Slippery lot!

A Intel Core i7 920 "D0 Stepping" 2.66Ghz story.

It was a while after I had built the machine I decided to overclock it a little bit. Checking with Cpuid a utility program, I found that it was not the chip I ordered - Intel Core i7 920 "D0 Stepping" 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail, but got the CO version, which is the less sought after. Now if they did not have these in stock at the time it would be so easy to palm you of with the other and hope for the best.

I rang Novatech and they said that they would replace it. I asked them if they could deliver and pick the other one up at the same time, as I need my computer almost 24/7. Not possible they said. We need to check it out first, then if ok we will send the new one, you know, the one I should have had in the first place!

Then it was put to me that I could go to Reading or Portsmouth and change it over. Oh yeah! Few hours driving, time , petrol and no kind of compensation!

In the end I settled for the 5 day wait, and the stripping down of my machine, without a any kind of compensation. I had spent £1200 on computer parts. Well, the fuckers shot themselves in the foot, no more goodies, or should I say baddies from Novatech?

Now if they had remedied the situation, by delivering the cpu, whilst picking the other one up at the same time, then I would have taken it on the chin a bit better. But no, these online stores have got you by the balls!

Now my turn to squeeze their balls a bit.

Please feel free to send me any Novatech horror stories, i will display them here!

E-mail ladcrookscom@yahoo.co.uk

Print this Keith

I have mixed feeling when it comes to Novatech, mainly because every time I shop with them and there is a problem, how they deal with it varies. Probably the first experience I have of Novatech's returns was when I bought my complete system from them the first time, that is, a tower with components, and a keyboard set, with a monitor I purchased separately from them. When I first got it, only two days after a problem developed, the motherboard was reading the processor temperature at 80 degrees idle. I put it down to a faulty CPU, and returned it without bothering to fiddle with measuring the temps myself. Their engineers assured me that the turn around time would be very short, and in fairness it was indeed. They replaced the motherboard and said it had a faulty thermometer in it.

So that night I set it all up again and had a play with it. No DVD drive was being reported in dev manager or in windows explorer. Oh-oh. Ripping open the side of the case revealed the engineer had neglected to plug the IDE cable into the DVD drive whilst reassembling it. Forgivable, but a less experienced customer would probably have had the need to return it yet again...

I forgot to mention that the monitor they supplied me had a euro power adapter in the box. This meant I had to drive all the way back up to them yet again just so I could get the setup running from the go but I digress.It was a full year on almost to the day before I had to return something again (referring to my returns history on the sites account page). I remember this to
be because a new PSU I bought from Novatech was faulty (Thermal Take TR2 500W) and after blowing took out the graphics card, a 7600GS if I remember correctly. There was no distinct stench from the PSU, but the symptoms involved random reboots, and after said random reboot the PC being stuck in a constant reboot until power was removed and then returned.

Any expert would agree this to be a faulty PSU. After taking the time to return it to their store myself (Portsmouth), I queued up in their returns area and they kindly took it away to test it there and then. He returned to say it tested fine but he'll give me the 'benefit of the doubt'. Fair enough, I took an exchange and went for a Nexus NX-5000 (haven't looked back, either).

Now just the fact I have no graphics card anymore on my main PC. It's now December 27th, and I bought this exactly a year ago today. Not a problem it seemed though, and after a few days the engineer called to say it was ready for collection, and he'd installed a newer 7600GT. Great I thought, though after reflecting all the journeys back and forth to the store I pondered how someone who had done all their ordering online because they lived too far away might have faired with all this. Much longer waiting around especially with the delivery of the entire system, and cost incurred footing the bill, I resolved.

Happy I'd received a new better graphics card for my troubles I bought Bio shock and installed it. On the first run... BSOD. I'd done a format and fresh install of Windows after getting the new GFX so it wasn't a driver problem. In fact, it was a hardware issue, artifacts and BSOD's became commonplace when gaming. At this point I decided I'd rather just get a new PC but I really couldn't afford it. So I just put up with it for 6 months. It wasn't worth the time, money and effort that is required returning products to Novatech, as unless they test it faulty they refuse to offer a replacement, meaning if no one is around then whatever you have faulty you're going to have to do without. This leads me on to probably the thing I was most unhappy about.

I bought a Maxtor hard drive from Novatech, which after just a few months would not be recognized by any BIOS. This is a common problem with these drives because of a firmware programming error. After contacting them about this they said I would have to do without a hard drive in my system at all while they wait to test it, and return it to the manufacturer. Now, consumer rights state that the people you buy it from are allowed to have the item tested and offer a replacement or
exchange on the condition this doesn't cause significant inconvenience for the customer. I think I'd be well within my rights to complain that being without a hard drive/computer for a month is pretty inconvenient! Although I didn't push for this as I did have a spare one, I felt they should have at least said when I was talking to tech support for a returns number (necessary to return an item) that I wouldn't have anything to use while it was being repaired. It's not as if they didn't have the item in stock and could have swapped it out and dealt with the replacement for their own stock.

Thanks mate.

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Luv ur site

Last aug 08 I purchased an MSI mother board through novatech and it quickly developed issues. By March this year the issues were so severe I returned it and Novatech tested it as faulty and returned to MSI. MSI had it for 4 weeks and then returned the same board unfixed to Novatech who returned it to me. 6 weeks in total without a main board.

I quickly realized it was still faulty and then it failed completely. I returned to Novatech in July. Again it was tested as faulty and they returned to MSI but then I heard nothing. After chasing every second day today I finally found out that it has been sent to Poland MSI for repair. Novatech are unable to offer any more explanation or support.

I can understand they have supplier agreements and cannot refund dead boards without good reason, but this has been the 2nd time I have sent it away, and they have failed to return my calls, emails and generally have been very unhelpful. After over 3 months I still do not have my board back. I do not recommend Novatech, as their after sales support is terrible. 

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Keith, I do not have to worry! I use Overclockers, better variety. Used Nova once and that was enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I was appalled by the standard of service from Novatech. The gear I bought from them was faulty, getting through to them on the phone was a nightmare involving a long wait, their attitude was take-it-or leave it and getting a refund or a replacement was a painful process in which I had to make al the running. I would never use them again.

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I purchased a MP4 player from Novatech, as I had used them before and was always impressed with the quick service and products I had received from them and had never had any complaint. That is until you need their help the MP4 player that I purchased stopped charging so I contacted the customer service department who advised me how to return it for a replacement, which was received quickly and seemed to be all ok. That's when it all went wrong, the replacement is far from satisfactory, it will not record in stereo, when I asked for assistance, I did not get any response, so I contacted them again stating I wanted to return it, I am still waiting for a reply.
I have e-mailed the customer service department, their live online assistance and I also e-mailed direct to a director and I am still waiting for a reply! I will not recommend Novatech to anyone.

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Not the best online experience i have ever had, I chose novatech to buy some computer parts as i heard their customer support was good and their prices were the cheapest. The first thing was that ordered next day delivery, only to receive my items 3 days late, also half of my items did not come in packaging, just anti-static bags and they weren't listed as OEM parts. Another thing i noticed that the motherboard i ordered from them was not even the same one listed into he description but it was similar so i didn't bother complaining. Recently though these parts started to go wrong, just when i start needing them for work, i ask novatech to send them back and i have to wait over a month before i can even consider a replacement, by which time its too late as my work has a deadline.

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I have just opened the MSI-K8NN 4-F motherboard box and noticed the motherboard IDE connectors are covered with accumulated dust, the processor base has evidence of smeared transfer paste. Looking further the PCB mounts have been marked proving that the board is a second hand one. I am extremely annoyed with this service. I have built many computers before and know the difference between a second hand board and a new one. I have bought various other items from different places to go with this board now I am unable to complete the build. No where on the product page indicated that I would be buying used products. Again I am extremely dissatisfied. This is my first purchase from novatech and already I am suspicious of the quality of service I will receive. It has been over 24 hrs since I contacted novatech customer services. I have had a useless automated response and nothing else.

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A total sham , I have never once been given a truthful answer regarding delivery. the staff are ignorant . And i wish i had gone to Pc world (and we all know how incompetent they are) . I went to novatech because a friend of mine who's IT knowledge i hold in high regard told me that Novatech are better than dabs where in the good old days . However I have not found this to be the case. I have been treated better by traffic wardens. However I have not yet received any goods 3 weeks after placing the initial order. But when i do i will update you all. This may be next week or next year , who knows ? (not the people at novatech anyway.

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I bought a netgear wireless router and pci combo from novatech bristol and it was great for about 5 weeks.Then the wireless component within it died, numerous resets/firmware upgrades and fiddling's later I took it back.

Firstly I called them, they said to bring it round and they would be able to give me a replacement no worries. I asked whether I should bring along the pci adapter but they said not to bother as it wasn't faulty.
So I drive the 25 miles to Novatech, only for them to tell me (after keeping me waiting 20 minutes) that they don't have any in stock. If I wanted a refund I would have to go home and pick up the pci adapter.

In other words I had already driven the 25 miles there, but since they couldn't replace it, they wanted me to drive another 50 miles to get the free bundled device and then another 25 back home. 100 miles driven to get a refund of 110 pounds.
By buying the router from them I lost 15 pounds of fuel.

This is not the only item I have bought from them which has been/become faulty within the first initial weeks of ownership. I will never buy from them again.

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Bad points of novatech: used and faulty products are sold as new and sales people are dishonest and cheeky! Bought graphics card few months ago for £196 that was supposed to be new at their retail store, when I opened the box parts were missing. Installed the card, first it didn't work at all, no power, than it started working, died the next day.
I knew my system was not playing with me because I've already tried my mates card which is the same model and same manufacturer. Replaced that one at their retail store for another one and asked the sales person is this one new because the box looked a bit worn but neatly sealed in plastic and because the first one was obviously used, the answer was that they got it today, guy said, "if this one is not working than I don't know"! Got home, opened the box, I was screwed again but I thought I just want a working card even if it was used, installed it, worked for a few min's than I got blue screen and then after rebooting I had artifacts on desktop and games wouldn't load, instead it only result was the blue screen, great a!?

Reinstalled Windows and had the same results. I explained all the faults and also told them that they shouldn't sell the returned stuff to anyone because there's a reason they are returned. Got the refund in the end and that was a painful process too and the sales person said, "Better luck next time mate" with a cheeky grin on his face. They lied to me twice and I think that is more than enough to put someone off. Terrible experience!!! Ordered the same card on E-buyer, it was new with all the bits in the box and it works a treat. I wouldn't use them anymore, not even to buy a single screw if you ask me.

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I bought a laptop from Novatech about 2 months ago. The X15GS Pro Model, 1.8ghz core 2 duo, 2gb ram, 200gb hard drive, 17" screen and a nvidia 9300GS graphics chipset. I ordered the laptop over the phone, and asked for their buy now pay 9 months later deal. The employee on the other end of their sales line said yes right away, and we believed it was all setup. Two weeks later without any warning, novatech withdrew £500 from our bank account without authorization, after weeks of phone calls they finally admitted that you cannot place a buy now pay 9 months later purchase over the phone, which we where not told. After asking them to return our money and allow us the offer, they either refused, hung up or told us they would phone back later and would not call back. Our first laptop was of poor quality, with a large scratch on the top, a dead pixel right in the centre of the screen and an apparent hard drive failure after two weeks. When I moved the laptop at all, it would crash. After many more phone calls, novatech reluctantly replaced the laptop. The second laptop failed with the same problem a month later, and after sending it back two weeks ago we still have not had a new one back (despite their 10-day return guarantee).

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Bought a new high-end PC from them last October (over 2000) and it turned out to be a bad decision. It has been really bad from the start, hardly any programs will load, the dvd drives will not read (have had to purchase new ones from a different source). I have had to reinstall the OS twice in 5 months, that's after having to wait two weeks for a start up disc to come. Too many problems to list. Sorry Novatech you have gone right down in my estimation and i would not recommend you to anyone i'm afraid.

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I've placed a total of four orders with Novatech and two of them have resulted in problems! The first was for a cd writer that was supplied with bundled software - not much use if you haven't bought a bundle! The second was for a Clearance Special PC advertised on their website as ICON PRO 'dual core' processor, 1024MB, WIRELESS keyboard and mouse.
PC arrived next day without warning, however, the WIRED keyboard and mouse made me look closer at the PC's overall specification - and yes, you guessed! It was only a single core processor and 894MB, clearly not the PC that had been ordered.
Phoned to complain and was promised a phone call back, which didn't happen, so I emailed and eventually got a reply stating that Novatech didn't sell PCs to this specification. When I pointed out that Novatech were still advertising a PC with this specification on their website they promptly withdrew the specification from their website. They then went on to deny ever advertising this PC and promptly sent me yet another WIRED keyboard and mouse. They have now gone quiet on me, with no contact for 18 days now despite my repeated emails asking for a solution.
I have learned my lesson and will never use NOVATECH again!

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Purchased a Novatech 550W PSU from Novatech. Impressed with the fan until it broke. Novatech sent out an "equivalent" replacement PSU which is the noisiest power supply I have ever encountered. My Dyson vacuum cleaner is quieter! I have since posted a product review on Novatech's web site, describing the problems with the PSU. The review has not been posted on the web site - From this, I believe that Novatech only posts positive reviews regarding it's own products, which can be misleading.

Well, your review is on here - Keith

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