SCAN produce LEMON 3XS TRIAD system - approx. £2,500 down the drain

[SCAN are based in Bolton, UK - www.scan.co.uk]

This is to warn others about SCAN! Or as I my partner likes to call them - SCAM!

SUMMARY:
Motherboard failure
Hard drive failure
Memory failure
Motherboard failure (again) - still waiting for a replacement - almost 3 weeks!

The PC was delayed due to testing issues. Apparently, I was informed, some of the engineers get a little bit over excited when it comes to overclocking. This had the alarm bells ringing.

So the PC dully arrived, apparently fully tested, and stable. Yeah right. Within a few days the PC had to be sent back to SCAN because of CMOS errors. The Abit motherboard had to be replaced (with a Striker Extreme).

So, what happened next. One, or possibly both, of the two Samsung hard drives failed. So they had to be returned to SCAN, and I had to reload the operating system when the replacement drives arrived. I couldn't restore from my backups, because the original data on the hard drives was corrupt.

So what happened next. The PC kept crashing. It took me quite some time to figure out the problem. The memory had now failed - confirmed via memtest - hundreds and hundreds of errors within a few seconds of testing. So guess what, my backups were again useless, as the faulty memory had corrupted data on the hard drives! When I took the memory out, I noticed that they were in the wrong slots. The DDR2 high end memory had been running in single channel mode on an overclocked machine for several months. No wonder they eventually failed!

So, a month or so after the PC's warranty expired, the Striker Extreme reported the dreaded CPU INIT error message. I put 'Striker Extreme' and 'CPU INIT' into GOOGLE and got thousands of hits. I tried everything, bar removing the motherboard, that the various technical forums suggested, but the motherboard would not post. A local computer shop tested my rig and confirmed that the board was effectively dead.

So I called SCAN, they generated an RMA #, and I posted them the board. They tested the board using low end cheap components and the motherboard posted. I informed them that the board should have been tested using the same components on my PC! I was fobbed off with 'policy' excuses. I called back, and SCAN changed their tune as they had built the system. I was informed that Ben, the technical manager, would call me. I'm still waiting for a call Ben! I called back again, and was informed that the warrenty was void as I had removed the motherboard from the case! I called back again, and was informed that the motherboard would now be tested with the correct components. I called back again, and was informed that the engineer wasn't in, so there would be a delay in my board being tested. I called back again and the engineer was indeed in but I needed to contact the technical services department (Ben)... The above is a summary, as I've called many many times, and have been fobbed off each and every time. No one wants to take responsibility.

The support from SCAN, whilst the PC was under warranty, was pretty good. But then it would have to be good considering the poor systems they build (or throw together). The support I have received over the motherboard has been, quite frankly, disgraceful.

Well they've had the board for almost 3 weeks now! I haven't had a working PC for well over a month!

So in order to warn others, I'm putting the above issues on a few technical PC forums. Next steps will be to apprach trading standards.

Other problems:
General wiring issues - pretty shambolic - for example, the lower Disc caddy cannot be removed as some idiot has shoved wires through it.
DVD R/W - has never been able to record to DL.
Network driver problems.

Thats Interesting i have had a very good experience with scan,
maybe yours was a one of failure by them.