"Do NOT do business with ShopL2!
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July 2010 UPDATE: I traveled to New York to sue LanLabs in small claims. Long story (and it *is* a long story) short: I easily won and was awarded the maximum amount allowed by law, $5000 plus costs. LanLabs has not shown any intention to pay, so I have filed an Execution with the sheriff's office to collect the judgment.
Now, even though I will finally get all of my money back (plus several hundred dollars more!), it still doesn't make up for the lost business I suffered and the general year and a half of irritation that this company put me through.
Doug had *numerous* opportunities to make things right with me, and save himself from extra cost in the process. I still am compleley baffled by his behavior, because he did himself no favors.
I have noticed a severe rise in complaints about this company since I first posted this review. I only wish I had known before! In fact, if potential customers take anything from my harrowing tale, it should me this: while in the hallway of the courtroom waiting for our turn, Doug was trying to intimidate me, and he admitted two amazing things.
Amazingly, he admitted that during one of my attempts to get ahold of him while I was talking to Louis (see below), he was actually listening in on the phone line and laughing at me! He told me this presumably to intimiate me, but his childish attempts were transparent and I actually found it hilarious that he would actually cop to this bad behavior. It made me smile when he said it, and he immediately realized that he made a mistake telling me it and tried to backtrack.
Secondly, while trying to convince me that I was wasting my time, he admitted that operating ShopL2 was more trouble than it was worth, and that he had better things to do. Crazy. Seriously, do not do business with this company. Not to punish them, but to save yourself!
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ORIGINAL REVIEW: They are currently in possession of a $4500 computer that I bought from them last September. The initial experience was terrible. They rarely return calls or emails, and their salespeople are dishonest. I got my machine after a lengthy delay (Shipped on 10/11/2008). Some parts were wrong, and the machine was mis-configured (it's a really long list/story), but I was just happy to be done with it.
Then... one of the hard drives failed, so I sent it back to them for service on May 26th, 2009. It has now been over two months (today is August 10th, 2009) and I still have no idea if/when I will get it back.
The last I heard from them was July 1st 2009, an email promising to call me the next day (they didn't). Then they simply fell off the radar. They do not answer their phone during business hours (answering machine) and they do not return calls/emails. It's as if they don't exist.
I have contacted the NY Attorney General to file a consumer complaint. On top of that, they are now causing me to lose business (I am a digital/video artist and I use my workstation for a living).
Whatever you do, DO NOT buy anything from this company, and do not patronize their other businesses. Even if, in the future, they ever seem to get their act together, or if other positive reviews start showing up here, know that it could all disappear in an instant, and you'll never know why.
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August 2009 UPDATE: Apparently, it takes a public review to get the attention of L2. (BELOW ARE RESPONSES to the reply from L2)
It has been 7 weeks since I've heard from you. I appreciate (and always have said so) the work you offered to do on my system, but fixing a computer under warranty is your responsibility. So, now that I have you, any idea when I will get it back? (UPDATE: I never heard back from them)
"Not once were we rude."
What about when I sent an email asking if you could call me "as promised" and you replied saying that I have an "inflated self importance?" I get it, customers can be annoying sometimes, but even if I was (which I wasn't), how does that make your behavior appropriate? This tirade of yours is the first I've heard from you in 7 WEEKS!
"But, yes, we did not call every few hours as you requested."
I DID NOT REQUEST THIS. I asked that you call once a week.
"repeated calls in the middle of the night"
Never once did I call after 6pm. And it didn't matter because you never answered.
"We are not stealing your computer"
Great. I'm happy to hear that AFTER 7 WEEKS with no information.
"You have any idea the cost of all that?"
Yes! I have always appreciated the good warranty offered by L2. I have repeatedly said to you in emails that I appreciate this. But you can't berate me for expecting a service that you promised to me when I bought the computer.
"you give us a bad review and go out of your way to hurt our business because we will not sit on the phone with you"
No, I write a bad review because I haven't heard from you in 7 WEEKS even though you said you were "on my list to call back for the last two days" on July 1st!
It's odd that I have to explain this to you.
"someone who threatens and belittles their staff DAILY?"
Daily? I haven't spoken to anyone at L2 for OVER 2 MONTHS. What you are talking about?
"You proceeded to call me all hours of the day and night, repeatedly."
The only person I ever spoke to on the phone was Louis, just three times, each during my lunch hour. He couldn't answer my questions because he said that only YOU (Doug) could. He also said that you would call or email me back, and you never did.
(SEE 2010 UPDATE above for the true story behind this conversation)
"We have gone above and beyond our contracted obligations and will continue to."
Wha? If my machine is returned to me in the condition promised, then I will update this review, but until then I'm sorry, you have both my $4500 computer and my 4500 dollars, and have had it for THREE MONTHS (UPDATE: OVER 14 MONTHS NOW)."
"I placed order #2678 on 02/19/2009. I have not received my order. I have left numerous messages via phone and e-mail and no one will contact me. I need to know the status of my order and what is going on.
I need to know a delivery date for order # 2678. I placed the order February 19, 2009. It has been over 5 months now and nobody will return my
calls or answer my e-mails. Please help...
I have left numerous messages via phone and e-mail and still no one will contact me. LanLabs if you read this PLEASE CONTACT ME and let me know a delivery date for order #2678.
Today is August 7, 2009 and as of today I still have NOT received my order that I placed February 19, 2009. (Order # 2678.) I have NOT been able to contact this company due to the fact that when you call you get an answering machine and no one will return my phone calls or answer my e-mails. This order is a custom computer that cost over $2300. They charged my credit card as soon as I placed the order and to this date I have not received my computer or been able to make contact with this company concerning this matter.
Today is Friday, August 14, 2009 and still no computer. I did talk to Luis Monday, August 10 and he told me that Doug was handling my account and he didn't have access to it so he would give Doug a message. He assured me that I would receive an update that day via E-mail. It's now Friday and guess what no E-mail from anyone.
It is now October 2, 2009 and I still have NOT received my computer. Luis did leave me a message but when I tried to return his call it took me weeks before anyone would answer the phone. I finally talked to Doug and he assured me that the computer would ship out by next week. It has been several weeks with still NO computer, NO returned calls, or NO returned E-Mails. LanLabs if you read this PLEASE CONTACT ME and let me know what is going on.
It is now December 16, 2009 and still NO COMPUTER and little to no contact. They will not answer E-Mails or the telephone. It has been almost 10 (TEN) MONTHS and still NO COMPUTER. They took the money fast and refuse to contact me to fix this situation. "
"Hi, I'm not much of a review writer, but after receiving my new computer from LanLabs I felt I should give future customers a heads up. The sales rep I dealt with was Doug, he was knowledgable and took the time to steer me toward the computer I needed, not the one I thought I needed. He saved me several hundred dollars in the process. It took 9 days from when I ordered the computer until I opened the box, well within the stated timelines. I have waited 3 days since my set-up to write the review so that my initial impressions wouldn't taint my thoughts too much, all I can says is WOW.I got a lower end model , the lvl 1 gamer, it was packed with obvious care, everything was in the box, and the craftmanship in the build was far beyond what anyone would expect for the price. The wiring and all the work inside the case is top notch, I couldn't be more pleased. We are a 3 computer household, and I will be upgrading all our systems with LanLabs. I highly recommend this company."
"I did a fair amount of research on different companies ranging from big chains to a few smaller stores, and ultimately went with LanLabs. I based this decision on positive reviews from other people, an impression I had that they genuinely took giving personal service seriously, and because of the way they seemed to look at a computer as a total package rather than as a series of awesome-sounding components to tick off on a features list. This decision proved to be a good one. The service was definitely personal, and prompt as well. The best example was when I e-mailed my salesperson, Doug, to ask about how well LanLabs handles internal wiring. Within a couple hours, I didn't just have assurances that everything would be neatly ordered; in addition, I had several pictures of wiring jobs as done on computers being worked on that very day. Their advice is honest, their systems-- at first impression, anyway-- are solid, and their pricing is good. On top of that, the delivery was even pretty quick. I placed my order on the 24th and had it on February 5th.
A really good sales experience overall. The only thing I would advise them to change would be to do a little proofreading on the knowledge base articles. There were a couple of typos in there that kind of gave me a bad impression of them at first, but having said that, I'm kind of OCD about that kind of stuff and most other people probably don't care."
"I have been looking for a new gaming comp as a christmas present for myslef (ya, like you dont do it too!) and lanlabs was on my list. Knowing I was going to be up here, I waited so I could stop in at the new Ny store. I was sold on my first visit. These guys are awesome!!!! I got a comp for 1100 that plays like nothing I have ever seen. They rushed the build for me because I am leaving today and even set my comp up with all my games so I could try it in the store before I left!!! I am a lanlabs customer for life."
"I ordered 2 CPU retention brackets on Oct, 2nd. Now over a month and getting few replies from them saying that it was a "manufacturer only item" witch the product page, said nothing of the sort (have screen shot to prove it) and only heard of this near 2 weeks after I ordered, when I started to complain!
At one point was told that "the lack of shipping does not mean it didn't ship. It may have." but when I checked with my front office (we live in a townhome complex) they received NO shipments from LanLabs.
Sense my last message, warning that if it did not show as shipped I would be posting reviews about this, such as this, I have received NO messages and still have no order in hand. To bad they could get the money out of my account only minuets after clicking buy!
Based on some of the other reviews, this is not out of the norm for them. I would suggest people make their orders from another online store.
I own my own business and co-own another business with my father and I have never let a customer go this long with out a refund or their product.
I will be fair and redo this review once I receive my order, but I am beginning to doubt I ever will. My server is sitting and it may be until I order from another store.
*****UPDATE: NOVEMBER 22ND*****
I finally got an update:
"I issued a floor search and even called some other retailers that I know have storage facilities with no luck. We are sorry we could not find the item you are looking for. You will receive a full refund."
then was sent a link to a store that HAD the item I ordered. I have placed an order for the brackets at the other store and now am just waiting for the refund to happen from LanLabs.
When the refund comes I will update this review.
*****UPDATE: NOVEMBER 25ND*****
Refund received and order placed at store they recommended."
"Do not buy from this store (if it is one).
Took my money - no response from them in any manner before or after the sale. Purchased a Shuttle PowerSupply because it said nothing about it not being in stock or backordered.
Still don't know if it is even backordered or whatever because I cannot get a hold of them via Phone, Chat, or over 30 emails from different email accounts.
Will be filing against them via PayPal and the Better Business Bureau as well.
"
"Do not buy from LanLabs @ www.shopl2.com
I was looking for a power supply for a Shuttle PC cause the original one died. Found one on lanlabs website that was gonna work and was a good price. I placed the order. I received an e-mail saying the part was back ordered and it would be 1-2 months. I really liked the size of the shuttle box and did not want to replace it with a regular PC, so I decided to wait. 2 months later I had not received my order nor heard anything from LanLabs.
I got on their website to see what was going on and the order said it still had not been shipped. So I started a web chat with one of their representatives. He said there were numerous delays from Shuttle, but that it would be shipping within a few says (this was on July 8th). 10 days later still have not received it. Web-chatted again and rep said it was supposed to ship but he was not sure why. He tried calling Shuttle but it was too early, they were not open (in CA). He said he would e-mail me once he got ahold of them that day. He never did.
Finally I got my purchase. I installed the power supply and it was not the only thing that was wrong with the PC. The motherboard was also shot. I decided to return the power supply and just get a new PC. So I contacted LanLabs over web chat again to start the returns process. The rep tried to help me figure out what could be wrong but I told him I knew it was the motherboard. He then started the RMA process and said a shipping label would be sent out to send the product back. He was going to contact shuttle to get the process started and e-mail me once he did with a procedure. The next day I had not heard anything from him like he promised so I web-chatted again to ask what was going on. He said he forgot to follow up with shuttle and tried getting a hold of them, to no success. He then said he was going to issue me a return label from LanLabs and then they would deal with the RMA. I asked him how I would be refunded and he said it would be a standard refund through the way you paid. I told him I paid thru PayPal but not using an account. He said it would still go through. A few days later I got the label and I sent the product back to LanLabs. I used the tracking # to see that the package had been received by them a week later.
Ever since (at least a month) I has not received a credit to my credit card nor a response when trying to call or e-mail LanLabs or web chat with them. They are basically unreachable at this point, and have stolen my $113 I paid for the power supply. The rep we talked to the whole time was Doug. It appears he dropped the ball again as he did throughout the whole ordering process. I hope someone from LanLabs reads this here and can help, cause $113 is a lot of money to lose, especially in these tough times. I am very upset with the whole process and having to put so much effort into trying to buy and then return a product. I have never had this much difficulty ordering a product online anywhere else.
I would like to respond to what LanLabs wrote in their response!!! First of all the power supply fit fine, and did fix the problem that we thought was the issue, it did not FRY any part of my computer after we installed it!!!!!!! Second of all, I knew that I would have to wait for the item, but I was told it was going to be shipped and then it never was!!!! I returned it exactly as I was told to by DOUG, in the original box AND the original packaging that it was sent to me in! I NEVER asked to have it sent to me second day air, that was the doing of someone in YOUR company, I would have waited! It told me on the UPS label that the label would be used for tracking and I was ensured by DOUG again that when it was received by LanLabs I would receive a FULL refund!! I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE SAYING THAT I OWE YOU MONEY WHEN I DID EXACTLY EVERYTHING YOU TOLD ME TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!"
"ShopL2.com was pretty outstanding in every conceivable respect. The speed of processing, assembly was great. But the delivery was not great at all. (We can blame UPS)
The UPS delivery guy had my computer upside down!!! When the box had stickers all over saying THIS SIDE UP. Atleast it came in time for my college.
This computer works great, no flaws at all was a good $1,850 investment. I'm new to windows vista but I will get used to it as time goes by.
In the other hand this thing runs my architect programs flawlessly, aswell my games. :)
P.S
I was able to speak to the tech (Kato) and sales (Steven) to get my computer perfect.
Just the way I wanted, since I want my computer to be flawless! Great guys helpful.
Sorry if I was annoying you guys via phone/email :) Hahaha good times."
"This is the first PC I have purchased from LanLabs and it will certainly not be the last. They deliver a superior product for a very reasonable price. I recommend LanLabs to anyone I come across in the market for a new computer.
I have only needed LanLabs technical support a couple times however each time I required their assistance I was provided with clear, and concise information in a professional manner.
"
"I'm a female gamer that needs to use a sufficient computer for competitive play. I purchased a Gamer Level 2 and had to let everyone know how satisfied i am. I received great service from order, to purchase, and to playing my first game seemed like no time at all. I had zero problems, as soon as i got it i hooked up and within a very short time had installed counter-strike and started playing. This computer is perfect for any game that has alot of high requirements. The graphics are insane, it is very fast and after spending thousands of dollars and searching tons of sites finding LanLabs has been a great relief. I will definitely shop here for future products not only for the great quality but great service and price too. Thank you so much and Best of luck in the future.
Gina Pittsburgh, PA"
"great computer, couldn't be happier."
"This site may be excellent for gamers, but not for the average user. While salesperson Doug did answer all initial questions up front, it was done by computer, thus timeconsuming (one day).
When the computer arrived however, it was packed in a box with a million foam peanuts - and nothing else. No user manual, no quick-start guide, no brochure labeling parts of the computer. My particular casing did not have buttons on it, but a strip that looked like decoration. Who knew it was supposed to be pressed to start the computer? The small "feet" to hold the cpu on the floor were lost in the peanuts, and only after calling was I told to search for them, and the speakers that were supposed to be included, were not.
When I tried to use the online chat to figure out how to set up or work the computer, their system crashed three times, freezing my computer screen. In addition, there's a long interim between your question and the answer coming back. So long, in fact, that I assumed the writer wasn't there. Unless you're prepared to spend a day for one or two questions, the online help doesn't help (if it doesn't crash entirely).
The Norton anti-virus disk that was included was defective and unusable. I am still waiting (three weeks) for the promised user guide and new Norton disk. No one replies to emails. There is never a live person at the voice mail.
I regret not buying a Dell off the shelf. Same or lower cost, WITH a monitor too. And guaranteed customer service. I bought into the idea that it was better to have a custom computer, but I've had nothing but trouble. I have to start the computer twice to get Vista to start up - despite the extensive "testing" that Doug maintains each computer goes through - and thus delays the shipping (mine too took a long time to arrive). I cannot get in touch with anyone to help solve this problem.
Overall, unless you are a computer expert yourself, stay away from Lan2Labs.
Barbara Mack
Lan2labs is for those who are computer-savvy, not the average consumer who simply wants to plug the computer in and have it work - and have a book to refer to if possible. I do not recommend this site.
Barbara"
"Most companies claim to build a custom pc but these guys allow you to choose every part while they advise on it. They answered all my questions - i had alot - and still have not been able to beat this price.
The pc came in about a week and runs amazing. I am shocked at the attention to detail and custom service i got. I think anyone looking for a custom pc would be nuts to look at anyone else.
THANK YOU LANLABS!"
"There is not enough room in this box to explain the level of detail, service and quality for this company. I recently ordered a computer customized and tailored to what I wanted (imagine that!).
I can say I am pleasantly surprised to see a company with the level of service I was offered. Not only will I recommend, I have already ordered another computer for my son.
Thank you so much lanlabs and god bless.
Brenda Gehnelli
"