NZXT Flex

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NZXT Flex

Basic Information
Release Year	2024
Product Type	Rental Service
In Production	Yes
Official Website	https://nzxt.com/collection/flex

NZXT Flex is a rental service launched in 2024 by NZXT in partnership with Fragile (a Software company that provides "layered financing" and services on top of hardware subscriptions,) for its prebuilt, gaming-focused desktop computers. Customers can choose to rent a pre-built gaming computer from three monthly plans, based on their performance needs and budget, with three main tiers that each also offer a "Prime" upgrade option that includes higher spec components for an additional monthly upcharge. NZXT guarantees PC upgrades every two years and full warranty support.

Nzxt flex store page

Predatory Terms of Service

vague and excessive fees

• • reference shipping policy
  • definitions of "damages to the rented hardware"
  • "If Operator is unable to collect funds owed to Operator from Subscriber, the Operator shall be entitled to charge Subscriber five-percent (5%) of the outstanding balance owed, or $20.00, whichever is greater, every thirty (30) days, until Subscriber has paid the entire balance owed. Operator may, at Operator’s sole discretion, waive these fees, provided Subscriber promptly returns all Rental Devices received as part of this Subscription."
  • " If Subscriber initiates a payment reversal or chargeback of any kind on a charge that was validly made under this Agreement, Subscriber will be assessed a fifty-dollar ($50.00) reversal fee, irrespective of any determination made by a bank, credit card issuer, or payment processor on the validity of the charge. If the payment is reversed, and refunded to the Subscriber, the Subscriber shall continue to be liable under this Agreement for payment to Operator for such amount."
• no ownership when you exceed rented items value
  • unclear semi annual upgrade guarantee
• difficulty of canceling rental service.

Predatory Pricing

NZXT FLEX rental cost was calculated by investigative journalist and youtube creator Steve Bruke of Gamers Nexus compared to competitors and illegal predatory payday loans. these numbers where based of a credit apr of 22% over a 2 year period and compared against a hypothetical, 103% apr, illegal payday loan.

NZXT FLEX rental cost based on APR compared to competitors and illegal predatory payday loans

The first month of the rental service is "on us", which implies it's of no cost, however many fees including an undefined "Setup fee" as well as any applicable One-time fees will apply.

Use of false and predatory advertising.

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/gaming-pcs/i-want-to-acknowledge-that-we-messed-up-nzxt-addresses-concerns-about-its-controversial-flex-gaming-pc-rental-program-and-commits-to-taking-action/

NZXT dispite stating in their December 4, 2024 press release

• We are extending the dispute charges window from 60 days to 2 years and will comply with any regulations that provide longer dispute windows." "

their agreement still states as of January 28th 2025,

more than 55 days after the press release was last updated

" If Subscriber accrues an unpaid balance for more than sixty (60) calendar days, Operator may use all legal methods and remedies available to collect such unpaid balance including, but not limited to, civil litigation and selling such balance to third-party collection companies. Subscriber shall be liable for any and all collection costs incurred by Operator, Operator’s affiliates, or third parties involved in the collection of Subscriber’s unpaid balance, including attorneys fees, filing costs, and collection agency fees. Subscriber will, on the first of each month, be assessed an eight-percent (8%) monthly interest rate on any remaining unpaid balance and unpaid fees or interest assessed. "

Therefore, makes their 2 year window statement clearly false and misleading.

inconsistent and misleading product specifications

Inconsistencies between bought and rental PC's

NZXT has an option to either buy a prebuilt gaming PC, or rent one (Flex). NZXT listed the estimated FPS in various games as the same between the bought and rented PC's, despite swapping out hardware. For example, a bought "Player: Three Prime" model would come with an RTX 4090, while the rental version only comes with a 4080 SUPER. These two GPUs have vastly different performance, with the 4090 having an average of +25% over the 4080 SUPER.

Changing the terms of the sale

Nzxt changes it's advertising language

NZXT publicly stated many policy, website & marketing changes in response to the controversy and community backlash.

Additionally the Terms of Service was changed immediately following

Day-to-day switching of specifications and pricing

https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/1/24310181/nzxt-pc-rental-program-gamers-nexus-investigation

Basic Specifications and Pricing

As of January 14, 2025, the core component selection and pricing for each tier of the service for customers in the US was as follows:

NZXT Flex
	One	One "Prime"	Two	Two "Prime"	Three	Three "Prime"
CPU	Intel Core i5-12400F	Intel Core i5-13400F	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X	AMD Ryzen 7 7700X	Intel Core i7-13700KF	Intel Core i9-14900KF
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER
RAM	16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3200 MHz	16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR5 5200 MHz	16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3200 MHz	32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 5200 MHz	32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 5600 MHz	64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5 6000MHz
Storage	500GB NVMe M.2 SSD	1TB NVMe M.2 SSD	1TB NVMe M.2 SSD	1TB NVMe M.2 SSD	1TB NVMe M.2 SSD	2TB NVMe M.2 SSD
Total (USD / Month)	$59/mo	$89/mo	$129/mo	$159/mo	$179/mo	$259/mo

Follow-up by NZXT

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/gaming-pcs/i-want-to-acknowledge-that-we-messed-up-nzxt-addresses-concerns-about-its-controversial-flex-gaming-pc-rental-program-and-commits-to-taking-action/

https://nzxt.com/news/nzxt-update-addressing-your-concerns-about-the-flex-subscription-program