Viscom, V2 Premier, ShopNBC rip-off Chaska Minnesota

IMHO
If you have a problem with ANY computer shop
thats (not) local, assume they will screw you.
To solve/hack them into fixing it;
do all of the following if possible your self
or have a "GEEK" do it

Step one:
assume the worst and backup YOUR data
and nothing else, and dont use restore at all.

Step two:
uninstall any thing YOU installed no matter what.
make it like it was when you got it ,if you can

Step three:
PAY a shop to ONLY diagnose the REAL problem
so you dont get bs'ed ,its worth it.
tell them what you are doing so there is no
problem on ther end (please trust me on this).
Make sure they can do this without any
sign it was opened ;if they cant: stop/goto four

Step four:
call tech support and "guess" ;) the problem
FIRST and then tell them the simptoms
and that it is in the same condition
it was when it arrived (if pressured say that
you did steps 1&2 Not 3
if no good outcome demand a refund /replacement
or sue nothing else, be a b***h/a$$ole about it

Basics:

Never send it back for anything
other than a refund or swap/replace
it did not work so you want a replacement or refund period. The back and forth IS
to ware you down and make you go away .

Dont let them send a hard drive in the mail(DOA).

never ever PAY for "warrenty" service
or extended anything AFTER you buy anything.

If it "shows up" dead imediatly send it back
for a refund and or sue since most of them will
refuse to refund it was DOA so you dont want
to do biz with them

dont bother with the BBB
they do absolutly nothing

however if a company IS listed as bad
with the BBB then don't use them at all

back ground
independant/small shop geek/tech 10 years
went to court for cutomers against (ahemm)
HP, DELL, Compaq, Gateway, Radioshack?,
???apple??? wtf (I testified 3 times)
all "lost" settled out of court after myself
and others showed up to tattle
their experts knew us all MWAHHHAAAHHHHAAA

Hi Jose. I know what you are going through. I too was ripped off by viscom. I have tried everything to get them to send a return packet, but they refused. It has been about two years now ... and with a non-functional computer. I am really angry with Viscom and ShopNBC on how they deal with their customer's concerns and problems. Please let me know on how I can help with the class action suit against those that ripped us off!

I am part of a network of technicians that work on computers in our spare time as independent contractors. We receive work orders from Company A, which in turn receives these warranty repairs and others.

I was browsing this site because I wanted to see why I have been getting so many calls on the V2 Premier.

The tech in the story was doing exactly as they were instructed. We are NOT employees of Viscom, we just go and replace parts when they ask us to. The form referred to is the work order, and simply verifies that the computer is in the EXACT same state it was in before we showed up, with the exception of the SPECIFIC part we have been asked to replace. The customers signature on this form is how we get paid.

We are given no background on history of calls to tech support. We are not told what tech support thinks is the problem. We are only told to replace the part that has been shipped to the customer whether it solves the problem or not. We are actually instructed NOT to give opinions on the problem or the workmanship of the machine we are working on.

Please go easy on us - we are not related to your problem, we only show up and do our job. If it fixes the problem, we are happy. If it does not, we have done what we can.

Today is Wednesday, February 26, 2003.
They finally installed the new hard drive on yesterday. Guess what? The computer is still doing the same things it was doing with the "old" hard drive.

The technician came in around 11:15 in the morning. I proceeded to give him a little background on my "lemon" but he looked like he didn't wanted to hear any of it. He proceeded to tell me that he was there to install the new hard drive because this is "what the company is paying me for".

It took him between 30-45 minutes to install the drive and to do the system recovery procedure. He was quick to show me a form which he asked to sign. By signing this form I stated among other things that he had checked the system components and that everything had checked out just fine. This is before he did any checking. I told him I wouldn't sign any papers if he wouldn't perform the procedure stated in the form. He didn't seem to like this but he did.

Now mind you, all he did was to check the 31/2 floppy, the dvd, and the cd drives. Of course all of these have allways checked out ok. He then proceeded to call Viscom to report what he had done and again pushed the service form towards me, for me to sign. I signed.

I then proceeded to re-install some of the software and tried to use it. It was not a surprise when the "lemon" proceeded to do behave in the same manner it was behaving before. Crashes, drop backs to the desktop, error messages, re-starts, etc. I then called Viscom technical support.

After telling the technician of what the computer was doing and not doing she got on the defensive and proceeded to tell me things and to treat me as a novice who has never seen a computer in his life. After about 45 minutes on the phone with her, she stated that it was obvious to her that this was a software problem and that I should contact their software department if "any of this happens again." I felt like I needed a crash course on Anger Management right then and there.

I am at a point right now in which I'm thinking about taking the system to a local shop, even if this voids the warranty. I will wait a little longer to find out what their decision will be in regards to what their next step will be in regards to my "Lemon".

I will continue to update this report and to call Viscom Technical Support as long as V2 Premier/Viscom/ShopNBC doesn't satisfy my right to own a system which is implied to function at the $1650 price I paid for.

The results are; They cannot tell me for sure if the part has shipped or not. They don't have a UPS tracking number to give me so I assume that it hasn't shipped yet. As of today, my computer is still useless.

What a bargain. What a computer company. What a technical support department. What a rip-off.

Still planning a trip to Chaska.

I'll keep y'all posted.

Thanks.

Thank you for the chance to respond to the ripped off People.

I too was computer lacking in knowledge and how to use one.

As time went on I found that the old saying " Garbage in you get Garbage out" is quite true.

A computer as in just about anything in life you have to learn to use and appreacate what it can do for you.

I enjoy my V2Premier 1.8, with video card and the kitchen sink.

First thing I eliminated the unnessary and found that the System will run and provided a much better service .

The Printer "lexmark x73" had to be manualy installed along with its driver. And once that was done. Everthing and I mean Everything is working Great..

I would suggest , Picking up a Book about how to use a computer and find out what Software is compatable with other software. and By doing this , it will help YOU in operating your computer.

I Think Jim Perterson is a good person and is forthright in his presentation on TV but is still ultimately responsibe for the Company.

I am sure ,if he is given a chance too help you, that he will do everthing in his power to have a satisfied customer. He does in me.

Thank You,

I have worked for ShopNBC for a while now, and I can tell you one thing - DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM THERE. We are constantly getting calls from people who have not recieved their order, have recieved empty boxes, or who have returned an item and have never been credited for the item. Also, ShopNBC loves to send items to the wrong address so that someone in another state recieves the item you paid for.

And please, please do not order the computers that ShopNBC sells. I also purchased one from ShopNBC (I got a 30%) discount. Viscom Technologies WILL NOT HELP YOU. They do not even know what they are doing. I had to pay Microsoft $30.00 to diagnose my problem, then lie to the people at Viscom and tell them that they were the ones who told me that was the problem. They finally fixed my computer a month and a half later.

Our Customer Service department barely even exists. There are a total of 40 people working in Customer Service, which means that there are 20 during the day, and 20 at night, while hundreds or even thousands of people are calling. Does this make any sense??

But ShopNBC does not care. Management has said that they will do nothing about it because for every customer they lose, they get 2 more. Instead they blame their problems on the people who place the orders for their customers. ShopNBC pays the phone reps $5 to sell the computer's extended warranties. They have not given the employees their money since April.

They go through a teleservices company called West Teleservices. The site which they use is in Baton Rouge, LA. The working conditions there are horrible. Phone reps are barely allowed to go to the bathroom or breaks. There are fleas in the carpet and for at least three years the carpet has not been cleaned, while hundreds of people trek in and out each day. Phone reps are constantly getting ear infections because they never replace the pads on the headsets.

Here is some contact information on ShopNBC and their affiliates. Bug them to death

ShopNBC
--------

Kelli Smith
Fax: 402-496-9417

Corporate Office
Phone: 952-943-6000

West Teleservices
-----------------
Fax: 225-612-3692
Phone: 225-612-3400

Bose
------
Phone: 1-800-611-5019

Solutions
---------
Phone: 1-800-821-1279

AOL
----
Phone: 1-800-466-5463


Oh, and you're welcome =)

howard - Eden Prairie, Minnesota

This is February 7, 2003. I'm still wating to receive a new hard drive that is to be installed in my lemon. I have some knowledge on computers and I can assure you that exchanging drives will NOT take care of the problems.

I haven't heard from the credit card folks yet on the results of their investigation of this case. At the same time I haven't received anything from any collections agency, even though we have put a stop payment on the last two installments. I guess it's just a matter of time.

I have e-mailed Viscom technical support to announce that I'm planning a trip to Chaska in which I will be bringing my lemon with me. I have inquired from them to give me a name of a contact person there, as I will be demanding either a full refund or a new lemon on the spot. Preferably the first and not the latter.

I have e-mailed several of my fellow rip-off report complainants on the issue of filing a class action suit against either V2 Premier, Viscom or Shop NBC or even all three of them. I'm hoping that many more will join in this effort.

I've been in communication with the head of our computer science department (I'm employed by a local college) who is giving me advice as I go through this very painfull ordeal.

All in all, I am confident that something will happen in our favor soon. I say this because I know we are right and I know they're not.