The majority of reviews posted on this website pertain to the purchasing experience of Power Notebook customers. This review is about my service experience from Power Notebooks.  
 
After owning my notebook for 2˝ years, I shipped it to Power Notebooks Service Dept to be serviced. I have Powernotebooks.com 3 year warranty. The overall experience was less than pleasant. My notebook was in service for almost 2 months. The bottom line – when the computer was returned it worked, but, my notebook LCD cover came back from their service dept scratched and dented.  
 
Prior to shipping, I took pictures of my notebook which clearly shows that there was no damage to my LCD cover prior to sending it to their service dept. Power Notebooks Tech Support Dept suggests that an owner take photos of their notebook prior to shipping it to service and I did just that.  
 
When my notebook was returned, I opened the shipping box and immediately discovered scratches and dents to my LCD cover. I called Tech Support to report this damage. I emailed 6 before and after photos placing arrows pointing to the damaged areas of my LCD cover.  
 
After waiting nearly 2 months for my notebook, and then, receiving it damaged, I am very disappointed. Next, I receive a request for more photos. Instead of Power Notebooks taking care of the damage, my photos are now being called into question.  
 
At this point, Donald Stratton emails me. He states I sent my notebook with pre-existing damage. I am accused of providing pictures of everything except the damaged area and manipulating my photos to prove my claim. Donald suggests I send more un-manipulated photos of the LCD cover or abandon my claim.  
 
I write Donald that I stand by my before photos indicating that there was no damage to my notebook LCD cover prior to shipping it to his repair facility. I had no more photos. At this point, I feel that it is useless to pursue my claim. But, I wanted to obtain information to get my LCD cover replaced.  
 
I email Donald making one last request of him. I asked him for the name and phone number of a repair facility where I could have my LCD cover replaced at my own expense. His response was “I might try Googling for a Compal HEL80 LCD cover and if I can find one, install it myself, or take it to a local qualified repair shop”. It surprises me that a company that specializes in computers for 10 years would be unable to provide me a referral to fix the problem.  
 
After posting my review on Reseller Ratings, I receive another email from Donald. He says I am not addressing the issue at hand and continues to maintain that my before photos do not prove my case. He asks me why I would make a post “which is only going to make people shake their heads in disbelief and ask themselves is this guy really that dense”?  
 
Next, I receive an email from Power Notebooks Tech Support Dept stating their factory service dept had completed their investigation and attached a visual form indicating my notebook LCD cover had scratches, dents and scuffs upon receipt. This visual inspection form was emailed to me after I posted my review at Reseller Ratings. It seems strange that after all of the events that I have just listed above, a handwritten visual inspection form would be sent to me. Included in this email was a denial of my claim.  
 
The following day I received an email stating that I was trying to scam Power Notebooks. I was accused of cropping my photos and what I was doing constituted blackmail and would likely be “punishable as a federal crime – meaning that if they involved the FBI in this matter, that would be very bad news for you”.  
 
I responded that my notebook cover was not scratched before I sent it in for repairs. I have my original photographs that the FBI may examine. I reiterated that I would replace my laptop LCD cover at my expense. I have no demands of Power Notebooks, I am not trying to scam or blackmail Power Notebooks. My claim was denied. I take them at their word.  
 
The purpose of Reseller Ratings is to help buyers make educated purchasing decisions. The purpose of my Reseller Ratings review of Power Notebooks is to truthfully share my service experience with this merchant.  
 
I had high expectations of Power Notebooks. My sales experience and the quality of their tech support is very positive. But, then, I was accused of bullying Power Notebooks into repairing the damage caused by their Service Dept. This is far from the truth. The above statements are backed-up by written email correspondences I have received.  
 
Having Power Notebooks perform service to my notebook has been a very stressful experience for me. I will not be doing business with Power Notebooks again. I hope that no other person will have to go through the issues and problems that I have encountered with PowerNotebooks.com  
 
This review supersedes my review dated 7-1-09.  

This review was modified by its author, busnut, on 7/21/09 12:44 AM.

My original review follows my latest update:  
 
Initially I was extremely positive about the service and support provided by PowerNotebooks.com.  
 
After I ran into a problem with my laptop, my attitude toward the company and the product has changed.  
 
I purchased and MSI Crown with great expectations. In fact the product was a good product.  
 
However, when I ran into a problem with the keyboard the support, response and treatment I received was unacceptable and surprising.  
 
I ran into a problem with the keyboard on my laptop within about 2 months of my receipt. I notified the company about the problem and was sent a new keyboard promptly. I am pretty resourceful and I was able to replace the keyboard inspite of the not so intuitive instructions.  
 
After I replaced the keyboard the system seemed to work as expected.  
 
Unfortunately within about 3 months the same problem arose. I contacted support noting the problem. In disucssions with support I was told it could be the motherboard.  
 
At that point I was given 2 options.  
1. Receive another replacement keyboard  
2. Send in my laptop.  
 
Option 2 was not my preference since I use my Laptp for work and was going on assignment within 2 weeks and needed to have a functioning machine.  
 
I had a call with Donald asking if they had a loaner program or someway of providing me a temporary shell for as a bridge while my machine was being analysed.  
 
After much thought and some rather harsh words, I chose the later since obviously there was something intrinsically wrong with my computer.  
 
After making this decision I received e-mail with the RMA and very "strict" shipping instructions.  
 
One of the instructions was to return the laptop in the ORIGINAL shipping box. Unfortunately, I was never told I needed to keep that box.  
 
However the instructions did say provide alternative instructions when the ORIGINAL shipping box was not available. In either case, tat box was to be included in a second box filled with packing peanuts.  
 
Since I no longer had the ORIGINAL shipping box, I went to FEDEX and purchased one of their laptop boxes and the required secondary box with the essential peanuts for a total of over $25.  
 
Within 2 days I received an e-mail(call request) noting they could not replicate the problem and they would offer me a full refund.  
 
I was SHOCKED to say the least. I really liked the machine and its capabilities. I was on the phone for quite a while with Donald trying to understand the issue and/or hist response. I wanted him to understand the value of the machine.  
 
To no avail, Donald was determined to drop me as a customer.  
 
By the end of the day, I received and e-mail noting the missing items from the computer with a pricing for each. Included in that list was the shipping box for $25. I was surprised by that item since I had sent them a very solid box.  
 
In any case, the level of service and lack of support was disappointing particularly if you read the attached “glowing” review from the original sale.  
 
I feel the PowerNotebooks.com group has a very limited level of product support and when the product is challenged or the customer is ascertive, they drop that customer.  
 
The resolution, response and reaction from the man who I recognize as being extremely knowledgeable, bright and compelling with regard to the intricacies of his product was, to say the least very disappointing.  
 
I would be very skeptical about doing business with PowerNotebooks unless you are comfortable by maintaining an autonomous level of support with the possibility of losing the primary tool for your business.  
 
Perhaps the problem was me relying on this off brand and independant company for my business requirements.  
 
***** Original Review ******  
 
Excellent!!!!! I have been a HUGE Gateway supporter and was very nervous with their recent acquisition. I needed a new computer and was apprehensive about venturing to a new vendor. I reviewed ASUS and ACER lines and was not 100% satisfied with either. I was somewhat hesitant to utilize PowerNotebooks.com until I read reviews. Those reviews were definitely representative of the company. The fact I could configure my computer to MY specifications was novel. The fact all the parts were "designer" helped push me to an afirmative decision. Once I built my machine online, I called to verify my "powerbook". Donald was my contact and he was superb and knowledgeable. The product arrived timely and was 100% functional. Met and exceeded my expectations! Great company, Great support, Great product. I felt like I was "asking the experts" when talking to Donald!

This review was modified by its author, dmrbill, on 8/14/09 9:13 PM.

Having bought several notebooks from powernotebooks.com for different people before, I was comfortable ordering a laptop for my mother from them. Having spoken with the people there and having them boast to me about their excellent customer service and service plans, I was willing to pay a premium to buy from them. I have been very disappointed. To begin with the doc was broken when we got the package. It took quite a bit of arguing to get them to replace it, as they claimed we should dispute with the shipping company. Now to the laptop itself, for about two months it was great. Worked really well, and really fit the bill. On all the laptops I have ordered before from Powernotebooks, I had never had any problems, so I had no reason to doubt their claims to having great service. It turns out however, that this laptop is a lemon… after about two and a half months, it just stopped working… wouldn’t boot to windows. Knowing a bit about computers, I ran a checkdisk, and found bad sectors. We called customer service and told them this. After several hours on the phone, they finally agreed to service the computer. Since the entire point of buying from Powernotebooks was to have easy access to customer service, I was really disappointed by the difficulty of getting them to agree to fix the computer, frankly I felt rather lied to. I was however willing to just be happy they were going to fix the computer. But as I am sure you have guessed from this story so far… they didn’t. They have been extremely difficult to deal with, took a week to send back a laptop to us, despite the promise of a rapid turnaround. What’s worse, they did nothing more than reformat the hdd… so of course, it died again. I have never felt so hoodwinked in my life. For a company that prides themselves on their Christian values, they sure are dishonest and unwilling to do anything for their customers. It’s too bad because I had really enjoyed recommending them to people and touting their claims of great service… now I will have to find someone else.

This review was modified by its author, jacob_dienelt, on 7/3/07 4:18 PM.

Product quality: My laptop had a few minor issues before the warranty expired, but of course after warranty it started having serious problems. Within a year after warranty expiration it has gotten to the point where I can't even leave it on without supervision because of the possibility it will experience rapid battery loss and shut down, or simply crash. The suddenness of these problems suggests this is not normal wear and tear, but shoddy construction and components.  
 
Technical Service: They make a point of trying to seem very convenient and easy to work with, but the fact is you have to mail your laptop in to them to even get it looked at. This is a hassle even under warranty, but God help you if you, like me, experience serious problems right after the warranty expires, because you'll have to shell out to even send it to them. They like to mention the convenience of next day shipping but that's not really a great option when it costs $100.  
 
Customer service: They're very nice and pleasant to work with. Good for them. Too bad it doesn't make up for the massive inconvenience of a faulty laptop. Also, when you review them poorly, they call you up and try and guilt you into changing your review. Not appreciated.  
 
Delivery: My initial order was out of stock, so I was promised a reasonable date I could expect it. I received it about three weeks after that date. Don't get me wrong, my customer service guy told me about the further delays, but...not very reliable there, guys.  
 
In summary, I was not satisfied with either the product or the ease of service. I recommend one of the real brands that can provide adequate service, or at least a local store that you don't need to ship to for repairs.  
 
Note: This review has been edited several times to reflect the entirety of my experience with PowerNotebooks and its products.

This review was modified by its author, Jerodast, on 6/28/07 4:23 PM.

I have purchased 5 notebooks from this company over the last 5 years. I purchased a very expensive extended warranty with the last notebook I bought. I had some issues with the last notebook which required me to send it in for repairs. The notebook still had many issues when it came back. After many months and many e-mails trying to resolve the issues, I gave the notebook to a charity and purchased a Lenovo. In their defense, I have never had to wait on the phone more than 5 minutes to reach tech support and I have not had any problems with the other 4 notebooks I have purchased from them. I am just disappointed in the support I got after purchasing a $400.00 warranty from a company that hides behind a religious facade. I won't be buying from them again nor recommending them to anyone anymore.

This review was modified by its author, 4mos, on 6/20/09 3:15 PM.

The battery, not covered by the three-year extended warranty, died within 13 months, less than one month beyond the deadline for free replacement. This is a $130 item, enough to sour me on this vendor for all time. The DVD drive also failed, but fortunately in a more timely fashion; however, it took more than a week to actually receive the replacement. The good news: they don't keep you on hold for ever and ever before telling you that you are screwed.  
 
After this experience, I would NEVER buy another computer from this vendor.  
 
September 24:  
 
As you can see, this vendor and I have had stormy, unpleasant exchanges, but I expect, with nearly two more years remaining on the extended warranty, that these are behind us--that civility and excellent service lie ahead. Kudos to Donald Stratton for publicly eating humble pie on this forum and for waiving the charge for replacing my dead battery.  
 
There is good and bad about this company.  
 
Pros: If know what you want, you can precisely tailor a computer to fit your needs and budget; you don’t have to accept the one-size-fits-all compromises in preconfigured offerings. Notwithstanding my problems with the tech support, there is much about it I like: you can call, 24-7, and quickly connect to a person who (1) speaks clear English like a native American and (2) I have been working with PCs for 25 years and frequently suffer the reality that the “expert” on the phone knows far less about the equipment than I. Not so here. It quickly becomes obvious that the tech support personnel at PowerNotebooks.com are very knowledgeable about the equipment under discussion  
 
Cons: They make mistakes like the rest of us, but would prefer not to admit it. Go through the admittedly rare negative reviews on this site and read Donald Stratton’s replies. Although I have no first-hand knowledge of what occurred with other customers, there seems to be a tendency to try to shift blame to the customer; indeed, this perception heightened my dissatisfaction with this company. Perhaps my experience has taught Donald Stratton to be less thin-skinned in the future.  

This review was modified by its author, samcohen, on 9/24/09 1:35 PM.

I just received my Powerpro 15:2 notebook yesterday which was a few days before I was expecting to have received it. However, upon loading up the newest Nvidia graphics drivers and benchmarking software (3dmark06) I found a problem with the system's cooling. After the second test the graphics card would overheat causing the system to shut down. While the problem may be Nvidia's fault PowerPro says they test each notebook they send out. So obviously there is some flaw in their testing process. So I decided to call their "24/7" tech support last night. It said all their representatives were busy at 11 at night and to leave my name and number and they'd call me back and I did. At 11 o clock this morning I called back again and did the same thing and have been calling the number nonstop for the last half an hour hoping someone will decide to pick up. Overall, not a pleasing post sale as I really needed this laptop for college next week.  
 
Update: Just received a phone call from Donald Stratton promising to fix any problem and get me the laptop by the necessary date. I was impressed to receive a phone call from him on a Saturday so I'll keep this review updated based upon what happens in the following days.  
 
It seems I shall have my notebook on time if everything goes according to plan. They will overnight me a new notebook and send me a UPS label to mail them back the broken one. Very impressed with the dedication.  
 
Update2: Donald was able to get everything to me on time. UPS was even aware of the issue and got it to me early in the morning which was awesome and gave me plenty of time to swap the hard drives and double check to make sure everything has worked as it should. Updating this review from the laptop now and everything has worked fine. Also when I was able to get through to support they were very knowledgeable. So things worked out in the end.

This review was modified by its author, mburst, on 8/23/09 3:04 PM.

The reason I purchased my laptop from powernotebooks.com was that a friend of mine bought theirs from them, and had a wonderful experience. They said they had excellent customer service and great products. Well, I have to agree that they do have excellent customer service. They have been very courteous in every phone call and email, and have upgraded me to 2nd day air shipping and included free AS5. As far as the laptop, I cannot comment on it. I ordered the laptop on 6/25/07. When I ordered it, I got an email saying the laptop would be shipped early to mid July. I ordered the laptop so I could take it on trip with me August 4th. Well, the third week in July came, and nothing. So I email, and they say the last week in July. I email back in the last week in July after hearing nothing, and I get an email back saying I may get it the second week in August, but they aren't sure. It's very frustrating, after ordering it over a month ago, not to have it. And I know it isn't powernotebook.com's fault (atleast I don't believe it is), but I was expecting to get this atleast 6 weeks after I ordered it for my trip.  
 
After talking to Ron on the phone he explained to me that the manufacturers have been delaying the parts, so it is indeed a problem with them.

This review was modified by its author, gwidion, on 8/3/07 9:25 AM.

Everything went perfectly until we received the notebook. The backlight was defective right out of the box. So we called their tech support and were immediately instructed to call Sager directly. Sager said that they'd ship us a new LCD screen that we could install. That was unacceptable to me, but the only other option they offered was us shipping the notebook back to them (sager, not powernotebook) at our own cost. After leaving numerous voice messages and an online support request to powernotebooks.com, we were finally contacted and told to once again contact Sager directly. Our purchasing officer spent two days calling powernotebooks.com until she got a direct number to one of their managers. Once we got ahold of the manager, he agreed to ship us a new laptop provided we mailed the old one back. In addition, he would credit us back the shipping cost.  
 
I'm sure our issue is a rare one. We were taken care of quite well and very quickly, but only after we escalated it enough to get past their automated tech support and customer service reps.

Good service and support. All my e-mail questions prior to ordering were generally answered promptly (as opposed to many companies who NEVER answer), and I was kept updated after ordering about the status and shipping.  
 
I also needed international shipping, and the company was flexible enough to use my (cheaper) suggestion as the shipping method.  
 
One gripe is that the billing options are not transparent. The company was very persistent about me using PayPal, and when I finally said I prefer to pay directly and they agreed, the billing was still done by a third party, BillPoint.com. This is a negative, as my credit card provides extra protection but that is generally voided by third party billing.  
 
Apart from that, the notebook (NP8880) is an absolute monster in the best sense. It is very well designed and assembled, very sturdy overall. I've used many "big-name" notebooks, and this beats them all in terms of sturdiness, not to mention features. My initial hesitancy in buying a lesser known brand is completely dispelled.  
 
This is where I think Powernotebooks sell themselves short: If they would upgrade their website to de-emphasize "cheap laptops" (the prices speak for themselves), and emphasize instead the quality of the components (e.g. the drives are Toshiba), better photos and brochures, and transparent billing, they would increase buyer confidence and overall sales. This combined with their already very good service could pose a real challenge in the market.

I just bought a Sager NP8880. Salesman was knowledgable and answered my questions (although what saleman wouldn't?). I received it exactly 2 weeks after I placed the order which is pretty much what he told me. All in all an average transaction.  
 
Now to the notebook. First impression: way heavier than I thought it would be. You would not want to carry this thing around regularly without a really nice case. The one they include feels a little flimsy due to the weight of the machine and I felt nervous using it. I'm only carrying it around the house anyway. I'd look for a lighter notebook (like Gateway or Dell 4150) if you're planning on toting it around. Built in TV tuner with remote works great. The MP3 player seems pretty cheap (very basic) but works well and the concept is great: it basically acts as a removable HD, since it can store any type of data - just connect it to another machine via USB. It comes with earphones and a carry case but after trying it out, I'm not sure if there's enough power for me....so, very handy, but if you're really into mps3's you'll probably want something nicer. The only thing I'm slightly disappointed with is the 15.7 SVGA display. Nothing wrong with it per se, but I wish there would have been an ULTA upgrade available. If you move more than a few inches you'll have to reposition the screen. On the other hand, I'm lucky enough to have a 17" NEC flat panel at work, so maybe I'm just being picky. I called Sager support to ask a question about the battery, and while nobody answered, someone did call me back within a 1/2 hr so the support seems o.k.  
 
All things said this notebook was a great value. A 2gig P4 with 512/ram and 64mb vid with a combo dvd/cdrw is about $600 from more dell, and here, you get the added accessories, built in firewire. No problems with powernotebooks.com so I recommend.

This was my first experience buying an OS-free laptop. I did a lot of shopping, reading reviews, and comparing prices before deciding to try PowerNotebooks. I am happy to report that I am absolutely satisfied with the product.  
 
For reference I purchased the Crown I 2:17  
 
I have dual-booted Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10 and have had absolutely no hardware driver issues on both sides, which is impressive considering Ubuntu 9.10 reportedly has compatibility issues with MSI laptop motherboards, but not here! On the Windows side I didn't even need the included driver disc, and I even cut down my Windows install with vLite!  
 
To make things more complicated for myself, I also didn't use the included hard drive but installed one that I purcahsed separately. The BIOS recognized it no problem and again, no hardware issues after installing OSes.  
 
During the entire process I was made to feel that this company is highly committed to customer service, though from what I've seen so far, I'm probably not going to need to contact their support department any time soon.  
 
This computer completely suits my needs, I am never buying from the large name brands again, and when the time comes I am probably purchasing from PowerNotebooks again. Highly recommended.

By far the best computer company I have used. I purchased my Sager NP8662 from them and got great help from a rep named donald. He rushed my order because my old laptop was broken and needed a new one quickly for school. It ended up shipping WITHIN 3 DAYS. I got it on the 28th (today), order placed on the 20th. Laptop arrived in excellent condition, no damage etc. Loaded win7 x64 on it and its extremely fast! THANKS SO MUCH!

This review was modified by its author, sam709, on 10/28/09 8:30 PM.

I'd recommend PowerNotebooks to anyone wanting a great computer with excellent customer service. You will be certain you made the right choice. Everyone I spoke with was friendly and helpful.  

I can only spend good words for PowerNotebooks.com  
Their customer service is great, in particular I was in contact with Donald Stratton, I asked him a lot of questions because I like to know things in detail and he always replied very kindly. I'm sure many other salesmen wouldn't have been this patient, I emailed him at least 30 times during the whole process. I could get my laptop as customised as I wanted it to be, they even delivered it to Europe. And it's a first class laptop, it works like a charm.  
In short, awesome laptops, awesome support.

This review was modified by its author, nineko, on 10/16/09 7:58 AM.