Never buy from SMKsuperstore.com/PCBoost

[deadlysyn]

I made the mistake of buying from them a while back. I got the board into the system I was building for a friend of mine. Instantly smelled smoke. I opened the case back up, and found nothing looking out of the ordinary, until I took the board out and looked at the backside of the board. I found several burnt traces. I ended up sending the board back to them, as their RMA policy does not include calling to get an RMA number and then sending the product back in. Instead they have you make a copy of both sides of the receipt, fill out a little portion on the bottom, and send it back then. After that there is no communication unless you wait 7 days and then go back to the website and initiate a trace on your RMA. I had waited about 8 days, because of the holiday, and initiated the trace. I got an email back, saying nothing more than: Your RMA will be completed and shipped within a couple business days. Nothing about thank you for your business, or anything besides that one line. After I got that email, I looked at reseller ratings, and found that they are horrible with RMA's, and most of the time take up to a month, and then blame the problem on the person who had sent the product back to them. I had actually read one that was from someone who had gotten an AXP, which had a chipped core. This person had never even broken the seal on the Anti Static wrap, and a rep from this horrible retailer had the response of a HSF being improperly installed, causing the chip in the core. From now on, I will only use retailers that I have used in the past with no problems, and if I have not used them, I will most likely ask for opinions here and check RSR. Hopefully they don't try to accuse me of doing something to this board. I very highly doubt I will be doing any business with them in the future.

[thideras]

I read your post, but I don't see where you stated what kind of problem you've had with them...you said you waited 8 days for the RMA, thats acceptable. But you haven't got the board back?

No offense, but it sounds like you are basing the company by what other people have said instead of first hand experience...:beer:

[deadlysyn]

I really don't care for the RMA process that they use. And the lack of communication is something that I frown upon. I would be much happier with the whole process if I had maybe gotten an email stating that they had received my RMA, or what might be going underway. I would much rather know that they were doing something about it, rather than have it come back to me with no communication being blamed for a faulty part that was sent to me. I don't know for sure that this particular RMA is going to come back like that, but something about all the reviews that I had read is telling me not to trust them. If they would have sent an email stating what they might be doing with my RMA, I may have better feelings about it. I also do quite a bit of business where I work, and I know that communication is key. I also don't care for the fact that I basically sent the board back to them blindly. I would much rather have some form of RMA number showing that they do have some kind of record of the problem, and they know what to expect when it gets there.

[thideras]

I really don't care for the RMA process that they use. And the lack of communication is something that I frown upon. I would be much happier with the whole process if I had maybe gotten an email stating that they had received my RMA, or what might be going underway. I would much rather know that they were doing something about it, rather than have it come back to me with no communication being blamed for a faulty part that was sent to me. I don't know for sure that this particular RMA is going to come back like that, but something about all the reviews that I had read is telling me not to trust them. If they would have sent an email stating what they might be doing with my RMA, I may have better feelings about it. I also do quite a bit of business where I work, and I know that communication is key. I also don't care for the fact that I basically sent the board back to them blindly. I would much rather have some form of RMA number showing that they do have some kind of record of the problem, and they know what to expect when it gets there.You can always call up and ask about the status of it...:beer:

[deadlysyn]

I just got an email back from them today. They are stating that there is physical damage to the mobo (which I already knew and stated in the RMA form) and a bent CPU Pin and that because of these problems the warranty is void. Since when is a product that was shipped out defective not covered under any kind of warranty? This is very irritating, and I will for sure never do business with them again.

[WonderingSoul]

Contact the Better Business Bureau... And do mention to them that you have contacted the BBB. That usually works.

[EmAn]

there are two things that i can say

Newegg FTW!
and
always contact the bbb if you get limited to no contact

www.bbb.com

[ropestring]

I have purchased a number of times from SMK and I have never had any problems. Your posts make you seem like you dont know what you are doing with hardware. There are only so many ways for a retailer to screw up. They dont make the stuff. My experience has been that if you enter a credit card that will get approved and a good address retailers never call you and if you know what you are doing with the hardware you never have to call them. Everything I have gotten from SMK plugged in and worked perfectly. I have never received any junk emails from them, so I keep ordering.

[updawg]

I have purchased a number of times from SMK and I have never had any problems. Your posts make you seem like you dont know what you are doing with hardware. There are only so many ways for a retailer to screw up. They dont make the stuff. My experience has been that if you enter a credit card that will get approved and a good address retailers never call you and if you know what you are doing with the hardware you never have to call them. Everything I have gotten from SMK plugged in and worked perfectly. I have never received any junk emails from them, so I keep ordering.

That is a little weird, your first post is a negative response to his complaint about his RMA troubles. And then you have only positive things to say about the company, a bit strange don't you think?

[krag]

That is a little weird, your first post is a negative response to his complaint about his RMA troubles. And then you have only positive things to say about the company, a bit strange don't you think?

Hmm, indeed it is a bit strange. The OP created this thread 2yrs ago. This almost sounds like a SMK worker is trying to do a cover up job. ;)

[Captain Newbie]

I have purchased a number of times from SMK and I have never had any problems. Your posts make you seem like you dont know what you are doing with hardware. There are only so many ways for a retailer to screw up. They dont make the stuff. My experience has been that if you enter a credit card that will get approved and a good address retailers never call you and if you know what you are doing with the hardware you never have to call them. Everything I have gotten from SMK plugged in and worked perfectly. I have never received any junk emails from them, so I keep ordering.

Hi, if you're a vendor rep, you need to say so, and not saying so will lead to ban.

Thankee.

[deadlysyn]

I have purchased a number of times from SMK and I have never had any problems. Your posts make you seem like you dont know what you are doing with hardware. There are only so many ways for a retailer to screw up. They dont make the stuff. My experience has been that if you enter a credit card that will get approved and a good address retailers never call you and if you know what you are doing with the hardware you never have to call them. Everything I have gotten from SMK plugged in and worked perfectly. I have never received any junk emails from them, so I keep ordering.

Hmm, indeed it is a bit strange. The OP created this thread 2yrs ago. This almost sounds like a SMK worker is trying to do a cover up job. ;)

Wow! I have to agree with krag here. I started this thread 2 years ago, to warn people of my bad experience with this horrible company. They tried to blame the burnt traces on that motherboard on a cheap PSU. I am sorry SMK, I did not know PC Power & Cooling was a cheap PSU! As for the bent CPU pin, it was not bent when I put it into the packaging, and it had the cover over the socket. Not only did they blame me for the damage to this board, they tried to convince me to buy another one at full price. At this point, I told them to send the damaged board back, and contacted SSS via PM. He told me, that my best course of action would be to RMA through the manufacturer, which I did. Turns out, the manufacturer has had this problem with this retailer for quite a while. They replaced the board, no questions asked, with a turn around time that was so fast it made my head spin. The new board was sitting on my doorstep when I got home from work less than 10 days after I shipped it out to Biostar.

As for the part about me not knowing how to handle hardware, maybe you should look at some of my other posts before making this judgment. I have been building systems for around 10 years, mostly just side work for friends, as a hobby. If I don't know how to handle hardware, why is it that I have never had to RMA something with Newegg? My only other RMA experience as far as computer parts goes was with SVC, and I would have to say that I was treated exceptionally well. When they had sent me a wrong part, and I sent an email about it, I had an email back from a real person within an hour. He explained to me that they did not have the correct part in stock, and did not know when it would be back in stock. Of course this was because ThermalRight had discontinued the product. I was then informed, on the same day as the original email, that I could return the wrong product for credit or refund, my choice.

Edit: I should also add that I think they are padding their reviews at RSR (http://www.resellerratings.com/store/SMK_Superstore). Some of these appear to be legit, but most of what I could stand to read sounds like typical review padding.

[MonkeyMhz]

I have purchased a number of times from SMK and I have never had any problems. Your posts make you seem like you dont know what you are doing with hardware. There are only so many ways for a retailer to screw up. They dont make the stuff. My experience has been that if you enter a credit card that will get approved and a good address retailers never call you and if you know what you are doing with the hardware you never have to call them. Everything I have gotten from SMK plugged in and worked perfectly. I have never received any junk emails from them, so I keep ordering.

^^ Epic fail right there!...

Just from that really cheezy reply on a thread thats more than a year old. Id have to say Im gonna write down SMK as the grand crapade in my books.

Hey does contacting the BBB really scare companys? Because LG screwed me, and many others.

Oh and never buy your grandma's medication from a street pharmacist. lol.

[krag]

I have purchased a number of times from SMK and I have never had any problems. Your posts make you seem like you dont know what you are doing with hardware. There are only so many ways for a retailer to screw up. They dont make the stuff. My experience has been that if you enter a credit card that will get approved and a good address retailers never call you and if you know what you are doing with the hardware you never have to call them. Everything I have gotten from SMK plugged in and worked perfectly. I have never received any junk emails from them, so I keep ordering.

24hrs from 7:09pm Pacific time to come clean or you get banned and placed on a watch list. krag, OCF Moderator

PM sent...everything will be made good if you comply.

[imposter]

^^ pwned

[dylskee]

He'll probably never come back anyway, I'm sure he's a rep of some sort. Probably googled the company name and followed a link here and tried to clean up a black mark on the company name but everyone here can see right through it.

[deadlysyn]

We need a ban hammer smily just for this reason. :)

[Dapman02]

and that's why I love the mod's on these forums, they see through crap like this

[JackNSally]

I have never received any junk emails from them, so I keep ordering.

That last part really got me.:screwy:

[Ach3r0n]

SMK listed on ripoffreport, terrible ratings on Reseller Ratings, slammed on CD Freaks ...

All the rep did is draw more attention to a bunch of known crooks.

[4GHZ_or_bust]

http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/icon/banned.gif

Would that work? It used to be used for complaining about eBay seller charging $100 on a $0.01 auction as fee avoidance.

For all we know it was a bot that is set to search for SMK, create account if needed, post canned reply praising company. And bot never respond to any flame or threats from his original post.

[burningcpu]

Way to fail at shilling...

And to dis the OP on top of blaming him for the damaged equipment...wow.

I'm pretty sure anyone who reads this thread will avoid SMKsuperstore.com...

[imposter]

even if i didnt read the thread i wouldnt have ordered from them... lol

[deadlysyn]

I do have one thing to say to this thread necro. Thanks for bringing this up to the top to prove what a lousy company you are working for. All your post has done is show more proof that this company is only out for the paycheck and couldn't care less about the customer. I don't think you will see any more members from this forum buying from you.

And WTF=Way To Fail. I am going to have to add this to the dictionary of definitions for the acronym.

[Quailane]

SMKsuperstore.com has absolutely THE best prices around, and very easy and straightforward online ordering- And fast shiping!!! This is my first order from here but it will definitely not be the last. Keep up the good work and we will keep buying. Thanks again for a great business!!!

[krag]

To be quite honest here fellas. I think this is the 1st all-out membership motivated bann that I have seen...LOL! I did not have to do much here. You guys did the modding...YeAh~! {Get the tar and feathers}

[imposter]

Awesome!

*sharpens his knife and looks at his watch*

[dylskee]

SMKsuperstore.com has absolutely THE best prices around, and very easy and straightforward online ordering- And fast shiping!!! This is my first order from here but it will definitely not be the last. Keep up the good work and we will keep buying. Thanks again for a great business!!!

Wait......When did Quailane start working for SMK??? Or wait, maybe ropesrtring is using his account! JK :)

There's always a few people that have had good experiences with etailers otherwise they wouldn't exist at all. Like I stated before, this guy will probably never return anyway (Even without the ban) so all he did really is bring attention to an old problem. Hey krag, seeing how we did all the work on this one can we swing the ban hammer?? :D

[dylskee]

Damn, double post! The forum went unresponsive again.

[MadMan007]

Wait......When did Quailane start working for SMK??? Or wait, maybe ropesrtring is using his account! JK :)

There's always a few people that have had good experiences with etailers otherwise they wouldn't exist at all. Like I stated before, this guy will probably never return anyway (Even without the ban) so all he did really is bring attention to an old problem. Hey krag, seeing how we did all the work on this one can we swing the ban hammer?? :D

Hehe that's the funny part, all he did by posting was draw attention to the problem and make more people aware that they shouldn't buy from them.

[WonderingSoul]

I saw this thread upped and that I posted in it, only to see the best thread I have seen in a while.

w00t w00t

[Silversinksam]

Sometimes I'll see a new 'one hit wonder' (A one hit wonder thread is a new member that posts one bashing thread, then leaves and never returns nor replies to any e-mail to him to validate or help him with his complaint) member thread bashing a vendor that I suspect was a shill. Every now and again when I see these idiotic threads, I'll place an order for something that's not terribly expensive or the exact item the basher purchased from the vendor in question, then I ask a friend from another State to do the same thing from the same vendor so ruling out preferencial treatment isn't possible, I then ask my buddy about the order details, such as date of the order, how long before the item is processed, then mailed as well as the condition of the item in question. For example the last shill claimed it took weeks for the fans he ordered to get mailed, and that the fans were not new. I ordered two separate orders on two different dates two weeks apart for the item in question, and my buddy placed an order for the same as well. I got the product in days, as did my friend, on my second order, Petras sent me a hand written note that I must really like these fans lol) I also used an e-mail address not associated with the Silversinksam moniker.

Most times these new members are nothing more than shills or the vendors competition bashing them, but in any event I still place the orders, then I wait for the new member to come back so I can rebut his experience with my experience and that of a friends helping me get to the truth.

Last time I did this was with Petras, I know that Petras is a very customer service orientated site and hands down a great vendor. But despite knowing this beforehand, I still place a couple orders, In fact with Petras, I placed two orders on two different dates. My buddy in Boston placed one order as well. As usual, Petras delivered and processed the order pretty damn quick, my friend also got the same good service, but this info never made it to the forums, because the Petras bashing new member never came back. (I also sent him an e-mail asking if he wanted assistance if he just sent me the Petras order number) He never gave me nothing, nor did he ever come back to the forums. So I was happy to remove that shill thread, because he was full of:

http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/fa/fake-dog-poo.jpg

He also had the same bashing verbatim at other sites, he never went back to those other sites as well because I'm pretty sure he never ordered anything from them to begin with....

[Captain Newbie]

To be quite honest here fellas. I think this is the 1st all-out membership motivated bann that I have seen...LOL! I did not have to do much here. You guys did the modding...YeAh~! {Get the tar and feathers}

+1 internets to me, it was my idea. :cool:

SMKsuperstore.com has absolutely THE best prices around, and very easy and straightforward online ordering- And fast shiping!!! This is my first order from here but it will definitely not be the last. Keep up the good work and we will keep buying. Thanks again for a great business!!!
I KNO THEY ARE SO AESOME.

[WonderingSoul]

That was quite possibly the best post ever made by SSS.

[krag]

LOL at SSS post. I banned him and sent a e-mail to his registered hotmail addy...:rolleyes:

[4GHZ_or_bust]

Bet it was a throwaway hotmail addy that will never get checked at all. Be kind, ban the IP address of the poster.

[deadlysyn]

I kinda figured this guy would be a "one hit wonder member" as SSS had put it. It really just goes to show this is a company that we do not want to deal with. Between what looks like review padding and what we saw here, this company just keeps seeming worse and worse. I wonder how many posts we would find on other forums just like this.

[Shelnutt2]

Bet it was a throwaway hotmail addy that will never get checked at all. Be kind, ban the IP address of the poster.

I believe the forum has a policy of not banning an IP address, because most are dynamic. So the next time one of our members resets their router they might get the banned IP.

[krag]

I believe the forum has a policy of not banning an IP address, because most are dynamic. So the next time one of our members resets their router they might get the banned IP.

Thanks Bruther nutt2, yet, we do have our ways. Usually, we give them the chance/option to opt out before the wrath of a-twisted-comet pounds them from above. Most do, but some don't. When that happens we have very specific and damaging meassures that play out.:santa:

[Hungus]

Necromancy is bad, however leaving people uniformed is worse IMHO, so. I just thought people would want to know that SMKSuperstore is now doing business under the name of PortaTech.com.

I searched for SMKSuperstore and came here after looking for a Hard drive on Pricewatch. Upon completing the order I noticed that the registered email address in my bill was not a PortaTech account but rather an SMKsuperstore.com account. Further during my ordering process I noticed that on every page some "upgrade" was celled for an additional price, so 3 times if I had not been paying attention they would have snagged additional money from me. (1x for expedited shipping 1x for an sata cable and 1x for an sata power cord) That enough would have been sufficient to steer me away but it was for a major brand sat HD with a full warranty whom I know I can go to if something happens to the drive.

I simply am posting here so that anyone else who comes across this suspicious company will be warned off before the order gets placed rather than afterwards.

[David]

Welcome to the forums and thanks for your post :)

I had a quick look at the site. If you ordered a CPU/mobo combo (Advertised at $280) you have to de-select:
- Upgraded cooler
- Installation kit
- Expedited processing
- Warranty
- Upgraded shipping

Otherwise you get done for another $80!

I hate hate hate hate hate sites that make you de-select extras....

Attached a PDF for anyone interested.

[ratbuddy]

Resellerratings makes me wait between reports, someone wanna help me flag all their glowing 5 star reviews from blatant shill single RR post users?

[madhatter256]

This is why I don't shop at pricewatch...... I rather buy from an ebay seller with negative feedback :P.

Also, some of those sites do not always sell OEM HDDs (with full warranty). Sometimes they sell pulled hardware with expired or non-existent warranty. Even CPUs, too, so watch out!