Notorious

How do u guys and gals feel about PC World..any stories to share????

bighead

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE=Notorious]How do u guys and gals feel about PC World..any stories to share????[/Q

Sure have m8, when I bulit my 1st pc I had trouble with it on the 1st boot up(was getting alarm type sound every time I switch it on ).

so took it to PC world for advice ........not only did they not know the faults , they did not even know what type on memory was install at the time
I was using the (then new) Rambus type memory.

anyway I sorted out in the end all by myself ...and this was after I had taken the pc to a number of so called experts PC shops .

I now don't really buy anything from pc world, you can get the best gear online or from wholesalers now .

ChrisB

I use them if I need something for work there and then like a cable or something.

Otherwise I wouldn't use them unless something is a major bargain.

Scooby Dooby Blue

like Chris said, they have the odd bargain (currently Epson R300 for £79.95 delivered) that's worth taking advantage of.
Even cheaper if you check out with (is this allowed?) discount code; DCBYAW

Apart from that, they're robbing you blind...every step of the way


Paul

djuk

As said here, I will only ever use them if theres something I need urgently there and then.

I did recently buy an Apple iBook from them but only on the basis that they were the only people in the county to have stock and the fact that the warranty is with Apple rather than the retailer.

Other than that I try and steer well clear

robby

i went in last time they had Xbox games advertised at £24.99 - got to checkout and was asked to pay full price (£39.99 per game), i said all the papers showed the lower prices for the next week or so and was told to go and fetch a copy of the paper in???????

Patriot

Bet Garry Glitter has a few......

richie rich

theres allways one

Notorious

lol@ gary glitter comment!


There Business to Business Catalogue is pretty good...and they are very rarely beaten on prices if you push them.

My m8 works as Accounts Manager for them and can take most things to cost plus 4%.


Suppose the same as everywhere...all got there good and bad stories!

john_s

iTrader: (1)

PC World's ok if you keep an eye on the prices. They occasionally have something worth snapping up. I usually go in knowing what I want, and avoid talking to the staff unless i *really* have to.

john.

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

The prices on some individual componants is OK: the stuff like drives. GFX cards are insanely overpriced though, as are soundcards. Printers and scanners are fairly competative. Whole systems for private customers are such a rip-off it isn't funny - typically I could build the same spec for £4-500 less than PC Pants and I don't get a discount for quantity - unlike them. Their extended warranties aren't worth a sheet of used toilet paper: you'd have to be clinically insane or dumber than George Bush Jr to buy one. And most importantly, most stores have at best one person who knows ANYTHING about computers. The sales staff are simply told which computers to shift, and so whatever you are after, they'll advise you that the best machine for your requirements is - wait for it - one of the ones on their list! Of course they don't mention the list - just make it look like the one they are trying to flog you is the ideal machine for you. Even if the "Perfect Games Machine" happens to have a Radeon 9200 in it...

M

Scooby Dooby Blue

LMFAO

ChrisB

Ah yes, good point. The Business arm is much better on price in store (not surprisingly). I often use them to double check distribution prices.

ScoobyDriverWannabe

I went in there a few months ago. This lady came up to me she must have been about 60 and said can I help you. I replied with yes I would like a new PSU could you point me in the direction of where you keep them. She just looked at me before asking me what it was. I then explained and she didn’t have a clue so of she went to get her supervisor. Five minutes later she returns with him and I had to explain to him what I was after. He didn’t have a clue either so I was left to look around quite a large store to find one. Eventually found them and they only had 2 crappy ones in stock and because the supervisor didn’t have a clue what they were he didn’t know when would be getting any more in stock.


One thing PC world are good at doing is selling extended warranties. No matter what I have tried to buy from there in the past I have been asked about 10 times if I would like a warranty with it.

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

I read somewhere that Dixons Group (which includes PC Pants) makes over 60% of their profit from extended warranties.


M

darlodge

Meridian,

I heard the same figure, or somethign like that!!

Darren

KeithRS

PC World welcome you in and then procede to take the p!ss with their prices and poor range of parts and high end spec pc's. Last time i went in there (after crimbo) as i had to buy some people i know some usb printer cable's (3 of). **** me, they wanted 15 sheets per cable at 1.2m long giving a total of £45 for three printer cables.


Walked out and got them online for £5 for the three.

"Thy shall not give to the greedy" Verse one, chapter one, KeithRS book of common sense.

Notorious

lol..The cables you are referring to are "PC Line" brand...they make the company 96% margin per cable....£15 is steep but you know why they do it..cos people still buy em....like any business if you are going to sell them at that price then why not!


With regards to their computer systems....I think you will find it very difficult to build a similar spec machine for the same price..considering that you get full operating systems with them all as well.

There Emachine range are very good spec for price...think at the minute they have a 5250...which is a p4 2.8ghz, 512mb ddr ram, 160gb hard drive, dual layer multi format DVDRW, 6x USB ports and firewire, only thing it lacks is a graphics card..but for £499 with a 17" TFT then its not a bad price.

Believe it or not there are no sheets handed out to the staff with what to sell and they also get nothing extra for selling their extended service, they are just targeted on it.

Ocassionaly manufacturers put on Cash bonuses on their machines when first released to drive sales but really it comes down to customer requirements and budget at the end of the day.

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

On old systems you are correct, but on any state-of-the-art gear I stand by my figure: that I could build it for £300-400 less including OS. It's also not a fair comparison as PC Pants pay about £25 per licence for XP.

I can only say in my defence that I was told that about a year ago by someone who worked for them. Things may have changed since then.

BTW, given your defence of them, why did you ask for opinions?

M

Markus

PC World is the same as most other high street vendors. They will have the items you're looking for, but the majority of them will be overpriced compared against on-line suppliers. I guess that is the price you pay (no pun intended) for instant availability.

I've not (yet, thankfully, and touch wood I won't) had any problems with PC World, if I have purchased something and it does not work, I get a refund, simple. The only thing I tire of is the constant pushing of the extended warranty. My mother was purchasing a digital cam for Dad and they kept trying and trying to get her to have an extended warranty. If it had been a > £500 cam then maybe, but it was, I think around £100, which falls into the 'cheaper to replace than fix' category.

I agree with the comments about being able to build top spec PC's cheaper than they can supply a full system, or the parts for. I've been lucky in that when I've built PC's I've got the parts at trade prices, so that is not exactly indicative of the normal punter on the street. However, using online stores you could save yourself quite a lot.

The one thing that DOES annoy me about PC World is their knowledge, or lack therof of Apple Macintosh computers. It's like Best Buy over here, they just don't know the required expertise. I've been told some insane things in the past about macs (it is better these days) and it is somewhat difficult to be polite and also point out they are talking out of their ****.
If you are going to sell a system, make sure your staff know how it works, and more importantly how it's stacks up against a PC, especially the whole 'megahertz myth' debacle.

brihoppy

hey all, just thought id stick my oar in here...

ive bought 2 laptops and loads of consumables, etc from pc world...i even bought my ipod from there in 03...they are pretty clueless though...when i was sold my first laptop, the guy had even less of a clue about them than i did...i recently wanted a tv tuner for my current laptop and not being the most clued up, asked for advice and was sold a pci tuner which i had to return, then even more recently, wanted to back up my files so picked up a box of dvd+rw, asked if theyd work on my machine, was told they would...lo and behold im returning them and exchanging them for dvd-rw...perhaps i shouldve known better but when you ask the so called experts, you expect the right advice...

seems to me theyll just employ anybody, regardless of their product knowledge...

ill certainly never ask them for advice again...!

Diesel

Well that's two of us then Keith! Needed a firewire cable to hook up my Dv Cam with my new Avid programme. They wanted £20 for a short un Got a 5m one for £2.99 on e-bay and refils for all my Epson colour cartridges at the same time - all for less than £20. D

boxst

Hello

The good reason to use PC World is if you need something (as mentioned) there and then. They have most common things in stock, and you don't have to wait for auctions / posting. They sometimes also have "returned" items at bargain prices. I got a D-Link wireless modem/router for £45 (retail was £80) as well as specials. This Easter weekend they had an Epson printer for £69.99. You can get a business account, which drops the price of the major items.

BUT the sales staff are generally useless, and they are overpriced when compared to something like eBuyer. But that is what you pay for having the convenience of driving to your local shop.

Steve.

DrEvil

As said above, if its cheaper than the online prices, buy it from them.
don't take an extend warranty and don't buy their 'own brand' carp.

Meridian - think all my local stores have managed to avoid having anyone that knows anything about computers.

BTW - the Hyper Type-R 480W PSUs are 10 quid cheaper in PCWorld than from OCuk... and they seem very good, put on in the mother in laws computer.

GC8

I hate the company; but just to put this into perspective; I bought the Tosh WS notebook PC Im using here from PCW; it was £50 cheaper than DABS.com, who were cheaper than any other e-tailer, and the shop was 10 minutes drive away. Ive found that some of the most vociferous critics of PCW are also the biggest know-it-all gob****es. To expect anything elso of the firm than to be the Currys of PCs is foolish; they sell what sells, and they sell it for as much as they can. They are forced to be competitive on some products and theyll take the **** where theyre able.

Simon

DrEvil

Ouch

john_s

iTrader: (1)

Same as any business really.

John.

WRX_Rich

iTrader: (5)

for business use wouldn't touch them - one of my clients went to them to provide a buisiness solloution ( up to 5 pc with a server) they sold her xp home and works along with server 2k3 and exchange

would not be so bad if she hadn't told them she is supplied with a email address that is hosted externally

if I was building a new pc i wouldn't go near ( im sure any one who has built a pc will agree )

but for picking up bits and pieces just because you have to have them now, they aint that bad

and to be fair to the staff, its better than stocking shelfs at tesco's which pays about the same

GC8

Harsh wasnt it? They have a very large office in Sheffield; which is a considerable clue.....