Potential Customer - Concerned To Avoid Repeating Past Problems

[barry2811]

Never played the game to be honest, but reading around a bit, I wonder if the following will help you?

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1126993152

It looks this piece of advice (from the link above), helps others with a similar problem;

Completely exit World of Warcraft

Go into the World of Warcraft folder

Go into the WTF folder

Open the config.wtf file with Wordpad/Notepad

Add this to it: SET fixedfunction "1"

Save the file

Close the file and folder(s)

Log onto the game and see what the results are

[AnthonyC]

Hi Kammie,

I thought you might like to know about my experience with Scan, which is similar to your own with your previous vendor. Apologies if this information is too late - I've just discoverd this forum.

You have been told by the salesman that any issues you might have would be thoroughly investigated, even if they involve 3rd party software, but unfortunatly that has not been my experience. I ordered a 3XS Vengeance P67 OC back in April, it was delivered after 5 weeks or so, and I immediately began to get BSOD errors ("The system encountered an uncorrectable hardware error") - not every day, about every 3-4 days on average, usually when I wasnt even in the room.
I initially assumed it was something I had done, as I had changed some BIOS settings to eliminate some spurious RAID error messages and re-installed the OS to place the data folders on the storage drive rather than the SSD, but after restoring 3XS BIOS settings and reinstalling the OS (and tweaking it as per 3XS instructions) there was no improvement in the system behaviour.
Scan had been very responsive up to this point, but here is where the experience all went pear-shaped, just as yours did with your previous system.
I was directed to collect and email the crash reports to systemsupport, which I did. There was no acknowledgement or response.
After 2-3 weeks I emailed a couple more, once again no response.
I emailed the original engineer again just to let them know I wasnt getting any response and to check if I should be continuing to submit further crash reports - again no acknowledgement nor response.
After five weeks of constant crashes and no responses whatsoever I emailed to request that I could return the system.
I did get a response to that, stating that they would collect and inspect the system. I was naturally a little disappointed that I wasn't going to get the on-site service promised by their website, but understood that these issues can be hard to diagnose. The system was collected several days later, a month ago.
I was informed last week by the delivery team that the PC was being returned to me. Since pickup I had received only a single 2-line status update that the BIOS had been "updated", it would be tested, and that they would get back to me the following monday. That didnt happen, either that week or the next.
After further emails from me, it appears that they merely restored the PC to the shipped config (i.e. just the OS) and could not replicate the issues, therefore were returning the system to me "no fault found". It was suggested "3rd Party Software" was to blame and I should take these issues up with the software manufacturer. (Even though I hadnt dared install any games or anything stressful on there - it was crashing even with just MS Live Mail and iTunes installed).
You've said that you are not interested in an overclocked system (which given my experiences could be wise), so you shouldnt have my particular issues, but if you do have any problems then of course you would be susceptible to the same standard of customer service, i.e.
1) No response to crash reports at all, even after 5 weeks
2) a lack of serious investigation of probable hardware issues (blame on mysterious "3rd party software") - problem just pushed back to customer
3) lengthy turnarounds and poor communication (despite a surpise phone call at 9:15 pm last monday from Netsolve to arrange return of my PC I've yet to receive the system back, nor have subsequent phone calls or emails been returned).

Phew, that reply was longer than I intended - I should probably have started my own thread about my experiences but as they related quite well to your original question I thought I should let you know.

All the best,
Anthony.

[cactusjack]

AnthonyC - You mentioned that you have not had your PC back yet - did Net Solve arrange a date to return it, but fail to return it on the specified date?

[AnthonyC]

No, they didnt arrange a date.
They made a call on Monday night, that I missed. They left a message asking me to call back to arrange a time, and letting me know that 10am Thursday would be the first available slot.
I called back the next day - no answer, so I left a message asking them to call me back any time.
No callback until Thursday morning around 10am when the driver called to let me know he was at my home, but would return that evening. That was the last I heard.
I chased it up again yesterday by calling the main Scan 0871 number, and Nick from Netsolve phoned me back and rearranged a time for this evening.
So basically they tried to call me once. When I didnt answer they made an assumption about a suitable time without telling me about it, and then never tried to contact me again when they were unable to deliver it.
Not a great record, but to be fair when you speak to them in person they are always very helpful and flexible. Overall they are probably still an improvement on most courier firms I've dealt with.

[cactusjack]

Will be interesting to see whether the PC's BSODs are gone when you get it back this evening! Good luck!

[mcav]

I was on the verge of getting my order over clocked, but even though I have got a decent cooler and so on, I am going to prefer greater stability instead of extra speed.

[geocam]

Hello Kammie,

I actually went through the hassle of registering on this forum in order to leave this message because I found your comments so exasperating. I'm considering buying from Wired2Fire so that is why I came across your complaints when I googled the company.

Your initial comments about your PC and Wired2Fire's customer service had me a bit worried, but having read on, it is clear to me that you've been making the problems for yourself. In fact, it sounds from your later comments that Wired2Fire have been very good in chasing up the issue, replacing the machine, running stress tests, etc. They even downloaded WoW and played it a bit on your machine - that kind of customer service is basically unheard of it seems to me! It actually angers me somewhat - and as I say I'm actually neutral here - that you'd publicize complaints against a relatively small company when it is clearly you who are at fault for not doing even the basic research required to establish the grounds of the problem. There is a little thing called the internet you know ...

Had you just GOOGLED your error and done a *bit* of research, you'd quickly have found others with the same problem. It would almost certainly be as simple as installing alternative drivers for the graphics card, and as others in this thread have revealed, even a cursory check of the WoW forums turns up similar problems/solutions. In other words, this is clearly a SOFTWARE issue, dime a dozen in any PC anywhere, that requires the user (that's you) to take a tiny little pinch of responsibility and sort it out themselves. You couldn't even be bothered to work out whether it was a WoW-specific problem by running alternative graphics programs - instead you dump the whole system and buy a new one? What??!! That's insane. It's like a baby throwing their rattle out of the pram because they don't know how to use it.

Rant over. Now I can go back to checking Wired2Fire's reputation online - hopefully I'll come across something actually useful. (What a waste of time this was ... I should be in bed.)

[spoons33]

mcav...your overclock is only a profile in the bios, there will be a second profile which will run your system at default speed, seems a shame not to take advantage of the overclock if it dosnt cost any extra...if you feel your system is unstable just run the default profile

[mcav]

mcav...your overclock is only a profile in the bios, there will be a second profile which will run your system at default speed, seems a shame not to take advantage of the overclock if it dosnt cost any extra...if you feel your system is unstable just run the default profile

I am quite sure I'll be able to set up an overclock profile if I need to and for super safety, I can talk to scan for their approved O/C settings. I know overclocking is much more reliable than it used to be, but I really want my system to last

[Kammie]

Hello Kammie,

. It's like a baby throwing their rattle out of the pram because they don't know how to use it.

Rant over. Now I can go back to checking Wired2Fire's reputation online - hopefully I'll come across something actually useful. (What a waste of time this was ... I should be in bed.)

Geocam, what a supremely rude, nasty and ill-informed post.

Clearly you are a little hard-of-reading, and missed the parts in posts above where I described the various variables and settings we tried at home to attempt to resolve this without having to return the system to base for in-house testing. More fully, I spent many, many hours googling my PC issues over the weeks trying to get to the bottom of my 4101 error, also of course using WoW forums etc. I also called in the help of 2 friends, both of whom work in IT and play WoW, therefore had a wide base of personal knowledge and experience. Despite them helping in research and investigating the machine, trying many various settings (both within WoW and in the system), TDR variables, alternative drivers etc, we were unable to prevent the fault or pinpoint a cause. I did far more than ANY normal home user could reasonably be expected to and I will NOT swallow the accusation I did little more than experience a few error messages then cry and demand a new machine.

When one is ill, one goes to the expert - the doctor. When one's car breaks down, one seeks a mechanic. I am a PC USER. Not a PC technician or builder. My friends are, and damn good ones. They failed to fix the fault and, in case you missed it, neither could the vendor, which is why they built us a new machine. So they were ultimately no more able to work it out than anyone else. If it was something so simple a technical ignoramus could have worked it out using Google, then certainly the vendors should have been able to, when the machine was in for testing with their trained people.

While you may feel they provided excellent service, I can assure you they did not even seem to so much as google my error code. They came off as having no clue of the varied nature of it and simply kept insisting it was likely to be a faulty graphics card. They also said on several occasions they agreed with me that the game was unlikely to be the cause, even if they couldn't actually identify it. They did a test which did indeed discover a faulty graphics card, tho the replacement didn't stop the problem, because there are wider causes. As for "playing WoW", if you think downloading a basic test version of WoW and having someone press mouse-click every few mins in any way replicates the demands on the system while playing at full pelt in high level areas, you're mistaken. If you had actually heard the calls and emails between myself and the company, you would have seen the extend to which they failed to listen. When I proposed drivers were potentially a problem, and therefore should be eliminated, they insisted they were up-to-date, despite being provided twice with a clear and accurate list of the installed versions, compared to current releases that could realistically have been used with the machine. Chipsets etc well over a year out of date. Nor were these updated and replaced in the new system. I'm perfectly capable of updating my graphics card drivers, but when I buy a new PC I don't expect to have to tackle something like Chipsets. Whether *you* think that is simple or not is irrelevant. I didn't pay for 3 years full technical support only to muck around with things beyond my knowledge at home, and risk causing serious problems.

If you want a PC which is likely to be provided with chipsets and drivers over a year out of date, if you want to deal with PC support which seems obsessed with running 24 hour Furmark tests and little else, be my guest and I wish you well of it. You seem to be the sort of person who is likely comfortable with the hardware innards of their machine. For the average home user who is not, this is not likely to be a good experience.

I initially posted in deep frustration and I conceed I should not have so broadly mentioned the original vendors by name. I have rectified that. Then again, I'd love to see how you'd deal with a frequently occurring fault that prevented you from using the machine for your intended purpose, if you were unable to resolve it yourself. But as you seem to believe your own knowledge, combined with the omnipotent might of Google, can fix all ills if we just try hard enough, that will never happen to you. Yes, I can't argue they replaced the machine, but while you may feel this is excellent customer service I consider it to have been basic customer service, in an attempt to provide the excellent gaming system by PC was promoted as. A gaming system that can't handle one of the most popular games isn't fit for purpose. And, I point out again, despite your patronising sneering that a bit of time and Googling would have allowed me to sort out the problem at home, they couldn't sort it out any more than I could, so a new system was the only alternative to a refund.