Sunday, November 10, 2013

Buyer Beware!

Before I start: I want to say is not at fault for what happened. They have amazing customer service and I still very much support buying directly from (Also, this is a very long winded blog!)


My 3 year old Dell Inspiron died November 1st... the hard drive decided to go. So that night I got on the internet (on my husband's computer), and researched laptops so I could get one fast but with the specs I wanted. I finally settled on a secondary seller on Amazon- called Eagle Direct Tech. They have 408, 4.8 out of 5 star reviews. So I placed an order for the below laptop:

A Dell Inspiron 14R, with 2.10ghz processor, 6GB of RAM, 640GB hard drive. With Windows 7. I paid $18 for expedited shipping, because I wanted my new laptop fast. The order was placed on a Friday night around 10pm. 

You would expect expedited shipping to only take 2-3 days right? The seller printed my label Monday morning, but they did not drop it off at Fed Ex until 4pm Tuesday evening. Which meant I didn't receive my order until Friday afternoon. I paid $18 for 4-5 day shipping. I don't know about you... but that just sounds like regular shipping to me. The printed slip even said Fed Ex Home Delivery... that's not expedited...

I had to email the store TWICE to get a tracking number. When I pay $668 for something I want a tracking number. Fed Ex around here likes to leave packages at the wrong apartments. (Even though our complex is set up like duplexes and we each have our own front door.) I like to be able to track when a package is shipping or delivered in case there's a problem. 

I was willing to forgive the "expedited" shipping fiasco even though they were only going to get a 2 or 3 star review from me. Friday evening I got home from work excited to start my 3 day weekend and excited because I was going to have a laptop after going a week without one... 

I opened the box... and at first I wasn't thrilled with how the computer was packaged. It was just vacuum wrapped with plastic in the box- no bubble wrap or anything to protect it. The other thing was there was a big scratch on the lid... when the item was supposed to be "new". Also when I turned on the computer it didn't tell me to set up Window's like a "new" computer would, it just logged right on. Then I checked the specs. I went right to SYSTEM in the Control Panel to make sure I had gotten the right computer. Then I freaked out... 

It was a Dell Inspiron 14R... but that 2.10ghz processor... that 6gb of ram... that 640gb hard drive? Not there. I was sent a laptop with a hard drive less than 452GB, 4GB of RAM, 1.80ghz processor. NOT WHAT I ORDERED!!!

 Scratch on the lid:

I was beyond pissed. My hands were shaking because I just spent over $600 on a new laptop and now I had nothing. And no way to call the seller, they only communicate through email! So I called Amazon customer service right away and they were able to help me file a complaint. They emailed the seller for me, told them I was sent the wrong item, that I wanted to be compensated for the original shipping plus the shipping to return the item. Then they calmed me down by telling me, even if the seller wouldn't cooperate, Amazon would get my money back guaranteed. They also said they would personally call me back on Tuesday evening to make sure the seller had contacted me by then.

But in the meantime- I was out $668 dollars... and I still had no laptop... and I was starting to go crazy without a laptop. My Kindle Fire HD only does so much and I was sick of typing on touchscreen! I wanted to blog, edit photos, play The Sims 3. If I wanted a laptop directly from, they weren't even shipping until Thanksgiving week... and I didn't want to wait that long!

So... my husband and I went to 2 Best Buys and a Staples Friday evening trying to find a laptop that would meet my specs. By that point, price wasn't too much of a factor anymore. Also wanting Windows 7 was out, because all the stores were only carrying Windows 8. Unfortunately none of the in store Dell's were worth the prices they were selling them for. Staples had one model I was interested in, but was sold out. And the Best Buy was sold out of the Sony Vaio I finally decided on. They checked with other stores in the area and only one down in South Philadelphia had 3 in stock, but by then it was 7:40pm and the stores closed at 9pm and it's a 45min drive to get down to South Philadelphia. So we went home and I ugly cried, had a glass of vodka and went to bed early. 


We got up Saturday morning early, so we could get to the Best Buy in Philadelphia when it opened. I don't think I've ever been to a store before it opened. lol. There were other people waiting around outside for it to open. I felt like it was Christmas or something. :-p Thank goodness. THEY DID have 3 of the Sony Vaio flip 15 in stock! Even though it ended up costing me $700 MORE (including $100 just in tax... thanks Philadelphia for your 8% tax). Sigh. But... I wanted a laptop fast.

I was finally emailed a prepaid shipping label to send the incorrect laptop back to Eagle Direct Tech. It will be getting dropped off at Fed Ex on Wednesday. And  when I'm refunded my $668... at least half of the Sony Vaio will be paid off... thank goodness for my Citibank credit card... (6% APR!)

The Sony Vaio Flip 15A is a powerhouse laptop. It has a 1.80 Core i7-4500u processor, 8GB of RAM, 1 Terabyte hard drive. It also has two video cards. An Intel HD 4400 intergrated graphics and a Nividia GeForce 2GB video card. The screen itself is also touch screen and It folds down to convert to a "tablet"... but I'm not messing with that anytime soon. I don't want to break it!

Only weird thing is... there's no CD/DVD drive. Yeah... I know newer laptops are starting to phase them out, because everything is becoming cloud based. It doesn't bother me too much though, none of my programs run from the disc. And the only time I ever used my disc drive on the old laptop was to watch a DVD rarely or burn a CD for the car. We have an external CD/DVD drive so I can use that when I need to.

Also it has Windows 8.1. (I updated the OS last night from 8.) After playing around with Windows 8 this weekend... it isn't too bad or too different. The "start menu" is definitely weird. But you can still view all your programs. You just customize what programs are pinned to the start menu. I will be back to posting nail blogs again soon! I spent yesterday getting all my programs installed.

Oh and the touch screen is so cool! I was playing The Sims 3 last night and my husband asked if the touch screen worked with games... and it does! I could select things in game by touching the screen! And do my games ever run fast now! No more lagging, whoo hoo!

My Shiny new Sony Vaio Flip 15A.

Here are my thoughts on Eagle Direct Tech, on
1. I had to email them far too many times, twice for a tracking number and two more times to get a prepaid return mailing slip. They get back to their customers very slowly.

2. I paid $18 for expedited shipping through Fed Ex. It took 4-5 days to arrive, when it should have only taken 2-3 days because the item was not shipped right away by the store.

3. They either "sent me the wrong model"  like they said in their reply email. Or, they sent me that laptop thinking I would never notice the specs were different from what I ordered.

4. The laptop looked like a display model to me, not brand new as described. It wasn't packed very well in the box, no bubble wrap etc. It had a scratch on the lid.

Conclusion: BUYER BEWARE! I do not reccomend shopping from Eagle Direct Tech on

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