My Review 3-13-2012
First off let me say I have never used Ava Direct nor really knew anything about them before my purchase. I did read everything I could find about them as I did all the others and was pressed to find "bad" reviews/comments regarding them. This pleased me and made me a little apprehensive at the same time..
My last purchase was from Alienware to the tune of around 5.4k for their top of the line at the time. That was a complete nightmare and will NEVER buy anything from them and will try my best to prevent anyone from doing the same! It took 2 years to get my machine running correctly AND customer service was the worst I have ever experienced in any field.
I placed my order with Ava Direct and then shot them a question about upgrading my fan setup the next day. I was replied to by Joesph within minutes. Every question I had, he had an answer and had it within minutes of me asking (there were many lol). I was made to feel that I was their best customer and I felt a genuine sense of care from the company.
Once everything was figured out with my setup, I jokingly commented on how I hope they have it done and sent to me in a week. Joesph simply stated that he would do his best to make this happen. That I did not expect. One week later I then messaged again simply to get an update on how the process was coming along and he said it was in the software installing phase etc and should be ready to go within the week. I was happy to hear this since that would only be a 2 week wait and very reasonable. To my amazement a few hours later I got an email saying that my pc was picked up by Fed Ex! I quickly sent message to him and asked how can this be and he just said that he gave a little nudge in the production dept. and this made him to be a man of his word!
I got my pc 2 DAYS LATER! That's right from the first day of my order to the day it came to my house it took 9 days total! This is amazing to me especially since I did not pay anything more for rush production or shipping. As a matter of fact my shipping total was $37 dollars lol. It came in perfect condition,packed inside 2 boxes the outer one filled with foam peanuts and the 2nd one containing the pc with the original case packing. All the extra parts and manuals were there and everything was intact except for the side panel fan for obvious reasons. Once I removed the panel there was more foam in between the cards and cpu to prevent damage and the wiring was as pro as my Alienware. It was a thing of beauty!
It runs perfect,looks perfect, and is nice and quiet esp. for 4 fans with sli. I WILL buy from them again for me and my wife and children. We are a huge network in this house hehe ;)
Next time I will take complete comfort in knowing that whatever I buy from here will be top notch quality with the customer service to back that standard up as well.Last but not least this site also has the absolute best prices on the net! Win-Win..
Thank you Ava Direct, and thank you Joseph Mundy for your help and awesome job and making my first Ava experience one to not be forgotten and insuring many more to come.
TL;DR? >
Ava Direct's prices are almost as cheap as building it yourself,the customer service is the best I've seen from any company,the quality was more impressive than Alienware, and the speed of the whole transaction was nothing short of miraculous. 9 days from the time it was ordered till it arrived to my house! I will update in a couple weeks to a month to let you know if any problems ever arose. Which I doubt they will, and if so I know that it will be taken care of by true professionals!