Anyone come across NS Optimum before?

[muppet]

Hi all,
I have just received a qoute for tender back from 5 companies, one of which was NS Optimum. I was recommended them from a collegue in another school, but wanted to know if anyone else has used them, and if so what do you think of them? I am looking at purchasing 87 desktops, 60 hardend TFT screens and 27 normal TFT's.
Any info anyone can provide will be gratefully received.
Many thanks,
Muppet

[russdev]

right i am off to hide as there is some strong feeling toward ns???

Russ

[tosca925]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm.........NS

[GrumbleDook]

Once upon a time there was a growing company providing good, relevant ICT advice and supplying IT equipment in schools.

They gave good prices and a large chunk of their kit was very good considering what was around at the time.

But something went a little wrong. A number of schools became unhappy. The more recent kit was a little flaky and the advice was not so good.

Some schools even began to say that this company was becoming the money hungry company that people wanted to move away from, but without the funky locking down software you could get too.

Schools started to move away from them and realise that other companies could also do respectable computers at good prices, with better support and a heck of a lot better reliabilty. Dell, Stone, HP / Compaq all smiled. Even RM weren't scared anymore ...

.....

I'm sorry ... what was the question again? NS Optimum? Yeah ... I've heard of them. Finally got rid of the last of the kit a few weeks back and don't intend to use them again.

[eejit]

It pains me to say it because I hate RM with every fibre in my being, but NS Optimum are the worst company in ICT.

If you want an enjoyable read, then search for them in the newsgroups, there are some great stories posted that I kept for future use. Let me know if you can't find any and I'll email them to you.

[kingswood]

We inherited lots of those trashy systems when we took over our second site- albeit older ones- but still....I would seriously consider doing some research on those things before diving in.

[alan-d]

Whatever you do don't give them your email address or telephone number - they become the neighbours from hell!

[russdev]

I just ignore them...

Russ

[plexer]

My previous place we went with NS becasue we got good pricing and the kit worked well but it's the high pressure sales and the constant phone calls that drive yuo mad. Oh and also their underhand tactics of trying to go above you to smt etc... to get orders that really doesn't impress.

When I left we had ordered another server and stuff from them and even though it was an intel based standard server the engineer that was installing it was a muppet <--- no offence to the original requestor intended.

When I moved schools they found out where I had moved to from the caretaker and that started a new round of phonecalls which I told them where to go and haven't heard from them since.

The directors of the company is/was a husband and wife team.

Ben

[pete]

We have one NS Optimum machine we bought recently (because we had some of their machines from "back in the day" and they rocked). They will hound you incessantly - I've even had our (usually polite to a fault) receptionists shout at them for calling far too often.

In short, they're just not worth it.

[broc]

My experience has been that sticking with mainstream suppliers such as HP, DELL offers the best long term support & consistency of product, unless you get a buzz out of maintaining small numbers of hand crafted PC systems?

We have bought around 200 'industry standard' DELL desktop PCs and 100+ laptops in the last 3 years and these are managed with half a dozen Ghost images & I reckon we could reduce this further if we tried. Our last remaining mongrel PCs (25 in number, all P4s and bought before my time!)cost us more to maintain than the 200 DELL desktops because they were built from whatever parts the supplier bought in when he got the order. As parts failed during warranty different components (system boards, graphics cards etc) were used by the supplier to get them back up & running.
I Know that buying a bunch of DELL Optiplex or Latitude systems today I can be certain that the basic system configuration will be stable and I have a warranty that is pretty good too. Mainstream suppliers assemble their systems in very large volumes and have the spares & support organisations to match.
Also, it's no good having a next day onsite warranty from a company which may go bust 3-6 months later(not that I am suggesting NS Optimum are in trouble). However, look at how many computer manufacturers have gone out of business in the last few years?

[kingswood]

Yeah- Dell and HP are the way to go. We buy Dell mostly now and handle installation through just one RIS image- installing our main application afterwards and then Prism Deploying the remainder. Takes about two hours to do a couple of rooms on a good day. Did have problems with the Intel Pro 100 VE chipset from Dell machines- but I just stuck the drivers in the RIS directory and they worked fine from there...

NS Optimum? We literally trashed them.

[thom]

I have only ever had POSITIVE experiences with NS Optimum. My account manager is Rob Smith. It seems whenever we go to get a big order like our recent laptop trolleys or 2 new dual-core ICT suites they always come out on top.
Not only do they build very reliable kit under their own brand but they can also source out great deals from other manufacturers like HP etc.

To the other people who have posted here, it would have been nice if any of you gave a reason for your unhappiness. I suggest if people do not want to be contacted by a company they just phone them and asked to be removed from the contacts database.

@ Muppet: I recommend you go with them and experience their service first hand. I'm sure you will be impressed with their service and after sales support and they normally throw in a free PC or laptop or a good long warranty with all my large orders.

[eejit]

Wow, there's the exception that proves the rule

[wesleyw]

To be honest I'm not a fan anymore Thom. We bought an ICT suite, Library Suite, four laptop trolleys, 57 laptops and s server and I'll agree the build quality is good but the support isn't! I ordered 3 year onsite warranties but the only thing that they've ever come onsite for is the server. The desktops have had to be sent back due to the time taken for them to respond it was quicker to send them back have them fixed and sent to us than it was to get anyone out. I have been waiting now for twelve months for a rack mount kit that still hasn't arrived regardless of phone calls and emails and regardless of who I've spoken too to say I'm pi**ed off would be an understatement. For a school that has spent a great deal of money with NS I haven't been very pleased. The guy that build our server I felt sorry for! It was his first SATA raid server (A first for the company too I believe) one or two gliches came to light but the system is stable! I would buy their kit again if the support was better.


Wes