NZXT Scam

[inquisitor1]

how long have they been in business?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

how long have they been in business?

 

[inquisitor1]

Now I've got a reason to add Amazon.
This is the first time I ever seen Amazon do this
But about 75% of the items right now don't even say add to cart right now becuase of cybermonday.
Instead it all says" join Prime"
Talk about predator tactics for subscribtion service.

I posted about this to amazon sub on reddit. was banned from the group and suspended for 5 days. nothing new. I love having battles with people on reddit. its like my 10th profile I have to remake for being permentantly banned.

I have never bought prime and dont care to with their rising prices. but they try. they do try. I lmfao though. theyre like "hey in 2024 you spent $52 for shipping, get prime" and im like "bsh, aint no way in hel im paying you $150 to get $50 off shipping" lmfao. I wait and vulture watch for free shipping on products. I follow prices on keepa dot come. if I dont have to give bezos an extra cent, I wont give him a squirt of pess. I do wish he opened a tru competitor store to alx (I have never nor will use temu. too many shady things there) I hate buying from aliexpress. the sellers scam you too much. then alx thinks youre scamming them and ask for proof they scammed you. with amazon, returns are no questions asked.

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only payed attention to them the last few years but vaguely so. its when you scroll through YT feed I might have seen their name but I never took interest in them. theyre like the garbage ocz company. came and went. I can say that I have a HUGE list of companies I dont buy from, and yet theres always someone to buy from that has what you need. let them fall. who cares. I feel those who got screwed are a bit supid and naive. tody there is no reason to get scammed. post your question "is it legit" and everyone will help. you make your own bed

 

[A Computer Guy]

I posted about this to amazon sub on reddit. was banned from the group and suspended for 5 days. nothing new. I love having battles with people on reddit. its like my 10th profile I have to remake for being permentantly banned.

I have never bought prime and dont care to with their rising prices. but they try. they do try. I lmfao though. theyre like "hey in 2024 you spent $52 for shipping, get prime" and im like "bsh, aint no way in hel im paying you $150 to get $50 off shipping" lmfao. I wait and vulture watch for free shipping on products. I follow prices on keepa dot come. if I dont have to give bezos an extra cent, I wont give him a squirt of pess. I do wish he opened a tru competitor store to alx (I have never nor will use temu. too many shady things there) I hate buying from aliexpress. the sellers scam you too much. then alx thinks youre scamming them and ask for proof they scammed you. with amazon, returns are no questions asked.

I don't have prime but I thought if you make a certain amount of purchases per year shipping becomes more cost effective when you don't want to wait a couple of weeks for a package?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

theyre like the garbage ocz company. came and went

I would watch your step here....

OCZ did a LOT MORE for the PC enthusiast community than selling PC cases, power supplies and cooling accessories. OCZ were highly influential. NZXT dont have anywhere near HALF AS MUCH acclaim as OCZ did when OCZ was in full swing.

Hands are going to fly if you lump them in with NZXT.

 

[phanbuey]

^ This looks... familiar... et tu NZXT?

Jk - it's a older company from China, but already looks and feels like NZXT stuff - might even be the same OEM. This is one of those rare cases where the clone brand is better than the actual brand.

 

[_roman_]

I have studied economics. ....

BTW I just checked how our largest retailer rents a 70 000 CZK (normal sale price) computer, they say they will rent it to you for 2 000 CZK per month for the period of 36 months. So after three years you payed 72 000 CZK and you will have nothing left, you will return the computer to the retailer, which will then sell it for 5-15K? This does seem a lot better than what GN described.

For some products they offer "a third" program, in which you pay just a third of the cost and pay the rest in the next three months, you pay nothing extra in that case and after you pay it, you own the product fully.

I watched the videos days ago. Please get the numbers from the video.

I think I saw the computer was fully paid after 4 or 5 months. = 1/3 or 5/12 of a year
You make a counter argument for 36 months = 3 years.

Paying the device full without owning after 4 or 5 months sounds like a scam
paying the device full without owing after 36 months sounds like a much better deal - > a factor 8 better deal

Maybe you can enlight me with your economics study, how the interest rate is per year when you pay the device full after 4 or 5 months and do not own the device. Also please consider the cancelation contract fee which was full price when you do not return the device, as shipped, with the unspecified full packaging and other stuff you got it. Maybe you can than agree with the video poster or not if that interest rate the consumer pay, is a usual interest rate or if it's a criminal interest rate. I'm curious on your economics study insight with numbers and calculation. Feel free to take my screenshot as a starting point for your calculations. Please give me also usual rates in CZ for those renting stuff and bank rates. I'm not familiar with those usual rates for lending money, renting goods and such.

 

[BigBadLion]

Perhaps I am too simple to understand all the nuances of the video.

The video is full of details and ignoring them means you're not grasping the whole issue that's being brought up.

The biggest comparison (considering there's no other big rental service) is a loan, be it from a shark or directly from the bank and BOTH are cheaper options than what NZXT is offering. Not to mention if you use a loan at least parts won't be swapped and you don't have a group of influencers saying things that are outright wrong and acting predatory to those who can't afford the PC. Not to mention that not even the parts they sent you might be the correct ones unless you turn on the PC.

So, it's not about being "too simple" but rather not paying attention to the details.

As for J2C, he tires me more than Steve for these kind of things. I feel he's constantly "on the hunt" to see "what might be wrong" and get money out of it from click-bait videos and overreactions.

 

[jarablue]

It's all about the money. And J2C and GN know this fully. Let's not pretend they are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts.

I have been building pcs since 1993 and do not watch their videos for any sort of advice at all. I do my own research and independently form my own conclusions. I don't need some youtube star hand feed me what I enjoy finding out with my own research.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It is not a scam, you have all the information upfront and clear.

I just checked the video again and it seems that NZXT montly payments are intended for two years period, when the amount of payments equals to double the value of the computer. Their service is twice more expensive than the service of our local retailer (in the plan for three years the sum of monthly payments is equal to the value of the computer), but comparing two services on two different continents is problematic.

From the consumer point of view, this is simply a BAD SERVICE, you are getting worse configuration for the rental and it is also very expensive.

Attacking a company for a bad service without providing any reference and comparison to competing services is simply BAD JOURNALISM.

WTH?!? Is this a joke?

 

[Frick]

WTH?!? Is this a joke?

It is a fair point though. "XX SUCKS" is much less helpful or interesting than "XX SUCKS but here is an option that doesn't suck" or "XX SUCKS and here are a bunch of other that also sucks and this is why they suck and what we can do about it". I wouln't call it "bad journalism" because I wouldn't call it journalism at all. I haven't watched the video though so I might just be talking out of my ass but that is my assesment of most of these things.

 

[freeagent]

Interesting opinions so far.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

GN and Jay are both making money off this

I know.

 

[inquisitor1]

I would watch your step here....

OCZ did a LOT MORE for the PC enthusiast community than selling PC cases, power supplies and cooling accessories. OCZ were highly influential. NZXT dont have anywhere near HALF AS MUCH acclaim as OCZ did when OCZ was in full swing.

Hands are going to fly if you lump them in with NZXT.

except that they sold those defective ocz core ssd with the jmicron conrollers and didnt take responsibility. deflecting and downplaying. they didnt replace mine. so to me I stand by that title. you may have had good experiences with them but 1 time is enough for me to tag a company and place them on a blacklist. I think you came upon them perhaps later when they tried to "clean" things up. and I still remember on anandtech forums they were all downplaying the issue. making me chase my tail. I took a hammer to it and into the bin it went and at that time ssd were expensive.

I don't have prime but I thought if you make a certain amount of purchases per year shipping becomes more cost effective when you don't want to wait a couple of weeks for a package?

I dont mind waiting. ive been buying online since 1994 with ebay with checks before paypal came to be mainstream. and also I used to ship supplements from the us overseas by ship. it would take 2-3 months. if its urgnet I can buy local or used but mostly I plan ahead. last year I spent $52 for shipping for everything. thats less then prime. and I hate subscriptions and minimize that.

and I dont want to give bezos an extra cent if I dont have to. Ive never ordered from newegg but the system seems not as smooth as amazon. I wait for almost everything to have free shipping. I will have things sitting in my cart a year waiting for free shipping if I missed it. and if not I can buy from alx which gives free shipping over X amount of money, mostly. delivery there has drastically improved the last year. I dont mind waiting.

and also, shipping prices for amazon is not proportional. item costs $10 and they ask for $13 shipping. cmon. with alx its like $2.50 but you really have to be careful to buy on alx. lots and lots of scammer sellers. its not my goto place. its "no choice". all my family absolutely hate buying from alx. big list of issues there.

 

[BigBadLion]

It's all about the money. And J2C and GN know this fully. Let's not pretend they are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts.

I have been building pcs since 1993 and do not watch their videos for any sort of advice at all. I do my own research and independently form my own conclusions. I don't need some youtube star hand feed me what I enjoy finding out with my own research.

I'd say it's a mix. Sure, there's money behind this and they are capitalizing it but at the same time I believe they are doing it because they believe what they do is the right thing to do, which is something I applaud, even when YTs such as J2C may tire me.

Now, regardless of what you may think of them they still provide decent data, specially if you plan to build a machine by yourself.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

Why can't companies behave with ethical integrity? Is it really that difficult to NOT rip people off?

The Love of money is the root to all evil.

I...think the truth of this is different than something so simple. It isn't love of money causing corruption, it's that people have been incentivized to seek immediate gains above long term stability. In doing this, and over the course of decades, anyone who doesn't similarly seek short term gain is filtered out of the market due to comparable costs not yielding comparable quantities.

Let me put this into perspective. Millenials on average have a job for 18-24 months, then move onto another one. They do so because in that 24 months most companies don't have any plan to increase their compensation, unless their job title changes. So, the company is seeking to invest the minimum in you while after 18 months having a much more valuable employee, which has not cost them anything. For a minor 3-5% increase in cost they could likely retain you...but the roughly 6-10% (compound interest being negligible) that they save on increased cost is banked as a "win" for them. They then have to spend that money on getting a replacement, training them, and decreased productivity for those training them...but that is from a different budget. It sounds silly, but corporations commit "evil" by simply acting without thought.

On the other hand, companies that do invest have constantly increasing overhead. The second that the financials don't come out good, the companies decide that the easiest short term win is to cull some of that overhead. In more practical terms...they invest in their people until they come to adversity...then they "cut the dead wood" of people that aren't pulling their weight. Yes, I had someone call personnel who only wanted to work a 40 hour week "dead wood."


What is immensely difficult is that older companies didn't do either of the above. When you were hired they had a regular path for you, and that included a regular pattern of reviews and raises. Now, that seems to only exist for people in the lowest brackets of the teams...and it's the rare privately owned companies who understand that the most difficult part about leadership isn't the meetings to fire people, but to be held accountable for what it takes to make the tough decisions that maybe mean you don't get a bonus next month...but in three years the company itself is poised to take advantage of the market that became open due to others lacking foresight due to seeking those short term gains. That's kind of what I believe most companies suffer from...because at this point it always seems like it's personnel versus companies, and you can always track what an executive will do by what is most profitable and not what is healthy for a company in the long term. I don't view that as evil, only as the natural outcome when people stop having careers and start having jobs.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It is a fair point though. "XX SUCKS" is much less helpful or interesting than "XX SUCKS but here is an option that doesn't suck" or "XX SUCKS and here are a bunch of other that also sucks and this is why they suck and what we can do about it". I wouln't call it "bad journalism" because I wouldn't call it journalism at all. I haven't watched the video though so I might just be talking out of my ass but that is my assesment of most of these things.

Here's the thing, I'm not saying that everything NZXT does "sucks". I'm saying the PC "rental" aspect and the contracts involved are scam-like and very predatory.

 

[dirtyferret]

I know.

I know you know, it was more rhetorical aimed at people like...

GN dig up the topic. Got the specialist, made an order and explained the situation. This costs a lot of cash. I suspect they have a huge loss with that single video.

dig it up? I already named all the outlets who previously had written about NZXT rentals in this thread and their articles date back to the summer so the story has been out there for several months already. Steve/GN received 2.2m views in just two days (for comparison his previous video has 350k views and is a week old) and he specifically made the video over an hour so that's a lot of ad dollars he's receiving. If you want to give him a sticker for the article, go ahead that's fine (by no means am I siding with NZXT) but he's not losing any money on this. In fact he will have plenty of cash to go xmas shopping even after you take out the lost ad revenue from NZXT. You don't need to have stayed at a holiday inn express to take that deal every single day.

 

[Bobaganoosh]

So...quick google search and I found this company. They do lease/rent-to-own or just rentals. The pricing is still pretty ridiculous, but that's the general deal with rent-to-own stuff. At least you own it...and you can buy early, or do a 100-day cash price (which I haven't dug into it, but this price looks like it's half the price you'll pay if you rent the whole year, at which point you own it). No idea how this company operates, if they're trustworthy, but they are a BBB A+ accredited company, which can't be said for NZXT (with their "F" rating ) lol.

I may have missed a couple comments and haven't set aside an hour for GN's video yet, but I've seen several comments claiming there are no competitors or that NZXT is the only company offering gaming computer rentals and...well...they're not.

 

[dirtyferret]

They do lease/rent-to-own or just rentals. The pricing is still pretty ridiculous,

I get PC rentals for B2B but B2C? I mean what's the business model there? Rent to people who have bad credit and no money? How many of those rentals go to collections after the people stop paying? The whole thing just seems sleazy from top to bottom.

 

[lexluthermiester]

GN and Jay are both making money off this.

I know.

And just how would that work? GN, maybe, ok, but Jay? No, he just lost a sponsor. Quit with the blame shifting boys, both of you are better and smarter than that.

 

[Bobaganoosh]

I get PC rentals for B2B but B2C? I mean what's the business model there? Rent to people who have bad credit and no money? How many of those rentals go to collections after the people stop paying? The whole thing just seems sleazy from top to bottom.

Agreed. I definitely wasn't suggesting that's a great practice or that what that company does is good in any way, but people keep talking about competitors without looking them up and it was easy to find one. They already seem better in that you can rent to own with buy-outs and the company is BBB accredited, but that may just mean they're super honest and up-front about their predatory business model. A lot more research and likely some secret-shopper work would be required to find out if that competitor is actually honest and doesn't have scams or fraudulent practices going on, but on face value it sounds a lot better than what's been reported here.

 

[sethmatrix7]

Name one company that doesn't do that!
I can wait.


Nope, that's not why I dislike him.
He's just an arrogant sod that loves himself.

Whataboutism.

You may not like the guy, and he can certainly get a little silly at times, but the work they've done exposing anti-consumer practices is unparalleled in the enthusiast tech space.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

And just how would that work? GN, maybe, ok, but Jay? No, he just lost a sponsor. Quit with the blame shifting boys, both of you are better and smarter than that.

I know you know that I know that you know that I wasnt really blame shifting as much as just acknowledging that they had monetized videos on the subject.

It takes a smart man to recognize smart people.

 

[dirtyferret]

And just how would that work? GN, maybe, ok, but Jay? No, he just lost a sponsor. Quit with the blame shifting boys, both of you are better and smarter than that.

oh this is NZXT fault 100%, I'm not "blaming" either one. My point (already stated above about GN) is these guys may be losing sponsor money but they are raking in youtube add dollars with this NZXT scandal. Jay already hit 440k views, that's his last three videos combined.

they had monetized videos on the subject.

100%