Brands that you will never buy from again

[Questors]

Specific categories and brands....

Razer - because they are TeH SuK!
Enermax - because I had one power supply burn up and another blow my entire system
Samsung Hard Drives - I have NEVER owned one that did not fail
Epson Printers - Never had one that did not need warranty work and then stopped working after warranty expired - at some point - but no great length of time.
HP Printers and Multi-Functions - The wife and I have had 5 in 7 years. Warranties are fine, but it's hard to print when your printer is 600 miles away at a repair facility, just to come back, pull an Epson and die.
Kenmore Vacuum cleaners - Consumer Reports rated #1 buy. Dead as a rotted stump and repair parts cost more than replacing the entire machine.
OCZ - Nuthin'! Plain and simple
Intel - No more SSDs until they stop using SandForce chips. There hasn't been a SF chipset yet that didn't have problems.
Nvidia - Nuthin'! They were making some great chipsets, had some issues, fixed it, bought erm..ULI (?) which were beginning to make some big noise with their solid chipsets, then stopped making chipsets. They could have left us the other company. Competition is good for innovation, which means it would have been good for Nvidia too.

Did I mention I miss Abit, EPoX and ZipZoomFly?

 

[pwnmachine]

Fortunately I have had pretty good luck with hardware, but then again I am pretty selective about my purchases.

If I were to pick one it would be Dell, but that's a given

 

[Sir Barton]

Computer gear:

Apple - With the profits theyre making, they can afford to put people to work here, pay them a decent salary, and still be a damn profitable company.
ASRock motherboards - Ive owned 2 and both were piles of garbage.

Audio equipment:

Pioneer - Hasnt made anything worth a hoot since the late 1970s. Typical throw-away electronics.
Sony - See Pioneer above
Onkyo - See Pioneer again
Bose - Theres a reason they have their own storefront, put it up against gear of equal cost and it quickly sounds like a set of glorified computer speakers.
Altec Lansing - SERIOUSLY?! You go from making the biggest, baddest, most glorious sounding speakers ever made for over 60 years, to making.......computer speakers?! Damn near every movie theater in the country was outfitted with your speakers and amps at one time, now we have to settle for Peavey or Yamaha or some other garbage.

 

[EarthDog]

No. none. This is paranoid behavior. Bad parts happen. Bad service happens. chances are it wont happen again. That company may not be thw first choice but never would I eliminate.

 

[Robert17]

I've only had two RMA experiences on computer hardware in 22 years of messing around with it. Neither were with the same company. Rebates, well, that's another story, but I don't buy based on a rebate so it's not much of an issue. Best customer service ever: restaurants. Worst customer service ever: doctor's offices.

 

[trekky]

No. none. This is paranoid behavior. Bad parts happen. Bad service happens. chances are it wont happen again. That company may not be thw first choice but never would I eliminate.

i would agree with you for the most part

but the reason i dont like Asrock is 1st they took a month to reply.
2nd when i told them i wanted them to pay for the shipping they still have not replyed! so i will probly go to Asus or something else

and 3rd this is the 2nd time this mobo has broken (they sent a replacement not the same one i sent them)

 

[EarthDog]

like I said, bad things happen. Sometomes twice and with bad customer service. For every terrible story like yours there are thousands of other positive experiences with the same product.

I understand how this sours people on products/vendors. I just dont take it to the extreme of never buying again.

 

[trekky]

when i mean never buy again i will not recommend a Asrock Mobo to my friends because i dont want to hear about it later and there are so many other mobos makers out there i just be alot more careful about buying from asrock again

it just annoys me how long it takes them to reply, i know im 1 in a million but its still annoys me

 

[Automata]

like I said, bad things happen. Sometomes twice and with bad customer service. For every terrible story like yours there are thousands of other positive experiences with the same product.

I understand how this sours people on products/vendors. I just dont take it to the extreme of never buying again.

Then where do you draw the line of "they are trying to screw me over, I'm not buying anymore of their products" or "they can't send me a functional x, I'm not buying anymore of their products"?

Toshiba effectively stole $4,000 that I paid them for a high-end gaming laptop. I got the unit and it stopped working after two weeks. After 4 years of getting repairs done, calling in 25+ times (each with an average hold time of 45 minutes), going through 3 new laptops and being sent the wrong part/laptop multiple times, I still was not given a functional system. Due to them intentionally keeping the ticket open for 4 years, they abused a loophole in the "lemon clause" in their warranty and refused to refund me my money or send me a different model laptop. When they had the meeting to override this, they canceled the meeting "because something came up", refused to reschedule it and told me to go stomp dirt. I was promised a ton of callbacks and not a single one of them was fulfilled.

You don't see where someone could get just a little bit pissed at a company for stealing money, refusing to give a functional laptop and had horrible technical support/corporate support? There is certainly a line to cross where "never buying another one of their products" is totally and completely justified.

 

[rpjkw11]

I have long memory which means I'll look first at the alternatives. I won't refuse to buy from a firm that has given lousy service/products, but if there's any way I can avoid them, I will.

 

[Aldakoopa]

Apple for their "we're gold on earth" marketing.

Apple - With the profits theyre making, they can afford to put people to work here, pay them a decent salary, and still be a damn profitable company.

While I've never bought from Apple myself, I really don't like them because of the previous comments, and will never buy from them. Also, everyone I actually know that has a Mac has also had them fail, including my girlfriend who has to have one for school (Because Apple still holds the title of "we're better for graphic design... somehow". What can it do that a less expensive PC can't?). Hers just died a few months ago. She hadn't even had it a full 4 years. She had a lot of files necessarily for her to complete her projects and assignments to graduate and now they're all gone. So now she's spent another almost $2000 for another Mac that's just the same internally as a PC less than half that price.

 

[manu2b]

While I've never bought from Apple myself, I really don't like them because of the previous comments, and will never buy from them. Also, everyone I actually know that has a Mac has also had them fail, including my girlfriend who has to have one for school (Because Apple still holds the title of "we're better for graphic design... somehow". What can it do that a less expensive PC can't?). Hers just died a few months ago. She hadn't even had it a full 4 years. She had a lot of files necessarily for her to complete her projects and assignments to graduate and now they're all gone. So now she's spent another almost $2000 for another Mac that's just the same internally as a PC less than half that price.

Agreed 100%. And I know what I am talking about, I used to work for them as a manager before I started my own business.

 

[Questors]

We can agree to disagree.....

No. none. This is paranoid behavior. Bad parts happen. Bad service happens. chances are it wont happen again. That company may not be thw first choice but never would I eliminate.

Inexpensive: low cost, but not low in quality
Cheap: low in cost and low in quality

I completely disagree with you. There are companies that make cheap products that do not, are not made to last. It's how they profit from taking advantage of lower income to middle income range customers. It's called (as another poster mentioned) "throw away products." You may get lucky and have one of these products last for 25 years, but they are not made to on purpose. These products have a high return rate.

Then, there are companies that strive to make quality products, which are usually higher in price (you get what you pay for). They often are the target of sales, rebates, combination offers, special incentives, and when a model line change happens, clearance (inexpensive). These companies have a low product return rate.

There are "middle of the road" companies, these are called "consumer grade" companies that make reasonable quality products for inexpensive pricing or termed as "aggressive" pricing. These products usually carry a 1 - 3 warranty and will serve the buyer for probably several years past that time.
These companies have a medium product return rate.

As far as customer service goes, that can be an individual experience or can be a customer base experience. For instance, I have read many posts at Etailer sites, product evaluation and review sites and various technical forums that certain motherboard manufacturers have a track record of unacceptably low customer service. That is not a chance happening.

My family wanted to try a restaurant called Cracker Barrel. However, every time we have been there but one, once seated, the food wait was too long, the server was in a hurry, less the courteous and my/our food cold, over-cooked and/or not very tasty. We have been there exactly 6 times at 4 different locations, including travel eating. That is an established poor record of customer service.

On the other hand, while Newegg sales has failed me a few times recently in delivering the right and quality products I have ordered, their customer service has been stellar for the 10+ years I have done business with them. That is an established excellent record.

To add: While humans are human (IE: imperfect) yes, the unfortunate will happen from time-to-time. However, your statement sounds defeatist. "We should take what we are given, accept that is the way it is, shut up and take it." Personally, I work (believe it or not) both physically and mentally hard for my pay. When I buy something, I research it and where to buy for the best chance at a "first-shot good experience buy" well. I have the right to expect both a quality product and good service. The company should expect to provide it.

Disclaimer: I am not attacking you, flaming you, or whatever the newest term is. This is just sharing opposing thoughts, opinions and facts for purpose of discussion.

The End

 

[Aldakoopa]

Inexpensive: low cost, but not low in quality
Cheap: low in cost and low in quality

My boss gets on me every time I say I'm going to use the "cheap" clear coat on a car. He says "It's not cheap, it's less expensive!" It is still good clear, maybe not as good as the more expensive one is supposed to be, but it defintely works, looks good, and lasts a long time. It's only about $60 less per-gallon than the more expensive stuff anyway.

 

[fcomstoc]

HP (laptops) as the last one I got was...
Symantec, for terrible customer service and even worth security products.
Apple for their "we're gold on earth" marketing.

+1 HP computers are awful. I had 2 of their high end laptops and 2 of their desktops. After about a year they all went to . The quality was extremely lacking and their customer service was the worst I have ever worked with. The only one that I have of the 4 is a rebuilt desktop that I use as a server; but I did have to replace most of the parts to keep it going.

 

[Adragontattoo]

No. none. This is paranoid behavior. Bad parts happen. Bad service happens. chances are it wont happen again. That company may not be thw first choice but never would I eliminate.

I see your point but on the other hand, when a screw up happens and the company does everything in their power to NOT resolve the issue or worse, you tend to want to avoid those companies at all costs.

i.e.
Directron: not shipping all the parts and shipping the wrong parts as well. Required a couple phone calls, emails and days waiting for them to even decide to ship the correct items.
Instead of simply saying oops, and shipping the correct items and requesting the wrong ones returned (even at my cost), instead they accused me of lying and being a thief.
vs.
FrozenCPU who shipped me the wrong color extension cable and didnt include a couple small items. Required a single email, and 1 day waiting for the correct part to arrive. They immediately said OOPS and shipped the parts and did not ask for the old one back. There was no back and forth, accusations or anything other then simply trying to make it right.

Was that a one time thing? Yes. Would it happen again? Maybe.
It isnt hard to keep a happy customer. It takes at least twice as much work to lose a customer.
Why would I take a chance on a company that spent more time trying to avoid fixing their mistake instead of going with a company that immediately tries to resolve it?

 

[fcomstoc]

+1 Customer service is mostly common sense. If one thinks about how they would feel it tends to resolve issues quickly.

 

[Sir Barton]

No. none. This is paranoid behavior. Bad parts happen. Bad service happens. chances are it wont happen again. That company may not be thw first choice but never would I eliminate.

Its different on my end, aside from ASRock. I mentioned companies that used to make very good products, but havent in quite a number of years. Theyre nothing more than casualties of companies that were once run by enthusiasts instead of bean counters.

 

[markp1989]

Yodel, a courier, I will never post anything with them. During the "fire sale" of the HP touchpad I ordered one, on the day it was due I tracked it online and the status page said "Status: Delivered,left with neighbour Name: Brown Door" I was at home and there was no card through the door, so like an idiot I knocked on every house on my street with a brown door, no one one had it.

I called up the company who contacted the driver, the drive said he couldn't remember what house he had left it at. After I complained to customer services they gave me the drivers mobile contact number. When I phoned him he told me he had left it by my back gate. It was raining the day he claimed he had left it there. after more discusion on the phone he said he had left it at a neighbors house, but couldnt remember what number and that he would come and show me where it is, he never showed up. I called him and he claimed that he would not come to my house because I sounded threatening, yet I was just asking him to do his job properly.

I phoned customer service again who said they contacted the driver and ordered him to collect it from the house he had left it at the following day, When I called them the next day, and gave them the reference number they said that the driver had gone to collect it from the house that he "couldn't remember" yesterday but the people in the house started threatening him (see a pattern here, he seems to use that as an excuse quite frequently) .


Dixons posted me another tablet, but after my experience with that driver and yodels help line I will not be using that courier again.

 

[fcomstoc]

That is an unbelievable shipping experience; I have never heard anything quite that bad. I will never complain about being asked to sign for a product again.