NZXT responds to damning Gamers Nexus video accusing it of running a "predatory, evil" rental scam

[midian182]

A hot potato: NZXT has responded to a damning video from YouTube channel Gamers Nexus that accuses the PC hardware giant of running a "predatory, evil rental computer scam." The program in question is its Flex subscription-based service for desktop PCs, which GN says uses "bait and switch" tactics. There are other accusations, too, including faked benchmarks and aggressive terms.

NZXT's Flex program essentially lets people rent a gaming PC, meaning they don't pay the one-off high price associated with these machines. However, as we mentioned at the time, the often three-figure monthly rental costs add up very quickly, exceeding the amount you would pay to purchase a new PC outright in just a few months.

Follow up: NZXT CEO admits "we messed up" but stops short of apologizing after scathing exposé

Gamers Nexus found that NZXT regularly changes not only the prices but also the specs of some of its models, sometimes on a daily basis.

One particularly underhand scheme was to offer PCs with the same name for both purchase and rental. But the subscription-based PCs swap out some of the hardware for less powerful/older/cheaper parts without making this clear.

One example was the Player: Three PC which comes with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics card and an Intel Core i7-13700KF if you buy it, while subscribing swaps the GPU for a 4070 Ti non-Super model. What's even worse is that the FPS gaming benchmarks for both PCs are unchanged, which as our review shows, isn't accurate.

NZXT's pricing is also criticized. Gamers Nexus shows that in the case of the Player: Two PC, it would take just seven months of rental payments to afford the parts to build an equivalent machine. A more expensive pre-build could be bought with nine months worth of rental payments. Even using a payment plan (loan, credit card) would take just a year to fully pay off the PC and own it outright.

GN found that five years of payment on NZXT's subscription came to $15,540. That's the equivalent to an illegal, 103% interest loan – you'd also own several PCs at the end of it.

There are plenty of other areas of NZXT Flex that the hour-long video examines, including privacy concerns, influencers pushing the Flex program, aggressive terms and conditions, and no guarantee that the specs listed are the ones you'll get in the PC.

NZXT has responded to the Gamers Nexus video with a post on social media.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by NZXT (@nzxt)

"To the NZXT community. We've heard your concerns. We are aware of the recent claims made against us and are actively reviewing the situation. Rest assured, we are committed to addressing this thoroughly and will share an official statement soon," it reads

As a result of the investigation, Gamers Nexus has terminated a $23,000 deal NZXT had to advertise on the popular YouTube channel.

Permalink to story:

NZXT responds to damning Gamers Nexus video accusing it of running a "predatory, evil" rental scam

 

[Aus spot]

Wow that does seem so bad of a deal.

 

[Dimitriid]

Remember when NZXT's GPU raiser cable was so badly designed it was shorting and literally catching on fire? That seemed like a far more straight forward case for Gamers Nexus to terminate their advertisement deal at that time, but they went on with it.

So in other words: I *LIKE* Tech Jesus' new hard-hitting reporter phase that has brought legit concerns to light before, this just seems like a big nothing burger to me when compared to the intel fakery, EK employee and business partner abuse or even the inaccuracy and again business partner abuse from Linus: The man has a winning formula in these investigative/hit pieces but he seems like he ran out of targets for too long if he has to attach the well known schemes like this rent stuff: everyone knows it's a scam and I seriously doubt any significant portion of people ever fall for it.

 

[Demote6060]

What a nothing response from NZXT. They deserve all of the backlash that they get for this. They chose to cash out their name.

 

[R00sT3R]

I bet many of the other YT tech 'influencers' are beginning to truly hate Gamers Nexus.

One by one they're taking down the companies that throw products and advertising revenue their way and have to ask themselves 'can I still take their money and shill their products and keep any shred of integrity with my viewers?'

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

So in other words: I *LIKE* Tech Jesus' new hard-hitting reporter phase that has brought legit concerns to light before, this just seems like a big nothing burger to me when compared to the intel fakery, EK employee and partner abuse or even the inaccuracy and again partner abuse from Linus: The man has a winning formula in these investigative/hit pieces but he seems like he ran out of targets for too long if he has to attach the well known schemes like this rent stuff: everyone knows it's a scam and I seriously doubt any significant portion of people ever fall for it.

There’s more than this being reported by GN. The allegation I had heard about is that during the Black Friday sale, the same system that sold with a 4090 now sells with a 4080. They created a new model called Player 4090 which was always listed as “on sale”, and they’ve only ever increased the price of that while continually listing it as “on sale” (it’s now $100 more expensive than ever before).

 

[kira setsu]

Meh,

its a f***in terrible plan, but countless companies have these horrible rental plans, they are everywhere, he targeted nzxt because thats his audience, PC people.

these plans target the honestly....kinda dumbest folks possible, ive seen them on tv's, xboxes, playstations, all kinds of items, you can go on amazon right now and see affirm financing as an option with silly interest rates on damn near everything.

I commend him but if youre gonna call out one may as well call out all of em cause the suckers will just fall into a new trap if theyre not warned.

 

[Rudyduu]

Meh,

its a f***in terrible plan, but countless companies have these horrible rental plans, they are everywhere, he targeted nzxt because thats his audience, PC people.

these plans target the honestly....kinda dumbest folks possible, ive seen them on tv's, xboxes, playstations, all kinds of items, you can go on amazon right now and see affirm financing as an option with silly interest rates on damn near everything.

I commend him but if youre gonna call out one may as well call out all of em cause the suckers will just fall into a new trap if theyre not warned.

I don't think it's fair to call them the "dumbest folks" with all the influencers implying you own it or saying no strings attached or their marketing that implies ownership.

 

[godrilla]

For reference Chat gpt calculated scalped pricing without black Friday deals still ongoing still cheaper than they are charging to rent an inferior pc.

To calculate the total cost of a DIY PC with the components you mentioned and divide it into 21 payments, I’ll break down the prices of each component. Note that prices can vary based on the region, store, and current discounts. Below is an estimation based on average prices (USD):

AMD Ryzen 9 9800X3D (CPU): $700
ASUS X870E (Motherboard): $300
NVIDIA RTX 4090 (GPU): $1,600
Seasonic 1000W Platinum PSU: $200
Samsung 990 Pro 4TB NVMe SSD: $400
Montec Sky GX Case: $80
32GB DDR5 RAM (6.4GHz): $250
Lian Li GA Trinity Performance 360mm CPU Cooler: $150
Total cost:
Total cost = $700 + $300 + $1,600 + $200 + $400 + $80 + $250 + $150 = $4,680
Now, dividing this total cost into 21 payments at 0% interest:

Monthly payment = $4,680 / 21 ≈ $222.86
Summary:
Total cost of the DIY PC: $4,680
Monthly payment for 21 months at 0% interest: $222.86
These are rough estimates; please check for exact prices from the retailer you plan to buy from, as prices can fluctuate.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

GN said nothing that anyone capable of doing basic math needed to hear. The whole rental program is a ripoff. I don't need to listen to Steve's annoying voice or see his nasty unkempt hair to know about this.

 

[GreyOmega]

GN said nothing that anyone capable of doing basic math needed to hear. The whole rental program was ripoff. I don't need to listen to Steve's annoying voice or see his nasty unkempt hair to know about this.

Part of the bigger issue GN brings up is NZXT is paying influencers to advertise the rental program and it seems very clearly targeting young people who wouldn't know any better and be dumb enough to fall for the "you could win a Fortnite tournament and then buy your own" BS being peddled by the influencer. The influencers also completely misrepresent practically every aspect of the rental program.

 

[trparky]

these plans target the honestly....kinda dumbest folks possible, ive seen them on tv's, xboxes, playstations, all kinds of items, you can go on amazon right now and see affirm financing as an option with silly interest rates on damn near everything.

True, but at least Affirm doesn't have interest rates that would make even a mob boss say "That's f**ked up!"

 

[brucek]

If there's any possible use case for this rental program, it would be for short-term usage. NZXT implies there's "no strings" and you can return the PC any time at their expense. Steve said his attempt to do this failed because they sent him a dead link (404 error), but there was no other follow up.

I wish there was more effort to find out if this was an unusual glitch or an intended strategy to make return difficult. This difference, along with whether there are or aren't any bogus exit fees applied ("Mouse pad not in original condition - $49 surcharge!") could to me make the difference as to whether there is a legitimate rental service here or whether it truly is all scam.

This is obviously a terrible deal for all but the briefest use cases, but then again they do offer the cash price as the primary/default option, and an affirm link, so you might think that anyone who chooses door #3 maybe has a reason for it. It'd be interesting to hear from anyone who actually used this program for real, why they did, and what they thought of their experience.

The influencers were all disgusting and the fact NZXT is apparently OK with the way they were presenting this program is IMO one of the most damning pieces of evidence against NZXT's character/intent.

 

[GTvon]

These people obviously have never bought a house with a mortgage. That's the way payment systems work. If you can buy a house outright for cash you can buy it for the listing price but if you have to get a mortgage it's going to cost you two or three times as much or even more more. The same is true of purchasing a car on payments You always are going to pay more. The name for that isn't 'scam' or 'lies' it's 'life'.

 

[GTvon]

I bet many of the other YT tech 'influencers' are beginning to truly hate Gamers Nexus.

One by one they're taking down the companies that throw products and advertising revenue their way and have to ask themselves 'can I still take their money and shill their products and keep any shred of integrity with my viewers?'

Or they can just throw away all of their dignity and integrity in one fell swoop by selling coasters and t-shirts and mats and other stupid merchandise that people do not really need at all right in your videos that they are calling news.

 

[godrilla]

These people obviously have never bought a house with a mortgage. That's the way payment systems work. If you can buy a house outright for cash you can buy it for the listing price but if you have to get a mortgage it's going to cost you two or three times as much or even more more. The same is true of purchasing a car on payments You always are going to pay more. The name for that isn't 'scam' or 'lies' it's 'life'.

I'm on my second house and this is not like paying a mortgage where you own the house after mature date of loan. This is more like renting which is exactly what it's called. With availability of zero percent credit cards for 21 months you can not only pay lower than their best pc available you can also have the best PC and own it after 21 equal payments.
In 1 quarter the gpu midrange market will be so competitive that for less than $100 per month at 21 payments you will likely get a PC even better than their top PC and own it. For $150 per month you will probably get a rtx 5080/7800X3D PC owned after 21 payments.



From NZXT best PC rental
Three Prime Flex

New
Player: Three Prime Flex
4.8
(183)
See reviews summary
Monthly Subscription PC with NZXT Flex

$259 per month

CPU

Intel Core i9-14900KF

GPU

NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4080 SUPER

RAM

64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5 6000MHz

Primary Storage

2TB NVMe M.2 SSD

 

[trparky]

The influencers were all disgusting and the fact NZXT is apparently OK with the way they were presenting this program is IMO one of the most damning pieces of evidence against NZXT's character/intent.

The influencers peddling this crap were cringe as f**k.

 

[brucek]

These people obviously have never bought a house with a mortgage. That's the way payment systems work. If you can buy a house outright for cash you can buy it for the listing price but if you have to get a mortgage it's going to cost you two or three times as much or even more more. The same is true of purchasing a car on payments You always are going to pay more. The name for that isn't 'scam' or 'lies' it's 'life'.

NZXT's rental offer is not a sale in any sense, nor is it a loan. The customer does not ever own the computer at any point. You can not compare it to a house mortgage or car loan. But I agree that renting a computer at a specific price is not by itself a scam.

I think the "scam" Steve is referring to relates to the sleight of hand in changing the specs of the rented system vs. the sold system of the same name and as initially presented; of continuing to present the same performance claims for significantly less powerful hardware; of using influencer and marketing wording ("You'll own") that is substantially different from the contract wording ("You'll never own"); of changing the monthly price after the computer is received; of claiming "sales" prices that are higher than recent prices; and of contract language that potentially allows for a lot of bogus extra charges (I.e., requiring that all packaging, the keyboard, and the mousepad be returned in like-new condition) - although whether they will or won't do those things was not demonstrated.

 

[TheBigT42]

As my Grandfather always told me....

A fool and his money will soon be parted.

 

[Eldrach]

I watched the entire video - and he's not attacking rental per se - he's attacking NZXT for predatory practices:

*They list a computer you can rent, but change the spec if you select rent instead of purchase
*They change prices from month to month while you're renting - with as much as 30 dollars
*They say you can return it no strings attached, but the rental clause says it has a 100 dollar plus termination fee
*They say they have added free monitor, mousepad, keyboard and mouse to the rental, but they increased the price by 30 dollars on the rental - so that was a lie
*There's a clause saying that if you don't return -everything- in pristine condition, even the packaging, manuals etc. (which could have been damaged in freight), you could be charged an unknown amount, this could be small, this could be thousands
*The influencers say it's fully insured from any damage, while in the contract it states it's not

and the list goes on.
There's nothing "wrong" with renting, as long as the terms are fair, but the 13 page contract has insane additions to it. For instance, you wave any rights to sue them if your computer blows up and burns down your house...stuff like that

 

[Stephenl94]

Meh,

its a f***in terrible plan, but countless companies have these horrible rental plans, they are everywhere, he targeted nzxt because thats his audience, PC people.

these plans target the honestly....kinda dumbest folks possible, ive seen them on tv's, xboxes, playstations, all kinds of items, you can go on amazon right now and see affirm financing as an option with silly interest rates on damn near everything.

I commend him but if youre gonna call out one may as well call out all of em cause the suckers will just fall into a new trap if theyre not warned.

Affirm is a path to ownership. They also have 0% APR offers. They also only go up to 36%, which yeah, higher than a CC, but not crazy like payday loans.

 

[No Thank You]

these plans target the honestly....kinda dumbest folks possible, ive seen them on tv's, xboxes, playstations, all kinds of items, you can go on amazon right now and see affirm financing as an option with silly interest rates on damn near everything.

You didn't watch the video. It's not a question, because it's obvious.

Notice the affirm financing option. "Starting at $146/mo." That's for the 4090 edition. Compare that to the Player 3 prime flex bs, with cheaper/less powerful hardware: https://nzxt.com/flex/player-three-prime $259/mo. They're charging you almost twice as much for less powerful hardware, and you'll never own it. Even better, had you watched the video, you would've seen this chart:

Notice where it has the 22% Affirm loan costing $3,369 paid off over one year compared to the $15,540 you'd pay over 5 years for the subscription? The only way to equal that cost is an illegal loan at 103% interest.

That's kinda the point of the video. This is WAY worse than affirm's interest, even ignoring the fact that with the subscription you never own anything.

 

[CBTex]

These people obviously have never bought a house with a mortgage. That's the way payment systems work. If you can buy a house outright for cash you can buy it for the listing price but if you have to get a mortgage it's going to cost you two or three times as much or even more more. The same is true of purchasing a car on payments You always are going to pay more. The name for that isn't 'scam' or 'lies' it's 'life'.

If you are financing a PC for 30 years like a home, you're a new kind of stupid. Homes are appreciating assets that often appreciate at a rate near the interest rate. PC's deprecate at very quick rate and will be pretty much be worthless in five years.

 

[captaincranky]

These people obviously have never bought a house with a mortgage. That's the way payment systems work. If you can buy a house outright for cash you can buy it for the listing price but if you have to get a mortgage it's going to cost you two or three times as much or even more more. The same is true of purchasing a car on payments You always are going to pay more. The name for that isn't 'scam' or 'lies' it's 'life'.

The fact you've conveniently overlooked, is that when you're done with mortgage payments, the house is yours. I think the catchphrase during the election was. "building generational wealth".

Of course by the time the house is paid off and you die, your PC gaming addicted son will still be in the basement, paying hand over fist for his rented PC.

And BTW, he never did win that "Fortnight" tournament", so he could "pay it off".

 

[ThomasTECH]

As complete as this article is there is many pain points of using the leased hardware. However for some who need a steller competitive PC at a very low entry point this is a great option, otherwise they would have never got the machine at all. As Scammy as this deal seems there is 3x or 10x worst deals happening every day in the finance industry. People poaching on others desperation and lack of funding is nothing new. Don't be so upset about this deal it is far less of a scam then health care, finance, and vehicles. So if IT has a bit of a scammy setup you should relax IT industry has been hit so hard recently and needs to recover costs. IT is too tough of a business right now.