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From Frustration to Resolution: My Experience with SetupGame.ma and Lian Li

 |  ESTIMATED READING TIME:  5 MINUTES

Upgrading my PC was an adventure filled with unexpected twists and turns, thanks to both a local Moroccan store, SetupGame.ma, and the renowned hardware brand, Lian Li. What started as a simple upgrade soon turned into a tale of excellent and frustrating customer service, proving that not all tech experiences are created equal.

Racing Against Time: My Urgent PC Upgrade

About a year and eight months ago, I was in the midst of upgrading my PC from an X99 to a Z690 setup, transitioning from the Core i7-5820K to the Core i7-12700K. My initial plan was to use an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 ARGB, which I ordered from Amazon. Unfortunately, it got stuck in customs with no clear timeline for its release. In a pinch, I turned to SetupGame.ma, a local store, for a quick solution.

SetupGame.ma promised delivery of the Lian Li Galahad 240 SL Edition AIO cooler within 24 hours. True to their word, the cooler arrived in the morning. However, the Arctic AIO unexpectedly showed up in the afternoon of the same day. By then, my PC was already assembled with the Lian Li cooler, leaving the Arctic AIO to collect dust in my room.

The Return Dilemma: SetupGame.ma’s Customer Service Woes

Fast forward a few months, and the time came to return the Arctic AIO and request a refund. Amazon was fantastic, allowing me to keep the cooler while processing a refund. In contrast, when a Lian Li fan from the Galahad cooler started malfunctioning, SetupGame.ma’s customer service fell short. Their response was to direct me to their customer support number—a frustrating move that seemed designed to stall rather than resolve the issue.

Lian Li’s Redemption: A Tale of Excellent Support

Unlike SetupGame.ma, Lian Li’s customer service was exemplary. Despite my frustration, including a heated mention of how tech prices in Morocco are often higher, Lian Li’s team took my concerns seriously. They eventually agreed to send a replacement after a bit of back-and-forth. For more on Lian Li’s response to similar issues, you can check their official statement here.

Turning the Page: From Tech Frustrations to Personal Wins

Amidst these tech trials, I also found a silver lining. Instead of buying a new laptop for my dad, I used my old PC parts to build him his very first gaming rig. This included the MSI X99A SLI PLUS, Core i7-5820K, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a new case, a fresh SSD, and a new monitor. It felt great to recycle old components into something useful.

Conclusion: The Power of Advocacy and Customer Care

Not all customers are out to exploit companies. Often, vendors hold significant power over the market, making effective and fair customer service essential. While SetupGame.ma’s bureaucratic approach was frustrating, Lian Li’s resolution reinforced the importance of good support. My experiences reaffirm that standing up for one’s rights and expecting genuine care from companies can lead to positive outcomes. It’s a reminder that even in challenging situations, there’s always room to learn and grow.

In the end, whether dealing with global brands or local vendors, the key takeaway is the value of responsive, customer-centric support. My journey with SetupGame.ma and Lian Li has shown me that while not all tech experiences are smooth, the right support can make all the difference.

N.B.: You’d think navigating support with a big international company like Lian Li would be a headache, but ironically, it was the small, unknown SetupGame.ma that gave me the real runaround!

UPDATE:
It took UPS brokers, and customs a whole month to process my package containing the AIO replacement from Lian Li. Apparently, the package invoice was missing the shipping costs, so UPS/Customs refused to process my package, so I gave up on it after contacting Lian Li Support a few times, asking them to send me a new updated invoice, so that I could forward it to UPS.

A month later after my package got stuck in customs, I get a call from a UPS broker claiming they did finally receive the new invoice, but for some reason, they asked me to provide all the information again (my ID, item description, and reason for purchase), note that I did do that at least 4 times. Ironically, the newbie UPS broker claimed he couldn’t hear me both when he called me while I was home, and while I was outside, which honestly pissed me off, so I started cursing like crazy, and lo and behold, suddenly he heard everything, and when I got back home, I got an email from him telling me to not use inappropriate language, and to be professional. It’s important to note that I had already given up on the AIO replacement, so to be called out of nowhere, interrupting my music, and long walk, which lately I barely gather the strength to go through it, mainly to get wholewheat bread from a bakery downtown, just to be told that they couldn’t hear anything I was saying once again, to say it was frustrating would be one heck of an understatement. To honor his request in the name of professionalism, I sent him a video of me going on a crazy rant, calling UPS, and customs out for their complete nonsense, like how they scam, and overcharge people, and they never deliver packages on time.

Man, when I went to get my 40TB drive from Nouaceur, Casablanca, my buddy and I stayed there from 11AM to 5PM, and the customs inspector’s typing skills were an abomination to say the least. Just imagine having your buddy drive you from Tetouan all the way to Casablanca (over 360 kilometers), spending over a hundred bucks just on gas, toll fees, and food alone, meaning we’re literally going to get the package ourselves instead of having it delivered to us like any other package from before, and somehow still pay over $200 more for 2 delivery receipts, administrative fees, and storage fees, note that it’s UPS’ fault that the package was there for 16 days; also, it was labeled as DAP.

Was I screwed by Forward2Me? I guess we’ll never know. All I know is that I ended up having to spend $500 to get my 40TB drive, my CableMod extension cables, and my Amazon Echo Dot (5th-Gen), and that doesn’t include the cost of all 3 items and their shipping (over $800, so the total is around $1,300). Honestly, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that using a U.S. package forwarding service, I was bound to get screwed just like I did by VIABOX about a decade ago. Funny how they overcharge for shipping, and yet they don’t step in to help with customs or anything at all; it’s such a joke! There’s more story to all of this, but I’m just tired, man. It just sucks that we live in this world that’s crawling with greedy good-for-nothing people whose first instinct is to “legally” scam you, and pretend like they’re just doing their job.