Let me scare you with a story:
When PowerComputing Corporation hit the scene last year, I, like the rest of the Mac community was thrilled by what this Mac OS licensee had to offer: screamin' machines at irresistible prices. Also like a lot of people, I got sucked in and forked over my hard-earned dough before I was really in a position to do so. It wasn't long after getting my PowerCenter 120 that I realized I had a lemon on my desktop. One would assume that at least a few lemons roll off the assembly line of every computer plant, but the big question is: what happens when you end up with one of these bitter little fruits?
* My first sign of trouble was constant systems crashes. I futzed with re-installing various system components but the problem continued. I spent what seemed like hours on the phone with tech support trying to troubleshoot the problem. The first tech I spoke with seemed competent enough, but not overly helpful or friendly, and we came to no real resolution of the problem (the machine still crashes). I also had problems with the system being very noisy (the cooling fan? the hard drive?), which I've heard other PowerComputing owners complain about. In all fairness to PowerComputing, I installed cheap SIMMS and have been spending most of my days in Navigator, both notorious for causing crashes.
 * The first big sign of trouble was the power supply fan. It quietly sputtered out one day and overheated my machine so bad I could have toasted Pop Tarts on the damn thing. I called PowerComputing and got a very snotty "technical support specialist." After far too much 'tude from this tech, he asked me to send the computer back. Dead smack in the middle of a crushing book deadline, I really didn't want to do this (and have to struggle through 2 weeks of downtime) but I was stuck. My machine came back several weeks later with the hard drive reformatted. They had obviously reformatted the drive and re-installed system software in an effort to fix the crashing problem. It was a major hassle to re-load my 1GB of stuff, and on top of that, the crashing problem continued. Everything worked basically fine for another 2 weeks until the new power supply fan died. That's right, two dead fans. * I almost went postal when they asked me to return the system again. Uh-uh fruity pants, not a chance. After a slightly heated exchange, they agreed to have a local tech come fix it. He did and installed an entirely new power supply (after a bit of begging on my part). Problem fixed. But was I out of the woods yet? Not hardly. * A few weeks later it was the CD-ROM drive. It decide to stop showing up on the desktop and no amount of begging or waving dead chickens on my part convinced it to return. I called and spent more "quality time" with the tech department. They had me under the hood of the machine again, something I actually enjoy doing, but the entire time, I'm thinking: What do other people do who are scared to touch the innards of their machine? And, I can't imagine how hard it would be to talk to the tech and work on the machine at the same time without a hands-free telephone and decent tools (both of which I own). Throughout the process, the tech seemed anxious to conclude that the problem was fixed before I felt confident that it was. Sure enough, after it worked for a few mounts/dismounts over the phone, it failed a few days later when I tried mounting another CD. The smell of lemon began to permeate my life. * I put off calling for over a week out of sheer disgust and a fear of blowing a gasket over the phone. When I finally did call, I got a no-nonsense tech guy who cut through my litany of complaints with: "Hey, no problem, we'll send you a new drive right away." He even said he'd upgrade me to an 8x drive (the original was 4x). Finally, a positive tech experience with PowerComputing! Then, I asked him if I needed a new driver for the 8X drive and he said "No, you should be all set." * I wasn't. After about 5 days, the new drive arrived. I installed it without a hitch, but it wouldn't show up on my desktop. Back to the phone. I spent about an hour with my newfound friends at PowerComputing, once again taking my machine apart. The tech had me doing all sorts of hardware and software maneuvers, with no result. Towards the END of the hour, he says: "Oh, wait...what CD Toolkit do you have?" (I had 1.6.0). "I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner, you need 1.6.3!" (I can't believe I haven't shot myself by now). Why the hell didn't the last tech tell me this...after I specifically asked him? This tech emails the right software, and after installing it, the drive finally appears, like an oasis in the desert, on my desktop. * The next problem turned out to be wholly my fault. The systems crashes became unbearable. I called, and after some back and forths, it was determined that I had a SCSI device (a tape drive) turned off. Since it was on the end of a SCSI chain, I thought it didn't matter. It does. As soon as I turned it on, the constant crashing stopped. * But I'm still left with a machine that crashes more often than any machine I've ever owned and now the floppy drive is making odd noises. Every time I see the name PowerComputing, I get a small knot in my stomach. I tell others about my troubles with PowerComputing and warn them about buying their machines, mostly to no avail. The company has a great rep for making innovative machines at low prices, but the question is: what are you going to have to suffer through if your machine breaks or you get a lemon? Based on my experience I'd say: it isn't going to be pretty. Keep that in mind when you're deciding on your next brand. The computer press spends a lot of time rating systems but spends little on companies' service records. Maybe it's time they did. I'd like to hear from others about their PowerComputing tech experiences. I hear from Jeff Keller of the highly-recommended PowerWatch Web site that tech complaints are common. If you have a tech story to tell, good or evil, please post them in the "Technical Support Specialist" topic in the Shop Talk Information conference - Gareth Branwyn [7/4/1997] |
