Experience with XoticPC

I've decided to share my recent experience with XoticPC which was incredibly disappointing. I have included a timeline of my experience below. To summarize I received excellent service until there was an issue with the order, after which I found their service lacking.

October 20 - I placed my order and explained to the sales representative that I needed the laptop no later than November 8th. I was informed this wouldn't be a problem.
October 22 - My laptop was shipped from California.
October 29 - The laptop was delivered. The box arrived in excellent condition with no signs of damage. I inspected the laptop itself which was also in perfect condition. Once I turned on the laptop I immediately noticed a large cluster of defective pixels on the screen. I contacted XoticPC explaining the situation and that I needed a replacement laptop shipped out as soon as possible to meet the November 8th deadline.
October 30 - Received an email from support requesting more information and did so the same day.
October 31 - Received another email from support requesting additional information and did so the same day.
November 04 - Requested a status update after not hearing from XoticPC on Friday or Monday regarding the RMA.
November 05 - Finally hear back from them saying they hope to see the RMA released today. Later that evening I received an RMA # and label so I inquired as to when I would be receiving the replacement laptop. Restated that I needed the replacement laptop by November 8th.
November 06 - Informed that they were not given an ETA on the replacement laptop. I found this odd since I had stated several times I needed the replacement laptop by November 8th and sent an email asking for clarification.
November 07 - Received an email from support stating the RMA is just for Sager to inspect the laptop. No replacement is being built and they believe the damaged screen is normal for this type of LCD panel.
November 08 - Deadline passes and I have no functioning laptop. I am informed that I have to cover return shipping which was approximately $70 to refund the purchase price.
November 12 - Perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment, but because of positive experiences in the past with XoticPC I opted to apply my refund to a new order (same configuration and model as original order).
November 12 - I'm informed that until the defective laptop arrives at XoticPC, they cannot begin building the replacement laptop. As if I haven't been without a laptop for long enough, looks like I'm expected to wait another week before they begin building the replacement I should have had by November 8th.

I've had good experiences with XoticPC in the past so my hope is that by posting this here someone from XoticPC will be able to turn this negative experience into a positive one.

Thanks

 

Hi Hackez, I'm sorry to hear this. Can you PM me your order or RMA number so I talk to our service dept to see what we can do to get the processing going quicker and getting the new notebook to you as soon as we can.

 

Going out on a limb here, and certainly not trying to minimize your situation, but this may be one of those cases where xotic isn't at fault. They are a reseller, so as you know they get the machine from sager. Not sure how returns/refunds work, but my hypothesis would be that xotic is in the same boat as you; waiting on Sager. Of course I could be wrong, and i do hope one of the reps reaches out to you. I've had a friend order through them before (i bought my sager direct from sager) and it was a fairly smooth process. I dealt with Hutsady, who has also answered some random questions from me.

I am surprised you had to pay return shipping; although I think they bundle that service with their higher level warranties.

Good Luck!

edit: LOL, i couldn't even post before Hutsady got his reply in.

 

Hackez, I have looked at your case and will try to help expedite the new order once Sager receives the laptop that you wanted to exchange. The major issue that we are dealing with on your case is that trying to request a replacement machine from Sager is not as easy as you would think, they require every machine to be paid for or have the old laptop in their possession before they will start building another. I do understand your frustration and why you requested a replacement but ultimately, had you went the repair route (instead of insisting on a completely new build, then requesting a refund and then changing to exchange), Sager would have paid for expedited 3 day shipping both ways and replaced the defective screen and would have likely had your laptop on its way back to you

 

Hutsady,

Thanks for your assistance with this matter. I have PM'd you the necessary information.

Ajfountains,

I believe XoticPC handled the RMA process poorly. I understand they can only do so much as a reseller since much of the control is with Sager. If they had informed me from the beginning that a replacement was not possible until Sager received the defective laptop I would have submitted a duplicate order and let them hold the funds. At this point I can honestly say if an individual has a time sensitive need for a laptop they should use a different reseller based on my experience with this order.

Tanner,

In my experience when you receive a brand new laptop that's defective and send it in for repairs there is a good chance that when it is repaired they will break something else or not even fix the original issue. Quality control at repair facilities regardless of the manufacturer is incredibly hit or miss (much more so miss based on my personal experience). If I had taken the repair option and after receiving the repaired laptop back there was another issue I would have been out of the refund/exchange window. That would have put me in a very difficult situation where I would be forced to go through repair after repair for a brand new laptop which is simply unacceptable.

Even if I would have taken the repair option I still would have received the laptop after November 8th which is when I needed it by, so that wouldn't have helped me at all regardless. The fact that your staff seemed to have no concern for the date I needed the laptop by was by far my biggest disappointment. I stated this multiple times and I didn't even find out that I wasn't receiving a replacement until I asked your support staff multiple times for clarification. Your staff knew on October 31st that a replacement wasn't going to happen. They only informed me of this on November 7th after multiple emails asking what was going on. If they would have said from the start that a replacement was not possible without Sager receiving the defective laptop first, I would have been willing to have you submit a duplicate order and hold the funds on my credit card if that meant having a functional laptop by November 8th.

So not only am I missing a laptop while on travel when I desperately need it, I had to pay $70 out of pocket just to get a replacement which apparently won't be built for another week since the defective laptop hasn't been received by Sager. I'm shocked that your response was it's my fault for not taking the repair option when I still wouldn't have received the laptop by November 8th. I was hoping that you would be willing to explore options to get the replacement shipped out quicker considering the amount of time I've had to spend on this RMA process and the fact I'm out $70 dollars. Judging by your response though its my fault for being difficult since I didn't want a brand new laptop that arrived defective to be repaired.

 

Hackerz, I do apologize for your inconvenience and will help expedite your case! The support representative made every request that you asked of him including asking for a replacement laptop to be sent. This was eventually denied. There was a lot going on in the background back and forth with Sager to try to accommodate your request and we were merely waiting on responses from them to try to keep your case moving. Regarding the repair, I wasn't saying it is your fault at all, merely that the repair option with Sager could have had your laptop on its way back to you already and we trust that Sager can fix an issue like yours very easily, in fact much easier than starting a completely new build from scratch. We are always able to work with Sager on return windows for machines needing repairs out of the box so that would have been a non issue. Requesting a replacement laptop be built and sent out merely is going to take longer to process and I hope you can understand that Regardless, we will do what is necessary to get you the new laptop as soon as possible! If you wanted to expedite the new order, you can supply your credit card still and the new order would not be waiting on the credit for the returned laptop. I have reached out to you regarding the tracking information on the laptop that you sent back so I can help watch this as well.

 

For those interested in an update, Tanner at XoticPC is doing his best to make the end result of this experience a positive one. I'll make sure to provide a final update once I receive the replacement laptop.

 

Tanner did everything in his power to make my negative experience a positive one. Though it took quite a bit of time before I received my replacement, the one I received was free of issues. XoticPC even threw in a free game for the difficulties I encountered. Overall I would order from them again, I think the big thing to point out is that as a reseller they are limited in what they can do because they have to work with Sager. While they have excellent customer service, just don't expect Dell's level of speediness when it comes to resolving issues. There's a lengthy process that has to be followed.

 

interesting! great to see XoticPC looking out for their customers. I hope here in Canada we have same service...

 

I'm sorry, but this is not a valid excuse. In this case you are not dealing with a company that sends its repairs to a 3rd party, like many major brand names do. Your computer would have been returned to Sager, the guys that built it in the first place, and repaired by Sager, the same guys. If you are going to trust them enough to order a replacement computer, it makes no sense to say they aren't competent to service it.

Seems like this was your fault for not requesting a warranty repair. Had you used the Sager warranty service, they would have paid for shipping.

This was a sucky situation for sure. And initially it was not your fault, but you compounded the issue, increased the wait time, and cost yourself some additional money by being overly paranoid and requesting a replacement/refund/exchange instead of just getting the original unit fixed. I really don't get that part. If you think Sager is too incompetent to fix a computer they built for you in the first place, then why would you trust them to build you a replacement instead?

Just my 2 cents...