Question NZXT - Computer Renting: Consider Steering Clear In General

[Brainonska511]

GN has done a deep dive into NZXT and their computer rental business - certainly worth a watch:

TLDW:

• Constantly changing specs on prebuilts and rentals, and the rental versions often are worse specs than the same name prebuilt
• NZXT is using older hardware in the rentals, despite having the same model names as their prebuilts that use more modern hardware
• Subscription fees are not fixed, and have repeatedly increased over time
• Dishonest advertising (through influencers and website copy)
• The subscription fee is so high that a self-build or a comparable pre-built would reach price parity in 10 months or less, or even in about a year if you used a service like Affirm to pay over time
• Gamer's Nexus cancelled their Q4 advertising contract with NZXT and permabanned them from being an advertiser in the future

Given the above, I'd even personally avoid them for both parts and pre-builts, if that was something you were considering. (And after all, NZXT was also the company that blew off responding to computer cases that would light on fire)

 

[DAPUNISHER]

They blew past every metric I use for evaluating companies to do biz with. They'll never get a sale from me. Now to see which tech tubers are willing to ditch them. So far GN and Jay are the only ones I am aware of.

 

[In2Photos]

They blew past every metric I use for evaluating companies to do biz with. They'll never get a sale from me. Now to see which tech tubers are willing to ditch them. So far GN and Jay are the only ones I am aware of.

I saw a few other posts from some smaller tech tubers/SIs that didn't come out and say they wouldn't be using them anymore, but more like insinuated it. We'll see.

 

[Brainonska511]

They blew past every metric I use for evaluating companies to do biz with. They'll never get a sale from me. Now to see which tech tubers are willing to ditch them. So far GN and Jay are the only ones I am aware of.

Yeah. Not in the market for parts now, but they are off the potential parts list forever after seeing this video.

 

[manly]

An hour video is indeed TLDW for me, but yesterday IL that gamer PC rental is an actual business. 🤣 PCs depreciate so quickly that there's almost no way you could make a business model that is consumer-friendly.

 

[Brainonska511]

An hour video is indeed TLDW for me, but yesterday IL that gamer PC rental is an actual business. 🤣 PCs depreciate so quickly that there's almost no way you could make a business model that is consumer-friendly.

It still would have been a bad deal as rent to own, but at least it wouldn't be as bad as what they did do.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Johnny Hou decided to pour gasoline on the fire.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1864465297500987708

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I don't watch J's content, only read the comments, but he at least got Johnny Rotten to do a sit down -

Steve has rolled up his sleeves and is going to throw these clowns a beating -

https://twitter.com/x/status/1864657751986626988

 

[DAPUNISHER]

lol share link has DANG MAN in it.

 

[Brainonska511]

lol share link has DANG MAN in it.

The conversations amongst NZXT's management...

 

[lakedude]

I don't really see how this is much different than any Rent to Own place. They all take advantage of people with bad credit along with check cashing places and pawn shops. Best thing anyone could do is bite the bullet and get their credit straightened out.

Life is so much easier and cheaper if you have good credit. Sign your name on a paper and drive off in a new car with no money down, zero interest and no payments for a couple of months, back in 2018 anyhow.

My kid's computer would have cost over twice as much if we would have bought a similar rig from his favorite youtubers.

I knew a girl with several nice cars, all bought on credit. I asked her why she had so many and she said in case one gets repo-ed she could drive one of the others. All her stuff was on credit or rent to own and she eventually lost it all.

It would be better not to do business with any of those rental places, NZXT included.

Buying from NZXT shouldn't be an issue though, right?

 

[Brainonska511]

I don't really see how this is any different than any Rent to Own place. They all take advantage of people with bad credit along with check cashing places and pawn shops. Best thing anyone could do is bite the bullet and get their credit straightened out.

Life is so much easier and cheaper if you have good credit. Sign your name on a paper and drive off in a new car with no money down, zero interest and no payments for a couple of months, back in 2018 anyhow.

My kid's computer would have cost over twice as much if we would have bought a similar rig from his favorite youtubers.

I knew a girl with several nice cars, all bought on credit. I asked her why she had so many and she said in case one gets repo-ed she could drive one of the others. All her stuff was on credit or rent to own and she eventually lost it all.

It would be better not to do business with any of those rental places, NZXT included.

Buying from NZXT shouldn't be an issue though, right?

At least rent to own ends with ownership if you pay it, even though it is also predatory. This is rent to rent and never own at rip off rates and misleading model names where specs change if you flip the buy vs rent.

 

[lakedude]

At least rent to own ends with ownership if you pay it, even though it is also predatory. This is rent to rent and never own at rip off rates and misleading model names where specs change if you flip the buy vs rent.

Fair points.

Paying forever and never owning is getting more and more common. Printers with their ink subscription, Office 365, Gamepass, etc.

 

[Brainonska511]

Fair points.

Paying forever and never owning is getting more and more common. Printers with their ink subscription, Office 365, Gamepass, etc.

I'm not a huge fan of the software as a service model, but at least for Office 365, you get 1 TB of cloud storage per seat (and it's like 5-6 seats for a $100/yr family sub) alongside the use of Office.

 

[manly]

Buying from NZXT shouldn't be an issue though, right?

Personally, I like withholding my money from unethical companies. It's hard though, there are just so many unethical ones out there and sometimes you just need to step into a Walmart.

I'm not absolute about this (Amazon gets a lot of my money online), but as consumers, we have to exercise our power of the purse.

Fair points.

Paying forever and never owning is getting more and more common. Printers with their ink subscription, Office 365, Gamepass, etc.

Like @Brainonska511 , I'm not a fan of subscriptions for software but it makes sense if you're getting a recurring benefit. Like for Netflix, Game Pass, or even security updates.

Instead of sending tens of millions of devices to landfills each year, I would rather pay a small, annual amount for security updates. Unfortunately Apple made so much money selling its shiny baubles that they stopped directly charging for the OS. So they (and others) charge for it indirectly by planned obsolescence and premature upgrade cycles.

 

[lakedude]

Personally, I like withholding my money from unethical companies. It's hard though, there are just so many unethical ones out there...

For sure. A capitalist system is basically greed based so finding an ethical company is like finding a needle in a haystack.

This NZXT ripoff is not the kind of thing I'd ever fall victim to (as long as I'm in my right mind anyhow). People should just save up instead of renting or buying on credit.

Better to earn interest than pay it.

I don't like to patronize companies that marginalize any group or that promote any political agenda left, right or otherwise. A business should welcome all customers and that last thing I want is politics in my face.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Bringing up other companies is whataboutism; NZXT is the company under the microscope here. This isn't about how a company treats its employees, or its biz model's impact on society. It's about extremely predatory anti consumer practices NZXT is engaged in. And how scummy the CEO is being now that the scam has been exposed.

NZXT has lied and misrepresented AKA scamming people.

 

[lakedude]

Bringing up other companies is whataboutism...

Call it what you like but comparing a company's behavior to industry standards is a natural thing to do. NZXT doesn't operate in a vacuum, there are other retailers and other rental companies. If they all behaved the same this NZXT thing wouldn't be news.

Rent to own places are generally bad and NZXT has managed to behave even worse than that industry's already low standard.

I'm not defending them, just saying that I was never personally in danger of falling into their trap because I already avoid most rental/subscription situations and advise others to do similarly. Even small monthly expenses add up over the years.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Point conceded. Compare and contrast makes sense the way you described it.

 

[manly]

Call it what you like but comparing a company's behavior to industry standards is a natural thing to do. NZXT doesn't operate in a vacuum, there are other retailers and other rental companies. If they all behaved the same this NZXT thing wouldn't be news.

Rent to own places are generally bad and NZXT has managed to behave even worse than that industry's already low standard.

I'm not defending them, just saying that I was never personally in danger of falling into their trap because I already avoid most rental/subscription situations and advise others to do similarly. Even small monthly expenses add up over the years.

I'm baffled by this? I don't care enough to watch the NZXT response, but the gist of it is they doubled down?

There are tons of "scams" out there of varying natures and degrees. I'd like to think you and I are impervious to most, but that doesn't make them any less of a scam against soft targets.

Some are even legal, such as payday loans. That industry argues they provide a service to desperate folks that need that service, but the reality is that it's usury.

I'd much rather support a business that promotes a political "agenda" that I support, than a business that is out to scam some of its customers but espouses no overt political stances. Is this even really a question or debate, lol.

 

[lakedude]

I'm baffled by this?

Me too, which part? I think we are mostly all in agreement regarding check cashing places, rent to own, etc. and that NZXT is extra slimy.

If you don't mind politics being injected into your retail experience that is fine, for you. I'm sick to death of partisan politics and will choose to avoid it whenever possible. I'm not trying to change your mind, merely espousing my own view on the matter. Seems to me like picking a side is a good way to lose half your customers...

 

[Brainonska511]

Me too, which part? I think we are mostly all in agreement regarding check cashing places, rent to own, etc. and that NZXT is extra slimy.

If you don't mind politics being injected into your retail experience that is fine, for you. I'm sick to death of partisan politics and will choose to avoid it whenever possible. I'm not trying to change your mind, merely espousing my own view on the matter. Seems to me like picking a side is a good way to lose half your customers...

No decision is also a decision, and frequently one that people of substantial privilege can make.

What NZXT has done is super slimy and is taking advantage of low-information consumers, particularly those that might be young or not very knowledgeable about computers. It's bad for the consumer, and it's bad for computer gamers and PC builders overall. There isn't a need for more shady companies to muddy the waters and sully people's experiences.

 

[manly]

Me too, which part? I think we are mostly all in agreement regarding check cashing places, rent to own, etc. and that NZXT is extra slimy.

If you don't mind politics being injected into your retail experience that is fine, for you. I'm sick to death of partisan politics and will choose to avoid it whenever possible. I'm not trying to change your mind, merely espousing my own view on the matter. Seems to me like picking a side is a good way to lose half your customers...

I understand why businesses prefer not to alienate half their customers; that much is obvious.

Look, you do you as that is your right. I just don't agree with the "it's okay if that business is a slimeball as long as they don't advertise their political agenda to me." No, it is not okay for businesses to be slimy just because it's totally legal and that only dumb folks would fall for it.

We realize you aren't condoning it, but it's just a weird take to me. Anyway, I'll leave this type of discussion for ATPN; this thread is ostensibly about NZXT's rental business.

 

[lakedude]

There isn't a need for more shady companies to muddy the waters and sully people's experiences.

Agree completely, with all of it.

 

[lakedude]

it's okay if that business is a slimeball as long as they don't advertise their political agenda to me.

I'm not saying that at all. They are 2 different things but either will lose my business.

Oh is this about the buying not renting question?

NZXT will never see a penny of my money after this scandal.