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Hello @all I am in the same situation....ordered my notebook for £1443 from Kobalt in April 2011, it never got build/delivered, cancelled my order 5 weeks ago but still don't have my money back. On top of that they are bust now (check their website). I paid with my credit card though my bank (the Co-operative) said they cannot do anything after 120 days of purchase. However, someone told me now it's not the date of purchase that counts but the date of delivery that was promised (which got postponed further and further). Pls get in touch via PM or my website nerdess.net, maybe if we join forces we can have a stand. Cheers Sissi
I checked that site on tuesday, you could still place orders. What a horrid way of going about things.
By the way, exactly situations like this is the reason why should you pay using credit cards = if company goes down, you can still request your money back through the bank. For example when a local airline company gone down, everyone who paid using credit card had a easy way to get their money back - simply by "disputing" the payment and requesting it back (=chargeback). The rest who paid using wire transfer or cash were not so lucky, and they had to get only part of their money through bankruptcy process.
well we ordered on the 27 june and got nothing but stress :-(. Paid by bank transfer too :'( 1650 quid
Wow ****! I feel really really sorry for you - get onto your bank QUICK. I met the Kobalt guys a couple of years ago. They were really, really down to earth and trying hard to make their business work. Much like Vadim did. I really believe their website message about trying hard to resolve the situation, they are not bad guys. Sucks and a shame so much effort didn't come through in the end.
From reading between the lines I believe they outsourced their PC building operation in part to meet customer orders. At least that sounds like what they were trying to convey in their original statement. Posted here for reference... To me that reads like Kobalt Computers were screwed for a good deal of money. Enough for them to cease trading in any case!
Hi All, I've just registered because I'm in the same boat with Kobalt. I ordered a laptop on 31st August. Promised delivery in 3 weeks... nothing 6 weeks later. No response to e-mails for the last 10 days. I was being reassured by Andrew at Kobalt about a week before the end of September that the company was in good condition to deliver laptops due shortly. This company have behaved utterly dispicably. I am a masters degree student doing an MSc in computer science. Not only can I not afford this potential loss - I've had sleepless nights about this situation - but it's also put me behind on my delivery of vital work for my course. I would seriously string these guys up if I ever got my hands on them. Not sure what our options are from here... but they don't look good. Anyone? Chargeback against an insolvent company? Does it work? Where does the money come from?
You can get details about Kobalt Computers from Companies House... http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/e93cc95e46ce91573934f66ffef5cf60/compdetails Just look under 'Order information on this company'. It's a pound per document and only for general interest, it won't help your claim. Having said that the Statement of Capital would probably make an interesting read dated 5th of May 2011. Since they have 'ceased trading' the next stage would be for the directors of Kobalt Computers to appoint a Liquidator. The purpose of this Liquidator is to get as much money as possible from the company to pay off its debts. Unfortunately customer money comes at the very bottom of the pile if you've paid for goods that have not yet been received! Unfortunately if you paid by cash or direct bank transfer your chances of getting a full refund are very dim. By all means contact your bank for any chance of pursuing a refund but don't get your hopes up. As mentioned before, if you paid by credit card, under Section 75 you should be able to process a full refund in under a month. Read the PC Technology Buyers Guide: Consumer Rights thread for more information and letter templates... http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=217849
What an absolute clusterduck! Feel really sorry for the OP and anyone else affected by this. Despite what Bindi says about Kobalt being nice guys, they've left a lot of people really hard up!
Bloody hell I didn't expect so many replies. Well it seems that when I went back to the bank today it seems the person got it wrong and all VISA cards do chargeback, and I got a number from them to organise a claim. In the meantime I don't know if I should possibly wait a few days and see if Kobalt refund the money by themselves. Also the point about the PC Building. I don't know about the desktops but the laptops are actually Clevo models which Kobalt only customise. Anyway thanks for all the help guys and I am actually thinking of getting a cheap laptop and building a new desktop with a new amd bulldozer cpu. Thanks William
First of all, great to hear you're covered. Second of all, I'd take action straight away. No point waiting, at all, you won't get your money back overnight as it is, so the sooner the better. Third of all (!), unless you have some real hardcore affiliation to AMD, I wouldn't go down the Bulldozer route, all the reviews point to it being poor in comparison to SB - and thats for the 8 core top of the line 8150.
Dont wait, chargeback now if they have gone under. If they have gone bust you could be in a never ending wait to get refunded. Also bulldozer is toss, take a look at reviews
hi guys let's hope most of us get their money back. i will post as soon as i hear anything from the dispute department of my bank and/or Company House. though the issue that still remains is that i have no notebook at the moment!!! Gaaah. my old one died ironically the same day as steve jobs though it wasn't even a mac ;-) so.....where would i get a solid notebook from these days here in the UK? my requirements are: - 1 SSD harddrive - 1 "normal" harddrive - nice high resolution 15.3" matte screen - fast (2.6+ though dual core is fine) - 8 GB RAM - German keyboard any hints welcome cheers sissi
Rubbish. Make clear you never took delivery of the goods so clearly Section 75 applies. Just read the PC Technology Buyers Guide: Consumer Rights thread for guidance and also a template letter for Section 75... http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=217849 Print off all relevant e-mails you had with Kobalt Computers to prove your case.
Unfortunately you have no guarantee since Kobalt Computers are likely to be dissolved for their assets.
Hi all, I just registered because of this topic as well. I sent my laptop back to Kobalt on the 8th of September, on the 21st I was told that they needed 7-10 days for parts to arrive to complete the repair, but that was the last I heard back from them. I tried contacting them via the support ticket a few times and more recently by e-mail but still no response. Now I see that the company has gone bust, I'd assume that the parts never arrived. Gladly in my situation no money exchanged hands but I strongly want to know what the current status of my laptop is and I want it back. Any suggestions on what I should do?
Here's the latest for all interested... 1. Chargeback... I don't think there is much chance of seeing the money again since Kobalt are going bust. There will be nothing in their bank accounts to pay customers with very likely. 2. I went to Kobalt Redhill office this afternoon!!! Yes. There was no-one there. Doors locked. However, looking through the windows it looked clear that people had been there until fairly recently. Ironically there was a fair bit of hardware lying around. Probably enough to make a few customers good and not leave them up sh*t creek without a paddle which is where plenty are now (myself included). 3. This company has behaved in an untterly dispicable manner. You find out most about people when they under some pressure, and Kobalt have proved themselves to be no better than rip off merchants. Taking money from customers knowing the company was in trouble, effectively either blanking customers or spinning them a load of garbage after they've ordered, posting their liquidation notice on their website and not telling customers how they intend (or not) to make good... these are a coyboy outfit sadly. They should be pulling out all the stops to communicate with their customers and make them whole. After all, their customers are totally innocent parties in all this nonsense and mismanagement.
Thanks for the replies, i am in the same boat. I paid for a laptop via debit card in August, but not only did i have a new order running, they are in possession of one of my older purchases (a clevo x8100) worth over £3000 at time of initial purchase in Feb 2010... Is there anything i can do to get that back? The product had been fully paid for and was in for a GPU replacement. Surely witholding it is tantamount to theft? Thanks
