XOTIC PC — Local services in Lincoln

Not a good experience at all. Trying to get a correct order to go through with this company is like pulling teeth...with a pair of rusty pliers...without novocaine. I've worked in IT for quite a while and have made countless tech/computer purchases over the years. This operation has been one of the most rickety & horribly managed that I have ever encountered.

I have been in need of a high-powered laptop to use for both personal and professional projects....and also games...cause games are awesome. Never worked with them before, so I decided to buy through Xotic PC. The payment processed immediately...then nothing....for weeks. No update on the order. I decided to reach out and contact them myself to find out what was up. They told me they didn't have the promotional materials in stock, but I could pay extra to have the promotional items sent separately in order to get the computer sooner...I asked why I should have to pay more just because they didn't have enough stock in place. No response. I caved and reached out again to ask them to go ahead and split the order (coming up on 3 weeks at this point)...they then respond that they DO have the promo items...but they don't have any more models of the laptop...and they don't know when more will come in. Then nothing for a couple of days....so I reached out AGAIN....only to be told that they have the models on order, but still don't know when they will arrive in house...plus it will take an additional 3-8 bus. days to "allocate" the inventory...then ANOTHER 9-16 bus. days for "build time" (keep in mind, I ordered a STOCK laptop!). Only after all of that will the 2-day shipping I'd paid $85 extra for actually kick in! At this point I decided to say screw it and placed an upgrade order for a different model that is $400 MORE EXPENSIVE but the rep. claims is actually in stock. I reach out to the rep via phone to pay the difference. I give him my credit card info...now it's 48 hours later and the payment has only just posted...and only after my having to reach out 2 more times to ask why it hasn't processed yet!!! The fact that it took that long for them to actually process the payment leads me to believe that my ccard info was just sitting in plain-text on a post-it note on someone's desk for a couple days...great.

It is now coming up on a month after I attempted to buy a laptop from a company that specializes in computer distribution... I still have no laptop, and I'm out hundreds of dollars more than I'd wanted to spend...and I'm told that it will probably be at least another week before I actually receive the computer that I DIDN'T want in the first place.

What makes it all worse...the only attempts made by Xotic PC to make this whole thing right have been half-assed at best. They offered "Rushed Production" (which still takes up to 4 days for a stock pc!) and a free game code...Should've just followed my instincts and stuck with my normal vendors.

I have documentation to support every single step of this insanity...and there's even more BS that I haven't included in this review!

Will not use Xotic PC again.

Edit Within an hour or so of posting this review Xotic PC has reached out in an attempt to make things right. They are saying that the new product will ship today. I certainly don't intend to hold them hostage with a bad review. I am absolutely willing to give them the benefit of the doubt by assuming this isn't their normal way of operating. Will consider raising my rating if things begin to perk up. It's also worth noting, that Pat with the sales dept. has put in a lot of much appreciated effort to try and help me with this order since he first became involved...ultimately, from my perspective, the problems seem to go beyond him and have more to do with an inefficient production/supply process.

Edit #2 After finally receiving my new computer (1 month after ordering), I've decided to raise my rating by one star. As much as I appreciate the expedited recovery process, I'm still annoyed that a bad review was the only way to get things moving...

Extremely shady company that lies about product being in stock constantly. If you're looking for a PC in a timely manner, this is not the place to shop. And if you need it fixed for any reason, be ready to wait months to get it back - fixed or not. Upper management constantly changes policies on a whim without caring how it'll affect employees or customers, only making changes that will get them more money. Buyer beware, if it sounds too good to be true it is, like this company. Oh, and no, it's probably not in stock, even if an employee tells you it is. The customer-facing employees don't even know - they don't have access to that information.

Edit re: owner response:

This is not a fictitious review or one done in retaliation. I am indeed a former employee, but I didn't make this review in retaliation (I left nearly 2 years ago), I left this review as a warning to potential customers. Every word of my original review was and still is true. They put products up on their site for sale that they fully well know they won't have stock of for months, and the "preorder" status is hidden behind their "customize and add to cart" button in order to get people to think something is in stock when it probably is, from 23 months of experience, months out. As for the ETAs they give, they change those constantly, usually the month it was "supposed" to come in, leaving people with months old orders hanging out to dry. This is all done on purpose (I saw 8+ month old orders multiple times there) so that if you try to cancel your order, you'll be pressured into switching into something else that may or may not be in stock, regardless of what the website says. They will say your order is "in production" when all they've done is put all the parts for it in a bin, which they might take a week or two to actually start on actually building it. Then they charge 20% restocking fees for "in-production" (or returned) desktop builds, whether or not they've actually started building it - if the parts are in the bin, you're getting the fee deducted from your refund - this is how the owner stated the policy worked and how we were told to enforce it, and that was reiterated multiple times. The company had multiple probes/inquiries by quite a few states' Attorneys General for the shady practices they implemented and had to respond to a couple of them myself. BBB complaints are common and truthful. And good luck with a chargeback - their explicitly stated to staff policy is to do nothing and let it take the maximum amount of time to refund. They don't care about the quality of responses sent out by representatives, they just care about quantity. So good luck getting a helpful response if you try to contact support, you'll likely just get a sentence or two back of copypasta about how "your model is a preorder" or 5 minutes of research into your issue if you're having problems. Then you'll be encouraged to RMA your machine, which you'll pay overpriced shipping for, and then be blamed for any damage in transit, even if you have a UPS store employee package it according to UPS' packaging guidelines, as Xotic PC recommends. And god help you if you ever need to file a shipping claim, enjoy waiting months to most likely be denied because of some technicality. Same with RMA's like I mentioned previously - you'll have to pay for shipping both ways (at consumer prices) and likely have to wait months to actually receive your machine back, and it's a coin toss as to whether it'll be fixed or not, as they do not perform the QA testing they claim they do. Dozens of customers I personally spoke with received their devices back with the exact same issue it was sent in for. Overall, if you're looking for a custom computer, there are plenty of competitors who can do the same thing much faster, with better QA and support. I know this from experience. This isn't retaliation,...

I decided to make my laptop purchase on August 9th 2016 thru XOTIC PC because they were recommended to me by my brother, who had made a purchase there a few years back. The process of building a computer thru their website was a breeze, make your selections, add them to cart and you are set, I selected the Acer Predator 17 (G9-792-79VJ). I opted for the cash discount, so I had to wait for a sales representative to e-mail me wire transfer information, the total time for my order / payment to be accepted and moved to Phase 1 [Payment Processed & Inventory Gathering] was 6 days; 4 business days (August 9th-15th 2016). Unfortunately for me, I ended up waiting a total of 9 days – only to be notified my order had to be placed on “back order” and I had to contact XOTIC PC asap; so I did, my laptop was discontinued by the manufacturer. After contacting them, one of the sales members; Barry H, helped me select a different laptop so I could move forward with my order – plus, for my inconvenience and delay of my now cancelled order, he offered me a rush shipment for the new order. I went back into research mode, both Barry H of XOTIC PC and my brother helped me select a different laptop. After my new order was placed, it ended up costing a bit more then my original, so I again had to wait for my additional payment to be approved; so the new order could begin the XOTIC PC order/phasing process. As you can imagine, I was already frustrated, especially since I built the other laptop and was really excited about it; to then have to replace it for a different laptop, a more expensive one – that I didn’t pick because I wanted it, but rather because it was “the next best thing” I could afford and how much time had already gone by; my old laptop was dying on me, so I needed a new one asap so I could work. However, I can’t blame XOTIC PC for Acer discontinuing my model, what I wasn’t happy about though – was that it almost took 9 days of idle time to be told about it. Okay, so back to my new order - I decided to go with GIGABYTE P57Xv6-PC3D, this replacement machine was ordered on August 19th 2016. On August 26th 2016 my new order finally was moved into Phase 1 [Payment Processed & Inventory Gathering] – a whole week! While waiting for this phase, I grew impatient and frustrated - so I contacted XOTIC PC (eChat option) to vent about the delay, because Barry H said my order would be rushed and I felt like time was standing still… there is where I encountered a breath of fresh air; I was connected to an AWESOME, HELPFUL and DEDICATED XOTIC PC Sales team member; Danielle G. Whenever I would ask for her thru chat or phone, she made herself available and made sure to reach out to the appropriate teams to figure out why my new order was taking so long. In all, the new order took a total of 13 days to go from ordered to shipped, and another 7 days to finally arrive on September 7th 2016. My overall experience with XOTIC PC was all right; PROS: great sales team members, easy to communicate through chat, you can build a customized machine. CONS: my biggest gripe would have to be with the amount of time it takes to go through the phases, between both orders I waited over a month. Patience is a virtue lol and Danielle H really helped calm my nerves by keeping open communication. I would highly recommend people to seek her out, if you need assistance with purchasing a PC/laptop or help with a current order, she is awesome. Also, after unboxing my new laptop, I had a few questions and Matthew N was really helpful as well. The customer service is great at XOTIC PC, they just need to hire more people so machines can get out the...