"Ordered on the weekend via the website, and they promptly started processing it on the very first business day. By "started processing", I mean that they charged my credit card. It's now one week later, and I still hadn't received anything from them except the automated order confirmation sent when I pressed the submit order button. So I called. A pleasant surprise here -- zero hold time, no automated voice response, just Joe answering immediately. He said that charging the customer's card well in advance of shipment is normal procedure at Xtreme Gear. Well, that doesn't bother me that much, except for the implications for the 30-day return policy. So I asked and Joe assured me that the "invoice date" referred to on the sales terms and policies page is the ship date, not the credit card transaction date. Oh, and I suggested that using a pre-authorization instead of an early charge would make customers feel a lot more at ease.
I know Joe frequents these forums, so I'm hoping that he can publicly confirm that the 30-day return period doesn't start counting until the ship date, which should reassure a lot of potential customers. At any rate, I'm really looking forward to getting my notebook, much better price than any major vendor, even Black Friday prices are at best about the same, and will post back when it arrives and can tell you more.
UPDATE: Got a call from Joe today, two business days before the laptop was due to ship, and he apologetically explained that demand is higher than their suppliers can fill, so there would be at least an additional three week delay. So I cancelled. They've tied up my money for about two weeks now (will be over two weeks for sure before the refund processes) and no goods. BYW, it was the 3000 series notebook (Intel processor, 15.4" screen). It would be interesting to know whether other people are having more success ordering these.
[Joe's response was posted at this time]
Well, I called Joe back on May 24th to find out if they had received the shipment. He asked me to call back the next day, which I did. He said the shipment was received in excess of outstanding orders, and they were accepting orders. I suggested that because of the long delay, if I offered to pay for rush service, buyxg could upgrade the shipping... Joe said that wasn't possible, but it turns out he did upgrade me to Saturday delivery which is just as good from my perspective. I ordered late Friday night with 3-day rush build and ground shipping, and received the notebook the following Saturday -- on a short business week due to Memorial Day. Got the notebook maybe an hour ago, it looks great and is flying through memtest86+.
Additionally, the website really doesn't do justice to the features of this notebook, it actually has 5x USB (competing brands have 2 or 3), 1x firewire 1394, and, I'm quite pleased to say, an eSATA port in additional to the usual external VGA, card reader, expresscard (I think) slot, modem, lan, and audio connections.
My rating of this company is, pending a proper test of more features, considerably improved.
UPDATE: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit is running smooth as silk. Everything about this laptop is at least as good as advertised, some things are better (advertised 3 USB ports, has 5, advertised Fast Ethernet, has gigabit). Still waiting on the second battery. No complaints anymore at all."
"This was my first system purchase from Xtreme Gear. I am very pleased so far. I got my system in just a little over 2 weeks of my order date. All 3 boxes were carefully packed and nothing was damaged. I hooked up my system and it booted without any problems. Based on my personal experience, I would recommend Xtreme Gear."
"The computer arrived fine. Shipping was fast. Although order status updates were rare, the system was assembled faster than I expected. A fairly good value, too. They didn't have the exact video card I wanted, but I just ordered that from anotehr supplier.
I would probably buy from buyxg again. "
"I recieved my computer, and everything was great! I loved the way it sounded nice and quiet, and how it performed excellent. Thank you XG for a great computer!"
"Was really excited when I first made my purchase. I needed a fast system built quickly for an upcoming project. Did a 3 day rush order and was disappointed by delays. First they didn't have inventory checking when I made my order online and the memory was on order, so I changed it to a different brand. Then they couldn't add in a 3.5 floppy drive since my configuration wouldn't allow for enough space due to 4 installed hard drives, but I was able to make the modifications easily to do so once I got the system. A simple removal of the cage and 5.25 to 3.5 drive adapter did the trick. Basically, it took at the end of 9 business days to ship when I needed a 3 day rush build. They did take off 20 dollars for the rush build fee to downgrade me to the next 5 to 10 day rush charge. When I received the system, my install of Vista turned out to be bad since the help tools wouldn't work at all. The XION card reader / fan controller was also giving waring errors the instant I turned it on. I was able to fix the minor wiring problems, but it was still annoying. I wouldn't recommend them for dependability on timelines or finial quality checking. Since there were minor errors in the system I kinda felt cheated out of a finial $49 rush fee. Other than than the parts all work and it's a fast machine, but next time I'll buy the parts myself and get it built much quicker on my own. The delays and hassles defeated the purpose of my purchasing reasons for the extra labor costs and time constraints. Was the first and last time I'll have a company build a custom system for me."
"Was very happy with computer. Shipped 1 week earlier than I anticipated and everything seems to be working very well after 1 week of heavy use. Getting unbelieveable frame rates even on intense mem hogs like Supreme Commander. Only nitpciking complaint is that one of the free items (a 1 gig USB Jump Drive) was backordered. Did not deal with customer service at all."
"Excellent price even better customer support. I love my new machine !!!
I made mistakes on my order and Joe Briggs called to advise me on better selections.
Machine runs and looks fantastic
one small glitch when starting it for the first time but easy to overcome...would suggest that buyxg would start the machines up, put the Windows key in and do a 24 hour burn in.
Package also arrived more than a week earlier than expected...WOOHOO
A+ and in my favorites for an future purchases. "
"Great site, very easy to use. Customizing your own pc and having it put together and shipped to you in a timely manner is a wonderful expierence that this site does with ease."
"This thing is absolutely killer. It's been a dream of mine for a long time to have an awesome custom-built gaming PC and now, thanks to XG, I do. The system itself is flawless except for all the crazy stupid stuff that Vista decides to do sometimes. I'm completely satisfied and most likely won't need to purchase another PC for a good 5 years. My only real complaints are that the on-board sound was disabled, which meant that the headphone jack in the front didn't work (though I turned the on-board back on so it's fine) and that the window on the side of the case was scratched. I thought it was something that may have happened in shipping, but it was actually on the inside, so obviously it was done prior to shipment. Also, the red cathode light was just flopping around in there and not actually attached to anything. It had some stickies on it so I just attached it where I wanted (which may have been the whole point). I'm not sure how many of these companies are owned by the same people, but my computer showed up in a CyberPower PC box, and the case had a CyberPower sticker on it. Maybe Xtreme Gear bought the case from them and just reused the box that it came in when they sent it to me. Who knows? Either way, BuyXG had the best price for what I wanted and the website was super-easy to navigate, so I'd recommend them to anyone."
"I placed Order on jan 31 2007. I was called Feb 19 2007 saying my case was back ordered. I finally recieved computer on feb 25 2007. I have since then been contacting Tech support about the top pannel on my case not working. Mar 6 2007 i was told by kevin in tech support i would be mailed a new top. I have never recieved this and have been emailing them weekly and getting no response back. Apr 9 2007 My computer crashed. I have tryed getting unit to turn back on. The computer flashes for 1 second then dies. I am seroisly hoping i do not get ignored on this issue. I spent 3500 on this computer and so far have had horrible tech support. Right now i am very aggitated that my computer has crashed. I am also very upset they ignored me for over a month now. I am hoping maybe tommorow i will get some kind of response or will have them answer the phone. I am also tired of 3 hour waits on tech supports phone. I will update whenever i get some service from BuyXtreme
Returned Computer Apr 10 07 Got quick responses with my phone call and emails. Computer should be there monday apr 16 07. Lets see how fast my computer gets fixed and reshipped. I am hopeing that i will have no more problems"
"HORRIBLE experience with this company!
Received my $1400 system and had problems from day 2. BSOD/System shut down progressively got to the point where it would shut off 2-3 times in one evening. Tech support can only be reached after a ridiculously long hold time. Advised to turn off all start up programs, test RAM, reinstall windows with no results. System continues to spiral downward with loss of peripherals until nothing will start up.
XtremeGear tech tells me that I need to replace the motherboard (on a watercooled system) with phone support even though I express concerns that I don't anything about the innards of a computer. When he's finally convinced to take it back for repairs, it costs me $60 to ship.
I call to check on the status and they tell me my laptop was already shipped back to Bowie, MD. Since I don't have a laptop and I don't live in Bowie I was a bit confused. Tech who answered the phone is flustered...says he's new with no training yet. After being constantly put on hold, word is that a tech is working on it now and it'll be shipped out on Monday...call back for a fedex #. Called 2 days later, no one can tell me what was wrong with the system..call back later for a fedex #. MONDAY...tech tells me that the motherboard was changed..call back for a fedex number. THURSDAY..no fedex delivery! Asked to speak to the shipping supervisor...not available, gone to a meeting, not answering his page, did not return multiple calls. Called and system was shipped out today..no fedex number yet. FRIDAY..called and FINALLy a fedex # but according to their website NO PICK UP on Thursday. Actual pick up was Friday night.
I get my system and it seems to be working but, yes..BSOD every few days. Tech says I need to...turn off all my start up and reinstall windows. Where I was...6 months ago!
Of course the company will not refund for anything over 30 days even though I've been calling about problems over and over and over.
I wish I'd never used this company. I highly recommend anyone thinking of getting a gaming system not use this company unless you have money to throw away.
It was especially disturbing to find that Xtreme Gear and Cyberpower Inc. work out of the same address. If I had known they were the same, I would never used them. Xtreme Gear has a 4star rating while Cyberpower a 1star.
Xtreme Gear
4802 Littlejohn Street
Baldwin Park,CA 91780
Main Phone: ***-***-****
Local Phone: ***-***-****
Support Phone: ***-***-****
CyberPower, Inc.
4802 Littlejohn Street, Suite A
Baldwin Park,CA 91706
Main Phone: ***-***-****
Local Phone: ***-***-****
"
"Fantastic company, will do business with them again and will recomend them to others!!! amazing computer and service!!"
"Im a second year IT student, I started looking into buying a new
Gaming PC back in Dec 06. After a few weeks of research i decided it
would be in my best intrest to build my own PC.
I looked at the big name pc building companies like Dell, Alienware,
HP etc, for guidlines of the newest PC builds. Just to get a basic
guideline. These PCs were $1500 - $2500.
Finally after 2 months of dreaming and planning a sweet build i sat
down and started pricing stuff out Via Newegg, ZipZoom, TigerDirect
etc.
When done i had a nice comparable setup to those big PC companies at
the most rock bottom price i could build it for at consumer level. It
totaled a bit over $700. This was to be a work in progress build where
i add on to it as i go. Meaning this Should be upgradeable for years
to come without problems.
So a day or so before i planned on ording the whole thing i found an
ad in PC gamer magazine with the this company selling nice setups at
very resonable prices, so i checked out their site that night and had
to completely change my whole plan.
I was able to construct virtually the same exact computer on buyxg.com
and to my surprise $50 cheaper that i could build it myself. To add to
this lifetime support and a 1 year warranty. This was such the better
deal.
So on impulse i effortly ordered this PC.
So the bummer for me was the shipping price and shipping time, it took
about 2 weeks to get it and it cost $65 to ship it Ground.
BuyXg.com attracted me because of it smaller size unlike those
forementioned big companies. It doesnt take all that long to build a
pc and ground shipping should be cheaper than $65 and take less than 2
weeks in all. But its not the end of the world.
BuyXG.com makes up for it with the quailty parts they put in. MOST of
the parts were of good name, versions, and quailty. Western digital,
EVGA, ASUS etc.
But the kicker was they RAM i got was this unknown ram called A-data.
At first i was like oh boy, and later i tried to find some more
(Identical RAM) to upgrade another 1 GB and hit dead end after dead
end, i emailed BuyXG.com about some more and with in 5 mins had a
email back saying he didnt carry it anymore...only a month later. But
he did tend to me fast. Thanks Joe Briggs!
So after contacting the company(A-data who have only been around 2
years now) they informed me they just changed the part number of that
same ram, and it was available at most PC part dealers online just it
had a different model name now.
BUT to my surprise i did research and overclocking etc and this RAM is
rock solid. Most owners will praise its Overclockabiliy and stability.
BuyXG.com in the end prevailed. I was more than happy with my purchase
and have in the last week pointed 2 of my friends their way to buy a
good gaming setup at a very good price.
***Keep in mind that these parts are not made by BUYXG.com they are
just built by them, if the parts go bad it not their fault they didnt
make them. I seen a few people riding them about that and it needed to
be addressed. But luckily for people who buy through them that they
are quick to take care of customers after the sale, try getting that
attention from The big companies.
I give BUYXG.Com a solid 9/10
"
"Everything was fantastic!! I am extremely satisfied with the entire experience, and would recommend buyxg and cyperpower to anyone looking to purchase a custom PC. I have to say that I was a little apprehensive after reading some of the negative reviews that are out there. But after speaking with Joe several times about my order, I was reassured that I had made the right decision. The web site is well thought out and is very user friendly. The ordering process is easy. The PC was well made, and shipping was great (received it a day early). "
"I ordered a computer from this company after long research. Joe from the sales team was very helpful and patient as I had lots of questions! The computer arrived as promised in excellent condition. After a few days I had some issues with the hard drive and the customer support (kevin) was also very helpful and asked me to call him back directly if I still had issues. They delivered a new hard drive on time and I am extremely satisfied with my experience and would recommend buyxg to anyone looking for a good deal and a quality computer. "