Why XoticPC permanently lost a customer worth $8331.01 over 20 months.

Good afternoon,

After being stonewalled, having my order lost for months and losing productivity, I wanted to warn my PCMR brothers. I know of no other way to bring this to the attention of XoticPC in a way that will actually generate change. XoticPC is a company that I would have happily continued patronizing for years, however I can no longer continue volunteering my money to a company that makes me feel like a doormat. Whereas I was once a strong and avid supporter and referral base, I am now ending my support.

Why XoticPC forever lost my business worth $8331.01 spanning from 3-18-2014 to 11-14-2015.

I first discovered XoticPC when looking for a good company to provide mid to high end laptops for myself and family. My first purchase was in March of 2014, and my last dealing with Xotic is dated November 14th, 2015. There are several smaller reasons why I had a dimming vision of XoticPC, however an overwhelming number of polite but horrifically inept customer service and problem resolution interactions has brought me to the place I am now.

XoticPC has never delivered on their promised game with purchase, additional accessories, thank you or consolatory gifts etc. Despite following all instructions, and speaking to numerous sales personnel. This may seem trivial, and I shrugged it off as such, however it played into a pattern of poor communication, bad customer service and failure to deliver.

In every one of the five separate orders that were placed, I was charged via Paypal/Credit card immediately, however payment did not register for a variety of reasons with XoticPC, even when I e-mailed the transaction numbers and confirmations. This caused additional delays of days to weeks before my order even entered inventory gathering. In some cases I had already made my first or second payment on the computer before receiving my product.

In multiple orders, despite having posted payment, the entire invoice was deleted. Sales representatives told me that the order was "not finalized", and that I would have to resubmit the order. (After the first time, I made sure to follow the order through to absolute completion, this did not resolve the issue.) This required additional confirmations, phone conversations, e-mails etc and added to the delay by moving the posted order date.

At one point, I had three orders open at once. All three orders had separate, crippling issues; Order #495415 was a preorder MSI Dominator, initially placed on 10-15-15, deleted and resubmitted on 10-26-15 placed on backorder - every phone call received the same pat answer "It should be here by the end of the week" - nothing I said or asked would provide me with more information, depth, or understanding. I felt acutely aware of the stone wall of impersonalization. Order #495981 was a 17" MSI XoticPC Force, paid for via debit card as well as via Paypal Credit, attempts to fix this resulted in delays and the order being placed in Phase 0, awaiting payment for weeks. Order #496271 an ASUS with a 960m, was placed and paid for on 11-14-2015. Due to an address mismatch between the credit card billing address and shipping address this order was tied up for weeks, attempts to clarify, update and resolve weren't handled until 12-23 when the order was placed in Phase 1, Payment processed. At which point we were notified that despite the promised inventory availability at the time of order, the unit was sold to someone else and now on a deep back order.

After a few fruitless phone conversations that resolved nothing (but increased confusion and errors), I tried to be proactive by waiting a few days, then spelling out via e-mail as simply as possible, the fixes necessary for each issue I faced. Instead of resolving the issues, an additional layer of errors was created. The address correction from 6271 was applied to 5981, the double payment issue was completely borked as it was applied not to 5981, but to 5415 causing it to fall into a payment limbo with no refund issued, while 5981 was left double paid with no refund and set into it's own limbo with neither of the transaction codes posting.

The recurring theme across multiple phone conversations was the redirection of responsibility and the deflection of direct questions with scripted answers to an agonizingly frustrating level of inhumanity - I might as well have been talking to an automated phone system. By that I mean none of the representatives could actually fix any of the billing or shipping issues directly. Beyond that, through multiple delays I was unable to ever receive a satisfying answer to direct questions, such as, "have the laptops in my PO actually been shipped from MSI or is the delay on their end", "Do you or anyone at Xotic have tracking information for your PO to MSI, I will wait on hold for an hour if needed", "(for another order)Has my laptop actually been appropriated and put into production", "Is there a laptop in stock in my model number, I will pay the rush fee to jump up the line if it means the difference between getting a laptop from this shipment vs a future shipment" "Multiple representatives have assured me that the laptop is expected 'this' weekend, every week for a month, at this point I'm tired of hearing the same line, and I would rather you not give me a pat answer, when can I actually expect the laptop so that I don't need to keep calling."

No one could help sort it out, it all had to go somewhere else behind the curtain in the form of notes on the account or e-mails to another department.

I tried calling several times, it confused the staff and created errors, cancellations, payment loss. I tried e-mailing so that the paper trail could be followed and issues fixed, it generated more errors and confusion. I tried waiting a few turns er weeks until the confusion wore off, they just kept hurting themselves in their confusion. As a result I called to cancel all of my orders in the first third of December after other vendors were showing my pre-order Dominator as in stock for off the shelf purchase. I was assured that the 496271 was resolved and in stock, 20 days later (today) I had to cancel it because somewhere along the line it went into backorder while the payment quietly went unfixed - all the while accruing interest. I was assured that 495981 was in stock, sure enough it was. When we received it, there was no game code, no promised accessories, no "new website lost order" consolation package. Just a laptop in a cardboard box. I didn't ask for freebies, they were offered, I took the necessary steps to ensure that my interest and acceptance was noted - and they failed to deliver.

I'm not someone to quibble over emotional distress, time wasted, productivity lost waiting on a critical work tool for two separate people. I just make things work, I'm in the customer service business, and I bend over backwards to make things right when I screw up. I found myself acting as a customer service advocate, working on my end to provide usable solutions, easily actionable fixes and attempting to do the legwork so that the errors could be resolved by a monkey. Eventually I realized that I was attempting the impossible. I was attempting to get a quality customer experience out of XoticPC when they had no interest in cooperating. I'm certain that after several samples of their business practices XoticPC could care less about my customer experience, resolving problems (at all) much less quickly or satisfactorily. And instead I am forced to speak with my measly $4000 a year in equipment purchases.

tl;dr XoticPC does not deliver on their promise of accessories-bonuses-games. The 'customer service' will stone wall you. If you call or email too often about resolving an issue, they will make even more mistakes. If you don't reach out enough, they will never get around to fixing your order. Expect any non-perfect order to be delayed. Also, no order can be completed perfectly. Expect imperfect order delays to be measured in weeks-months-generational release cycles, not hours or days - plan accordingly if purchasing for critical workflow environments. Understand that while pleasant and intelligent, the sales and customer service staff has absolutely no authority to act on your issues, they will be forwarded into the abyss. Do not bother asking direct questions, think outside the box, or attempt to aid in resolving your own issues, it's like fighting against quick sand, you'll sink further. Understand that at no point will anyone at XoticPC go above and beyond, think independently, seek to resolve your issue quickly, surprise you with generosity for delays, rush ship an item for their mistake, or even respond to queries about missing accessories-bonuses-games when embedded in an e-mail regarding anything else.

Edit: Wow, thank you for gold! It's a relief to know that I'm not insane.


Final Edit and Resolution 1/11/2016: After speaking with XoticPC over the phone and via e-mail. They offered a personal apology and the promise of a smooth and seamless order process. Beyond that XoticPC offered to rush build and ship the order as well as discount it generously were I to resubmit it. This came directly from the COO Joshua Triplett who cared enough to step in and address my concerns and issues. Due to the unique and sensational path my personal issue took in gaining the highest level of exposure, it is impossible for me to comment on other customers who have suffered with similar issues. However as I my issue did garner enough attention to be brought to light, I can say without hesitation that I believe XoticPC did everything within their power to resolve my personal issue once they and (unfortunately) half the internet were made aware of it. As a small business owner, I hope to see these issues improve in the future for both their business' sake and for the consumers who place their trust in XoticPC.

When it was all said and done with XoticPC, I politely declined the offer of re-submitting my order. When it was clear I was no longer going to place an order, Patrick and Josh made a point to send out a care package with several items - accompanied by a letter from Josh further emphasizing his apology on behalf of XoticPC and his enthusiasm to prove XoticPC's ability to deliver in the future. I have no knowledge of the internal workings of their company and can not comment on the other stories written in the comments of the Reddit post. As for my part, XoticPC has handled my situation with a high degree of professionalism, sincerity and timeliness.

If you are curious as to what I did after the fact. I was contacted by and reached out to several companies in the custom laptop market. In the course of my conversations I spoke with owners, Marketing Directors, Production managers and the CFO on one company. I learned more about the mission statements, values, goals and direction of these companies. If you are interested I will gladly PM my personal thoughts of a variety of companies based on my interactions with their leadership.

In the end, Andy Li from iBuyPower reached out to me and offered a high level of service, rapid communication and insight. Due to his concierge interest in helping me put together a great system to fit my needs, I made my eventual purchase decision with them: a Battalion model (Clevo P870DM).

 

Sounds right. God awful company that no one should ever have to deal with.

Customer service is nonexistent and will merely pretend to offer help with no follow-up.

Edit
You can find the contact information for the owner via Google if you want to contact him at his home phone number in the evening.

 

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me on the phone and provide feedback. I do try to work with our feedback and use it constructively, bring it up internally and try to improve where we can. So it is greatly appreciated. You've got my contact info, and if there is anything else I can help with, please let me know.

 

I purchased from them in 2010 and had no issues, even with getting a ram stick replaced. I've recommended them to quite a few people since. Sucks that their customer service hasn't held up.

 

wow, tbh im unpleasantly surprised to see this many things just going plain wrong with one and the same customer placing several different orders with xoticpc. thus far basically all reports ive seen concerning this shop turned out to be positive, be it right off the bat or after clarifying some unlucky mishappenings...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Yeah, this is something that we spent a lot of time discussing internally, working with the customer, and will continue to look at this some more as well.

 

I wish I had seen this before I purchased in November of 2015.

Once I cool down from my anger at XoticPC I need to make a post about my experience now that I have received mine.

Everything you wrote is the experience I had to a T. It was a terrible frustrating process where at no time did I feel I was valued as a customer. In the end I have a paperweight that is not as ordered. I am a small business owner and my time bills out at $400 an hour. I have lost so much of my time and productivity with this company that I am disgusted with myself for not just cancelling the order and disputing the charge weeks ago. I am guessing another computer company would have loved my $4k order and would have delivered it right by now. I just have this attitude towards life where I truly try to think the best of people.I keep believing they will make it right and that they truly are trying and that they really do care about their customers.

It just is not true of this company. Even with all of my order issues in the pre-order stage they couldn't take 60 seconds of their time to tick down a list and make sure all of my paid for components were actually installed on the damn thing.

When you do find a good company to replace your business needs be sure to post about it. I will have specialized computer needs for many years and need a good company to purchase from.

 

Strange, I had a really positive and painless experience with XPC back in 2012. Kind of shocked me when I saw this post on reddit, shame though, that this company seems to have dove off a cliff as of late.

 

My first purchase from XoticPC was my last purchase as well. I really do hope people stay away from them. New threads are created here way to often about how bad their service is.

 

from what I've seen on these forums, 7 out of 8 customers are not happy with their orders. As great as the support staff here from Xotic PC are and how helpful they are, without them, the service level seems bad.

Heck, they lost my business because they wouldn't accept PayPal as a payment method for international customers so I went with HIDevolution who happily took my money and gave me a perfect system.

 

Don't believe everything you read on the Internet...my2C.

 

The Paypal issue with them and international buyers is somewhat absurd. If you want to sell to everyone, try to accept a wide variety of payment methods. Want to keep customers? Stop lying to them.

 

I have been a member of these forums for many years. If anyone would like to question the validity of my feedback I welcome them to do it personally with me on the phone. I didn't just have a slightly annoying experience with this re-seller, I had a truly terrible one that is still not over. Called again this morning to try and work my matter out and neither Pat from these forums or their sales line would pick up their phones.

 

It's not that we aren't picking up the phones, but that we've been on the phones a lot lately. With shorter work weeks with the holidays, there seem to be more calls daily right now. But I hope that we were able to get everything taken care of today after I called and Barry called., And as always if I can help with anything, just let me know what I can do for you.

 

What a self-righteous, obnoxious, and uncalled for post. All one needs to do is read all the negative threads about XoticPC (and outside these forums), to see there's a pattern with this company lately. I have a negative experience also that I posted about, and I can assure you, it's accurate. Pat from XoticPC could be the nicest guy in the world, and he can post all sorts of replies to angry customers, but if you don't have a wrench to fix something that requires one, it's not going to get fixed no matter how nice you are and how many promises are made.

Pat and other XoticPC reps should be coordinating sales & company exposure through multiple internet channels - when their job becomes "damage control" instead of cheering their company on, it's time for customers to take note and look elsewhere.

 

I am not pointing my fingers to the OP or anyone for that matter, as I am sure some genuine customer (like you) maybe among them and I hope your problems are all getting resolved.

But, I have seen it many times before...the competition purchasing things through proxies just to bring a company down...on eBay that's NOP (normal operation procedure) these days.

XoticPC is in business since many many years (EDIT: 16) and has had (except for the usal hick-ups) nothing but good reputation, suddenly all these negative posts pop up within weeks of each other by user that barely ever actively participated in the forums before...and all right before the big Christmas sale...

So in my eyes it's not far fetched at all...it even calls for investigation, as either they had a major change in management in the last month or they got "Malibaled" as they call it in the Clevo scene...

 

I know what your'e talking about,i've been observing Clevo scene for a few years now ,only recently purchasing one,and every-time i wanted to get up to speed I would remember almost every post giving Xotic positive props,and for the christmas season it just felt like how could such a reputable company flatline in such a short span,it just doesn't make much sense for the right reasons,but make sense for the wrong ones,anyway hope they could get this unfortunate circumstance sorted out sooner than later.

 

Hopefully you've seen from other posts (even on negative situations) that we really do try to do everything we can to handle every situation we run into. Christmas time puts a lot of stress on a lot of people. No company is perfect, we just try to do everything we can to ensure we are providing what people want with the best service possible to every person we encounter.

 

My personal experience in buying from Xotic PC 5 years ago was very pleasant. In fact there was a small hiccup (nobody's fault) but they dealt with it professionally (they could have laid the blame on me). The two Justins were very cooperative indeed. I have recommended them to my friends and their experience is also positive.

So, maybe they are going through a series of unfortunate events, but that doest mean they are a bad company.