Alternate.be Reviews 7,485

I bought a custom desktop PC from Alternate BE and it's really well built with spotless cable management. Alternate really exceeded my expectations. Highly recommended!

Fast and good prices + some good bundels!

Have been a happy customer for over a decade and order several times a year with them. The online website, the order tracking, delivery works great. Good phone and email support when you need it. Twice I ran into a product issue under factory warranty and they helped get it repaired or replaced (RMA) very professionally.

I went in for a rx9070xt but didn't knew which one to take. After some explanation I knew which one to get. And had some other question for my build. The salesmen knew what he was talking about and could answer all my questions.
Personally the best computer store in belgium.

I made an online purchase from Alternate for a laptop advertised as in stock with immediate free shipping and a printer with a longer delivery time and paid shipping. Despite this, Alternate delayed shipment by combining both items, resulting in delivery only after seven days. When I sought to cancel due to the delay and misleading availability claims, Alternate refused a full cancellation and insisted on retaining 30% of the purchase value (≈ €1,500), stating that no agreement could be reached under their terms, which is not correct, see below:

1. Misleading commercial practice (EU Directive 2005/29/EC / Belgian Code of Economic Law, Book VI): The laptop was advertised as “in stock” with “immediate free shipping,” but shipment was delayed without prior notice or proactive communication.
2. Non-conformity with the contract: The delivery conditions presented at purchase were not honored, constituting a material change after payment.
3. Invalid reliance on cancellation penalties: The 30% cancellation fee was based on an unsigned quotation and cannot override mandatory EU and Belgian consumer-protection law.
4. Failure to remedy after default: Under Alternate’s own terms (Articles 5 and 11), cancellation and refund are allowed when service conditions are not met and no corrective action is taken after the seller is placed in default.
5. Lack of transparency on shipping costs and logistics: Charging and structuring shipment in a way that differed from what was presented on the website and invoice only after purchase.

Ordered a rtx 5070 been waiting for a week, only thing i have gotten is an email to confirm my order. geuss il just wait another week and maybe finally see something…

I bought a sea sonic power supply and it came in no time ! The product is perfectly fine too, price are also top notch most of the time cheaper than Amazon !

For me, this will remain a bad experience!

First of all, I’m quite surprised to see “on-time delivery” listed among the positives! Their website promises a delivery window of about 10 days. So I figured I’d get my computer within 15 days—preparing myself for up to 20 days just to avoid unnecessary stress! I finally received my equipment 35 days later!

Even better, it arrived the day after the date they’d communicated by email via their “Happy Customers” service—so I could plan my move from the delivery address to my home. Even more galling: they shipped it on the evening of the last possible day when they could have delivered on time… if they’d sent it in the morning! Meanwhile, my computer had been ready for three days already!

But let’s talk about customer service. I had a slightly unusual request: I wanted my graphics card mounted vertically. So I got the final quote and noticed they planned to use a PCIe 4 riser, even though both my GPU and motherboard are PCIe 5. I immediately asked my “Happy Customers” rep for clarification. They explained it made no difference and, in any case, PCIe 5 risers didn’t exist.

I quickly checked YouTube and found a comparison of the same RTX 5000 running on PCIe 5 versus PCIe 4, looking at FPS. Indeed, there was almost no FPS difference between the two setups. But when I installed my first games, I ran into a minor issue: the game would completely freeze my PC, forcing me to reboot most of the time!

Well, after getting my hands dirty and switching my GPU back to horizontal, it worked much better! Later on, I found out that vertical mounting with a PCIe 4 riser is a very bad idea! Cherry on the cake: PCIe 5 risers do exist—indeed, from Lian Li, the brand of case I chose! Thanks for the technicians’ advice! Because I specifically asked their opinion and whether they could do it! The “Happy Customers” guy even assured me it would cause no problems (problems that are actually well documented online)!

To wrap up this already too-long review: in the same desire to have a smoothly functioning machine that guided my component choices, I requested the “ready-to-use” assembly service and, to be sure that any faulty part would fail under their watch, I also asked for the stress test. When I received the certificate stating that my PC had bravely endured 12 hours of mistreatment without the slightest weakness to earn the Platinum© certification, I must admit I felt a vague sense of satisfaction tinged with pride.

Yeah! One of the first things I wanted to do on first boot was turn off that horrible LED light show on my motherboard…and no way to access any of my Asus hardware settings until I’d applied all the updates and downloaded yet another batch of bloated, useless software! For example, I couldn’t access the motherboard settings until I installed the background-noise reduction driver for the microphone when streaming!!! So, I get that Asus makes good hardware (maybe), but in terms of software they’re as bad as all the others I’ve tested (Logitech and Razer). Nevertheless, with my PC ready to use, I still spent over a week tearing my hair out with Armoury Crate (Asus’s software) just to be able to actually use it!

And about a “Platinum” certification for a PC that freezes and crashes on first use—shall we talk about the validity and relevance of these tests? Sorry, I can’t recall the name of the test. It was a three- or four-letter acronym.

In short, I’m seriously considering what I’d hoped to avoid: taking everything apart and rebuilding it calmly, at my own pace! At least I have the parts. On the other hand, I feel completely cheated by the assembly service! I really should have built it myself—it would’ve cost me a lot less and spared me so much stress, since at least I would’ve known I’d have issues to sort out, instead of just waiting to sit down and game… only to be disappointed and still have to deal with problems!

Even before ordering this company gives a very bad impression: their telephone central is broken. Is this a reliable computer company if they are not able to have a phone working?
So what do you do if you have questions, write e-mails or chats forever?
So what do you do if your computer seems to break down and you want some help before sending everything back and not being able to use it for weeks?
I do not trust companies like this and you should really consider trusting them.

Please order from somewhere else.

No comunication
No expertise
And no Garantees

It takes them 2 weeks to ship to own country and gave me the excuse they didnt have it in stock and have to wait a full week... still nothing
Looking at the item seller their site itself it tells me 2 days 4 max to ship to me.

Alternate is just full of them snobs like the "genuis" at apple .

You are a joke

Bought a 5090 Aorus Master Ice GPU and picked up in store

Pros
- item in stock and did not wait long
- accepted cash (up to 3000 euro) and accepted older notes I had
- friendly staff

Cons
- no price match (they dropped the item by 200 euro the next week) …
- way over MSRP (luckily had euros at a good exchange rate that helped the purchase feel a little less painful)

Overall good experience despite the item being more expensive than their competitors or even their NL branch. I would expect all alternate stores to have the same pricing 🙈

I have purchased a new monitor , received it with a broken somehow melted edge of the screen and they blame me for that !! I don't accept something like this ,I felt offended !! They've told me there is QC in Belgium🙈🤣......no replace no refund.....i have purchased some Corsair fans , they were fake , i have told them to change the picture from the site ,they didn't change anything,they continued to sell them......everything else I have purchased at them i had no issues so far but i give them 1 star because of that monitor !! They should be less assholles there's always alternatives 👈where to buy .....i did purchased another monitor but from Coolblu 💪 , I will try to avoid Alternate ,sorry lads 🤓

Bought a new custom alternate pc for around € 4600. Notice random freezes for which i take the pc back for repair. Hear that there is something wrong with the motherboard and that they will send it back to the manufacturer. Its been 2 months and i hear that i have to wait at least another 2 weeks to hear even anything back from the manufacturer. What kind of a service is this? Selling defect products and then letting your customer wait for months and months without giving other solutions. They will never see me here again.

One of the worst experiences I ever had with a store. Bought a 300+ euros monitor online. When opening the box I noticed it was probably a returned product as the cd rom with it was literally unusable because of the scratches. Also the mount was very damaged and the screen was scratched as well. After contacting them. I had to drive 1,5 hours to drive there to replace my item. Because of the covid rules at that moment I was not allowed to check the product so I had to wait till home. Came home and exactly the same. Not a new product and scratches on the screen. Will never buy something there anymore. Stay away and better buy from amazon (date of exp is not correct)

Tried to buy an RX 9070 XT. The page for the 695 euros model (Asus PRIME) said it was 'out of stock'. An hour later the page went offline, and a new page (under a new link) with the exact same model went up, this time the price was changed to 899 euros.

They lie to you about the status of stock to suck the most amount of money out of you. Scalper behaviour.

alternate is de nr1 scalper van de benelux.
1499 voor een 5070ti met MSRP van 750$!!

Ik bestelde voor ruim 4.200 euro een op maat gemaakt product om te monteren, telefonisch garandeerde de persoon van Alternate mij dat alle onderdelen op voorraad waren en dat de machine binnen tien dagen gemonteerd en geleverd zou worden, vijftien dagen later. Ik heb mijn bestelling nog steeds niet, als ik telefonisch terugkom, brengen ze me met de boot en nog steeds mijn bestelling.
Er had wel een oplossing gevonden kunnen worden als ze een product missen, maar de persoon aan de telefoon is te dom om dit soort formules aan te bieden en is niet in staat om naar de informatie te zoeken om de klant te vertellen wat er mis is.
Ik wilde na 15 dagen een herroepingsrecht uitoefenen op de bestelling, maar dat kan niet omdat ze vermoedelijk al met de montage zijn begonnen.
voor zover ik weet starten we geen montage als er onderdelen ontbreken, als de onderdelen wel aanwezig zijn en het in elkaar zetten van een machine duurt meer dan 15 dagen moet er ook ergens een serieus probleem zijn..
Ik zal mijn recht op beëindiging via de rechtbank laten gelden en dit incident melden bij alle si-trusts die zowel dit bedrijf als Visa bestrijken.
Ik had wat onderzoek naar dit bedrijf moeten doen en de klantrecensies moeten raadplegen, ik heb veel problemen opgemerkt, vooral bij bestellingen waarbij grote bedragen betrokken zijn en veel problemen met hun garantie of retourservice en zelfs levering.
vertrouw dit bedrijf niet.
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I ordered a tailor-made product to be assembled for more than 4,200 euros, by telephone the person from Alternate guaranteed me that all the components were in stock and that the machine would be assembled and delivered within ten days, fifteen days later. passed, I still don't have my order, when I come back to alternate by phone, they take me by boat and still my order.
A solution could have been found if they are missing a product, but the person on the phone is too stupid to offer this type of formula and is incapable of looking for the information to tell the customer what is wrong.
I wanted to exercise a right of withdrawal from the order after 15 days, I cannot because supposedly they have already started assembly.
As far as I know we don't start an assembly if parts are missing, if the parts are present and it takes more than 15 days to assemble a machine there must also be a serious problem somewhere..
I will assert my right of termination via the courts and report this incident on all the si trusts which cover this company as well as Visa.
I should have done some research on this company and consulted the customer reviews, I noticed a lot of problems, especially with orders that involve large amounts and a lot of problems with their warranty or return service and even delivery.
Do not trust this company.
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j'ai commandé un produit sur mesure à monter de plus de 4200 euros, par téléphone la personne d'alternate m'a garantis que tous les composants étaient en stock et que la machine serait montée et livrée dans les dix jours, quinze jours ont passé, je n'ai toujours pas ma commande, lorsque je reviens vers alternate par téléphone, ont me mene en bateau et toujours pas de livraison.
Une solution aurait pu être trouvée si un produit leur manque, mais la personne au téléphone est trop con pour proposer ce type de formule et est incapable de chercher l'information pour dire au client ce qui ne va pas.
J'ai voulu faire valoir un droit de rétractation de commande après 15 jours, je ne peux pas parce que soi-disant ils ont déjà commencé le montage.
Autant que je sache on ne commence pas un montage s'il manque des pieces, si les pieces sont presentent et qu'ils leur faut plus de 15 jours pour monté un machine il doit aussi il y avoir un serieux probleme quelque part..
je vais faire valoir mes droit de resiliation via la justice et signaler cet incident sur tous les si trust qui couvrent cette société ainsi que Visa.
J'aurai du faire une recherche sur cette société et consulté les avis clients, je constate énormément de probleme, surtout avec les commande qui portent sur de gros montant et énormément de probleme sur leurs service de garantie ou de retour et meme de livraison.
Ne faite pas confiance à cette société.

I have never had a bad experience with Alternate.

First of all, their service has been one of the best, especially since they offer repair for Computers that were not originally purchased with them. This is what happened to my Wifes PC which was purchased via Coolblue but Fixed by Alternate.

Secondly, getting stuck building with your new tech. Give them a call and see if they can help you out. Example: I did not have an extra cable for my Modular Power Supply, that was required for the CPU. Thanks to them, they were able to help me source a replacement Power Supply, that was both within budget and at the right spec that I needed.

Thirdly, something going wrong after a build. In my case, my RGB on my AIO Pump/Waterblock failed. I had been stuck trying to fix it, and to no avail, I brought it to the store and was offered a replacement and installation (within warranty) for 119,89EUR total. I left it with them and 4 hours later, everything was working, much quicker than me doing it myself and reinstalling everything.

Their professionalism and friendliness are top of the line and if you are considering either buying a PC or building one. Rest Assured you are in good hands with Alternate.

I do not recommend the company. I bought and paid for the product. The next day I received information that the product was out of stock and that it would be sent to me only after the next delivery from the manufacturer, but looking at the dates in other stores I see that it could take up to a month and a half. They don't answer the phone, I have been waiting for a long time for an answer and I have no information. How can you possibly sell something to someone that you don't have in stock?