Directron

Reviews 3

JO

Joel King

TL;DR version: They wouldnt take my order, then they did take my order and didnt tell me, then no one would answer their phones for up to 18 minutes past opening time, then they sent me fourteen confirmations that my order had been accepted. Then they charged me, and then sent me an email saying they wouldnt send what I had just paid for until I printed out, filled out, and faxed in paperwork authorizing the order. Long version: Attempted to order a motherboard through their website. Total cost would be $180. Tried to use their payment system, kept getting rejected for not entering the phone number I had entered at least twice already. Tried to switch to Amazon Payments, and their system kept insisting that the phone number I had on file in my Amazon account wasnt actually there. Switched back to their payment system, got rejected for the phone thing again. Then I used Ctrl+F to search through their entire website for references to phone, found the (very small) third field they needed my phone number a third time and were trying to point it out by a very small red asterisk. My order went through, and the email confirmation didnt come. I used their websites oddly designed order tracking system (you can track anyones order if you know their email address!) to try and get them to resend me an invoice. Twice. Failed. Waited until they opened the next day (their website says 9AM). Called. "Were closed! Business hours are..." Tried again. "Were closed!" Again. "Were closed." Waited ten minutes. "Were closed." Around 9:18 I tried and actually got through to a human being (on the first attempt, which was apparently going to be a unique experience with this company). They said "Hold on, Ill send it to you manually.... got it?" I didnt have it. "Okay, well give it an hour, and if you dont have it call us back." An hour later? No invoice or other order verification. Nothing to show that I had even bought something from their company. I called back. Pushed the number for customer service. The phone rang, and rang... and then dumped me into a voice menu saying that the person I was trying to reach wasnt available. So... apparently Customer Service isnt available at 10:18AM! Called back. Got a human! Very friendly, worked hard (called me back on two separate occasions) to get me my invoice. The only high point of the entire experience, and I suspect he might be the only good employee working there. Though he might not actually be working *there*, since his accent was distinctly foreign, but hey, everyones people, everyone needs to work. A day later, I got fourteen invoices, with a badly worded form letter wedged between them (glad I didnt bulk delete those invoices) rambling on about how I should print out, fill out, scan, and email a form back to them if certain conditions are true. I dont have a scanner. I dont have a fax machine. I dont even have a printer hooked up to my computer. (Hell, lots of people these days dont even own a PC, and do everything on their phone! What are those people supposed to do?) And is this the 90s? What year is this? Since when do we need paper signatures for a simple single-part purchase? What are they going to do with my signature? Its not like they have the physical card to compare signatures to. I call them back, push the button for customer service and (surprise!) get told no one is available, and that I can either speak to the operator or be bumped back to the main menu. I loop back through the customer service option a few times before finally getting a human being who tells me that the email wasnt some silly joke, and yeah, they actually need me to find a printer, print out the form, fill it out, and drive somewhere to get it scanned or faxed. I dont shop online to have to drive to a store to fax something. Asked for the order to be cancelled. They told me Id get my REFUND on the card. They had charged me! They had charged me and werent going to send the part unless I did paperwork! It should be paperwork first, charge second!

A

A Private User

I went to Directron to buy one of their prebuilt systems, thinking that it wouldnt be a problem at all. Get in, get out, and be on my way. Woooow, was I ever wrong. I had to stop in here SEVEN TIMES and give them *A MONTH * to get them to correctly build a system that they advertise should take no longer than 3 days to build. Absolutely terrible customer service each time that I went back: they never told me that parts of the prebuilt system werent in stock until I went in there to pick up my computer...3 WEEKS LATER. The kid that they had working there had the gall to tell me that it hadnt passed quality control yet (after 3 weeks? really?), and the after I convined the manager to just let me see the computer, I found out that the *real* reason that my computer wasnt done yet was because one of the (relatively trivial) parts of the computer wasnt in stock. But nobody, in 3 weeks, had thought "oh, maybe we should tell the customer thats why his computer isnt done yet). After a few more trips back and forth (which wasted TONS OF GAS) to try to get this situation resolved, I just decided "screw it", I dont *really* need that switch and finally got my system. I thought Id be done with Directron forever, and was glad to be rid of them. But wait...theres more. One of their *prebuilt systems* that they advertise on their site HAS COMPATIBILITY ISSUES. I couldnt figure out why I wasnt able to get my computer to output sound. So back I go to directrons warehouse to figure out why. And the reason? Because the video card that I have is not compatible with my onboard audio for the motherboard. The only fix? To replace the video card. Its near closing, so the guy tells me to come back another day and I can get it fixed up, same day. This guy was more easy to deal with, so I thought, "Well, I guess in the grand scheme of things, this isnt so terrible." Fast forward to a few days later, I call in *before* I go in order to make sure that I can get it done the same day. The rep goes and tells me that itll probably take 3 days to get the work done. (*#^ *(@&^&^@ Youve got to be freaking kidding me?! Take out the old video card, install the new one - thats going to take THREE DAYS? With all the headaches that Ive had in getting this system and in getting it to work, and with all the gas money that Ive had to use going out of my way to directron to get this computer, this really hasnt been worth it at all. To boot, their prices arent even better than most of the online companies that I see out there. I just went to directron to support a local company and because for my last computer, I got most of my parts to build it from Directron. Ill never make that mistake again. This is a terribly, terribly run company. You *might* get what you want with no problems - but if you have a problem, youre going to be spending HOURS dealing with it. My advice? If youre getting parts, go to tigerdirect or newegg or something. This place is flat out terrible.

A

A Private User

Abysmal Customer Service. They do just enough to get by. I have been buying from Directron for several years, and it is fairly convenient since I live on the other side of Houston, TX from them. I typically place my order and then pick it up to avoid shipping costs on heavier items. Occasionally, they are fantastic. In the past, Ive received my order within 24 hours after placing it using standard shipping. Sometimes, an item is out of stock and doesnt match the inventory as listed on their website. The worst experience Ive had with them has occurred this week. I placed an online order for a Thermaltake HTPC case which was shown as being in stock. I received my confirmation e-mail, and drove the 50 miles to go pick it up. Upon getting there, I was told that there was an error made by the person who was taking inventory. I told them to order it and I would return and get it once it was in stock. They e-mailed me several days later and said the item would be in that afternoon. I responded and said to please contact me when the item is physically in stock and they verified this. I received an e-mail and the body simple said "The item is here. It just arrived". I eagerly drove [another] 50 miles to Directron and lo and behold, the item magically didnt make it on the truck. It would be an additional 3 days until the next truck arrived, and I could try then. I politely asked if they could ship it to me for free (standard shipping, not expedited) because I would be moving and it would be over 100 miles one way to pick it up. They said no. They were not remorseful, or even apologetic that they caused me to drive 200 miles unnecessarily and at their fault. I still dont have my case, and am currently writing them an invoice for my mileage at $0.51 per mile. I doubt they will honor it but hopefully this "rant" deters everyone from ordering from them. Their customer service is horrible and theyre horribly rude. Pay an extra 20 dollars and order from Newegg, at least until the rude employees are fired and they hire someone with people skills.