Where in the world? (PC World)

Member Name: mreyre

Product:	PC World
Date:	16/02/02 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: amazing electronic doors, most things under one roof, don't have to pay to park your car

Disadvantages: if you buy the wrong thing, it's a pain to exchange it, long queues at the customer service desk, what customer service??

A PC World has recently opened in my nearest town, King’s Lynn in Norfolk. Prior to this, the only computer stores were Time (in a section of “Powerhouse”) and Currys. Technically, until PC World had opened, there was very little in the way of completely specialised computer stores in the locality.
Personally, I tend to buy most computer peripherals / ink cartridges over the internet anyway, but obviously the opening of this new store has attracted much custom from the surrounding area.

One advantage is that the store is located just off the main road into King’s Lynn, on a small retail complex, so if you want to just pop into the store it is very convenient, and obviously no parking fees to pay.

Another advantage is that the store is very well laid out, with a very futuristic feel to it. You even have to go through not one, but two automatic doors before you can even look at a computer! All the products are out on display and clearly marked. Finally, in the week of opening, there were a lot of special opening offers (first come, first served type of thing) and the offers seem to continue apace.
I managed to buy a couple of packs of Photo Glossy printer paper at half price, much cheaper than anywhere I have seen on the net. For example, this week, webcams are on special offer at £49.99 – buy one, get one free. Amusingly, I heard one customer yesterday asking her friend “Why would you need 2 webcams?” They obviously hadn’t thought that if you actually wanted to videoconference with anyone, then 2 cameras would be required, so on reflection, that’s actually quite a good offer!

However – I have found a couple of disadvantages, which I am going to monitor each time I visit the store:

Disadvantage 1:
++++++++++++
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover!” The store may look attractive, with lots of special offers, but is it really what the cu
stomer wants? I noticed that though some items were clearly on a special offer price, other items in the shop were greatly escalated, particularly in comparison to some internet stores. One example being software in general. I suppose that the manufacturers set the RRP of software, so not as many price reductions will be possible, but the prices in Electronics Boutique in town were on the whole a few pounds cheaper. Also, I wanted some printer ink cartridges for my Hewlett Packard Deskjet 710 – again, I can buy these cheaper on the net, but as it was an emergency, I decided to pay the extra on this ocassion.

Disadvantage 2
+++++++++++
You remember the printer cartridges? Well, on return home, I realised that I had bought the wrong type. Therefore I had to make a return trip to the store. Unfortunately, in the process, I had actually opened the packet of one of the cartridges, so I thought I might be in for problems.
Anyway, I zoomed through the double automatic doors and asked the guy on the checkout if I could swop the cartridges. I was then directed to the Customer Services desk.
Unfortunately, no customer services assistant came rushing to my aid. Instead I had to wait 10 minutes while a young lad dealt with a customer who had bought an item and wanted to exchange it for another one, but the original item had been wrongly priced in the store (with it so far?).
In the meantime, another customer arrived behind me in the queue with a tower unit and parked it on the counter looking cross, followed closely behind by a chap with a printer, also looking frustrated.
By the time I got served, another three people had joined the queue. I asked the young lad if I could exchange my cartridges, and, as I suspected, he had to phone the manager to make sure that I could exchange the one I had opened.
Luckily for me, and the queue of customers, I could, and a swift exchange was given. Unluckily, he had forgottem to swipe the boxes t
hrough the electronic sensor, so that when I exited the shop, all the alarm bells rang with much gusto! I then had to return to the desk where they were swiped to prevent more alarms!

After all that, just to get some printer cartridges, I am going back to ordering my bits and bobs from the net -–I shall just have to be more organised and have a spare cartridge in my desk in future.

Unfortunately, all those queues at the Customer Services desk doesn't really paint a favourable picture of PC World, does it? Perhaps I just caught them on a bad day, or perhaps not?

Summary: