"Terrible customer service, tech support people DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH, computer had SEVERAL SERIOUS problems, bad hard drives, overheating, bad RAM, bad power supply, etc. Tech support refused to fix it, lied to me, told me they don't have supervisors. After a year, they agreed to take my computer back to "fix" it, and returned it with the same problems, but with worse parts, eg, the computer came with an athlon xp 3000+, it came back with an athlon 1800, video card was also downgraded, etc. They've continued to refuse to help me, and I'm going to be getting lawyers involved if they don't give me my money back very soon. I will NEVER buy anything from this company again. "

"Am sorry that I do not have a Invoice Number but i did not purchase this system directly from ABS. I purchased it on e-bay and I am so happy with the treatment. I recently had a problem with the wireless card on my Mayhem g2 so I called Intel’s support because it has an Intel card and they said I had a bad wireless card. so I decided to call ABS to see if I could order one I first spoke with a young lady I believe by the name of rianne and she advised me that the card would cost me 35 dollars but I could try to trouble shoot first. I did explain to her that I did not purchase it directly from them and she said no problem all she needed was the number under the notebook to identify the configuration. Then after a while she had me run a couple of test and with the same result. Then, she advised me to try to reseat the memory which I found odd. So I did reseat the memory and still same issue card would connect but no internet or any sign it truly is connecting. I tried everything from the latest drivers to reloading the entire operating system. So I called back to try to purchase the new card because apparently the card was dead. Then again the customer service guy nick tried to help me which I though was nice but he had me re install drivers and help me set up the network and the router something no one had me do before. So I tried it and it worked. My system is working fine. Thanks Nick and I love ABS I know my next system will be an ABS system, because if this is the support I will get then its worth the extra bucks.

Even though I did not purchase it directly threw ABS am happy to be an ABS owner.
"

"BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!!!
I made a purchase from these guys and was very happy until the machine shut down. Well now I have over 14 phone calls and a service tech trip and many hours into a machine that does not work. I was charged for a power supply that was under warranty. The tech took the old one with him and said he could not fix the machine. I am now forced with legal action.
(A word of advice... run from these guys..run fast....dont waste your money) Srv #731447
Hold on .. another tech came out and tried to repair the machine. Abs billed me over 1,000.00 in parts telling me they would refund the parts when I shipped them back. Needless to say,the tech couldnt fix the machine and I am seeking a full refund. These guys are a joke. Just remember, I warned you.
(Update) I could not take it anymore. I faxed them a letter indicating I wanted a refund or a new machine and of course I recieved no response. I have now filed a claim and affidavit in the Michigan Judicial court. I will keep everyone up to date. "

"I ordered an Ultimate M6 after ruling out iBuyPower and Cyberpower because of scary customer reviews. I almost went with ViciousPC but I liked the fact that every single component on the M6 was a name brand high-end part. I have to admit I was a little concerned with some of the reviews on this site, but then I realized that everyone complains about every other vendor in existence here too (in various degrees).

The day after I ordered, the discount changed from $100 off to $150 off. I called my salesman (Louis) and he gave me the $50 even though I already placed my order. Very nice to see.

I received the M6 ahead of schedule. Way ahead of schedule. I came back from a business trip and the FedEx van was literally in my driveway.

Two things missed in the order:

1) they forgot the Half-life 2 coupon
2) they gave me a DVD-ROM drive instead of the DVD/CDRW combo drive I ordered

They corrected #1 right away and Fed Ex'd me a coupon.

#2 took a little more work. The first guy on the phone didn't believe me that they could have put in the wrong drive, and asked me to open the case and double check the part number. I was at work so couldn't give it to him at the time. I called back another day and it was confirmed that the drive was wrong. They sent me a Fed Ex way bill to send the drive back, and also sent me the new drive. I installed it and was good to go.

The machine is absolutely amazing. It looks great, the inside of the case is very well organized, and everything runs like a dream. My wife was impressed with the binder it came with organizing all the CD's etc. She's used to a pile of junk that I leave out on the table for months :)

While I'm still in the honeymoon period, at this time I would definitely buy from ABS again. The order snafu's were very minor in my opinion.

Update: ~9 months later

The chipset fan died after starting to make noise like a sick cat. Besides accidentally getting sent a CPU fan (which I'm in the process of trying to get a refund for), I did end up getting the right replacement. That mix-up was my fault in the first place, I insisted the first replacement fan was the wrong one, but it turned out to be the right one (Asus had since changed the fan on my motherboard, and it was now mounted with a 45 degree rotation).

A tech walked me through the removing and re-attaching the fan and it works fine now. Other than that, the machine still runs great.
"

"AESTHETIC BEAUTY -- THE SOLID AND SOPHISTICATED INTEGRATION OF ALL ASPECTS OF SYSTEM ASSEMBLY, FROM BRILLIANTLY EXECUTED WEBSITE, TO DISTINCTIVE PRODUCT PACKAGING, ABSpc.com STANDS FOR INTELLIGENCE, REASON, CIVILITY -- THE FINEST COMPUTING SYSTEM CONCEIVABLE. THE WORLD'S BEST INVENTIONS IN A STREAMLINED WHOLE. ALL THIS, FOR THE BEST COST (PRICES ARE UPDATED DAILY, AND I COULD NOT DISCOVER BETTER PRICING).

TRULY, A.B.S. MUST SYMBOLIZE A BETTER STANDARD. CADILLAC COMPUTERS -- ENDURING EXAMPLES OF INNOVATION, STYLE, SYSTEMATIC ENGINEERING DESIGN -- AN ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE IN COMPUTER FORM.

GABRIEL, MY SALESMAN, HAS BEEN THOROUGH, KNOWLEDGEABLE -- QUICK TO CONSULT HIS ENGINEERS FOR DEEPER EXPLANATION, INDEFATIGABLE AND CONSISTENT THROUGH EACH STEP.

THE MAN I TELEPHONED FOR A TECHNICAL QUESTION, WAS A MODEL FOR DIRECT AND EFFICIENT HELPFULNESS.

MY ULTIMATE M6 ARRIVED, PRECISELY AS ORDERED.

I CANNOT IMAGINE A FINER SYSTEM, AND A MORE PLEASURABLE ACQUISITION. ABS DID IT. YOU HAVE EARNED MY ADMIRATION.

ONE CAN ONLY GAIN, DEALING WITH SUCH A COMPANY OF REAL MASTERS OF THEIR BUSINESS.

THESE WORDS ARE UNSOLICITED, AND NOT HYPERBOLIC -- I MEAN IT.
"

"It's been close to one year that I've had my ABS Awesome 3500, and it truly is an awesome machine. I was able to customize the computer to fit my needs when ordering, the total cost was excellent (did some comparison shopping on brands and parts), and the shipping fast. I have not used their tech support. I haven't had any problems until yesterday when I updated the ASUS motherboard. I consider this an ASUS problem. The computer would stop on the opening screen which almost gave me a heart attack. Error in reading the CMOS, or something like that. (I'm not a computer whiz!) F1 took me to setup where I put in the date and time, then everything worked as usual. Even after the update, the ASUS probe is still giving below threshold readings. The fans are functioning properly and the temps are good, so???"

"5 more laptops DEAD this week 11-17-05 - ASUS, not ABS is the problem now - I don't expect to see these systems back for at least a month, they'll work for another month and then I will end up sending them back in when the break again and believe me they will die again, no doubt about it.

In regards to the ABS reply:

"2/16/05 8:16 PM
Dear Valued Customer,
In reviewing our record on your account, I do see we have shipped some of your systems back. It is unusual for our systems to have such a hardware or software failure rate. Our quality control is very extensive. We will take your concern to our product development.
ABS is continually changing to keep up with customers concerns and the technology. This is why we now have a dispatch system where customer’s calls are picked up quickly and why some models are retired. Notebook repair is also changing to better service you in a more efficient manner.
Sincerely,
Customer Care"

You still have 2 laptops 8 WEEKS NOW that we were told weeks ago (February 07) would be replaced outright with G2's although my emails are continually being ignored and NO systems have been received! I don't currently see a change to better service me. BTW - I just purchase 2 new servers, almost 10K from an alternate vendor. Do I need to turn this matter over to our corporate attorney?"

" I checked resellerratings.com prior to purchasing from ABS. They had a 6-month rating of over 8.9 and the time (6/04). Presently (1/05), their 6 month is 6.76. I must say I am probably not surprised due to my experience, however I'm not sure they deserve a rating that low.
First off, I was going away on vacation. After ordering my system I called and confirmed and had written confirmation that the shipment would be delayed at my request until a day or so before I returned. It got shipped 5 days after I ordered. I had to go through a whole fiasko to get them to have FedEx pick it up and ship it back to CA, then reship it to me on the originally agreed upon date. Mind you I had to deal with this on my summer vacation which was mildly annoying.
Once I got the system it worked like a charm for about 3 months. On occasion one of my 74GB 10,000 rpm Raptor drives in the RAID 0 array would sound like... well do you remember how the Millenium Falcon would sound when attempting the jump to Hyperspace only to find that the Hyperdrive had been disabled? Thats what it sounded like as it wound down and my PC would crash; blue screen of death on XPpro. So I had a bad hard drive.
Unfortunately I called the ABS tech support and one of the techs there walked me through some steps to reinstall XP on my backup drive. THis was the drive I stored all of My Documents on. My life was on this. Due to his instruction, the wrong drive was formated. Noone told me (or him) that windows will pick out the first IDE drive it sees to intsll on and won't recognize SATA drives without 3rd party drivers installed.
I was really annoyed by this, but thank goodness for the night supervisor or Tech support. He really did his job well and got me 2 new hard drives to replace the other ones. See we couldn't know which one was the problem because as it turns out, that was the first time I tried to use my floppy 3.5" drive and it didn't work. Sure it pertended like it was doing something, but it was never able to complete a diagnostic. I had to go out and buy a new one to install for the time being. Who knew a PC could be so time consuming and frustrating? Aren't these machines supposed to enrich and enhance out lives? This is a good place to add that all of their technicians spoke clear, fluent, understandable English. Boy do I have horror stories with Dell on this issue...
Despite all that though, with some software I had to purchase online, I was able to recover some of the data on my backup drive that windows had not written over. Not everything works the way it should. For example, I get a horrible fuzzing sound through the speakers anytime I use my TV tuner card, but not when I'm watching movies or playing games. It really is a great pc, but I think the next time I get a brand new one (after all of the times I've had to take this one apart) I might decide to just build one myself. It will depend on if it is cheaper to do it that way with everything I want in it. Oh one other thing. Their wiring job inside the case is excellent. I've not seen a better job done enywhere. Sometimes it might make it a pain to try and remove certain items or to swap places with other cards, but it is very neat, nonetheless.
I hope this give all of you something to consider prior to purchasing. Other than occasional long wait times with Customer Service, everyone was really great to deal with. Technical support is really cool because you call them and instead of having to wait on the damn line listening to cheesy music you don't like, they have a tech call you back, and usually within 10-15 minutes.
My review (the numbers at least) will not be influence by the accidental hard drive format by one of the techs since my dealings with all other techs has been more than splendid and I can't let that one guy ruin it for the rest of them. I will however express in numbers that I was dissatisfied with their premature delivery of my system. That cost me all sorts of heartache and inconvenience during a vacation because I was on the phone too many times trying to rectify the situation instead of enjoying the sun. But if you really want you system delivered within the week, then this is not a problem for you...
Update-1/27/05 I got a call from (well I might as well mention him by name because he was the awesome Tech Support guy I mentioned above) Leo who thanked me for my review and called to check on my floppy drive issue (which I got in the mail today). It's service like that which makes people come back again and again. So people, listen up; They really do read these reviews because it means a lot for their business. Make sure you write one too!"

"My system is almost a year old and recently required a new motherboard because of non-functioning USB ports.ABS sent me anew motherboard and 2NET service arranged for an in home installation which was without problems. Tony @ABs and LEO @2NET then talked me through setting everything up! I would like to say that i am very satisfied with the customer and tech support!"

"This company is great. Not only did they do better then Gateway or Dell, they go above and beyond from a customer service perspective.

My video card failed after after a year and a half and they sent a whole new upgraded fan as well as a new video card a year after that."

"I recently purchased an high end Ultimate M6 system. Some of my decision was based on a prior good experience with the company. Buying the computer was painless. I did call sales once to clarify a few questions, the salesman was very helpful and not "pushy". The order status information is kept up to date on the web site. My order was received in a timely manner after the order was filed. The computer was packaged very professionally. The computer has run flawlessly out of the box. Looking at the insides, one can tell it was put together with care via the meticulous wiring (cables are very neatly tied together). There is an included binder with all the CD's and harware guides neatly packaged with the ABS user guide. The computer components are non-proprietary and well chosen (for example the Wave Master case emanates "quality construction"). All the components in the rig are exactly as I ordered (no "oops we forgot that extra memory"). ABS is not a fly-by-night company, they have been doing buisiness for a while. Their prices are very competitive, if you are finding a better price for similiar components, I would be very careful to look at the company's customer reviews (at a third party site).Tech support experience has been very good. During the day, the waits are not long and the techs are domestic. In short, if you are in the market for a new PC, you would be hard pressed to make a better decison than buying from ABS !

M. Mayer
"

"After buying a high-end gaming laptop from this company, I recently ran into a problem with it. The screen went dead, so I called up their tech support #. They couldn't figure it out, so they gave me an RMA. I called the company's own tech support, and they said it could be the RAM, so they said they'd next-day-air me a replacement. That was 3 days ago, and now they say it'll be another 3 days til I receive it.
I'd purchased this laptop from them because I'd heard their customer service was better than most. This is the first time I've needed it, granted, but it certainly is far from impressive so far. Be warned."

"I purchased an Ultimate M6 from ABS on November 12, 2003. The next day, problems developed that led to my having to reformat and reinstall the entire operating system. I was extremely upset to have had such a major problem with my brand new computer. I was already doubting my wisdom in purchasing an ABS rather than another Dell when about one week later, the video card failed. The technician surmised the machine was overheating. To make a long story short, after much haranguing and complaining to ABS, Meghan and Rosemary at ABS agreed to replace the system in it's entirety.

The "replacement" computer, for the most part, was reasonably stable although it did crash to blue screen more often than the Dells (and even the Gateways) I owned in the past. However, in November 2004 after one those crashes, my system would not reboot (raid driver/hard disk problems). As with my first computer, the techs at ABS had me do a system restoration, again wiping out all of my data. This was approximately one week before my one year warranty wore out. Three weeks after this tech "band-aid" was applied, the same problem resurfaced. The quick fix patch solution the contracted support had provided had only served to "run out the clock" as my full warranty had expired.

It seems ABS has 2 tiers of support. The phone number I was provided with on my PC's case was for their CONTRACTED support, and ABS had no records of my dealings with them. Tony at ABS informed me that my extended warranty did not cover system diagnostics. The services provided by my extended warranty are akin to going to a mechanic and having him tell me eveything seems to be in order even though the car will not start.

The only thing that would satisfy me now would be if ABS sent someone to my home to fix this computer. With ABS onsite service, the only person onsite is the customer. You can't be wiping your system clean every three weeks trying to isolate the problem. So now, just as last year, I'm going through the holidays without my PC thanks to ABS. I am still hoping to resolve these problems, but as of right now, those old "Dude, your geting a Dell." adds look a lot less corny.

I will post again when and if this gets resolved to my satisfaction."

"I purchased a high end Ultimate M5 in September, 2003. I am very pleased with both the quality of the product and service that I have received from ABS. The computer has been used many hours a day with only two problems. Tony from technical support was very professional, knowledgeable and patient in helping me to solve the problems. I have recommended ABS to my friends and colleagues. "