"STAY FAR FAR FAR FAR AWAY from this company.

They must be OUT OF BUSINESS now -- I purchased their $800 3-year platinum warranty with the full intention of buying upgrades at wholesale price.

Their phone number is disconnected, they've completely lapsed on any website maintenance (no SSL certificate), they never respond to any emails I've sent to multiple email addresses.

I'm not an idiot -- I know they left their site up to give the appearance that they're still in business. Anyways, my computer has started to manifest suspicious issues with hardware that I would LOVE to have fixed under my $800 warranty -- but since I can't get a hold of anyone I'm totally and utterly screwed and will have to shell out money that no one should ever have to shell out when purchasing a warranty of that length and magnitude.

I don't hate PCMicroworks, but I CERTAINLY don't like them! Please do NOT go near that company! Save yourselves!"

"One word. Thieves!

The order was for a customized gaming laptop, model Falcon 17 Inch Crossfire Notebook, ordered on Dec 29, 2008 from PC Microworks Corporation, via their website www.pcmicroworks.com. With the various customizations, the total came out to approximately $4000, after an approximately $1000 discount advertised on www.pcmicroworks.com. I received the order during the first week of February 2009, after calling their customer support several times in order to complain about how long it was taking. It was first promised the second week of January, however I never received any word that the order was delayed until I called them inquiring where my order was.

There was several options missing from the order when I finally did receive it, including the free case, free software, and the bluray player/burner or the software did not work. After maybe 3 weeks of playing with the system, I decided I was not happy with it. While they were not at fault that the system was not as powerful as I'd hoped, their shoddy customer service and empty promises made me realize I could not be in the business "partnership" with a company so undependable.

I obtained an RMA number via customer support within the 30 day money back guarantee period, and shipped back within five days of obtaining the RMA, as per their Terms and Conditions page (http://www.pcmicroworks.com/policy.htm). The complete order was shipped back to PC Microworks via Fedex Express Saver on March 18, 2009. The tracking numbers confirmed this.

I called up their Customer Support representative a week later, and he confirmed that the shipment was received, and I would be credited back my money asap.He noted that my credit was delayed, however it would be processed minus the restocking fee in another couple of days. I have not received any credit, up till now.

I have called several times over the past several months, via their toll free number 1-888-59-64276. Because of their extremely long wait times (more than 45 minutes at times), and the fact that I work during their office hours, I have not been able to speak to a representative since I was promised my credit in the spring. I have emailed them several times, and left numerous messages as well. I have not received any response, via any method.

They are thieves!!! You can find numerous similar horror stories of systems being returned for repair or upgrade, and not hearing from the company again, here, or on notebookreview.com, where I first heard of these stories. I ignored them, and has been regretting that ever since. Each story with them ends the same. The last thing you want to do is be here warning others of the same."

"On May 2nd 2009 I purchased a Falcon 17" Laptop Computer from this company. It took them almost a month to even get the system out to me stating that they were just flooded with orders. Finally received my laptop computer around the first week of April. Since I bought the system without an O/S since I had purchased a Vista Ultimate license separate I had to do that part of the install. At this point I had issues with the display but thought it was the driver. Over time it kept getting progressively worse until it stopped working a month later.

At this time I attempted to call PC MicroWorks and could not get them by phone, their website was down because it was infected with some trojan, and they were not responding via e-mail.

After attempting to contact them over the course of a few weeks and being frustrated, I finally contacted my credit card company and they were able to confirm PC MicroWorks was not responding, and issued me a credit for my purchase.

At least I got my money back, but I am stuck with a paper weight in my house. I would not recommend anyone purchase anything from this company, take extreme caution.

I should also note that I had one of their competitors attempt to locate the distributor for my laptop based on the serial numbers listed. They were unable to find who sold it to PC MicroWorks, and were not able to honor the warranty. Also running Belarc inventory software on the laptop showed that all hardware components were listed with serial numbers of ***-***-****, which had me a little concerned.

I will also be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau."

"I purchase a Edge in October of last year never receive my blue ray burner, every time I called I got some song and dance they’re coming anytime now. I leave phone messages that are never returned, now I can’t even leave phone messages, I’m so glad I never order anything else from that company. And I will be going to the California Better Business Bureau. Additionally, I’m done dealing with small companies, staying with Dell and HP for PC hardware going forward. Obviously, the good things said about PC MicroWorks on messages boards were most likely by company employees."

"On August 26th 2007, I ordered a Black-Hawk XR5 notebook computer from PC MicroWorks Corp, with their “3 Year Diamond Plus Blanket Protection Program” for a grand total of $4,498.00. On January 26th 2009, I sent the computer to their location at:

PC MicroWorks Corp.
Attn: Service Dept.
41829 Albrae Street
Fremont, CA 94538

as instructed in the earliest dated emails I’ve included. I was sending the computer in to get fixed. Through my own experience and correspondence with PC MicroWorks I had determined it was in need of a new motherboard, which is about a $500 part. After I communicated this to PC MicroWorks they told me to send it in to the address above, and I quote, “We will get it serviced ASAP and should be able to return within 3-5 business days.” Week after week, I would check on the status of my computer, and the response I got was always the same. “We should have it done by the end of this week, early next week.” That’s how it went for 2 months. Once I began to wonder if I would ever get it back, I wrote them an email, expressing my concern and frustration. I was then told that the part I needed, the motherboard, was out of stock, and they were waiting for a shipment from a company called Clevo. However this is only after I wrote them an email asking if they had to deal with Clevo.

I should take this opportunity to briefly explain how this computer is built and sold. PC MicroWorks is simply a reseller/re-brander of a D901C notebook computer built by Clevo in Taiwan, which is imported by a company called Sager. PC MicroWorks then buys the D901C from Sager, or a company Sager sells to, and calls it the Black-Hawk XR5 after a small modification to its aesthetics. So to get a motherboard they would have to order it from either, Sager, a company Sager sold to, or Clevo.

Now, PC MicroWorks may be a very small company, a couple guys at most, but I found it fairly odd, that companies as large as Sager, and Clevo would be out of such an important computer part. So I contacted the owner of a much larger, better known reseller of these computers and he told me there was no such shortage.

So now over three months have passed since they received my notebook computer, and I don’t believe they have any intention of sending it back to me. I made a Better Business Bureau complaint, which was closed a couple weeks ago after they were unable to get PC MicroWorks to respond. I then had my Lawyer send them a letter, including most of the documents I’ve included here. They then sent me an email, making excuses for the two and a half month delay, and said they would have it to me by the end of the week, or early next week. That was 15 days ago. I sent them several emails in the last two weeks practically begging them to send it back to me, even if they were not going to fix it. The last email I got said that they had sent my computer to a “repair center” there in Fremont, and they would make sure to get it back from them on Monday, the 27th, and send it to me on Tuesday the 28th. I have not heard from them since. I and several other PC MicroWorks customers believe they are just trying to buy themselves time to pack up shop and disappear, which is something the CEO, Matthew Thomas O’byrne did in Texas with a computer company called Hybridgear. I have included all the documents I thought necessary to show this mans fraudulent history, and also motive for abandoning his sinking company with some very, very expensive hardware that belong to myself and others.

Let me say that the only way I have been able to make any contact is by email, but that often takes several days. You can call their phone for hours all week, and no one ever answers.
I believe Mathew Thomas O’byrne is running a scam on his past customers, having them send in their faulty equipment and not sending it back, maybe even re-selling them. I am a member of a forum at http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1017 where all of this has been documented."

"Sumary: PCMicroworks' slick website and friendly initial salesmanship does not make up poor after-sales support nor its unwillingness or inability to meet its warranty obligations.

Detailed description:
Current problems below, short history first.

Ordered an XR5 Dec 9 2007, didn't receive until 6 weeks later, on Jan 23 2008.
Unit was ordered with 2 video cards but shipped with only one. Didn't receive second video card until June 11th, 2008, 6 months after initial order. All inquires about the delays had to be initiated by me, I was never sent any, "Your order has been delayed (again) due to xxx" emails from PCMicroworks. Basically, I'd email and ask the status, they promise it next week, 2 weeks would pass without news, I'd have to email and ask again, same response, rinse and repeat for 6 months.
Installed video card drivers didn't work. Took one month and multilple shipping back and forth to fix.
Multiple bios errors on intial system. Took 2 months to resolve bios issues, some bios issues remain unresoved.

Current problem:

One of the 3 hard drives failed. Contacted PCMicroworks in early December 2008 requesting a new had drive and shipping instructions for returning the faulty one. Two months later, 27 Jan 2009, I still have not received a response.

I have sent multiple emails and left multiple messages on their support "hot" line answering service, which they do not answer.

They did not send disks of the OEM version of Microsoft Office Small Business. After I reloaded the OS after replacing the failed hard drive (at my expense since I have not received a response to my request for a replacement hard drive, which is covered under the "Diamond" 3 year warranty) I needed to reinstall Office. Since there was no disk from PCMicroworks, I downloaded it from Microsoft.com. When I tried to activate it with the product key PCMicroworks provided the key was invalid. I contacted Microsoft and they said the OEM has to fix and support OEM versions. I sent PCMicroworks multiple emails and left multiple messages on their support hotline about this problem without response.

Purchased a 3 year "Diamond" warranty with original order to cover these issues.

Finally, in early December 2008 I ordered and paid for 3 upgrades; a new Intel CPU and 2 new nVidia 9800m GTX video cards, with the discount provided under their "Diamond" warranty. I did not receive them. I emailed PCMicroworks multiple times (notice a trend here?) and left multiple messages on their support and sales answering machines without response. After 6 weeks I finally had to contact my credit card company and dispute the charge. I received a refund from my credit card company but still no response from PCMicroworks. If I receive no response from them about the Office software problem I'll be disputing the Office software and "Diamond" warranty portions of the original order as well.

I'd reccomend shopping elsewhere for your power laptop needs. PCMicroworks doesn't make their own laptops, they simply rebrand Clevo, a Taiwanese notebook OEM manufacturer. The same rebranded Clevo's are available from other Clevo rebranders such as Sager, Hypersonic, Powernotebooks, et. al. "

"Hi,

I purchased a Blackhawk XR5 system from them and had a great experience with them. As promised they sent the system via 1 Express day shipping and on arrival found no defects in the build quality etc.
I had many free-bees like an upgrade to the RAM etc. In addition I kept changing the configuration of what I wanted, and PC microworks delivered. I also visited their Office in California to have an additional graphic card fitted. So far been satisfied and no issues at all.

Macneil

Update to 1 STAR: After a harrowing time with them on the phone to get my Laptop motherboard replaced, i managed to drive down to their office and personally get hold of them, get my motherboard replaced and pick up my fixed laptop. I guess I was lucky, i have read of many cases where laptops sent for repairs were never got back. They are apparently out of Business as they are no longer at the location where their offices were. Never again..."

"I ordered A Falcon laptop from this store on Black Friday. I called on Monday Dec 1 to cancel. PC Microworks charged my Visa for the full purchase price of the laptop. It took over 3 weeks to receive my refund."

"Some of the models this company sales are top of the line in the industry, so there can be delays. I bought an EDGE laptop in June 2008 which took a while for the computer to come, and I had to change the configurations a couple of times to aviod further delays.

Thomas at the sales of the company was very helpful.
"

"Bought the EDGE laptop from these guys. There was initally a rollercoaster of delays due to the main companies Clevo and Intel holding back parts due to some technical difficulties. However, I was well compensated for any delays that I experienced whereas other resellers of the laptop were basically saying to 'stop whining like little children about it'. I got everything I ordered and customer service on the phone is excellent. I highly recommend this company.

On a further note, when the EDGE laptops were being released, they made sure that all the components were working, which is why I was able to get a laptop that was not plagued with problems that other resellers had no problems shipping out, eg. unresponsive keyboard, overheating hard drives, etc.

In addition, on shipping, they messed up my address and to compensate, they upgraded me to 2 day air from ground delivery for FREE. They have been nothing but good to me especially in the regard of customer service. Again, they may be more pricey than the competitors, but it is worth it, especially if you want a laptop you can keep for years and not replace after a few months.


EDIT: I am changing my review due to new circumstances that arouse from this system. The company ran without honouring anyone's warranty and stole many individuals laptops who sent it back for repair.

I feel like a fool for ever trusting these individuals. Yes, in the short run they were good but now as I have a failing graphics card (and no other m860tu buyer has complained about that yet) and no warranty, I shall take the opportunity to go with a reputable company like Asus and purchase a laptop and warranty through them.

I hope I find out where the owner of PCMW restarts his business (because he did so with a company before) so others are warned by their deceit."

"The Xr5 is something to be marveled.

It is perhaps the fastest computer I have owned. It was a long wait from the time I ordered until the time I recieved it becuase I pre-ordered it with the new Nvidia Geforce 8800m GTX. The delay was due to the release date being pushed back and then driver dates. None of this was the fault of PCMW. Infact, They threw in a few little goodies to make up for the delay at no request of mine. They upgraded my cpu at no cost and Threw in over night air shipping for free. I'm very impressed with the relationship I have developed with them over the process. I think relationships are very important when this amount of money is involved. If your looking for the Ultimate Desk Top Replacment Call PCMW and check out the XR5.

Keith"

"My feelings on my experience with PCMicroWorks and their BlackHawk laptop (10/2007-1/2008):
They delivered the laptop fast within 5 days I was totally stoked on the laptop and PC MicroWorks!
They delivered it with incorrect hardware (ABG instead of ABN) and didn't notify me which they said was my fault because I ordered the laptop without an OS and they normally put the paper in the box as part of the OS (Now you start to see my problem is with PCMicroWorks and their employees, it’s never their fault always the customers).
The laptop immediately black screened and locked up when put in SLI mode for Vista x64 which I explicitly asked if it worked and they said yes (Obviously they never tested it or did and decided to lie to me anyway).
They blamed the video problem on NVidia saying NVidia told them it worked so they shipped it. They also blamed this on me not ordering an OS for them to have installed (Oh by the way there site offers the laptop without an OS as the default choice). They also blame me for getting 4GB of memory and said the problem doesn't exist with 2GB (they never ask me to take out any memory to fix the problem? Also once again their site offers the 4GB upgrade for free at the time I ordered).
They promise me a working driver in a week or so and have me disable some features to get SLI to work which it never does.
Then they ship the new driver which basically has the same problems not as pronounced but still present.
After over a month they finally offer to swap the cards temporarily for 7950 which are not DirectX10 which is the main reason I bought this system and how it is advertised on their website.
I said I would take the cards if they would upgrade the 8700 to the 8800s coming out for my trouble and they would not commit but did send the 7950s.
Now during all this two SATA drives fail one after the other. They overnighted drives to replace them.
I have now spent more money and time on this laptop than it cost me originally ~$5,000.00.
Also the customer support is terrible. They are overly aggressive, blame the customer, refuse to take ownership of the problem, follow through is terrible; don't follow their written or oral agreements.
Back to the video problem so I hadn't heard from them in over a week so I decided to call and either say give me the 8800s with a working driver or take the laptop back. The customer support person was terrible. First off he started complaining about me wanting to game with the laptop, buying it without an OS again, and various other absurd, unprofessional , and just plain ridiculous statements like "we are taking care of you by going out of our way to do such and such" etc. This guy was unreal. He taunted me and finally after I told him I wanted to return the laptop offered the 8800s and told me I would have to get a new motherboard too. I told him no thanks not only do I not want it because of what has transpired (Especially the conversation with this customer service manager) now I really know PCMicroWork’s marketing gimmick of being upgradeable is totally mis-leading seeing you have to change the motherboard to upgrade video cards.
I tried to get a hold of upper management but they refused to let me through.
Needless to say I returned the portable and they gave me a full refund and all shipping was at their cost. They drew out the refund return (during the holidays the worst time for me to tie up 5K of mine, affected my 8 year old daughter’s Christmas) and once again broke their written agreement on that. Even though they think they made me whole they are not even close with the time I invested.
I write this because before I bought the laptop from PCMicroWorks I searched for info on the company and their support and found little to none. If someone had written an article like this I may not have made the purchase.
There are plenty of other companies out there that sell similar systems based on the exact same core Clevo system that will provide much better customer service and support and not waste your valuable time and money.
"

"Excellent product and customer service. I ordered thier Blackbird "Quad" SLI laptop. Delivery took longer than expected due to shortages in the the videocard I requested. I had read about the shortages in 2 different sources before talking with them about the delay, so I believe that they were being truthful as to the delay. Anyway, they more than made up for the delay with the upgrades and free overnight shipping they gave me.
Emails were answered within a few hours, and the phone was answered by a person, no menus, who could answer any questions I had.
I love the laptop and am completely satisfied. I highly recommend checking them out if you are interested in a gaming machine."

"Pc Microworks is the way to go! I game pretty hard and for long periods of time. As a result, my old laptop burned up after only 2 years. I was very disappointed and started my search for a machine that could handle the way I play. My long and exhaustive search through numerous providers landed me at Pc Microworks. I explained my needs and concerns to the awsome sales staff. They helped me customize an extremely nasty Blackhawk laptop at an incredible price. I then backed it up with their amazing 3 year Diamond Plus Protection Plan. In a hurry to satisfy my gaming crave, I convinced them to promise my new rig in a week. Much to my suprise, it came even sooner than that. The machine is an animal and everything I had hoped it would be. I called in for support on a question I had and they were wonderful to work with. I highly recommend them to everyone I find in need of a system. It has been a pleasure doing business with them and I look forward to doing more in the future! Thanks guys and great job!"

"This company is a model of sales and customer service experience. I've only been subjected to such customer dedication and refined courtesy at the high-end clothing stores. I purchased a fully-loaded Black-Hawk laptop including the $500 service plan option from this firm about a month ago. Although the laptop was quite pricy, I feel that the money was extremely well spent. I considered several companies before my search ended with this one. Starting from the original call to PC MicroWorks I was assigned a personal account manager who was quite informative regarding the laptop and, unlike most sales people was not at all pushy. Despite the fact that I was merely calling to learn about the computer, he gave me his direct phone number for follow up questions. I purchased the laptop a day later and was informed that it would take about a week to built, it did. The computer was completed on Friday and, to my surprise, was sent overnight with Saturday delivery (free of charge) so that I have it for the weekend. Very nice! The best thing about this firm is that I can speak directly with the person who sold me the computer regarding any issues that I may have (I had one).

My laptop is working like a charm, although it is not often used to the full capacity, its value is justified by the impeccable customer support of PC MicroWorks sales team. If you are in the marked for a high-end laptop—look no further. Call PC MicroWorks!"