Edit to include excellent customer service response. The company swiftly responded to my online inquiry and phone call on 12/27/22. The 2 representatives that I spoke with were respectful, understanding and eager to assist. Justin and Ben, you two totally changed this review. This Mama was very upset, but the 2 of you went above and beyond to assure that my children would have their computer before year end. I apologize, but I do not remember the name of the gentleman that I spoke with last. However, we have the new unit in hands and will setup this evening. Thank you for your excellent customer service response. As a local small business owner in the same geographic area, I dread leaving a negative review. But here it goes. I had this company build a computer for my children for Christmas. The package arrived earlier than expected, but will not power on. Maybe this is why it was early. Upon inspection, the enclosed inspection document has 3 check offs, the final check off is not complete, no signature, no date. I understand that 12/26 is a busy day, but as a mom and consumer, I have been calling all day and I have left messages, as well as a email, since Christmas morning. My children were so excited once they saw the box, only to never have the unit power on at all. I am leaving this review with the hopes that maybe they will respond to me here. PS, I am a repeat customer and felt confident in my purchase because we purchased our older children a build from you in 2020. The initial purchase was excellent. The second is sadly a huge fail. read more

Great business with great products and great service. My laptop has been very durable. Better quality than I have received elsewhere. The negative reviews I see in here don't make any sense and must be confusing this business with another with similar name. CUK (also now empowered Pc) is a reputable and respected business with great inventory. read more

Do NOT Buy from Empowered PC I strongly advise against buying from Empowered PC. I purchased a physically branded, custom-modified laptop from them in March 2025, and within six months it became completely inoperable. Despite repeated follow-ups and two separate RMAs, the company refused to honor the warranty on a critical component--the motherboard--claiming it was "used" or "B-stock," and insisting only the parts they installed were covered. I was quoted $1,544 for a new OEM motherboard with just a 60-day warranty, or roughly $700 for a third-party part with only a 30-day warranty. Their customer service manager repeatedly provided dishonest statements about warranty coverage, and I have emails proving their dishonesty, leaving me with a defective product and no real recourse. This experience has been frustrating, dishonest, and unacceptable. Do NOT use Empowered PC--go with any other competitor. read more

The laptop was modified by them after they purchased it from HP. The customer service was good and did not give me any problems when returned it. read more

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Sincere gratitude for Vitaliy's outstanding support regarding my Dell Laptop repair. Incredibly impressed with his dedication, professionalism, and exceptional customer service. His assistance went above and beyond what I could have anticipated, and I am grateful for the effort and attention to detail he provided throughout the process. What could have easily taken weeks, if not a month, to repair, Vitaliy completed in just hours. Such efficient and thorough service is rare, and I deeply appreciate the convenience and peace of mind this provided me. Again, thank for your diligence and expertise. It was also nice to receive a call to check up on the status and service of my laptop; a total commitment to customer service! Dr. RG- read more

I bought a computer from them in January. It has been sent back for repairs 4 times. It will run fine for a week to 10 days then it begins to lock up non-stop. They have replaced the SSD, The memory 3 times, the motherboard once and now the video card. All the while ignoring that something in the system is damaging components If I were to take an educated guess I would assume the PSU is spiking and damaging components. Please note after each repair is made it will run fine for a week. The components are bad. But they refuse to replace this machine with a functioning computer. Or even to replace the PSU so it will stop breaking new components. read more

Worst PC purchase I have ever made. First one had to be returned. Replacement had a bad cooling system overheated, and destroyed the had drive. Poor customer service. Avoid these guys read more

Computer Upgrade King has been with me for over 20 years, nothing but reliability & performance

We got a great deal on an excellent gaming computer. I almost did not order from the company due to a lot of negative reviews. I can say the machine we received was top notch! It was very well packaged, came with all the instructions needed to get going, and we had it up and running within a couple minutes. My son has been using/playing it non-stop for a week now without any issues. The custom PC shipped out within a day or so of our order. It arrived a day earlier than expected and was super protected in all the packaging. I had numerous emails from them and UPS for tracking. I have not dealt with their customer service department, and hopefully I won't have to. read more

I purchased an MSI laptop computer. When it arrived, the computer immediately began shutting down after playing games, with the core temperature reaching upwards to 190 degrees Fahrenheit. I shipped the computer back to them and they took two weeks to apply some thermal paste. About a year later, the computer began having the same issue and cannot even run games with decent graphics from 2015, despite having a GEFORCE RTX 2080. The GPU is absolutely shot, the computer was shipped to me already defective, and now my warranty has expired. I bought this laptop with half the life insurance my father bestowed upon me after he died. And I hate it. Terrible company that shipped a defective product then refused to replace it. read more

First PC constantly overheated and need to be returned. That replacement went smooth. Second PC developed heating problems a bit over a year in, after the warranty expired. Spent a lot of money on a PC that turned out to be a dud. Avoid these guys. read more

Darn... I should have done my due diligence on this one. I ordered a MSI desktop from Amazon via Computer Upgrade King. I called four days after placing my order (14 December 22022) to verify the specifications of the computer and that it was going to arrive before Christmas. I was told everything was fine and the PC would ship. The next morning (15 December 2022) I got an email from Amazon that my order had been canceled. I called them again after I got the cancellation, and I was told they were having trouble sourcing the PC and had to cancel the order. They also refused to honor the price if they got stock of the PC in the future. Pretty scummy thing to do during the holidays. Don't trust this company with anything important! read more

Sorry CUK for this very late review. I was just thinking of getting anoter PC built by you. I ordered a custom gaming PC (Same PC I am using right at this second) from you in 2017. I never had a single problem with the PC and it still runs great to date. When I looked you up online, I ran into these Yelp reviews. Not sure why the bad reviews, maybe user error? As mentioned, I ordered a custom PC from CUK and never had an issue. I am really surprised with the negative reviews. My PC runs so great, I want to get another one (after 6+ years) from CUK. read more

I ordered through their Amazon store front and left a review there but thought I'd leave a Yelp review too. I ordered a Dell G15 5155 that they upgraded from the stock setup. It has the hard drive & RAM upgrades advertised and they didn't use slower RAM like I've heard some Amazon sellers might do. They shipped it fast and well packed. I'm pleased and would buy from them again without question. read more

Buyer Beware!!! Do not purchase from Computer Upgrade King! We purchased an ASUS Laptop Gamer ROG Strix G16 (2023), model on September 9, 2023 for about $1700. About a week after the 30 day warranty period ended, the computer started having a fatal error and was continuously shutting down. I read their reviews and unfortunately realized they are a scam company. They refused a refund. We opted to repair directly through ASUS rather than deal with Computer Upgrade King given their shady reviews. ASUS informed us that the SSD card and RAM that were "upgraded" by the Computer Upgrade King needed to be replaced because they were broken. In addition, the person who installed the SSD and RAM at computer Upgrade King also damaged other internal components of the laptop. I spent over $225 on repairs on a computer that we purchased less than 3 months ago. read more

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DO NOT BUY Computer Upgrade King From WEEK TWO I have COMPLAINED about this laptop you built has been full of BUGS ERRORS and CRASHING since I RECEIVING your custom-built Lenovo Legion 5 Pro Gaming Laptop. Your last reply 5 days ago said "I have received your unit here in our facility. I will enter it into our repair queue and update you once diagnostics have begun" and I've been patiently waiting But I desperately need my laptop for business!! My sole reason for buying this BRAND NEW, expensive $2,000+ laptop WAS AVOIDING THIS exact problem computer King has given me: Service Issues Laptop down time Waste!! USE ANY OTHER SELLER YOU-ALL!!! So it's been 3 months now... (I WAITED 4 A LONGTIME, B4 BAD Review... GIVING Computer Upgrade King A CHANCE) when is this issue going to be resolved satisfactorily? CRAZY! ALL THE BELLS: (Lenovo Legion 5 Pro Gaming Laptop, 16.0" QHD IPS 165Hz, Ryzen 7 5800H, GeForce RTX 3070 8GB（140W）,RGB Backlight KB，Win 10, Accessories (64GB RAM 3200 | 2TB PCIe SSD) 1555 Standing Ridge Drive, Suite A-1 Powhatan, VA, 23139, United States Tel:1(800) 985-9364 Fax:1(800) 985-9489 E-Mail: support@cukusa.com read more

These idiots installed DDR5 RAM onto a DDR4 compatible motherboard and sold it to another idiot (me) so don't be an idiot, do your research. It'd be one thing to put DDR4 RAM into a DDR5 motherboard, then i could just spend $150 on new RAM (what i was going to do when i figured this out anyway) and call it a day. Now i'll have to strip this thing apart and put everything on a DDR5 motherboard and THEN get more RAM. I actually deleted my initial 4 star review to write this. I bought this PC at the end of last year (2022) and figured i'd spend a bit of money so i could get something right. Well the proprietary AIO they use went bad in like 3 months and I had to send it back in for repair. Glad they did that but that never should have happened for what I paid, nor should this now be happening. Should have done just a hair more research i guess. Just build your own PC anyway cuz you're just gonna end up having to redo what these guys do anyway. Cheers. read more

Ordered a gaming laptop through Amazon from these guys come to find out it stopped working after a month and sent it to ASUS for warranty repair and they said it's not covered because I modded out my 64 gb ram for 2 8gb ram cards which I have no idea how to do..so pretty much before they sent out my laptop when I ordered it they took my 64gb ram and downgraded me to some crappy 2 8gb ram cards..they steal parts from online orders and replace them for cheaper parts I'm reporting these guys to the BBB because I spent 2,5000 on this laptop with no resolution because some punk modded my purchase and stole from me that was rightfully bought through the website..help me take these guys down and report them to the BBB (better business bureau) read more

It would be great if they actually sent out the product that you have purchased. Not only is it past the quoted delivery date, UPS hasn't even received the product to begin with. Considering that the shipping information indicates that they're shipping from the same state, there's no excuse for it not being here yet. This has been a huge disappointment. Buyer beware! read more

bought two computers from them. neither one works, was only able to return one. this is a scammer that sells broken parts, not a real business! avoid at all costs!!! read more

Computer Upgrade King - What you can expect to see regularly on a Computer Upgrade King PC. The whea_uncorrectable_error is due to faulty hardware. - Computers Near Me - Powhatan, Virginia

Great computer company for building computers excellent quality reasonably priced components. Each custom system comes with a warranty back by excellent customer service! read more

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They replaced my laptop with the same garbage Swordfish nvme drives twice, that was enough for me to not bother sending it back to them even though it was under warranty and fix it myself. Turns out big boys with big boy careers can't afford to have to lose the weeks it takes them to not only replace their garbage hardware with garbage replacements, but not even know how to raid it. read more

Avoid this company if trust and integrity is a core value you look for. After 3 years of being toyed with over a defective laptop that was then lost they promised a FULL refund and the NO depreciation would be included and chose to go against their word and sent a petty 600 dollars due to "depreciation". Steer clear of this untrustworthy and scummy company. read more

Terrible. My bluetooth never works. Straight out the box just doesn't work. Cheap thermal paste was used and now my GPU is paying for it. NEVER TRUST CUK they are CUK for a reason... read more

Love these guys. They built me a sweet pc for an amazing price. And more than a year later, I can send them a message asking questions about upgrading my system and get quick and helpful replies. Can't ask for much more than that. read more

Hands down one of the best customer service experiences I've had in a long time. He was aware of the items, I had questions about, had the knowledge to confirm my understanding of the products and had the confidence to recommend several other items to aide me in my workload. I truly appreciate his Expertise combined with his respectful attitude. This truly made my day! Well done Jesse Boseman! read more

I LOVE the custom PC I got from them. And they honestly have some of the best customer service I have ever encountered. Communication was prompt and professional, technical support was outstanding. They went out of their way to make sure I was happy with my purchase and that everything worked as it's supposed to. I'm extremely pleased with my PC and with Computer Upgrade King. I would definitely recommend this company and their products!! (Sidenote- If you constantly have problems with technical support or customer service from various companies, I'd start questioning the common factor in these transactions- ie you. If you show people patience and understanding, that's what you'll get in return. Nothing in this world is built to last forever, and parts fail without any malicious intent from the company that sold it to you.) read more

I tried to order two times from these clowns, both times my order was cancelled with no explanation. If you put a computer on Amazon and someone orders it then jerk them around twice, for 2 weeks then cancel all of a sudden thats crappy business practices read more

DON'T BUY FROM COMPUTER KING UPGRADES I bought a 4 thousand dollar laptop from this company over Amazon and it had issues from the start, it just seemed like it was put together poorly. It overheated all the time and I cant imagine they do much quality control if the stuff I was seeing got to me. I dismissed the little things at first but by the 6 month mark the computer didn't even work. Turns out! If you buy computers from them over amazon they give you a 1 month warranty and you only have 1 month to get a refund if its broken. So warning from fellow gamer and computer enthusiast. These guys seem to be in it for a quick buck. read more

I have not purchased a new computer with certain specs in over 30 years when I could build it myself. Lots of trepidation in securing the right gaming pc for my son and getting it somewhat future proof (for at least a few years). Called CUK, talked to Jesse at length with several questions on specs. He walked me through the ordering process (online only) to build the correctly fit version for my needs. Really appreciate the assistance. read more

On my 3rd custom build with CUK. Jesse has been awesome providing dedicated care and attention to my builds. CUK PC's are my dedicated source for high end digital modeling and photo rendering. They far surpass the competition and have superior (human) support. Jesse has helped with even the simplest questions. Professional, fast, and dependable. No other company can compare. read more

i purchased this computer from amazon and since it had to be signed for( and i work on call ) I took a vacation day to wait for it . during the whole time there was no tracking information and day before I called amazon to check what was going on . I was told it might be a glitch and just wait for the delivery date. Day arrived no package now it says delivery delayed and will email when it is shipped . So I cancelled the order. surprise surprise they quickly charged my account and and amazon is now saying they cant cancel the order. read more

I purchased a $5,000 gaming PC 2 years ago from this company ever since then I have had issues with the computer running hot but after contacting them they said this was normal due to the size of the case and components I had picked so I just went along with it now barely two years later I had to take it into a repair store because this company apparently does not have any pride in their work and refuses to fix anything now I've come to find out the GPU is pretty much fried the CPU was not seated very well and did not have adequate thermal paste applied the HDD is fried and the radiator for the water cooling is on its last legs all this because apparently they messed up on the fans to cool everything the computer did not vent any of the excess heat out it only took in fresh air and since the fans on all sides were blowing in it never could vent out therefore trapping all of that stale heat inside the computer so now I'm looking at $1,500 to replace the GPU radiator and fix the CPU issues all because this company wanted to cut corners and of course they refuse to answer any of my messages asking about warranties read more

I ordered a computer from Computer Upgrade King using Amazon Pay on 27-Nov which was supposed to require 5 business days handling. Acknowledgement of the purchase was received and the order was shown as processing on their website. On 8-Dec I used their contact page to ask about the status of this order as it still showed as processing and no further communication had been received. According to several responses of theirs on this site, such communications are responded to in a day. There has been no response as of 10-Dec. It is understandable, especially at the moment, that there can be delays, however the essence of good customer service is to be open and communicate. From here I cannot tell if they sold something they don't have, there is a temporary delay or this is an unscrupulous organization. I cannot recommend anyone use this business. read more

I ordered a computer from www.cukusa.com on 15 April 2020, and they immediately charged my card. After two weeks on the website my order was still listed as "Processing." I sent an email to the company to ask what was going on and the next day they responded telling me that computer isn't actually in stock and they won't be able to get one. So not only did they sell me a product they don't actually have, no one decided to try and verify that I'd received the item I'd paid thousands of dollars for(which of course I couldn't, because they never had the item despite listing it as in stock), and presumably they'd have taken my money and left me hanging if I hadn't reached out to them. Do not order anything from Computer Upgrade King because they might simply be taking your money without actually having the promised product. read more

I have called there customer service line twice and got a human both times in just a few seconds. Very helpful and friendly. So 5 stars for the quick service. read more

Anna Hsu, CEO at Computer Upgrade King Richmond, Virginia Area Dear Ms.Hsu, On December 4th 2018, I purchased a CUK ROG Zephyrus M Notebook for $2499.99 including a year warranty. On October 5th 2019, the SSD malfunctioned. On October 7th, I contacted support (cc) to inform them of the issue. Christopher Murray (cc) responded requesting the serial number, which I provided. On October 8th, he walked me through troubleshooting it, which didn't fixed the issues. We tried this, back and forth for several days. Eventually he provided with a copy of an RMA in order to send in my computer for repair. I sent my computer on October 9th, through UPS. On October 16th, I received an email from Austin Oakes (Research & Repair Manager at CUK) (cc), where he informed me that the repairs where completed successfully and my computer was ready to be shipped back to me. I provided him with my address, and he mailed my computer back to me. On October 21st, I received my computer physically damaged with 2 broken pieces. I immediately emailed Christopher Murray informing him of the damages and attached pictures of my computer's damage. He replied by asking for a picture of the box, which I complied. He informed me he will file a shipping claim, and likely UPS will come and inspect the unit. 8 days later, on October 29th, I got an email from Christopher, letting me know he will update me once he had more information on the status of the claim. I waited a few days, and on November 4th, I wrote to Christopher letting him know that I would be leaving the country soon and I needed to know how long the process would take and if there was anyway for me to speed it up. He replied by apologizing for the delay, and informing me that based on a conversation he had with UPS, the claim would be paid. He wrote: "...this in mind, i am going to get a new unit pulled and build for you to get you back up and running." I replied with my address expecting to receive my new computer promptly. On November 5th, Christopher emailed me letting me they did not have a replacement for my damaged unit, but he was waiting for parts to repair my original computer. I found this very odd, since UPS had already paid the shipping claim. Later on the day on November 5th, I received an email from Anthony Iverson (cc) informing me that the ASUS portal use to order parts was undergoing maintenance therefore they were unable to order the replacement parts for my damaged unit. On November 8th, I emailed Christopher to ask for any updates. Jesse (no last name - Customer Service Representative at CUK) send me an email informing me they were waiting for the parts to arrive by the following week, and once they did receive it, they will repair it and send the unit back to me. I consider myslef a very patient man, I have paid fully for a computer and a warranty. I followed all the instructions and completed all the forms. It has been 9 DAYS since the last time I got any information from any of the above mentioned employees at CUK. At this point, it's been more than 45 days dealing with this simple repair. This lack of professionalism and inability to fulfill your company's end of bargain has caused extreme damage to my livelihood. I am soon to take a years long trip and it is imperative I take my private property with me. Property I might add, that has been fully paid by me and by the UPS shipping claim. Ms. Hsu, giving the blatant inability of your employees to complete their work in a professional, honest and timely manner, I am writing directly to you in hope that at least one person has the intention, capacity and managerial skill to complete and solve this present issue. My computer is how I make my living, 45 days without being able to use it and the days that will follow this email are only gravitating the economic damage I am sustaining. At this point, and giving that the computer has been paid twice, all I ask for is a complete and full refund. I urge you to take quick and swift action to solve my problem. Sincerely, Jesus Gamarra read more

This company seemed super friendly and willing to help. Upon calling I got in touch with someone about my new laptop. Audio issues. It happens! Paid for in full on Amazon! (I contacted Amazon after to also confirm this) was told that it was refunded and they can't help me at all. Well ... It wasn't and even speaking to Amazon it wasn't. Nothing was ever refunded at all. So I mean I'm glad I got the computer, but the customer service is just sadly not there. And since the warranty is through them, I won't be getting any help on my computer and will have to shell out more for it... They were paid. It's all on my account and even the three Amazon reps said it's all paid as does my credit card. I'm really really upset about this. Just sounds like a way to get out of helping to me. read more

They are a bunch of incompetent people, sell refurbished items as new, cannot repair their faulty products within warranty time, charge money for technical problems they had created. I bought a Lenovo W530 laptop and it went to for repair 5 times in 3 years period, yet they couldn't fix the power issue with the laptop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMOV8IhSuQM I lost money and time due to my purchase. Such a disgraceful company. DO NOT MAKE BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY! read more

Don't be fooled by their low prices! I ordered a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge from them on Amazon. The price was amazing - under $800 bucks. I went on the Lenovo web site and a similar - only somewhat lesser - computer would have been well over $1,200. Wow - what a deal! Mmm...maybe not... The computer arrived on time and looked great. I noticed immediately that the clock was off. It would randomly lose or gain time. It was off by 12 hours during the first night. That's not something I can live with so I returned it for a replacement. There was something funky about the second one I received. The outer, Amazon box was in perfect condition. But the inner, computer box looked like it had been stepped on a few times, and was then sealed with what looked like a half-roll of tape. I called Amazon to ask whether they had sent me a refurbished one. They checked with the company, which assured Amazon that the computer was new. The second computer was horrible. I got a Blue Screen of Death immediately, followed by many program crashes and freeze-ups that required a hard re-boot. When I called the company (they have numerous stickers and flyers in the box asking you to call them rather than complaining to Amazon), they wanted me to take the computer apart and start pulling out random parts to see how it affected things. Right...I'm going to do. So, my advice is to stay away from these folks. They supposedly do "upgrades," but you'd be better off without them. read more