Complaint Review: One Call Inc. - Pontotoc Mississippi

Please help me get my money back.

In May 1999 I ordered a custom built computer with all the bells and whistles, so to speak, and paid cash for it ($3,638.00). I had a DVD, CD read/write, 500 mhz, 256RAM, 20 Gig Harddrive, TV video card, Soundblaster AWE sound card and the normal hardware and software that comes with computers.

Within the first few weeks I realized something wasn't right with this computer. I could not run scandisk because it told me that I didn't have enough memory. How could that be? I had 256RAM. I called the computer man and was told that I may have too much memory. I removed one of the memory cards but to no avail. I reinstalled the memory but that still didn't work. Then the computer crashed. I took it back to the computer man who kept it for a few days and he "fixed" it so I was told. When I got home with the computer I went to run scandisk and low and behold my computer didn't have enough memory. I tried to record a message and found out that my computer wouldn't record. The computer crashed again, this time I reformatted the hard drive. It worked for about a week then crashed again. I'm not talking a blue screen with all the fatal exceptions listed. It CRASHED. Black screen, no cursor blinking. All of this happened within a 2 month time frame. It is now July and I'm living in a different state from where I bought my computer. I drive 300 miles to once again return the computer to the shop. I'm now told the problem is that the Harddrive needs to be partitioned. The computer man keeps the computer over the weekend and partitions the hard drive, 5 partitions!!! I'm told that it works now. I take the computer home and the first thing I check is scandisk.... it worked, I was no longer told "not enough memory" I finally thought it was working. WRONG.... The sound still didn't record. I went to burn a CD and it no longer worked. My computer wasn't reading fast enough. I again return the computer in September, the computer man keeps it for a couple of weeks, I pick it up and take it home. In Oct it crashed again and I could not get it to boot up. I call him and tell him what has happened that I will be in town over the weekend and am bringing my computer in. No one was in his shop. On the following Monday my father returned the computer to the computer shop. That was the last that I saw my computer until March 16, 2000... 5 Months later.

I called the computer shop regularly and was told many stories. I was told back in Dec that it had been shipped to me. I never got it and called back and was told that somehow it got shipped back to CA. I was then promised that they would get it straightened out. Then I'm told they had it back in MS where I had originally purchased it and they would ship it to me. I never got it again. I call back and I'm told it had a bad harddrive and they were replacing it. I still don't receive it and call then I'm told the motherboard is bad and they are replacing it. I still don't receive it and call back and this time I'm told they are building me a new computer. I called and asked for a tracking number so that I can find out just where my computer is, I'm told they don't have one but will get it for me. Still I don't receive my computer or a call back with the tracking number. I emailed them and asked yet again where is my computer telling them that I have been patient long enough and that I'm ready to seek other avenues to get my computer. I received an email answer saying my computer is there in their shop and will be shipped to me. Finally I think I'll get it back. I don't, not until March 16, 2000.

On March 15, 2000 I called the shop again and asked for the tracking number, they said they still didn't have it but would get it to me as soon as they got it. I asked the computer man that when I did get the computer back and if it crashed again could I get my money back, his reply was "yes ma'am, you sure can". I told him I had waited too long and he apologized and said that he had them upgrade my mhz to 550. About 20 minutes after my computer arrived, I received a phone call from his shop with the tracking number. I told them it had arrived. I got it set up and all plugged in thinking finally I got it back. I checked and it wasn't partitioned and I was glad about that. I checked the sound, it worked. I checked the scandisk to make sure it would work, it did. I'm thinking great it is working. I went online, opened Netscape, played a few games...... then it crashed. I wrote down all of the information on the screen. I rebooted, it worked for under an hour and crashed again. It crashed again about an hour later. Needless to say we took it back that weekend. The computer man looked at it, went online with it and it crashed on him!! I was again told that I had too much memory in it, that I only needed 128RAM. No, I stated, the 256RAM has nothing to do with it. Then I'm told that it was Netscape that caused the crash's. No again I stated, I use Netscape on all of my computers, I own 5 and don't have that problem with any of them. He states that he'll work on it and upgrade it to Windows2000. My husband and I left the shop to return to my parents house. We discussed it and I told him that I had decided to get my money back and not fool with it anymore. The next day, Sunday March 19, 2000, my husband returned to the computer shop and relayed this to the computer man. He refused to return the money, he said it was a "used computer" My husband told him it was in his shop more than it was ever used in our home. He still refused to return the money. My husband left the computer at the shop saying that he would be hearing from our atty. My husband was asked to take the computer with him, my husband refused to take the computer telling him that we had had enough problems with the computer and didn't want to drive another 300 miles to bring it back to him.