Pretty C##p World.... (PC World)

Member Name: babajane32

Product:	PC World
Date:	04/12/03 (450 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: store lay-out, occasional bargains

Disadvantages: customer service, staff knowledge, returns

The stores;

One of the best features of P C world is that they have many stores accross England and they are generally very accessable with good parking facilities and generally on main bus routes.
My local store is in Nottingham and is fairly typical of all the stores i have visited.
It is clean and well laid out, with plenty of room to browse round and automated large doors, ideal for people with wheelchairs or pushchairs in tow.
The murchandise is grouped into sensible displays and shelves so it's not too hard to find what you are looking for.

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Stock and goods;

P C World hold a fairly good stock, if they sell it they generally have a good supply in store, however they do not have the biggest selection of computor hardware, and when many of its customers are not experts it can make "making the right choice" very difficult.
They do however sell almost everything to do with computors from ready built systems,to parts and accesories, furnature and consumables.
If you do find the items you are looking for are not in stock they are pretty good at getting them in for you and in a reasonable time..from 1 to 7 days.

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Staff;

Here the weaknesses of the stores start to show.Many of their satff are very young,and inexperianced. It is generally hard to get help when looking for an item, finding someone to ask is easy, finding someone who knows diddly squat is not. But they do have an adequat number of staff and getting served when ready to pay is quick and efficient.

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Prices;

Prices are relatively competative within the "large" store computor suppliers, however compared to computor fairs and many smaller shops the prices can be quite astranomical, unfortunately alot of people who shop here are totally unaware that there are alternative
places to shop.

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In particular;

The biggest things to watch out for when shopping at P C World are there ready built computors and their extended warrentees. If you want a ready built pc and know nothing much about computors then they offer a fairly competative range of pc's and many available in a variety of packages complete with printers, cameras and sometimes furnature. Now if you have a reasonable income and are quite happy to stay with pc world for all your future computor needs then great, if not then steer well clear!!! What they won't point out to you or tell you is that they supply a restore disc where all your drivers etc, are on this one disc and not seperately, which can be a major pain, and that they often configure and password your bios so no one other than themselves can access this and do much with it (although this is technically against your consumer rights). And the very impressive "on-board" sound and graphics etc, means an upgrade is either very expensive or impossible..and again means to do this you will have to pay their high price.
The extended warrentees are also quite expensive and leaves you tied to their "team of experts" (i collapse in a heap of laughter).
Whilst I am quite sure pc world have some very capable engineers, I have yet to find one and some of the things their experts have told me about compuotrs have left me crying in amusement . The most worrying part of their "expertise" is that they do consider themselves knowledgable !!

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Ater sales service;

Again a bit of a mine field. If you have bought something from them that is very obviously damaged then fair do's they usually swap it no probs, However should you buy something that they told you would work with your existing set up and it doesn't or you but an elctronic/electrical item that just doesn
t work but without a visable sign of this, then you are in for fun!! The first thing to remember is that if they request you to take it back along with your system so they can see it "not" running..then remember your system is unlikely to be insured for the trip or what may happen to it when it's out of your house!!!!
The next problem you will find is that they will not accept responasbility for having sold you the wrong thing!! Even when they told you it's what you need!!
It also pays to know your consumer rights, as having just purchased a brand new product that doesn't work, they do not have the right to send it off to the manufacturers and make you wait several weeks for money back or a replacement!!
And do not .. I repeat do not, ring their support lines unless you are sure that it is not costing you 50p or £1 per minute to do so!!

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Offers;

They do have rehular in-store offers on many items from furnature to hardware and more. These can be quite good buys and so long as you have done your homework you can get a really good deal. I rescently picked up a TFT 17" monitor of excellent quality and good performance/ specifications for a mere £227, reduced from £299 !!
Their offers are generally well stocked although really good deals ( which may be a little far and few between) can sell out before the offer ends.

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Web Site;

The now have a web site, www.pcworld.co.uk which means you can order online and often has special "on-line" prices. I have yet to try this service as I am quite reluctant to purchase anything other than an absolute bargain from them, but people I know who have purchased on-line have had good delivery service.

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In my experiance;

When their best help of the day tells you that the memory you have just bought
is not working because you have not configured it properly, you know that they know bob all about computors or they are on the biggest scam out!!
If you are considering purchasing a full pc system from them..ask if it can be upgraded and what you get for your money, ask if you can set up things yourself on it etc etc.. and be sceptical... ask a bit of independant advice and do a little research on the net about it, and do all this before you make your purchase!!
I could give you a dozen examples of their lack of knowledge,but that would take forever.. just because they are large and well known does not make them the best bet, however sometimes they have a good bargain or something you just can't get from anywhere else in a hurry, so they do have a place in life!!

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Summery;

Fancy a pleasnt browse round for some computor ideas? Want to be able to shop with the kids? Then take a look round.
Want sound advice on computor matters... then give it a miss!!

Summary: