Puget Systems and iBUYPOWER: two sides of the system integrator coin

iBUYPOWER: Reliability, Warranty and Support

If pure performance isn't the benchmark by which systems are to be compared, reliability and technical support have to move to the forefront of considerations. How do the iBUYPOWER systems stack up in these areas? There are some good aspects as well as a few problems that we encountered, but certainly nothing that we would consider a deal breaker.

Let's start with reliability. The midrange system had no problems whatsoever throughout our testing. We ran a variety of stress tests, including various complex games, and not once did we have any issues with stability. The high-end configuration was almost as good, except one morning we came out to find that the system wouldn't power on. After doing a bit of troubleshooting, we were able to determine that the power supply was dead. What caused the failure? It could have been a flaky component or a substandard power supply, but there were also some power outages occurring around the time the PSU failed that were caused by severe rain/wind storms. None of our other test computers had problems, but it's possible that this particular system was plugged into an outlet that got a bit more of a surge during one of the numerous brownouts. When we called tech support and "played dumb," they eventually reached the same conclusion and at that point we would have normally sent the system back for repairs. However, the test configuration (quad core with CrossFire graphics) was such that we would have ended up scratching the review altogether. The reliability of the power supply could have been better, but the level of support that we were offered was good and would have fixed the problem.

All of the iBUYPOWER systems come with a standard 3-year warranty, as we mentioned earlier. It's great that everyone gets that level of support without having to spend extra money, but some people would prefer to have the option to spend a bit more for on-site service as well. As it stands, repairs have to be completed by iBUYPOWER, which means you have pay to send the computer back to the factory for repairs, and iBUYPOWER more will pay for return shipping. Turnaround time tends to be around 7 to 10 business days, so if your computer is your livelihood that's probably insufficient unless you have a backup computer. That's the advantage of many of the large OEMs: they have various business agreements so that you can get next-day on-site service as part of the warranty coverage.

Besides actual repairs, we also like to test out the customer service and support department. One of the first problems that we immediately discovered is that it's a bit tricky trying to figure out how to contact technical support. The iBUYPOWER web page doesn't place the support link in a prominent location. Normally, customer service links are located near the top of company web pages, but in this case you have to go to the very bottom of the web page and click on the very small "Service" link. That takes you to a page where you can then select "Technical Support" to get the necessary contact information. Email support is also available from the service page. Like many smaller companies, technical support is only provided during the week: Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST. Other than email, iBUYPOWER doesn't provide any other support options.

We called up the support department several times during testing to see what sort of hold times we would get as well as to grade their support quality. Wait times weren't too bad, averaging four or five minutes in most cases, but we were usually informed by a recording that there were "excessive calls" and that the hold time would be 15 to 20 minutes. The longest we ever had to wait was about seven minutes, however. The overall quality of the support was okay, but we didn't really feel that they went beyond the call of duty. Most of the time, the support personnel spoke English with an accent that made communication somewhat difficult, and at times we weren't entirely sure they understood our problem so there was frequently repeating/restating of the situation. Once we were able to overcome the communication barrier, the answers they provided were generally correct, but they weren't always necessarily the best solution.

For example, when confronted with a potential spyware infection, the initial advice was to simply reformat our hard drive. When asked how to do that, we were told to simply restart the computer with our Windows XP CD in the optical drive and follow the instructions. Only after a bit more talking (during which the support person seem to be anxious to get off the phone) did the possibility of using anti-spyware software come up (they recommended "Adware", not AdAware), and we never did get clear advice suggesting that we backup any important files or documents before reformatting.

That was perhaps the worst of the support calls, and we should mention that quite a few companies will simply refuse to help with any software issues like viruses or spyware. Our support calls related to hardware problems, driver issues, and other general advice were better, but we never really did feel like the support personnel wanted to help us. In most cases, they could give the correct answer eventually, but either because of the communication barrier or some other factor we would have to rate the overall support experience as merely average.

Getting a standard 3-year warranty without having to spend a lot of extra money isn't a bad deal, but the level of support provided definitely wasn't as good as many of their competitors. There were no support forums that we could find, and there wasn't an option to have a technician remotely control the PC in order to provide help. Support hours are also relatively limited, and while they should be sufficient for most people anyone that needs more handholding will definitely want to look at a company that can provide at least some amount of support over the weekends. On-site support as an upgraded option would also make their systems far more attractive to business/home-office users. In essence, iBUYPOWER provides a reasonable level of support but nothing particularly noteworthy. They get the job done, and that's about it. Given their extremely competitive pricing, we really aren't particularly surprised; companies that provide high-quality support generally have to charge more for their computers.