The Worst Computer Company EVER conceived in British Computing History (Eclipse Computers (Coventry))

Member Name: eclipsehater

Product:	Eclipse Computers (Coventry)
Date:	10/05/06 (2048 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Possibly prices (and then again ....)

Disadvantages: stock levels (non existent and web site lies) & customer services

I won't vent off on this, it appears that a lot of constructive reviews were listed on the Romulus2 site which has been down for several weeks now and doesn't appear to be coming back on line despite emailing their admin team I got no response.

Eclipse computers have been trading for at least 11 years now, they have learned nothing, absolutely nothing about that magic till filler called customer service. Try this out for yourself, if you ring the sales line some pleb with a plantronics headset welded to the side of his/her/its (alien?) skull picks the phone up in a cheery manner ... now try the same thing ringing the customer services line , 'you are 456 in the queue, please hold' (while we make you wish you never bothered by playing greensleves which has been butchered by some North Korean timpany band high on crack cocaine and with the sounds of a cat under the wheels of a truck). You will wait, and wait and wait, go have a bath, come back, have some tea, pop out for a meal perhaps in a cosy little restaurant, 'you are now 43 in the queue.....'. When you get down to you are 1 in the queue, you find that everyones gone home. They even leave the damn thing on weekends, i tried this one Sunday (when they're SHUT) 'you're number 1 in queue - yippee!)

This shower of an excuse for a computer retailer has one aim, one ethos and one goal, your money - our till, no refunds, no cashbacks no guarantees (as 99% of the stock is OEM grey import, so you lose sucker) and if you want to threaten us with Coventry Trading standards feel free, because they're even MORE useless than us!!!

I've been in there a number of times when i've been desperate for disks and stuff, i bought a pack of their 'budget' disks, in fact beer mats cut at the corners would have had less read/write errors than the crap they were selling. I bought 3 packs, the first 2 every single disk was a malfunctioning disk, so i took one batch back, the pleb at the CS counter (the hole) informed me in a snivelling and condescending manner that as I had opened the blister pack, I had invalidated any warranty, and who went on further to advise me that my rights of redress (as I had mentioned Sale Of Goods Act) were 'doubtful', had I had a 12 bore shotgun stacked in my back pocket, the small contents of this d***wipes cranial cavity would have been 'certainly' sprayed over the walls. Eveer fancied 'going postal' like they do in the US, go to Eclipse one day and vent your anger at them, what a stress reliever.

Bad customer service, zero stock levels, kids behind the counter who might just be able to find the on switch of a table-lamp let alone a PC, dubious goods, poor quality 3rd world S.E. Asian merchandise and to top the cake off 'NO REFUNDS'.

As stated in various other reviews 'NEVER EVER BUY ON-LINE' you will live to regret ever doing so, once they have your money that's it, you lose, game over, and its then hit-n-hope that what you've ordered will either arrive ;-

a) at all
b) dead on arrival
c) mangled by them/aliens/postal service
d) vaporised by the Daleks and all you get is the dust.

So what DO you do if you absolutely HAVE to use them, well, walk in and pay by credit (NOT DEBIT) card, any foul ups or argy-bargy then the credit card company have liability and THEY **CAN** do a chargeback against eclipse, and eclipse can't challenge it, the cc company is king here, not them. Pay cash and got problems? you'll get a credit note but you've got more chance of finding elvis stacking tins in ASDA (another bunch of losers) than you have getting the titanium crow bar to prise open the tills of eclipse. Oh and they have a surcharge for credit cards too, just thought i'd get that one in.

Its no good running to Coventry trading standards either, about as much use as a chocolate teapot in a foundry, ive been to them and got little if any response all they seem to be able to do is offer 'advice', nothing more, and the reason behind this is that the consumer law in the UK is so outmoded and so outdated, eclipse can wriggle off the hook and avoid costly court cases every time, they love threats, they feed on them, so shouting and screaming down the phone or at the idiot behind the CS counter does no good whatsoever, you'll end up having a cardiac and they'll STILL have your money.

So, moral of the story, BUYER BEWARE every step of the way with eclipse, but at your own risk, and it'll be no use crying when that 600 pound PC you ordered on-line comes in 45 pieces, 3 weeks later (next-day-delivery-but-we-were-only-kidding) and they tell you down the phone 'you're 24 in the queue ...'. (sound of a shotgun being loaded?)

I think I've made my point, thanks for reading, I had to inject a little humour into it otherwise i'd go crazy myself about these shower. :)

I'll just say that to reinforce what I have put I went in today (17th) as I needed some DVD's desperately, and I was passing, not a single customer in the shop and the car park empty, so perhaps the writing is on the Harddrive for eclipse.

My suggestion for those who have been conned by them with regards to online ordering, contact trading standards, give THEM a headache for a change, you can get the address and phone number from directory enquiries, it's about time they were bought to book for their wrong doing, but then again, when you've been at it 10 years and got away with it for so long, do you think they're bothered? Nope, not a bit. I actually got a free bag, and cheery smile, shocked? I neatly bought a tower unit!

Nothing changes and until the owner expires and floats away to the internet in the sky, eclipse will always be in my mind, the worst company for customer service and disrespect - ever.

NEWSFLASH 26TH JANUARY 2007

Well, doesnt take long for the arch villians to get their name in lights if you get the monthly magazine PC PRO (March 2007 edition) they have a write up on pages 216 and 217 under the 'WATCHDOG' column about one consumers experience with non delivery of a PC and other issues, then a failed attempt at back peddling and the final words of wisdom from the PCPRO team that they're keeping a watch, so ... avoid eclipse cowboys at whatever cost ... should try and get a concession in ASDA stores 'all chums together then'.!!! What a shower of excrement they really are. Can't even give 0/10 it's a score way too high.

Summary: Rubbish customer service & non existent stock, unprofessional and abysmal treatment of ANY customer