Techguys? You're having a laugh! (PC World)

Member Name: liz_barratt

Product:	PC World
Date:	06/11/09 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: One person was willing to try and find out what was wrong with my computer

Disadvantages: No-one even knew the slightest thing about the computer they were selling me

My husband bought me a netbook for my birthday this year. He knew I wanted one, and I wanted one with Linux on, but other than that he didn't really have a lcue, so he had a look on the internet and had a look in the high street. He saw one in PC world, which looked affordable, but was an ex demo model, and was pink, but other than that it appeared to tick all the boxes. He wanted me to have a look at it before he bought it though incase there was anything wrong with it, as it was about half the price of the others in the shop.

We went to have a look and it took me about 15 seconds to find something wrong with it! Admittedly it was a problem with the operating system which most people would not have had a clue about, but the terminal wasn't working properly, and I am not going to buy a machine which is not working properly. I eventually managed to grab a shop assistant, who said "well it looks fine to me". I told him that it wasn't and explained what should happen. He said that actually he didn't know anything about these machines, but would get one of the techguys. Techguys? You're having a laugh! He didn't really know anything about what the terminal was supposed to do, but to give him credit he went away and googled acer aspire terminal and found the problem. It is a bug in the operating system and it would just be a case of downloading a patch to fix it. Then he walked off!

Another shop assistant came and asked if I needed help, so I said that I was interested in the netbook, but it had a bug in the software and I wasn't prepared to buy it in the current condition. She looked at it and said "the screen doesn't look like the others" I said that was because it was running linux and she asked what linux was! I asked to speak to the shop manager, who she got for me. He was also sure there was not a problem with the laptop, and went and got the techguy again, who repeated what he told me about the bug in the operating system. I told him I was not happy about buying something which was faulty to start with, and he told me I could always buy a windows machine then put linux on it myself if it meant that much to me. I pointed out to him that I would be paying for the licence for windows, and I didn't want to do that. Eventually, very reluctantly he said he would get it fixed for me before I took it away. Leave it with him and collect it tomorrow. We refused to pay for it until we saw it working, which he wasn't happy about, so I repeated in a louder voice that he had a faulty machine on his shelves, which he could get fixed, or was he happy to sell faulty goods to unsuspecting customers. He said we could pay for it once we had seen it working.

The Next Day

We went back at the appointed time to look at the netbook. The store manager saw us as we came into the shop and announced that it was fixed, and took us to see it. I took one look at it, tried to launch the terminal and it didn't work, so I said that it was not mended. The TECHGUY said well that's not supposed to do anything. I described to him what was supposed to happen and pointed out that they would not make an option that did absolutely nothing, what's the point in that. He asked why I needed that part of the operating system, and I said because I wanted it working properly, and you need that part of the operating system to sort out where icons appear and set up new programmes and things. He said that he had re-installed the software so there couldn't be any problems with it, so I repeated what the techguy told me the day before. He had to go and phone the techguy to ask what he had found about it! When I went back later they had fixed the machine, so I pointed out that I had been hugely inconvenienced by the whole affair, and I would is there anything they can offer me to make amends. They threw in a sleave for it, but only the cheapest one in the shop, and only after I started raising my voice again saying that I knew more than there techguys!

Then at the checkout they tried to sell me technical support! I was dumb struck for a second or so, then said "You are joking right" No, they weren't, they really thought I should pay the £10.00 per month, in case there was something I couldn't fix. I pointed out that if I couldn't fix it then they didn't stand a chance, followed by I think I'll risk it!
Overall I am extremely happy with the computer, and yes, I have had the need to use the terminal, but in the entire shop I encountered one person who had a clue even what Linux was.

I am the first to admit that very few computers are shipped with linux, and therefore it is not really the highest priority for them, but surely if they are selling a computer AND technical support, someone should know at least what the operating system is! They didn't want to help me, and didn't want to make any appology for having a faulty machine on their shelves. I could have fixed it (which is what was suggested at one point) but they weren't going to drop the price because of that. THEN they offer me technical support. It is the cheek of it that I find the most difficult to cope with.

Summary: They haven't got a clue, then try and sell you technical support!