Inside the Collapse of Artesian Builds: From $20,000,000 to Bankrupt

(Error correction: It's a triceratops skull, not a tyrannosaurus skull) (2024): Watch our coverage of EK's implosion as it fails to pay employees and suppliers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b73xG1HlFhY We sponsored this and took a lot of risk to cover this story. Grab one of our items below to support! Get a GN Tear-Down Toolkit: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gamersnexus-tear-do… Get a GN Modmat for PC building! store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat-volt-large Or a GN Blue & Black Mouse Mat: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-wireframe-mouse-… Watch our first part of this story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NzY8TDCAY Regarding RMA items - to answer a common question for "how can they keep it?" The problem is that, if you don't have a record or good inventory of which item is whose, then it all is at risk of just becoming inventory. The creditor would have to figure it out, probably. It's a warehouse full of computers, so if you don't have good documentation on RMAs, then those items will just look like more computers that the company owns. There's nothing that looks different about them than a desktop for an employee or a sold customer system, in the same way that if you bought an item and it never shipped, you're not going to get a refund when they go under if other creditors get that money first. The system has to be there in order for it to be given back. You'd have to have the customer contact you prior to the auction and then you'd also have to see it and care in order to filter the items out, or you'd need a good inventory and RMA system -- which at least one of the two warehouses did not have.

When Steve goes from testing pc's to testing entire pc companies, what an intense power up.

Could you imagine if your mechanic went bankrupt and they sold off your car just because it was on the mechanic's lot at the time of filing?

The fact that nobody ensured that those computers were returned to their rightful owners is an absolute disgrace. What an incredible video, guys!! 🔥

People losing their personal property to auction because a shitty company went under is depressing.

I think that Artesian Builds aside, this also raises huge concerns about eBay and PayPal and how easily they can be abused by someone like Noah did.

The fact that Steve finishes his ominous sentence, only to be punctuated by actual thunder, proves to me that he is truly Tech-Jesus.

Came back here again. Wanna know what I want to see? A lawmaker's PC being auctioned off when it's not a bankrupt company's property. See how fast that particular law changes after that.

Jesus, 10% of the builds got RMA'd?! I can't imagine how nerve-wracking it would be buying a computer with a 10% chance of having to send it back.

I’m so glad my Patreon funds are going to good use. I wish I could give more because you all deserve it. Thank you for helping to protect the community!

You know you've sniffed out a good story when people start threatening to sue you over reporting facts! Incredible job.

Those fan wires secured in proximity to the back of the CPU has got to be the single most astonishing evidence on how someone like this could have come this far being this careless and unaware of his surroundings. His employees must have enjoyed his mentorship greatly...

Gamers Nexus truly are the paladins of PC consumer protection. May the light ever shine on them for doing the good work.

The channel is taking big strides towards being a standard bearer for tech journalism. Still early days so editing and gloss will improve but I think Gamers Nexus is now becoming indispensable to the consumer PC market. Thank you...

GN now occupies a special and very important place in the tech video world. You guys are getting insanely in depth and professional about what you do, and it's fantastic.

I feel so bad for the RMA'd customers. That is so scummy and irresponsible. I agree with others that that should be resolved when it would be so easy to do even if none of the PC's are known or marked if anyone spent any amount of time checking them. Even if the customers had to spend $45 to ship them back that's better than nothing

The irony here is that if they weren't so scummy, and had just pulled through; they'd probably be flush with GPUs. Just in time for Christmas...

I'm one of the contractors that had to deal with the PayPal dispute. I lost my case to Artesian too but I KEPT CALLING PayPal and spoke to supervisor after supervisor until I got someone who was willing to go to bat for me and gave me my money back. It was over 8 hours of phone time, but I got it back in the end. It blows my mind that PayPal had that many "unauthorized charges" come from one account over a 6 month window all at once and still went in his favor. You would think that would be a huge red flag. What a terrible situation. (I'm also the creator of that poor stuffed animal in the video with him, sitting innocently while this all went down 🥺)

That last line in the opening text..."We will always advocate for consumers" yep...GN has a record for this and this is why I like this channel like I do.

What a damn shame. Some people just don’t deserve something that great. Humble yourself whoever this guy is.