5/5

posted Feb-07-2011

Did a little research and chose AVADirect to order my next machine from. Made the order online, a couple days passed, and they gave me a call.

The system I had ordered was a fine choice, but some things had changed that were not reflected on the web site. I could get a better GPU with a nicer warranty at no extra cost -- was I interested in making the change? Why certainly!

So, the ordering process was not only easy, they even called to help make it a little sweeter.

I'd like to say that machine arrived and there has never been a single glitch, that was not the case. To steal a well-worn phrase, "Sh*t happens..." -- it's how the people you bought your machine from handle these situations that makes the difference.

I had ordered a dual boot system -- Win 7 and Fedora. The machine arrived and Fedora would not accept the password, no matter what I tried.

Called AVA and they apologized profusely and we walked through getting that issue resolved. The Tech Support agent was great -- friendly, knowledgeable, and not above admitting when AVA had made a mistake somewhere.

He wanted to help me resolve the situation and didn't talk to me the way some Tech Support people do -- like you're some kind of lower life form who should consider yourself lucky to be in the presence of such greatness...

Anyway, months go by and I am really enjoying the new machine. Then BINGO!

Windows throws me that lovely little error message: "The hard disk is goin' down Captain! Abandon ship!!!"

Called AVA and spoke with Joe Mundy. Told him the issue and working together we tested a number of issues to see if it was indeed a hard disk error, a cable gone bad, etc. The issue was resolved, new HD on the way, with assurances to simply call back if I have any issues whatever getting the new disk installed.

Fast, efficient, and friendly. I can not stress how important the last part is. Nothing worse than getting someone with an attitude, or some poor guy at a call center in god-knows-where, reading off a script, trying to maintain the illusion you're talking to an expert when it's painfully obvious the person has nary a clue.

Heck knows I've been on the horn with folks from the likes of Dell, talking to someone who swears his name is "Steve" while I can hear people hollering in Hindi in the background. And, by the end of the conversation, I've taught him more about hardware than he's taught me.

Thank you everyone at AVADirect for being so cool and easy to work with!

This review was modified by rfuller on February 07 2011 10:49:38 AM

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5/5

posted May-19-2006

I purchased a dual Opteron workstation from J & N last month. While the initial process did not go as smoothly as I would have hoped, the team at J & N more than made up for it in excellent and reassuring customer service.

When ordering from their Web site, you're notified it can take from 5 - 10 business days for your system to ship. On the 10th business day I called to see when they expected to ship my order.

They apologized that they hadn't shipped the system yet. I ordered a specific case, and they'd received the wrong cases from that vendor. They described the cases they'd received, and said that if I preferred this new one they could ship my order right away.

I didn't really mind -- the thing's going to be sitting in a computer lab, not be some objet d'art. I said fine, they said, fine, and we both say goodbye.

Five minutes later the phone rings. It's one of the managers, calling to assure me I don't want this case. In his mind it's the worst looking case he's ever seen and wouldn't want me to be disappointed when it arrives. He suggested I go with one of the other cases the system can be configured with that they do have in stock.

I told him I'd really prefer the one I originally ordered. So, he offered to get the case I wanted over-nighted to them and rush the order out. Excellent.

Alas, there was another glitch. The system arrived, but without the DVD-RW drive I'd ordered, and the graphics card box was missing the DVI/VGA adapter.

I called, and do confess I was not polite in voicing my dissatisfaction. I wanted to speak to someone in charge, and was told that unfortunately both the owner (Jerry) and the manager were out, having taken long weekends. That worsened my mood. I told them I expected a phone call first thing Monday morning.

I got the call -- the very same day, from Jerry, from his vacation location. He promised to do whatever needed to be done to make matters right. The correct equipment arrived promptly, their tech support people walked me through the installation, and Jerry refunded me the initial shipping costs for my troubles.

Based on my personal experience, and the other reviews I've read here, I look forward to doing business with J & N again.

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