I buy from them once or twice a year (since 1995 or so) (Eclipse Computers (Coventry))

Member Name: Jules

Product:	Eclipse Computers (Coventry)
Date:	11/10/08 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Price

Disadvantages: Speed

Eclipse computers is a very good value shop. What you need to be aware of is what you want.
I've found it best to visit their retail outlet (there's a big queue so best to go on a weekday) and the guys behind the counter are usually very good with their product knowledge.
Their returns has been an ordeal (getting a refund on something non-faulty is almost impossible - just buy something else) when I've needed to return something but the lesson is to not order components that don't work together - ie: don't buy a CPU from one shop and an MB from Eclipse as how do you prove which one doesn't work when there's a problem.
Having said that, I did get a problem with a competitor's memory which needed a MB flash, and eclipse temporarily put some memory in the MB and flashed it for me so that it would take the other memory.
I would recommend buying known kit - Asus, Antec etc. (and for MBs, CPUs you can pre-check compatibility on Asus's website) as problems would be more likely with the stuff you can't buy anywhere else.
For price they are almost impossible to beat (which is why I'm prepared to drive to Cov - I often save the petrol on items even under £100 over a competitor's price - but for customer service ebuyer are slightly better (but by no means perfect). Dabs don't even have a telephone number now as far as I can tell.
Is there a better place to shop for soft skills? Only the small independent and often very expensive local shops, and you need to know which ones are geniune and which are cowboys because people who are really knowledgeable can't earn good money in that business unless the customer is prepared to pay, and the customer has weeded out most of the good eggs by shopping for the cheapest service.
The high-street retailers may have a better returns policy, but their prices are much more and their advice is often woeful - "You need a new computer" was the advice to one person I helped out when they needed a new power supply (£300 vs £20).

Summary: It depends what kind of person you are.