has anyone had any problems as i have with pc world in respect of getting repairs done and getting messed about on the phone pushed from piller to post all the time and everyone seems to just pass the buck

Sounds like a typical case of "Customer Service" from PCW.

One of the many reasons I wouldnt buy a PC from them.

Originally posted by RPG
Sounds like a typical case of "Customer Service" from PCW.

One of the many reasons I wouldnt buy a PC from them.

seconded.

What is the problem you're having?

Originally posted by RPG
Sounds like a typical case of "Customer Service" from PCW.

One of the many reasons I wouldnt buy a PC from them.
thirded (if ever that word exists)

I didn't know PC World did computers :D :D :D

I don't understand why people keep using them! Everyone must have heard the horror stories and yet people still buy computers from them! Sorry you learnt the hard way!

I bought my PC from PCW.. I only bought the PC.. not the crap Aftercare they try to force you take.. £200 for 5 years, just for them to run a cd-rom each year ?? me thinks not :loopy:

Originally posted by neeeeeeeeeek
I don't understand why people keep using them! Everyone must have heard the horror stories and yet people still buy computers from them! Sorry you learnt the hard way!

Cos as crap as their customer service is, at least you know you'll get your money back should your system go tits up, unlike the independent backstreet trader PC shops, who you never know whether they'll go bust one week to the next cos they can't compete price wise with the big shops.

PC World aren't liable to run off with your money either, the "Del Boy" backstreet independant trader might do.

This is the voice of experience, I've bought a PC from one of these independants before about 10 years ago, some shop up Walkley, on commonside I believe... Had no end of hassles, eventually the shop went tits up and we lost our money.

Originally posted by Rich
This is the voice of experience, I've bought a PC from one of these independants before about 10 years ago, some shop up Walkley, on commonside I believe... Had no end of hassles, eventually the shop went tits up and we lost our money.

I bought a printer from PC world (it was 7:30pm and we needed it that night). There were several problems and only a threat the small claims court persuaded them to replace it.

Swings and Roundabouts.

Originally posted by Rich
Cos as crap as their customer service is, at least you know you'll get your money back should your system go tits up, unlike the independent backstreet trader PC shops, who you never know whether they'll go bust one week to the next cos they can't compete price wise with the big shops.

PC World aren't liable to run off with your money either, the "Del Boy" backstreet independant trader might do.

This is the voice of experience, I've bought a PC from one of these independants before about 10 years ago, some shop up Walkley, on commonside I believe... Had no end of hassles, eventually the shop went tits up and we lost our money.

You make it out like you only have the choice between PCW and the indie shops!

www.meshplc.co.uk - Voted UKs best computer supplier 2004 (and its not the first time theyve had this award!)

www.dell.co.uk are another good PC company, their outlet is great for bargains!

Originally posted by RPG
You make it out like you only have the choice between PCW and the indie shops!

www.meshplc.co.uk - Voted UKs best computer supplier 2004 (and its not the first time theyve had this award!)

www.dell.co.uk are another good PC company, their outlet is great for bargains!

In those days I did, it was about 1992 and I didn't get the internet till 1997.

Gemsoft were the best around in those days

PCW wasn't even around in '92!

Originally posted by Andy
I bought a printer from PC world (it was 7:30pm and we needed it that night). There were several problems and only a threat the small claims court persuaded them to replace it.

Swings and Roundabouts.

most printers are actually instant replacement at PCW these days anyways!! unless it is accidental damage



yes we know PCW has some horrow stories, but what about all the very satisfied customers they have?? overlooked i think


Originally posted by Deejay
I bought my PC from PCW.. I only bought the PC.. not the crap Aftercare they try to force you take.. £200 for 5 years, just for them to run a cd-rom each year ?? me thinks not

run a Cd rom?? if your referring to the healthcheck, then i think you will find they do a little more than that (i know it still not worth what they charge for the healthcheck) but you are referring to PC Performance........
now with pc performance, some people loathe it, some people love it......... the people that loathe it, are the ones who feel they have been ripped off, as they are not covered for software, just hardware....... why is that PC worlds fault they failed to read the agreement they are given when it is purchased??

the people that love it are the ones, who after nearly 5 years, there computers break down and it is replaced with a more up to date one..... PCW only has a bad name because of the few that do complain, which will probably be less than 1%

Originally posted by Rich
Cos as crap as their customer service is, at least you know you'll get your money back should your system go tits up, unlike the independent backstreet trader PC shops, who you never know whether they'll go bust one week to the next cos they can't compete price wise with the big shops.
Oh I think you'll find some of them can...

At the end of the day though, it's like mechanics, or plumbers... If someone is being sensible about their purchase they ask around first, get a gauge for their customer service, reputation and the like... That why word of mouth in the small trader side of things is always best..

But sadly when it comes to computers people tend to get their "ohmygod it's all technical, just pick a fab looking one will ya" or the "Ooooh, want a new toy" head on and bingo they spend over the odds for a piece of rubbish that does 15 things they don't want and doesn't do 100 things they do...

Heck I do this as a sideline to my programming and web design business and I've found that everyone has to get bitten at least once to appreciate what I offer... I look at PCW and the "here today, gone tomorrow" offerings as an educational tool... :)

Originally posted by Sidla
PCW wasn't even around in '92!

Exactly so given the lack of internet i was either the independant back street traders or nowt short of Dixons et al.

Or looking in places like Micro Mart/Computer Shopper for companys like Mesh, who have been trading since 1982

Originally posted by Robbie_Lovin
most printers are actually instant replacement at PCW these days anyways!! unless it is accidental damage

This was a couple of years ago, but they didn't want to replace it and one of their staff even accused me of damaging it myself!


yes we know PCW has some horrow stories, but what about all the very satisfied customers they have?? overlooked i think


I've bought a few other bits from PC World in the past - nothing expensive but they are handy if you want somthing in a hurry. Most of the time I have been satisfied - it's just that when there's a problem it seems quite difficult to get it sorted.

I've never had any problems with them really, I don't really see what all the anti-PC World fuss is about.

I bought a pretty good little MP3 player from their shop on Meadowhall Retail Park last Sunday, great little toy, had no problems with it whatsoever, £69 for a 256Mb job, bargain.

Obviously they tried to sell me the aftercare thingy, but I simply said "no ta" and they were fine with that.

Originally posted by Rich


Obviously they tried to sell me the aftercare thingy, but I simply said "no ta" and they were fine with that.

they did??

not a normal thing to do at PCW, as it is not worth there while slling extended warranty on such products

Originally posted by Andy
it's just that when there's a problem it seems quite difficult to get it sorted.

if you get a problem like this again, ring me up on the extended wrranty line and il sort it

I often use PC World for large orders of hardware I need asap as they will beat any price for me.

If I was a home user I wouldn't go near them. Period.

Hi Peeps

I'd thought I'd throw my two cents into this.

With any company you'll get bad stories. I'm buying a car and thought I'd do a search on the net and low and behold found websites slagging it of and sites singing its praises.

PCW is just like this, the ones who slag it off seem to shout it while the ones with good care don't.

I work on the PCW Direct Sales line, as well as taking Inbound calls to the stores when they are busy and the sales line isn't. I get calls from customers who think PCW offer bad service but sometimes its the request that is bad not the service. Had a customer last Sunday that wanted to return a PC that had developed a fault early in the ownership. The store had no problem changing it if a fault existed. The guy couldn't get to the store until 6pm - 1 hour after the store closed. He had a request that we stay open just for him. Apart from I don't know of any large store that would do this as to its costs for paying the staff, but with it being a Sunday it would have been illegal. When I informed him of this he kicked off on the phone started swearing so I disconnected him. Alot of the times the stores are acting within the law but becuase we are offering something the customer doesn't want they don't like it. ie a repair and not replacement.

As for PCP, I feel that sometimes it is good value compared to others. I bought a sat-nav device very expensive for me. The PCP was only £79 for 3 years, it offered 12 months theft (no excess) also 3 years accidental damage (no excess) I may never need it but spread over easy pay it works out at 6.90 a month. My sone PS2 was £39 for PCP forgot I had it he pulled it of the shelf it was on, and I got it replaced in a matter of days, doorstep swap. We got that on easy pay which worked out at £10 at time of purchase then £2.90 over 10 months never even noticed it going out of the bank. It's always up to you to take it or not, we never FORCE you even though customers say we do. I get offered ti all the time in DSG stores and elsewhere and only after looking at whats covered do I take it, if I can afford it. If I say NO the sales asst doesn't pursue it. I offer it to people in my job, if they say NO I move on, never force people or logic would ditate I could lose the sale.

Now as for Mesh and Dell, good compainies with one drawback - delivery time!!! PCW is thought of being bad at 5-7 working days but Dell is longer. Also I have heard my fair share of horror stories from Dell.

Also where could you get iPod Mini's not from Apple unless you waited 4 weeks but from pcworld.co.uk or PCW direct sales.

May sound a bit biased its not meant to but every company (major) gives bad service at some point, just do a search on the web. The Kingfisher group of compaines bring up as many matches as DSG do. Word of mouth still rules the web can just exagarate the facts.

Jubby

Originally posted by J-Blaze
I often use PC World for large orders of hardware I need asap as they will beat any price for me.

If I was a home user I wouldn't go near them. Period.

Have you not tried Insight ? They are very competative for bussiness related orders, and they are based in Sheffield.

Originally posted by nick2
Have you not tried Insight ? They are very competative for bussiness related orders, and they are based in Sheffield.

Yes I deal with them too :)

I've had two very bad experiences with a PCW bought PC, never again! Both times the machine was returned to the store, there were other people complaining about poor service and both times the staff had not a clue about what to do with the faulty item or my rights as a consumer.

If you're considering buying a PC, try the likes of dell, for peripherals/components, I'd use Ebuyer any time.

The main problem I have with PC World is the lack of actual computer knowledge they have, if you ask for advice (I wanted a graphics card that worked with XP) they will allways recommend you buy the most expensive thing but then can't tell you why it is the best buy.
Also, they have this weird thing with hardware where you can't bring it back if you have opened the box, so you are supposed to work out if it's compatible or not with your system without actually installing it.

Originally posted by nick2
The main problem I have with PC World is the lack of actual computer knowledge they have, if you ask for advice (I wanted a graphics card that worked with XP) they will allways recommend you buy the most expensive thing but then can't tell you why it is the best buy.
Also, they have this weird thing with hardware where you can't bring it back if you have opened the box, so you are supposed to work out if it's compatible or not with your system without actually installing it.

Any of PC Worlds graphics cards work with XP. I think you will find just about any Graphics card stocked nower days will work with XP.

As for them not taking back hardware that's been opened that's not true I've returned faulty products and had them replaced before.

Originally posted by Robbie_Lovin
run a Cd rom?? if your referring to the healthcheck, then i think you will find they do a little more than that (i know it still not worth what they charge for the healthcheck) but you are referring to PC Performance........

Yeah they do Im sorry, they remove the dust from the tower fan and switch it on and off again.

My sisters PC was bought from them with 2/3 health check vouchers. Knowing full well the CD and floppy drives were broken they did their 'health check' and passed the tower back to us. Re-connected the tower etc. :o what a suprise, neither the CD Rom or floppy drive were working. Yes I know this probably may not come under the health check but neither does lying to customers.. The bloke behind the counter continually insisted that they had run their cd rom which checks the PC (whatever?)

So I agree with majority on this thread.. Avoid PCW like the plague.

PCW computers

The thing to keep in mind if buying from PCW, Dixons and Currys, is that most of the brands they sell are of proprietary construction. Compaq, HP. Packard Bell IBM etc. all come with custom-made mainboards and cases and customised software packages, which means that replacement parts and upgrades are expensive and often standard components won't work. It's generally worth buying the extended warranty offered for these brands to insure against the inevitably high cost of repairs if something breaks.

However, PCW do sell standard construction PCs, - Advent, Medion and I think Fujitsu-Siemens are built from standard components widely available in the trade. With these brands a failed component is easily and cheaply replaceable by your local PC shop, or yourself if you can use a screwdriver and follow fairly simple instructions available on the internet. Memory, Hard Drive amd other component upgrades are also a simple task.

Given the rate of obsolescence of PCs, I can't imagine why anyone would pay for a five year extended warranty. Three years for proprietary PCs should be enough, and for standard construction kit just rely on the usual 12 month warranty.

Alternatively buy from John Lewis (Cole Bros)...all their PCs carry a two year warranty at no extra cost.

To my mind the main reason for buying from a high street retailer is that their stuff will have been carefully handled from manufacture to point of sale. If you buy mail order from Mesh, Dell (again proprietary) etc. the stuff is shipped to you via some company like DHL or TNT who aren't very careful at all about how they handle your expensive purchase.

Originally posted by Greybeard
PCW computers

However, PCW do sell standard construction PCs, - Advent, Medion and I think Fujitsu-Siemens are built from standard components widely available in the trade.

I ended-up getting an Advent, it worked-out about £200 cheaper than the equivalent HP machine and has worked perfectly.

Originally posted by nick2
The main problem I have with PC World is the lack of actual computer knowledge they have, if you ask for advice (I wanted a graphics card that worked with XP) they will allways recommend you buy the most expensive thing but then can't tell you why it is the best buy.
Also, they have this weird thing with hardware where you can't bring it back if you have opened the box, so you are supposed to work out if it's compatible or not with your system without actually installing it.

Lots of retailers do this. My tip is do your research before shopping. I just got some cheap RAM from a mate because of this as it wouldn't work in his system, and it works with mine btw it was a famous internet based company can't rememebr which one though

Jubby

Originally posted by nick2

Also, they have this weird thing with hardware where you can't bring it back if you have opened the box, so you are supposed to work out if it's compatible or not with your system without actually installing it.

That's not my experience and in fact if you browse around their clearance corner and read the exchange labels, for most of the components available there the reason for exchange is given as "customer goodwill". When I enquired about this I was told that the customer had bought the wrong item and it had been exchanged or refunded. These labels are legally required to be accurate and anything bought with an exchange label is sold as warrantied stock.

Are there any recent graphics cards that aren't recognised by XP ? Linux might have the occasional problem but not XP surely ? Anyway the internet is awash with reviews and message board info for just about any PC component you could mention, so why not just find out what you need know from a reliable source.

KangaREW

I use Ebuyer too, - they're hard to beat on price; but if you're unlucky enough to get something faulty from them the hassle of return and refund/exchange is far greater than it is with PCW. I've bought three Seagate HDDs from PCW Component Shop over the past year and they've been competitively priced against Ebuyer when you take P&P into acccount, and I didn't have to stay in all day waiting for the delivery van to turn up.

Originally posted by J-Blaze
Any of PC Worlds graphics cards work with XP. I think you will find just about any Graphics card stocked nower days will work with XP.

As for them not taking back hardware that's been opened that's not true I've returned faulty products and had them replaced before.

Faulty is different Sales of Goods act its if you buy it and it is not compatable but is not faulty where PCW will turn around and say no. I get lots of compalints from customers buying software getting home and finding out that it won't work on their system. They either haven't read the specs on the box or don't know what they mean. I find most software returns are from people who know nothing about PC's then complain to us that they don't but they have had a PC for a year say and haven't bothered to find out.

Jubby

Originally posted by Deejay
Yeah they do Im sorry, they remove the dust from the tower fan and switch it on and off again.

My sisters PC was bought from them with 2/3 health check vouchers. Knowing full well the CD and floppy drives were broken they did their 'health check' and passed the tower back to us. Re-connected the tower etc. :o what a suprise, neither the CD Rom or floppy drive were working. Yes I know this probably may not come under the health check but neither does lying to customers.. The bloke behind the counter continually insisted that they had run their cd rom which checks the PC (whatever?)

So I agree with majority on this thread.. Avoid PCW like the plague.

A healthcheck is like a MOT for your PC, not a reapir service. If your MOT flags up aproblem for your car you have to get it repaired. Also a MOT does not flag up all problems only the bits they have to check same with a H/C doesn't pick up all faults. But in your case the H/C should have been unable to be performed and you should have been pointed in the direction of PC Service Call if still under PCP

Originally posted by nick2
I ended-up getting an Advent, it worked-out about £200 cheaper than the equivalent HP machine and has worked perfectly.

A friend of mine bought a "factory re-furbished" Advent from PCW at 30% discount. The original fault report was still in the box quoting a faulty CDROM drive as the reason for return. Anyway the CDROM drive still didn't work so he asked me to have a look at it before taking it back. When I opened it up it was obvious why...the IDE cable wasn't connected to the motherboard :D

Simple matter to fix and it's worked fine ever since, and I've installed him an extra 256MB RAM and an additional HDD.

Originally posted by jubby
A healthcheck is like a MOT for your PC, not a reapir service. If your MOT flags up aproblem for your car you have to get it repaired. Also a MOT does not flag up all problems only the bits they have to check same with a H/C doesn't pick up all faults. But in your case the H/C should have been unable to be performed and you should have been pointed in the direction of PC Service Call if still under PCP

I understand that mate :) what I didnt understand is the way they made me out to be a liar saying they had done the check when the obviously hadn't. This is why I never buy any aftercare, they simply don't do it.

Was just a rant about customer service really :rolleyes:

Originally posted by jubby

I find most software returns are from people who know nothing about PC's then complain to us that they don't but they have had a PC for a year say and haven't bothered to find out.
Jubby


Well no reseller will normally give a refund for software on the grounds of incompatibilty for the simple reason that anyone could just copy it and then take it back for a refund.

It's a bit like asking for a refund on a book on the grounds that it won't fit your bookshelf :loopy:

Originally posted by Greybeard
Well no reseller will normally give a refund for software on the grounds of incompatibilty for the simple reason that anyone could just copy it and then take it back for a refund.

It's a bit like asking for a refund on a book on the grounds that it won't fit your bookshelf :loopy:

I find it a complete pain having to upgrade my bookshelves every couple of years!

Originally posted by bigrods
I find it a complete pain having to upgrade my bookshelves every couple of years!

Oh I dunno, give it time and you will soon be able to download the latest books, burn them to cd and store them in cd cabinets.. much easier all round :)

Originally posted by Deejay
I understand that mate :) what I didnt understand is the way they made me out to be a liar saying they had done the check when the obviously hadn't. This is why I never buy any aftercare, they simply don't do it.

Was just a rant about customer service really :rolleyes:

Nothing wrong with aftercare services in general so long as you know what you are getting (read it first) but in your instance you were badly dealt with you should have phoned Customer Services who would have sorted something for you.

Jubby

Originally posted by Greybeard
Well no reseller will normally give a refund for software on the grounds of incompatibilty for the simple reason that anyone could just copy it and then take it back for a refund.

It's a bit like asking for a refund on a book on the grounds that it won't fit your bookshelf :loopy:

Well you see the size of the book before you buy, but with software a lot of people don't even bother to read the min specs never mind understand them.

Originally posted by Deejay
Oh I dunno, give it time and you will soon be able to download the latest books, burn them to cd and store them in cd cabinets.. much easier all round :)

You can do that already.

e-books

Originally posted by jubby
You can do that already.

e-books

and E-mule.

Shows how far behind I am.. Not that I read much anyway
(just computer books)

As someone who's had to sit through some of the complaints about the BIG business computer retailers I've heard a lot of different complaints... The main ones seem to be...

We have the "hard sell" tactics when someone shows little knowledge about computers but a good idea of what they're after I've seen the results of a "office only" use turning out to be a top spec full machine that they didn't need... The result was in direct proportion to the sales persons commission...

Then there's the "knowledge" aspect... I've lost count of the number of people who asked the sales person a very detailed question about a piece of hardware, re: compatability, etc.. and gotten blank looks followed by ... well this expensive piece of equipment here will definitely work... They were clueless. I'm willing to bet there will be plenty of complaints where someone has been advised it was compatible, bought the item and had problems returning it when they later found out it wasn't... Sure they could read the specification but if someone basically lies to you and you trust them... ouch!

Then finally there's the "pass the buck" mentality... Where absolutely no-one accepts responsibility for a customers issue and tries to pass them around in the hope that they'll go away... I experienced this with Dell with my mothers PC and it was only when I decided to get sneaky and ask in a cheery voice for a full name and extension number before taking the hard line that I got anywhere at all...


Personally my only problem with PCW is the prices... Items have a very high markup... yes sure they have to cover the costs of running the stores, etc... but I wouldn't buy there.. as much because of the first issue as anything else.. I know I won't get fobbed off by some bright eyed sales guy but the n00b user behind me might not be so lucky...

If PC World didn't put their staff on comission, maybe prices would be lower? If you want to have fun, go in acting all dumb and get them to drool over you while they spend your money.

Then at the checkout, just say you've changed your mind and walk out!

I can see why people shop there though, there are no decent alternatives in Sheffield. In Manchester we have some fantastic stores where you can get things half the price of PC World.

If you walk into a car dealership and "I don't know much about cars but I want one", do you really expect them to point you to the cheapest one first?. Of course PCW are going to try to sell you as much as they can, it's their job. If you haven't put the effort into investigating it then more fool you.

It's in a companies interest to sell you something you're happy with, if you're not happy with the price then they can offer you something cheaper. If you're not happy with the result when you get it home then it's a pain for everyone getting it sorted. At least if they offered you a better (but higher priced) option it's the customers fault and not the stores.

PCW once changed a graphics card because I walked in and explained that the one I had bought didn't live up to my expectations (it really sucked!) and that I'd be happy to buy a more expensive one if they took this one back.

What is it about extended warranties that makes people so clumsy on stairs with their computers anyway?. Still I think it makes people with 42" Plasma Tv's happy when they fall off the wall :) .

Originally posted by alchresearch
If PC World didn't put their staff on comission, maybe prices would be lower? If you want to have fun, go in acting all dumb and get them to drool over you while they spend your money.

Then at the checkout, just say you've changed your mind and walk out!

I can see why people shop there though, there are no decent alternatives in Sheffield. In Manchester we have some fantastic stores where you can get things half the price of PC World.

Can't speak for the store staff re commision, but if you phone direct sales we aren't on commision and our brief is to give the best advice. Mainly seeing as under the distance selling regs, you have 7 days (PCW give 14 days) approval from the date you recieved the goods. If you don't like it you can return it. For retail outlets they only HAVE to take it back if it was faulty or mis-sold. PCW operate a 7 day change of mind policy for unopened items. Over that date or for opened items it is at the stores discreation.

Jubby

Originally posted by alchresearch
<snip>I can see why people shop there though, there are no decent alternatives in Sheffield.</snip>

Oh, there are......

You just have to know who & where ;-)

I am amazed PC World are still in business customer service is diabolical. The staff claim to be experts in fields they have no idea about. You can order a much greater range of parts online and they are cheaper.

yet I suppose humans always take the path of least resistance and simply cannot be bothered to shop around and just hope the horror stories will not happen to them. Interesting that "If you don't like it you can return it." was quoted it is certainly not policy in the Lincoln store I witnessed a man attempted to return some network cards because they were incompatible and the supreme commander guy said unless they were faulty he would not be allowed to return them the guy pushed his case quite hard but the PC World man stood his ground. I was there returning a printer which was faulty he tried to replaced it but I pointed out my customer rights and insisted on a refund.

Its very similar to Time / Computer World - big budgets for massive advertising campaigns so TV and newspaper bosses don't want to upset their big customers.

The only time you see them in a negative light is a ten minute spot on Watchdog.

Originally posted by alchresearch

I can see why people shop there though, there are no decent alternatives in Sheffield. In Manchester we have some fantastic stores where you can get things half the price of PC World.

I've had my eye on that TOSHIBA M30-107 laptop in PCW for £1300.00. Please, please, please tell me where in Manchester I can get this for £650.00.

Heck, - no wonder Sheffield is a backward, one horse town if consumer prices are that different :suspect:

Originally posted by alchresearch

The only time you see them in a negative light is a ten minute spot on Watchdog.

i believe watchdog have been banned for 10 years, for reporting on coverplan, pcperformance, due to giving false information last time round lol

Originally posted by mbeyst
I am amazed PC World are still in business customer service is diabolical. The staff claim to be experts in fields they have no idea about. You can order a much greater range of parts online and they are cheaper.

yet I suppose humans always take the path of least resistance and simply cannot be bothered to shop around and just hope the horror stories will not happen to them. Interesting that "If you don't like it you can return it." was quoted it is certainly not policy in the Lincoln store I witnessed a man attempted to return some network cards because they were incompatible and the supreme commander guy said unless they were faulty he would not be allowed to return them the guy pushed his case quite hard but the PC World man stood his ground. I was there returning a printer which was faulty he tried to replaced it but I pointed out my customer rights and insisted on a refund.

The sales of goods act states Change of mind is not a reason for return, retailers discreation. Most retailers change of mind policy is within x amount days and unopened, PCW is 7 days Ikea is 90 days but both state unopened, if it is faulty oe not of merchantable quailty, then that is different.

All retailers will offer an exchange or credit note as they don't want to lose money, small and large. My brother in law ran a computer store up at crystal peaks and one of the reasons for him losing his business was returns. No fault of his, he couldn't tell if a sealed item was faulty, but the law states he has to offer a refund if asked for one. Now the consumer will get the refund there and then, but the retailer has to wait to be credited. This takes time and with small business's costs a lot of money which should be putting food on the table. The big compainies aren't big compainies by giving into any whim of customers.

Good customer service is a fine line between pleasing customers while still pleasing share holders. :help:

You try it.:heyhey:

Originally posted by Robbie_Lovin
i believe watchdog have been banned for 10 years, for reporting on coverplan, pcperformance, due to giving false information last time round lol

I've been told this as well not sure the details but it was a report on part of the DSG Group.

Basicly Watchdog ran a report without checking its facts. The details in the case broadcast were wrong. DSG sued them and an injunction is in place that the BBC can't broadcast anything about a DSG company without checking its facts with DSG first.

Not the first time the BBC got it wrong - Hutton enquiry anyone

We should support local companys more anyway, take www.tekheads.co.uk they are superb, sell both online *and* have a trade counter.

Got me out of a pickle a couple-0-months ago when my HDD failed.

Originally posted by RPG
We should support local companys more anyway, take www.tekheads.co.uk they are superb, sell both online *and* have a trade counter.

Got me out of a pickle a couple-0-months ago when my HDD failed.

The problem with smaller compaines is if they go bust, this can happen for various reasons, not just for big compaines like PCW. There are a lot of small pc shops in sheffield, and only two big retailers that specialise in PC's and one ebuyer is web based and doesn't have a trade counter. CS for ebuyer adn amazon for that matter is initaly by email which can take time to get a reply. The pain is when the reply doesn't resolve the issue, its another email.

Where possible do support smaller shops but beware there are the con artists out there, all because they are smaller doesn't mean they know more. Went into a shop which shall remain nameless but is at the top of the moor. Asked if sims 2 will work on any computer, was told yes. The first part of min specs is P3 800Mhz mine is only 550, so wouldn't get past the install welcome screen. this shop builds PC's to order as well as selling components you'd think they would know. This test was done for this thread to prove a point that all shops have staff that give the wrong advice, not just PCW.

Sorry to drag this old thread up again folks, but as you will probably notice I’ve been off the forum for some time.

WHY? PC World and their absolutely crap after sales service.

This will be a record-length post.

Now before any of you PC World fans start jumping to their defence, read this lot. It is all true and it has happened to me, or the wife. Let me point out that we got an extended warranty when we bought this heap of junk in May 2001.

It is a Packard Bell, (OK, so I deserve a slap round the head for that mistake) running Windows ME, (another slap?) which ran OK for about the first year. We did notice that the picture was dark on some games, but were informed by a PC World engineer on its first health-check that this was something to do with our graphics card not being 100% compatible with some games. REMEMBER THIS FOR LATER!!

About two years ago it started crashing after about 45 minutes of being used and wouldn’t start up again for about 1 hour, and this was shortly after a health-check. We phoned the service line, which is a joke in itself.

(THIS QUOTE FROM AN EARLIER THREAD) ----

“You contact them by Email with a problem, and their response is to give you a phone number to ring. You ring the number and you get five minutes of pressing buttons till you're where you want to be, then you're on hold for a further 10 minutes. Then you either get given another number to ring, or they talk you through the problem on the phone for another 20-30 minutes. THEN they decide you need an engineer out, cos it can't be sorted over the phone. THEN an engineer calls, fixes it (?) and two weeks later you're on the phone again.

PLUS, if on your first phonecall they deem it to be a software fault, instead of directing your call they give you a different number to ring and you have to go through it all again.

It is costing a small fortune, and this is on top of what I paid for the extended warranty”

----- so, after a very expensive phone-call it was decided an engineer would come out. He just blasted dust out of the system with compressed air. Now, this engineer was switched on! He noticed that the picture was dark and told us that the monitor was faulty and made arrangements to have it replaced. The new monitor came, the bloke delivering it spent ten minutes trying to connect our old speakers to it not realising that the speakers were integral (I had to point this out!), and hey presto, no more dark pictures!!!! It WASN’T the graphics, which means it was faulty when purchased and the engineer we asked about the dark picture at the outset was talking crap!

Weeks later the CD/R packed up. It was due it’s health-check so we mentioned this fault when we dropped it off, and asked them to see why it wouldn’t play some games which have been played on other computers with same setup.

“Don’t worry, we’ll look into it for you.” they said.

We collected it and were told that the CD/R problem would need an engineer’s visit. (Another sodding phonecall) WTF? The bloody thing has just been in their hands! As for the games? “We’ve installed them and they work fine.”

“Will we be able to play them when we get home?” I asked.

“No problem,” was the reply.

We took it home, set it up and guess what! Same error message. The games wouldn’t play. FLANNEL, OR WHAT? We also noticed that the Q & R drives had been swapped round.

Engineer came out to replace CD/R. He said that the two drives shouldn’t even have been touched during a health check, never mind swapped round. It wasn’t till weeks later when we tried to copy files to CD that we realised we needed software to install the programme. He’d forgot to leave it.

About a week later, the same problem of overheating, and not restarting for an hour, started happening again (another half hour phone call) and someone came out and replaced the fan. He gave us the software for the CD/R.

A few weeks ago, guess what, crashing and refusing to restart AGAIN. Decided to take it to the Rotherham branch stupidly thinking that it would be better (and more honest) than the Sheffield branch, expressed our dissatisfaction and left it to be fixed after asking them to see why their engineers can install and play certain games, but we can’t.

Phoned them (usual 10 – 15 minute pantomime) a week later to see if it was ready.

They said, “We’ve fixed most problems and the games run OK, in fact I’ve been playing them for the last hour and there’s been no problem, but it’s not quite ready yet. We’ll ring you later today.”

An hour or so later they rang us and said, “ It’s fixed, but it won’t play the games because your processor is too slow.”

We collected it and were told by the engineer at the desk that everything was running OK and the games were installed and playable. When we told him that the engineer we’d spoken to on the phone had told us that our processor was too slow for the games he replied, “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I’ve been playing it for the last hour and it’s fine.”

“Will it play when we get it home?” I asked.

He replied, “Of course it will, I’ve been on it for an hour.”

Once again, the game DIDN’T play and the same error message came up. (So why the blatant lies on two occasions?) Not only this, but the computer crashed within 30 minutes and wouldn’t start up again (AGAIN !!!!) Also, the bloody DVD drive wouldn’t work. It worked OK before it went in!!!

Yet another sodding phone call.

“It sounds like it could be something to do with the processor or motherboard. Looking at our computer readout of your calls to us, it appears to be more serious than a cooling fault. We’ll send an engineer who’ll bring all the parts. It’ll be a virtual rebuild.”

“At last,” we thought, “PC World have woken up.”

NO CHANCE !!!!

The engineer turned up with no parts! He WAS going to bring a mother board, ‘But the one he was given had burned out !’ BURNED OUT?!!! WTF? Was it second hand!!!!?

He did a quick diagnostic on the useless DVD and said it was incompatible with our computer. We’ve had it for nearly 4 years and it’s worked OK till the last time PC World had their hands on it. Why incompatible now?

Four days later he returned and replaced the motherboard and the DVD. Guess what? The new DVD is faulty. Which bin did they get it from!!!? He’ll be back on Monday with another one.

In the meantime we thought we’d reboot it to freshen it up and reinstall our software. NO CHANCE!! Once the comp has read the boot floppy it asks us to enter the System serial number. What system serial number? Never needed this before! So we’re now running a crap computer, incorrectly rebooted from when it kept crashing, and no way of rebooting it till Monday when the engineer calls again.

I feel this saga will continue. We won’t be taking advantage of the next free health-check, that’s for sure. Whenever PC World get their hands on it, it comes back knackered!

I’ve missed out a lot of what I was going to write. God knows what our outlay would have been if we hadn’t got extended warranty. The phone calls alone (more than mentioned here) have cost a fortune.

So, PC World. Honest? No!, Capable? No!, Commited to the customer? No, not once they’ve got your money! That’s my opinion from my experiences.

Having read this, are there any other PC World customers out there with similar tales to tell? If you’re not registered on the forum, get registered and tell us your horror stories.

And finally, just to clarify a point with regards the odd member of staff being not too knowledgable. There must be at least 10 different PC World staff starring in this saga!!:mad:

On the subject of using second hand parts, they are allowed and do use refurbished/old parts to repair PCs under warranty. I found out when trying to plug a device into a faulty port on a motherboard that had been replaced due to an earlier problem. The response I got from PC World was that I had caused the damage.

One thing to point out when complaining in store. Don't complain too loudly because they threaten to call the Police to have you removed from the store.

They're going to get a surprise when the warranty has run out on this pile of junk. I won't be selling it on that's for sure. Unlike the PC World policy, I'm honest. I think I'll take it to the service desk when it's busy and dump it - noisily - on the counter.

One thing's for sure, I'll make it clear to all who listen that PC World are crap.

PC World technical support staff are posing students who think they know about PCs but don't - I know they don't because I taught some of them ICT and they knew how to change the settings to **** other users of the college network off but not do anything that was actually of use... like get a decent grade in the exam.
Get on the internet to companies like Simply, Belkin, Dell and order direct...

Originally posted by wicko_boy

Get on the internet to companies like Simply, Belkin, Dell and order direct...

Dell are as bad!

The wanted £750 to replace the screen on our laptop a few years ago.

Ended up buying the screen from Scotland (£250), removed 8 screws, replaced screen, replaced screws in under 10 minutes! = £3,000 per hour!!!!

if we are talking about extended warranties on PC's, why are PCW even mentioned, as it is nothing to do with them, it is coverplan that deal with this, and they would put your through to PC service call, who will try and endeavour to sort any problem you have, over the phone, if this is not possible they will send out an engineer

if it is a software fault, then you will be directed to the relevant source, as the agreement does not cover software!!

il be honest, sometimes the cover is not up to standard,

but the majority of the time, it is the customer who is at fault

Anyone had problems with pc world at parkgate ???

I don't understand why people keep using them! Everyone must have heard the horror stories and yet people still buy computers from them! Sorry you learnt the hard way!

its fine now best buy have invaded the uk, it should take some of the pressure off that shop named in the post title. (makes me ill to type there name) :|

I've never had any problems with them really, I don't really see what all the anti-PC World fuss is about.

I bought a pretty good little MP3 player from their shop on Meadowhall Retail Park last Sunday, great little toy, had no problems with it whatsoever, £69 for a 256Mb job, bargain.

Obviously they tried to sell me the aftercare thingy, but I simply said "no ta" and they were fine with that.


This shows the age of the thread

£69 for a 256Mb MP3 player a "bargain" :hihi:

This shows the age of the thread

£69 for a 256Mb MP3 player a "bargain" :hihi:

so it must be true "what goes round comes round is it ?" :D

This shows the age of the thread

£69 for a 256Mb MP3 player a "bargain" :hihi:

I still have a ministry of sound 128mb mp3 player and it cost me £79.99
Arrrr them were the days :D:loopy: