Shipping Delays

[CUSTOMER GUY]

1. Support: It will ship by the end of next week.
2. The next Friday . . . Support: It will ship by the middle of next week. Tech out of office to deal with some non-work issues.
3. The next Wed . . . Support: It will ship today or tomorrow (Thursday).
4. Friday . . . Support: We can't ship it, we got a shipment of bad RAM and the machine fails testing. We will ship it Monday.
5. Monday . . . Support E-Mail: Shipped today. Fedex tracking number is . . .
6. Tuesday . . . Fedex: We don't have this tracking number in our system.
7. Tuesday . . . Support: It definitely left our facility yesterday (Monday).
8. Wednesday . . . Fedex: It was picked up on Tuesday evening.

[theDreamer]

:welcome:

Have a few quick questions, did your system have water cooling in it? If so Maingear recently had a major delay in getting screws for their WC setup thus creating some heavy delays in getting systems out, and on top of that they got a bad batch of RAM in creating huge errors in the testing phase.

About Fed-Ex not having your number and MG saying it was shipped is differences in the system. When I order things many times I get an email from the company, but not until the next day does the tracking number actually show up on the system.

[CUSTOMER GUY]

:welcome:


About Fed-Ex not having your number and MG saying it was shipped is differences in the system. When I order things many times I get an email from the company, but not until the next day does the tracking number actually show up on the system.

I called and got a verbal assurance from Support that the shipment had left the Maingear facility the day before. Has nothing to do with systems.

[theDreamer]

Sorry, I may have worded myself wrong. A product can leave any company, and the delivery company may not update their system immediately with the information saying they have it, ready to ship, date to arrive, etc. Maingear saying it was picked up could be completely true, just Fedex still has it on a truck driving around and until it gets back to their facility to be tagged in they will not update their system saying it has been "received" by them.

[Charly Brown]

Hi Customer,

Welcome to the FedEx way! I agree, until you receive your PC and it's working fine it's MG responsibility, but the last leg of the delay seems to be the FedEx way...

Also, just to benchmark, what system did you order and when did your order got confirmed?

[aX3SS]

Hello All,

My name is Giovanni Solari, I'm one of many technicians here as you all may already know. I am aware of Mr. Customer Guy's order and situation. For the record the machine shipped on the 20th and counting back to the order date (July 25th) that beast of a PC is scheduled to arrive exactly 4 weeks later, which is within our policy of 15 - 20 business days for shipment. Regardless of what Customer Guy says he was promised, it is against our policy to promise a shipping date to any customer in spite of any request made. We do, however, try to get a system shipped as soon as possible, although there are always circumstances which are out of our control. All we can do is try to correct any issues we encounter and keep on moving. We shipped this machine on the 18th business day after the date of order, and in light of all the business we're taking on, that's pretty good in my opinion. We already changed the shipping turnaround to 20-25 business days for a total of 5 business weeks due to the current workload. We don't want to be out of our target timeframe for any order and so we have adjusted it accordingly. If the machine left late I'd understand his frustration, but it didn't. Regardless, I'm sympathetic to his case, because I can imagine he wants to receive his merchandise he paid for 4 weeks ago. I aplogize on our behalf for any miscommunication in regards to your build or ship date. Customer Guy if you have any further questions, please direct them to me as I will take responsibility for your purchase and build, I don't want any more mistakes. Thank you for your time.

[Charly Brown]

Hi Giovanni,

Nice to meet you. I’ve read many good things about you here at the Forum and I definitively LOVE your avatar. I also think you were mentioned in one of the MG reviews I read on Cnet or another place, so it is not everyday you meet a celebrity :mrgreen: (humor, humor here, just in case)

I was thinking about the increased timeframe you mentioned, and was wondering if it will also apply for orders placed about two weeks ago and in my case for a very basic Prelude, compared with the beast machine you built for Customer Guy. You see, my problem is that I’m without a gaming PC, and every day without my new Prelude is agony...

I am planning to call customer support next Friday anyway to check on status, but was wondering if you can throw me some light here on possible delays for basic systems like a Prelude

In any case, your post support the customer service reputation MG enjoy.

[aX3SS]

Hello Charly Brown,

No, this applies only to new machines ordered after this week. Your machine won't be subject to the new turnaround times. =) Phew!

-Giovanni

[CUSTOMER GUY]

I've been shipping with Fedex for years for my own business. I know there can be a lag between their receiving the shipment info electronically and their actually scanning the box when it arrives at their terminal. I know that even sometimes the box will get missed in the initial scan and there will be no record of having received it, even though it is winging its way to its destination on time.

What I'm talking about is a company representative putting down the phone and coming back two minutes later saying he's verified that the order has left their facility. This was Tuesday morning PDT. Fedex tracking shows the order was picked up at 5:39 pm EDT Tuesday. It is on time to be delivered on Thursday . . . 2nd Day Air.




Sorry, I may have worded myself wrong. A product can leave any company, and the delivery company may not update their system immediately with the information saying they have it, ready to ship, date to arrive, etc. Maingear saying it was picked up could be completely true, just Fedex still has it on a truck driving around and until it gets back to their facility to be tagged in they will not update their system saying it has been "received" by them.

[CUSTOMER GUY]

"Regardless of what Customer Guy says he was promised" . . . WOW. Feeling good about spending $5K with your company!

"For the record the machine shipped on the 20th":

Ship date
Aug 21, 2007
Estimated delivery
Aug 23, 2007 by 7:00 PM
Service type
FedEx 2Day Service
Weight
35.0 lbs.

Status
Arrived at FedEx location

Aug 22, 2007
4:36 AM Arrived at FedEx location

OAKLAND, CA
1:50 AM

Departed FedEx location
NEWARK, NJ

Aug 21, 2007
9:16 PM Arrived at FedEx location
NEWARK, NJ

8:53 PM Left origin
UNION, NJ

5:28 PM Picked up
UNION, NJ


Aug 20, 2007 3:44 PM

Package data transmitted to FedEx





Hello All,

My name is Giovanni Solari, I'm one of many technicians here as you all may already know. I am aware of Mr. Customer Guy's order and situation. For the record the machine shipped on the 20th and counting back to the order date (July 25th) that beast of a PC is scheduled to arrive exactly 4 weeks later, which is within our policy of 15 - 20 business days for shipment. Regardless of what Customer Guy says he was promised, it is against our policy to promise a shipping date to any customer in spite of any request made. We do, however, try to get a system shipped as soon as possible, although there are always circumstances which are out of our control. All we can do is try to correct any issues we encounter and keep on moving. We shipped this machine on the 18th business day after the date of order, and in light of all the business we're taking on, that's pretty good in my opinion. We already changed the shipping turnaround to 20-25 business days for a total of 5 business weeks due to the current workload. We don't want to be out of our target timeframe for any order and so we have adjusted it accordingly. If the machine left late I'd understand his frustration, but it didn't. Regardless, I'm sympathetic to his case, because I can imagine he wants to receive his merchandise he paid for 4 weeks ago. I aplogize on our behalf for any miscommunication in regards to your build or ship date. Customer Guy if you have any further questions, please direct them to me as I will take responsibility for your purchase and build, I don't want any more mistakes. Thank you for your time.

[theDreamer]

I do not understand how you are feeling bad? Your system has shipped on time as the date you were quoted while ordering. The only problem has been between Maingear and FedEx on when exactly your system left the facility, which to me is a non issue seeing as it will arrive on time from the 15-20 business day quote the company offers. When the product left really seems like no big deal as long as it left and is delivered correctly, now if the package does not arrive at the X time of delivery then a problem of delivery has surfaced.

[ginfan]

I do not understand how you are feeling bad?

If I might, I read it that originally he was frustrated that what he was told would happen didn't match what actually happened. I had some similar experiences this past week, and though I was a bit disappointed at times, I'm not upset--MG did end up beating their original estimates. Here is my timeline to the best of my recollection:

1. Called Tuesday 8/14 to find out if my machine had been started. I was elated to hear that it was built, benchmarked and was in the middle of burn-in test. If all went well it would ship by end of week.

2. Friday afternoon 8/17, I hadn't received an email so I called and was told they forgot to install the TV tuner I ordered. The piece was arriving on Monday 8/20. They would add it and ship same day or the next morning 8/21. I was told I would receive an email stating status on Monday, 8/20.

3. Monday evening, just before closing time, I had not received an email, so I called in to check. They said it was all packaged and would ship first thing in the morning.

4. Tuesday night, 8/21 I read a email sent at 6:30 PM stating it was shipped... not really first thing in the morning. I figured my chances of getting it delivered this week had gone down the tubes. I went to Fedex and the tracking number wasn't on their system (I wanted planned delivery date). I called and they had never heard of this shipment.

5. Wednesday morning I log on to Fedex and now it was on their system with "Package data transmitted to FedEx" at 7:48 PM 8/21. The delay getting it in their system was on their end it seems. I'm once again rather pleased in that their planned delivery date is still Friday 8/24--I was worried with the late after-hours pickup it would be delivered Monday instead.


In regards to Giovani's post:

...Regardless of what Customer Guy says he was promised, it is against our policy to promise a shipping date to any customer in spite of any request made...
Though I'm guessing the intent was not to call Customer Guy a liar, it sure comes off that way--a whole other reason for Guy to "feel bad." Though nobody said "I promise," I WAS told when to expect items to ship, so I'm not so sure of the policy being quoted. Besides, I'm not sure how you implement a policy that is anti customer communication that at the final stages is of such high interest to MG’s clientele.


EDIT: Thursday Morning and FedEx claims never to have seen my box. I do not expect to see it myself until next week

2nd EDIT: Duplicate shipping labels were created. One was created that I knew about that wasn't going anywhere. The second I didn't know about, is happily on it's way to Minnesota with a computer box under it. :)

[aX3SS]

Hello again,

Reading my post over, it does seem like I'm calling Customer Guy a liar. Apologies, once again. In regards to the policy, the main reason we don't promise a ship date is because we honestly can't predict any issues we might have with the build or testing. For example, we don't know if the parts we have in stock are perfect until we use them. That may not seem like a tremendous issue as we have stock in the same part and can easily go and get a new one and swap it out, but it adds time to the testing phase which then has to be started over. Every machine leaves here perfect, the damage it may incur in shipping is another story. We have been improving our packaging over and over again to better suit our growing line of PCs and any new offerings. As I've stated before, there's no greater fear than a beautiful, shining PC leaving our doors and it getting the front or the side smashed in during shipping due to a careless courier. Or worse, it not appearing to have any damage but has stability problems, because the package received shock and the memory modules are now toasted. We face many perils building expensive machines for anxious customers, but we love this stuff. =) I sincerely apologize for anything I may have written or may write that may come off as indifferent. I understand your situation and really am trying my best as well as the rest of our team to keep everyone as happy as possible. There is no right or wrong when dealing with FedEx. I'm relaying what has happened to my knowledge, if it's different from what FedEx's system says, I'm going to assume what's happened is what always seems to happen with them. They've dropped the ball. Really, we're to blame as we've been delayed with the workload, and are trying to get these systems to their owners as fast as we can. Does anyone have any other questions?

[ColonelTank]

Thanks again for taking the time to reply a second time for all those who are having mixed emotions right now.

Also, I do have a question but sent it to your mailbox.

[blindem]

Nice of Giovanni to weigh in on Customer Guy's woes, I guess. Any time you have a customer rep/tech support person having to post an apology for saying/doing something that could be implied as calling a paying customer a liar, I take that as a bad sign.

I'm wondering if there's a pattern here... Some of us were expecting some service as well... Only time I've heard from MG was when I called them, and I'm still not sorted out yet.

For reference to what I'm talking about, start with my post midway on: http://www.maingearforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=573&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

[aX3SS]

All I can say is, you won't be disappointed when you receive your machine. You'll find or rather I hope you'll find that it was worth the wait. Until then, it's still in transit and still out of our hands. I wish I could be of more help.

[spincut]

I have a quick question


Hello Charly Brown,

No, this applies only to new machines ordered after this week. Your machine won't be subject to the new turnaround times. =) Phew!

-Giovanni

I wish i had read this before posting in another thread about it (see giovanis avatar for appopriate "smiley"), but just out of curiosity, will this be the new permanent rollout time now? or is it just while this current crazy rush is going on to compensate for the orders recently placed beyond this week? (hopefully even though it's starting after this week the earlier estimate will indeed apply for earlier orders even though these complaints are from that batch, since i placed mine last week too *fingers crossed*)

also, as i've seen others just confused about it if they had not read it, where do you list the current estimate on the website???

lastly, as someone else asked, does it even make a difference what machine they order? delays or no, does it take the same amount of time to get a prelude through the queue and out the door as it does an ephex/best? (assuming one doesnt have a part shortage or somesuch).

-Thanks again! I'm sure you're working hard to get the systems out on time, especially if they are from this week or earlier ;)

[Charly Brown]

Hey Spin,

Our case is similar as I ordered a Prelude too, just one week before than yours. Logic said that building a Prelude should take less time that for example building an Ephex custom painted, but I wouldn’t count on getting it before the delivery estimate of 15-20 B-days, if I understand the way MG works. I think people order more Preludes than Ephexs, thus even if Ephex’s take a longer building time, they can tackle them sooner as there are fewer orders. On the Preludes, the building time is shorter but the backlog is higher, I believe

With this in mind I’m all but resigned I’ll get my system on the 20 B days delivery frame, horrible timing for me as my high work travel season starts the first week of September, and I won’t really enjoy my Prelude until late October. Even then, I am hoping MG will surprise me and deliver it before

[spincut]

I think people order more Preludes than Ephexs, thus even if Ephex’s take a longer building time, they can tackle them sooner as there are fewer orders. On the Preludes, the building time is shorter but the backlog is higher, I believe


Still would be curious though to hear what Giovani knows directly though, amongst some of the other related questions i asked about.

[noodlesnspam]

I personally dont see what the big fuss is about. shipping delays and mixups happen everywhere in every business every industry and happen on much smaller things than a custom computer with so many technical issues from a company that prides itself on quality and excellence more so than anything.

I mean cmon...cut these guys a break. EVERY PC MAGAZINE/REVIEW OUT THERE will put a maingear system against any consumer pc on the market with confidence that it will be the best build quality money and value can buy.

i dont go around researchnig my butt off for 6months and meticulously compare the top pc companies out there to finally decide on maingear and then worry about minor shipping.(IF SHIPPING WAS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL, ANY RISK CALCULATED AND PREPARED PERSON WOULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT TECHNICAL AND SHIPPING ISSUES BEFORE HAND ANYWAYS)

Like ive said before, quality takes time and patience. Maingear spends a huge amount of time on quality and testing your pc to make sure everything is top notch, there is no perfect company out there, we are all human.

with so much technology involved in a pc and different parts from different integrators and getting everything ready for shipping on time isnt easy. But at least youll get a product worth your money.

if you want mediocre quality with guaranteed shipping time then im sure there are companies out there that would oblige.

if you want top quality products with a company that will do their best to ship to you on time then mg is your company.

theres a saying in the tattoo industry "good tattoos arent cheap, cheap tattoos arent good"

if your computer is over a month late, sure that is a legit complaint to file on a forum, if your computer is couple days if even that late and you post a comment with "broken promises" in the title when no promises were made and in turn receive a top quality product with lifetime support?

are all the reviews and personal experiences of my friends who own mg computers telling lies?

i apologize if my post sounds a bit too aggressive torwards the original poster but geez....shipping of ordinary products that require no customization or assembly at all from the original company arent even on time in the real world not to mention this is a fully customized computer with assembly factored into shipping process

[flyingphish]

noodle hit the nail on the head.

SOP is to sit back and relax for the better part of a month and wait for your new toy.

its not a time to bother MG with such trivial matters such as shipping and the like.

peace.

jason

[ginfan]

Though technically I agree with most everything Noodle said, I think he misses the point.

Yes shipping mistakes happen and we should just chill, and yes MG is not responsible for a Fedex screw up, BUT, and this is a big but, the problem was communication was given that set expectations that were missed. This is not a good thing imo. In the case of several folks now, the excitement of getting a new computer was tarnished a bit by continual re-estimation of shipment. To be told a computer has shipped, and excitedly run out to FedEx web site and see a delivery date only to find later that they don't have it is frustrating. FedEx says "talk to MG" which creates a support problem for MG regardless of whose fault it is.

In the case of some, who paid an extra $100+ for next day shipping. It is more than in inconvience, it is money down the tube. In my case, this was not an issue, but Monday I was told my pc was in a box and ready to ship the next morning. It is now Thursday morning and FedEx has no record of having seen the box.

Last but not least, as alluded to above, it isn't an isolated incedent, it appears to be happening with several customers. I'll link another related string: http://www.maingearforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=573&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Does this make me happy no. Does it ruin my experience with MG, not yet. MG does need to sort this out so it doesn't repeat itself. I would be surprised if it isn't a hot issue for them to resolve procedurally--in fact Charly Brown has already started making procedural suggestions in the above link :)

Unfortunately I have this image of some FedEx driver selling custom pc's out of the back of a truck in Queens that I can't seem to shake... :?

[aX3SS]

Mr. Ginfan,

Your machine, according to FedEx's tracking system, seems to be on a truck in your town this morning. Sounds like it might even get delivered today. It says it's scheduled for delivery for tomorrow but the guy may drop by today since it's there anyway. ; )

Enjoy!

[ginfan]

God Lord! That's great news. Thanks for checking on this.

I don't know why the FedEx rep I talked to said they didn't have the box. When I go to the website and track by the tracking number I received from MG, all I see is "Package data transmitted to FedEx." Is it possible I was sent the wrong tracking number? Does MG get a number for a label, and a second number for the actual shipment? If so, that might explain all the miscommunication.

http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?ascend_header=1&clienttype=dotcom&cntry_code=us&language=english&tracknumbers=928412466912

[ElAntonius]

I've long since learned not to trust FedEX, or any shipping company. Their computers lag way behind their work.

I've had a few bad experiences with them being wrong about their own data, and then sending me to the origin company to ***** at people that I should have no beef with.

[Charly Brown]

Hey Gin,

The label number and the actual shipping number are the same and unique. With the last comment you made about what Fedex told you, everything points out to a system glitch on Fedex:

MG prints the label and affixes it to the system box. At the same time, I guess MG system automatically updated the system as “shipped” (which will explain why MG told you the system was shipped), but the box was still sitting there on MG premises for some time, waiting for the Fedex run, which I’m not sure how many times Fedex do runs to MG premises. Then, Fedex did pick the package the day MG printed the label, the Fedex guy scanned the package but it took longer than expected to transmit the data to Fedex tracking system (that’s why the Fedex rep you talked to had no idea about your system being shipped).

In theory, the scanning of the package by Fedex and the data transmission to Fedex tracking system should be automatic, but we are talking about optical scanning, a technology that is 20+ years old and it’s proven to have issues when too many scan transmissions happen simultaneously, or even many times they are transmitted in batches, and individual transactions have to wait for the batch to be transmitted. Granted, it shouldn’t have taken that long to Fedex to update the system, but it did as scanning is not a reliable technology for today’s volumes and fast living society

This is exacerbated if you picked the cheapest shipping option, as your scanning may have a lower priority on the processing batch

Es ElAntonious pointed out, this is an issue that plagues all shipping companies around the world, and it can become a service nightmare. In fact, some times it had happened to me that the system says “Out for Delivery”, which means the package should be on a truck in way to my home, only to find out they scan it at the exit of the warehouse, but then for some reason the package didn’t make it into the truck, and was shortly scanned back into the warehouse to be delivered the next day. This creates a system conflict if processing batches cross, and the system will reflect out for delivery for the whole day, while I frustrated waited for the package to be delivered and it didn’t. Later that night, the system miraculously deleted the “out for delivery” entry like it never happened… :?: :x

The solution? Not simple. Running batches more often may help to avoid the lag between real scanning and the tracking system, but it may creates the conflicts described above and add costs. Improve scanning technology? Why pour money into an obsolete technology, everyday harder to improve? The real solution I think will be RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), but the technology is still costly and needs to be proven and tested many times before becoming mainstream. Also, it requires large amounts of data storage capacity (many teras for sure) in order to capture the data and then get something valuable for tracking packages, which is more complicated than simply controlling inventory (current use of RFID as replacing bar codes) I hope we will get there in 2-5 years, just in time for your next MG system!! 8)

[ginfan]

Wow, thanks for the explanation. The part that confuses me is that aX3SS states that "according to FedEx's tracking system, seems to be on a truck in your town this morning," yet when I go to FedEx's tracking system online, my status is "Package data transmitted to FedEx." Does MG have access to a different tracking system?

[Charly Brown]

That's strange. I don't work for Fedex but in theory the web information displayed when you webtrack your number should be the same as Fedex internal systems, it should be real time or almost real time. Unless some data is experiencing trouble with the interface between Fedex in house tracking-shipping system and their web display

MG may have an enterprise version with a direct link to Fedex system and are not going web based, so they can see the information directly into Fedex servers, while you are looking at a web interface with a broken link for your tracking number

Not sure what else can happen, unless you really have the wrong tracking number…
:?:

[Plan1x]

Wow, thanks for the explanation. The part that confuses me is that aX3SS states that "according to FedEx's tracking system, seems to be on a truck in your town this morning," yet when I go to FedEx's tracking system online, my status is "Package data transmitted to FedEx." Does MG have access to a different tracking system?


I don't believe so. If we are tracking a package, we do the same thing as anybody. Go to FedEx.com and place the tracking number in. Giovanni called me over this morning to show me that GinFan's PC had indeed shipped, since I was bugging the hell out of everyone last night to clarify what was going on, and I saw it for myself.

[Wernergu]

Another issue is why should we be charged BEFORE the computer is even built? I am sure that Maingear has at least Net 30 days payment terms on their parts, hopefully higher, if their AP Manager is doing his/her job.

That is what surprised me - we are being charged before the system is even built, thus frustrating people who have to wait longer than expected (whether perceived extra wait or not). We should be charged when the item is shipped.

[ginfan]

I don't believe so. If we are tracking a package, we do the same thing as anybody. Go to FedEx.com and place the tracking number in. Giovanni called me over this morning to show me that GinFan's PC had indeed shipped, since I was bugging the hell out of everyone last night to clarify what was going on, and I saw it for myself.

Thanks for checking with folks Plan1x. Please see my link:

http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?ascend_header=1&clienttype=dotcom&cntry_code=us&language=english&tracknumbers=928412466912

I do in fact live in Bloomington, and this is the tracking number I received via email from MG. I do not see the information that is being referenced.

[RottynDawg]

Welcome to the boards Wernergu!

Out of curiosity, how many online botiques do NOT charge at the time of purchase? The other two I've dealt with in the past, charged me the day I ordered. Just curious :)

[theDreamer]

:welcome:

From what I understand is they do this for protection from scammers. There are many people that will try to scam boutique builders, not just maingear.

[Wernergu]

Yes - you have a point - but that is the risk they take being in the on-line business. Vendors need to decrease their risk, not increase our inconvenience. Reminds me of the hotels that attach their hangers to the closet poles. MG should trust their customers as we trust them.

The high price we pay for their machines should have Credit Risk/Bad Debt built in - you must not have worked in a Purchasing/AP environment before. I do and we must factor in those risk. I was just mouthing off a bit. I am looking forward to MG getting even bigger so won't EVER knock their machines. Thanks.

[Plan1x]

I don't believe so. If we are tracking a package, we do the same thing as anybody. Go to FedEx.com and place the tracking number in. Giovanni called me over this morning to show me that GinFan's PC had indeed shipped, since I was bugging the hell out of everyone last night to clarify what was going on, and I saw it for myself.

Thanks for checking with folks Plan1x. Please see my link:

http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?ascend_header=1&clienttype=dotcom&cntry_code=us&language=english&tracknumbers=928412466912

I do in fact live in Bloomington, and this is the tracking number I received via email from MG. I do not see the information that is being referenced.

I just pulled the tracking number that is in your file....then I put it in fedex and this is what I got...

http://fedex.com/Tracking?ascend_header=1&clienttype=dotcom&cntry_code=us&language=english&tracknumbers=9284+1246+6945

[ginfan]

Thanks, OK, after doing some additional digging with FedEx, I have some answers:

Maingear/FedEx apparently created 2 separate shipping transactions to deliver to me a 45 lb. package. Each transaction has a separate tracking number, created at the same time (7:44 pm). For tracking number one, the tracking number I received from MG, and the one I was checking on, FedEx is still waiting to pick up the box. For the second tracking number, the one I didn’t know about until now, the package has been picked up, shipped and is running early. They will attempt to deliver it today.

Plan1x, you may want to make sure MG did not pay FedEx twice to ship a single package. Unless of course you plan to send a me a free duplicate system… :lol:

It's possible, that a similar thing has happened with other folks that are having shipping woes.

[Plan1x]

Yea, thanks for that information. Man, that is really odd, it's the first time I heard of that. Maybe that is why we have such miscommunication with them. I'm gunna do a little digging myself.

Thanks again Ginfan

[ColonelTank]

It does look like a duplicate creation of a label. I have had that happen before with another order from a different store. I was watching the one that I received and no tracking updates were made. The package showed up with a different number as expected.

In this case, if you look at the last 4 digits you can see one was generated first and the second was generated a few seconds later, making the tracking number about 33 away from the original one.

Now if this happens b/c of a end user refeshing problem or something on Fedex's side or a combo of both I have no clue.

[Charly Brown]

To answer Wernergu so people don’t get the wrong impression of MG, charging before shipping is industry practice on boutique PC makers and overall build-to-order small businesses, to get paid first and then build. If it’s industry practice and MG doesn’t do it, they will be at a financing disadvantage compared to its competitors. Even if MG may think to change that to lure clients away from other PC boutique players, that would be providing clients with about 30 days financing, and assuming they pay suppliers on a 30 days basis (I’m sure MG also use some small suppliers that sells them on a cash basis), they run the risk of a short operational cash flow, having to tap into credit lines (if they have) to keep running, thus incurring on financing expenses

The arguments of avoid scammers is also valid, but that can be avoided by putting a system in place to confirm orders on a receiving basis. The reasons above I think are stronger, and are the basis of running a small business, compared with much bigger PC makers with cash on hand or credit lines available that charge you on shipping. Or better, don’t even charge you! (I ordered a monitor from Dell about 20 days ago, got it 3 days after, and they haven’t charged me yet! :P )

Just to clarify, I am not trying to blindly support MG, just trying to depict a fair picture of the business (Even if I sound I’m trying to dethrone Dreamer :mrgreen: ), as I though the same as Wernergu when I placd my order, and then realized that charging on order was the right thing to do for MG

[Charly Brown]

Ginfan,

So you really had the wrong tracking number :roll: . And I was here trying to lecture you on shipping blunders and the shipping industry :oops: . I hope you learned something with my comments, at least

Anyway, hope you enjoy your system and I guess we won’t see you around for a while (nor us, your wife –if you have- nor anyone else). Please, please, please, take pictures when you get it, even hugging the Fedex guy if you can, and then share them with us

[ginfan]

There WILL be pictures :D

[Trashman00]

Thank GOD I can pickup my maingear personally when I'm ready. I'm glad maingear is close to my home so I won't have to go through all these headaches. Still haven't ordered but when I do I'm 35 minutes away!!! Eat your hearts out!!!! :lol:

[Wernergu]

Charly - ok, you won me over - yes, I know the world of financing and forgot to remember that MG is indeed a small company, striving to get bigger. I was just shocked when I was charged U$5500 before the build even started. I guess I should have read the fine print (somewhere) about that practice. One day I hope they can differentiate themselves by requiring a deposit instead, or doing COD deliveries if they worried about getting their money. By requiring a deposit they would actually INCREASE their Customer Base, since most computer users don't have those kind of funds available. Unfortunately, getting a credit line is only going to get more expensive (but have rates far still below historical financing structures). If they are going to want to stay in the business, then they will eventually have to play the financing game - it is inevitable. You don't buy U$5000 computers every year. :wink:

[noodlesnspam]

touching up on wenergu's points

1) it doesnt make sense financially or risk wise to take deposits. And there is no proof anywhere that it will increase your customer base. increasing number of ppl who would put down a deposit doesnt bring anymore people to this website than charging full upfront. it only increases number of people who would put down a deposit that normally would not and prob cannot afford the computer.

you are talking about financing, thats no different than any other industry practice of lending credit or money, there are a lot of people that default on, whether its on a mortgage, a credit card, a rent payment or in this case cant afford it and changed their mind and wasted mg's time of putting together a custom machine.

any business that requires customization of expensive technology/machine/parts etc wont operate on a deposit basis. it doesnt make common sense.

car customization companies do not take a deposit and start working on your car, thats wasted labor, time, and money in case you default, change your mind etc.

given maingear's size and the type of customized work they do, why would they want to deal with sending customers to collections everytime someone defaults and deal with financing?

financing industry requires huge resources and thats why they exist with extremely large global companies or are based on extremely expensive items such as cars, houses etc..

Dell computer issues financing b/c they have their own collections/credit/and financing division. maingear doesnt even have 20 employees?

it doesnt make any financial or pragmatic sense what so ever. mg is nowhere near the point of needing or requiring or allowing financing on their products.

this company and type of business is built for a niche market and would be wasting time, resources and money by offering financing at this point.

[Trashman00]

50% upon ordering your rig. The rest once it's ready to ship. Buyer must agree all sales are final!!! No refunds on deposits. 50% of the purchase price or $2,000 whichever is greater. Problem solved.

[RottynDawg]

If you can't afford it at the time of purchase, why buy it? OK...I know, silly question :)

If you're looking to buy time or earn interest on that money during the time the computer is being built, charge it on a card and then pay it off before the finance charges hit.

[ElAntonius]

50% upon ordering your rig. The rest once it's ready to ship. Buyer must agree all sales are final!!! No refunds on deposits. 50% of the purchase price or $2,000 whichever is greater. Problem solved.

Honestly? I'd rather just put it on my credit card and have the option to protect myself if whatever company I'm ordering from doesn't deliver.

I'd love it (and I'm speaking in generalities here, not of MG in particular) if I ordered a PC, had it arrive in a state that I disliked, and then the company goes, sorry, all sales are final. I'd honestly rather have the final option of "you know what, I'm fed up. Take your PC back, I want my money back."...not saying I'd invoke this unless I felt that the customer service had totally failed me, but 4000+ bucks is 4000+ bucks, and if I spend it I want it to spent well.

Just do what RottynDawg said...put it on your credit card and pay it off before it ticks over and charges you interest. That way you can always back up the charge if you feel you are being scammed.

And actually, it ain't a silly question, Rottyn...I swear the way some people think of credit is very...silly. That doesn't mean you can't/shouldn't finance things...that can be a great way to extend your purchasing power...but financing is not this magic money bullet.

[theDreamer]

I must agree, I know Maingear does not do finance or anything since that is a whole new side to the business and some boutiques do offer it while others do not.

If you are concerned about paying it all up front, this is probably the best way to go about doing it:
~Get a new credit card that is clean and offers 0% for a couple of months.
~Pay for your machine and begin the wait.
~Get machine and see it and enjoy it, now start paying it off over a few months if you want or all at once on your CC.

By doing this new credit card you are not taking up any space on your current ones; you do not have to worry about interest rates for a few months while you wait and while you get and test your new computer. Finally you can pay it off over a few months to help ease the larger price (depending how much you spend), and you can cancel the card right afterwards.

[Trashman00]

Thats why Companies offer warranties. Maingear isn't some fly by night company. They are trusted and respected, recommended by HardOCP.com which used very stringent testing guidlines in all aspects. When I purchased my pc I paid 50% upfront, Then 50% when it was ready to ship. If your not sure if you can trust the company why buy from them in the first place? If your rig comes to you and its not functioning properly it will be fixed because of your warranty and the companies ethics. I wouldn't just buy a pc from any company. But we need to do our homework to make sure we know who we are giving our money too. My pc is an OPC. I've had it 3yrs now and it's had its problems here and there. Overall it is great for gaming. Anytime I had a problem it was solved over the phone. If I had a major problem my WARRANTY covered me for 3 yrs. If a fan went out or a hard drive went, no questions I was shipped a new one. Warranties are a beautiful thing. A company that cares is a beautiful thing. From what I've been reading on these forums MAINGEAR has it's problems with their pc's like any other company does. They obviously care about their customers and their reputation and when problems arise they make it right. That's what gives a customer peace of mind. Knowing the pc company has my back when things go wrong. That's what us customers want above all!!!!

[ElAntonius]

See, this is why I was so careful to point out that I wasn't specifically talking about Maingear.

Trust is great, believe me, I wouldn't be anywhere near these forums if I hadn't heard Maingear was an awesome company. I'm very carefully observing the issues that seem to be with the Ephex line right now, and watching MG as a company from people's responses. It seems like the Ephex and MG are having some growing pains right now, but they look to be on track, from my little soap-box here.

That being said, I'm not accusing MG of anything. But this thread is fundamentally about people being concerned that their money is being taken before a system has shipped. My post is in response to that concern; specifically, that MG is doing nothing out of the ordinary for the industry, and that those concerned have avenues of protection for their money IF they use credit card. This is FAR preferable to iron-bound contracts that guarantee you losing a deposit if you are unhappy.

I'm not bashing MG in any way. Backing up a credit card charge should be a last resort measure, after all other methods of attempting to reach a satisfactory conclusion have failed. My reaction comes from the suggestion that a non-refundable deposit is some sort of preferable outcome...that's almost cellphone company level in being epically bad for the consumer.

I'd rather they take all my money ahead of time, with an option to get it back if it comes to that, rather than taking half my money ahead of time, with no way for me to get it back. A game matrix should point out why:
(1 represents the value of the PC)

..............................PC Satisfactory...................PC Totally Unsatisfactory
Normal Approach......+1.....................................0 (Refund or charge backup)
Deposit Approach......+1....................................-0.5 (Deposit loss)

See? Note how I'm using generic terms here.

[CUSTOMER GUY]

DID NOT ARRIVE ON TIME AND IT WAS DEFECTIVE AND HAD TO BE REPLACED. THERE'S NO CONTROVERSY ABOUT WHEN THE SYSTEM LEFT THE FACILITY . . . IT WAS WHEN FEDEX SAID IT DID




I do not understand how you are feeling bad? Your system has shipped on time as the date you were quoted while ordering. The only problem has been between Maingear and FedEx on when exactly your system left the facility, which to me is a non issue seeing as it will arrive on time from the 15-20 business day quote the company offers. When the product left really seems like no big deal as long as it left and is delivered correctly, now if the package does not arrive at the X time of delivery then a problem of delivery has surfaced.

[CUSTOMER GUY]

I personally dont see what the big fuss is about. shipping delays and mixups happen everywhere in every business every industry and happen on much smaller things than a custom computer with so many technical issues from a company that prides itself on quality and excellence more so than anything.

I mean cmon...cut these guys a break. EVERY PC MAGAZINE/REVIEW OUT THERE will put a maingear system against any consumer pc on the market with confidence that it will be the best build quality money and value can buy.

i dont go around researchnig my butt off for 6months and meticulously compare the top pc companies out there to finally decide on maingear and then worry about minor shipping.(IF SHIPPING WAS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL, ANY RISK CALCULATED AND PREPARED PERSON WOULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT TECHNICAL AND SHIPPING ISSUES BEFORE HAND ANYWAYS)

Like ive said before, quality takes time and patience. Maingear spends a huge amount of time on quality and testing your pc to make sure everything is top notch, there is no perfect company out there, we are all human.

with so much technology involved in a pc and different parts from different integrators and getting everything ready for shipping on time isnt easy. But at least youll get a product worth your money.

if you want mediocre quality with guaranteed shipping time then im sure there are companies out there that would oblige.

if you want top quality products with a company that will do their best to ship to you on time then mg is your company.

theres a saying in the tattoo industry "good tattoos arent cheap, cheap tattoos arent good"

if your computer is over a month late, sure that is a legit complaint to file on a forum, if your computer is couple days if even that late and you post a comment with "broken promises" in the title when no promises were made and in turn receive a top quality product with lifetime support?

are all the reviews and personal experiences of my friends who own mg computers telling lies?

i apologize if my post sounds a bit too aggressive torwards the original poster but geez....shipping of ordinary products that require no customization or assembly at all from the original company arent even on time in the real world not to mention this is a fully customized computer with assembly factored into shipping process

[CUSTOMER GUY]

noodle hit the nail on the head.

SOP is to sit back and relax for the better part of a month and wait for your new toy.

its not a time to bother MG with such trivial matters such as shipping and the like.

peace.

jason

[HCA]

DID NOT ARRIVE ON TIME AND IT WAS DEFECTIVE AND HAD TO BE REPLACED. THERE'S NO CONTROVERSY ABOUT WHEN THE SYSTEM LEFT THE FACILITY . . . IT WAS WHEN FEDEX SAID IT DID




I do not understand how you are feeling bad? Your system has shipped on time as the date you were quoted while ordering. The only problem has been between Maingear and FedEx on when exactly your system left the facility, which to me is a non issue seeing as it will arrive on time from the 15-20 business day quote the company offers. When the product left really seems like no big deal as long as it left and is delivered correctly, now if the package does not arrive at the X time of delivery then a problem of delivery has surfaced.

In FedEx we trust. :wink: