My birthday present -- new computers

My birthday is coming up. I've been saving up for a year and a half to get a really good computer infrastructure in this house. Last Monday (7/02/2007), I finally bought everything. I'm getting two computers. One fileserver with 2TB of space, a desktop with the latest-and-greatest components, and the newest networking system I can get. Here are the components:

From Antares Digital:

1. Five 500GB Seagate SATA2 Hard Drives


2. eVGA geforce 8800Ultra 768MB 2.1GHz PCIe VGA Card

From SMK Super Store:

1. The server barebone computer consisting of:
   • AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.0GHz) (Socket AM2)
   • Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 nForce 570 SLI DDR2-800 eSATA A&2GbE ATX Motherboard
   • Cooling Package w/ Whisper CPU Fan, 2 Stealth Case Fans & Arctic Silver
   • 120mm Stealth Case Fan (Ultra Low Noise)
   • Atlas Precision Brand - 512MB DDR2-667
   • Thermaltake Tsunami Aluminum Case - w/ 680W PS - Silver
   • Standard 450 Watt Power Supply
   • Priority Processing
   • Extended - 3 Year Warranty

From Provantage:

1. A SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro


2. GigaWorks THX S750 7-piece Dolby 7.1 Speaker System

From PC Alchemy:

1. Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1800 MCE Combo ATSC/QAM/NTSC, PCIe x1

From Portatech:

1. The new desktop consisting of:
   • Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 ( 2 x 2.66GHz - 1066FSB)
   • Intel DG965RY
   • Cool Package - Stealth (Ultra Quiet Fan, 2 Stealth Case Fans, Artic Alumina Compound)
   • Kingston Technology - 4GB - PC2-6400 (DDR2-800) (Dual Channel Kit)
   • WD Raptor 74GB 10000RPM SATA Hard Drive (Commercial Grade - Ultra High Performance)
   • Windows Vista Ultimate (X64 - 64 Bit Edition)
   • Thermaltake Mozart Home Theater PC Case (Silver/Black)
   • Echo Star 680 Watt Power Supply (Dual-Core Certified)
   • 52X CD-Rom (Reads CD Discs)
   • Standard - Build, Burn-in, Test & Ship Out in Approx 3 to 5 Business Days
   • 3 Year Warranty

From Amazon:

1. Xtreme N Pci Adapter (through J&R Music and Computer World)
2. D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N Wireless Router

From OpticStor:

1. LG Electronics GGW-H10NI

From Comp-U-Plus:

1. LOGITECH CORDLESS COMFORT DESKTOP LASER ERGO SPLIT KEYBOARD W/LASER MOUSE
LOGITECH CORDLESS OPTICAL TRACKMAN USB WITH PS/2 ADAPTER

That was Monday, here's what's happened so far (as of this post, 2007-07-06T21:53).

First the good news, today the doorbell rang and the items from Amazon arrived. They certainly get Gold Stars for having their act together. This is a company that "gets" the Internet. Order was "processed" during the night, and handled and shipped the next morning.

For the most part, everything else is in transit. Except the items that are on backorder: the graphics card, the speakers (until 2007-07-30), and the Blue-Ray writer.

Now, the bad news. Google Checkout (which Comp-U-Plus uses) informed me that my AmEx was denied. So I called AmEx's 1-800 # that same night. Got some Indian guy that told me two things had raised flags, the Comp-U-Plus and Portatech. He cleared them. I asked if anything else was going to be "flagged." He started into a script about how this happens for security and he's not allowed to describe why or which items get flagged. He also reminds me this is the reason they called me (when I really called them). So I thank him for his time and hang up. I rework the Google Checkout. The trick here is not to click the link to "retry your card," but to click the button at the bottom that says "use this card." I then go to bed ...

I get some confirmation mails about some of the products, but hear nothing from Portatech and SMK SuperStore. Assuming "no news is good news," I think nothing of it.

What I didn't know is that both of these vendors had sent me mail, but because it used the phrase "problem with your credit card" and "follow this link" MSN's spam filter grabbed it. I didn't bother looking in the junk mail folder (how many of you check yours?), so I give it until today. Both their websites still said the order is processing, so I assume something is up.

After calling AmEx again and getting an Indian woman, I find out both SMK SuperStore and Portatech were denied. I "clear" them and hang up. Call SMK SuperStore first and get a Californian woman. I explain what's going on. and tell her about my birthday. She puts a "rush" on it (although I already paid for Expedited service) and says it should be out by Mon. I then call Portatech and get the same woman (both are apparently a front for www.pcboost.com). We both have a quick laugh and she promises to do the same thing to this one. So, I hang up.

Now, my birthday is going to come and I'm going to have all these parts and nothing to do with them :'(

DAMN THESE FALSE POSITIVES. It's 2007 can't we be accurate by now?!