Evetech - If you like to be messed around

I purchased a R23,000 laptop from Evetech in Sep 2017. We need to purchase these powerful gaming laptops for the video post production industry so its vital they are always working optimally. Within a year the laptop wasn't able to work with 4k footage so I took it back to Evetech and they said its been over 6 months so I need to take it to Rectron. Rectron took it in and found nothing wrong so they gave it back.

We used it for another week then took it back again and they said there's nothing wrong so maybe they should format it. They formatted it and still the same. I took it back again and they said perhaps the graphics card isn't switching so they turned the GTX 1050 on permanently and they said that was definitely the issue. However the problem still continued. We used that machine at snails pace throughout our busiest time of the year Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec struggling every step of the way because we had no choice and the machine had been in now 4 times if you include the time I took it to Evetech first when they just sent me away.

All the while my animator had been having constant issues with a R72k machine we had Evetech build for us in Sep last year to handle some serious 3D animation and rendering. We took that same machine back 4 or 5 times in the first month because the screen kept turning off forcing a restart and we were certain that only 1 of the GTX 1080 cards were working. 5 times they took the machine in and eventually they resolved the screen issue but told us the GPU's were working fine and even replaced 1 of them.

So now in January when we had a bit of time I had my Animator take in both machines and sit there until the issues were completely resolved. Needless to say he sat there the whole day.

They then confirmed finally that only 1 GPU was actually working so we had a R10,000 graphics card sitting in that machine for 4 months during our busiest time that wasn't ever working. Only after my animator sat at Evetech the entire day did they sort out the R72k machine and tell us that the laptop was so broken that they have to write it off! It couldn't even be fixed.

So now they wrote off the laptop and couldn't replace it with the same model so they then told me since its a year and a half later that the laptop has depreciated down from R23k to R18k. I told them that I reported this 6 months prior originally so it was still in the first year but they said "Sorry its current value is R18,000".

During all of this I had given them the specs for a new machine build to replace this laptop and this would be a R45,000 machine and the consultant then said that since they cant give me more money back on the laptop they can have a look at giving me a better deal on the new build. So I said that finally something sounds promising.

Only to get an email on Friday saying sorry we cant offer a discount. This really made me mad so I then asked for my R18k refunded back to me as I wanted to take my business elsewhere since they have been so unhelpful, with such terrible customer service and forced me to use 2 machines in a broken state for 5 months during my busiest time. I am a small company and we only have 3 machines here therefore 2 machines working at half capacity means my entire business is just trying to keep its head above water.

They then called me to say that I cant get a refund and that I have to spend that in store credit with Evetech. And thus why I am here on Hellopeter because I have been wronged in this situation and they are not offering me any solutions but rather just taking my money and forcing me to spend more money with them. I have spent almost R200,000 with them in 2 years and this is how they treat me.

To add to this when I asked them their advice on building a machine and what would be best for my line of work and specifically for editing they literally couldn't give me any advice and just gave me the price on the specs I asked for and I had to do all my own research with zero help from them.

Now to put this in perspective I was told I should go to PC International and chat to them about a build. Needless to say I spoke to a fantastic guy named Eugene who asked me about my business and advised me on a machine with a lesser graphics cards. A 2070 instead of a R5000 more expensive 2080 card because he said I wouldn't notice the difference in software like Premiere Pro. Now that is service.