ANAFRA Arvostelua 4

We paid for a turnkey server with assembly and burn-in included.

Payment was received on February 18, 2026, and we were told the ETA was around 10 days. Instead, we got repeated delay messages over several weeks saying shipment would happen soon, tomorrow, or after burn-in. The server was only shipped on March 17 and arrived on March 23.

After that long delay, the server still did not work properly as delivered. The supplied NVMe setup was faulty under load. We spent a full day diagnosing the issue, confirmed the SSDs themselves were fine, and traced the problem to the supplied ICY DOCK PCIe adapter / delivered NVMe configuration.

That is exactly the kind of issue a real burn-in process should have caught before shipment.

Support was also disappointing. Despite detailed diagnostics, the response was basically that the system had left in perfect condition and that we had to go through standard RMA. No real ownership, no practical solution, and no understanding of the downtime and engineering time this caused.

We ended up fixing the issue ourselves by buying a different PCIe card locally just to get the server into production.

So: long delay, not properly validated before shipping, and weak handling when the delivered system turned out not to be production-ready. Based on this experience, I would not recommend them for urgent turnkey server orders.

Placed an order and paid in full. After almost a month (supplier had item in stock) they asked for more money and almost one more month delay. Cancelled and ordered from other shop which shipped within 2 days!

Please be very aware that they have no idea what they're doing.

Many months ago I purchased a barebones server from them, as I already had many of the components.
I just need some memory and a NIC.
Just to be sure, I confirmed with them beforehand that the NIC I was purchasing would function in the server, even though they were from different vendors and had different branding for the same physical interface.

When the server and memory showed up, I had such a difficult time getting the server to boot. The only way it would boot, was if I installed very limited amounts of the memory and in very specific slots.
When the server finally did boot it would not recognise all the installed memory and it would run it at an incorrect speed.

I contacted them within a week, to point out that something was wrong. I didn't get a reply, so instead I contacted Asrock rack, who replied immediately and were very helpful. They even offered to replace the motherboard of the server.

After 1-2 weeks, Anafra ended up replying, that they couldn't really help, as I had chosen not to use their assembly services.

After about 1-2 months of debugging with Asrock rack, I accidentally look at the memory, and see that it isn't the memory that I ordered. Neither the part number nor the specs are in line with what was on their webshop or on the invoice.

I reach out to them to point this out, and the reply with "We will investigate internally how this happened. Please return the memory".
They did not care that I had now spent 3 months on their mistake and Asrock rack had even tried replacing the motherboard to fix the issue.

I asked them to come up with some kind of compensation to which they replied "Next time you shop with us, please reach out to you account manager and he will find a good price".
I don't know how they think I would ever come back to a place that is so incompetent and careless in what they do.

And if only the story had ended here - but no.
After I acquire the correct memory from another retailer, the server immediately boots up, recognises all the memory and runs it at the correct speed.
At this point the server is finally up, after about 3-4 months of just debugging and waiting.
However I soon notice that it isn't recognising the NIC - remember how I confirmed with Anafra that it was compatible?
Turns out it isn't. I buy another NIC from another retailer and it shows up immediately.

I return the memory and NIC to Anafra, and then another round of incompetency ensues.
They start debating about the NIC and how it was working on their end.
They request documentation that the card isn't working and asking for screenshots of iperf or the like.
I tell them that I can't provide that documentation as the NIC wasn't recognised by the server.
Another month goes by, they ask for the same documentation again.

Now they have both my money, the memory and the NIC.

I clearly stated that I would initiate a chargeback if they didn't refund the money. Then they stopped responding.

Please, do yourself a favour, and use another retailer than Anafra/smicro.eu. You're going to have such a bad time for so many, many months.

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Reply to Anafra
Although it required our banks to step in and resolve the issue and your reply here comes in half a year after the case is resolved, I appreciate you taking responsibility.
It would have been a lot easier if you had done this from day one.

I wish you the best.