"I bought a BTC dvd player from Alvio that had significant conflicts with my system even though my system feel well above the minimum system requirements. After discussing the conflict with Alvio, they agreed to try another dvd player. That was a Toshiba dvd player. That dvd player jumped up immediately just like a plug and play should. I am extremely happy with their response and customer service."

"Update: I went ahead and cancelled my order with Alvio after they failed to deliver their end of the bargain. Of course I was never able to get ahold of a "live" person so I had to leave a message on their answering machine. I told them quite clearly that if they charged me a $100 cancellation fee I would initiate legal action, and I also left the number for my attorney for them to call if they had any questions about this matter.

I never received any confirmation back from them, but about 5 days later my order status on their web site was changed to "cancelled". So far about two weeks have gone by and thus far my credit card has not been billed for any bogus cancellation fees.

------------------------------------------

Original Post:

Their customer service seems to be non-existent. I placed an order for items that I was told were in stock, and this was nearly 3 weeks ago and my order has not shipped. Several e-mails to customer service have not been answered and I've been put on eternal hold when calling to inquire about my order status...and I am never able to receive a definitive answer.

I've thought about cancelling my order, but there is a big "gotcha" waiting for you if you do. I recommend reading the fine print on their website - any order cancelled will be subject to a $100 "processing fee" which will be automatically charged to your credit card. This is outrageous.

So my order appears to be stuck in limbo, I can't get any response from customer service regarding it's status, and cancelling it does not appear to be a viable option.

I strongly recommend avoiding this retailer."

"I purchased a computer system in November and have still not been able to use it because it hasn't worked right yet. The first thing to go wrong with the system was the power supply, the computer was only on for about 20 mins and it burned out. After 2 calls, I finally got an RMA number and the power supply returned and a new one was sent back to me 2 weeks later. In the meantime I borrowed a power supply from a friend and the computer still would not even work seemed to be a problem with the motherboard, the problems are too numerous to list here so I won't go through that. I had contacted Soyo about the problem and they said to contact Alvio and try the memory that is recommended for the board which is Kingston. One thing I forgot, the memory I ordered was supposed to be Samsung except the memory I recieived from Alvio with the system was something I had never heard of before. So I talked to Alex (who is very rude) about Soyo's recommendation and got another RMA number, plus $7.50 and returned the memory in exchange for Kingston. Well, 2 weeks went by and no memory. Then it was 3 weeks, then I started calling costomer service; which they never answer their phone only have voice mail. After 3 voice messages left at customer service and still no return calls. Finally, I get home from work and there is a message from Igor (another rude man) to call him about my Kingston memeory, I call and he tells me it hadn't been sent out because they were waiting for a new shipment to Kingsotn memory to come in. Finally, a month to the day later I receive (I think it must have come by slow-boat) my new "Kingston" memory wrapped in static bubble wrap, I even have an invoice that says it is Kingston. It IS NOT Kingston, it's OVC. Okay, so now I have the new memory and new power supply. You wouldn't believe the computer is on for about 30 minutes and the new power supply (which by the way is only 300 watt, which I had originally had a 350 watt) burned out. Another call to Igor and he puts me through to tech which they act like they don't even know how a computer works. Of course they will not take the system back for a refund on my money after 30 days so my only choice is to have it repaired by Alvio. So now I had to add on a $44 UPS bill to ship it back to Alvio. The 3rd tech I talked to assured me it would come back to me in perfect working order. I REALLY hope it does. I am an accountant and depend on my computer for my job, luckily I have a friend who was kind enough to let me borrow his system.

DON'T, I repeat DON'T do business with Alvio; you will have nothing but problems and extra expenses.

UPDATE: 2/19 My computer has finally arrived at alvio and Jeff has "promised" me a 24 hour turn-around. Well, see......I'll update here to the progress. "

"Alvio is an absolute fraud!! Does the term "bait and switch" ring a bell? I configured and ordered a system from their website in December 2002. Not only did it arrive 6 days late, but it was completely different than what I actually ordered.

I ordered an ECS P4VMM-2 motherboard, they sent a P4S5MG.

I ordered Micron brand memory, they sent Elixir brand. (who the heck is Elixir, anyway?)

I ordered a Sony brand floppy, they sent an Alps brand.

I ordered a Logitech optical mouse, they sent a Microsoft.

I ordered a generic 64M video accelerator, and an extra case fan. They didn't send either one.

2 emails, 2 phone messages, and 5 days later, I finally got a call from Igor in customer service. Igor (if that's his real name) was very rude. He made lame excuses that the products are equivalent to what I ordered. 'They can only send what they have in stock, the soundcard was better (only $15 better) than what I ordered so I should be greatful, blah blah bah!' I asked to speak with his supervisor. He screamed at me, "I AM THE SUPERVISOR!" After a few more futile demands to speak with a supervisor, I finally got frustated and hung up.

I will be filing a complaint with their Attorney General's Office and Better Business Bureau. I would STRONGLY encourage anyone with similar experiences to do the same. It is not enough to just blow off steam through internet postings, such as this one. We must do something to stop these crooks from continuing their fraudelent business practices!"

"Alvio was extremely vague in their order description. They also recieved my order and failed to send any confirmation whatsoever. I never recieved any product of them. Alvio is the worst company I have ever dealt with. Their customer service is extremely rude to their customers. I highly suggest never purchasing anything from Alvio."

"My first dealings with Alvio were not that bad. In March of 2002, I ordered an barebones system with an Asus motherboard that had onboard LAN. The delivery arrived promptly and was correct, except that they didn’t include the onboard LAN. Since I had a network card I didn’t make a big deal of it, and just installed my adapter and let it go.

Fast-forward to December 2002. My mother, brothers and I are going to chip in and get my father a new system. Since I was fairly pleased with Alvio (especially their prices), I decided to go with them again. But, remembering the mistake made last year I thought I'd give them a call and order over the phone. I talk to one of their sales reps (Frank was his name) and make sure to point out that my last order did not come with onboard LAN. Frank made no inquiries into my past order but assured me that this board (I again ordered an Asus board with onboard LAN) would have onboard LAN and that I shouldn't worry. So I complete the order online.

Now since my father was on vacation we couldn't have this shipped home so I had it shipped next door to his neighbor’s house. Now, Leo Golubitsky (the president of Alvio) sees that the shipping address differs from the address on the card and so he makes a phone call to my mother to straighten this out. My mother tells him the story - how we couldn't have it shipped to her house as my dad would find it. Leo understands this and tells my mother to have me email a confirmation of this for the record. I do just that, and the order is complete. A few days later Alvio promptly has the item delivered to my mom's front door, where my father discovers it on the porch. I check the invoice and sure enough, the wrong address in on there, indicating that Alvio totally ignored the original shipping info, the phone call, and the email. I open the box up to discover that the onboard audio controller chip is not on the board and I was sent the wrong case. All other hardware was correct.

I ordered an InWin J-508p case from them. They have an entire page dedicated to this case with a picture and specifications. It has 4 drive bays. They also have a model InWin S508, which is what they sent me, and it is smaller and has 3 drive bays. Again, they have all of this information on their own site - dimensions and everything. And, the S508 is on my invoice (but not on the order form, which shows the J508) I email Mr. G. and informed him of the problem, and also that I would prefer to keep all correspondance to email. He then attempts to inform me that I "did receive the right case" - a lie. He claims that the only difference between the S508 and the J508 are front USB ports, another lie. Of course, this in direct contradiction to the information on his website. Concerning the onboard LAN, he responded with "a network card is in the system" and then merely apologized for the delivery mistake.

Continued in next post…
"

"Although I recieved the soundcard that I ordered, i was greatly dissapointed with the LACK OF EFFORT this company takes to provide BASIC TRANSACTION INFORMATION. There was NO CONFIRMATION EMAIL OF MY PURCHASE. I recieved NO INVOICE with the product, which came in a MISLABELED box. Apparently, Alvio Corp. reuses the boxes used to ship microsoft oem system builder packs, without even the decency of removing the address label before reshipping their customers' sound cards!
Rather than take my feedback to Alvio, I would rather express my experience to wary resellerratings viewers.

However, I WAS ABLE TO TRACK my package from their website, so i expected it. Alvio Corp.'s shipping cost was more than most resellers.

Please note: I have had a similar purchasing experience as AChistu (two posts down). Although i do not intend to return the product. "

"I purchased a complete system from Alvio on December 23rd and received it on 27th. Very prompt delivery. Once I received it and set it up everything was perfect. Then I have tried to install a game, obviosly I was doing something wrong and deleted windows. I called toll free techsupport line and a very proffecional tech guy helped me to reinstall windows over the phone rightaway. Never had a reason to call them again since then. Will buy again and recommend to everybody. "

"Ordered a Sound Blaster Audigy from their site. The actual description for the unit was that of the Audigy Gamer, but I ended up recieving what is apparently and OEM card.

The card itself was simply in it's static-free bag, with a windows 98 driver disk. I was given no OEM warrenty information or XP Drivers. The card seems to be refurbished, and I have moved to return the unit.

I entered an RMA on their site, but almost a week later, I have nothing.

Perhaps calling them will get their attention (though I am doubtful from my experience with them as of yet).

I would not recommend using this site, although their prices were quite good."

"Ironically..like alot of other people who have posted. I too bought a system a a computer show in Monroeville, PA. Not just one but to systems. With what I wanted and also they thought I should have for a few dollars more.....:) I gave them and check and they said to come back in 2 hours. Came back and the systems were not ready (not even started).they said come back a 4PM (when the show closes). I was back at 3:45 and the one was readya nd they were finishing the second.(no O/S) installed.so I figured no problem I can do it. One unit for a Xmas gift and one for my business. OHHHH a 5% charge for a check...should have done the credit card for 3.5%. I got them home and had to some refiguring and rejumping.Finally got both working. I did have to make a call to the tech dept.......would have better luck talking to my spare tire."

"I just purchased a system from these guys from a computer show in Harrisburg, PA on Saturday. The guy tried to upsell me a lot, but that's no big deal. They "guaranteed" me that the system would be built that night, burned in overnight, and ready for pickup first thing in the morning (again, no big deal to me).

However, when I showed up the next morning, the system hadn't even been built yet. I told them I wanted it, and told them to bypass installing XP on it, and I'd install it myself. I got the system home, and the motherboard was defective and wouldn't recognize the CDRW. I ran it back over to the computer show, and they threw in a new board and installed XP for me while I waited. Now it's working great, and I'm having no problems. It is new, so if I experience problems over the next couple days, I will update this post.

All-in-all, I'm happy so far. I got all name-brand components and everything appears to be working fine. I would probably order from them again."

"I ordered two bare bones systems from Alvio on 9/13/02. They were advertised on www.pricewatch.com for 215 plus shipping. Before I placed my order I called customer service to ask how to make sure I was charged the advertised. The Alvio representative said I could just ad a comment to the order online. I completed my order online, and was surprised to find that there was no comment field to fill out in the online order form. I immediately called customer service back. They picked up right away, but the person I talked to did not understand what I was talking about. I believe he thought I wanted them to match a competitor’s price. I asked for his manager’s name, e-mail, and extension. He gladly gave me this information. I then sent ****@**** an e-mail and called and left a message for him to make sure he received it. I received an e-mail back the next day saying that the “barebones” systems they advertised on PriceWatch did not include cases and that was the reason they were charging me the extra $63.00 for them. I checked and he was correct. They definitely mention a power supply, and a processor and a motherboard but only mentioned front USB which I thought referred to a case. I figured I should not assume, and they did still have the best price even with the additional $63.00. I e-mailed him back and said that I thought his ad was misleading and that he should update it to better reflect the product he was actually selling, and I also contacted pricewatch and made them aware of the possible deception. The next day I received a call from James Smith (ext 109) at Alvio. He said that their website should not have excepted my order using a Master Card, because they no longer except Master Card or Visa. He said that if I would like I could use Amex, Discover, or PayPal. I told him I would call him back. I went to their web site and found the spot where they except credit cards. They still had an option to use Visa or Master Card as payment, but they did have a line that said they no longer excepted visa or Master Card as well, so I decided to open a paypall account to complete my order. I also notified pricewatch of this as their website still showed this reseller as accepting visa and Master Card. I then called James back and he helped me complete my order using paypall. I decided to look online for reviews on this company. If I had done this at first I probably would not have ordered from this company. Based on some of the other reviews I went back to their website to look over their policies closer. I then noticed their payment policy on their website had not been updated. “Credit Cards - We accept all major credit cards including, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. … Your credit card will be billed upon shipment of your order. …And “A cancellation processing fee of $100.00 will be applied by Alvio® to any system cancelled before shipping….” They also mentioned a 15% restocking fee which many people have complained about. I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, many of the complaints I read about them included expectations of next day shipping, and complaints about 15% restocking fee. Other resellers I have worked with have similar restocking fees, and shipping policies and I have always received good service from them. Besides I didn’t want to loose $100 bucks for a cancellation fee.
10/2/02 - Product finally shipped
10/2/02 5 : 01 pm Picked Up by Airborne. Shipper's Door
And appearantly they don’t work with UPS anymore, because the package was shipped via Airborne Express, oh well at least they shipped it, it only took 12 business days to get them ready to ship. ß Sarcasm But shipping was only $32 for a 42lb order. That isn’t bad. If I have any further problems with them once they have arrived I will update this post. Based on my experience this far, I would suggest paying the extra couple of bucks and buying from someone else. (Ulcer’s can get very costly.) They will bill you before they ship your product, probably way before they ship it. But if you are a gambler you might get a really good price on some sweet stuff with these guys. Or you might get screwed too. Good Luck
--Update may 28th 2003
It has been almost a year since I ordered these PCs. they have worked all right. I should have just bought the case and power supply somewhere else, the case was some unheard of generic case with non-standard usb plugs on the front side usb, so they wont work. Both mother boards would not work with a floppy drive no matter what we tried. The raid has burned out on one, and the "400watt" power supply has burned out on both computers at around a 300watt load. I still suggest you buy from someone else."

"First, let me say that I ordered from alvio.com before I read the ratings here. If I had read all the negative postings I would probably have paid more and ordered elsewhere instead.

However, my experience with Alvio was actually fine. I ordered a bare-bones system on Monday morning (very early). The system shipped the same day, and arrived at my home in Texas 3 days later. The order was handled properly and all equipment was delivered to me in good working order.

The only thing they didn't do which would have made the sale better was that they didn't email a tracking number to me when the system shipped. Still, same day shipping and a very good price made this a good transaction."

"I purchased a bare bones XP 2200 system at the Dayton computer show.

I got the system home and found out it wouldn't boot. Should have made sure it was working at the show. They were very good at selling systems, but made plenty of mistakes when building them. For instance, they gave me the wrong case and video card. Got this squared away at the show.

I contacted customer service and spoke with Andrei K (extension 108). He is very nice and helpful. Any time I have spoken with people from this company they have been nice and understanding, especially when giving them "a chance to make it right".

Unfortunately my options for the system were to ship the faulty part and have them test it and send me a replacement, or charge me $35 if it wasn't faulty. I didn't want to ship it so I ended up driving to Cleveland to have it put together to my satisfaction.

It turns out the motherboard was NOT faulty, it was just missing some jumpers that were not put on properly by the tech at the show. Unfortunately, I had to drive to Cleveland to find out (about 2.5 hours from my house), but at least it is fixed now.

Shipping / return / replacement policies aren't the best. However, if they build you a system correctly and it works when you get it, you've saved some money and have a good system. If a mistake was made, you'll regret it for the hassle, but you can count on them to make it right.

"

"I was browsing pricewatch.com and decided to order a barebone kit from Alvio. Great price - $424 shipped (XP 1600+, 256 RAM, 80 GB, Asus A7N266-VM MOBO, Geforce2 64 MB Video, etc...). I used there online configurator, then called in my order on the morning of 7-16-2002. I then sent a check the same day. Here is the progress of my order:

7-22 --> Check cleared the bank - I called Alvio, they said item would ship in a day or two.

7-24 --> Called Alvio, said item was still processing for shipment.

7-26 --> Called Alvio, they said item was still processing and would ship soon.

7-29 --> Called around a dozen times, no answer. Got there voice mail everytime. Alvio is VERY difficult to get ahold of and they don't respond to emails much.

7-30 --> Spoke with Mike in customer service, said item was shipping that day. I told him that every time I call I am told it is shipping the same day. He said they had to wait 5 days for my check to clear and mine had already cleared over a week ago!

7-31 --> Called Alvio, spoke with Anthony. He told me my item was sent to the warehouse for testing and would be shipped in a day or two! I'M NOT VERY HAPPY! Everyone seems to have there own opinion on where my item is. Everyday I call, it's the same response ... "...we recieved your check and we are just processing it, it should go out today or tomorrow...". MY CHECK CLEARED 10 DAYS AGO! Right now, I would definitely not recommend Alvio unless you are a fan of conflict!

8-1 --> Called Alvio yet again, was on hold for about 15 minutes. Mike in customer service (who has been helpful) told me item was going to be shipped at 4PM. I really hope this time is the truth!

8-2 --> Called Alvio, spoke with Mike. Gave me tracking # - shipped with Airborne Express, ground delivery.

8-6 --> THIS IS FUN! STILL NO COMPUTER!

8-7 --> The morons of Airborne Express passed on the great news that my computer had been shipped back to there main Hub in Ohio. So, my package went from Ohio-Minneapolis-back to Ohio. This just keeps getting better!

8-10 --> IT FINALLY CAME .. WORKS GREAT! "