J K.

Pray your computer doesn't break.

The initial experience was fine; the PC I purchased had great specs for a fair price. Shipping was prompt and everything was hunky dory for nearly one year.

One day, my computer wouldn't turn on. Tech support was mildly helpful, but the gist was, "You better be tech-savvy enough to fix it yourself; we'll ship you parts." Given the premium I paid for the computer, I was expecting something a little more white glove (ie: take it to a local repairer and bill us, or even better, send someone out).

Long story short, I was unable to fix it. They do offer shipping both ways if under full warranty, but the terms are a little scary (amounting to you, 'if it breaks further in any way while shipping, you are responsible'). I swallowed my misgivings and sent the PC in to be repaired.

I was excited when I received the e-mail that the computer made it to its destination. I was less excited when I received an odd e-mail that my computer was found to have insects inside of it, and due to their policy, they would have to ship it back to me unfixed.

Of course, when I asked for documentation or pictures of this insect infestation, they said something on the order of, "It must have been bad, so they didn't have time to take any pictures." Great.

A couple of weeks later, I received the PC, and indeed, there were a few bug carcasses inside (it left my home visibly clean). And of course, by then, the clock had run out on my full warranty.

I cleaned the computer, quarantined it for an extended period to be safe, and then cleaned it again. I contacted them again to inquire about shipping it back for repair. Turns out that since the computer was past the 1 year parts warranty, I would need to be pay for it to be shipped to/fro, on top of pay for any parts that were necessary. I was ok with the latter, less thrilled about the former, particularly given prior bad experiences.

So in sum, the computer was just fine - but you better hope it don't break!