Bought two pcs off them, no problems the first time but awful the second time (PC World)

Member Name: sarah101

Product:	PC World
Date:	11/01/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: When my pc worked fine all was ok it was only when I experienced problems I received bad servvice

Disadvantages: If something goes wrong it can be nearly impossible to find out whats going on

I bought my first computer from pc world around 8 years ago and never experienced any problems with the machine, it worked well did everything it should do and I took it in once a year to PC World to get a free annual health check that I received letters through the post to remind me of as I had purchased the insurances.

I also bought the printer with the pc and during the first year the first one broke so I got a replacement and upgrade in store no problems what so ever, this one then broke a few months later and once again no problems with the staff at PC World replacing it.

So when it came to getting another computer three years ago as the other one was getting a bit slow I had no second thoughts about returning to PC World straight away to get my pc. I received good help when getting my Compaq machine and was happy with everything except the fact that I was told I could no longer purchase a 3 year warranty but had to pay monthly for the insurance, something that worked out more expensive than I had planned for.

About six months into having the pc it developed a loud almost growling noise, I took it to the store and they said there was nothing wrong with it. It then refused to turn off when shut down and stayed on unless I held the power button down for several seconds or unplugged it. I took it for its first health check and was told I would get a call when it was ready. Three days later no calls, I had phoned three times and was finally told it had been ready for three days!??!!?

Got to store and the unit was still dusty and I asked about this and they apologised and did a quick clean whilst I was inshore, all the problems I told them about according to them did not exist and it was in fine working order - also on the print out I received it stated they gave it a full clean as well as the mouse and keyboard, which was quite astonishing as they were never in the store to begin with!

Not surprisingly the problems still occurred until I called the helpline and had to restore the system which obviously deleted all my things. About a year passed and the noise was still happening but not as often and then the cd stopped working and once again it would not turn off. I had noticed that I did not receive a reminder for the health check, when I called to book they told me they stopped sending reminders. I dropped the pc off and once again the store had it for three or four days and this time I was told so many different things over the phone I went back in to the store to discover that the health check had not even happened as there was a fault that meant it needed restoring again!

I did this over the phone in June 08, this fixed the cd and noise and it turned off until Nov when it kept shutting down when I connected a usb. Called the helpline to book health check and was told it was a software problem but asked to speak to the tech guys who booked an engineer out to me.

Three weeks of waiting for engineers to come out on four separate days for them only to turn up once I and my pc then completely dead I then left it in store for the engineer to fix it there.

Got a call off an engineer a few days later saying it was fixed, I asked if a usb was working with it, something he had not checked and then when he did discovered it was still broken, he said it would need a full restore and would take over night. Went in the following day and a member of staff told me it was still broken and another engineer had been booked out for the following week. Called the following week passed from PC World to Tech Guys both blaming the other and eventually spoke to someone who managed to write off the pc and send me a voucher for about half what i had paid but they said it worked out the price to buy the same spec computer now.

The insurance states they have 6 weeks to fix it before they will write it off, something I was not aware of. Regardless of me not reading the small print the service I received with my second pc was awful every time I went to the store or called.

Needless to say the computer I am using at this moment did not come from PC World and the monthly payments for insurance were £1 cheaper per month but I actually purchased a three year plan instead of paying per month.

Summary: I bought the pc I am using now from elsewhere