3/5
posted May-28-2002
I ordered 3 sticks of memory and 2 CPUs from this company. First I ordered the memory, and then a few minutes later realized that their price on CPUs were good too so I placed another order for the CPUs. I immediately wrote to the (like, within 5 minutes, and this was at about 9 pm) asking to have my two orders collapsed into one order to save on shipping (whatever box was to include the CPUs could certainly hold some memory sticks as well). I didn't receive any reply until a day later when they wrote to tell me that they could not consolidate the orders as they were already processed. It didn't seem to me like it would be that hard to collapse the orders - they were two consecutive order numbers, so it would seem to me that whoever is filling them ought to be able to notice that they were going to the same person and at least make an attempt at collapsing them. But whatever, it was my fault for not ordering the memory and CPUs as part of the same order, so I don't really blame them for that. They just missed out on an opportunity to impress with their customer service.
I had been ordering lots of parts from several different resellers on that day and the previous day and PCBoost's performance was the worst of all of the resellers. There was the aforementioned inability to collapse my orders, which I am not really going to hold against them. But aside from that, they were not very friendly or helpful in the emails the sent me in response to that problem, or in the questions that I asked about shipping dates. I was on a tight schedule and PCBoost wasn't able to give me tracking numbers for my orders nearly as quickly as other resellers. It took PCBoost several days to get a tracking number to me for the memory order, and several days longer to get the tracking number for the CPU order. All other resellers I had dealt with had gotten tracking numbers to me on the same day as my order, or the day after.
In the end, my memory came on time, and the CPUs technically also came on time, although several days later than any of my other orders. It was not shipped UPS ground as I had paid for, but instead Fedex.
The conclusion that I must come to is that PCBoost will take your order when the item that they are selling is not in stock. They must then acquire the item before they can send it to you, which can take days. Then they send it out to you via UPS Ground (if they got the part that you ordered early enough) or Fedex (if it took longer than they thought and so has to be sent via a faster shipping method to get to you in time). Either way they make money on the shipping as they charge fairly standard inflated shipping rates.
That is just my theory of how they operate based on my experience with my two orders.
So in the end, my orders were completed as promised and were delivered on time (although not as quickly as other resellers), so I can't complain about PCBoost's service. And their prices were the best that I could find on the memory and CPUs that I was ordering. However, all of the issues that I have mentioned have meant that PCBoost doesn't shine nearly as brightly as other resellers who give their customers much more confidence in the fidelity of their ordering process.
I would say that if you are willing to deal with some shakiness in the delivery process, and want the very best price, then PCBoost may be a good reseller choice. But if you are at all nervous about the ordering process, or are on a schedule, then you might want to order from a reseller who will make you feel more confident about the ordering process.
36,423 stores
1,205,340 reviews
6384 shoppers online now
Total Reviews
Helpful Reviews
Homepage
Last visit
posted Mar-03-2005 
posted Aug-19-2004 
This review was modified by 
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"I bought a brand new Panasonic CF-Y2D laptop computer from mwave.com, who consistently has the best prices on Panasonic laptops. The order was delivered in less than 48 hours (I requested 2-day shipping) and was absolutely perfect! mwave.com was hassle-free to deal with. They were even helpful to me when I couldn\u0027t find the laptop accessories (battery, manual, etc) because they were packaged inside a box within the main box and somehow in my excitement I had overlooked them.<br><br>The day I received my order I checked the price for the laptop on mwave.com and it had been lowered by over $100. So I called them and asked if they would refund the difference since I had just purchased the laptop. Without any hassle at all they agreed to! What fantastic customer service.<br><br>This was my first experience with mwave.com but it was a very good one. Their prices are awesome, they ship very quickly, and their customer support is top-notch.<br>","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Mwave\/comment\/193580#comment193580","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Mwave.jpg","store_name":"Mwave.com (also: stores.shop.ebay.com\/Techtreasure)","username":"bji","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"Newegg is absolutely the very best reseller online! I have never had a single problem with them, their prices are great and they often throw in freebies (I received some free DVD-R discs with my recent purchase of a USB CD-RW drive). Their ordering process is very professional and keeps you well informed of the progress of the order. They ship quickly and never lie about what is in stock and what is not.<br><br>I think that if you can find what you are looking for at newegg at within 15% of the cost of anywhere else, you should buy from newegg because they are worth the extra money. Don\u0027t take a chance on all of the ripoff resellers out there, just buy from newegg and you will be happy that you did!<br>","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Newegg\/comment\/156830#comment156830","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Newegg.jpg","store_name":"Newegg.com (USA)","username":"bji","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"Great service! I ordered it Wednesday afternoon and received it Thursday afternoon. Price was good too.<br>","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/PROVANTAGE_Corporation\/comment\/156828#comment156828","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/PROVANTAGE_Corporation.jpg","store_name":"PROVANTAGE Corporation","username":"bji","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"Ordered a replacement battery for my ageing laptop. The price was the best I could find (many online retailers carry this battery; it is manufactured by a single company - Hi Capacity - and resold by lots of resellers, but Battery Fuel had the best price).<br><br>My confirmation email came as soon as I hit the \u0022submit order\u0022 button. After a few days I wrote to ask for my tracking number, and they replied promptly. The battery arrived as expected and on time, with no problems whatsoever.<br><br>The only (very) small complaint I have is that it would have been nice to get my tracking number automatically, rather than having to write to request it. Otherwise, a great experience!<br>","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/BatteryFuel\/comment\/105469#comment105469","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/BatteryFuel.jpg","store_name":"BatteryFuel \/ batteryseller.com","username":"bji","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"I ordered replacement inkjet printer ink for<br>my Epson Styles C80 printer. The ink arrived<br>quickly but it turned out not to work in my<br>printer. It was really bad ink and I guess I<br>got what I deserved for buying non-name-brand<br>ink. I requested an RMA which was handled<br>promptly and I was issued a full refund after<br>shipping the product back to Shop4Tech.<br><br>I was not satisfied with the item I purchased<br>but I do not consider this to be Shop4Tech\u0027s<br>fault. I was very satisfied with their handling<br>of my RMA.<br>","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Shop4Tech\/comment\/80928#comment80928","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Shop4Tech.jpg","store_name":"Shop4Tech.com","username":"bji","rating":"4"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"I ordered 3 sticks of memory and 2 CPUs from this company. First I ordered the memory, and then a few minutes later realized that their price on CPUs were good too so I placed another order for the CPUs. I immediately wrote to the (like, within 5 minutes, and this was at about 9 pm) asking to have my two orders collapsed into one order to save on shipping (whatever box was to include the CPUs could certainly hold some memory sticks as well). I didn\u0027t receive any reply until a day later when they wrote to tell me that they could not consolidate the orders as they were already processed. It didn\u0027t seem to me like it would be that hard to collapse the orders - they were two consecutive order numbers, so it would seem to me that whoever is filling them ought to be able to notice that they were going to the same person and at least make an attempt at collapsing them. But whatever, it was my fault for not ordering the memory and CPUs as part of the same order, so I don\u0027t really blame them for that. They just missed out on an opportunity to impress with their customer service.<br><br>I had been ordering lots of parts from several different resellers on that day and the previous day and PCBoost\u0027s performance was the worst of all of the resellers. There was the aforementioned inability to collapse my orders, which I am not really going to hold against them. But aside from that, they were not very friendly or helpful in the emails the sent me in response to that problem, or in the questions that I asked about shipping dates. I was on a tight schedule and PCBoost wasn\u0027t able to give me tracking numbers for my orders nearly as quickly as other resellers. It took PCBoost several days to get a tracking number to me for the memory order, and several days longer to get the tracking number for the CPU order. All other resellers I had dealt with had gotten tracking numbers to me on the same day as my order, or the day after.<br><br>In the end, my memory came on time, and the CPUs technically also came on time, although several days later than any of my other orders. It was not shipped UPS ground as I had paid for, but instead Fedex.<br><br>The conclusion that I must come to is that PCBoost will take your order when the item that they are selling is not in stock. They must then acquire the item before they can send it to you, which can take days. Then they send it out to you via UPS Ground (if they got the part that you ordered early enough) or Fedex (if it took longer than they thought and so has to be sent via a faster shipping method to get to you in time). Either way they make money on the shipping as they charge fairly standard inflated shipping rates.<br><br>That is just my theory of how they operate based on my experience with my two orders.<br><br>So in the end, my orders were completed as promised and were delivered on time (although not as quickly as other resellers), so I can\u0027t complain about PCBoost\u0027s service. And their prices were the best that I could find on the memory and CPUs that I was ordering. However, all of the issues that I have mentioned have meant that PCBoost doesn\u0027t shine nearly as brightly as other resellers who give their customers much more confidence in the fidelity of their ordering process.<br><br>I would say that if you are willing to deal with some shakiness in the delivery process, and want the very best price, then PCBoost may be a good reseller choice. But if you are at all nervous about the ordering process, or are on a schedule, then you might want to order from a reseller who will make you feel more confident about the ordering process.","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/PCBoost\/comment\/44728#comment44728","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/PCBoost.jpg","store_name":"PCBoost.com (PCBoost LLC)","username":"bji","rating":"3"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"I ordered a firewire PCI card which was delivered right on time. The price was not the very best but the service was great. I made a mistake when entering my address (chose the wrong state) and sent an email right away explaining the error. I received a very courteous and friendly reply from Akida thanking me for correcting the error and assuring me that my order would be processed correctly. It was, and I received the card as promised a few days later. Great experience, great reseller!","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Akida_Computer_Inc\/comment\/44727#comment44727","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Akida_Computer_Inc.jpg","store_name":"Akida Computer Inc.","username":"bji","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"I had an excellent experience ordering from House of Computers. I ordered 5 different components (CD, DVD, HD, video card, and sound card) all as part of the same order; my order was shipped the next day and arrived on time. Everything was well packed and all parts arrived as ordered. The prices were very good as well. The shipping charge was pretty hight but anyone who does mail order on computer parts over the internet already knows that the reseller\u0027s profit is often made on the shipping. So I don\u0027t sweat it, I just look at the cost of the parts + shipping as a whole and look for the best deal. Even with the high shipping charge House of Computers\u0027 prices were very low and like I said, my order arrived right on time and in perfect condition. I will definitely consider House of Computers for future orders.","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/House_of_Computers\/comment\/44726#comment44726","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/House_of_Computers.jpg","store_name":"House of Computers","username":"bji","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"I ordered two external USB\/Firewire cases for the best price I could find anywhere from Computer Geeks. They even gave me a discount on the second one. These were both a part of the same order, which arrived very quickly after I placed the order. Their shipping charges were very reasonable. This was the only order I ever placed from Computer Geeks but I would definitely order from them again, my experience was terrific!","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Computer_Geeks_1\/comment\/44725#comment44725","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Computer_Geeks_1.jpg","store_name":"Geeks.com \/ Computer Geeks.com","username":"bji","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"Purchased an Iiyama monitor on 5\/8.<br>It arrived on 5\/13. Very fast service,<br>and a very good price. My only<br>minor complaint would be that they<br>didn\u0027t send me my tracking information<br>very quickly - the day I got my tracking<br>info from them via email was the<br>day that my order arrived. All in<br>all, though, a great experience and I<br>would recommend them highly.<br>","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Neutron_Inc\/comment\/44093#comment44093","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Neutron_Inc.jpg","store_name":"Neutron Inc.","username":"bji","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
“BatteryFuel has updated the website with improved navigation, checkout and automated order status updates.
Purchasing customers receive automated tracking information via email once their package has been shipped.”