4/5

posted Jun-23-2008

After searching around for along time on the Internet looking for a place to get my equipment for my new truck, I settled on Sonic Electronix because their website seemed to be clean and easy to navigate, and the salesperson I spoke with (Shawn, maybe spelled Sean?) was friendly, knowledgable, and helpful. I called a large number of different companies, but only Crutchfield appeared to have salespeople who were similar in skill level.

Shawn helped me select components that would work well together and at no time tried to influence my purchase towards something more expensive just to boost his comission. He even recommended against my purchasing something, indicating that I really didn't need it. That's refreshing, and I have a lot of respect for him because of that.

Here's a few of the of the things that troubled me about Sonic Electronix: First, I have _always_ had to wait on hold for a while whenever I call. Doesn't matter what I call for, either - Sales, Support, whatever - There's a lot of waiting on hold involved.

The other thing that bothers me is that their "low price guarantee" where they beat competitors pricing is pretty much a joke. They'll come up with any sort of lame excuse as to why they aren't going to lower the price on an item you found somewhere else. No matter what you say, they respond with "not an authorized Internet retailer, doesn't provide a full warranty, or doesn't provide a free kit or harness". This is silly, because there are NO authorized Internet retailers for the item I was buying. You buy it from a retail shop or direct from Kenwood, or (A Kenwood DNX8120) The warranty they provide is their OWN warranty, not the manufacturer's warranty. And the bit about not providing a free kit? You mean, a fifteen-dollar Scoshe wiring harness? Please.

I was a little put off by the credit card authorization hoops I had to jump through - They asked me questions about myself to verify that the credit card I was using was actually my own, and and after three sets of three questions each, I apparently got one wrong each time, so they made me use a somewhat annoying fax-back system to verify my identity. I can't fault them for this _too_ much, becuase obviously they're trying to prevent fraud. It was just annoying.

My last complaint is that I sent an email to them explaining that a part was missing from my order and that I couldn't locate the free map downloads that my unit was supposed to have access to. I know they received the email, because I got an auto-response stating they would try to respond within twenty-four hours. It's been three days now, and I haven't heard from them. As such, I'm not really sure if their support is as good as they claim it to be on their website.

Before you get the wrong impression, I'm still happy with my purchase. They have decent pricing and are certainly a more reputable company than many of the fly-by-night mobile audio dealers you can find. Their sales staff, once you finally get them on the phone, are helpful and knowledgable. The product shipped when they said it would ship, and arrived when they said it would arrive. I will definitely buy from them again, despite the issues I mentioned above, becuase most other places are a heck of a lot worse. To get better service, you'd need to go with Crutchfield, and that'll cost you at least twenty five or thirty percent more for the exact same stuff.

comment on review | report?

Is this review?… Helpful Cool Share

5/5

posted Dec-31-2006

After saving for a long, long time and doing a large amount of research as to where to spend my money, I decided to purchase a gaming computer from Overdrive PC, mostly based on reviews at HardOCP and here at ResellerRatings.

The order was placed about two weeks ago (Dec 14 2006) and it is currently Dec 31 2006. I was helped throughout the entire process by Aaron, who seemed to be quite knowledgeable and helpful. I think the best thing about my pre-sales experience is that Aaron was never in a hurry to push me off the phone. He was very patient with me as I described my needs and what I was trying to do, and made corrections to my proposed build in a few places.

One thing I didn't like was that he indicated it would take about 4 to 5 weeks for my system to be built, tested, and shipped. However, they were up front about that information. Much to my dismay, they don't have an option to get any sort of expedited service to get your machine built faster. Phooey. Also, apparently you don't get any sort of status updates until the machine actually ships, unless you call/email them and ask.

By the way, they only charged me 1/2 of the stated price up front, and will apparently charge the second half when they ship the system. Apparently that's their standard procedure.

I will update this review later to let you know when the system is actually shipped, and how it stacks up when I hook it up and start using it.

In closing --- I am expecting perfection. Anything less will disappoint me. Let's be honest here: I could go to another highly-rated botique like vigorgaming.com and pay $3000 (almost a thousand less) and get a higher end processor and TWO GeForce 8800 GTX cards instead of just one. I picked OPC because of the great care that Aaron took with me on the phone, and the obviously massive technical expertise that Mario and the rest of the builders have. Let's hope I wasn't lead astray... I'll let you know.

--> Added January 21 2007

Well, it's been five weeks since I ordered my Overdrive PC box, and it hasn't shipped yet. I called them up to check on the progress, and spoke with the CEO of the company, who's name was, I think, Tony. He indicated that they had a batch of bad graphics cards. (8800 series GeForce cards apparently, which is what my build is using) He advised me that the ship date would more likely be around the first week of February. Personally, I understand that a smaller boutique company like OPC can get delays if they get bad parts from their vendor - That's not what bothers me - what I didn't like is the fact that I had to call to find this out. I sent an email and didn't get a response, so I called a few days later. Overall, I'm still satisfied, but if people from Overdrive come and read this, my advice is this: You guys are getting to be a lot more popular and are making a name for yourselves, now. It's time to bring your customer relations and order management methodology up to par with your system building abilities. Maybe an order status page for each client would be a smart way to go... Anyhow, still really looking forward to the computer when it (eventually) gets here.


--> Added February 6 2007

My OPC arrived only a few days later than planned, and I set it up and got it running right away. It's a great looking machine. Anyhow, after inspecting it for shipping issues, reseating cards, and reattaching one of the case fans that came loose, I powered it up and was swiftly amazed at how nice it was. Clean, fast, and responsive.

Unfortunately, the machine had a habit of blue screening intermittently while playing 3D games. I called for support, and had an excellent experience whenever I worked with Aaron. (Someone else answered the phone a few times and I was displeased with the person's demeanor - It was as if I was bothering him. I don't have his name, though.) Anyhow, because the issue was intermittent, Aaron and I worked over the next few days to make changes, test, and isolate the cause of the issue. He did so admirably, and the machine now runs as solid as a rock following a minor change in the machine's BIOS.

So, in the final analysis: This is the best computer I've ever owned. OPC is a great company, but a company in transition from being an unknown boutique manufacturer to a well-known industry leader. Because of that, they don't appear to have as clearly defined customer relations and support policy as some of their seasoned competitors such as Falcon Northwest. However, none of that matters as long as when you call, you ask for Aaron Palmer. :-)

--> Added April 5, 2007

Just wanted to check back in one more time and update my review. I've been using my OPC for several months now, and it's still solid as a rock. I've had no trouble whatsoever since the initial tweaking was done. Good stuff.

--> Added June 23, 2008

It's been over a year since I edited this review, and I'm back for an update. The system, until recently, has been working perfectly. Even though it's a year and eight months old, it's still outperforming most of the PC's on the market. However, my Raptor HD failed several weeks ago. I called for support, and spoke with someone who said they'd send me a new hard drive, since I purchased the three-year extended warranty. I realized at that point, however, that I didn't have a key for the drive cage! No problem, they said, and they mailed me a key for it which arrived a few days later. However, the hard drive took seventeen days to arrive, which is completely unreasonable. They even sent me a letter warning me if I didn't return the old HD they would charge me... the warning letter arrived BEFORE the replacement hard drive! That's kind of stupid. It's definitely Velocity Micro's fault, however, as they handled the procedure and not the OPC staffers.

--> Added October 26, 2010

No more space in my review for details, but - 4 years of ownership, no technical issues since the last update, and it still works great!

This review was modified by Kailef on October 26 2010 12:57:36 AM

comment on review | report?

Is this review?… Helpful (2) Cool Share