TheITdepot & Primeabgb buying experience

G

gspaul80

Recruit
Hi Everyone,

I want to share my experience of buying components for a PC I am planning to build after a span of about 4 years. I was in australia for 5-6 years and returned back in 2017. Before going to Australia the PC scene was not very good in my home town but on returning back I was happy to see some very good options on websites such as Amazon, mdcomputers, primeabgb and theITdepot. I have waited almost for an year for building this PC and finally after the launch of RTX cards, I decided its about time. I have ordered plenty of stuff other than PC components from amazon and the experience has been good as long as you avoid dubious sellers. But I could not find the components I wanted on Amazon and even the ones I found were ridiculously priced.

Just to let you know that the system costs around Rs.3 Lakhs and I was pretty scared to order without cash on delivery option. But having tried local markets for almost 2 weeks for components even close to the configuration I was planning to build, I decided to take the plunge. Even though I was seeing lower prices for some components on other websites, I decided to buy from primeabgb and theITdepot. Since I did not wanted to deal with too many courier people. I ordered the following components from Primeabgb:

MSI MPG Z390 GAMING EDGE AC Intel Z390 Motherboard
Corsair HX750 80 PLUS 750 Watt Platinum Certified Fully Modular SMPS
CORSAIR Vengeance RGB Pro Series 32GB (16GBx2) DDR4 3000MHz RAM
Nocuta NF-A14 iPPC-3000 PWM 140mm × 2

And the following components from theITdepot:

Intel Core i5-8600K 3.60GHz Processor
Acer Predator X34P 34inch Curved Gaming Monitor
MSI Geforce RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio 8GB GDDR6
Phanteks Eclipse P400S
Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVMe M.2
Be Quiet DARK ROCK TF Air Cooler

I did bank transfer in both cases on 13th Nov. Communication from theITdepot was good, they confirmed receiving the payment within couple of hours and I also received an email confirming order being placed and in process by the end of the day. But after that there was no communication which got me worried and I mailed them on the 15th Nov asking when the order will be shipped. I was shocked to receive an email which stated "We wish to inform you that your order is in process and will be dispatched in 4-5 working days." I immediately called them and asked what was the issue as all the components I ordered were shown in stock on their website and 7 days time for shipping was completely unacceptable. The guy on the phone said we don't have some some components in stock. I asked which components were not in stock and I could change my order but he avoided answering and kept on repeating we will ship in 4-5 day sir and hung up.

For the stuff ordered from Primeabgb, I have not even received any confirmation regarding receipt of payment till now and the website still shows my order "On Hold". I have been calling them everyday since 13th Nov and even though they have acknowledged receiving the payment verbally, they keep on repeating the same thing that your order will be shipped today.

Now after all this I am wondering If I made the right decision by ordering online or a trip to Nehru place would have been a better choice.(6-7 hr drive from Punjab). To be honest I had no idea these websites would be so unprofessional as I thought things might have changed in India but to my dismay they are worse. I don't understand why would you advertise for products you don't have in stock and keep the customer waiting for days in this age and time.

I'll keep you guys posted on further developments about the delivery (If I receive, fingers crossed lol)
 
gspaul80 said:
I did bank transfer in both cases
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Why bank transfer?

Few years ago, itdepot tried the bait and switch after I ordered a case. The credit card transaction made cancelling simpler.

When you are spending so much money, I would suggest a finding a good brick and mortar shop. Some of the retailers are quite resourceful (and friendly, to the extent a shopkeeper can be). Having them on your whatsapp contacts comes in handy at times. For itdepot/primeabgb, you will remain a customer ID in their database.
 
Speak with Swapnil at prime he will be very helpful imo. Demand acknowledgment on email as well so as to avoid further hassles regarding order delays or any cancellation issues.
 
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Prime is generally good. ITdepot has been known to do this a lot. For prime I suggest always order on their website and pay via a card. Also call, email and facebook them. They are extremely busy people for some reason.
 
I never faced any issues with primeabgb so far.
itdepot cancelled an order though saying that they didn't have any stock though but it was painless.
However the most expensive prime order for me was 60k odd for my Ryzen 1700 and Asus Crosshair VI.
 
dpandey said:
Why bank transfer?

Few years ago, itdepot tried the bait and switch after I ordered a case. The credit card transaction made cancelling simpler.

When you are spending so much money, I would suggest a finding a good brick and mortar shop. Some of the retailers are quite resourceful (and friendly, to the extent a shopkeeper can be). Having them on your whatsapp contacts comes in handy at times. For itdepot/primeabgb, you will remain a customer ID in their database.
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Maybe thats the reason why IITDepot charges Rs.5000+ for credit card payments.:)

I did try getting stuff locally here in Ludhiana but it has been 2 weeks and I still was getting only couple of my preferred components.

Though I did talk to both the dealers today and I told them to cancel my order for the parts you don't have in stock and ship the rest by Monday.

The MSI Z390 motherboard is still showing in stock on the Primeabgb website so is the Phanteks P400S case on itDepot. I think these guys don't even have basic inventory management software in place. Anyhow I just hope the stuff reaches undamaged unlike some other experiences I have read here on techenclave.
 
Not at all surprised with the experience with Prime. I've said it before.. they've appeared to have stopped bothering about their service quality levels and their market image. I've seen them come a long long way from the tiny shop they had back in early 2000's and I've had mostly excellent interactions back then but gradually things changed and after a few sour episodes.. I haven't really bothered with them.

The general feel I had when I last picked up stuff from them was along the same lines as yours, didn't have half the stuff in stock and had a take it or leave it attitude without half an inclination to even try and get you what you want
 
This is absolutely unacceptable. I don't know what Gulbir's role is right now at prime, since it's been years since i've contacted him, but this should definitely be escalated to him.

The email address i have for him is gulbir@primeabgb.com, and pm me if you want his cell number.
 
sandeepsachin said:
@dpandey Card transaction made it simpler-you mean money not being stuck or did you file a chargeback?
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I cancelled within a few days of ordering. They hadn't sent the claim to the bank. So we both had to do nothing after I asked them to cancel.

In case of bank transfer, they have to figure out a way to send the money to you. Gives them reasons to delay. Chargeback is simpler.
 
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With ITDepot, only products with the green ready to dispatch tag are actually in stock. For others listed, I message them to check actual availability before ordering. They list them on the assumption that they can source them.

I've never ordered anything high value online through prime. Ordered a noctua cooler and some fans, that experience was good though
 
nRiTeCh said:
Seems just like MD comps all these sites as have become lazy to update their stock on live basis on their portals.
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I thought MD were regular at updating their site? In fact MD rates used to be the most competitive. And I find they quite often update their site at least as far as listing items goes. The pricing though of late I've found to be a bit suspicious. Quite often I find them now being out priced by Primes online pricing and u know all too well how accurate that is..
 
mach9 said:
I thought MD were regular at updating their site? In fact MD rates used to be the most competitive. And I find they quite often update their site at least as far as listing items goes. The pricing though of late I've found to be a bit suspicious. Quite often I find them now being out priced by Primes online pricing and u know all too well how accurate that is..
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MD as well as vedant are not at all very regular in updating their websites. I usually call them up even if the product shows up as available. As for prime its the same as well.
Always call Palash from MD if you're dealing in high end gear as he's the person responsible for that area of sales. I dunno if posting his number on an open forum would be a good idea or not.

As for rates recently I got my WD Red 8 TB from vedant offline as MD caters to the gaming crowd only. They are really trying to undercut MD to grab the high end PC retail market in Kolkata and so they might have better rates in some cases.

But I have been buying all my gear from MD since the last 8 years and the personal rapport I have works out well for RMA as I needed to drop off a problematic MSI Z87-GD65 board to MD and they took care of the rest. They said that as per MSI the board had socket pin damage which is not at all possible. However they got a replacement board for me which I am sure I wouldn't be able to manage if I had gone for RMA myself.

Bloody Rashi would have rejected my RMA with the pin damage song and dance.
 
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I would suggest to have some patience and wait for 4~5 days for them to ship it..
Have dealt with ITDepot in the past and they are not the kind who will dupe the customers..
But I haven't done a bank deposit kind of transaction with them though.. Did you atleast get a e-receipt or order id?
 
Julian said:
This is absolutely unacceptable. I don't know what Gulbir's role is right now at prime, since it's been years since i've contacted him, but this should definitely be escalated to him.

The email address i have for him is gulbir@primeabgb.com, and pm me if you want his cell number.
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Thanks for the email mate. Gurbir is Infact the MD of primeabgb as stated on the website. I emailed him on saturday and he did apologise and promised to take it up on monday, but nothing so far.

I had a chat with ITDepot on saturday and told them firmly that I can not wait longer than monday. They have shipped the monitor, GPU and Processor and will be sending the SSD and Be Quiet cooler today. And have cancelled the order for the Phanteks P400S case. I have sent them my bank details for the refund.

Kindly suggest me a case now, I actually wanted the Phanteks Evolv X but I dont think it would be available for another couple of months as its availability is poor even in the US. I was thinking about the Aorus Gigabyte AC300W for the time being. Its a cheap case that I can replace when Evolv X is available. Or I could go with CoolerMaster H500P mesh.
 
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gspaul80 said:
Thanks for the email mate. Gurbir is Infact the MD of primeabgb as stated on the website. I emailed him on saturday and he did apologise and promised to take it up on monday, but nothing so far.

I had a chat with ITDepot on saturday and told them firmly that I can not wait longer than monday. They have shipped the monitor, GPU and Processor and will be sending the SSD and Be Quiet cooler today. And have cancelled the order for the Phanteks P400S case. I have sent them my bank details for the refund.

Kindly suggest me a case now, I actually wanted the Phanteks Evolv X but I dont think it would be available for another couple of months as its availability is poor even in the US. I was thinking about the Aorus Gigabyte AC300W for the time being. Its a cheap case that I can replace when Evolv X is available. Or I could go with CoolerMaster H500P mesh.
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Have you tried newegg india? It comes to 23K with shipping. https://www.newegg.com/global/in-en/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854077&ignorebbr=1
 
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