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COMTRADE CURRENT ARCHIVE

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This file is filled with individuals' opinions and experiences with the Comtrade computer mail-order company, which sells a wide line of computers and products. The most recent experiences are at the beginning of this file.

DISCLAIMER: This forum is presented as an area where individuals can post their positive and negative experiences with a computer company. The owner of this forum does not pre-screen messages posted to it, and in no way will be held responsible or liable for the content of any messages posted therein. You agree to accept full responsibility for the veracity of any posting you make, and by reading this forum, agree to hold the owner of this forum harmless for any posts appearing therein.

P. Gardner from Deerfield, FL USA
Date - Tuesday, September 16, 2003 at 02:16:07 (EDT)

I implore you, for your own peace of mind/sanity, abandon any Comtrade product that might come into your possession. It will be counter productive at the very least in resurection and lead to a nervous breakdown from which recovery will be quite slim should you attempt... I was a lucky one with a _new_ machine, barely escaping.... See my archive statement in '96 which I happened upon, reliving the nightmare to my horror. Why waste your time

Chris from Plainfield, USA
Date - Thursday, August 14, 2003 at 17:16:23 (EDT)

Hey again,
I posted a while ago, 5 messages down. I just wanted to say that I finally got the fan switched in it. No more noise!!! :-) I also put in a super fast/quiet 40 gig hard drive and it runs win XP Pro. I also upgraded it from 64 to 192mb of ram, and put in a new 16mb video card i had laying around. This computer runs like a charm (knock on wood) and Im so happy I found a solution to all its problems after all these years! If anyone needs help with their comtrade im more than happy to help!

It isn't so bad after all...

Jack Galbraith from Mustang, OK USA
Date - Monday, August 11, 2003 at 07:03:13 (EDT)

Does anyone know where I can get or have a power supply for a ComTrade NoteBook Laptop or where I might get some information on this Laptop?

Thanks,
Jack Galbraith

Eric from USA
Date - Tuesday, May 27, 2003 at 23:46:46 (EDT)

I own 2 comtrades. The first was purchased around '96 and was a pentium -166. The machine ran well, occasionally locked up (we blamed bill gates), but had the hard drive die after 2 years. Soon afterwards, the machine would spontaneously reboot itself, and would occasionally not want to boot. By that i mean, the power was on, but the screen was blank with no keyboard lights. I read on this board that comtrade had overclocked several models, but didnt care as it worked fine. Eventually, the machine completely died (4 years old), so i pulled the chip and scraped off the bar-code underneath to read intel's serial number. Looked it up on intel's site, and found out that my p-166 was really an overclocked p-90. No wonder it died. Replaced it with a AMDk-6 200Mhz, and the machine has become my FreeBSD NAT/firewall. It once went 8 months without being rebooted, no thanks to the power company.

The second machine is a PII-333. It still runs fine, is not overclocked, although the power supply is on its last leg and the onboard IDE controller is never liked my ZIP drive.

Isabel Alaniz Soriano from Wasco, CA USA
Date - Friday, May 23, 2003 at 19:59:53 (EDT)

I bought this computer from a person and I want to know how I could get a disk to program the the computer Iwant to eased everything out of it and program everything again please call me at 661 758-6903 or 661-333-3272

Sal from Phoenix, AZ USA
Date - Wednesday, May 07, 2003 at 04:07:39 (EDT)

Im lmao reading all these Comtrade computers horror stories. thats why i got my self a Dell best computer i have ever had but if you wana be really smart build your own computer ! thats what i did for my second one. I saved my ass a shit load of money compared to my Dell. I got a solid Pentium 1.7 Dell sitting next to my home built Pentium 2.4

Chris from Plainfield, IL USA
Date - Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 02:33:01 (EDT)

Hey people,
I am 13 years old, and have been facinated with computers ever since I was 3. Thats when we got out first computer (Tandy from Radio Shack) and it was the greatest thing ever. We had 2 macs, (peices of crap I may add) but they did their job. We had all three of these old machines sitting in our basement, and decided to get a new machine. Comtrade sales ad's were everywhere in PCmagazine, and we decided it looked like a good brand. Boy were we wrong. We ordered the PII 233Mhz 64Mb RAM 2Mb graphics card, 17" monitor, and a HP Deskjet 722c printer. The first day it was all shipped to our house, we hooked it up and the monitor said "video cable problem." So we called customer support long distance because they were too cheap and idiotic to have a 800#(bad idea) and spent over 3 hours for them to tell us to take out the video card and put it back in. Then for about 2 minutes it ran great, then the fan made a loud weird noise, and to this day (7 years later) it still makes that noise. It came pre-loaded with Win95 Plus! and it was ok. It had a v.34 56k winmodem, which was a rip-off becuse we payed for a k56flex modem. We still have the computer today, in our loft, and it runs win ME. I have formatted the hard drive approximatley 5 times so far, just because of it's crappyness, and un-ability to accept anything new in it's pci slots. We all hate the machine for its various lock ups, and it has to be restarted every time you try to do something. It was by far the worst computer we ever spent money on, and it was a complete waste of $2,399.99. "The shittiest lightning PC!

If anyone can tell me what kind of RAM this stupid machine takes, i would be very thankful, I do beleive it's SDRAM, 100Mhz, but im not sure....

St Chuck from MI USA
Date - Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 13:57:05 (EST)

Awesome....Although it is not a computer company for novices. If you need a tech support person sitting at your feet 24/7, Comtrade is not for you.

i bought a PI-200 in '95 and a PII-400 in '98. Never had a problem with either. I am still using the PII-400, even as I write this. I have filled all of its PCI slots and USB ports and it still rocks!

Anyone wanna bet that TOM (2 messages below) has an issue with everything and everybody in life?????? Probably voted for Gore too.

B Fisch from Denver, USA
Date - Sunday, February 02, 2003 at 11:03:04 (EST)

I bought a Comtrade P-90 "The Lightning PC" back in 1995. It has outlived at least 4 newer machines. It surviced an upgrade to a Cyrix 400 CPU. Its only problem in the 8 years I've had is the fan noise at start up. Longest lasting computer I've ever owned.

VERY PISSED FOR A REASON!!! (TOM) from USA
Date - Wednesday, January 22, 2003 at 18:54:41 (EST)

FUCK COMTRADE!!! ANYONE COULD GET A GOD DAMN 133 AND OVERCLOCK IT TO 200! I HONESTLEY DON'T KNOW WHAT KIND OF DUMASS WOULD BUY ONE. THE ONLY REASON I HAVE ONE IS BECAUSE I GOT IT FOR FREE AT A GARAGE SALE. I FIGURED, IT MUST JUST BE A PIECE OF SHIT BECAUSE IT GOT WORN DOWN OVER TIME! BUT HELL NO, WHEN I ACTUALY PAYED FOR ONE, IT WAS WORSE THEN THE FIRST! IT COST ME A GOOD PRICE. FOR THE FOLLOWING UNNESSISARY SHIT: NEW MONITOR NEW MODEM NEW PROCESSOR NEW MOTHERBOARD NEW FLOPPY NEW CASE (ORIGINAL ONE WAS SCUFFED AND DENTED)

YES, AS YOU CAN SEE, A FUCKING WHOLE NEW COMPUTER EXCEPT KEYBOARD/MOUSE! IT WAS THE FUCKING WORST TECH SUPPORT I COULD FIND, SO I PUT ALL THE OLD JUNK BACK IN. I BROUGHT IT DOWN TO THE "TECH" SUPPORT PEOPLE AND THROUGH THE PIECE OF SHIT RIGHT OVER THE COUNTER INTO A STACK OF OTHERS. THE GOD DAMN LITTLE CHINESE/JAPANISE OR WHAT EVER THE FUCK U WANT TO CALL THEM (FUCKING BITCHES DON'T DESERVE A NAME!) STARTED TO GET ALL PISSY AND ANNOYED. THEY HAD NO FUCKING REASON TO! THE FIRST DAY I CALLED, ALL I GOT WAS A FUCKING FORIGN LANGUAGE AND RUDE REMARKS. I TRIED TO REASON BUT I COULD NOT. ANYWAY, THEY GOT ME SOOOO FUCKING MAD I ENDED UP POPPING ONE OF THEM RIGHT IN THE HEAD. THEY FILED A LAW SUITE AGAINST ME! I COUNTERED AND WON BECAUSE OF THEIR OVERCLOCKING AND FUCKING SHIT. ANYWAY I HOPE THOSE MOTHER FUCKERS BURN IN HELL!

COMTRADE: IF YOU READ THIS........ I SWEAR TO THE HOLEY BIBLE I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL AND YOUR FUCKING 1 INCH DICKS GET CHOPPED OFF! YOU KNOW Y?? BECAUSE I HATE YOU! YOU ARE FUCKING STUFFED DOLLES AND FUCKING UGLEY AT THAT! SO GO TO HELL EVERYONE OF YOU MOTHER FUCKING CHINKS!

lakshamn from tirnnfh, Austria
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Date - Saturday, January 18, 2003 at 01:00:07 (EST)

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anthony thomas from USA
Date - Monday, December 23, 2002 at 18:09:54 (EST)

I would never buy a computer from COMTRADE ever again. I Paid $1700.00 for a computer that had DVD. The DVD would was not working from day one.I tried to get support, I was told to call the manufacture. The manufacture told me to get COMTRADE to replace it. I tried call them to get a replacment, But all I ever got was the run arouond. Never again would I buy or let my friends buy from COMTRADE or should I say COM-ARTEST.

Cope frazier from Burlington, VT USA
Date - Monday, October 21, 2002 at 04:57:49 (EDT)

I bought a Comtrade 486 DX 33 MHz back in 93'. Had an issue about 2 months later and shipped it back - turned out to be a video card. Once I got it back it worked great. However those CTX monitors (went through 3 in 9 months) were the worst - but I am sure that that's not their fault. The syetm itself worked fine for me used it for 2 1/2 years at college with no major issues. The best thing about this product was it used motherbaords, cases and accessories that were easy to upgrade (unlike my Sony). I ended up adding modems, cdroms, memory, and a new processor (486 DX 66!) without any issues and it went on to my parents who finally killed it back in 98'. It would even run windows (slowly) 5 years is pretty good for a PC.

ytxfsfcg from kolhapur, no USA
Date - Monday, October 07, 2002 at 01:11:38 (EDT)

pentium PCs

M. Puckett from Fort Wayne, IN USA
Date - Saturday, August 24, 2002 at 21:30:02 (EDT)

I bought a 486 33MHz in (about) 1991, WOW, what a machine. It had an EISA buss and ran pretty fast. They had killer ads in PC Mag and this one was billed as the Dream Machine. In fact I am just getting ready to ship it out to the trash heap. I have since bought two PCs but this is the one I would dig out of the closet when I needed an old fashion DOS/Win3.1 sound blaster application to fire up. My new machine can not run a true DOS app, and even after 10 years, I was still relying on this bad boy. It appears over the years, from the emails presented here, the company was reduced to $s and cents but in its hey day it kicked out a machine as good as any company. I will say that tech support was strange - I called a couple times and never quite knew if my complaint was being handled by a tech support lab or someone in a garage! Oh well, the machine has served it's purpose. If they would have been minding the store a little better they could have been sitting where Dell or Gateway is now.

Mike

Brian Bristow from Buffalo, NY USA
Date - Friday, July 19, 2002 at 01:25:27 (EDT)

I bought a computer from Comtrade (a P-90) when win 95 was just coming out. It came with 3.11 and a couple weeks later they sent me my Win 95 CD. The computer ran faster than any of my friend's computers with equal or better specs. My sales rep, Robert,was awesome and it was such a great deal. I think Comtrade was the best company ever, and I only found them now because I was wishing I could get a new laptop from them.

Doug Forman from Roselle Park, NJ USA
Date - Saturday, June 01, 2002 at 15:49:37 (EDT)

In the late 80's my friends and I all purchased Comtrade PC, based on various peoples recommendations. No complaints on how they operated. However, when my fan broke and I had to replace it, I discovered that my 120 mHz chip that I thought I had purchased was really a 75mHz chip. To my dismay my friends also discovered the same thing.

Dan from Perry, NY USA
Date - Wednesday, November 28, 2001 at 15:03:26 (EST)

I bought from Comtrade in 1997, what a great computer! Tech support was also great. I am sad they went out of business, I would buy more from them. Good solid computer.

Steve Smith from Honolulu, HI USA
Date - Tuesday, October 23, 2001 at 12:26:11 (EDT)

I have a Comtrade model no:175n9602. I have a short in the monitor where it fades in and out if you touch the sides. I figure it has a short in it somewhere. My question is where do I find a tech or a replacment for it. Anyone know where to start?
Mahalo thank you in advance.
Steve Smith- Honolulu, Hawaii.

Philip Terry from Ruston, LA USA
Date - Monday, October 22, 2001 at 15:03:37 (EDT)

I bought my Comtrade computer, a P2-350, in August 1998 after reading an awesome review of them in PC Magazine I think. The price was cheap for the system I got.

I had to send the system back to them when it seemed to just stop booting up in December (4 months later). I paid for shipping but the computer has now run flawlessly for 3 years.

Overall I'm happy with my Comtrade, but now I am upgrading my system and they are gone....

JUDY BROWNELL from USA
Date - Monday, September 10, 2001 at 18:05:27 (EDT)

I bought a system from Comtrade in 1998. The monitor they provided was a Megaimage 17' model # TE767B MC767B. The monitor worked great until I got a virus and had to reformat. I discovered at this time that they had failed to include the driver in my package. If anyone out there knows of a source for this driver let me know thanks

joe from gainesville, FL USA
Date - Monday, September 10, 2001 at 01:44:50 (EDT)

I don't know what you are talking about. I bought a comtrade computer four years ago and I really like it. I have bought three more computer since including a laptop; however my comtrade has outlasted all of them. Yup, it's doing pretty well.

later

Jason Harms from FT Meade, MD USA
Date - Monday, August 20, 2001 at 12:29:55 (EDT)

I, like many others, was thoroughly impressed with what Comtrade had to offer on their website and in their ads in

Ibrahim Faisal from USA
Date - Saturday, August 11, 2001 at 19:00:03 (EDT)

Comtrade Computer is now PRIVATE LABEL PC (City of Industry)
Visit their new website www.vistapc.com
Same owner: Christopher Luke or maybe under his wife name Rachel.

Carol from Redondo Beach, CA USA
Date - Sunday, August 05, 2001 at 22:37:23 (EDT)

Hi!
I recently had a friend give me an old "Comtrade" laptop from 1996 with no battery charger and no dc plug.
Does anybody know where I can get a battery charger and/or a dc plug to get thisthing working? I've been EVERYWHERE!!!
I don't have a model #. All I know is it's a "Comtrade sound Win-Note laptop."
Please help! Thanks!
Carol5762@home.com

Michael from Houston, TX USA
Date - Tuesday, July 17, 2001 at 17:03:59 (EDT)

Bought my 1st PC (actually my second if you count an Atari 1080) from Comtrade on early 1997. it ia an early Intel 233mhz PII. I have added Win 98, memory(128mb), 2nd disk total 6.3GB, ethernet (cable modem), a "real" modem. EVERYTHING works well. I did have a problem with the standard "Winmodem", but replaced it with a real 56K V90 and all's well. Other than that I have been very pleased.

I am ready to move on and have bought a Compaq Presario 7000. It is a 1.2 Ghz AMD "internet" PC with DVD, CDRW, 256MB, 80GB etc. It screams.

If anyone wants a solid PC for basic use, internet access, web building, etc. I'm selling my little "Lightning PC". Write me.(saturnian2001@houston.rr.com)

Doug Zerafa from Chicago, IL USA
Date - Monday, July 02, 2001 at 19:17:44 (EDT)

I bought a Comtrade 90 mhz Pentium in 95 just when windows 95 came out. I had a problem with the power supply which they replaced, but I had to pay for shipping. Other than that the PC has run fine and I was very happy with it. It runs Windows 95 better than my new Presario runs Windows 98. I had Red Hat running on it for a while as well. Ive given up on the Windows98/Compaq and run Red Hat on it. The KFC Monitor it came with is excellent and I'm still using it. The speakers it came with were lousy, and the ad was misleading, which was another comment someone made on the list.

If you're slightly computer savvy there's really no need anymore to run windows ... I think Linux runs better on just about anything and you have all the productivity apps you need like word processing available. You also get a lot of free stuff like GIMP which is similar to photoshop.

Or, if you're just buying a PC for home use why not buy a Mac? They're much cooler looking and now with OS X you've got yourself a UNIX server as well if you're into it.

Disgrunted Purchaser from USA
Date - Tuesday, May 22, 2001 at 13:16:27 (EDT)

I thought that my experiences with Gogo City were really surreal, and that there was nothing I could do about it, but I though I would do a search for GogoCity and "fraud" on google, and looky what I found here. Great, there are many more just like me. I've purchased from Gogo City for good components, e.g. IBM30Gig singly before, and have had pretty good results. HOWEVER! One time, I purchased for my office 7 IBM hard drives worth ~$1300 and ONLY 6 of them ARRIVED in a very shoddily put together package w/bubble wrap + styro peanuts of everytype in a questionably sound box. I called cust svc at Gogo city and they delayed for weeks and finally came back to me with the response, "no we checked our inventory and the weight of the package matches the number of hard drives in your box, so therefore you should have all of them." Arrrgh! What kind of bullshit is that? Then it becomes a my word vs. their word complaint. What am I supposed to do about this? I can report it to my Credit Card company, but I don't know if I'll get anything back. Also, I've waited a very long time to find this forum, so perhaps there's a statute of limitations to credit card complaints as well.

CONCLUSION: DO NOT BUY IN BULK FROM THESE CROOKS!!!

-Cheated Purchaser

burt from monroe twp., nj USA
Date - Sunday, May 20, 2001 at 21:56:47 (EDT)

very good

brian starr from USA
Date - Friday, March 09, 2001 at 20:29:15 (EST)

GoGoCity sold me a computer case with a defective power supply, plus $800+ worth of other parts for a computer I am building.

I spent 1 week screwing everything into it, turned it on...nothing...called them up, and they told me that I would have to take everything out, and ship the case back at my expense for replacement. They refused to replace the powersupply by itself, even though you only had to remove 4 screws and it lifted right out!

Plus, they said that if I could not verify if the other stuff I bought was working within a week or so, I couldn't return them, either-even though I couldn't test them, as the power supply was defective.

No exceptions!

I will NEVER buy from them again!

John Glenn from Orlando, FL USA
Date - Sunday, March 04, 2001 at 01:50:51 (EST)

I cant say to much about it i was just wondering if anybody could help me locate drivers for a laptop I just obtained i need to find the cdrom drivers for a laptop model HB770
Thanks and feel free to email at the address above at with info .. thanks

kevin stone from littleton, NH USA
Date - Monday, February 12, 2001 at 17:12:24 (EST)

i need info on how to contact comtrade computers due to a problem with my computer, if anyone has a valid phone number, please email me at kjstone@landmarknet.net

jay kaneko from USA
Date - Friday, January 26, 2001 at 14:57:52 (EST)

I actually had good luck with 2 Comtrade computers. However, my 5 year old Comtrade notebook now has problems booting up. Does anyone know where I can get a Comtrade notebook serviced?

Vertigo from USA
Date - Wednesday, January 24, 2001 at 12:19:14 (EST)

I purchased a P133 from Comtrade in 1995.
Initially, the machine ran just fine out of the box.
However, as soon as I tried installing new software
or upgrade any of the components, I had troubles.
I discovered that Comtrade's installers simply didn't
have a clue how to configure a computer properly.
Furthermore, after only a month of operation, my
hard drive crashed. It took weeks trying to get a
replacement - even though the computer was still
under warranty. I eventually got a replacement drive
after countless long-distance phone calls. Needless
to say, eventually that drive failed as well.
I am glad this once mighty mail order company has
finally fallen.

Ernesto S. Esparza from Vista, CA USA
Date - Sunday, January 14, 2001 at 08:01:37 (EST)

When I bought my laptop from them initially I was happy with it. After about 6 months I needed a upgraded on ram and tried to contact them about it. All I got was the run around finally I spoke with a manager and asked ram upgrade and he suggested I go Sager computer who had what I needed. My system then started expierencing hard drive problems and I have not been able to contact them since.

Kevin from USA
Date - Thursday, January 04, 2001 at 20:04:54 (EST)

Well, like the sounds of the rest of you, my Comtrade computer is a piece of crap. But more importantly I bought the Service warranty through NWC SERVICE who also appears to have skipped town. If anybody can help me locate these thieves please email me at: kglenny@notes.freedom.com
Thanks for your help.

Michael Dimitriadis from Melbourne, AZ USA
Date - Monday, January 01, 2001 at 23:02:20 (EST)

THIS COMPANY HAS BEEN ROBBERS FOR AGES. THE COPS SHOULD
CATCH THEM...

ASGHAR from peshawar, Other
Date - Tuesday, December 12, 2000 at 05:50:13 (EST)

what ios thae price of pentium-1 166mhz used

Vic Hult from Kingston, MA USA
Date - Friday, December 08, 2000 at 21:39:09 (EST)

I purchsaed a comtrade computer and I had problems with the mother board {within the warranty}. They sent me another mother board and at that time asked me for a credit card #. I was told that I would not be billed if I sent the other mother board back. I was billed. I sent the mother board back and have been fighting with the credit card company for several years.

Phillip Wong from Hacienda Heights, CA USA
Date - Saturday, December 02, 2000 at 03:23:35 (EST)

Sound keeps bugging out on me, as well as the video. Freezes a lot too. Just really sucks. They just "happen" to go out of business, so now i'm stuck with a crappy computer and can't get ne service from the place that sold it to me.

Peter from Upstate, NY USA
Date - Thursday, November 16, 2000 at 18:09:02 (EST)

I have been through 2 Comtrade computers and have never had any major problems with either one. The only reason I stopped using the first one is because the time had come for a faster computer.

The one regret I *do* have is that my newer computer (the one I use currently) had a hard drive failure when I tried to defrag the drive, but I'm not sure this is so much the computer's fault than a software error. After buying a new hard drive to run Windows from, I was able to reformat the original hard drive and it works perfectly once again.

It surprises me that so many others have had such bad problems. Not only have I bought 2 for myself, I have also had my office buy one when they needed to replace a computer. And, when I first bought my own PC in '97, I wanted to buy from a different vendor but my father convinced me to use Comtrade because a few of his friends had used Comtrade without any problems.

I am disappointed that the company appears to have folded, which means I'm having a hell of a time trying to find out what kind of RAM upgrades I can make. And I'd be screwed if I needed any other technical help, but thankfully I know a good bit of this stuff myself.

Adam Shakhan from USA
Date - Tuesday, November 14, 2000 at 22:18:15 (EST)

Comtrade-its simply one of the worst computer companies ever! I run a small computer business as well as being a computer engineer comtrade has sold me one of the worst computers I have ever dealt with. At one time I even had to ask them to trade my computer in for another one from comtrade. On top of that they made me pay more shipping and handling. I would never recommend that you ever buy a comtrade computer again. They should also change their slogan to "the world crappiest lighting PC"

Sam Clark from Oak Park, IL USA
Date - Tuesday, October 31, 2000 at 11:37:10 (EST)

They are closed as Comtrade, but have re-opened just a short distance away in the same area [according to newsgroup item]. New company name: PLPC or something very similar to that. Curiously, there's a website www.SCCCA.ORG that opens with the very curious line of "protecting" chinese computer manufacturers - a group with Christopher Luke as a prominent member.

Christopher Luke is the prime crook of this outfit, is said to be very wealthy having duped a huge number of buyers for consensus JUNK PC's that still get RAVE reviews from ZDNET and PCWORLD based mags. Interesting to note there is a reference in the 1994 archive of this review list pointing to a Paul Stiglich as sales rep. As many of you may know, Paul Stiglich is a prominent ZD group editor! If it's really true that Paul was a sales rep here, wouldn't it be a conflict of interest to have ZD give such rave reviews of this company's products?

Isnt it also interesting how many places you can find with "hate" lists specifically targeting COMTRADE?

After my COMTRADE fiasco 486, I was %50 for mail-order PC success. Strange how quickly a good company like PC BRAND folded, but CON-TRADE lasted close to 15 years! CON-TRADE and Christopher Luke give computing a huge notch downward imho. Their one saving grace is they teach Caveat Emptor extremely well!

To paraphrase another poster;

"Comtrade's closed and they were F****D!"

Mark Ryan from Elmwood Park, IL USA
Date - Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 16:42:45 (EDT)

I bought my Comtrade 486DX2-66 in July of '94 ($1750, still have the receipt). It was my first (home) PC. It actually wasn't too bad, but getting Tech Support was HELL. I would wait for a minimum of 20 minutes every time. CPU fan failed, but they were quick to replace it...

DOS 6.22 and WFW 3.11, 4MB RAM, 200MB Conner HD, 2X Mitsumi CD-ROM, and a 16bit Soundwave soundcard. The monitor was a 14" Sceptre.
The motherboard and 486-66 chip are still running today in my living room (NT4 WKS) for nostalgia.

They were rather deceptive, though...the speakers shown in the Ad were much better than the ones shipped (their claim was they didn't specify what kind), and the board only had 128KB cache (256 upgd later), which with those systems made a big difference. The soundcard had no native '95 support (volume level wouldn't work), and the I/O board only had one IDE channel. They also sold it with a "9600 baud" modem, but technically it was 2400, with 9600 fax capabilities. I have found out that the board is a base level ABIT.

Pete from GU USA
Date - Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 06:27:26 (EDT)

3 year old 300. Not one problem. Had it shipped hear to Guam. I have a built in Zip, 64 mem, 32 rom, 8 gig.
My friend has had a lot more trouble with his Gateway.
Hope I keep kicking. Must of got a good one.

Jim Zaphiriou from Los Angeles, CA USA
Date - Friday, October 13, 2000 at 11:40:48 (EDT)

I bought a Comtrade computer in around '95, have had no problems with it, and it still runs, although the fan is getting a little noisy. It's a 200 MhZ PII with 32 meg of ram and 3 gig of hard drive space. I've been very happy with the computer, which I've run hard for almost 5 years.

I found this site because it's time to get another machine and I thought I'd give Comtrade a call. Imagine my shock and surprise to see that the company produced shit computers and is now out of business! I guess I got lucky! OTOH, it looks like the mid-90's machines were pretty good. Perhaps another classic case of a once-quality company that went downhill after tasting success. Time for me to do some research to find another PC!

cesar from san jose, CA USA
comtrade
Date - Wednesday, September 06, 2000 at 17:38:07 (EDT)

Company went out of business and im f*****

Simon from Irvine, CA USA
Date - Sunday, May 07, 2000 at 02:03:07 (EDT)

Purchased a Comtrade PII 333 and have been using it for about 2 years now with no problems. I've even run my machine as a server, using daemons for FTP, IRC and messed around a bit with www stuff. Suffice to say, the machine is on all the time. I'm looking to upgrade and did a search for comtrade and found this site. Thought I'd share my story. Also, I actually went to their main offices to pick up my machine. They took a while to get it ready but that's the only thing I can complain about.

- Simon

Damian McLennan from Stirling, United Kingdom
Damians Cavern
Date - Tuesday, May 02, 2000 at 01:13:09 (EDT)

The experience I wish to share is not with a sole company. It is more a piece of advice.

Perhaps this would be more suited to the more confident computer user - not for the novice.

When you buy a computer from any of the companies above, or infact any licensed company at all, you are paying well over the odds for your system.

It is a fact that because computers are not mass-produced, that building a computer will cost a lot more in labour. Even if the system you are buying is already a pre-established packaged system, you are paying far too much.

Have you ever thought about building your own system? Its not as daunting as you may first think. Its a bit like lego or meccano. It all just slots in, there isn't too much you can do to damage the equipment, provided you take a few simple precautions. If you get stuck, there are literally millions of websites that offer help in building systems.

If you were to build your own system, you would be making a saving in the region of 40%. Thats a big saving compared to the cost of buying a ready-made computer. It is possible to save even more by buying computer magazines, and checking the smaller company ads for all your components. They all offer a very competitive selection of rates, or you can try on-line auctions. At times they are a steal!!

There are risks involved with this, but these risks exist just as equally in the ready made system. Most small component companies offer generous warranties for their components, so its not such an issue to worry about.

To conclude, I strongly advise all to try building their own system. I have made 6 systems of my own, never having any problems that caused me any amount of stress. Go on, you might even find you enjoy it!!

Frank Smid from Greenville, SC USA
Date - Wednesday, April 26, 2000 at 16:31:01 (EDT)

I bought a 486/50Mhz back in 1992. I guess back then they were a good company. That machine has been used, sometimes for days on end, running in an enclosed (to keep cats and kids away from it), unventilated wooden cabinet with ambient temperatures OUTSIDE the cabinet topping out at over 100 degrees and it has never so much as hiccupped. It is still running today, although less often. I will soon be shopping for a new machine but it seems from the current feedback that Comtrade is no longer a viable option. A pity, they were so good at one time...

Plamen Krastev from Madison, WI USA
Date - Friday, April 21, 2000 at 18:54:09 (EDT)

I bought a computer from Comtrade about 2.5 years ago. It was supposed to be a Pentium-II 233 MHz machine. It was sent to me with a different video card and a different mouse than I ordered. Those were replaced in due time but I had to pay for shipping and handling. However when the RAM failed I had to send the computer back for repair, agian paying for shipping and handling. This was about 10 months after I bought the computer. It took them almost a month to fix it. When I received it I found out that the windows device menager reports the processor as a Pentium-Pro, although the BIOS still recognizes it as a Pentium-II. There is problem with the shielding too: whenever the computer is on I can't watch TV since the picture is of poor quality. Now I am looking to upgrade my BIOS since I want to install a new hard drive. Many manufacturers would allow a BIOS upgrade for free. However Comptrade doesn't seem to exist any more. They were promising 3 years support but I didn't get even a year of support and I paid more than I expected for shipping and replacing parts that should have been in the system when I bought it. I wonder who was giving them the awards they were boasting in Computer Shopper and all over their website.

Doug Bremer from Oak Park, IL USA
Date - Thursday, April 20, 2000 at 10:22:08 (EDT)

Well in short, my experience with comtrade is terrible!

They handle their customers with great disrespect. I have had many problems with my computer and have tried to contact comtrades tech dept but I never seem to get through. I have since given up on my comtrade computer ( junk! ) and I'm currently using a Packard Bell.

DO NOT BUY FROM COMTRADE!

Nick B from USA
Date - Wednesday, April 19, 2000 at 12:17:11 (EDT)

Bought one in 1994, great (they got good all-around reviews at the time)

Bought another in 1996, and they had gone downhill by then, with incompetent tech support and problems all around -- The system was ordered with a SCSI drive, but it didn't work, so we tried a new MB -- they sent a replacement MB that would not work with SCSI, which I found out *after* installing it.

Then I got another MB and that didn't fix the problem. Finally I replaced the memory and it worked.

The fan on the Pentium chip went south, and since then the Goldstar 17" monitor has crapped out, too.

Glad I kept some of the parts, I've needed them....

The Comtrade webpage is blank, so one has to presume, with the lack of ads, that the company is finally history...

A shame, they were really quite good in 1994...

Tim from USA
Date - Monday, April 10, 2000 at 15:30:55 (EDT)

Well it's a good thing I know how to repair a computer
because I have had nothing but bad luck with Comtrade.

a) Two complete hard drive failures in 3 years
b) Soundcard that needs the drivers to be manually loaded
everytime the computer restarts
c) CD-ROM that can not read any dual-encoded disc (i.e. any
disc that has both audio and data tracks on it)
d) Monitor that has almost crapped the bed

I was able to deal with tech support a total of 4 times but
3 times were a complete nightmare as no one understood
English and they didn't know what they were talking about.
The one time I got someone half way decent was after my
warantee expired and I needed to know the specs on the
motherboard to upgrade it. (He understood what I said
but didn't help me out any as my warantee expired. Just
needed a simple piece of data. Sheesh!)

Comtrade computers are good for one thing only. Very
expensive paperweights. Don't buy from them. You will
be very sorry.

Tim Leslie

P.S. Last time I checked, their website had "disappeared".

NY Purchaser from USA
Date - Monday, March 20, 2000 at 14:42:41 (EST)

I have had little problems with my purchase but now that I am looking to upgrade my pc, Comtrade is nowhere to be found for tech support. None of their phone #'s or fax #'s work. My parents also purchased a Comtrade around the same time and have had a few problems. They had to have their fan replaced and their monitor fixed. I'm grateful to be one of the few lucky ones but feel real bad for everyone else. I am very annoyed though that I can't get any technical answers from these people @ Comtrade but from the sounds of it, I don't want their help. I will think twice before ordering a generic brand pc again. I am going to contact the BBB about Comtrade's actions.

Anonymous from Unknown, MI USA
Date - Friday, March 10, 2000 at 03:51:48 (EST)

Responiong to a request for NWC's phone.
The # on the back of my system is 1-714-712-4000

Felice Muraca from USA
Date - Saturday, March 04, 2000 at 13:26:22 (EST)

Do you have a phone number for NWC Service Corp. comtrades supposed tech support.

Laura Collins from Kingsville, TX USA
Date - Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 21:25:22 (EST)

YES I WAS ANOTHER SUCKER FOR THIS SHIT COMPANY-I BOUGHT
ONE IN FEB 99-FIRST THE SPEAKERS GO OUT, THEN THE MODEM, THEN THEY SEND ANOTHER ONE AND THAT DIDN'T WORK, I SENT THEM BOTH BACK-THEN FINALLY THE MONITOR GOES OUT -YOU CAN'T
GET IN TOUCH WITH THOSE CROOKS-THEY SHOULD BE TARRED AND
FEATHERED AND RUN OUT OF TOWN-WHY CAN'T WE AS CONSUMERS DO
SOMETHING ABOUT IT-HOW ABOUT A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT!

Jim Layne from Orange, TX USA
Date - Saturday, February 12, 2000 at 01:57:44 (EST)

I have purchased a total of three(3) computers from Comtrade
and have not had the least bit of trouble from any of them.
I also recommended the company to a friend at work and he
loves his Comtrade. I will be taking my cover off and
checking to see if it really is a P166 though.

Ryan D. Kearns from Cincinnati, OH USA
Date - Thursday, January 06, 2000 at 01:40:27 (EST)

First of all, I would like to dissuade anyone who is
thinking of purchasing a Comtrade system. Comtrade's
current web page (www.comtrade.com) is, at best, "bare
bones," and provides neither a e-mail contact nor an
800 support line. Secondly, after reading through page
after page of these complaints, and after seeing the
"UNSATISFACTORY" rating that the Better Business Bureau
has bestowed upon Comtrade, I wouldn't touch this company
with a 10-foot pole.

However, I did purchase a Comtrade laptop in 1997, before
I knew better. Incredibly, it still runs, although its
lithium battery decreased to about 10 minutes of non-
power cord use in less than a year. You read that right:
fully charged, my laptop can operate without a power cord
for approximately 10 minutes -- at best -- and I was sold
originally a battery that was supposed to last at least
2 hours. At its best, I figure I got about an hour and a
half out of it immediately after purchase.

Prior to 1997, I had persuaded my then-girlfriend (now wife)
to purchase a Comtrade desktop system in 1995. It was
riddled with problems, including a hard drive that totally
crapped out (yet was amazingly and promptly replaced by
Comtrade). It is still operational at my in-laws' house,
but its power system is failing, and it has numerous other
problems. If you've ever seen the Disney movie, "The Black
Hole," this system is the equivalent of Old B.O.B. :-)

Attempting to contact Comtrade concerning replacements,
as well as previous Y2K concerns I had, proved to be an
absolute impossibility. The 1-800 "support" line, at
1-800-969-2123 is non-working. I attempted to call this
number, and let it ring and ring. No one picked up, human
or machine. Interestingly enough, minutes afterward, when
I tried the number again, I was informed that the number
was "blocked from my area code." Hmmm.

I don't know what to make of this company. I don't even
know if they actually exist any longer, although they are
apparently still accepting orders for new systems on their
pitiful excuse for a web site.

I, like many others, was suckered into purchasing Comtrade
primarily due to their favorable mid-90s appearances in
Computer Shopper magazine. Comtrade definitely had the
sharpest and most impressive ads, and reviews of their
systems were fairly stellar in terms of performance.
However, I have now heard that Comtrade, due to its
poor customer service record, allegations of knowing fraud,
and pending lawsuits, is no longer allowed to advertise in
Computer Shopper.

It figures -- I was between Comtrade and Micron when I was
helping to choose my wife's computer in 1995. Let's put
it this way: There is no Comtrade-sponsored bowl game in
college football. And I was between Comtrade and Dell in
1997 when deciding on a laptop. Dell laptops now are
widely-recognized as among the best (if not *the*) overall.

To sum up: Stay away from this company. It is unclear
whether or not they even truly "exist." What is clear is
that even if you manage to receive a system from them,
you are on your own as far as repairs and troubleshooting.
There is no customer or technical support to speak of.