Don't Order BTO / CTO Macs from Tekserve

[imac10013]

I ordered a BTO iMac through Tekserve, and when I placed the order, was told that it would ship in a few business days. I called every week to check on it, and each time was told that there was a back-order and it would be a few more days to ship. After a month, I finally called Apple myself, was told that there was no back order, and that I should call Tekserve and talk to their Apple ordering person, and figure out what was going on. The Mac ordering person at Tekserve refused to speak with me.

That day, without canceling my Tekserve order, I ordered the exact same BTO configuration of iMac directly from Apple and it shipped 3 business days later. A week after that, Tekserve contacted me to say that there was another delay and it hasn't shipped yet but they hope it will be soon. It had been at this point 5 weeks since I initially ordered. I cancelled the order.

There were two problems here: My product did not ship on time, and Tekserve didn't tell me why or what to expect, and still has not explained to me what was going on. Thus, I am forced to speculate as to the possibilities:

1. Possibly, Apple prioritizes BTO orders from resellers (e.g. Tekserve) at a lower priority than orders from its online website. If this is true, Tekserve knows or should have known about it, and should have told me that it would be faster to order directly from Apple.
2. Possibly, my order was intentionally delayed so that it could be grouped with some other orders, to generate a commission or discount or something for Tekserve. If this is true, Tekserve should have told me that there would be a wait.
3. Possibly, a mistake happened, and it was just a one time thing. To err is human. But, if a mistake was made, then one of the times that i called about it, someone should have figured it out. Tekserve should have called Apple and gotten some information to give to me. And when I called to speak with the Mac ordering person to figure it out myself, they should have spoken with me, and/or had a conference call with Apple’s ordering support to figure out what is going on.

Not sure whether this debacle is the result of incompetence or some sort of intentional concealment, but either way I would not order from them again.

 

[jmoore5196]

I was a frequent Tekserve customer when my wife and I lived in Manhattan. I can tell you that your order was most likely "batched" and awaited other CTO orders in order to save a few bucks on the wholesale cost of the machine.

I have learned the hard way never to order anything from Tekserve that's not already listed in stock, and to double-check stock status prior to placing the order.

Tekserve is a wonderful place ... when they have what you want on the shelf. However, some of their "deals" on opened or discontinued systems are genuinely laughable. Similarly, some of their customer-service principles are convoluted. The customer is only right when it augers to Tekserve's benefit.

On the whole, I'd rather buy from B&H.

 

[Bear]

From what I've seen on other peoples experiences with BTO orders from places other than Apple, I'd rather just order directly from Apple for a BTO system.