"Well built computer for a great price. Second computer I have bought from AVA. Got almost 4.5 years from first one. This computer was packed super nice and started right up out of the box. Would order another one again. Can barely buy the parts and assemble for what they charge for doing all the work."
"Amazing computer, staff and customer service! Could not ask for more for the price."
"With so many component shortages and a friend who had a terrible time ordering from a competing company, I wasn't sure what to expect when placing my order through AVADirect; however, I was absolutely blown away with my experience. After placing my order, I was promptly contacted by a sales manager who suggested swapping out a few components that were on a long back order and provided transparency regarding other shortages. He set a very realistic timeline and wasn't trying to over-promise to make a sale. I exchanged multiple communications with this manager during the processes; he was incredibly knowledgeable and easy to work with. I received my PC right on schedule and it is absolutely incredible. Everything was packaged great, the cable management is top-tier, and my machine has been running amazing. I cannot recommend AVADirect enough. "
"As everyone is aware, there's a chip shortage going on. AVADirect has been great helping navigate the delays from the items that I had picked originally for the PC, Even helped me upgrade to a better GPU when the lower end one I had selected was out of stock. Customer Service was great.
Couldn't be happier with the PC and the experience. As someone who normally builds their own computer I'd have zero problems ordering another one from them!"
"They've worked with me through so many complicated issues that could have been made difficult easily, but they simplified it and always were right tyhere with me every step of the way, the deals are great, and this is the website I will use from now on to buy computers."
"I typically build my own computers, but with video cards in high demand I didn't want to play the F5 game. I looked at a few different builders and decided on AVA as they had the specific parts that I wanted. Placed my order and had to to talk to Customer Service a few times as they wanted to check that all the parts I picked were compatible with each other and the case. All interactions with staff were efficient, professional, and friendly. Computer arrived well packaged and undamaged. I wanted to swap out a few of the stock case fans and the attention to detail with cabling and making everything look neat was great. Highly recommended for a smooth purchase experience and great final product."
"While dealing with both some issues with my card and also during delays caused by the current graphic card shortage, AVADirect's customer service was quick to respond and happy to help and provide during the whole process. Once I did receive my computer (after a new shipment of GPU's came in) I am very impressed with the quality of the packaging during shipment as well as the build quality. Highly recommended for custom computer builds!"
"I contacted AVADirect (heard about them from a Top 10 Best PC builders news article) in hopes of building a custom gaming PC to replace my current one. I was greeted by a very friendly and extremely helpful employee that was my one and only source of contact, which was so easy to email back and forth with any questions. It was an absolute pleasure working with him to fine-tune my exact wants and needs for the PC. When I received the computer, it was exactly how I imagined it. No issues at all with any of the hardware and they did a great job with cable management, making it extremely easy to install my SSD's from my old PC.
I highly recommend this company and working with Joseph Mundy was such a pleasure to work with."
"I purchased a build from AVA direct totaling just north of $10k. I almost bailed on the build due to communication issues. Joseph Mundy was my sales rep and it was nearly impossible to get him on the phone, took nearly a full week of e-mails and made 2 phone appointments that HE missed with various excuses. For that I simply CANNOT give 5 stars, as this alone was enough of a red flag that I reached out to other companies right away. However, after I reached out to OriginPC and their sales team was so unbelievably rude and unhelpful I decided to continue with the AVA Direct build. To Joseph's credit, once I (finally) got the man on the phone he was actually very professional, polite, and seemed knowledgeable with us only disagreeing on one thing regarding raid setup (he believed I needed a raid card to complete the build but my research with Threadripper I disagreed). What he did best though was give me an accurate picture of the current inventory status and guided me on how to best select certain parts in order to get my order as expediently as possible despite the silicon shortage, scalper plague, and covid-19 related delays. For this I must express my gratitude. Joseph was also VERY understanding about my requirements as I had specific configuration preferences and he was able to help make them a reality.
Let's talk build quality. I like to get the bad done first. One of the things I requested with my build was that the Xpander card (From the MSI TRX 40 Creator board) be wired up and installed but left unpopulated so that I could expand my drives later with minimal inconvenience. This instruction was NOT followed. Now I suspect that had more to do with safe shipping as with that card not installed It seemed they were better able to pack the case with shipping foam to keep the GPU safe. If this was the case a communication from Joseph or the build team would have been all it would have taken to get a nod of satisfaction and agreement from me. But instead they didn't bother to communicate that which speaks to the theme of this shopping experience (less than ideal communication). Again, simply cannot give 5 stars. The good: The build is fantastic. Cable management is the best I've seen thus far. The build runs a bit warm (It's threadripper 3970 afterall) but I have yet to see any evidence of thermal throttling and the PC is unexpectedly quiet, far exceeding my expectations. The Raid configurations are perfect, done precisely as I requested and I'm very impressed at their competence regarding that configuration. Little to no bloatware, system powered up and was ready to use immediately. I did install the GPU Anti Sag bracket myself (the RTX 3090 is a chunky beast) but again, I suspect that was omitted to help with shipping foam placement so I understand.
Price. Well let's be honest, this time last year you may have been able to go to PCPartPicker and compare prices but with all the parts shortages it's just not feasible. Infact, that's why I went to AVADirect in the first place, I MUCH prefer to build my own systems but who can find parts without falling into a serious ebay hole where the scalpers lay in wait. I will say this, I don't think they ripped me off, I feel that given the current state of affairs in the PC Hardware market they gave me a fair deal.
Packing. They did great, double boxed, multiple layers of protective material. It shipped from Ohio to Arizona and looks fantastic, not a blemish on the thing. Very impressive.
TL:DR. I would buy from AVA Direct again. If you're old fashion like me and prefer to talk on the phone with sales, be patient because it might take a few days. I'm overall happy with my purchase. "
"I love the options that were given to me for parts. I made a new build for my computer and only need a few new parts and a tower. With a small budget, I was able to afford and nitpick out what I can get at the moment. Then, it was ship to me at a reasonable pace which was way faster than I was aspected. If I need to build a computer again I will return to buy from this company. I fully recommend it to anyone who knows computer builds. "
"I am pretty proud of the product I have received from AVA Direct. The care and expertise gone into this machine was worth the money! The customer service staff was super helpful during the whole experience. They were also very attentive on keeping me informed if there were any delays or issues with the build. I also appreciated that when I opened the box that there was packing inside the case to protect the components. I know I will refer anyone that wants a computer for their money to go to AVA Direct first!"
"With parts shortages going on, I've been in contact with Joseph from the start. We've made sure that parts where in stock before ordering. He's been very helpful and patient with me. I bet we have about 80 different emails back and forth through the whole ordering process. I've never gotten this level of excellent customer service anywhere. The computer arrived, and it's just flawless. They did an amazing job of building it. Cable management is top notch. I highly recommend AVA Direct for anyone looking for a pc system. Top notch builds, top notch customer service. "
"I placed my order in November and it finally has shipped 4 months later. First, either the mail delayed or they lost my first payment. Two weeks later they said they received a second check but it was never returned to me as they said they would do. They changed my SSD to prevent a backorder without asking first, then did nothing for nearly two months waiting on a video card. Finally, I called them fed up and they told me that if I kept that video card they didn't know when my order would ship, even after 3 months. I asked them for other options and they didn't have anything equivalent. After they wanted to either downgrade my card or charge me hundreds extra, and with all the time that had passed, I asked about canceling. Despite not being able to fulfill my order, they wanted to charge me a fee. Upon asking to talk to a manager, they magically found another card that was still over a hundred dollars more, but I conceded. Then the computer failed testing and was delayed again. Finally, and probably the last straw to convince me to take time to write a review, the promos offered with the order back in November were not honored by the company and they blamed the manufacturers rather than taking responsibility to taking 4 months to fulfill an order even though I expressed this concern well before they expired. Maybe it was the perfect storm, but they should at least try to make it right."
"AVA has delivered quality time and again. From sales to support, AVA excels. Thank you for many years!"
"This was my second purchase from AVA Direct. The first was 12 years ago and that PC performed admirably the entire time. My experience this time was equally wonderful. AVA Direct provides for the selection of every last part, with a wide variety of choices. I was able to research and select everything from the case to the fans and everything in between. Due to the ongoing pandemic, there is a shortage in available video cards. AVA Direct worked with me to keep my informed of availability and options when my first choice was back ordered indefinitely. I ended up with a card superior to my original choice. If you are looking for an extremely well made customized PC, look no further than AVA Direct."
"This is my second time purchasing a multipurpose high-end desktop from AVADirect. The first time was back in 2015. Other than updating the graphics card and replacing the spinning drive with an SSD, it held up well and is still well above average. Now my wife gets my old desktop and I get a new system from AVADirect. :-)
This new desktop is built with the same attention to detail, excellent customer service (Joseph Mundy is truly fantastic), and quality parts that the previous one was. Joseph even helped customize the system for equivalent parts that were available and not on backorder due to delays from COVID. I couldn't be happier and look forward to another solid 5+ years of performance.
I'm definitely a repeat customer. AVADirect is orders of magnitude better than any other custom PC manufacturer I've ever used. I highly recommend them to anyone interested in building custom and unwilling or unable to perform the build themselves. "
A rep from AVADirect Custom Computer, AVADirect, has responded:
“AVADirect.com has notices in three places to indicate backorders and delays due to the global chip shortage.
1. At the top of avadirect.com
2. In each configurator - Certain items tagged with "Delayed Shipping"
3. Email notifications based on order timeline
All notices were posted and live at the time of this customer submitting an order. AVADirect did it's best to keep this customer updated, but we have primarily been operating on updating customers with new information, rather than sending an email frequently containing "No ETA yet". This approach also helps us to keep up with our current workload as we have been incredibly busy within the past year, in light of demand.
Many customers have asked if it is possible to change their order in favor of speeding up delivery - In this instance we offer any options available, and the customer did not find the options (available at the time) acceptable, despite availability being well outside of our control. In regard to fees, AVADirect is a build-to-order organization, so parts are ordered based on what is purchased by customers. Once an order is processed, and email is sent which makes it extremely clear that cancellations (beyond that point) will include a 10% cancellation fee to cover loss.
In regard to the NVIDIA promotions, it is incredibly unfortunate and disheartening to see how companies such as NVIDIA and AMD have handled recent promotions. Without shortages, it is fairly easy to get orders shipped and in the hands of customers before promotions expire. Unfortunately, with not always being able to ship orders quickly, NVIDIA or AMD were not willing to extend promotions and their expiry dates to compensate, thus leading to the understandably-frustrating situation this customer experienced. We did offer to provide a new promotion once they become available, but this was not accepted.
In review of the situation, we feel AVADirect did everything within good faith to provide the customer with a reasonable experience, and we were not able to live up to their expectations. We will use this experience to learn from and continue to improve our operations, so our customers can continue to have the best experience possible.
”