"I tried to order an Apple iPod Mini from SNComputers. They claimed to have it in stock and charged my credit card immediately for $260. Three days later, I still hadn't heard from them and asked for a tracking number. They gave me a number and I looked it up on the UPS website. Nothing there - I called and they said it probably hasn't been entered into their database yet. A week later it still wasn't there. I had a feeling they gave me a fake tracking number, and now it was confirmed. They refused to cancel my order, saying the product shipped already, so I had to dispute the charge with the credit card company. Do not deal with this company, I don't even know if they have a legitimate business set up. When you call their tech support line, the SAME guy picks up every time. It appears to be a one man organization."

"Ordered a cd rom, they shipped it inadeqately and broke a gear off during shipping, called them up for rma and waited 2months for new one nver shipped after 20 emails and 4 phone calls they kept saying if its not shipped they will ship it, after a year i file a complaint against them, next day i get a phone call from them saying they shipped it, unwilling to refund it! beware of them"

"Shipped order late and arrived with additional unexplained COD $138. Great difficulty reaching by phone, 800 number from web stopped working & website was off the internet. Cancelled order after refusing to pay extra $138. They sent items again without consent nor notification. Order received 2 weeks late, paid approx. $14 shipping plus $5 insurance. Never gave me the UPS tracking number, no apologies. Just avoid this company for the frustration factor."

"I ordered a laptop from this company which was listed as "in-stock" on their webpage at the time I ordered it, and at least 1 week afterwards. My credit card was charged instantly for the 1200+ dollars. For 2 weeks they didn't get in contact (not by e-mail nor phone), so I chased after them--after the second e-mail they replied saying that they didn't have it and so I called them up asking what the deal was and they said that they didn't have it but instead had some laptop models that were at least 700 dollars more expensive--Bait-and-switch. I told them that I didn't want to do business with, or hear from them any more, and they said they wouldn't charge my credit card. The charge never came off of my credit card so I had to call the credit card company and dispute the charge. You decide if you want to spend the trouble dealing with this 'company'."

"I am very angry with this company!! You should not deal with these people. I ordered a computer from them last year! Had to send it back they did an RMA recieved another computer about two months later to replace the one sent and it was damaged, sent that back and had to wait a couple of more months and had another sent and that was damaged also. Finally the fourth one sent got that and tried to load windows and couldn't and took it to a computer place to do it and they had problems and had to keep it and keep working on it and finally it came back that the Fan was bad for a long time and that the CPU was fried. Call the company and it is just 2 days over the warranty and now I am stuck with this computer!~! You think they would be more considerate since I have been through all of this with their company!!! The one in California!!!!! This is not a very good way to deal with customers!!!

signed angry Tracy"

"After a month of waiting for an item they claimed was in stock, I finally received it, DOA. They referred me to Sony, and would not do anything even though they charged me nearly $9 for insurance that I did not agree to. Their shipping cost was twice what it cost me to send the drive to Sony, WITH insurance."

"I didn't know about ResellerRatings until just after I ordered. After reading other reviews, I was very concerned.

I called later the day I ordered and asked to cancel my order, and Dave told me that it had already shipped. I got a UPS tracking number, but for several days the status was "BILLING INFORMATION" with no location, so I was worried that SNC hadn't shipped it. However, it was indeed UPS's fault: the item travelled for four days across half the continent without UPS scanning it. The first scan was 150 miles north of here, and the second was delivery. Oh me of little faith.

Unfortunately, the drive has an intermittent failure when reading a large data disk. Dave said that I could send it back for exchange, but if SNC tests reported nothing wrong, SNC would charge me $35 and send it back to me. I have my doubts about such a report. Instead, I will return for credit, but he says that I pay shipping plus a 20% restocking fee. If that's all I pay, I'll just call it a stupidity tax on me (though I still blame them for factors totally under their control).

They charged me $19.60 for UPS Ground (5 day). UPS's Rates page says they charge only about $5-$10 for shipping.

SNC wrapped the drive in a UPS bubble-pack envelope and placed it in a large box with no other padding. Before opening, I could tilt the box and hear it slide inside the box. Heck, even crumpled-up newspaper is better than nothing there.

See Terms on their home page. I didn't read them closely either before ordering. They're badly written, sometimes contradictory, and harsher than I've seen elsewhere. Some things I note:

"Prices do not include 3% handling fee": so all their prices are lowballed from the start?

"Cancellation of orders are subject to a charge of 15% of total order amount. $ 25.00 Charge will be levied upon for any cancelled orders." What's the $25: the minimum? the maximum? an additional fee? Note that SNC charges money to cancel even if nobody's done a thing.

Must notify of Dead On Arrival within 72 hours.

"Should a product fail within the 30 day period of invoice date ... Product(s) returned without defects will be subject to a fee of $25.00 per item or $45.00 per system plus additional $15.00 handling fee and freight for the shipping and handling charges. Hourly rate of $ 65.00 per Hour may also be charged if additional Tech support is required/requested for working product." If I read this aright, if they test it and believe that it's OK, they would have the right to charge $40 + freight (to ship it back to you, I suppose) + tech time. However, over the phone, Dave told me that it was $35. Also, 'SNComputers reserves the right to return any product un-repaired, without notification, if the customer ships a product to SNComputer's RMA department without original parts installed by the manufacturer and is in improper packaging or is missing all proper documentation ... Customers will be responsible for all costs incurred. That warranty will be categorized as "Void"'. The requirements in this section for return are elaborate, including an RMA number on the box and on the shipping label, copy of invoice with items circled, etc. If one of those is missed, is that improper "documentation", or does documentation refer to the manuals? Also, if you miss one item, your warranty may be voided even if the item is indeed defective.

The next section has "Return for Credit" (that is, the previous section is for exchange, this is for return): "Should a product fail during first 30 days and/or customer just wishes to return the product for credit ... product(s) must be returned within 30 days from the invoice date, and are subject to 20% restocking fee ... The product must be complete - unused and in resaleable condition. ..." If it's defective, how can it be "resaleable"? How can someone tell it's defective if it's "unused", except for the most obvious visible damage? (Do YOU check the connections on every component soldered on the bottom of a disk drive?) Also note that the "restocking fee" is 20%; I'd seen only 15% before.

"Service Charges: Product(s) returned without defects will be subject to a fee of $45.00 per item or $40.00 per system plus additional $15.00 handling fee ..." Note that the non-defective fee is $60 here but $40 in the return for exchange section. (Let's hope they're not additive!)

In "Limited Warranty", "Any component showing physical damage or misuse (i.e. Short circuit, broken/scarred edges) is not covered by SNComputers warranty." Um, I've gotten things elsewhere shipped to me broken before; would they really not cover any such problem? They'll point to the shipper, even if there's no external damage to the box and the padding was inadequate?

The final bit: "SNComputers DISCLAIMS ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCTS, WHETHER EXPRESSED, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE". Um, that appears to annul every bit of previous warranty!

Gah.
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