Systemax Computers

I ordered a $2000 laptop. After ordering nothing happened for a week. After repeated contact attempts, I was told I need to make a international direct deposit. Tigerdirect did not provide any of their details to make a payment. After finally making payment and two weeks went by, I still did not have the item. After several contacts, I was finally told the item could not be sent. Tigerdirect then offered a different item and I should pay the difference. After doing so, I again did not hear from Tigerdirect for two weeks. The item was never sent to me. They sent it to another country.

After several more contact attempts, I demanded a refund and they would not refund it until item was returned from wherever they sent it. It sat for another week in Canada while I waited for a refund. Once the item arrived, they refunded the amount I paid less all the fees incurred so I ended up with $206 less than what I paid. I have demanded this remaining amount be paid but they have refused. At all stages there was no proper help to resolve the issues and a refusal to issue a refund despite the customer having never received any item and Tigerdirect was aware of their delivery mistake. I should not have to pay the bank fees I have lost due to their incompetence.

Purchased a Systemax PC in April 2010. In June 2010 the system's motherboard blew out. Spent 6 hours diagnosing it, many hours transferring data, etc. Had to replace the PC with another as it was needed immediately. Systemax refused to honor their warranty in that they refused to send a replacement PC. After many hours on the phone with various Systemax reps, Systemax stated they will only send a new motherboard. They refuse to send a replacement PC. They will not ship the motherboard without a credit card number. I asked to speak with a supervisor but they refused.

I bought a new Systemax computer for $399.99 in March 2009. In May 2009, I had to ship it back to be repaired. I lost everything on the pc. They reloaded the operating system. In Nov. 2009, it had similar problem. The computer seemed to have lost it's mind. It couldn't find itself when my computer was opened. They told me it was software. I knew it was the hard drive. I took it to UMass to have data backed up. Then shipped it back a second time for repairs. They installed a new hard drive. Now it's Jan 2010 and I've been having issues since Dec. 2009 with it booting up. Screen saver comes up but no icons. They are telling me it's software again and that it's my problem, not covered under 1 year warranty. I am supposed to reinstall windows XP and drivers, etc., myself This computer has been a huge nightmare! I would like it replaced or my money back and they refuse saying it's software. The software people at UMass, Amherst say it could be software, could be hard drive or could be the mother board.

I spent a little more than I wanted to on a Systemax computer, but the fact that it came with a 3 year on site warranty, I figured it would be worth it. Not. I have been trying to get a system recovery disk from them for over 4 months. They informed me I could purchase one by calling their support number. To avoid any more hassle, I purchased what I thought was a recovery CD. It was a Windows XP CD that required me to flash the BIOS before it would work. There was not a recovery disk included.

There have been many exchanges with no resolution and no sense of urgency on their part. I am enclosing exact verbiage from the warranty. You would think there wouldnt be any confusion, but I am still down with no expectation of resolution in the near future. To add insult to injury, I attempted to call tech support in hopes of talking to a supervisor. I was informed I would have to pay $39 for this privilege even though my system is under warranty.

SI provides a range of basic technical support options for the computer system you purchased via a variety of on-line, automated response and technician supported methods. SI will help you reinstall the operating system and factory-installed software on your computer and restore it to the original factory configuration at no additional charge for three (3) years from the date of factory shipment. Many of these options are available to you for a variety of other issues without charge?.

Have not received the service I paid for.

I was doing a Google search to find an online vendor for Systemax computers. I have 12 of them in my small business, and intend to deploy 3 more before the end of the year. Instead, I found this consumer website, and all the negative comments posted herein.

I have been so pleased with these machines that I did not want readers to believe that Systemax was just crap. My experience is that these are well-built computers, economically priced, and I have enjoyed a great value with them. Best wishes to all!

In November of 2004, I purchased a Systemax Venture computer through Tiger Direct with a one year warranty. Three months after I purchased the computer, the DVD CD rewritable rom stopped functioning. Three months old and this drive is non-functional and I was being told to vacuum the dust out of it which I couldn't do since the door to the drive doesn't even open. Warranty was not honored, customer service was insufficient. Funny, they anaswer the phone really fast and courteously when you're calling to place an order.

In contrast, when I called for tech support to report non functioning CD/DVD ROM, I waited on hold for 3 entire hours listening to music before I spoke to a real person. When I did speak to a real person, I was asked for a credit card # upfront (which I declined to provide). All of the letters wore off the keyboard within 6 months of light use. This computer did not live up to my expectations whatsoever and I paid a lot of money for something that started malfunctioning only 3 months after my initial purchase. Extremely disastisfied and I will not ever purchase another Systemax!

A local repair person told me in May 2008 that it is cheaper for me to buy a whole new computer from an entirely different company than to keep trying to fix this Systemax piece by malfunctioning piece (as it breaks and keeps on breaking and as more problems with the tower continue). I now pay extra each month to have virus protection, pctune up, and firewall protection for an extra $8 per month when I could have virus protection, firewall protection, etc through software purchased at a big box store for around $40 that is good for an entire year (provided that the CD Rom was functional).

I am extremely disappointed that the DVD Rom CD Rewriter drive failed after only 3 months of light use by me. This is a home computer used only for email, doing online searches and internet shopping, and for digital photos that I like to email to far away relatives.

I am writing for my mother she's 79 year's old. This is her son. She got this computer through AOL,for a good deal,at the time! AOL told her that if she bought this computer it would only cost $300 and something. And this is the keyboard, monitor,P.C. and speakers. I mean the whole complete set-up.(P.S.) The deal was if you got this computer you had to have AOL for a year..

Well after she had it for about three weeks, the hard drive went out, I called them and they told me how to take the hard drive out and ship it to them and they would send another one. Well I did, and it worked ok for about two months then she started having problems getting the power to come on. I called them again and they told me to unplug the computer from the back for awhile then plug it back in. I did and that worked for about another three months. It started the same thing but unpluging it was not helping.

So she is sitting there with a computer that AOL got her. She trusted AOL to come through but it looks like AOL did dealing with a company that makes computers that don't work. You would think that AOL would have been more careful with who they dealt with!

I had recieved a Systemax laptop computer that my parents had bought from Tiger Direct around January 2006. Approximately six months later my computer had completely failed. I had thought something had gone wrong with my charger, causing the computer to stay uncharged. I had sent my computer to the Systemax office in Fletcher, Ohio and they said the warranty was up when it wasn't, so they tried to get us to pay for it, but it was proven that it wasn't, so it stayed in Ohio for three weeks.

When I had got it back, it was restored, but I wasn't able to install any sort of virtual memory, and it caused my iPod not to work. So about two weeks after I had my computer back, I had to send it back because I had mysteriously lost 16MB of RAM. Again, my computer went back to Fletcher, Ohio for about three to four weeks. After it came back, I was able to install my iPod and use my virtual memory, only they had forgotten the charger, and the right side of my computer was CRACKED!!

My mother had called the office back and they blamed the UPS people, and the UPS people blamed the technicians that restored my computer. And to top it off, on April 1st, 2007, my computer is refusing to stay charged, even when it's plugged up to the charger!

Computer crashed after just one day! Customer service was rude and apathetic. Initially declined to send out a repairman and continued to do so until it was pointed out their ad said one year of free support. They refuse to replace computer and wanted it sent it to be checked. I will NEVER buy from this company again.

The hinges on my laptop broke I sent it to the company and they are trying to make me pay for it. The problem is that the laptop was defective when I got it. The hinges broke after me having it for three months but it is under a 3-year warrenty. The company also has a disclamer on it saying that if it breaks once It is in my care they don't have to do anything to repair it. They are trying to charge me $529 to repaire the hinges and the screen which was damged because of the hinges breaking.

Hello, I also purchased a Systemax computer from HSN around 1999. It worked for a few months and the began constantly giving me problems. I am assuming that I had the same problem with the motherboard that everyone else had. Anyway, I went through a lot of headaches dealing with tech support and the problems just continued. I also spent over $1,500 for my system. I feel that someone should be responsible for the trash that they call a computer.

Either Systemax should offer a replacement computer or the Home Shopping Network for providing a distribution channel conecting consumers to companies that sell low quality products like Systemax. I have not made a purchase from HSN since then and do not plan to until they can offer either reliable products or a real warranty.

My father bought me a systemax laptop as a college gift, it came with the automatic one year warranty. During that year it worked great, I couldn't have asked for a faster, better equiped computer. One week after the warranty expired though...that's when I start to encounter major problems. It never slowed down, but at very random times it would just crash, then fail to reboot (it didn't recognize the primary master driver), trying to boot it from the disk didn't work either.

After it would fail to reboot, I would turn it off and then attempt to restart, but the power button wouldn't work. After waiting (but doing nothing) for several minutes the power button did work. I took it in to the on-campus tech support center (it's cheaper to do it that way) and they ran a full scan of my system, including the hard drive and corrected a few errors that might have caused my problems.

For the first three days of having it back things went fine, but then it crashed again and did the same things as before. The tech support guy on-campus asked me to use it without the battery for a week and to keep a log of what happens (thinking the problem might be power related). It's been five days and the computer has crashed twice, both when I've had it on and in use for more than two hours, but not every time I've had it on that long. I haven't made it to the battery testing part, but I'm pretty sure that it's not the power supply. What upsets me even more is that my boyfriend has a compac prrsario, it's 6 years old and works perfectly! Despite the 2 Gb of space he has to work with. It's outragious that my computer is so much younger and has more problems!

I have read complaint letters about this company and have had all the problems that they have had, no need to repeat. My cd rom just went out also.

Bought a $2200 comp. from Tiger Direct with a 1yr on site repair warranty. Cannot get it fixed. It will be 6 months old on Sept. 30.Systemax supervisor said it would cost money to send someone out.Will ship me a video card to fix it, if I give a credit card. Say they'll ship it free to a repair man.Will a repair person ever arrive? If so, which year?

I bought a Systemax computer in 2001 and have been having trouble with it ever since, i just read alot about others who have had the same trouble i am having. The motherboard is defective and is causieng my computer to freeze and lock up or run so slow that it isn't worth turning it on.

Bought 64-bit Systemax computer from Tiger Direct. Motherboard is Gigabyte GA-K8VT800M. Motherboard went bad within 10 months of purchase, causing me to be unable to even turn on the computer, and requiring me to bring my computer to the shop. Systemax did send me a new motherboard which was installed locally. This new motherboard did allow me to work my computer, but now I have no sound. The problem is that this motherboard has onboard sound, which sometimes cuts off after a few minutes, and sometimes just does not work.

Received a "broken" Systemax computer. I called tech support 3 times. I was advised to reformat (it didn't work), take the machine apart and tighten things (it didn't work), then to send it back. HOWEVER they wanted my credit card number prior to doing any work on a one day old machine. When I wouldn't give my credit card number I was called "uncooperative". I called Tiger Direct and they issued a RGA and are sending UPS to my door to get the machine. TigerDirect was willing to help but only after I advised them that I had cancelled payment through my credit card company. Systemax/Tiger would not honor the in home service package I purchased at additional cost because "the problem couldn't be determined over the phone".

I am a seasoned adult who was planning on going back to school, I decided to purchase the Systemax computer off of Tiger Direct because it was considered loaded with everything that I would need. So I purchased it and had it for several months before I used it. So after getting everything all set-up that included buying a desk, re-arranging the furniture in the room etc.etc. setting up the computer. I was really excited. Then the problems started. I could not get the printer to work , missing programs, the mother board is defective. Sent it to them for repairs and when it was returned it was worst. When I called to tell them about it I was told that my warranty had expired. I would have to pay for shipping etc. I was never able to get my computer repaired by Systemax.

I purchased a Systemax AMD XP2600/512/120/DVDRW package from Tiger TV on May 30th, and received the CPU on July 8, I am VERY DISSATISFIED with this system and extremely angry with the level of Customer service, not only from Systemax but from Tiger TV as well, this system has never worked properly from day one. I have talked to Systemax supervisors and Tiger Direct supervisors and still to this day, over 3 months later, I DO NOT have a working system. I requested my money back before my 30 days were up and I was refused an RMA# to return it, I was told I had to work with tech support to resolve the issues. That didn’t accomplish anything. I was then told I had send it for repair, I again asked for a refund and I was refused, by the time all this was done my 30 days were up and I was still refused the guarantee, the repairs were in vain, they did no more to it than I had already done to it 10 times before (reformat hard drive and restore factory settings)

I told them this in a note that went with the computer to repair, I also told them in the note what the computer was doing when you tried to load any programs that came with the system, and that the programs on the desk top didn’t work either, I called repair to check on the status of the system and I was told the hard drive was corrupt and they formatted the hard drive and restored it to factory settings, I then asked if it had been checked out per my note, and I was told they wouldn’t go farther than a restore. When it arrived back (2 weeks later) it had been damaged by UPS, the box was dented and had a hole in the side, the case was severely broken, the front was hanging, both drives were shoved all the way back into the case, the light was broke, the heat sink fan was loose in the case and banging around on all the boards, when I called repair after 2 weeks for status of UPS picking it back up, I was told the system had just arrived and the damage wasn't that bad.

It had taken 3 weeks before I received another computer back from Systemax. (SO NOT ONLY DID THE SYSTEM NOT WORK FROM THE START I WENT 5 WEEKS WITHOUT IT). The one I got back was a different system, (didn't have the same preinstalled software, and am not sure it isn't another used system) than the one I returned, the case on other system had a switch affixed on the back to turn the light on and off, in this case, the switch is LOOSE inside (just flopping around) and you have to open the case up anytime you want to turn the light on or off. So I am not sure what boards or drives were switched to this case from the other system because this system doesn’t work any better than the last one.

I would like to say that I have read all of the articles and comments regarding the experiences of many people that have purchased Proteva computers. I would like to say that I myself bought a Proteva computer in November of 1999, around the time that Proteva was being acquired by Systemax, Inc. I am writing this letter to you on the very Proteva Proseries PC that I purchased from ValueAmerica.com, and that I have been nothing but 100% satisfied with its perormance. I have had zero problems with my system.

It is a Pentium III 500MHz, with a 20GB hard drive and a US Robotics 56K modem. I would also like to say that I have never used a better, faster, or more reliable system. I remember illegally shutting my system down a total of two times. Otherwise, I have operated absolutely trouble free. I believe that perhaps the troubles of the Proteva company were solved the day that they were bought out by Systemax, and that perhaps also you need to update your website to reflect this. As to inadequate technical support, I myself work as a CCC for AOL and have contacted the Systemax technical support line twice for my system and received nothing but extremely professional, friendly, knowledable, and fast service.

Working for AOL, I receive many calls about defunct computers. Of these, more than half are systems from mainstream manufacturers, such as Gateway and Compaq. I have talked to several people also who own Systemax PCs who seem to be as happy with their system's performance as I am. I wrote to you because I believe that you have portrayed Proteva, and Systemax in a very bleak light and I would like you to know that there are those customers out there who have had nothing but positive experiences with their products.

We would like to say that we're happy to hear it.

I just noticed your site and realized that I'm not the only one who've been having trouble with a Proteva system. I bought my system through Shopper's Advantage in November of 1998. In that time, I've had every problem from ridiculous system slowdowns with 2+ minute boot times (yes, I ran my diagnostics and cleanups) to hard drive failures and non-existent tech support.

Right now, the system has been out of commission for the last 2 months with a hard drive failure (second one. over 5 gigabytes of data lost), a broken keyboard port (you have to jiggle the plug and hold it in to get it to work), a power button that can't turn the system off (it turns on, but it just beeps 3 times and resets when you try to turn it off. "Probably a motherboard problem," was the preliminary diagnosis.

Even after all that, the tech support was possibly the most frustrating. The first time my hard drive failed I tried daily for at least 2 weeks to reach their technical support and was only able to get through once. On a Sunday. To an answering service that said they couldn't do anything without the weekday staff. The lady I spoke to told me she would take my information and have someone call me the next day. No one ever did. I couldn't even wait on hold for this omnipotent weekday staff! I would have waited for hours given that I had gigabytes of data on the line (which I eventually lost. Instead, I just got a message that "all the representatives were busy" and that I should try back later before I got disconnected. I had an easier time reaching tech support for the motherboard company in Taiwan.

I've been warning people away from Protevas as well as Systemax and As Seen on TV PC which seem to be aliases the Proteva has acquired.

Wednesday April 5, 2000

enclosed please find a letter your company sent me back in September 1999. According to this letter you have yet to settle my refund for the computer I bought in February 1999. I would appreciate prompt payment for my refund in this matter. I feel I have been more than patient and would like this matter resolved.

I have also had NO luck in using technical service from your company and would like a working number that I can talk to a real person when I have problems (and have had many) with the computer. My Date of Purchase is 2/8/99 and my serial Number is: W2299HSN285119 My customer #: 14788411 The number I call for tech support is 18008634012. Thank you for your quick response and prompt payment to settle this account.

Valerie ****

AND I STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED MY REBATE OR A PROPER HANDLING OF MY ACCOUNT. PLEASE WRAP THIS UP IT'S GETTING PATHETIC AND I'M GETTING EXTREMELY ANGRY AT THE BONEHEADS THAT CAN'T GET OFF THEIR THUMBS TO HELP ANYONE. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF THIS WAS YOUR PROBLEM AND NO HELP WAS AVAILABLE!!!!!!!

Thank You

I am a 50-yr-old disabled man. On Sept. 21, 1998 my daughter purchased a Proteva Computer from the Home Shopping Network so I would have something to do with my spare time. She also wanted it so she and her younger brothers could use it for school work. We keep getting illegal function messages and it freezes up when your in the middle of a project, when this happens you have to click the close button and it takes you back to the desktop and you have to start all over.

I have spent many hours on the phone trying to correct these problems with Proteva. When I get a hold of a tech support person they either say that someone who knows about the problem will call me back, and then nobody ever calls back, or they tell me to reinstall Windows 98 and that should solve the problem. I think my Windows 98 CD is about wore out from all the reinstalls.

The current problem I am having is trying to upgrade my modem to V.90. I called my internet service provided to see if he could help me with these freeze up and illegal function problems. He said it sounded like a computer problem. He suggested upgrading to the V.90 to see if that would help. I went into the modems folder and it said the modem was a U.S. Robotics 56k Win INT RS Rev. 1.00.011.

I tried downloading the upgrade from the U.S. Robotics site but it said they needed a product code at the automatic upgrade site. The product code is not listed in the modem folder. I emailed U.S. Robotics with all the information I had concerning the modem. I received an email from them the next day stating that these modems were built special for Proteva. They stated that they weren't able to help me because Proteva is responsible for all updates and upgrades for these modem. I then spent an hour on the phone before I finally got to speak to a support tech. After talking to him for about fifteen minutes he said he didn't know anything about finding the product code or how to upgrade to V.90 and he gave me another number for a tech. that could answer my questions.

I have spent two days trying to get an answer at that number. Every time I call I get a recorded message that the line is busy. I have also emailed Proteva Customer Service with all the information two days ago and am still waiting for a reply. I have a son who became a support tech. for Gateway and he said if they treated thier customers like Proteva does they would be fired....

I also feel that the Home Shopping Network should discontinue doing business with Proteva until this problem is corrected. ... It is very frustrating when a person spends this kind of money thinking that they will have the support and backing of the company and then you find out that the only support policy Proteva has is "Too bad, You bought it your stuck with it". This piece of junk set my daughter back alot. She is also attending college and was trying to be nice getting a computer for the family and finding something for me to do with all the time I have on my hands.

I purchased a proteva 400 mhz with a k6 processor. But shortly after that I noticed that the sound was not working. After trying to get it to work with no success I contacted Proteva. They ran me thru a series of testz over the phone and determined that the sound card was bad. They scheduled a technician to relace the sound card. This took about a week

The technician diagnosed the computer and found that one of the settings was not correct in the software and now the sound works. How come the tech couldn't tell me that over the phone?

Next the DVD drive wouldn't play DVD movies. So I contacted technical support again. They went thru a series of test with me and decided it was a software issue. And that Windows had to be reinstalled and the DVD drivers. And that they I would have to pay a online technician to fix the problem.

I told him that the computer is just over a month old and the DVD drive does not work. I wanted someone to come out a find out why it doesn't work. They told me that there is only a 30 day warrenty on software.

And they were very rude to me. After refusing to pay someone else to fix the problem. I started toi play around with the settings. And discovered that it was not configured properly. Now the DVD drive works.

What bothers me is that there technical support are very poorly trained. Very unprofessional. Both times the Phone Tech was wrong.

I had purchased a Proteva computer from the Home Shopping Network in December and I have not received the rebates as promised from Proteva. I contacted Home Shopping Club, which they said they have contacted Proteva, I called and E-mail Proteva and nothing has been done.

The computer has a few bugs, it stalls from time to time, it is extremely slow when downloading from AOL. When I bought this, they promise me this is the lastest, fastest, 2000 ready,and now that I am starting to have more problems with this Proteva computer and considering sending it back.

I am angry, I probably never buy another product again from proteva or Home Shopping Club. I charged this to my credit card so now that I am paying interest on the balance of the amount of rebates.

FOR CHRISTMAS I BOUGHT A PROTEVA COMPUTER FROM THE HOME SHOPPING NETWORK WHICH INCLUDED A MAIL IN REBATE TO THE MANUFACTURER. I FILLED IT OUT COMPLETELY AND MAILED IT IN PROMPTLY. TO DATE I HAVE NOT RECEIVED IT. THIS REBATE WAS A SELLING TOOL USED BY THE HOME SHOPPING NETWORK. I BELEIVE BETWEEN HSN AND PROTEVA SOMEONE SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS REBATE. I LOST $170 .

Ever since I received my computer from the HSN I have had nothing but problems. Within my 1 year warranty they had to replaced my hard drive, I was refunded the cost of my mouse which was a generic mouse not the Micro Soft mouse, my ports conflicted with each other, finally, I had to send my computer to Proteva because the some ports actually burned out when I went online.

All the help I received was thought HSN in rectifying these ongoing problems with their tech support. When I called Proteva they gave my the run around, or couldn't help me fix any of the "minor" problems which included loading MSN on my computer when there was an error message. I had to call HSN who contacted Proteva to send me out a hard drive, as well as stayed on top on them when I had to ship my computer to be fix. They took approx. 2weeks to send my out the shipping slip and HSN communicated between me and Proteva to make sure I received my computer back in a timely fashion.

Unfortunately, The hard drive Proteva sent me was no good, it had bad sectors in it and crash a second time, my warranty had expired and I purchased another one on my own, replaced my mouse, and my modem was not working properly when I received my computer back. I have yet to replace my cd-rom drive which also hasn't been working since I received my computer. I felt like my computer was built with parts of from a used computer and thrown together.

When my second hard drive crashed I called Proteva no answer, I called HSN where I was informed that they no longer deal with Proteva computers, and was given a number to call. I called the number only to be given another number where I was told I had to purchase tech support so I did, 3 calls for $75 my before they could help me. My first call they couldn't help me which lead me to purchase a hard drive on my own. I haven't called since. 9/99

I purchased a Proteva PC-7735 on March 26,1999 from the Video Computor Store for my children to use for school work and have had problems from the word GO! I have problems with the computer locking up, fatal errors, Microtek scanner software errors(will not allow me to scan), Printer software errors( prints 1/2 pages only), CD-rom hard failed, 1/3rd of the loaded software has failures and to present I have not received any of the rebates totaling $300.00.

I contacted the Video Computer Store at the end of April 99 and told them of my Problems and that I wanted to return this computer and have them ship me a new one, they said that was not possible and for me to contact Proteva direct. I contacted Proteva and told them of my Problems and a very rude technician told me to reload the software when it tells you not to re-install the software. The tech told me to reload if I wanted it fixed. I told him I would rather ship this one back and receive a new one. He said that it was the manufacturer's option whether to exchange it and he said there was no reason to return it because the software reload would fix it. He also said to contact him if it didn't.

I reloaded the software and it resulted in more problems than before. I again contacted proteva at the beginning of May 99 and told them of my problem and what I was instructed to due by one of there techs and they had no record of it., so I once again explained my problems to them and he said he would contact me. To this day i have not been contacted by proteva. I went to there web site and have Emailed them several times with no reply. I have called them dozens of times and get only a recording(#2686/2800). I have left messages with no return phone calls. I have called the VCStore and explained my problems and they said they would contact them and get back with me and I am still waiting. I need a reliable computer.

I had last contacted you on 8/16/99 when I saw the link on your website to Timespace about getting my Proteva PC-7350 repaired. It seemed like they were finally going to do something, but here is a short summary of what I call "the continuing nightmare."

8/16/99: I read on your site that Proteva was trying to make a serious effort to make repairs. I contacted Timespace through the link on your site. Mr. S., OEM Service Supervisor at Timespace emailed me promptly saying he was going to assign his best technician to my case after reviewing the file. Mr. J. contacted me the same day and spent a long time with me discussing all the problems and checking things with me over the phone. He made some setting changes and suggested I download some new software and would call back the next day about noon.

8/17/99: Mr. J. called around noon as promised. My computer was not better. In fact it was worse. He did some more checking and suggested some other software. He said he would call again the following day.

8/18/99: He called again as promised. I was getting excited about all this attention to getting it repaired after about a year. He checked a few more things and along with the long record of problems decided it needed a new "motherboard." He said he would have one sent out and I should be hearing from Banktech in 3-5 days.

8/23/99: I called Mr. J. for a status on the repair. He siad he would check and get back to me.

8/27/99: I called again to see what was going on. Mr. J. was not in. The person covering for him said she would check and call me back. No return call again.

9/01/99: I called Mr. J. for a status report. He did not answer, but I left a message on his voice mail. I then called Proteva Customer Service and got a recording that they could not assist me. Finally I got through to a real person at Proteva who said to call the Proteva office in Atlanta. I called them and they said to call Banktech. I called the number I was given and they said to call another Banktech in Ohio.

When I finally got through to someone there they informed me that they no longer service Proteva computers as of 9/1/99.

I then made many calls to Mr. J. until I talked with him personally. He said the motherboard was sent out 8/25/99 and was unaware of any discontinuation of service by Banktech and would check into it.

9/02/99: I called Proteva to see if I could find out anything else. I talked to a rude technician who informed me that because my computer had just become one year old they could not and would not help to rectify these ongoing problems. Later Mr. J. left a message that Proteva "main office custumer service" would be contacting me. They never have and I doubt if they ever will.

9/03/99: I attempted to call Mr. J. to find out anything further. The phone company informed me that the phone number had been changed and is "unpublished." I am now nowhere again with no where to turn for help. I really had my hopes up that I would finally have some repair work done to my worthless $2400+/- computer. I have been continuing to try to find some contacts so the necessary repairs can be done.

I purchased this computer from Computer Personalities a.k.a. The Video Computer Store. It has an extended 3-year parts and labor warranty, but I have not been able to get through to their service department. I continue to try to get something done through them, but after many hours waiting on the phone...they wear you down to the point of giving up. This has been going on for over a year now and I have never had a technician in my home to attempt any repairs.

I am writing this to you on my new Micron that I just recently purchased. I should not have been promised repairs so many times with no one ever actually even showing up. I guess it will make a good expensive door stop. In the meantime I will continue to pursue this matter.

A small sampling of the many Proteva complaints we've received.