Computer Brain, Inc.
6925 North Lincoln Ave.
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
Phone: 847-675-1111
Fax: 847-673-7340
I ordered a part from them last night. They had the lowest price on pricewatch. I come home this afternoon and there are two messages on the machine; both are from Computer Brain asking me to return the call. I am in Washington state. I call and identify myself.
Computer Brain: Our records indicate you just ordered an OEM part that has a 20 day warranty.
Me: Right.
CB: Would like to purchase an extended warranty.
Me: Huh?
CB: Would like to purchase an extended warranty.
Me (confused): You had me call you long distance to ask if I wanted to buy something else from your store?
CB: uh, yep.
Me (angry): Why didn’t you email me?
CB: uh, we can email you if you like.
At that point, I cancelled the order and asked them to never call me again. I am mulling whether to have the credit card number changed. What the hell?
I almost never buy from the absolute lowest price vendors on Pricewatch and Pricegrabber. Invariably they make up for their discounts with crazy shipping prices, or try to sell you an extended warranty or add-ons.
Check with ResellerRatings.com before buying from anyone online. Great resource.
After you check with ResellerRatings, you’ll discover that all computer parts should be purchased from NewEgg.com or MWave.com. :-) I’ve had great experiences with both companies.
GoogleGear’s apparently great as long as you don’t have to return a defective product. I’d heard good things about them from some folks, but their customer service rating on ResellerRatings is scary-bad. NewEgg tends to be close in price, but has a great rep for coming through if you have problems, so I went with them instead.
I’ve ordered from NewEgg twice. They’re very inexpensive, ship quickly, and neither of the items I got had any problems whatsoever. I like NewEgg very much.
I have ordered several times from newegg with no problems. They seem to have near the lowest prices and very low shipping. The only thing they seem to be high on is CPUs and for that I went to googlegear.
I’ve built at least ten PCs with parts from mwave.com. I’ve never once had a problem and a friend did a return and also had no trouble. Definitely a good choice. I’ve been dealing with them through my last two PCs and about four years.
I’ve ordered from about ten or twelve different places which are commonly seen on Pricewatch. I’ve never had one call me except one time when I was shipping to an address that I hadn’t authorized on the credit card, so I needed to call the bank and add the address. Weird.
I use Newegg pretty much exclusively. They have great prices, a very user friendly website and the stuff shows up at my house so fast (usually three days with standard shipping, don’t bother with the 2.99 rush order charge, the stuff always goes out the next day) that I have had no desire to look elsewhere.
I have used several Pricewatch vendors and gotten some great deals. Haven’t had a problem yet.
Just build a machine from stuff I got from mwave.com, and I will agree with the others here that liked them. If you’re only buying one component, you can beat their price. But if you’re buying several parts and want them all on one invoice (easier paperwork for a business system) then mwave is competitive. Some of the Pricewatch vendors didn’t consistently have the low prices mwave had and/or didn’t have the selection and variety. I haven’t had to work with mwave on returns - everything was packed nicely and worked the first time, but on a pre-order question I had, their sales dept responded quickly to my email.
I usually use Newegg, but just ordered a CPU from Thompson’s Computer Warehouse (http://www.tcwo.com/). They are in the top ten at Reseller Ratings, so I’m pretty sure everything will go smoothly. Free FedEx 3-day shipping, and no sales tax charged to a California address, where Newegg charges both.
If you need something more exotic, Newegg and its ilk often don’t have it. I usually use www.coolerguys.com (also well-rated). I just ordered a new 120mm Sunon fan (managed to break one futzing around in the case) & a Thermaltake GF4 cooler from them.
