Public Service Anouncement

[dtb]

This is a public service announcement of sorts to warn those who might be considering doing business with Amedia Computer out of France. In June of 2025 I wired Amedia $3700 USD for a fully built Amiga X5000 system which they advertise on their website here:

https://www.amedia-computer.com/en/accueil/352-amigaone-x5040-4gb-ram-1tb-ssd-rx560-4gb.html

However, nothing on the website suggests that Amedia doesn’t actually have these systems in stock. Also, the fact that Amedia doesn’t have these systems in stock was not communicated to me by the proprietor during the initial correspondence phase of the transaction (there was a considerable amount of communication to successfully wire the money internationally).

Out of desperation, I posted to some Facebook groups in early December asking if other folks in the community were aware of and had done business with Amedia in the past. By and large the responses where reassuring as a number of people responded saying they had done business with Amedia in the past and their experience was generally positive. However, those that responded to my questions agreed with me that the time of the delay was not good. One respondent suggested I give Amedia until the end of the year to make good on their promise and then to ask for my money back.

Unfortunately, I reached out to Amedia this past week to check the status of my order (I have been doing this monthly since my purchase) but was told they still didn’t have the X5000 motherboard so they could not make good on their end. To make matters worse, after being told a couple of times that I was the next order to be filled, Amedia told me this week that they just filled an order (not mine) last week. And finally, after asking for my money back I received no response.

At this point I’ve resigned myself to the facts that I’ve been swindled out of $3700 USD, that Amedia Computer is not a reputable business and it’s owner is a thief.

And in lieu of the fact that the owner of Amedia may become aware of this posting and attempts to spin it in some way different that what’s been presented, I provide screen shots of our texts over the last 7 months. If you go through the correspondence you will see that I’ve repeatedly offered to accept payment in kind since it was obvious he didn’t actually have the X5000 board he was selling but these offers were also ignored.

[Jeff]

Here we go again. I had a similar experience with Amedia-Computer - France several years ago. My advice would be to start a transaction dispute with your bank as soon as possible.

I waited too long, believing all of the delay tactics. Now I am stuck with a poorly designed $3500.00 piece of trash that cannot be depended upon. It took me almost 2 years of humiliating pleading and groveling to the entire Amiga community to even get that much. At one point I even offered my V4SA as a reward to anybody that could help get my motherboard returned to me.

By now all the X5040 boards must be almost 10 years old. The latest software update killed mine, now it won't boot from anything. It still makes me uneasy to look at it, so it's packed up for now. After 40 years of great experiences enjoying, using, and upgrading my collection of classic machines, I never dreamed that I would get screwed so hard buying the supposed "best" Amiga available.

Having been through this before, I feel your pain. It takes guts to admit that you have been ripped off for $3700.00 in a public forum.

[BozzerBigD]

Sad to hear. But not unsurprising. The launch of the X5000/40 model had no fanfare whatsoever, and yet it is supposed to be desirable?! The A600GS/A1200NG have better browser features!

[Jeff]

Not to mention, trying to install the AmigaOne OS with all the updates on X5000 is an expensive patch-work mess in my opinion with little to no support or guidance.

Even if you do manage finally to get everything installed and updated, the X5040 motherboard will likely not start the next time after being shut down without failing to boot once and crash due to an MCU error. This never happens on my X5020.

This behavior seems to be quietly accepted as SOP by other X5040 owners. The official fix from Amedia for this problem is to "unplug the mains or switch if off and push the power button about ten times to discharge the motherboard". If you're lucky, it might boot the first time after that. Once you do get it up and running, expect it to crash frequently for no apparent reason. Next is the warm re-boot issue if you are using the latest Radeon GPU/drivers. Again, since this isn't fixable, it too is quietly accepted as SOP.

My 2008 Sam 440 Flex however, still runs flawlessly to this day.

[walkero]

I 've met Amedia people personally and to me, they seemed honest persons. I am surprised about what you are sharing here.
But if you asked for them to return your payment, they should definitely do so.
I hope this will be solved soon.

[dtb]

Wow, our experiences sound very similar... Where were you 7 months ago 

[Jeff]

Seriously, these types of business practices can't be tolerated. Once communication fails, I no longer accept any delaying tricks or tactics before beginning the transaction dispute process with the finance company. I use a credit card or similar now, especially for overseas transactions in different currencies, and just pay within 30 days to avoid finance charges. For large purchases, there is also third-party escrow. The lesson was hard learned, but it has saved me money several times on difficult transactions since then.

I hope you end up getting your money back, but I feel that it may be too late by now. Honestly, I feel sorry for you if you do receive the X5000-5040. My 5040 complete system has been one of the worst, most expensive, and frustrating mistakes that I have made in the last 40 years on anything!

In my opinion, mine and others 5040 motherboards are somehow flawed at a firmware/hardware level and have never/can never work properly. Somehow, this behavior seems to have quietly been acknowledged and accepted as Standard Operating Procedure. I guess some people are happy if they even startup at all - so just deal with these nagging issues that can't be fixed.  This is my guess as to why new 5040 motherboards don't exist and likely won't be made again.

It almost feels like the 5040 motherboard and or firmware wasn't quite finished, and they pushed it out too early anyway. My 5020 on the other hand is a rock-solid pleasure to use. I had serial debug setup on the 5040 and even bought the device to read the MCU debug output. I gave up when the last update trashed the boot drive. Now, it doesn't boot from anything.

[Jeff]

This is a direct quote from Laurent at Amedia-Computer after spending over $7000.00 with them in 3 months on 2 X5000 systems. Now that's customer service at its best! This was my Christmas 2022.


4 – Stock is not the problem, and A-Eon will give you the same answers than us.


5 – Please stop harrassing us since we’re trying all that we can.

We’ll send you any updates when we have some, not before, not after.



Best regards,
Amedia Computer France SAS
69, Avenue de la Libération
F-57530 Courcelles-Chaussy
France
TVA / VAT : FR15792714362
Tel : (+33) 9 79 72 56 15
Mobile : (+33) 7 71 10 72 22
Fax : (+33) 3 87 57 07 21
Site : http://www.amedia-computer.com
Mail : laurent@Amedia-computer.com

Following this, I was accused of being rude for expecting monthly updates regarding the status of my motherboard. All further attempts at communications with them went unanswered.  Kind of makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it?