Complaint Review: PCProDirect.com - XTechnology.com

I ordered a computer online from PCProDirect on May 9th. On May 10th they had already billed my VISA card (Verified by my online banking). I was expecting delivery within 10 days. On May 14th at 4:45 pm I receive an e-mail stating that I had a message waiting for me regarding my account and it was important for me to read it and reply. When I did so, another message informed me that the order has been placed on hold due to a "problem found with inventory selection, compatibility or price. Please contact our sales department....Your order will remain open for 5-7 days and will be automatically cancelled if there is no further contact...

I was incensed to say the least. I e-mailed back the following: " You obviously don't want my business. It is extremely unprofessional to charge my credit card the day following my order and then to send me an e-mail 4 days later simply saying that my order is on hold and telling me to contact the sales dept!! No wonder Dell is Dell. And who is PCProDirect?? Issue a refund to my VISA immediately.

An hour later I got a response from the sales representative. He said "Credit back will be done on Monday and please go to Dell. Dell is looking for customer like you. Good luck! Thank you, (Sales Department)

Obviously this guy must not work on a commission!! With an attitude like his, his selling days are numbered. As most people would probably agree, customers can b***h all they want. After all, customers are ALWAYS right. But attitude from a sales person? If he is representative of all PCProDirect, it tells me a lot about the character of the company. As profitable business people know, most unhappy customers don't complain - they simply don't come back.

I am very thankful that my order was not filled by this company. If their sales department is this poor, then their Customer Service Department is probably worse.

It would have been so simple to keep me as a customer.

1) Don't ask me to call them, they should have contacted me to explain what the problem was. (Why couldn't they explain it in the initial e-mail!!) I smelled a rat from the beginning.

2) Don't post to a customer's credit card until shipment is ready. This proves that they really do care about the money more than the customer just as the other negative reviewer said!!

3) The salesman could have smoothed things over by apologizing for the delay and explaining what the problem was.

Interesting enough, I reconfigured the computer on their website the same day I got the e-mail. The reconfigured price came in at about $30.00 less than when I had ordered it.

Could this have been the root of the delay? If so why didn't they simply process the order? Who's going to complain about a reduction in price?!!

Overall Summary - There are better companies out there anxiously waiting to take your computer order and willing to take the extra step to treat you properly.

Update: I ordered a system from Directron.com. So far I have had a MUCH better experience. They appear to be very respectful of the customer's expectations. They take the professional stance to do all possible to make a customer's purchase a pleasant and successful experience.

My $1,000 purchase may be a drop in the bucket, yet a $1,000 purchase multiplied by thousands of disgruntled customers does add up quickly!!!

These unscrupulous companies need to wake-up. It's not the economy that is necessarily gone sour, it's the desire to "charm" the customer that has gone to H**L!!!!!

Robert
Sarasota, Florida
U.S.A.