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THG Busts Michaels Computers!

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Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
I wonder if anyone ever recieves their systems from this crook? If so, what does he send them? and how did the guy from THG resist pimp slapping him for lying to his face like that? :evil:
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Yanked from Slashdot:

"A little background: About a year and half ago I found myself needing/wanting a monster PC, P4 2.8, 5 WD drives, 4 in a raid 10 array for photography, music, video, etc. Gotta protect all those thousands of pictures. For fun I also wanted a gaming config as well, Radeon 9700 Pro, DDR 400, etc. Long story short, I wanted a top of the line Voodoo PC or Alienware, or Hypersonic, custom built for me, not built by me. But in NO WAY did I want the silly paint job or the price that came with it.

I also do enough hardware fiddling at work that I just didn't want to deal with it at home (busy + lazy). I wanted Uber Box to show up at my door. Go ahead poke fun, I wanted it, I could get it, so I got it.

Back then his site was much less over-the-top, he had a 7 year warranty, etc. I dealt with Michael over the phone and we came to a price which was quite agreeable for the parts and labor. I knew the pricegrabber price for every part in there, MB, sticks of memory, etc. The spec sheet he sent was right on.

The PC is great, nice build, no widgets, no crapware, XP Pro with all MS-Phone-Home-ware removed or disabled, all those services in XP that most of us know to turn off, he had them off, etc, etc. When I had trouble with the Firewire ports, he walked me through the pin-outs on the Audigy 2, when that didn't work due to meager support from Creative, he overnighted me a firewire card. He has been outstanding as far as customer service is concerned, I'm quite happy with the "uber-box", yes it's over the top, but i like it that way and in a few years I won't be aching for a complete replacement.

I always ignored his marketing. He's a VERY exhuberant fellow in person, and it shows! HA. He's a one-man-show. He knows how to build a nice PC, and is willing to do it, where I am not. I disapprove of the direction his marketing has taken (who wouldn't). Because of it, I've taken to sending folks here [pugetsystems.com] and elsewhere who want a PC built for them.

It's sad because if you remove the marketing aspect, and of course haggle on price, he DOES do just as good a job as the Alienware / Voodoo PC folks. Actually better because I hate that tricked out case stuff, and I have yet to hear of Alienware calling or emailing you back in 5 minutes with a fix or a tracking number to a free replacement part you haven't asked for yet.

Just goes to show that running a [Widget] business takes a lot more than being a [Widget] expert. You've got to have your marketing, order processing, legal angles, etc., all figured out as well.

Maybe this "expose" will help him improve. I wish him luck. He's a real nice guy. "
 
That article saddens me deeply. I don't know what's more disturbing,

The 'Company' or the people who actually bought it from the company
*Slaps head*
 
Uhh...I didn't need THG to do in-depth research just to tell me that this guy is a fraud. Everyone knew it was a complete joke.
 
Originally posted by: Excelsior
Uhh...I didn't need THG to do in-depth research just to tell me that this guy is a fraud. Everyone knew it was a complete joke.
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Only everyone who knows something about computers. I bet this guy could've sold my mom a computer if she had been silly enough to buy a PC without cosulting me first. She doesn't know that AMD even exists, and you can bet that she will never run PC/3dMark to benchmark her system.
 
Originally posted by: randumb
LOL! The Michael's Computers website is down now too. I think the guy finally gave up with lying.
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Yep, his party's over. To think THG did an unbiased, clear-cut, good article. I actually read the entire thing :Q.
 
Next week it will be Michael's Totally Possessed Computers. Built by someone you can totally not trust and is an athiest too. Powered by Satan himself.

This guy is crazy. THG better be watching his back.
 
Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
wow... a non intel fanboi THG article. Perhaps they're coming around.
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michael should have just told them his "uber" computers use P4 chips, they probably would have believed him....
 
First off, I thought the interview was weak. He should have pressed him MUCH harder. WTF was talking about chipsets for? He said MaximumPC reviewed his chipsets? WTF? Does this guy make his own chipsets in the basement? And then he goes on to say he uses Cryotech technology to cool his laptops? Another, WTF? What, does the laptop weight 50lbs? What a freakin' moron. I definitely would have pressed the sh!t out of him after those dumb ass comments. :disgust:
 
michael should have just told them his "uber" computers use P4 chips, they probably would have believed him....
Click to expand...
Ah-hah!!!! We discover the real reason THG needed to do this article. Someone was making claims that a (non-existant) AMD-based system bested Intel. THG can't have anything that contradicts the "superiority" of Intel. Real or imagined...

Seriously, I agree that this article is fairly useless, albeit amussing. I can't imagine people falling for this claptrap. But then again, people buy infomercial crap all the time...

\Dan
 
I really doubt he purposely took his site down.

I'd bet you a dollar that he's experiencing ENORMOUS traffic and his hosting company shut him down for exceeding his bandwidth limit.
 
Originally posted by: nitromullet
Originally posted by: Excelsior
Uhh...I didn't need THG to do in-depth research just to tell me that this guy is a fraud. Everyone knew it was a complete joke.
Click to expand...
Only everyone who knows something about computers. I bet this guy could've sold my mom a computer if she had been silly enough to buy a PC without cosulting me first. She doesn't know that AMD even exists, and you can bet that she will never run PC/3dMark to benchmark her system.
Click to expand...



THAT is why this article was important. I'd guess about 95% of the general population is completely bamboozled by this stuff and will buy from anyone who SEEMS to know what he is talking about. This expose will shut this cretin down, and many people will be the better for it.
 
Originally posted by: EeyoreX
michael should have just told them his "uber" computers use P4 chips, they probably would have believed him....
Click to expand...
Ah-hah!!!! We discover the real reason THG needed to do this article. Someone was making claims that a (non-existant) AMD-based system bested Intel. THG can't have anything that contradicts the "superiority" of Intel. Real or imagined...

Seriously, I agree that this article is fairly useless, albeit amussing. I can't imagine people falling for this claptrap. But then again, people buy infomercial crap all the time...
Click to expand...

Some people must have been falling for it... because he's been around longer than a couple of months, and he was confident enough to advertise his 'company' on his vehicles, and was even wearing a t-shirt of his company when he was surprised.

And even if nobody was buying it, at least that article got his site shut down and the proper people (him claiming all those awards) aware of what he was doing.
 
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