ALTERNATE.de Reviews 

Really good experirence. I was informed in all the steps and delivery happened on time. I will continue working with you guys. On top of that, price was the best!

I bought an MSI B650I Edge motherboard that was shipped with a dead battery so it could not hold BIOS configuration when unplugged.

It became evident a few weeks later when I read multiple accounts of people buying the first shipment of this motherboard. Everyone was frustrated with this issue, because it was extremely hard to replace this battery it was made difficult for all the wrong reasons. Also the board is for ITX, its an ITX case the complete disassembly with watercooling etc. is not a fun ride at all so any extra rebuilds is a days intense and precise work..

Now I gave MSI a chance first to send a battery, this was a rare battery with a wire on it and not only that the polarity of the wires is also flipped - so it was without a doubt NOT my problem and should never have been delivered like this.

First MSI sent a "normal" DUH CMOS CR25 battery, well this helps nothing, cuz this does not make the board as new, you'll have to peel the original battery and wrap wrangled leads around it hoping it never becomes a problem again.

MSI then sent me another battery, this time the correct one with a wire. I spent all day changing this battery that required the whole motherboard removed from case and disassembled more than it was from new (with heatsink and IO shield off).. I them figured out a month later that this battery they sent me... Is also DEAD and was ALWAYS dead.. Not a NEW battery (as you should think they would check) but a scalped, used and DEAD battery.

Now I felt pretty discouraged by this whole situation, fed up with the whole experience and extremely angry with how I was treated paying premium for a board that is clearly delivered defective as new.

I returned the board to ALTERNATE.. Waited at least 14 days and wrote them and asked whats going on.. That PC was my primary PC and I need it.. and as I'm writing this I've been waiting since 31/01/2024 when I shipped the board.. I bought another identical board from them cuz I thought surely they will understand why I don't think its fair that I've been mislead with this horrible experience of a trap with a motherboard.

The other day they told me they would send it to the manufacturer and take another 4-6 weeks (WHAT?), then send me a shipping confirmation as if they changed their minds, stating one thing then doing another without further explanation (HOW, WHAT?).

Now they tell me my board is coming back, I'm now stuck with 2 motherboards here is our convo:

Me:
> Will you please just refund it if I reject it.
> If you look in my order history with this email [REDACTED] I have ordered another board due to the long delay..

ALTERNATE:
> I would like to inform you that a refund is only possible within the first 14 days of delivery of the goods.

Me:
> Well this board was delivered defective, it should never have been and it was also not evident that they delivered it defective until after the fact.
> You made me wait a long time.
> How do you think I value this solution, now being stuck with 2 boards, paying double.
> Last time I'm ordering here if this is what you will leave me with..
> I've spent at least 3 full days rebuilding and debugging this issue.. Thats 3 days of my time 250 DKK * 8 * 3 thats 6000 DKK..
> I've used 2 applications of Arctic MX6, I've paid premium rate to call your phone number waited 20 mins times 2 DKK thats 40 DKK already..
> And you simply are gonna rub this board in my face?
> I am the one who should be paid to be dragged thru this experience.. Way to destroy the experience of building a new PC.
> Send it back to MSI as refurbished/spareparts board its their fault.

ALTERNATE:
> We are sorry for what happened, but during a complaint the repair times can go up to 6 weeks.
> Unfortunately we cannot refund the item.
> Alternatively, you could try to sell the item yourself.

LAST TIME I'm ordering here!

Extremely slow customer service, its a total mistake to order here, you need to pry an answer out of them otherwise you won't get one.. They simply care too little to answer their customers as stated in several other reviews.

The person I spoke to on the phone blamed the minimum "4 weeks" handling time on sick staff working there.. Well you're clearly understaffed then cuz this pattern shows in most reviews here, what a lame excuse, I don't believe this at all.

On top of the price of the motherboard 2063 DKK my loss (thermal paste, phone bill to ALTERNATE when they don't reply to emails) is total: 107.32 DKK

Currently I have 4079 DKK in expenses with this motherboard ALONE.. I have bought laptops, several PCs thru this store in the past and customer service is EQUALLY bad.

Returns simply isn't a priority here, don't expect ANY understanding of any struggle you've been thru regarding products.. They will ignore your mails, ignore your issue and make you pay..

Reply: Wrote to email below and they are as careless as they have been throughout.

This is not the first time I have ordered hardware for my computer from these guys.
And every time I am convinced that it is necessary to buy only from trusted sellers.
I fully trust this store and I am sure that in the future when I upgrade my pc I will definitely order here.

smooth transaction, always followed up in any email I sent em. will buy again from em for sure.

The purchase process was easy. I received my product within 2 days and it works perfectly.

Really good prices and I love that the configurator only shows you parts that are compatible with each other

Good product price and up-to-date stock status. The shipping was 6,99 Euros, while some other shops will even ship for free. But they were the only shop that had the products I wanted in stock. I received everything well packed and as described.

If you're not from Germany and expect them to provide you with warranty, forget about it.
They don't even bother answering their support emails.
Would not recommend for people ordering from outside of Germany.

Update 02/02/2024 - The initial email towards Alternate was sent on 03/01/2024, this review was posted on 15/01/2024 and they replied to the initial email on 17/01/2024. As mentioned in Alternate's Trustpilot reply from 26/01/2024, I have sent an email to Alternate's Trustpilot email address (on 27/01/2024) attaching both the previous email sent towards the ASUS Service Center, where they told me to contact the seller (Alternate) directly and another email sent towards Alternate (where they asked me for my address to forward towards ASUS). I have not gotten any conclusive reply yet. The warranty expires on 25/02/2024.

Update 29/02/2024 - Absolutely no reply from Alternate even after I followed up with them twice in the past month. Very disappointed with them and will never order again. I strongly advise against ordering from alternate.de if you're not from Germany.

Last update - 07/05/2024 - After leaving this review they got in touch finally and told me to send the card to Germany. After about 2 months I received it (UPS being UPS and all). I received my card working but without the original box I sent it in and after 5 months from my first email sent to them. Changing from 1 start to 2 stars.

Giving one star since zero is not possible. Took them 4 weeks to process my complaint about RAM module that was malfunctioning (screenshots of memtest results were submitted) and caused my PC to crash. No response from customer service, nothing to indicate if they will refund the module or send a new one, leaving me with my non functional PC. Finally the complaint is closed, they sent me the modules back, stating ‘memtests pass’. Never buying anything from them again. I will make sure my company removes them from the supplier list.

They immediately issued my order, everything was perfect. I just hope that can update the tracking info instantly (it would be perfect then)

I bought a 6750xt graphics card from alternate even though I could buy it cheaper through Amazon because in the description they said they would deliver next day. After 5 days of no information I sent them an email which they answered 3-4 days later .. They actually didn't have the card in stock and I had to wait 15-20 days for it to be delivered and I told them I will cancel the order. Then they told me I am "lucky" and I will be sent the graphics card shortly after. They gave me a tracking 2 days later and today, 10 days after it was shipped and me messaging them almost every day because it was delayed and then telling me it's probably DHL fault for the delay, they canceled my order without my knowledge and sent me the money back ( I haven't received them yet). I am extremely disappointed from them and lost money and 3 weeks without a crucial pc part (because now the graphics card is more expensive). They didn't even apologize for all of that.Be careful when ordering from them.

No answer on my support request. Just received a refund for a product that was on stock and confirmed, but hasn't been delivered.

Item received defected. The door cant even open and when we could see missing screws the microwave wont even stand properly. Proof of photos were sent to customer service but never heard from them. Do not buy from this website!

I bought a graphic card and a water cooler. After installing them, my system started freezing up and the graphic card over-heated. I asked to send the graphic card back. To do so, I had to get a new graphic card, which I did elsewhere. I sent back the graphic card. They did not communicate with me AT ALL, except to say they had received the graphic card. Over 3 weeks later, they finally wrote to say they had repaired the graphic card and were sending it back. What shall I do with TWO graphic cards, just because they could not be bothered to communicate with me!! The window to return the other one is closed.

These people sold me a graphic card that was missing the protective coverings, which I did not know until I bought the second graphic card. That means it was a USED GRAPHIC CARD, now they refuse to refund my money, after leaving me hanging for nearly a month with no word from them as to what was going on. I can only send the piece of crap back and demand my money back. I have already contacted my credit card company just before these clowns finally wrote me to tell me they had repaired the junk they had sold to me.

My advice? Don't buy anything from Alternate.de. They sell you USED JUNK AS NEW, then don't care AT ALL about the customer's needs. How shall I function for nearly a month with NO computer?? Attached is the email from when they received my return. Between then and 6 November, I heard NOTHING from them, in spite of repeated emails and attempts to reach them by telephone. From the time I sent the part to the time I received the email is an entire month with no word about what they intended as a solution. I have been royally dicked over for over 800€, because there was also a warranty on the USED graphic card that I paid for.

EDIT: the graphic card returned to me as repaired had a defective ribbon. I wasted a year suffering with constant crashing and spent 35€ to find that out. There is, therefore, definitely a chance that you will get used and defective junk from these people, and they will ignore you as a customer, simply doing what they feel like and dictating a solution to you. You are not respected and valued.

Alternate.de provides one of the best prices in the market, I bought a projector before and now a dehumidifier process is simple and good with additional insurance option.

Take this with a grain of salt, as this could've just been an unlucky one-time thing, however I'm not willing to repeat my experience.

I ordered on the 11th of October, during which the delivery window provided by the site for my specific order said 14th to 16th of October, so a fairly average delivery for same-country shipping here in Germany.

The delivery window goes by and on the 20th, seeing how their system to track orders is completely useless ( "Your order is being processed."), I wrote an email to their support asking about what's going on, why my items hadn't even reached a delivery service yet and when I could expect my already paid-for items. The answer, if one may call it that, simply informed me that I could always step back of the buying contract or change up my items for a faster delivery -Okay, cool. Not what I asked, though.

Seeing this fairly generic seeming answer that didnt actually answer any of my aforementioned questions, I decided not to engage with their "support"-email any further as to not waste my time with any more passive-aggressive sounding automatic responses and instead just wait a little longer.

Now, basically 5 times the original delivery time later, without any proper updates on when i could expect my items and the order tracking system having updated to: "One or more items can't be shipped *at the moment*", I decided to opt out of the buying contract and will hopefully soon get my money refunded.

Disclaimer: As I said in the beginning, this was my first experience with Alternate, so it might have just been a one-time thing.

Website user-friendliness: 1/5
Delivery-speed: 1/5
Customer service: 1/5
Product Quality: ?/5

Good stuff, if u want to buy keyboard check twice if thats not german type with all ö’s and ß’s. I made this mistake but it was in the description. Still 5/5 fast delivery good packing

The rtx4090 video card came in damaged. A piece of the board is chipped with dents from the impact on the heatsink. Wrote to support and after the first response support disappeared and did not respond for a week. Disgusting attitude to the buyer.

I was waiting for several weeks for my order worth more than 1300 Euros to arrive. I kept getting a message that the order cannot be be delivered at the moment. I tried to cancel the order but there was no reaction by the customer service upon my requests. I never received any package and after 2 months I am still waiting for my money back. I cannot recommend that store. The customer service is non-existing.