Live from Japan: The FT 8790 Review - Page 23  

Contact Update
Ends up there were server problems that had eaten all of Luke's emails, thus creating a communication vacuum. Thankfully Laura got everything ironed out and email seems to be flowing just fine.

Situation Update
8790's time is about up. Looking to ink a deal for a 5760 pretty soon, so this thread will be replaced soon by v.2.0. I don't know that I'm doin' the smart thing in trying Sager again overseas (esp. w/o any added support); my gut tells me it'd be better to go w/ a Dell and get the added support. However, having been more than happy w/ the 8790's power when it worked, I figure I'll give Sager one last chance to make it right. Pretty spendy chance when it's my money, but... I guess ya only live once (or as much as anyone can verify, anyway).

Don't know that the deal that I've been offered is that good of a deal, but I figure I'll give it a swing and see what happens. Guess I could've hollered and made a fuss for better terms, but I'm just to the point where I want a machine. Still thinking about the Sony trade-in deal as a backup. If this 5760 is dependable, I won't need the Sony and could offload it for a profit. But... if it's anything like it's 8790 cousin, the Sony might be seeing some action. If that's the case, I'm reallllly gonna be fit to be tied

As it is, I'll have to post a Sayoonara pic or something once the deal is sealed. Kind of sad in a way But, given the $$$ spent and headaches received, it'll be nice to move on. Time for a new Lamborghini

Well, I'm sending it in to Sager, so the option (which I would love to do- esp. since I'm on the 2nd floor) of throwing it out the window isn't going to happen. I've got a few last minute things to take care of w/ it today (Sunday for me) and hopefully I can get it on it's way tomorrow.

Haven't really looked into the Asus line. How's yours treating you so far? Finally get it all squared away and purring like a kitten? I have seen a couple pics and they look like nice machines, but that's about all I know.

As for GPU power... what I need and what I'll get are 2 different things. I figured I'll go for the 2nd best and hope it lasts me for quite awhile. Bought the best available when I got the 8790 and that backfired. Figured I don't need to pay an extra $300 for the upgraded nVidia card or whatever it is. I don't pay attn. They've been coming out w/ new cards so quickly lately, I'd probably be fine w/ one from 6 months ago.

Sayoonara and Thanks for All the Fish
About $110 later, it's gone. Going to miss it in a way, but the headaches... oh, the headaches won't be missed at ALL. Hopefully the replacement will be a healthy, growling beast.


The last comparison shot between the Beast and it's work-site replacement, the Dell 9300.




8790 styrofoam'd up w/ power supply & internal fan (that was mistakenly sent to me in place of a bottom fan)





Annnnnnnd, the last view before putting in the final packing material and sealing it up.




Secretary from work took it to the PO and sent it off via EMS for me today.


El fin.

No guns in Japan!!!!

(well, that's not necessarily true, but I don't have one )

Delivery Update
Hasn't arrived @ Sager yet, but according to EMS tracking, the 8790's @ SF Customs. Figure it'll hit Sager in the next day or two. Figure after that, they'll take a bit of time to diagnose the problem and tell me what I already know- that's it's broke

Looked like information posted by Xotic PC shows the 5760 being delayed until Oct. 31st or later. So rough guesstimates are at least mid-late November for a new machine fo' me (and a new thread).

Final Destination
Sager RMA service emailed letting me know that the 8790 had arrived. Now, more waiting.

Always an optimist, Boogie

The Never-Ending Black Hole of Communication

8790 @ Sager Update
Well, it's a couple days short of the 8790 having been @ Sager's for 2 weeks now. Not a peep. Since Luke's the one coordinating things here, I emailed him last week to see if he'd heard anything. As of yet, no response. Part of the usual pattern?

I want to give Sager one more chance, but the more this drags on with no communication, the more I'm thinking I should save a buttload of money and get a freakin' Dell It'd be cheaper and I'd have a warranty, but I'm not convinced I'd be getting the best machine. Why does this have to be like pulling teeth???

If this constant dead air because of waiting for non-existent communication persists into Week 3, I'm calling it good and that'll be the end of it for me. It's ridiculous that there'd be NO communication for almost 2 weeks. I'd email Sager directly if I knew the guy's email. Sager actually seems very punctual in regards to answering email.

If this is a case of more lost email and server issues, there's going to be a lot of on my side.

Glad to hear that you're in a happy, trouble-free place w/ your current machine. The 9300 that I'm using is trouble-free for the most part. Lack of a dedicated GPU makes it a fussy machine on the occasions where I take it home for the weekend (meaning Sunday) and play Civ IV on it. I always play 10-15 AI on a Huge random map, so things get tight in the late game.

Finally heard from Luke (after asking Laura to poke him for me) and he's supposedly contacting Sager for me. Nothing new yet. I got the Sager contact's mail, so I'm going to email directly and see what happens. Told Luke I'd wait to hear what he says, but haven't heard anything in 5 days, so...

Tempted to just buy a Dell and be done with it since I don't seem to be getting anywhere in the Sager world


Edit: Just emailed Mr. Tony Huang @ Sager re: the status of my situation. Since it's 7pm on the West Coast, I'd imagine everyone's gettin' ready for Seattle-Oakland on MNF. Hopefully he'll drop me a mail tomorrow so I know where I sit.

Contact Update
Maybe I'm being too polite in my emails. Nothing from Luke (probably hasn't heard back from Tony Huang) and nothing in 2 days from Mr. Huang. I don't know about anyone else and their feelings about communication, but IMO, business-wise, this is ridiculous.

Non-existant Contact
Still not a peep. Emailed Mr. David Liu in Tech Support in order to verify that I have the correct email for Mr. Huang. 8790's been at Sager for a month now. And not a single communication has been issued from Sager in regards to anything in that time.

There aren't any icons good enough on the boards to demonstrate my attitude about this. The little flaming head mad guy or the censored red dude... they just don't even come close.

I feel I've maintained a fairly even-keeled approach and have not been excessive in my emails in any way, shape or form, so there shouldn't be any problems w/ that regard. Like I said yesterday, apparently I'm being too nice. Once I get confirmation from Mr. Liu that I haven't screwed up the address, I'll have to start sending out some strongly worded mails. Either that or just tell 'em where to put their offer; at this point, I don't know that #@$%in' w/ a Sager is worth my time.

If they feel that I'm not worthy enough to contact, then so be it. If they think they can wear me down by not getting ahold of me, then they're right- they can. I don't have infinite patience. So unless there's a pretty freakin' good reason why things've been dragging for so long, I just can't imagine being too polite about things anymore.

They LIVE
Apparently either Mr. Liu got things going or Laura sending along a buzzer to Sager got things on the ball; not sure which. Either way, Sean from Sager emailed me this morning with costs for a motherboard replacement. Uh.... Howzabout, "NO!"

Looks like Mr. Huang's got me last on his list of Things to Deal With. After almost a month of waiting and now a quote for motherboard replacement? Talk about falling between the cracks LAST thing I want is another POS motherboard that'd fail me again. They're like little Imperial officers and I've had it w/ them. You've failed me for the last time, Admiral Motherboard!
/clenched fist
/raspy voice

Now that I've got their attention, though, I'm not sure I trust sending them my money. I'm definitely going to give Mr. Huang a few pointy fingers and a 'bout o' grumpiness once he decides to show himself. Whether that would result in even less cooperative support were I to have issues w/ a proposed 5760, I don't know. I can't imagine it helping. But after three weeks of unnecessary waiting, I think it'd be a disservice to anyone dealing w/ Sager not to pin 'em to the wall for their non-service.

I have to admit, Sean was very cordial (even if it was broken English) in his mail. I was a bit pointed with him, but kept it to a low roar in regards to grumpiness; figure he's just low man on the totem pole, so no sense in giving him both barrels. Hopefully Big Chief'll get ahold of me soon so we can have a lil pow-wow about what the @#% is going on there in Cali-land.

Hate being grumpy Got better things to do than fuss over bullcrap like this. But it still gets me worked up

Failure to Communicate
And that's what we have here. Still no word from Sager/Tony Huang. 8790 arrived at Sager on the 20th last month. It's the 14th of November here. Even allowing 2 days for time-difference, that's a long time for there to be no communication.

And with that, my patience has went out the window. Fired off a brusque reminder to Tony Huang @ Sager that this needs to be dealt with. Since I'm not impressed with his level of "dealing" with me, I requested that his supervisor contact me. Hopefully, at some point, a reasonable person will be at hand and be able to hammer out an amicable solution. At this point, I'm mad and not happy about being treated this way.

Seems like this whole thing's turned into a communication farce this past year. Looking back on it all, if I would have known that it was going to turn out like this, I never would've spent my money on a Sager. All it would have taken is a little prompt communication whenever there was a problem and I don't think things would have been half bad. As it is, I've had enough playing the waiting game. I thought this was going to have been taken care of long ago.

I'd rather this just be over with as it's made me grumpy here at work all day. Have network crews coming to work tomorrow and the last thing I need to be is in a freakin' sour mood because I'm hassling with this nonsense.

Boogie got ahold of me earlier w/ news of saving his 8790 from an ginormous dustbunny monster; at least something some where's going well.

Tony Huang Lives
Apparently loosing a nest of live hornets into Mr. Huang's email inbox was enough to jar him into replying to me. Over a month after a discounted deal was supposedly agreed upon, he emails back saying that he's gotten permission for a discount yesterday and what machine would I like? Uh... where's the Tony Huang from over a month ago that had all this information? Were Luke and I lied to? Or is he just senile? Or perhaps he's just so busy that he lost/forgot all of the information pertaining to me and my 8790. Either way it pans out, it's leaving a bad taste in my mouth

I requested his manager again. His reply never answered a single one of the points I brought up in my mail. Apparently answering questions from a customer's email isn't something that he's expected to do in the normal course of a day. Apparently I expect too much.

Bang Head on Wall
2 days now and communication's ceased. I'm assuming that Mr. Huang's waiting for me to call him, even though I stated twice that I wanted his supervisor to contact me. I really think that he didn't read through my comments thoroughly. *sigh* Not to mention apparently he didn't make the deal, so, IMO, he shouldn't even be involved.

If I were in the States, I'd drive down there myself since apparently email is too difficult of a medium to master And considering that I'd be driving from Washington, it'd only take me a single day to get there, whereas email seems to take much longer. How's that for technological progress?