NZXT's Response To Gamers Nexus' Investigation

AI Transcript

NZXT pulled an Asus by calling everybody confused. Unclear product names have caused confusion among gamers who are searching for the right solution for their needs.

First of all, they weren't confused. They were misled. A little different.

Secondly, the consumers we think were subject to a bait and switch. NZXT sort of supports this when, later on in this very post, it admits to changing the product specs sometimes and doing it, quote, in real time, which is insane.

Additionally, nobody was ever confused about the payment method, purchase versus subscription. That wasn't the problem. The misleading part, not the confusing part, was the specs changing in the computer and keeping the same name between two very different payment methods. For what appears to be the same computer on functionally the same page when toggling between them. That was the misleading part.

So NZXT has either completely missed the point or has chosen to miss the point. They call customers confused a second time. Quote, neither NZXT nor Fragile will sell any customer data. We are updating the contract language to remove any confusion about this matter.

That's weird. I thought the contract was pretty clear. Let's just check back in with a lawyer. Realistically. It is pretty much as broad as it could be. I mean, if it's not specifically and explicitly limited by other law somewhere else, then they probably can do it.

It's not about what the company chooses to enforce or what the company chooses to exercise in terms of the limits of its rights and its licenses that you grant it for privacy. It is about what they have the capability to do when you're agreeing to the subscription. They know this. If you're not going to use it, take it away. Take it out of the language.

And in the previous version of the contract, it appeared that their rights and their licenses were functionally limitless. And we're glad that they're changing it, but it never should have been there in the first place. There was never any confusion about this matter. It was extremely clear.

It is misleading and it is a distortion of reality to suggest that anybody was confused by this. Think of it like, if I make you sign a crazy waiver that signs away all of your rights to everything and you get mad and then I respond with, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't know. I hope there's not any confusion. That's like, that's gaslighting. That's what that is.

Speaking of, here's who NZXT blames for its problems. I want to acknowledge also that there are ad campaigns out there done that were not factual, didn't represent the actual program, calling out ownership when it really is a rental program.

NZXT blaming influencers for going off script sounds familiar. If NZXT tries to come back and say, oh, it's just the affiliates who did this, we have no control over them. First of all, NZXT, you're saying the same shit, so shut the fuck up.

Quote, there were several influencer marketing collaborations where the statements did not accurately reflect the details of our NZXT flex program. Glad we can agree that it was falsely advertised. So let's check on what those details from the influencers were. And maybe we should just check NZXT's website to make sure.

Cut the commitment out of PC gaming. Zero commitment. PC gaming with no strings attached. Commitment free way to return as needed. Cancel any time. Zero commitment. Everyone should start behind your computer.

Okay, well, fine. Maybe they just said the exact same thing as the influencers they just got done blaming, but they've updated it. And there really is low commitment. Wait, wait, wait. Play that back. Low commitment. Interesting. From no commitment to low commitment. It kind of blends right in. You might miss it. It's the loudest quiet endorsement of anything we've said so far.

Just to prove the point about NZXT throwing its influencers under the bus, here's a side-by-side of their website. Before and after our video. Before, cut the commitment out of PC gaming. After, no long-term commitment. Before, PC gaming with no strings attached. After, PC gaming your way. Before, cancel any time. After, month-to-month flexibility. Before, commitment free, return as needed. After, no long-term commitment, no stress. Before, show off a PC that's never behind, even though it's sometimes four years old, so this was just straight-up false and misleading. After, upgrade to new specs every two years. They're technically new, if they're new to you. Before, get a taste of PC gaming with zero commitment. After, they just completely removed the statement. Before, if operator overcharges you on the bill, you have 60 days to dispute it. After, receiving free consultation from our lawyer in our video, you have two years to dispute the charge.

First off, our thanks to Archive.org for making it easy to dig this stuff up when it gets wiped and disappears. Secondly, NZXT blamed the influencers, so let's just see what the influencers had to say.

It's pretty heartbreaking that a company that we all trusted completely lied in their briefs and the entire program was pretty scummy to begin with. Wait, who's the third Spider-Man? And Gamer Nexus knows this, so I'm really confused why he shifted the blame onto the creators when we were all pretty blindsided as well. Honestly, it's pretty scummy. Oh, it's me.

We brought you this video with our 10% off Puck Gamers Nexus. You can get our coupon code at checkout, still running from Black Friday. And for this weekend only, for every single order we get, we're donating $5 to Archive.org because their work keeps companies honest and accountable by keeping an archived record of what the websites display, so you can have proof of what companies change. We've been using them for years, and it's time to give back for the service that they're doing for the internet as a non-profit.

Use our discount code on the store to grab one of our e-waste inductor dice kits with boxes, roll trays, and cards, or our snowflake, the cat dice. Both sets featuring embedded items. And sharp edge resin dice, and available in autographed box models. Consider also checking out our PC building anti-static mod mats for a large, rugged work surface in case you want to build your own PC rather than renting one. Or you can check out our heavy-duty silicone project and soldering mats, our 3D coaster packs representing PC parts like fans and motherboards with debug codes, and our GN15 3D emblem commemorative pint glasses, which are hand-assembled in our warehouse on the east coast in the U.S. Visit store.gamersnexus.com for more information.

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NGC has illustrated that we think you cannot take what it says at face value, otherwise we wouldn't be here. Quote, to address this, we've pulled all influencer-led flex advertising and have instituted a more robust creative review process. It is not acceptable for our advertising to communicate things that are not true.

Correct. It is also illegal. This is a quote from the FTC, which says it looks especially closely at advertising claims that can affect consumers' pocketbooks and are related to high-tech products and the internet. Also, NGC has not, quote, pulled all influencer-led advertising because many of the videos are still there at the time writing this. They're in damage control mode and they're still profiting from statements that they have now said were incorrect. It is inaccurate for them to claim that all influencer advertising has been pulled because, in fact, they're not.

In fact, if you remember this guy. And if you think about it, Carter PCs did make a video about it. You could literally get one of these PCs for one month and then win a Fortnite tournament or something and have enough money to buy your own PC.

He actually had something to say about all of this. A viewer commented on one of his new posts and said, quote, promoting scams. And BlipTech responded and said, facts. Well, at least all of their advertising isn't false.

Jesus Christ. Where'd that guy come from?

A quick recap since our first email. First of all, right after it published, NGC sent out an email marketing blast noting that its RTX 4090 computer had been restocked. An NGC pre-built with the 4090 was originally $3,949 when we saw it before Black Friday. Then they duplicated it into a separate SKU, seemingly, downgraded in place the original Player 3 Prime that they cloned it from to a lower-end GPU, and jacked up the price of the same spec computer under a new SKU by $50. Then on November 31st, they increased the price to $4,000. $2,099 while brandishing a Cyber Week sale on the product without markdown, a $150 increase from when we saw it before. Not how sales work.

Also, again, on that very page, the Affirm payment suggestion is listed as $143 per month, which is cheaper than the $259 per month rental PC, while offering a 4090 instead of a rental 4080 Super, and you own it at the end, and oh, by the way, Affirm is funded by the same venture capital group as Fragile.

That's interesting. We'll be talking about that more later. If you'd like to share your own thoughts on that, you can email us at tips at gamersnexus dot net.

Even after our video was published, NZXT's website contained factually inaccurate and misleading information about the specs in its Player 3 Prime, which is one of the PCs they were, in our opinion, baiting and switching. After NZXT downgraded it to a 4080 Super, the page for the Player 3 Prime still contained an FAQ entry that said this, quote, Can the Player 3 Prime support 8K GPUs? The Player 3 Prime is designed as our top-of-the-line system, comma, equipped with the 4090, making it capable of 8K resolution gaming. It was, in fact, not equipped with a 4090. The FAQ says it is in this queue, but if we scroll up on the page, 4080 Super. This is why it don't fuck around with the same computers. They're supposed to be the same. That's why the name is the same.

Its FPS results were also inaccurate. We logged them because, after our video, NZXT disappeared them from the website. Now this is interesting because NZXT makes a guarantee that it'll hit the FPS numbers within 10% and warrants it. And because of how egregious these discrepancies were, we have them on the screen for you, it would mean that a lot of these PCs would, by default, be outside of a 10% range, considering their own FPS numbers sometimes have upwards of 50% discrepancies on the same PC built. And while they should remove false claims, though it's ideal they don't, not.

So then, 100% of the sales where they admit fault or admit falsely and inaccurately representing the performance would have everyone eligible for a replacement. But that's not good enough. That's sort of the whole problem of this. Warranting a replacement because your computer doesn't hit the spec you claim is not a fix for a thing that you pay for every month. So it should be prorated or refunded. It should not just be replaced. It should be at least prorated to an equivalent performance skew if they screwed you with something worse.

And at least one of those sets of numbers was false. And they were advertising it on that page, plain and simple. We can start with kind of a discussion about the difference between a false and misleading advertisement versus kind of fanciful language or puffery. So the difference has a lot to do with the objective versus the subjective perspective of the statement, whether you're making an objective decision. You're making a demonstrable statement that can be verifiable versus if you're just expressing an opinion.

Now, there is precedent for this. Imagine an ISP telling you that you're getting faster internet than you actually do. You pay for this service for about a year and then realize it. They've been charging you extra for this whole time. And at the end, they just say, oopsies, sorry, we'll increase the rate to what you're supposed to be getting. My bad. Except you don't have to imagine it. That's happened.

In 2021, the FTC successfully sued a company for $69 million for this frontier. In 2017, the New York attorney general sued charter for $174.2 million for failing to deliver its product at the performance advertised. It is not fair to incorrectly advertise a product's performance, sell it on those claims and profit from it. And then just, well, just replace it. If someone notices, especially when your core consumer base for this product probably won't notice. They don't have the tools or the knowledge to even verify it. And this is a disgusting anti-consumer practice that has absolutely no place in this community. Which NZXT claims it loves. The money of. Probably.

NZXT also silently changed its BLD warranty page. Our bot that's scraping NZXT's website every hour spotted this one for us before. Quote, The performance measurements provided by CAM will be the only valid measure for purposes of assessing whether your system meets the FPS performance levels. Specified in the guarantees. And NZXT will not honor any FPS data provided from any other source for such purposes.

But here's what they changed it to. Quote, All FPS estimates are provided by underwriters laboratories. UL solutions. More information on UL solutions benchmarks can be found here. We'd show you what here is. Except there's no link. Here doesn't go anywhere. This is amateur hour.

NZXT also now doesn't suggest the correct way to even rebut its claims as for who it's targeting. You can click here. Did it pause the video for you? That doesn't go anywhere. NZXT responded to our assertion that it was targeting children with its advertising by rebutting that you have to be over 18 to buy the computer. You cannot subscribe to flex unless you're 18 years old and flex isn't about ownership. You do not own the PC flex also offers upgrades every two years and there really is low commitment.

But buried at the very bottom of this very post saying that it admits that it did not actually check IDs at some points in the purchasing process so it could not have known the age of the purchaser in these scenarios and so this argument falls apart. Likewise the fact that you have to be a certain age to buy something one doesn't stop it especially on the Internet and two doesn't matter because you can still target kids in your advertising and then hope they pressure the parents into a purchase.

Just as a quick reminder of the targeting. And why we think it's that way. Convincing your parents. In fact in NZXT's own non apology statement it points to its testimonials page. The testimonials page has written testimony from customers such as this quote the ability to have a high end PC to rent has helped tremendously easier on the pocket than buying a full computer for my son. They know who they're targeting. They seem to have handpicked this quote to put on the testimonials page.

And NZXT is speaking out of both sides of its mouth quote Jewel had to pay four hundred sixty two million dollars to six states over marketing to kids and quote doesn't matter if you have to be 18 to buy it you can still market to kids but it is interesting what NZXT admits. There are ad campaigns out there done that were not factual didn't represent the actual program calling out ownership when it really is a rental program. Ultimately it's on it's on us right because we went out and ran these campaigns.

This is perhaps one of the only things that got right in the entire discussion but let's get back to the deceptive product specs quote during the regular course of business especially during high seasonality moments the availability of different components requires specification changes sometimes in real time. You can't just change it in real time on people and say it's not guaranteed the whole point of providing hard specs which they do is that the specs are hard meaning they do not change.

They can just list a range of its variable the next line is completely irrelevant. We're not sure what it's talking about at all it misdirects attention and seems to be fighting enemies that no one created. Instead, we'll look at this quote in short we only make changes with the customer being aware and accepting the changes false or intentionally misleading the entire point is that customers are not aware that NZXT is silently swapping the parts on the page that's the problem.

NZXT is being misleading here it is not. They're actually committing to fixing these problems you need to pay very close attention to what they're saying here because there's a lot of talking about it there is no fixing there's no action they're not addressing any of the core parts that matter what NZXT is doing is throwing something small out there saying look we're better now and then just sweeping everything else under the rug that's what we think so the fact that NZXT misrepresented its product even after its statement as having a 4090 when it still had a 4080 super which is what we saw.

On that page the night the statement was posted by the way when I saw that discrepancy that seemingly indicates that even NZXT can't keep up with its own specs changes if NZXT can't keep up with it to take the shit out of the FAQ at the bottom of the page with a system that doesn't have that part anymore how are they expecting the customer to keep up with it especially a customer who is being preyed upon because they don't have the knowledge in fact NZXT's own testimonies support my statement.

That shows someone who says they're not savvy with computers so how are NZXT's customers supposed to keep up with these pre-built or rental spec changes while keeping the same name it's ridiculous again NZXT can't even do it so this is invalid quote flex offers a minimum spec guarantee so it's possible to receive different system specs often people actually receive a PC with better components ah yes the uh the gamble logic now twice in this statement saying something similar if you order a PC with a 3950 piece you might hit it big and get a good one just keep pulling that lever it'll pay out eventually you can literally get one of these pieces for one month and then win a fortnite tournament or something quote subscribers are fully covered by our warranty this is in the new statement by the way i'm not reading the same thing I did sounds like I am but there's a new statement says they're covered by the warranty if a component fails we're responsible for it it's not a that's not a warranty it's not what a warranty is it is still not a warranty we went over this.

The whole car thing and the rental and if it breaks while you're renting it on a weekend then it's their car it's not your car they have the warranty that whole thing it's in the original video that still applies here so it's just that is the service it is their computer it's so their computer that johnny wouldn't stop saying it's their computer over and over and over and over flex isn't about ownership you do not own the pc flex also offers upgrades every two years in the video and the statement probably because they wanted to cover some legal exposure they might have had warranty thing doesn't make any sense NZXT's rental service has overbearing requirements and its subscriber agreement for packing and today that was reinforced quote WARNING This device contains an expensive GPU improper packaging will result in 500 to 2000 in damages that you will be responsible for that was an email for the return of our player two which is less than a thousand dollars worth of parts.

NZXT's Player 2 non-rental, which is newer, still, by the way, that hasn't changed right now, that is still the same, which is still crazy. The Player 2 non-rental is $1,450 right now. The range is $500 to $2,000. They don't even sell the computer for that much money, and it's worth like half anyway. So this is insane to set the upper bound that high.

Again, it's not about what they say they'll enforce, it's about what they can enforce. We already talked about how NZXT's subscriber agreement has impossibly high standards for packing. See the discussion with our lawyer previously. And shipping a GPU installed is inherently risky.

On the packaging instructions page, which comes in via the email, it says this, quote, failure to properly package the system may result in damage to the system or internal components, which will result in damage fees. Not may, will. That's very clear. Fragile is not responsible for damage or loss caused due to... improper packaging, end quote.

So they're very clear about this. They then pull a classic. We made comparisons to potentially mob-backed loans in the last video, so the next thing is they hit you with the protection fee. This is satire, to be clear. You can buy a packing kit, if you want to make sure it gets there okay, for $35. There's just money at every turn for these people.

They also say this, quote, Subscribers are eligible for a hardware upgrade after a two-year time period. At no additional cost or increase to their subscription fee.

Again, NZXT talking out of both sides of its mouth, talking about the two-year period, and then... Subscribing to a PC might not be for everyone, but I think there's a real use case for it. For example, you're starting your career as a streamer, and you're not sure if you're going to be streaming for a long time. You can, like, return at any time versus spending a lot of money on a PC that's powerful enough to power a stream and game at the same time.

NZXT is acting like this is a short-term reality. It's a long-term rental in multiple locations, in their multiple statements, video and written. But it's promoting this two-year upgrade cadence, even though a two-year upgrade wouldn't even be the stated use case in this defense statement from NZXT. And they're acting like it's some kind of giant favor that they're going to upgrade you after you rent a four-year-old computer, which will be six years old when they upgrade it. That's the case of the 5600X box. And that's really the only one we need to pay attention to here. Because, again, it's about what they can do. And that's despite previously claiming you get cutting-edge components, which they later changed on their website, as we showed you.

So, all of this really is irrelevant at the end of the day. Because what really matters is the concept of renting a computer is disgusting. You will own nothing. For example, you're starting your career as a streamer, and you're not sure if you're going to be streaming for a long time. You can, like, return at any time versus spending a lot of money on a PC that's powerful enough to power a stream and game at the same time.

If you want to do this, you can. If you want to do that, you walk into a Best Buy, a Micro Center, you buy from Amazon, they have return policies. You can already do that. NZXT is acting like...

NZXT Flex was a concept we launched in partnership with Fragile in 2023. Beyond pre-build, beyond making building a PC easier, we spent a lot of time just thinking about how do we continue to make this thing easier. And one of the ideas we've actually had for a long time was this idea. This idea of a subscription-based PC.

And yet, to rent an NZXT system, we just checked this after our video went up. And now, as of after the video when we most recently checked, you have to upload an ID. You might get a soft pull on your credit. You have to maintain the shipping materials for the entire length of the system and return it immaculately. And you better hope nothing happens to that thing because there's language everywhere about how you're going to get fucked if it gets damaged or lost in the process.

And that is somehow easier to try out PC gaming or maybe you're going to make it big and be a streamer. Try it out for a month. See how it is. Or you could walk into a retailer. You could buy it on Amazon. Amazon has a 30-day return policy on most of the pre-builds that I've looked at. I just looked at a ton of them to fact check this. That is the window. Get it in. Play your games. If you hate it and you want to go back to Xbox, fine. Send it back to Amazon. Get all your money back. They're well known for their return policy. There's no bullshit attached to that.

If you want to try it, Best Buy right now. Today. The return window, especially because of the holiday season, it goes into mid-January. And when you return it, you get all of your money back or very close to all of it. It's definitely cheaper than the shipping fees and the first month and all this other BS that NZXT and Fragile puts you up to.

Quote from their chosen testimonial: I've been wanting a gaming PC for so long but am unable to buy one outright. I like that I can subscribe to a PC for as long as I want. This is directly contradictory to NZXT's own claimed use case in its non-apology. And it's a chosen testimonial that's linked at the bottom of the non-apology. There's a link. It goes to that. That's crazy. They contradict themselves by doing this. This still, to us, seems predatory. That opinion has not changed.

Look, we don't even like GeForce Now. But if you want to try gaming on the cheap, you could just go subscribe to that for $0 a month and play it through basically any old computer and watch some ads. If you have $10 a month, you can get what they say is 1440p gaming. At $20, you get a guaranteed RTX 4080 class card. NZXT's system containing an RTX 4080, or the closest thing to it, was $259 a month. It is over 10 times what NVIDIA is charging for that class of computer for gaming. For a month. NVIDIA? Did I say that? They're more expensive than NVIDIA.

As for the privacy concerns, I guess NZXT is making good use of that non-revocable, perpetual right to use my data any way they see fit. Like when Johnny revealed the type of credit card I used in this interview. Fragile process. And when we looked into the reason why it got approved, and again, this is not an excuse. This is because it was like an Amex card.

So we think NZXT's CEO and the company have failed to take accountability. They have failed to take this opportunity to do something good. They could have tried to regain some of the consumer confidence. They could have tried to turn this program around, maybe do something with it, get rid of it altogether. What they did was effectively f*** all. That's what they accomplished with this.

And NZXT's CEO, just like he failed with the H1 fire hazard to take accountability. Unfortunately what happened was I think the media took it as, there was a media outlet that took it and then kind of like really blew it up and framed it as NZXT wasn't doing enough. Has done it again.

That's the CEO two years ago. In an interview that flew under my radar until yesterday. Where it has about 200 views or so. And where the CEO is talking about how we overreacted for escalating his computer that might kill somebody to the federal government because they weren't moving fast enough. They weren't treating it with the respect it deserved.

And as a reminder, NZXT's response to that situation was so bad that we permanently changed our terms of engagement with companies and published a page that explains how we handle it. And that's because when we tried to alert NZXT. We felt they subverted us. They tried to get in front of us. And it felt like NZXT's objective was not getting the product to be safe. And was not notifying the customers in an adequate and to us acceptable fashion. Instead, NZXT went into damage control mode.

And we thought they had finally started turning the ship around in the last years. And we were wrong. NZXT has not turned it around. They have turned it into the worst possible direction. So if that was how NZXT was going to do it, we were going to respond when a computer case could feasibly kill somebody. Burn their house down. However small the chance may be. It was a design level defect. It was not just some one off. It could happen to any of those risers that we tested and demonstrated. This wasn't like maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't. It was a here's the scenario where it will happen. That's how bad that situation was. We have a whole series on it.

You can watch it. And that was the response to it after the fact. Like a year later or something. And again, I didn't even see it until recently. And that just really helped me understand what NZXT's objectives are. And what it cares about. And how incapable it appears to be of doing the right thing. And accepting accountability for something like this.

This is baffling. And at the end of the day. What really matters is regardless of NZXT and their place in this. And Fragile. Whom they are seemingly trying to kill. Whom they are trying to distance themselves from. As if they are not partners in this bullshit. The two of them together. This program has no place.

It's target audience again appears to be broke, vulnerable people. And people who have bad credit. No money for a purchase. Or kids who are begging their parents for a computer. As we saw in NZXT's own testimonials on their own website. I'm not guessing. That's what NZXT chooses to show on its website.

And renting a computer is unfathomably bad value the way NZXT has set it up. It is a trap into an ecosystem that is difficult to escape. It's not easy to pick your life up off a computer and move it somewhere else. Especially if you don't have another computer.

So that's kind of the whole thing. NZXT's response does nothing to solve any of this. This is not remedied. We stand completely by our original reporting. And everything we said in it. You can watch that content if you'd like to learn more.

And I have a message to these creators too. Especially the ones who seemed upset that we blew the doors open on this. Gamer Nexus did a really good job exposing NZXT. But he definitely shifted the blame on all the creators. When we were just as blindsided as all the consumers. You are responsible for doing your own vetting. It's not my job to do your homework.

But we've received a number of very concerning tips. From NZXT's former employees. Its current and former customers. Its partners. And we've begun to receive tips about Fragile as well. And that is a whole other story that we'll get into. It's going to take some time to put it together. It's not going to be the immediate future. But it's on the radar now.

So if you would like to supply information safely about any of these topics. You're a customer. You're an employee or a former employee. Or you know something about NZXT's partners that we should know. In addition to the other people who've already emailed us about them. Then you can send us tips to [REMOVED]. I will personally look at those. Read them and vet them. I'm trained in handling data that is sensitive. And protecting sources. And you can send your stuff there.

If I want to use it, I'll let you know and we'll talk about it. So it's as simple as that.

Throw NZXT or Fragile or whatever in the title so you can find it easily. But there's already a mountain I've got to go through. It's going to take some time. I don't really have anything else to say about this.

NZXT has failed.

This response was awful.

They remain banned.

And they will forever.

Until the day I retire.

So thank you for watching.