You pays your money....... (Eclipse Computers (Coventry))

Member Name: Nottmsteve

Product:	Eclipse Computers (Coventry)
Date:	11/06/01 (353 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good web site, Competitive pricing

Disadvantages: Inexperience?

Eclipse provide a very clear, fast loading site from their store based in Coventry, and offer a multitude of products.

From my experience I would say that they are more of a hardware than software retailer, specialising in the kind of brand names seen at computer fairs with the odd "big name" thrown in.

Their site offers free delivery which is a very big plus when coupled with the competitive pricing policy, and for added reassurance the phone number is clearly available along with all the e mail addresses should you have a query.

I have found their prices to be amongst the keenest around, and have dealt with them..
once.

I can't say that the service that I had was bad - it wasn't, but I just had the feeling that if something went wrong it would take a lot of sorting.

My personal opinion is that they are not as good as they could be. Is it because they are so popular and so busy, or is it down to an inexperienced work force?

The time that I used them I visited the store as I was in Coventry at the time. There was an almighty queue with only one young guy serving, and another feeding his face with an almighty sandwich ( which he was still chewing when he decided to serve). I accepted a queue as I assumed that it must be down to popularity, and of course their good prices.

Where the alarm bells rang was a customer five or six in front who obviously had a problem. He was buying a raft of equipment and all was going well until he queried one of the items which was a lesser spec than quoted. The attitude of the salesman changed from very interested to what shall I do. The customer asked for the manager who refused to speak to him!, sending the young lad back out to face the wrath. Eventually order was restored by them honouring the quotation.

I wasn't too concerned as I only wanted memory, but would give greater consideration if I was making a bigger purchase, and would cert
ainly want written confirmation of the product & price.

When I was looking for a DVD Rom, again the prices were very competitive. This time I emailed a couple of queries -
1. was my computer spec good enough
2. was all cabling included
3. was DVD playback software included

To be honest, most sites have this info in the item description, which Eclipse don't have.

The answer I received to No 1 was that it SHOULD be OK, to No 3 No, but I could get it free off the WWW ( didn't say where), and just missed out No 2 altogether. I bought elsewhere.

Eclipse have the potential to be a major on line & off line purveyor of computer equipment, and I don't think anyone should write them off totally.However, I would find all the relevant info that I needed from other sources before talking to them, and I'm still unsure about whether I would make a major purchase.

Summary: