| Product: |
PC World |
| Date: |
04/12/06 (641 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Absolutely none
Disadvantages: Never believe a word they say and be ignored if you complain
Will PC World keep its promises?
The following is part of an email we sent to PC World in an attempt to get the problem resolved. Needless to say, it got the same response as numerous phone calls - nothing. I have yet to read a good review of PC World, so presumably they are happy to lose all their existing customers and keep chasing new ones. Obviously a highly intelligent, efficient company machine! I would suggest you drive straight past their shop and go somewhere else, where you might actually get some service, rather than a grasping salesman and then nothing at all other than wasted time.
We bought a computer and various accessories from PC World at the end of September.
We are now ready to buy a flat screen television and a laptop. Will we go to PC World again?
Highly unlikely, given that they are good at taking your money, but pretty useless at anything
that amounts to after sales service.
We spent almost £900 and took out an extended cover insurance plan because the sales assistant promised that by doing so, we would get 10% off everything in the shop on future purchases, including consumables. All the details would be sent in the post. All we had to do was sign the form and hand over the money.
So, we waited and nothing arrived. So we called PC World and were told to contact the insurance people. They were called CoverPlan or The Tech Guys: I'm really not sure on this, but anyway they said 'OK, we'll put it in the post.' So we waited again and nothing happened.
By now you will be getting the picture, but the outcome is that after weeks spent phoning and emailing both PC World and their insurers, nothing has arrived. We seem to have established that this is down to PC World and the fact that each shop makes whatever deals it chooses. However, the people you speak to on their "one number covers all" national phone line know nothing and cannot help. They offer to get the local shop you dealt with to phone back. Nothing happens. You send them emails. Nothing happens.
The main thing you learn about PC World is that they are very good at selling you things, when you are there in the shop with money in your hand. Once you want them to comply with their promises and put themseleves out just a little bit: forget it.
So where will we be going for the television and laptop? The local bazaar, if we had one, would be better than PC World.
The lesson PC World and other retailers need to learn is never make promises you cannot or will not keep. Your customers will never thank you for incompetence and lies, but they will always tell more people how bad you are than how good you are. In this regard, the internet is a wonderful thing. One person with high enough levels of annoyance can get a bad message through to thousands and thousands of people overnight, so you don't just lose the television and laptop, but vastly more.
Selling is easy. Keeping customers is the harder thing. Lying your way out of a hole never works.
PS Anyone reading this is welcome to pass it on or post it on other forums or websites with my permission.
Summary: It seems you have to give at least one star for the review to be accepted. It is not deserved at all
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Last comments:
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- 03/01/07 I own a computer store of my own. just a lil town centre store with one employee.. me
i hate customers who complain and bitch about things which they know nothing about
they never think, they never check, they never ask
i went into my friendly local PCWorld and yes they are friendly and asked them whats with the voucher things.
Their reply was this when a customer signs upto the pcperformance they automatically receive vouchers through the post and are regularly updated as the months go on with the benefits of the aftercare etc and new vouchers.
so i asked why didnt the customer get them and why is it soo hard to re send them out
their reply.
with 99% of customers, they dont like being put onto a mailing list. Although we never send out junk mail advertising anything.. apart from business customers occassionally. so we have got into a habit of automatically hitting the no marketing buttn to save arguments as after the sale its hard to change the choice.
and there was the problem. while putting the sale through the sales person automatically put you on no marketting and so u would receive nothing. and there are legal issues about a company taking you off of no marketing once you are on it.. so you are suck.
i see your frustration in the fact that you not receive the vouchers but you are willing to diss a whole company for simply and honestly putting you on no marketing.
Plu s the aftercare is about peace of mind if the product fails.. honestly paying £6 a month just to save 10% on a £10 game or something does not seem good maths.
you could have saved yourself less hassle by simply saying no
if in doubt ASK
in my store i have actually wrote a sign that says
"i am just human, treat me like one and i will treat you like a god"
we are all only humans. insulting a company for the sake of £1 off of a game... hmm |
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- 08/12/06 This is just a brief follow-up to this earlier review.
A day after the deadline we gave to PC World to sort things out, we did receive a telephone call from the salesman we dealt with in the shop. Although this was too little too late as far as we were concerned, it did prove that the emails got through, whereas they were otherwise ignored. (This included emails to customer services, as well as the managing director of PC World and DSG International - Dixons - PC World's owners). The point with expecting to receive emails back from the company itself is that a salesman makes statements on behalf of the company and in doing so forms a contract with the customer. The way in which the company then either backs up the salesman or washes its hands of the matter is generally a good measure of whether the company ethos is to wriggle out of its obligations or honour them. Reading other posts here, it would seem that PC World is populated by consummate wrigglers.
A couple of days after this call from the salesman, a collection of discount vouchers did arrive in the post. These were exactly of the type that Tesco send out automatically with your rewards card statement. Not exactly rocket science and hardly should it have been a mystery to all the PC World staff we dealt with by phone and email, as I cannot imagine these vouchers were printed just for us! Indeed, the salesman said they were available in the shop and this seems to indicate where things go wrong.
Strange as it may seem, I do not arrange my life around visiting my local PC World shop to see if they have discount vouchers on the shelf which I may like. Although I agree with rocknro11 (thanks for the welcome) that you get better results in person, there is the other point that I do expect a shop to make some small effort to earn the money I spend with them, which includes actually posting information when asked to do so.
Just a couple of other small points. Obviously, we cancelled the insurance, so they lost that ongoing money as well as any other ongoing spending from us. I have found through sites like this that, despite the incessant and chirpy advertising, it seems that most people's experience of PC World is abysmal. As promised to PC World, I sent emails detailing their ineptitude to various computer-related magazines. A day later, I received an email from the editor of one of these magazines, saying he was passing the information to his Watchdog Editor. So you see, there are companies who can manage to respond to emails and show their efficiency.
Th anks for reading and responding. |
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- 05/12/06 Firstly welcome to Dooyoo. Now if it were me I would hound the shop, not on the phone but face to face with the manager, to the point if you were still not satisfied, asking for a full refund.
It’s easy to get the run around on the phone or via email but face to face should yield better results. From a consumer point of view, you review is very useful re the insurance policy and you non-existant 10% off further sales but I have only rated useful, as there is a lot more to PC World than an insurance policy. I'm not suggesting for one minute the rest is good, as I do not rate this store given my experience with them either.
rocknr o11 - Computer & Software Guide |
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