My new Sspecialist PC + Customer Experience = ???

[cesarinpinguin]

I decided to start this thread to provide an honest, objective and fair feedback regarding my new purchase.

Case
FRACTAL DESIGN R3 - BLACK PEARL CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600 Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, NVIDIA®SLI™, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 550 Ti - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB OCZ VERTEX 3 SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
4th Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
RAID
RAID 0 (STRIPED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD) (£9)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£65)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£65)
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence

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So, let me please review ordering process, customer experience so far up until now. I have decided to give these guys a score based on several factors, those are:

1. Ordering process - worth 4 points
2. Website clarity - worth 4 points
3. Flexibility to changes - worth 4 points
4. Communication and helpfulness - worth 4 points
5. Shipping and delivery - worth 4 points
6. Quality of build - worth 10 points
7. Subjective initial experience with the PC - worth 10 points
8. Objective initial experience with the PC based in basic benchmarks. - worth 10 points
9. If problems identified - Which are they and how well/bad PCS responded to them. - worth 30 points
10. Normal post-sale experience - worth 20 points

For a total of 100 points ...

So let me start with the ones i can objectively comment before my new PC arrives ...

• Ordering process: Easy, in fact very easy. No brainer: 4 points
• Website clarity: The website is extremely user friendly, well built and it offers the user a real status ( and not a generic one as most of other companies) of your order, that is to be praised. These guys have done an extremely good job here and that does indeed help to give the customer that sense of re-assurance. The website is very clear from a "terms and conditions" perspective and the things that they are and are not responsible for (i.e. warranty caused by overclocking, etc ..) I think that again, no challenges in granting another 4 points
• Flexibility to changes: This is another 4 points straight away. Please let me elaborate ... When i placed this order and i the status changed to "in build" i was offered with the possibility of changing the entire initial design, which is a major PLUS since i had made 2 fundamental errors ...1) selected a low wattage PSU and 2) did not upgrade to Windows Professional, which is the version that i required ... What a great and automated way to allow your customers to deal with these situations. so well done here as well.
• Communication and helpfulness: Pre-sales communications was very good. I don't think many companies in these days could fail in attracting your potential customers nicely. It's a different matter the post-sales service which is when things go wrong and that's where most companies will fail ... There was an email that was un-responded but hands up, it was an email that i sent asking a very unclear question, however, it remained unresponded, hence i am taking a 1 point from this score ... overall: Outstanding ... 3 points
• Shipping and delivery: Well, now 1600 ... i was started to come to terms to the idea that today was not the day ... until about 30 mins ago ... delivery fully traceable all the way up until delivery point. Lived up to expectations ... Absolutely brilliant! 4 points
• Quality of build: What a professional build you can observe even from looking at the packaging ... as we say where i come from: "once you have had your breakfast, you can imagine what the dinner is gonna be like" ... Opened it up ... and there she was, docile, smart, discrete until i unscrewed her and realize the effort put into assembling a PC for a while ... beautiful wiring, well done! all in place, configuration as requested, all spot on ... it's silent yet fast and simple in design and appearance yet so versatile !!! A well deserved 10 points
  
• Subjective initial experience with the PC: It's simply amazing .... See? This score is basically the results of things that i have noticed so far ... so let me begin with how "good looking" my PC is and how fast it is (11 secs to boot up and 20 max including all items loaded up) ... Everything works, i have tried to burn 2 DVDs simultaneously while working on something else, cool as a cucumber ... happy in every aspect so far and i think the whole experience so far cannot or will be so difficult to be surpassed ... the welcome pack is amazing, (my boss says that i have COD) so i praise perfection (if there's anything perfect !?!?!?) - 10 points
• Objective initial experience with the PC based in basic benchmarks: Windows Experience score is 7.6 not too bad bearing in mind that i have not and will not overclock it ... The data transfers readings are as follow, in MBps ... SSD (R:307, W: 338), RAID of 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK (R:222, W: 145) and standalone 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK (R:120, W: 110) ... i will later benchmark it with more advanced software but for now this suffices my requirements ... in the end i did not purchase this PC to be the fastest in the UK but to serve me well for my needs ... so again, more than i could ask for. yes, i paid big bucks but i am happy with this PC and its performance .... 10 points
• If problems identified - Which are they and how well/bad PCS responded to them: TBD
• Normal post-sale experience: Well ... it's now have been 2 weeks since my new PC was delivered and it has lived upto the expectations. The system works as expected and i got what i have paid for ... so i think this review comes to an end by simply saying that i am delighted with my machine ... thank you for treating my order with efficiency and courtesy and even a bigger thank you to assembling a machine this well.
  

SO FAR, my experience (service + hardware) is rated at 69 points out of possible 70 or 99%

 

[Unwina]

I decided to start this thread to provide an honest, objective and fair feedback regarding my new purchase.

have some rep for this excellent approach, I had some excellent additional help from the forum both with PCS people and also forum members.

have some rep for this

 

[cesarinpinguin]

off the record - i am concerned at the expensive SSD that i ordered, the amount of bad reviews and people having with issues with BSOD and drive not being recognized is astonishing ... Here's a remark from one of the Engineers at OCZ regarding the Vertex 3 SSD

P67 and Z68 is far from a 100% working solution

... It happens that i have both, the Vertex 3 SSD and an Asus Z68 mobo :tooth: nice ... In all fairness, this is a widely known issue ... this is all i am saying at this time ...

 

[mpv]

All looking good for a fantastic new PC experience then looking forward to the pics when it arrives

Edit: forgot to mention I have 2x OCZ SSD's and a Z68 mobo and they have been perfect so far ... and blindingly quick ofc

 

[cesarinpinguin]

UPDATE and little issue (not worth taking into consideration, i think)
- Guys, quickie ... i have a USB port in the device manager that is showing with a conflict ... i have got nothing attached to the PC yet ... so i am a bit hmmm, forgot to mention that one USB belonging to the MOBO has been put a black rubber thingy ... could it be that and if so, what is that for?
Thanks

 

[Unwina]

UPDATE and little issue (not worth taking into consideration, i think)
- Guys, quickie ... i have a USB port in the device manager that is showing with a conflict ... i have got nothing attached to the PC yet ... so i am a bit hmmm, forgot to mention that one USB belonging to the MOBO has been put a black rubber thingy ... could it be that and if so, what is that for?
Thanks

Might be the USB attachment for the front panel perhaps, although a thingy sounds a bit serious [rollinglaugh]

6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Just a thought, have you tried clicking on the ? item to see what state its in. Can you dissable it perhaps (not reccomended just wondered)

Apart from that I'd recommend giving PCS a bell.

 

[cesarinpinguin]

LOL ... I see what you thought about the black rubber thingy ... LOL
Mate, the error dissapeared ... Did not do anything ... The review continues ...

 

[Unwina]

I'm looking forward to the next stage lets face it bu*ger all else to do waiting for my PC to arrive. ;-)

glad your thingy has fixed itself

 

[cesarinpinguin]

Update ...

 

[cesarinpinguin]

Final Update ... Thank you PCS ... You have done a well done job .. a very well done job.

 

[cesarinpinguin]

Updated read and write Hard Drive Speeds ...

SSD (R:307, W: 338)

RAID of 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK (R:222, W: 145)

Standalone 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK (R:120, W: 110)

 

[DanteWilhelm]

personally I would have gone for 8gb RAM so I could have a gtx 560 Ti 2gb


BUT if it works for what you're using it for then there's no problem! glad to know you had a good experience