New PC

[guncrasher]

My comment was specific to the warranty issue, here is TD's comment....
Not a bad system but the warranty stinks.  2 Years ?   



As a comparision here is the website for Digital Storm, IMO easily the best custom builder in the country today...
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/ 

yet, I and lots of other people still trust TD.  try calling digital storm see if they can help you on stuff that you dont buy from them.  actually e-mail or call anybody else.  Actually call any manufacturer see if they're as easy or eager to assist you.  I have called td several times, he always answer the phone and he never started by asking me for my product information to verify if my warranty was still valid.  but to give digital storm the benefit of the doubt I'll call tomorrow and ask them to help me trouble shoot my system.  I build this system with parts from TD and newegg and for some reason it wont connect to the network sometimes, not sure why.  Cant call TD since he's not available for the next few months, but we all know that he would have helped no questions asked.  From the day I decided to build my computer all I heard was that he was the best and his customer service was second to none.  I still believe that and will get my next system from him, whenever he gets back.

semp

 

[humble]

thats what Lew (Silat) heard also. I won't rehash old business here but in the end the only warranty you can rely on is the written one since I know for a fact that for whatever reason he didn't take care of at least one customer. I only brought this up since he commented. Now that he did I hope he'll clarify exactly what his warranty is. To the best of my knowledge if you call any manufacturer and specifically tell them your buying a machine built by a 3rd party they will tell you that you have no end user retail warranty. If 99 other people have been "taken care of" how would you feel if your the 1 in 100 that got the short end of the stick. Given that history when I saw TD's comment I specific to another vendors warranty it was reasonable to ask him what his is.

[TilDeath]

See Rule #4

[TilDeath]

thats what Lew (Silat) heard also. I won't rehash old business here but in the end the only warranty you can rely on is the written one since I know for a fact that for whatever reason he didn't take care of at least one customer. I only brought this up since he commented. Now that he did I hope he'll clarify exactly what his warranty is. To the best of my knowledge if you call any manufacturer and specifically tell them your buying a machine built by a 3rd party they will tell you that you have no end user retail warranty. If 99 other people have been "taken care of" how would you feel if your the 1 in 100 that got the short end of the stick. Given that history when I saw TD's comment I specific to another vendors warranty it was reasonable to ask him what his is.

I use EVGA, OCZ, PC Power and Cooling, NZXT, Gigabyte... and a few other vendors.  EVGA requires you to register your product for the warranty to come into effect.  If does not matter who built the system unless it is like Digital Storm, Cyberpower etc they will only warrant the product for I think 2 years... I buy from a distributor, as long as you register the MB GPU it has its full warranty 2, 3, lifetime,  Interesting you say call Intel they ask who the maker is, you tell them a generic they will then ask for the CPU serial number which will show if it is a retail or system builder, they do not tell you to go to maker unless its a Dell etc because they do not want to interfear with their warranty, all Intel retail boxed CPUs come with a 3 warranty period NO EXCEPTIONS which are the CPUs I use.  If you use a system builder CPUs 90 day warranty period no exceptions. Intel warranty the same for everyone me you or Dell Warranty is Warranty. retail or system builder.  OCZ does not require you to register your memory, have a problem call then set up RMA and your good to go.  Again LIFETIME warranty.... none of this business about go to the builder.  This all started over a OCZ psu that failed and Lew called me I told him to call OCZ which he did They arranged for a replacement with LEW not me.  I got involved when OCZ did not have the original PSU in stock, I stepped in and got him a PC Power with a higher wattage at no additional cost to Lew.  You guys keep saying warranty THERE IS THE WARRANTY.  The problems all arouse when Lew called and said the PSU does not work with the build. Then shipped it UPS.  All in all I stand behind my build to be free of defects in workmanship for one year.  If anything fails within the first 30 days I pay shipping both ways after that I will pay shipping back to customer but they pay to me or the part that is defective can be swapped out by the buyer, their choice (which Lew made).  No one else has ever had a problem with warranty work or customer service.  For those of you who want to see how my warranty works check with Skullman, Dragon, Pollick, DustyR or Delirum.  Here is my warranty word for word.

Warranty
TD Computer Systems will not accept a sale until this document is Digitally signed.  This means You must save this document and resend it as an attachment to warranty@tdcomputersystems.com .  The sending email address must match the email address provided to us for billing purposes.
Build
•   TD Computer Systems warranties the workmanship of the build for one year.
•   Upon receipt of your new system inspect for damage and a working system. If there is a problem we will at our expense pay to ship the system back to us for repair, or arrange for local repair at our expense.  This is valid for 30 days after receipt of your new system.
Component Failure
•   TD Computer Systems does not state or imply any warranty on the components used in our Builds, this is left to the manufacture of the faulty component.  In most cases this is a better warranty then other builders/manufactures.
•   TD Computer Systems will cross ship a faulty component with credit card security provided we have the component in stock.
•   Shipping of faulty component to TD Computer Systems or the manufacture is paid by the system owner.  TD Computer Systems /manufacture will pay return shipping on components only unless otherwise stated.


TD

[humble]

Thank you for posting.

1st I can only relay what I was told by Intel. My comment was not specific to you but generic for any third party "custom build". Basically I was told that if I was asked for a receipt and it was via a 3rd party that I would need to contact them for any warranty replacement. That may very well mean that you would simply need to make the swap as the purchaser of record. I understand that Lew's system came with a problem related to a faulty heat sink on MB (which certainly is not your fault per se) and that both you and Lew tried to fix it in place. The PS issued cropped up later and Lew paid to have the box shipped back. It was damaged and you submitted a claim via UPS to cover the damage. In the end Lew paid you roughly $1000 US plus shipping to repair the computer. You sent the computer back to him as a stock unit with no over clocking.

So at the end of the day I am left with serious questions specific to two area's. I completely understand that the ability to guarantee any part works for its projected life span is beyond your control (or any other builder). In the end all you can do is replace it. So I in no way "blame" you for either the initial issue with the MB, the failure of the original PS or the need to substitute another similar (or better) power supply. Since all this drama with Lew occured during the 1st year and Lew paid to ship the system back to you why would you return the system to him in a "stock" condition or try and charge him $250 (my recollection) to "re-tweak" it? This would seem to fall under your 1 year "workmanship" warranty. Lew paid for everything as per your quote and covered the cost of shipping as per your warranty.

If I was in his situation I'd feel exactly like he does. He paid you a fair price, happened to get a system with multiple problems (not blaming you) and finally decided to pay the cost of RMFing it at his expense (with your consent) for you to swap the parts out. No ones fault it got busted up in shipping further. So at the end of the day with all the parts as well as almost $500 to you in labor (via the UPS settlement) covered you can't even be bothered to reload the bios settings for him?. I've built 100+ systems and I KNOW you wouldn't have lost a dime at that gross $$$ amount for labor resetting his bios. There is the heart of the issue in my mind. You do all this stuff for free but won't take care of a guy who did in fact buy your system, did pay to RMF it, did pay for all parts and significant labor (again do to another shipping damage issue).

My understanding is after all was said and done and you had been paid in full for the labor charge (while the system was still in transit) all Lew did was ask you to walk him thru resetting the bios and you told him it would be another $250. Please fell free to correct any errors in my understanding of the above.

I'd never have revisited this until you brought up the warranty issue but based on my understanding of the facts (as outlined above) you did Lew wrong. He paid you over $2000 for his system and covered all the hardware & labor to repair/reinstall everything from the OS up do to the damage and you couldn't be bothered to treat him right. So how do I reconcile this with all your "I do good" comments when you didn't treat a longtime vet here who not only paid you everything you asked for but actually recommended you to numerous others.

[humble]

Denholm,

As a side note my "Airbus vs Boeing" argument is a very real issue. Sadly we are losing fundamental airman-ship skills at an alarming rate. One needs to look no farther then Skully's comments to congress or the tremendous increase in commercial hull losses to do poor plane handling. We are in for a horrific surge in the accident rate over the next decade do to over-automation on the flight deck. While both of the major manufactures are at fault the drive to a "smarter" cockpit is very much airbus driven. I found it funny that airbus had to issue a memorandum regarding the erosion of "basic airman-ship" skills as a CYA. Do you realize that many ATP rated pilots with 2000 hours in type have less then 50 total "hand flying" hours (in current type rating) and are uncomfortable/potentially incapable hand flying takeoff/"non precision" approach. We very nearly had another major accident last week when an Air France 777 made a very high speed Rejected takeoff (161 knts) do to improperly failing to engage the autothrottle. Now the decision to alter the SOP's to turn off the autothrottle while taxiing is due to a 747 jockey who accidentally touched of his TOGA (max power) switch while in the takeoff cue...almost causing a major set of wrecks.

This is compounded by the stark reality that the AT will not engage in the event of improper configuration over a certain speed. At least 4 fatal accidents can be traced to improperly configured planes (no or improper flap settings) over riding an AT failure to engage. So any of you who have this old illusion of the PF/PM sitting up in the pointy end reading the check list and then the PF manually pushing the throttles is just wrong. In fact due to all the overall absurdly low level of pilot competance many major airlines actually forbid the take off roll if the AT fails to engage. In this case the plane got 1500 ft down the runway before the PF advanced the power and then past 200% of the 80 knt decision point of configuration before rejecting the take off.

I'd venture to say that less then 1% of the "new breed" (less then 10 yrs) are comfortable/capable of hand flying a segment and most major airlines not only discourage it but many forbid it. So if things go south up north the guy driving the bus may be doing it "for real" for the 1st time ever outside the simulator.

[Silat]

See Rule #4

[humble]

I want to comment here. Lew is a good friend so I am not partial or unbiased. However I did not bring this up to raise an old issue. My question was specific to the question of warranty once TD commented that the Dell warranty was weak. As of the last time I looked TD had no specific warranty 411 on his site at all. TD's response to my query puzzled me since if he does warranty "the workmanship of the build" for 1 year I'd assume that if a MB or HD failed within the year he'd replace the parts and reinstall the system for you IF you paid to ship it back to him...or give you help over the phone to reconfigure the bios. So is this a change as a reflection of the issues Lew had or is this how it's been? Further if someone bought a system today and had a PS failure (as an example) that fried the MB would TD send the system back stock or "re tweak" it?

To be honest TD's response raises more questions, I'm glad that he actually posted his warranty information for all. Since I do know that TD was paid his full "rack rate" ($135/hr?) to rebuild Lews box why was the bios not configured as per the original build. Is this specific to bad blood (for whatever reason with Lew) or an indication that in the event of a major failure getting the machine "re-tweaked" will cost you extra? Thats a question that was never answered earlier...