My Digital Storm Fiasco (So Far)

So I ordered my new DS PC in mid/late October, after an issue where the sales rep on the phone overcharged my CC by almost 1200$ by putting the wrong config in I got it sorted out the next day, and it arrived (finally) on Nov 3. Right away I noticed that one of the 980s in the system wasn't being recognized by the motherboard. After calling DS they instructed me to make sure the card was seated properly and try to take it out and put it back in to ensure proper seating. I did this and called back the next day. (I don't get home from work until after 5pm EST and so I can't always be sure I'll get in touch with DS tech reps once before 8 pm EST (their closing time) let alone twice.

Card is still not being recognized by the mobo so the tech diagnoses the problem as a faulty video card and RMAs the card. This process involves them placing a hold on my CC account for the full price of the returned card until they receive it (very frustrating for someone who doesn't have a huge amount of available credit but understandable considering the price of the part).

New card arrives several days later (no rush on shipping) and is actually a pretty sweet card, however, after installing it into the same slot as the card that was removed it was still not being recognized by the mobo. At this point I try the new card in the primary slot on the board and it works just fine. So the issue is becoming pretty clear that the board has a bad slot.

I call in the next day and again don't get to talk to a tech before 8pm, they try to call back the next day and send me an email saying I missed the call, which is fine because I wasn't home but I called from work and let them know that I wouldn't be home that day until after 2pm their time so that they could call at the appropriate time. They try calling back again before the scheduled time and I get an email saying they closed my support ticket. I get home that evening at 5pm (understandably frustrated) and call to open another ticket. I get in touch with the tech fairly quickly this time and he diagnoses the problem as indeed being a faulty board slot for the second video card and tells me that they need to bring the rig back in for repair. I ask him if he could please try to get me some expedited shipping because of all the issues I've been having he says he will try and I should get the shipping label later that night (this is monday the 16th). I don't receive the label that night, just an email saying that the return request is processing and it could take 24 hours, another day that I can't get the item to UPS. Finally I get the label today (tuesday 18th) at around 6pm and get the PC packed up to ship out tomorrow and find out that the shipping will be UPS ground. So I'm definitely not going to get the rig back before Thanksgiving holiday.

I'm not giving DS a bad review here I'm just sharing the story of what has been going on with the computer I ordered. I understand things go wrong (especially with delicate electronics) but I am extremely frustrated at this point and frankly I want someone to feel sorry for me. I believe when I get the computer and it is in working order it will perform fantastically based on how it performed with just one 980. This frustration is compounded because I purchased several hundred dollars worth of new games (Call of Duty, Far Cry 4, Dragon Age, Lords of the Fallen, Metro: LL) to play on my new beast computer after suffering with an old HP for too many years. Obviously that last part isn't the fault of DS but I have no other outlet to express my frustration as I work in an office with people who don't understand the intricacies of gaming PCs and aren't interested in hearing me gripe. I fully intend to continue being a customer with DS unless i experience further problems in the future.

I'm sorry to have gone on so long so here is a TL;DR for those of you who need one: Very frustrating experience so far compounded by the fact that I know when I get a fully functional machine how amazing it will be.

(Side Note: I do have my order number for any DS employee who wants to verify my story and wants to make sure I'm not just trolling.)

Thanks for the suggestion. I did exactly that. I ordered from DS specially because I didn't expect them to behave like a giant faceless company and they have such great reviews and a high rating with the BBB. I do hope this doesn't turn out to be a nightmare.

i believe its [email protected]

try shooting an email to alex, his email is [email protected]

Edited by ArkansasWoman777 - 19 Nov 2014 at 3:51pm

You have every right to be upset that your pc isn't working the way you want to. As it is DS is here to help every way they can so you aren't bothering them with any emails you send.

@MichaelMacade,

I’m very sorry to hear about the issues you have had with your new PC. It’s definitely a frustrating situation when you have waited for your new system and it isn’t working properly. Especially when you’re trying to figure out what is wrong and having our team try to pin-point and troubleshoot it.

Every system that leaves our facility passes all of our stress-tests, benchmarks and receives a through quality check. On rare occasions, a unit may arrive with an issue that most likely occurred from shipping shocks and vibrations. This is rare, I would say less than 10% of our shipments deal with something like that.

When a customer has an issue, we have to resolve the issue in logical steps, such as we have done with your situation. Sending a video card as a replacement is a far quicker and more efficient way of hopefully fixing what could possibly be wrong. In your case, it looks like the PCI-E slot on your motherboard has gone bad from the shipping shocks/vibrations from the graphics card. This type of issue is even rarer.

We honestly would love to overnight every return service request but it simply does not make financial sense for the operations of the business, or else we wouldn’t have the funds to invest in our business which would then compromise the quality of our products and service. It’s a difficult area to balance, but something we will definitely look into improving as when an issue occurs, it makes a difference.

In regards to your situation, I assure you that we will do our best to take care of this as a priority as we do value your business. I’m sorry it has taken as long as it has. Once we get the unit in-house, our team will be on it, as we do treat brand new orders as an urgent priority that come for service.

In the end, we’re here to take care of you and will never ignore your concerns. You are our valued customer and making sure you are enjoying your system is a priority.

Please, feel free to contact me at anytime via email ([email protected]) or our team ([email protected]) and we will be more than happy to help.

P.S.
I will be moving this thread to the “Customer Service” section shortly. We will keep it open there until we have resolved your issue.