posted on November 29, 2000 08:42:15 AM
I was watch this seller very closely over a month. Here is the story:
Oct-03-00, seller post 100 units of computer on ebay for sell, very cool black computer. I missed the auction.
at this time seller feedback is 40 POS Feedback with 3 or 4 NEG feedback
Oct-27-00, seller post another 100 untis,
man, I jump in right away, please my bid
on $250
Oct-28-00 someone email me claim this seller try to fraud, I review seller's selling history and found out this seller was selling some cheap cd software on ebay before start to sell computer. At this time,
i back off without increase my bid.
Oct-30-00 I try to email back to the guy
who send me the fraud email, he/she account
has been closed by hotmail already ??
Oct-30-00 I went to seller's website for update information, they claim this was
a "Bogus Fraud Claim", seller notify hotmail to closed that accout for spam email.
Nov-07-00 Seller post another 25 units.
Nov-11-00 Seller post another 40 units.
Nov-16-00 Seller post another 60 units.
During this time, i keep visit seller website
for update, they have lots excuse for not been ship out the units which people already paid for it on Oct 03, 2000
Today Nov. 29, 2000, When I check the seller on ebay for update, he's now NARU (Not a Registered User)
Seller sold 325 units on ebay the avg. final price pre unit is $500, I was lucky i didn't get burn.
is eBay really safe, I don't think so anymore. Who ever send me that email has also send a email to safeharbor, but safeharbor didn't take the warning.
posted on November 30, 2000 09:04:34 PM
Always be careful if a seller with low feedback is selling many of the same expensive items. He could be legitimate, but not really worth the chance, specially if they are going very cheaply. I'm glad you were warned, you were lucky.
posted on November 30, 2000 09:58:23 PM
You figured out the scam. Ray Charles could have spotted it. Seller built up feedback with cheap items and popped many non existent computers. Any research at all should have warned off a prudent buyer.
posted on December 1, 2000 07:42:47 AM
Thanks spuddy.
A seller has been offering cheap widgets then all of a sudden they offer M-A-N-Y multiple of high price items? The only thing missing was a hotmail addy and a post office mailing address in Rumania.
posted on December 1, 2000 12:11:43 PM
I agree that Alien has bitten off more than they can chew but I am not totally convinced that it is a scam. I do have access to their website and can see that they have shipped some of the units. Now if those people did not receive their units as stated on their website Alien's negative feedback rating would be much higher. A couple of days ago I received an email from someone who'd received their pc but were awaiting speakers (I think).I am getting to be very impatient and will soon request a refund. I am going to research the term NRU on Ebay though and attempt to find out exactlly what's going on! Although I suspect that Alien received so many complaints they Ebay booted them off!
posted on December 1, 2000 12:53:16 PM
padangboy, trillium1 and wdhath,
I am sorry but I have deleted your posts as they identify a seller. By posting identifying information, including auction numbers, links or IDs, the Community Guidelines require an invitation to the identified parties to participate in the discussion.
If you wish to post the information again, please review the procedures outlined in the Community Guidelines before doing so.
posted on December 1, 2000 01:29:51 PM
Hello, everyone!
I am glad to see we are a scam. I guess people have failed to check the hundreds of tracking numbers listed on our site. I guess people have failed to verify that hundreds of ebay customers have received their excellent bargain, cool black book pcs.
Yes, we have slow shipping. That is not a crime, and it is not fraud. We even clearly stated in our auction listings our shipping times, and additional binding terms. Let's face it, you wait a bit longer and you get a new PC for 40% its retail value.
If this was a SCAM, why are we shipping units? Why are people getting their computers? Check the tracking numbers people. Check with the people who HAVE RECEIVED THEIR systems. We have been selling these systems for over two months on eBay alone.
We sell THOUSANDS of units, and not to just auction customers. We offer TOLL-FREE tech support via 866-22ALIEN for our computers. We are working at offering 24/7 web based support also. That should be available by the end of the week. Our site is http://www.aliendistribution.com/
We also sell other products, and not just computers. Software, components, and even case stickers.
As for our suspension on eBay, we are working with eBay on that matter. It seems they associated us with another suspended user due to some bogus information provided to them by a third party. We have submitted our response and defense the matter to eBay, and hopefully that matter will be cleared up soon.
I am sorry that we actually posted any information via our website. We should have just let people hang the balance bombard us with even more e-mail.
We are a small company with growing pains. We have worked hard at correcting those matters, and will continue on with our business. A few very loud customers are causing concerns, and yes we can understand. However, let me just remind you that computers are shipping, and orders are going out. More tracking numbers for customers concerned have been posted, more today, and more everyday.
One last issue, we have not just sold some cheap software. We have sold modems, network cards, cd-rw drives, hard drives, and several other types of items. The bogus fraud claim that the e-mail was reffered to came from hotmail. We reported them to hotmail, and GUESS what? Hotmail closed their account.
Let's look at the facts people, not jump to LOOK they have negatives, it has to be a scam. Their are other sellers that have even more negatives from unhappy customers, and they continue to sell.
posted on December 1, 2000 01:56:45 PM
Linda, Now that the seller in question has responded, I repost my comment previously deleted hoping that now you can let it stand...
I am not an apologist for Alien Distribution, BUT, if you haven't got you PC yet, is publicly knocking them the best approach? At best, this is making the prospect of getting our PCs faster less likely, (clearly when writing replies on messages boards like this, their obviously limited resources are not building PCs) and at worst it could contribute to making the whole thing fold before they get round to shipping to us.
Apart from being slower than advertised, what have they done that constitutes fraud? The UPS web site advises that my package is in transit to my location for delivery on December 4th. My colleague has received his speakers, with the computer also due on December 4th. It wasn't "two to four weeks", (more like seven), but then, its rare that things get done as advertised. (If you doubt me, I would refer you to current events in Florida, or to any dealing you might have had with your phone company, cable company, etc.)
On another point, I note that the originator of the thread "lotswin" has exactly the same bad English I saw in the original knocking messages from [email protected].
I have to ask, why is "lotswin" so concerned to ensure that I'm fully informed and so interested in protecting my interests? By his own admission, lotswin didn't buy anything, so he has nothing at risk. Now he discovers AD is selling on Yahoo and with suitable indignation is suggesting, "we've got to do something!" Gee, I'm so fortunate to have such a selfless person looking after me. I would rather he spent his time learning to write properly.
There have been units shipped with real tracking numbers that have been delivered to real addresses. Eventually they'll get to you. If they are, as you suspect, a bunch of crooks, punt the whole thing to your credit card company. If you paid cash, don't ever pay cash again on eBay and remember, "a bought lesson is a remembered lesson".
For those who continue to heed those who rant on, ask yourself what is their real agenda?
[ edited by trillium1 on Dec 1, 2000 02:00 PM ]
posted on December 1, 2000 02:26:00 PM
I posted a pretty long rant about AD
here earlier today, which was deleted because I had violated TOS. I had checked in the morning and there had been no tracking number for me.
It had been 50 days since I had ordered,
and I had made several calls to their support number and complained to the person
that occasionally answers the phone. I checked their web site again after I had posted today, and I do have a tracking number now. If I end up with a decent computer, I'll be somewhat happy, but the wait and annoyance certainly lower the value.
Regarding their "growing pains", if the issue is they can't keep up with demand, I think it is unethical to keep offering more auctions for Book PCs. They should have known about the demand since *they created it*. Yet, they still continued to offer new auctions stating an avg 2-4 week ship time.
The communications have consistently been poor. The web pages regarding actual status of the auctions appeared to have been updated once a week or so on average.
If they want to appear as a legitimate business, I'd recommend the following:
*Place a phone number to be able to contact
people regarding the order ( not just a 800 support line that is infrequently answered)
*List a physical address for the main office on the main web page
*Update web status pages on a daily basis
Given the ship times and the lack of communication, I'm not surprised so many people are suspect of this company.
posted on December 3, 2000 12:04:17 PM
As stated by another message poster, I am either for or against the seller. However, I can tell you what I know. I bid, won, and now have received my computer. It's even more than I thought it would be and as advertised by the seller. Shipping was very slow and I worried like everyone else. Every email I sent to them was answered in a timely manner (guess what? I treated them with respect and got the same, go figure). I can tell you that since my computer and speakers arrived I have been very impressed with the ease of setup and with the performance. I went to a website that thouroughly checks your computer and its components and received an evaluation of "129" out of "100". I have done the same component check on my other computer that cost a lot more and the best I could ever receive was "107". The bottom line--A very good computer at a even better price, well worth the wait. I would buy from them again. This is not a "glowing" testimonial for the seller, just the way my experience has been. Good things come to those who wait.
posted on December 3, 2000 12:20:34 PM
Wow what a thread of false accusations and slandering of a fellow ebayer.
With that said ALien Distribution may I suggest that you adjust your timetable of dutch auctions to delivery dates to realistically be able to deliver systems within a more reasonable time frame. Just by reading your response your business plan and operation method obviously has you listing auction in the dutch format. And then placing the actual orders when volume dictates a profit margin from Ingram Micro. I short you are attempting to use just in time delivery to sell the computers on auctionsites, then order the computers wholesale at deep discount, receive them via volume and address the shipments to your customers.
No crime with conducting business in that manner. However if you are successfully managing to operate in that manner. Why not take the profit from two dutch auctions to prepurchase the inventory for the next dutch auction to avoid the shiping delays to your customer base. You are supposed to be in business so at this point a little risk is acceptable.
posted on December 3, 2000 03:26:45 PM
Actually, let me clarify our inventory. The computers themselves (or I should say components) are in stock and ordered in a specific pattern. We use industry standard build queues to determine whose order is at what build facility and when. We had to accomodate our new auction customers into our current build status.
Which was the reason for the longer delivery times. To give people a chance to get in on our low prices, and help us lower them even further. We wanted to give ourselves some leeway in case problems did arise, and then did. I can't even count how many issues caused delays, and most not even by our internal workings. From a transport company misdirected a finish batch of machine to Miami (which we do not have a location in Miami, BTW), to server breakdowns. Even our 12k color laser printers decided it did not want to go on by itself and demanded not only being repaired, but for us to get another unit to help ease its workload.
The speakers, which are not an integral part of the computer system itself, however, are not necessarily in stock at all times. We have several hundred in stock, but due to space limitations at any given facility, we don't order more than 1000 speakers at a time. Usually we order in lots of 100, however, in this particular instance we decided we needed 500 units right at the wrong time.
First, it lead to a price war with Altec Lansing who wanted to raise the price per unit from what we were paying. Why? Another company was not happy at the price and quantity we were buying at and reminded Altec Lansing that they are a bigger customer than we are (the company shall remain nameless). Thus, we had nearly a week of listening to "well we can do it at this price". Then came, "we don't have enough units", to finally we told them we can get them from the "grey" market cheaper and would just drop our account altogether, and perhaps even just not carry the speakers at all. Well, our volume and determination finally spoke and low and behold our units finally arrived, and at the same price we had been paying.
So to summarize all of these events into a few simple sentences about telling us what we should do to change our policies is very hard to do. We have changed many policies, internal procedures, revamped accounting (3 times in 4 months), hired additional staff, developed helpdesk software, and offered a longer warranty and faster units.
We also upgraded all original orders that have and had not been shipped to a minimum of 667MHz versus the original 600Mhz they may have ordered, and even gave them 133MHz RAM to properly utilize that processor. Our unit stand at 800MHz now (133Mhz bus) and the majority (which I cannot say exactly who and make no guarantee) will get these upgrades without even having to ask due to our tardiness in shipping.
Why do that, when we could just make an extra buck on the lower prices of 600MHz proceessors? Because we know we have been lacking in proper customer service, and are trying to remedy it. We want to make sure our customers receive up to date hardware and software when their machines arrive.
Most complaints are our lacking of answering e-mail in a timely manner. Understand that when we advertised and auctioned these units on eBay and elsewhere, the world exploded! We receive over 100 e-mails per hour, and at first it was just me answering them. Everything from questions about the units to order status. Quite frankly, I was amazed and immediately told the rest of the Alien Crew we needed a Tracking HelpDesk to assist myself, and others in handling this influx of e-mail. That was about two weeks ago, and we have been working on it with another company. Our servers had to be upgraded and loaded with the correct modules, which was another reason for the recent upgrades. We hope to have this functionally soon, but testing take a bit.
posted on December 3, 2000 04:56:44 PM
To be honest, that was far too much informatio to divulge to the Auction Watch Community. But I hope you have a means to condense that and alert your waiting customer base.
Your deal is really a deal and I hope has proven profitable for your operation. Agai I salute your integrity to cme forword to answer the slander and hearsay posted here and your willingness to address the situation factually and with a great degree of candor. I hope you get the inventory matter resolved and the status of your ebay matter resolved.
posted on December 3, 2000 10:29:24 PM
Update on my earlier post:
I got my alien computer on Thursday of last week, and I have not turned it off since. What more can I say? It was well worth the wait. I have been all over the internet and have watched 5 dvd's on it with out reseting since Thursday. Thank You Alien Distribution.
posted on December 4, 2000 11:24:28 AM
Alien, on Dec 1 you stated to the Auction Watch community that "however, let me just remind you that computers are shipping, and orders are going out. More tracking numbers for customers concerned have been posted, more today, and more everyday".
Your website shipping status for my auction has not been updated since 11/24. It may be a great bargain but personally I am wondering if the add'l 2-4 week wait is worth it. I make the majority of my income from my computer and am losing from $75-$200 per day. I am using a friends and cannot utilize someone else's property in the same manner that I would my own. Do you think all parties of auction 4586452?? will have their units before Xmas?
posted on December 5, 2000 04:30:47 PM
I have been checking the page for updates all day but there has been none all day. It sounds like the systems are what they said the would be but the deliverey time should be changed from 2-4 weeks to 6-8. I'm sure they will get better down the road. I have been emailing them and calling to change my address but they have not gotten back to me. I hope they change my address before they send my computer! If you read this please email me back!
The web page has been down for me very often today? anyone else?
posted on December 6, 2000 07:09:50 AM
How are you checking status of your order, I keep getting the contact for password (which I have) page. Tried asking for help on e-mail and by phone but no response yet. Thanks
posted on December 6, 2000 03:07:27 PM
New updates on Dec. 1st? My auction has not been updated since Nov. 24! Alien Distribution, please don't say thee will be updates if there are none. I have done my part as a customer to be as patient as possible. Please reply to this posted message and let us know when we can expect our pc's. I don't think you are a fraud regardless what others say. I think you are having growing pains but if that is the fact you can at least let us know (your first customers that are allowing you to grow) when we will get our pc's. You owe us that bit of gratitude!
posted on December 7, 2000 12:43:52 AM
I do believe this is week 7 of waiting to get our computers. Just kind of wondering how we're supposed to check the status of our order when the order status page hasn't been updated for almost 2 weeks. I guess Alien Distribution is just generally slow at everything. Sure it would be nice to get an 800 processor, but I still am thinking I would have been better off buying from a place like BestBuy or something like that and paying a bit more, but at least I wouldn't have to wait 2 months or possibly more to get it. Just my 2 cents.
posted on December 7, 2000 10:12:29 AM
This saga sounds like what often happens with rebates for computer-related items. "Oh, we were overwhelmed by the response" etc. It's so bad in that area that I no longer pay attention to rebate offers.
I think eBay has a case for NARU even if it's just a case of very slow shipping and very sloppy execution. Those are LEGITIMATE grounds for negative feedback on eBay, enough of which can get a seller suspended.
In other words, eBay's standards are higher than the law's standards. You could be operating within the latter of the law and not be a scam, yet still not be "ready for prime time."
posted on December 8, 2000 08:44:40 AM
I received my Book PC today ( still waiting on the speakers). The disk drive and memory are as advertised, but to check the CPU, i hit the tab key as it was booting to show me the BIOS info instead of the splash screen and it showed a PIII 500E processor, not the 600 that was stated in the auction, or the 800 that AD listed as a possible replacement. I'm curious what CPU speeds other people received.
posted on December 8, 2000 09:43:56 AM
My payment of $1547.97 was sent by Paypal to Alien on 10/13/00, and since then I have waited like everyone else. Well, I have received ONE PC, and despite eight (and counting) emails, I don't know if I'll ever see the other two. The one emil response I received said "Multiple system orders could be in different build queues". This makes no sense, because I paid for them all at the same time. Only two tracking numbers were posted - one for the speakers and one for the PC. I still had hope that I'd receive the other two, but after reading the latest posts about the 500E processors I have my doubts. Yes, the one PC I have is a 500E, also. This has been an expensive lesson!
posted on December 8, 2000 10:43:02 AM
Any customer that receives a system that the unit is running at 500Mhz should call our tech support line at 866-22ALIEN, and leave their name and number for a tech to call them back. The slowest cpu we currently are building on is the 667MHz, and no longer the 600E processor. We have never built a system on the 500MHz FCGPA processor.
New systems are shipping on 800MHz processors.
You are welcome to open the case, and verify the processor is a 600E, 667MHz, or 800MHz processor chip by reading the Intel spec codes on the processor itself. Apparently the BIOS defaulted back to state it is running to 500Mhz, or the BIOS could need to be flashed. We are working with the manufacturer of the motherboard for the clarification.
posted on December 8, 2000 10:47:26 AM
If your e-mails are not responded to, or an exceptionally long delay, keep in mind we are currently averaging now 340 e-mails per hour, and only a staff of 3 to answer e-mails.
