4/5

posted Aug-15-2008

This is a rewrite (and condensation) of my original comments and previous update.

I ordered on a Thursday and while AHO charged my credit card that day, they didn't ship until the following Tuesday.

The shipment was of three items bundled together and arrived in good condition. When I opened the outer wrapper, I found that one of the items was "open box" and was missing necessary parts. I emailed AHO, attaching photos of the box/contents.

AHO offered a 25% "refund". I requested that it be handled as defective merchandise as per their Refund Policy.

AHO replied that UPS would be by to inspect the damage within 5 working days. ??? I'd been specific in my first email that the package arrived in good condition and the missing parts could not have been lost in transit. I didn't reply to AHO, but did contact UPS to inform them that the package did arrive in good condition.

Next (this Tue, a week following the receipt of the shipment) AHO emailed me that they would be shipping the replacement this Friday. But that was soon followed up by a telephone call saying the replacement would be shipped the next day. It was and arrived today (Thur).

This time the item had a single missing (necessary) part which, fortunately, was in the original shipment.

That the manufacturer has poor quality control in their packaging dept. is beyond AHO's conrol. And it wouldn't be to AHO's advantage to have a warehouse ship a non-functional open box item. Also, AHO never suggested that I was trying to rip them off.

It does appear that AHO has a set procedure that they follow with defective merchandise, which can really drag things out. But while I wouldn't want to do it over again, in the end, I was satisfied.

This review was modified by phin on August 21 2008 06:59:11 PM

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4/5

posted Oct-28-2006

The place I usually order from was (permanently) out of stock on a mobo I wanted ... and my backup store has recently tanked in the ratings here. I'd never heard of PCTekOnline before, but one plus was that they're only approx. 300 miles away.

I was pleasantly surprised to get the tracking number the same day I ordered and the package the next day, UPS ground. The mobo retail box was complete and more neatly packaged that the place I usually order from. The shipping box more substantial than most. There was no packing between the two boxes, but this order was essentially local.

The only reason I am not giving a "very satisfied" rating is that I had no reason to contact the company so don't know how they do at problem resolution. I will definitely order from them again.

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4/5

posted Mar-13-2005

1) Ordering fails with no informative feedback when a browser that doesn't support ActiveX controls is used.

2) Chiefvalue sent order confirmation, CC charge notice, .. THEN am address verification problem notice. If they don't resolve it in three business days, the order will be automatically voided and my credit card "fully refunded"

I'm not hopeful because this is reminiscent of a Newegg order. Address was accepted to ship the order but not to ship the repacement of a damaged item. They blamed FedEx but it appeared the reason was that the computer software in the RMA shipping department didn't "understand" US Rural Route addresses; interprets them as PO boxes instead. Of course if it doesn't get resolved, I won't know if it's buggy software in common or if Chiefvalue hasn't tried very hard; I did order a one day sale item.

Followup, 3/14 - Address problem resolved. It appears to have happened because the automated verification software "expects" a street address beginning with digits.

I telephoned this morning (Monday) and the wait was only about 10 min. Customer service rep was polite and willing to "manually" check with the CC issuer; I would get an email either way. Within a few minutes had gotten a (unexpected) telephone call to let me know the order had been OKed; email has arrived too.

I'm upgrading my rating based on the responsivness of Customer Service. (Still not satisfied with the website software.) Incidentally, although the 2nd email said my CC had been charged, the issuer's website showed only a "reserve", no posted charge.

This review was modified by phin on March 14 2005 10:02:09 AM

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