Novatech Direct Ltd www.novatech.co.uk Review

Novatech review



I wasted almost three months of my spare time trying to get a Novatech machine to work reliably, or at all.



The staff in the Cardiff branch were very nice and helpful (but not the store manager who I had to deal with later on).



I discussed my needs in person and bye email - fortunately that meant I had a full trail of all conversations. I wanted a high spec machine to cope with HD film making



When I took delivery, I scrabbled around under my desk plugging in all the connections until I came to the firewire cable. I couldn't find a slot, not on top, back, under a flap I had specifically confirmed in writing that the spec of the custom machine we agreed (costing over £1100) had a firewire connection and was told it was on the motherboard. Whether I ever got the motherboard I paid for I'm not sure, but there was no firewire socket. Additionally, several of the USB slots were unusable as they were not aligned with the back-plate, and the green ring around the speaker socket snapped when I removed the speakers to return the machine. And there was no power cable provided!



None of which suggests anyone at Novatech tests anything before delivery

As I had purchased extebnded warranty and they claim "Novatech lifetime support, here to help you and all the other sales talk", I tried to call them but they will not give out store numbers and they don't offer support at weekends or evenings (this was a Saturday). Actually, you can't easily get through in working hours either.



So back to the shop, where a separate firewire card was fitted, and power cable provided. As the other known problems were not critical and would require a return to base and I really needed the machine, I decided to put up with them. The store manager, who I had noticed being quite domineering and curt to his staff and not polite to customers, told his staff not to give me the store's direct number which I had requested in case of further problems!



In fact, numerous other problems ensued. I could not get the machine to recognise a microphone when plugged in to the slot and I need microphone use. Again, it makes you think the machine wasn't checked.



It never seemed that fast for a top spec i7 processor.



Worst of all, Windows 7, which Novatech had installed frequently crashed, sometimes failing to start at all, sometimes running for only a few minutes without even any apps. being started, before crashing. Despite my weeks of work on the machine, I decided I'd have to take it back to the store.

As we were going on holiday, I told them I would let them have it for three weeks so I expected it to be thoroughly tested in tens tore after repair by Head Office. I Also said this was their last chance to fix it.



There weeks later, I go to collect and ask the store if they have tested it. From their reaction, and the sealed box, obviously not, so I ask for it to be demonstrated in store before I took it home. It turned out this was not possible because they'd fitted a new motherboard and there weren't any holes in the back-plate so they couldn't connect their LAN/Internet cable at all! If I'd taken it home iut would have been useless.



The managed to create a rather jagged opening for the cable and the machine seemed to work. I took it home making it clear how unhappy I was.



But not as unhappy as when I found it still crashed frequently. Clearly they had neither diagnosed the problem nor validated the repair in anyway.



I disconnected everything and packed it all up yet again, making sure I was returning everything I had received. I went to the store and asked for my money back. The manager refused. He said it might be 'the software'. I asked what software and he said Windows. I said I had ordered a machine with windows pre-loaded, and I didn't care whether it was hardware or software, after months of wasted time it was clear it wasn't fit for purpose. He said that bundled software wasn't covered by any consumer rights (untrue) or their warranty. In eth end, I had no choice but to agree he would send it to head office for inspection, though I stated I would not receive it back and only wanted a refund.



Two days later, a manager from Head Office called me and said she was shocked at the details of my complaint, it should have been escalated to her sooner, and as soon as they checked that everything had been returned she would issue a refund. However - and how surprising is this? - in the end I had to write stating I was about to issue legal proceedings before I got my money back.



I bought another machine from PC Specialists and had a very much better (though not perfect) experience - I'll review them separately.