Awful. Here is my story. I bought a graphics card and they sent me a print server. I called them, waited on hold for 20 minutes, and a nice woman apologized authorized UPS to pick it up and sent me a new one. A week later I received a graphics card, but it was the wrong one. I gave up on them and called to recieve another RMA. They emailed it to me two weeks later. Well, two weeks after they had all of their stuff back I still had not been refunded, so i waited on hold another 25 minutes and they apologized and said it would be taken care of. Today I look at my banking and not only have they not redunded my $91.22, they have charged me an addiotional $77.56. I have been on hold for ten minutes so far. Apparently some people have had success with these incompetent people but know that if they make a mistake they have no clue how to fix it. I would pay an extra $20 for any product to get it somewhere else.

I am extremely disappointed with my order and customer service. I purchased a laptop based upon the picture associated with the laptop on Provantage's website. However, the one that was shipped was NOT the one shown at the time I made the purchase. I was later told by customer service that "pictures on the website are not always representational of the actual item." Very deceptive in my opinion. I was also told that customer service would contact me to let me know if I could return the laptop. The return was in question because the laptop itself was not defective. (Apparently, only the advertising was.) I have not heard back from customer (no-)service. I suppose what customer service tells you they will do is not necessarily "representational" of what they are actually going to do. Too bad. I own a small business. Provantage could have done a lot of business with me now and in the future and through referrals. Instead, I'll find a company that appreciates and respects its customers.

This review was modified by its author, meratl, on 9/10/08 7:11 AM.

Ordered a 750W corsair power supply from Provantage instead of buy.com, which would have been a tiny bit cheaper overall, since people recommended provantage. They shipped it to nomansland in Arkansas instead of where I live in Arizona. They stated in their email: "If you need to contact us about your order, please email to orders@provantage.com", well I emailed them five tims with no response to a single email.  
 
The next day I called their customer service and spoke with Holly. This lady was rude and disinterested in helping me. It was only 4pmET and she said that she would have to call fedex the next day to get something worked out. Then I called the next day, Holly had done nothing in regards to my order, nor did she probably even care to. I then spoke with Adrienne from customer service who was kind enough to get another power supply sent to me, which just started shipping today a few days after my initial order.  
 
Even though Adrienne was extremely helpful, Holly really ruined my provantage experience and I will never be buying anything from this company again. I should have bought with Buy.com, or even spent more at newegg, as I originally planned.

Very poor service. Please watch out doing business with them. I placed my order and for a week they keep telling me its getting shipped when i tried to cancel it as my shipment was still in there warehouse they told me that they can not guarantee that. I have received neither refund nor my order is shipped despite talking to twice to the customer service representative and each one after 20 mins wait repeats the same story that it will be shipped next day with tracking number will be emailed to me in few hours nothing happened. They have taken my money from credit card right away but are not helping in sending my order and now not allowing it to get cancelled. so please watch out !!!!!!!!

Ordered Sennheiser HD 280 Headphones on 7/14. Provantage site said they had over 200 units in stock. Order accepted, approved, and 'ready for release to shipping' on the same day. NO shipping for several days, while they're still showing hundreds in stock. After 4 days, I complained by e-mail. 24 hours later, they answer that the product is discontinued & order is canceled.

As other reviewers have mentioned. This company is VERY VERY slow in shipping. As a matter of fact, it appears they have no idea if their "vendors" even have the items they advertise in stock. After my order was placed, I kept getting emails that they were "awaiting confirmation by regional warehouse.". After 2 business days of waiting, I called. I got to sit on hold for 11 minutes waiting for "customer support", I told the the customer support person "if my order has not shipped and will not ship today, please cancel my order", he said "let me get you to someone who can help you" and I was on hold another 8 minutes, the next person that answered had to keep checking.. she said she marked it as cancelled, but that a "specialist" needed to check on my order and I would get an email when they know something.  
 
Bottom line, if you want your product delivered anytime soon, do NOT order from these people.

I ordered 2 Echostar TR-40 Converter boxes from Provantage on May 5, 2008. For this order I used my two $40 coupons that I received from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) coupon program. The coupons are only good for 90 days and mine expire on May 29th, so this order was placed more than three weeks before the expiration date. On June 10th, about a week and a half after my coupons expired, I received this lovely email from Provatage canceling my order:  
 
Tuesday, June 10, 2008  
 
To: XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX  
 
Re: Order Number XXXXXXX  
 
Dear XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX,  
 
We are writing to inform you of the cancellation of the TV converter box  
you had ordered: EchoStar TR-40 Digital to Analog TV Converter  
(Provantage#: NTIA004).  
 
Unfortunately, this product will not be available for sale as the  
manufacturer will not be releasing it as planned. A new product from  
EchoStar has been released known as the DTVPal. PROVANTAGE is no longer  
participating in the TV Converter Box program moving forward; therefore  
you will need to purchase the new product from another authorized  
dealer. We have refunded your coupon dollar amount to the NTIA directly,  
and they will be contacting you regarding your coupon information.  
PROVANTAGE has no control over the redistribution of coupons and any  
questions should be directed to the National Telecommunications and  
Information Administration: 1-888-388-2009  
 
We apologize for the inconvenience and if we could have prevented this  
issue, we surely would have done so. If I can be of any further  
assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.  
 
Thank You,  
PROVANTAGE Computer Products  
http://www.provantage.com  
330-494-3781 Office  
330-494-8715 International  
800-336-4466 USA & Canada  
 
330-494-5260 Fax  
---------------------------------  
 
I have yet to hear from the NTIA about replacement coupons and all attempts I've made to contact them seems to have fallen on deaf ears.  
 
Thanks Provantage for screwing me out of my $80 NTIA coupons!

Ridiculously slow shipping and expensive shipping & handling ($15 for 2 momory sticks, ground shipping). If you need your items delivered in reasonable time, this store is a wrong choice. In my case, taking 14 days. If I knew the way they handle shipping, I would have chosen a different store.

This review was modified by its author, jpnwolf, on 6/17/08 2:48 PM.

I ordered 2 Echostar TR-40 Digital-to-Analog TV Converters from Provantage on May 5, 2008, using my two coupons that I received from the The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) coupon Eligible Converter Box (CECB) program. They activated my coupons with the NTIA, so that I couldn't use them, placed my order on hold for over a month, then sent me the following email:  
 
Tuesday, June 10, 2008  
To: DENNIS WISE  
Re: Order Number 3487583  
Dear DENNIS WISE, We are writing to inform you of the cancellation of the TV converter box you had ordered: EchoStar TR-40 Digital to Analog TV Converter (Provantage#: NTIA004). Unfortunately, this product will not be available for sale as the manufacturer will not be releasing it as planned. A new product from EchoStar has been released known as the DTVPal. PROVANTAGE is no longer participating in the TV Converter Box program moving forward; therefore you will need to purchase the new product from another authorized dealer. We have refunded your coupon dollar amount to the NTIA directly, and they will be contacting you regarding your coupon information. PROVANTAGE has no control over the redistribution of coupons and any questions should be directed to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration: 1-888-388-2009 We apologize for the inconvenience and if we could have prevented this issue, we surely would have done so. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.  
Thank You,  
PROVANTAGE Computer Products  
http://www.provantage.com  
330-494-3781 Office  
330-494-8715 International  
800-336-4466 USA & Canada  
330-494-5260 Fax  
 
The company has now been removed from the NTIA's approved vendor list, and it appears that those of us who chose to uyse our coupons with Provantage are simply out of luck, with no apparent recourse.

I called up and placed my order with Marie for a Sony HDR-SR12 camcorder since the website said they had 14 in stock. She confirmed that they had a few in their Tenessee warehouse and some in their Texas warehouse. I never got an Email confirmation of the order, or a shipping notification. Since I placed my order around 1pm, I assumed something would have happened by the following day. So I called to check on the status, and was told they were not in stock but that they should have them by Friday, and that perhaps they were in stock but my order wasn't "reviewed" before they ran out. Reviewed by who? I placed the order over the phone!! How can 14 units (what she said they had) fly out the door from the 2 minutes it took to give her my info? Late last night, the website said they had 7 units, and today it says special order. So either I am being put into a second class queue (this is my first time ordering) or they simply lied about having them in stock. Since there are a lot of online vendors doing option B (lying about having them in stock), that's most likely the case, even when you talk to them on the phone. Total BS.

18 days from order to expected delivery. I have not received the product yet, but that insane processing time should say it all. Buy from somewhere else if you expect to get the product in a timely manner.

First off, I’d like to say I purchased from Provantage in the past and the price and service was excellent. (Shipping was always on the high side.)  
This time it was not. On 3/29 I ordered the Logitech Z-5500 sound system that was listed for $153.31. Shipping was a whopping $33.50 but with the excellent price for the speaker system it was still a few dollars cheaper than most on-line retailers.  
Two days later I noticed the order status was listed as “under review”.  
I called and asked what the holdup was; I was told that over the weekend there had been a price increase from $153. to $231.  
So instead honoring the original price listed on its own web site I was told they would not sell the speaker system for $153.  
 
Sorry, that’s just not right.  
It’s not like it was a price listing error; this was their regular listed price.  
I can no longer recommend this retailer who doesn’t honor its own listed prices.  

Placed order for LCD wall mount and received wrong item. Called and placed order for the "right" item and received directions for returning and promise for full refund on wrong item shipped. 2nd item received ended up being wrong again! Again received directions for returning the 2nd item. The problem appeared to have been due to a wrong item description in their website. I was promised full refund that included S&H charges. I got the two refunds less S%H charges nearly 3 months later. Will never shop with them again. Suggest watch out for their return policy. You will not get S&H charges credited, even when the problem is their fault.

I ordered 5 renewal licenses for software I already own for my small business. 2 days after ordering CS rep Kari Ferencik asks me for additional information. I gladly email her back within minutes. 3 days go by and I hear noting about my order. I inquire to Kari Ferencik about the order status and apparently she never received my information. I resend the email to her and she replays back that they need a company contact name and address. I tell her that I run the business from my house and the contact name and address are the same as the shipping address (Which I provided in the first request). I receive a reply back that this will not work, I need a separate name and address. I promptly canceled my order. Beware if you have a small business that is run out of your house, Provantage apparently only takes orders from large corporations.

ordered: 3 bulk spools of cat5e cable ($288), labeler ($40), labeler tape ($16), cable tester ($637). all items confirmed in-stock at time of order.  
 
order placed 12/13/07 (day 1).  
 
day 3: cable tester received. however, it was not new. vendor notified immediately to send replacement. also, started getting spammed by vendor. vendor notified to cease spamming immediately.  
 
day 4: spools of cable received, roughed up badly in transit due to poor packaging.  
 
day 5: tracking info for labeler requested.  
 
day 7: tracking info for labeler requested again due to never receiving a response to first request. item suddenly on backorder (despite confirming its stock status at time of order). no response as to why i was told item was in-stock OR why i was never notified of the backorder. order canceled. tracking info also requested for replacement cable tester.  
 
day 9: cable tester returned after receiving shipping label from vendor almost 2 weeks after they were notified.  
 
day 10: more spam from vendor despite being warned to stop earlier.  
 
day 11: since i received no response to my first request, vendor was contacted again for tracking info of replacement scanner only to find out item was on back order. no explanation offered as to why i was not notified. order canceled, immediate refund requested.  
 
day 13: spammed again despite two previous warnings.  
 
day 15: contacted vendor to check on status of refund. none had been issued. was promised that it would be processed THAT day.  
 
day 16: still no refund. again promised that it would be done THAT day. but was advised it could take an additional 14 days. vendor refused to issue a money order/cashiers check for an expedited refund. dispute filed with bank.  
 
day 17: refund finally issued. maybe the bank dispute spurred action on their part...or maybe it was coincidence?  
 
due to this incident, and yet another the last time i used the vendor (early 2006), this will be my last experience with provantage. they used to be great, but can no longer be considered reliable, forthright or responsive, imho. :(  
 
thanks to shopblt.com and newegg.com for bailing me out of the mess provantage left me with.

This review was modified by its author, antiochtech, on 1/11/08 1:49 PM.