My Dealings With Hypersonic (for what it's worth...)

Part of me thinks that another "complaint" thread is the last thing this forum needs. But then again, that's what it's here for.

This isn't meant to be a "you-should-never-do-business-with-Hypersonic" thread, I have no doubt that they make great products. And I'm guessing that the majority of people who do business with them are satisfied customers.

My issues with Hypersonic are relatively minor compared to others I've read, and fortunately they're over.

This is simply meant to be an account of my dealings with Hypersonic. Make of it what you will...

The following is taken from a message I sent to Hypersonic.

I realize in the grand scheme of things I'm just one small customer. However, over the past 9 years I've purchased a total of 12 PCs (mostly from Dell and Alienware) for work, school, and personal use, and will be purchasing 6 notebooks next semester in conjunction with a research grant I received. I wouldn't think a company like Hypersonic would want to lose potential customers like myself over the easily avoidable issues that drove me away.

My order number is/was #####.

1) I placed my order on October 27, and paid via wire transfer. I was given an original expected ship date of November 14. At the time I placed the order, I was told the only parts not in stock were the hard drives.

2) The expected ship date was pushed back until November 21. I called to ask why, and was told Hypersonic was waiting on the video card.

3) The expected ship date was pushed back until November 28. I called to ask why and was told Hypersonic was waiting on the motherboard.

4) The expected ship date was pushed back until December 2. I called to ask why, and was told by XXXXX that I requested a later ship date because I would be out-of-town (which I never did).

5) The expected ship date was moved up to November 25. I called to ask if this was because all the parts were finally in, and was told Hypersonic does not give out information on the availability of parts. Note that Hypersonic did give information (albeit inconsistent information) as described in 1) – 3) above.

At this point, I lost all confidence in Hypersonic. I no longer believed anything they told me, or would continue to tell me. Despite the fact that XXXXX was the only customer/account service representative I could reach, she never seemed to want to give me a straight answer. She would either give vague answers, or transfer me to sales (for parts availability/order status questions) or to billing (for refund questions – see below). So I decided to cancel my order.

I wish to clarify my reason for canceling my order: It was not because I had to wait. I understand building and testing a high-end, custom system takes time. I would have gladly (if impatiently) waited for the system if they had been upfront with me about the availability of parts and/or delivery time. However, it got to the point were I no longer believed anything Hypersonic told me. In fact, I feel that I was intentionally misled from the beginning. This was not an order – it should have been stated that it was a “pre-order” with a ship date to be determined when parts were available. Had I known from the beginning that Hypersonic did not truly know when to expect all parts to be available, I would have either ordered a different system, or been prepared to wait for an unknown length of time.

6) I canceled my order on November 8. Prior to canceling, I asked XXXXX how long it would take to issue a refund check (since I paid by wire transfer), and she informed me it should only take 2-3 days.

7) I called on November 14 to check on the status of my refund. XXXXX informed me it went out (past-tense) earlier that day.

8) I called on November 21 to check on the status of my refund. XXXXX informed me it went out Friday, November 18. I pointed out to her that she had previously told me it went out on the 14th. Her response was something along the lines of “I don’t know what happened. Let me transfer you to billing.” Billing confirmed it went out on the 18th, and while they could not provide me with ay tracking information, they did give me a check number and amount.

9) When I did finally receive my refund, the envelope was post-marked November 22. I guess that explains why they could not provide me with any tracking information on the 18th.

I wish to clarify my reason for being upset about the refund: It is not because it took 2-weeks to issue a check. I do have some understanding of accounting systems, needing to get approval for expenditures, etc. But as with the order/building process, I feel that I was intentionally misled (if not outright lied to) about the status of my refund. And for the privilege of being misled (both during the sales/building phase and while waiting for a refund), I paid a hefty cancellation fee.

10) When I told XXXXX I did not feel a cancellation my was right (citing the above reasons), she transferred me to billing. Billing in turn told me I would have to talk to XXXXX. At this point, knowing that Hypersonic likes to give inconsistent information and “pass the buck” to other departments, I decided not to waste time by pressing the issue (perhaps they hope this will be the result of their behavior??).

Had Hypersonic been upfront and more professional in their dealings with me, I wound still be a customer, and a likely future customer.

The system specs were:

Aviator FX7: State of the Art 17" Desktop Replacement Notebook
Aviator FX7 in Silver with Graphite Accents
AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-57 Processor w/ HyperTransport™ Tech
VIA K8T890 + VT8237A Chipset Mobile Motherboard for FX7
1024MB Corsair PC3200 DDR400 SODIMM
1024MB Corsair PC3200 DDR400 SODIMM
NEW! Nvidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX PCI-Express 256MB
Built-in ATA Hardware RAID Controller
80GB 7200rpm Serial-ATA Hard Drive with NCQ (Limited - May Delay Order)
80GB 7200rpm Serial-ATA Hard Drive with NCQ (Limited - May Delay Order)
8X DVD ± R/W Drive Dual Layer w/ DVD Recording Software & LightScribe
10 in 1 Flash Media Card Reader Bay
17" WUXGA 1920x1200 VividView™ Display w/ Super Clear Glossy Surface
Built-in 4-Speaker 3D Sound System w/ 8.1 Channel S/PDIF Output
Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Internal 802.11b+g 54Mbps Wireless Mini PCI Network Adapter & Bluetooth
Integrated V.92 56K Fax/Data Modem
MS Windows XP Home Edition CD & Manual SP2 Pre-Installed & Configured
3 Year Platinum Warranty with 24/7 Toll-Free Tech Support

Genuine Leather Hypersonic System PadFolio with Performance Benchmarks
Personalized System Recovery DVD
Minimum 72-Hour Burn-in & testing with 128-Point Quality Control Process
Configured and tested with latest qualified drivers and operating system updates
Arctic Silver 5 High Tech Polysynthetic Heat Dissipation Agent
User Upgradeable Pentium® 4 Processor
Integrated Color CCD Video Camera

Price as Configured: $4,786.00

I hope it's okay to quote a PM from someone else to me - if it's not appropriate, please let me know.

I honestly wasn't expecting this. I posted it before, but I'll post it again: "IMO Pat is the best thing Hypersonic has going for them." If I ever do buy from Hypersonic in the future, it will only be because of his efforts (which had a damn quick turn-around time). Thanks Pat!!

I feel like such a failure.