All merchants at sometime have difficulties with orders ; in this case the difficulties were extreme enough for me to write this review. I ordered a motherboard on Sat. 10/31/09 ($265 + shipping). The order was marked "processing" until Wed. I called and expressed that I needed the order for a build and was told it would ship that day. On Thurs. Brittney from accounting called. I returned her call, but she did not answer. I called on Friday, cleared up the issue and was told it would ship overnight. They opened the box, tested, pronounced it DOA and cancelled my order. Later that day, I noticed the cancellation and called Misha the manager. He offered an "open box" of a more advanced motherboard at the same price. I wanted time to think about it and called back Mon. to place an order. Suddenly the cost was $400 + 60 for overnight shipping (purportedly at "his cost.") I placed the order. I had second thoughts. I found the same motherboard with overnight shipping and tax for $304--$156 lower than "his cost." I normally give someone the benefit of the doubt, but I am not certain that the original was DOA and I question Misha's integrity in the way he dealt with me. Buyer beware!

I ordered a game system from avadirect earlier this year and it has turned out to be a total nightmare. Soon after my system was hipped to me I began experiencing video corruption do to the motherboard which is common on nvidia 750,780,790 motherboards. I took some time to diagnose it was the board causing my problem and not a video card. I asked for an RMA for a new intel board but was unable to do so because of a family emergency. Bios updates were released by evga the board maker which did not solve the issue and I asked for another chance to RMA the system. This turned out to be a horrible mistake. It was offered an asus maximus formula. By this time I was pleased to be getting anything from ava and getting rid of a board that crashed almost daily when playing videos.  
 
Now the real hell began. When the pc returned from its RMA its was in a nightmare condition. The pc was DOA since the power buttons and front lights were all wired wrong. The power button wired to a hard drive light. The old sata cables from the evga board were reamed into the sockets on the asus maximus formula and would not even stay in. I had to cut them out with a pair of scissors. The pc then had performance issues including a fps problem as well as overvoltage issues and soon the RAM died. Ava eventually decided to pay for the shipping to send it back to them. When it arrived back the second time it was in somewhat better condition. The wiring was a bit better however they decided to solve all my hardware problems though overvolting the pc even more than what the board was doing on its on own. Northbridge 1.51v for stock 2.1v corsair ram overvolted to 2.3 and fsb termination to 1.32 A stock system does not need these kinds of crazy volts. I have consulted a technician not affiliated with ava to confirm this and he was shocked by this. I have been working with him to get the pc somewhat working and following his recommendations. He had me flash the board bios to start with to a rampage formula bios and lower voltages and stress test with prime 95 and other tests which prove ava is out of their mind to have used such settings. The tech also thinks my cpu may be degraded as the cpu pll volts is much too high for a 45nm chip and can't be lowered on this board. I have many errors and odd behaviors and very unstable fps in most games using this pc.  
 
I have kept a detailed account of this in a forum thread at (link forcibly removed)I advise anyone wanting to do business with this company to read that thread. If you do decide to buy from ava never for the love of god RMA it for a repair they will screw it up even more than it is.  
 
Note: I had to edit out a link to a forum thread where I keep detailed records of ava's terrible job and edit out a few choice words to ava.

This review was modified by its author, Tanaka, on 12/7/08 6:41 AM.

Using AVA Direct, was most certainly, the worst mistake i have made when choosing an online retailer. In fact, i consider this experience to be a $210 lesson. For a college student, this is a significant amount of money.  
 
My Experience:  
 
I had purchased the msi gx720 (MS-1722) barebone laptop with the high resolution option. Assembly of the laptop took two weeks (which is standard for a custom laptop). Upon receiving the laptop, i added my hard drive and memory (**less expensive elsewhere**).  
 
I turned the system on and booted to my vista cd. As i was setting up the Operating system, I noticed that the vibrations from my fingertips, gently touching the keyboard to enter the system name, had caused the crystals in the display to displace (similar to pressing on an lcd screen). Needless to say, this was unacceptable for a brand new laptop. Either the screen was defective or of exceptionally poor quality. The following day, I contacted my AVA Direct sales representative Joe, and i explained my situation. I asked for his advice, and he instructed me to contact MSI for repair under warranty.  
 
I called MSI directly after speaking with the Rep., and they had told me to ship the laptop to them "as a barebone system", otherwise they are not responsible for damage(s) to the additional parts (processor, wireless, etc.).  
 
I was not about to pull apart this brand new laptop, and pay for shipping both ways to MSI (**It takes 7-10 business days for MSI to diagnose and repair the problem**).  
 
The following day i contacted the same sales representative, and i explained MSI's requirements for warranty repair. He could not offer any additional suggestions. Finally, i asked to him to give me an RMA number, to send the laptop back (Denoting a "RETURN" of the defective merchandise).  
 
Prior to sending the laptop back, I also checked the AVA Direct site for warranty information, and "Terms of Sale" link located on the same page. Apparently the AVA Direct website is not Mozilla compliant, because i could not access the link (I also took screen shots of faulty link, which i cannot access to this day, from several different locations.). I decided to just send the laptop back.  
 
The day following after the package was scheduled for delivery; i called Joe, to confirm that they had received the laptop, and he did. Additionally, I asked; when i could expect my card to be credited. The clerk was surprised by my inquiry, believing that i had sent the laptop back for repair (which was never offered to me). He then proceeded to explain, that there was a 15% restocking fee.  
 
I was certainly surprised to find out that the return of my defective laptop was subject to a 15% restocking fee. Most importantly, I was not informed of this restocking fee, nor did i have the ability to retrieve this information from the AVA Direct website (I later determined that link was only faulty using Mozilla). I explained this to Joe that the "Terms of Sale" portion of their website was down, and he told me that "he would note this in the return request".  
 
Upon receiving my credit, it was $210 short. (The so called “Restocking fee") deducted from the refunded amount. I called Joe and asked him why they deducted the fee. He told me that "he had his web team check to see if the site was down the day i went to check the terms of sale, and the site was operational". (**First off; in order to check that, there is a great deal of historical logs to review for that particular date. Second; he did not know the date that i attempted to access the site.**)  
 
After arguing my case, Joe told me that he would have to consult his manager Misha, to refund the remainder of my refund. (Apparently, Misha was not in the office for several days, so Joe was not able to submit my request. Finally, when he was able to get a hold of Misha, Misa had quickly dismissed my request).  
 
Naturally, i asked for Misha's contact information. I left him over 7 messages, with no return phone call (**’great customer service’**). It wasn't until i asked for Alex, the President of AVA Direct, was Misha made immediately available.  
 
Needless to say, my conversation with Misha was not pleasant. His reasoning for not returning my restocking fee was a "lack of communication on both sides", and company policy. (A policy that is ethically questionable for selling defective or low quality merchandise).  
 
I write this detailed synopsis of my experience with AVA Direct, as a warning to those considering a future purchase with this company.  
 

This review was modified by its author, feedback-man, on 11/9/08 12:28 PM.

I have been very disappointed with the computer that I purchased from this company for $5493 last year. I have been using computers since the early 1980s and the computer I purchased from AVA is one of the most annoying, buggy, difficult computers I have ever had the displeasure of using. Now, on top of other problems I have had with this machine, there appears to be a significant hardware issue with the machine that is affecting it's ability to start. Since this company is located several thousand miles from where I live, it is necessary for me to go through the big hassle of shipping the machine back to them for repair because they refuse to pay for or send a technician to me even though the computer is under a 3 year warranty. Based upon my experience with this company, this is not a real fun company to deal with. I had to pay to have my computer fixed somewhere else after receiving support advice that made the problems I was having worse. In addition, when I started asking specific questions about what I could expect from the warranty service, how much things would cost, and how long it would take, I wasn't satisfied with the responses I received. I was not going to take the chance that my computer would be damaged in transit and I was not satisfied that the many problems would or could be fixed by AVA. This guy Misha, who says he is the co-owner of AVA, is not the type of person that I ever want to do business with again. I will be sending him a bill for the repairs I had to get done on the machine I purchased from AVA and will be asking for a refund on the money I paid for this warranty.

This review was modified by its author, williejones, on 10/19/08 6:47 PM.

Do not shop with these clowns. They failed to place my order with their supplier despite charging me for the order. They sat on the order until I called when it did not show up as promised. They found out the order was never placed and did not call me back. I had to call them to find out. They stated the order would be placed that day and left me a voice mail a little while later cancelling the order due to their supplier running out of stock. The email I received said that my order was cancelled as of the day I checked on it due to the component not being available. No apology, just a Thank you at the bottom.  
 
I was told my money would be refunded and can't wait to see how long that will take. I recommend looking elsewhere for the parts or systems you need. This site has some suggestions.

This review was modified by its author, GeneG_RI, on 12/3/07 5:31 PM.

Stay away. I had nothing but problems. The notebook barebone that I ordered was out of stock, even though I called the day before to verify. They were nice enough to call and let me know and offer to send another model instead. They told me it was exactly the same except for a better video card. I didn’t question it and paid the extra $$ for it.  
 
It turned out that is was not the same. It had a different hard drive interface. I also noticed that the notebook did not have a wireless card. So the drive I had already purchased would not work. Also, I ordered an optical drive that was listed under “DVD-RW Drives.” Guess what, it was a combo drive.  
 
I called and spoke with CS, and they did not want to do anything for me. They assured me that the wireless card was built in to the mother board. After pushing a little harder, the only thing they offered to do was RMA the notebook. I was building this notebook for someone else and could not wait to return it and buy another one.  
 
So I ordered a new hard drive and DVD burner from elsewhere and put everything together when the parts came in. After installing the OS I found that the wireless was not built into the motherboard. Another 8 or 9 calls to CS (they would not call me back, I had to keep calling them until someone picked up) they tried to tell me that it was shipped with a wireless card. They said they would check and call me back in 5 minutes. 30 minutes later I started calling them again.  
 
They finally agreed to ship me the card, but when I asked that they over-night it they responded with “We can’t do that, it costs too much money.” Finally after pushing again, they sent it 2nd day.  
 
The CS is horrible. They don’t return calls and they have no knowledge of the product that they sell. Save yourself the headache and order from elsewhere.  

Okay heres the deal. I bought a computer in january of 2006 from AVAdirect. It arrived doa. Bad video card and screws cross threaded into the card so you couldnt remove them... Sent it back at the companies expense. It arrived back to me and worked for 24 hours till mobo failed.. Sent it back again at companies expense. They did give me 200$ of freebies due to frustration factor. Got a working computer in febuary 2006.  
 
Then its starts having more issues. Was a bad SATA port that ended up corrupting both my HD's in finding the problem. Sent it in and they agreed there was a mobo problem and were supposed to order the replacement. Week later I get an email that no it wasnt a mobo they just rewired system and it was now stable. Well before I sent it in I had it up and stable by avoiding that one SATA port. They couldnt tell me if they fully tested all the ports or not but finally agreed to replace the mobo if I wanted them too. I did since a failed sata port might indicate deeper problems.  
 
After complaining to Misha(ceo) about how they were failing to fix the problem with a rewire he agreed to refund me the 145$ I spent on shipping it back and make me a restore disc. Personally I felt like that this point I deserved a refund even if it was past their 30 day refund date. I think for a $4200 computer to have needed repairs 3 times and have 2 motherboard replacements in 6 months totalling 67 days and counting of down time that a refund was warranted. Needless to say I was dreaming thinking it would be that easy.  
 
Before they could even get it put back to gether and back to me two more video cards failed that they told me about and hinted that another failed as well. Then ram failed and failed... Needless to say this one repair stretched to 12 weeks... Finally they got me a working computer back.  
 
To be fair we did work some things out with AVA  
1. We agreed that if the motherboard fails again that AVA will replace it with another brand/and/or model at their expense.  
2. We agreed on an extension of my warranty period to cover the time I have lost with the computer repairs.  
3. We discussed upgrades to memory and/or video cards if they fail again as appropriate.  
 
Well a few months back guess what computer starts going belly up again and I have to send it back. They are going to replace the mobo as agreed prior and we hope this fixes things...  
 
Well a week later I email to ask about status of RMA and I get an email back from them that my computer had been damaged in shipping. I was like UMMM you mean to tell me that you have had my computer for 5 business days and it was damaged in shipping and you are only telling me now when I ask for a status update? According to AVA direct I didnt pack the computer well and I only sent it back to them in the original case box. While I did use the original case box it was surrounded in peanuts inside another shipping box with enough packing tape for an elephant. Even our regualr UPS driver said the package was packed well. Needless to say I was livid about them sitting on damages for a week and the way I saw it I wasnt even sure if they even planned to tell me damages had occured. Who in their right mid running a business lets someones damaged in shipping computer go a week(5 full business days) without telling the customer?!?!  
 
Fastfoward to first of the month... Misha and company had complained about the comp getting dusty when I sent it in so I thoguht I would clean it. Mistake or not I got out ye old trusty can of air and cleaned out the comp. Guess what after that computer wouldnt boot anymore had a C1 error. We determined it was bad memory again. I think now after thinking about things and some symptoms prior to the cleaning the memory was already falling anyway and while my cleaning might have been a foctor wasnt the root the cause.  
 
We get memory replaced from Corsair since AVA doesnt stock replacement parts at all. Corsair dropped ball some but in end stepped up in a big way but thats another story. Computer then starts dtropping to a black screen on friday and I KNEW something was up again... Gee guess what there is another vid card or two dead or dying in the box now.  
 
 
All AVA wants to do is just throw parts at the machine. To me its become obvious that some part we arent replacing is killing the other parts. They have no idea or clue how to fix it. Their whole attitude this whole time is crap happens its not our fault. People have bad luck and every company has builds that are horror stories... We are fixing it everytime though arent we? You are such a bad customer for wanting things fixed after all this time. OMG you cleaned out the comp or are doing other things that are killing it we wont help you. You arent being nice to us. Misha himself even told me in an email that if I didnt remove the last post I made about this computer ON ANOTHER FORUM he wouldnt fix it. Hows that for yall. I have emails probably 300 of em to back me up if anyone is really interested.  
 
I know ava will come in and try to blow smoke but I dont care anymore. I just wanted to let poeple know how I have been treated.  
 
 
******************************************************** FINAL UPDATE*******************************  
Well good news... As of today I can happily post that AVA and I have resolved our dispute to my satisfaction. I cant discuss the terms other than to say I cant discuss the terms. :)

This review was modified by its author, kodan, on 4/22/09 10:35 AM.

10/10/2007  
 
It has been almost a year since I ordered my 2 gaming PCs, and now I have to modify my review. One of the PCs went dead. I used their web site to send a message to their technician, and did get a pretty quick response. After a discussion with Chris, we determined that I needed to ship the box back.  
 
They had it back for over a week before they even looked at it. When they got around to it, they found the power supply was bad, and they made arrangements to replace it. They have now had my PC for 20 days and I don't even have so much as an ETA for when they will ship it back to me.  
 
Their before-the-sale service was great, and I'll leave that part of my review up. But after the sale support is abysmal.  
 
-----  
 
Fantastic experience. Misha was a great help in selecting the parts. I knew much of what I wanted and he filled in the gaps. They had no problem getting any of the parts, and they even sent me photos of my system as they were building it.  
 
I called them a few times about the order, and they always answered the phone promptly...usually after only 1 or 2 rings, and their caller-id system knew who I was. Very convenient.  
 
After receiving my 2 systems I had a support question. Misha answered on the first ring, transferred me to support and they answered on the second. Then they helped me with my raid configuration and the issue was solved within 5 minutes.  
 
I won't be going anywhere else for PC's. Their passion and skill in putting these systems together is second to none.  

This review was modified by its author, saluqi, on 10/10/07 6:44 PM.

Horribile customer service and purchasing experience. The website lists products that they do not carry and do not have in stock. I was told 3 times over 2 weeks that the motherboard I purchased was "going to be shipped tomorrow", then "going to be shipped Monday", then they call and tell me that the DK8EW I ordered was one of there testing motherboards and that it would not have a manual, software, drivers or cables. I asked if it would be replaced when the normal shipment arrived and they said that it 'was just like the normal board but without the manual or anything else'. They seemed to think that this is acceptable. When I asked them to cancel my order because I don't like being strung along, they gave attitude to my frustration. A $500 motherboard shouldn't be opened and sent bare just because they can't get their inventory right. Don't trust a place that doesn't say what the company is when you call their number and lies about leaving voicemails.

My experience with this company was terrible.  
 
I am the technology coordinator for a school district, so anything that ran on batteries or electricity I have purchased. I have never had a more negative experience than with this company.  
 
I ordered 5 machines. None would start up. They were all dead on arrival! No power, nothing.  
 
I e-mailed a complaint, but no matter what, it was going to be costly for my school. I fixed the problems myself.  
 
When I e-mailed them about it, they blamed it on DHL and wanted to file a claim against them. I explained to him that it was the cheap case and case contents. The whole thing sounded like a scam.  
 
The only thing these guys will guarantee is rude service and excuses, and there is no way I will do business with any company associated with AVAdirect.  
 
They will not take responsibility for anything that goes wrong. If you order a machine from and it work fine. They are ok. But if something goes wrong, expect problems. I got five with no power, and then I no support.  
 
I would stay away from this company and its many subsidiaries.

This review was modified by its author, jkvapil, on 1/20/05 1:29 PM.

I was let down, as the company has not lived up to the hype. When I placed the order I was told the video card I wanted was out of stock, and I had to buy a more expensive brand. Then when it shipped, they again swapped the brand again for a cheaper one. When I asked about a refund for the difference, they told me they would give me a free game instead. A year later the game is still unused. It was just an OEM version they probably got free with a video card. I wish they would have given me my money, but they seemed totally against any kind of refund.  
Tech support hours suck if you work any kind of full time job, and I found recently they do not always respond to emails or are helpful. The PC itself is nice, and I got it at a solid, if unremarkable price. I just feel let down on the service side. I have been happier with the service I have received from other PC makers.  
I would rate the PC a 8/10. Price 7/10. Service a 5/10.

This review is in regard to my recent purchase of a barebones system from Ava Direct. To make my review easier to follow i have divided this review into sections:  
 
Initial impressions/ reason for buying:  
 
To be perfectly honest, I was looking for a basic machine to suit my needs with certain specifications. I felt comfortable ordering an Antec case, 550watt power supply, and motherboard/cpu all preinstalled. I am a systems technician for a well known company and honestly, the last thing i want to do in my spare time is build a system from scratch. This being said i also am a very technical person, can assemble systems from scratch albeit at my own leisure.  
 
My machine arrived on 6/26/2008 which was only a short while ago. To Ava Direct's merit my machine was packed with great care, in two boxes. After unpacking the machine the first things i noticed was how well the system was packed, and the appropriate documentation. Upon opening the case i noticed how fantastic the wiring was done at no additional charge. At this point i was quite impressed with my new build.  
 
System performance:  
 
Unfortunately here is where things get ugly and i shall explain why. There seems to be issues with the 750I chipset and the instability of the drivers supplied with it. The default drivers that come with the CD will actually cause the system to crash. So i read up on the issue independently and the board I picked apparently has a fair share of issues. I also noticed that my front audio was never hooked up in the computer, which is a big inconvenience as I like to use my headset. This brings me to my next gripe, which is the fan i ordered to cool my processor. I orders the Zalman CNPS7000b off their website. This cheap but better then stock cooling solution keeps the CPU cool. However, the fan is loud because it has no thermal sensor. In order to quiet the fans to a reasonable level you need to install the fan controller which should have came with my system but did not. One of their technicians informed me the fan that was selected for my system causes problems with a fair amount of systems. It would have been nice to receive that information in advance, and been given another option.  
 
Conclusion:  
 
Perhaps my quibbles with the system could be considered advanced issues if not for my constant exposure to information technology. The reason Ava Direct received my business is because they offer a customizable computing experience. In this regard it is hard to be pleased having issues that could have been avoided. Personally I expected to do a little work since i had to install the dvd drive, graphics card, and hard drive /w OS separately. I did not expect to receive a motherboard plagued with problems, no front panel audio hooked up, and a exceptionally loud CPU cooling fan. The price of the barebones system was quite reasonable, except it does not work properly. It's really not worth it for me to return the system because there would be restocking penalties for doing so. Due to these issues, this PC has not fulfilled the role it was intended for. Sadly as of currently I cannot recommend this seller, as my disappointment outweighs my initial outstanding impression.  
 
-Jesse  

This review was modified by its author, mjessito, on 7/1/08 6:00 PM.

Short version -  
 
Pros: Simplicity, cost (lower than many - systems only, not parts! -, not great), part availability/selection, great pre-sale customer service, tech support does at least try most of the time and replies quickly. If you have a big problem and aren't getting anywhere, post here and they'll pounce on you to try to fix it.  
 
Cons: Poor quality build (fans in backwards, wrong power cables used, very poor cable management, RAM in wrong DIMMs, power supply upside down), multiple pieces of faulty hardware, shipped system wasn't at agreed-upon specs and wasn't even stable, tech support's initial attitude was mostly "oh well".  
 
Long version -  
 
I've ordered two systems from AVADirect, one a gaming/performance machine and the other a powerful but modest typical desktop. Both have had problems, and while AVA has worked with me to resolve some (though really only after seeing this review), I am still dissatisfied overall with AVADirect.  
 
The entire reason I ordered the gaming rig from AVA is that I did not want to go through the hassle of building it myself, but I wish I had. It took them over a month to ship my order (despite the advertised 1-2 weeks), but in all that time I never had any feedback from them. When I called to ask, I was told that there was no problem with the build or any of the parts, but was not given any reason for the delay. When the system finally arrived, I unpacked it and hooked it up - only to have it freeze in normal Windows operation every 3 minutes. This is a gaming rig and was supposed to be overclocked, so I examined the settings to see if the problem was there - in fact, the shipped settings were much lower than what was stated on my invoice and well under the hardware tolerances... and yet still not stable. Further investigation showed that AVA had installed two of the system fans incorrectly, and had actually routed wiring *through* another fan. I fixed those issues but still had to lower all the hardware to default settings for stability. So no testing or delivery of promised performance by AVA. After 4 rounds with their tech support saying "oh, guess it doesn't work, bye", I finally did get a small refund for the overclocking service, at least.  
 
There have been many other problems with both systems, but I'll summarize them here: shipped HD was faulty on receipt (to be fair, support was quick and helpful with replacement); incorrect power cables were used for the gfx cards, leading to power-related instability; dual-channel RAM was installed in adjacent DIMMs; power supply failed after 5 months due to being installed upside-down (so it burned itself out).  
 
Since I posted my initial review, I have had rounds and rounds of contact with AVADirect (they really, really don't like negative reviews). The CEO called me and offered to upgrade my then-broken power supply to a better version at no cost to me, and also offered possible additional upgrades/freebies to alleviate some of the frustration with this entire process. I do appreciate the offers, but the way they are presented is almost insulting - the CEO sent me an email saying sure, they'd replace my power supply (which died because of their installation), but I had to "return the favor" by updating this review... and later contacts were little better. I turned down the offers of other upgrades and free items because I didn't post this review to get a bribe, and poor customer management from the CEO didn't exactly reduce my frustration.  
 
I have never had so many problems with any computer, even ones I have built myself for much less cost. For a basic system, AVA might be all right, and their support system is decent for such a build (quick replies, cross shipping on parts etc). For anyone looking for a gaming or performance-oriented system, though, I definitely cannot recommend them. Build quality matters much more in those machines, and theirs doesn't cut it. This entire experience has been a long one of frustration and disappointment, and I will not be buying from AVADirect again.

This review was modified by its author, giblet37, on 6/28/08 9:24 AM.

< 2007-9-10 – Research was done on what laptop to purchase  
2007-9-10 - The Laptop was ordered.  
2007-9-25 - The Laptop was delivered as promised.  
~2007-11-4 -- 2007-11-20 – Problem with laptop powering off when using graphics applications or putting demand on processer [Problem occurred while playing games or doing a full virus scan.]  
2007-11-21 –Email message to Tech support sent. - Quick response from tech support through email.  
2007-11-21 – The wrong Bios update version sent to me through email. (Sent - Version 1.311 – for a 83 key keyboard, my laptop has 103 key keyboard) – My keyboard was totally messed up, many of keys would do nothing. (I was surprised that the computer would boot to windows.)  
2007-11-23 – 2007-11-26 – Several emails with AVADirect informing of NEW keyboard problem in addition to powering off. This correspondence continued until a link to the correct Bios update was sent to me.  
2007-11-26 – I was able to get the keyboard issue resolved after hours of testing to decipher the ASCI character of the functional keys. – I also received the phone # to MSI if I wanted to contact them directly rather then AVA. (I purchased the computer from AVA not MSI)  
2007-12-03 – A called AVADirect and was given an RMA # for the laptop. The Laptop was shipped to AVADirect for repairs that same day.  
2007-12-07 – The Laptop was received by Sonis at AVADirect.  
2007-12-12 – I called AVADirect to see the status of the laptop. I was told that mine was next and most likely look at it that day.  
2007-12-13 – Called AVADirect to see what the status of the laptop was. – I was told that that would be looking at it that day. – My number was taken and I was told they would call me the next day.  
2007-12-14 – I waited for a call from AVADirect which I was told I would get, informing me of the status of my laptop. – No call was received.  
2007-12-17 – Called AVADirect to see what the status was of the computer – I was told that it was found to be faulty and that they had to ship it to Microstar for either repair or replacement.  
2007-12-26 – I called AVADirect to learn of status of laptop. I was told that it was shipped on 12-20-07 to Microstar. At least 4 days after they decided it needed to be sent to Microstar.  
2008-1-2 – I called AVADirect. I was told that it was still in repair at Microstar. I was also told that it would take ~2-3 days to ship from Microstar to AVADirect, ~24 Hours at AVADirect for testing, ~2-3 days shipping from AVADirect to Me (Total of ~5-6 Days) after repairs were done at Microstar.  
2008-1-9 – The Laptop was still at Microstar. My number was taken I was told they would call me back in 5-10 minutes after calling Microstar. I was called back by Chris and told that it was to be delivered to them that day, and that they would be sending it out tomorrow (Thursday) or Friday by the latest. I was told it would be about 3 days before I received the laptop.  
2008-1-15 – I called to get a tracking number( I had been told I would get a tracking number when they shipped it), or find out where my laptop was . I was told that they have been having problems with their mail server. I was put on hold while he tried to find a tracking number. He was unable to find a tracking number but told me that the laptop had definitely been shipped. He also took my number and said that he would call me in ~ ฝ hour to give me a tracking number. – A couple hours later, still no return phone call.  
2008-1-16 – I Received an email with my Tracking number. – After checking the number on the UPS website I found that the laptop had not been sent as I was told. The Billing Information was received at 5:54 Local time (Cleveland, OH, that’s where my computer was at). That’s about 1 hour after I had made the call, even though I was told during that call the laptop had defiantly been shipped. The laptop left AVA at 9:50 (Cleveland, OH time). I was lied to, that is one of my pet peeves and it makes me mad. I am glad I called, who knows how much longer I would have had to wait before someone noticed that they forgot to ship my laptop.  
 
 
Buyer be warned of this company, even with having such a great reseller rating. If or when you have problems with the laptop there appears to me that there is no rush or priority with the computer repair.  
I was happy when I first got the laptop, and even more happy after the quick email response when I started to have problems. This service got bad quickly after I was sent the wrong version for a BIOS update. (Whenever updates to hardware are done, the correct version needs to be double and triple checked. It’s possible to cause irreversible damage without replacing hardware, when updating hardware.) After they received the laptop for repair, the laptop sat for about a week before they looked at it. After replicating the problem and deciding to ship it back to Microstar for repair, the laptop sat at AVADirect for about another week. This pattern of delay continues. After they received from Microstar and tested the laptop themselves, the testing was finished on Thursday. It did not get shipped out until I called them the following Tuesday. Even though on Tuesday I was made to believe that it has already been ship and that I just didn’t receive a tracking number. I have now had the computer for a few weeks and the problem appears to be taken care of. That is why I do not give a completely bad review. I will avoid doing business with AVADirect in the future.  
 
 

I guess I must have had the misfortune of ordering at the exact wrong time. I placed my order near the end of June. I knew July 4th was coming up, so there would be a delay of some sort. But it wasn't until another the week after that I got a call that they even began to look at the system. And then it became worse. First the power supply didn't work, so my order got delayed. Then the motherboard didn't work. Another delay. Then the RAM didn't work. Yet another delay. Finally their new motherboard didn't work. They notified me that they were downgrading the power supply, and it took a few weeks to get that credit back (although they did this without consent or even asking if I wanted an alternative power supply). When the computer arrived finally over a month later, it didn't work. It arrived on a Friday after their business hours, and I was upset on my experience at this time, that I opened it up and checked myself. Several of the wires weren't even connected to the motherboard. And the wire cabling was too tight that the front panel to the case broke (and replacing the video card wasn't exactly just a plug and play procedure). Fortunately, I was able to contact the case manufacturer and get a more timely response for that fix. I had contacted AVA Direct and they stated that they would fix it if I sent the PC back to them, but I wasn't ready to hold off another few weeks.  
Normally I build a new PC every year, but this year I decided time was more important to me and from the reviews it had been getting from multiple site I visit. I thought they would be better than many other System Builders. Now, granted for the most part they responded to my inquires, so their customer service is better than several other companies I've had to deal with, but overall, I was not pleased with this experience.

This review was modified by its author, fpease, on 9/26/07 1:41 PM.