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VoodooPC Customer Survey

VoodooPC customers have come to expect nothing short of the best when it comes to their computers. Our customers are important to us and over the years we have listened and responded to our customers, this has often guided our service approach with new customers, and we get better all the time. Our customers demand the best in performance products and deserve the best in service. So, we ask that you please complete the following 24 questions about your purchase. Your feedback will go a long way to ensuring your next experience with VoodooPC is positively unforgettable. Your honesty is appreciated.

Please return this filled out survey to kevin@birdienumnum.com by April 2, 2007 and you will be rewarded with a free package of the famous Voodoo Game Fuel (organic espresso beans ground into organic chocolate….). I will send the game fuel to the contact information you provide below before April 15th, delivery will vary based on your location. You can choose to remain anonymous, however you will not receive the Game Fuel.


Name : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Age : 60 Gender : M

Address : xxxxxxxxxx

City : Sparta Prov/State : WI PC/Zip : 54656

Country : USA

Machine Purchased : (ie. Omen, Rage etc.) Envy M780

Purchase Date (MM/YY) : 06/04





The Purchase (check all that apply)

How did you select the model that best suited your needs?

X Website Advertising

X Other customers’ comments Articles/Write Ups

X Telephone, with VoodooPC staff Other

Please explain / comments:



2. How would you rate your experience on the Voodoo web site?

X Informative Not Informative

Easy to find information Not easy to find information

Easy ordering process Difficult ordering process

Please explain / comments:
I would have preferred that there be more pictures of the computer I was going to purchase. Fortunately, one of the other Board members had a gallery of laptop pictures that he was willing to share.


3. How did you find using the Quote Kitchen on the VoodooPC web site?

X Informative Not Informative

Easy to find information Not easy to find information

Easy ordering process Difficult ordering process

Did not use it

Please explain / comments:



4. How was your purchase made?

All online X Telephone

Online and telephone Other:

Please explain / comments:
I liked the fact that each time that I called I was able to talk to the same sales consultant. I also liked the fact that he was knowledgable about the product he was selling.



5. How would you rate this transaction process?

Very good Good

Satisfactory X Poor

Never again

Please explain / comments:
A number of problems arose during the ordering process that were annoying to the point that I should have realized that I was not dealing with a first-rate operation.

First, I had problems with the Voodoo-sponsored financing. The financing was approved within a day, but it took Voodoo much longer to recognize this fact and get my order entered. For whatever reason, the communication between the bank and Voodoo was lacking. Since this was Voodoo's financing program, I expected much better communication.

Second, the problem was exasperated by an email system at Voodoo that didn't seem to work.

Third, I never received a bill of sale from Voodoo indicating the exact specifications and components of the computer that I had purchased. All I received was an email indicating my order number. It did not even have on it the total amount of my purchase.

Fourth, within a week of the time I ordered, Voodoo anounced that a higher resolution screen was being made available for the M780. At that time I elected to change my order, knowing full-well that it would possibly delay shipment as well as cause me to pay more for this upgrade. What surprised me was that I not only paid extra for the higher resolution screen, but also was assessed a penalty charge for changing my order. Having been in sales for some years, I would never dream of treating a customer in this manner. It was especially aggravating since I knew that my laptop had not even been put into production yet.

6. In your opinion, what could have made this transaction a better experience?
See the answers to #5.

7. What was the best part of the ordering process?
See the answers to #4.

8. What was the worst part of the ordering process?
Is this question redundant or am I missing something here?

9. What could VoodooPC do to improve the purchase process?
See the answer to #8.


Additional comments:
Post Purchase

10. How long did you wait for your machine?
I believe it was about 5 weeks.


11. In your opinion, was the wait time reasonable? If not, what would be a reasonable wait time for a custom built PC?
Considering that I changed my order, I thought the wait was reasonable.


12. Custom, one-off machines take time to build and test, did VoodooPC explain this process to you adequately? What can we do to better explain this process to our customers?
I don't recall this ever being an issue with my purchase. Quite possibly I had spent enough time on the Boards that I was already aware of this. I don't recall that this was mentioned by the sales consultant, or if it was, I may have indicated that this was not a concern for me.

I think the big problem does not come from the normal lead time involved in building and testing, but from promising delivery when the parts to manufacture the computer are not in house. This leads to expectations that Voodoo is invariably unable to fulfill.


13. What communications did you have with VoodooPC while you waited for your PC to arrive? (ie. Telephone, E-mail, Physical Correspondence (mail), Web access/messaging)
Please explain what communications took place and how often (and who initiated the communications):
I only recall a couple of emails from Voodoo indicating my order number and the fact that I had changed my order. I think that I called a few times to question the status of my order.



Additional comments:
Arrival

14. Was the shipping date of your VoodooPC communicated to you?
I called to check the status of my order and was surprised to find out that it was shipping that day.

15. If so, how were you contacted?
I wasn't. See #14.

16. Did you receive exactly what you were expecting?
Yes.

17. What did you think about the packaging of your new machine?
I didn't, other than the fact that the "straw" used for packaging was mildly annoying.

18. What did you like about the packaging?
It looked to be reusable, and I found out later that it was.

19. What did you not like about the packaging?
See #17.

20. How important is it to know that packaging materials are environmentally friendly? (re-useable or recyclable)

Important Not important

Nice to know X Don’t really care

Please explain / comments:


21. Are you familiar with the following documents from your VoodooPC

owners manual? If so, what impression did it leave you with?

Y N

Brand Karma N Positive Negative Neutral

Certificate of Ownership Y Positive Negative X Neutral

Benchmarks Y Positive Negative X Neutral

Voodoo First Aid N Positive Negative Neutral

Voodoo Warranty Y Positive Negative X Neutral

Please explain / comments:
I guess at my age I'm not easily impressed. I don't recall anything about "Brand Karma" or "Voodoo First Aid."

22. What follow up did you receive from VoodooPC after the delivery of the machine?
The receptionist / operator (Kim) called to ask if I had received everything ok. She also urged me to share my experience on resellerratings. com.

23. In your opinion, what could we do to make this an overall better buying experience? Live up to the cusomer's expectations. See #24.

24. Why did you choose Voodoo? Would you purchase another Vooodoo in the future?

This is going to be a long answer.
I chose Voodoo because:

A. At the time the price Voodoo charged was very little higher than that charged by competitor's such as Hypersonic for the same machine, and I was willing to pay more because:

1. I thought I would be getting the kind of customer support and TLC
that I had once received from Gateway in the 1990's but was no
longer available. I assumed that when I called in after I received
my computer with a problem I would get prompt answers and be
able to talk with the same knowledgable tech each time I called.

2. I was willing to pay more for the privaledge of being able to
participate on a forum such as the MuthaBoards where I could
communicate with Voodoo owners having like interests.

B. It was not a conscious part of the decision-making process, but I assumed that by paying as much as I was, I was purchasing a product that had already been field-tested by Voodoo to live up to all of the hype that they had in print on their web site about their products. It never dawned on me that Voodoo was taking product from another manufacturer without really knowing how it would perform in the long run.

At this time I do not forsee purchasing from Voodoo again. After spending over $4,400 on my laptop it lasted less than 2 years and is currently packed away in my basement. (I replaced it with a Dell XPSm1710).

During the time the laptop was being used, it was shipped back once for a new video card. It also had problems with playing back DVD's, it was shipped with an outdated BIOS, it developed a crack in the bezel above the right hinge, and the continual problems with excessive heat generation lead me to conclude that when the motherboard got fried it was not worth repairing.

But these problems could have been ameliorated if I had been made to feel like I was getting the customer service that I had been led to believe I would get. Instead I developed the belief over time that customer service at Voodoo was being used to stonewall the customer so that the company did not have to spend limited working capital on solving the customer's problem. The customer service people were always courteous, but trying to get anything done reminded me of being in the army and marching through sand in full field gear. Some examples:

Calling on a problem seldom resulted in getting the same tech. Each time it would be necessary to explain the problem from the beginning and what had been done up to that point. There seemed to be no case number applied to my problem and no log of what had taken place up to that point.

The people at Voodoo didn't seem to know what was going on when my computer was in for repair. One day when I called I was told that it would be 2-3 weeks before a new video card arrived. Literally, the next day I was told that a video card had showed up and the my computer would ship back to me the next day.

Even though my computer was under warranty and shipping should have been covered both ways, Voodoo charged my credit card without my permission for the freight. Each time that I called about this problem I was greated with a very friendly response and was told that my card would be credited, but each time nothing happened. It took several calls for me to get this charge reversed. I got the impression that Voodoo was hoping that if they stalled long enough, they could just keep my money.

To get a better feel for my customer service experience at Voodoo I have attached a document that contains the comments of various Board members in regard to the M780 BIOS problem. In the threads I am "ethelred." I realize that this is long but if you have the time to read through the posts you will get a better sense of what customers can experience in dealing with Voodoo. (THIS POST IS LONG ENOUGH. I AM NOT GOING TO INCLUDE THE ABOVE REF THREAD)

25. Thank you for participating. Can you hardly wait to receive your Game Fuel Chocolates?

Iago wrote:Eve has a strategy that is hard to argue with: if she has not touched something in six months, it goes out the door. Her mother is a nasty hoarder, and Eve has to make a concious effort not to be that way.

So I do have to make very certain that she has contact with me at least once every six months . . .