SCAN 3XS Systems Support
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All,
I thought I'd give a rational review of my first venture into the world of Scan. Unfortunately, it's a long read to apologies if that puts you off, but the conclusion is important.
To start with as a quick summary, it's worth saying that I had a pretty torrid experience in purchasing a 3XS Vengeance Z68 OC - Custom Series back in 2011. This was recommended to me by a friend who loves his machine although had a terrible NetSolve delivery experience. But to be fair I waited until now to see how I felt 10 months in so my feedback is not emotionally tarred.
My first phonecall with Scan 3XS Sales was mixed. The gentleman I spoke to immediately clarified that the "Read to ship" logo isn't true and that they always build to order, which to be fair to them as a business automatically renders the product 'Sold'. No refund at all. Whatever. He also confirmed that I wouldn't be able to get a system for many weeks due to the backlog, so I decided to not order. I called back and clarified a rough estimate with someone else (Lee). I then emailed them and asked if I could be put on a waiting list to order and Lee immediately called me back and confirmed that he had spoken with the build team and they could immediately work on a system for me for the following week. Confused, but pleased I went and ordered the system.
For the following week, I was able to track my system on their online status page and Lee was superbly helpful in updating me and responding to any queries I had. This was exciting, encouraging, and beyond any normal service I had experienced to date with an online retailer so I wrote back...
"Thanks Lee for your help today. I was very happy with the speed, knowledge, and helpfulness you provided today. A sure sign that Scan is providing a 1st class service."
Finally, the system was built and Lee was now arranging delivery for me. At first, I told him I didn't need setup, but he wrote back this:
"With regards to the set up, I’d really recommend that you take this. It’s not that we think people cannot set up computers, more so to ensure that no components have come loose in transit and also, we include rafts of anti-static bubble wrap inside the machine and sometimes the removal of this can take a cable or two with it. If the engineer is there to set up the system, this negates the need for an onsite call out and means you get a guaranteed system installed and aren’t left with a bitter taste in your mouth, in case of any potential problems."
How could I refuse this? Everything so far had been exceptional so why not? A little embarrassing, but I was telling friends about Scan and justifying this by the fact that they provide a service beyond anything else I had seen.
Nick from NetSolve arranged to come round and arrived on the day I had taken off work. I stepped back to let him in and he said that he had not been told to come and do a setup. A little surprised I accepted this as he assured me that customers very rarely have issues and I believed him, signed the sheet and off he went. Shortly afterwards I get a courtesy email from Scan confirming that I now had a system with some tips, etc. Incredible. I was feeling really looked after. I replied:
"So far so good. The only confusion was that I was expecting the delivery person to setup and check everything was working as recommended. However, he said he hadn't been told so left promptly. Fingers crossed, everything works ok."
I then get this back:
"I have spoken to the engineer and he has advised that he offered a setup and is going to email me a copy of the installation sheet that you signed as I have advised I want confirmation of this"
At this point, I got annoyed. I don't like people who lie and worse still I hate it when it's to the detriment of someone else, in this case, me.
"Hi Ben,
I'm not sure why he said that as he didn't offer at all. When I queried the setup option he said he hadn't been told. After which he said things rarely went wrong and left. I was going to let this go as to be fair, he's right and all seems good so far, however he's now making me look like a liar which I strongly detest. Yes, I signed the sheet, but I didn't scan it for the installation details which in hindsight I should have done.
The fact that he's claiming he offered a setup when he didn't has annoyed me somewhat. This is putting a blight on what has been an excellent service to date."
Maybe I should have let this go, but I work in the financial industry and people who behave like this don't do this once. They do it again and again and I could see many customers experiencing this. My problem with this was aired on the forums and although closed, was never fully resolved.
Following this, my luck got worse and I began to experience BSOD and the system would get stuck in a cycle of powering on but not booting up. Arranging pickups with Scan meant dealing with NetSolve again, who were less than impressive. More lies. However, Scan were offering to pick up my system again for free and I can't argue with that. A good service should offer that.
This went on for 3-4 months. During this period I was on the forums trying to get help. Sometimes the forums would trigger a response from Scan, sometimes I would get helpful answers from other forum members. The problem was that I was never able to get a refund. As I said earlier, the custom nature of the highly questionable "Ready to ship" logo meant that it was impossible. As soon as you receive the system, Scan 'could' in theory turn their backs on you. Fortunately they don't.
To be fair to Scan, they upgraded the hardware a number of times to resolve the issues and they really tried, but to pay £1600 and not have a working machine for up to 4 months should qualify for a refund option in my opinion. They do enough business and get enough positive feedback that this would not be difficult or surprising for the consumer.
Scan offered to restart my warranty from December when I received my new working system literally just before Christmas. That was good, and since then I have not had any major issues. The odd BSOD every now and then in games, but that's what an OC does for you. However, at the time it did leave a bitter taste in my mouth. I was sick and tired of the anger that Scan had left me with. The machine represented everything I hate about bad customer service. But I'm maintained ration, and decided to wait for at least 6 months to see how I felt afterwards. I mean, how many companies would courier a machine back and forth as much as they did.
I'm now thinking that I'd like to upgrade my machine somewhat. I was pondering selling it to a friend, transferring the warranty and buying another. The question is 'Would I buy from Scan again?'. To help me decide I've got some points I think are important when dealing with Scan 3XS:
- Default Spec - Ready to Ship - This is clearly not true. And if so, it would potentially allow you to get past the custom nature of the product and get a refund. However, since they never build these in quantities it's meaningless. They should remove this.
- No Returns Warranty - Needs to be clearer on the webpages AND to every customer that is about to buy.
- NetSolve are too close to Scan that it's a conflict of interest - They will support NetSolve whatever regardless of how bad a service they provide. It's interesting that NetSolve often provided feedback which was not consistent with his actual conversations with me. What made all of this baffling is that throughout the whole exercise there was no need to lie at all. I would happily have accepted any of my contentions with NetSolve as human error as the rest of my Scan experience was much better. Worse still, is there were others reporting cases where Nick from NetSolve was lying to them as well. Not good.
- After-Sales Support - This needs improving. A nigh on non-existent telephone option with no call backs and no-one ever answers is poor. Email responses were slow. Join the forum and you could prod them into responding quicker or even better you would get the forum members knowledge base. But not everyone uses forums and it's not ideal as a lot of customers wouldn't even know about it. It also felt that there was one person on email; Ben. Maybe it's improved.
- Backups - I was never offered this and was disappointed that it was never provided even after I mentioned it. However, I note that Acronis seems to be a standard offering now.
So, will I buy from Scan again? Quite possibly, but with hindsight behind me it's easier. I would try and avoid the broken courier service and I still worry about the post-Sales support. The lack of refund is nearly a deal breaker, but the reality is that Scan build superb machines, have excellent technical knowledge, and really do try and support you. They deserve their awards and they are certainly in the top tier of machine builders. However, people should not have to suffer the heart break I did when spending large sums of money. I went through months of hell, but with exception of the refund, they did everything I wanted them to do and more (upgrading components).
If I can sell my current machine off to a friend then I will give the Sales a call. Maybe I'll be lucky to get Lee again. But this time I will scrutinise EVERYTHING and I will most likely drive up North to pick up my machine rather than let NetSolve waste my time.
Thanks for reading...I think,
Yao
ps. If anyone says anything along the lines of 'People only ever complain and not praise', then read this link. I think it's the most ridiculous thing to say and ill-thought out.
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Originally Posted by spoons33
