| Product: |
broadbandbuyer.co.uk |
| Date: |
17/01/05 (228 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Excellent prices, Good service
Disadvantages: None so far
Other than holidays, the sort of purchases I have tended to make over the Internet have tended to be on the low side. That way, if anything goes seriously wrong, like a fraudulent or insolvent vendor, you haven't lost too much. Where holidays are concerned, you've usually got the protection of ABTA so there isn't the same concern. For product purchases you really only have protection if your Credit Card provider gives it.
As you will know if you have read my other reviews, my home network is starting to grow. I have a few more reviews to post but that will only happen if Dooyoo pull their finger out and again start adding new categories.
With many computers on my home network, either full time or as needed, having some central repository for sharing or backing up files was starting to become essential. So, time to look for a storage device to plug directly into the network so that no one would be dependent upon any particular computer being switched on or even connected.
I found exactly the device I was looking for, a Buffalo LinkStation Network Storage Centre. The challenge was to find it at a competitive price from a reputable or at least dependable vendor.
I had noticed that PC World sold Buffalo networking devices but it turned out that the LinkStation was not one of them or, at least, not one that they sell in their stores. I discovered that they do sell it from their website (www.pcworld.co.uk) at £174 plus delivery but this was the smaller capacity version, with no option for the larger versions. I felt I could do better.
A Google search helped me identify a range of potential vendors, all of whom could supply exactly what I wanted but at a truly astonishing range of prices. Dabs would do it at £230 but bearing in mind the reputation they seem to have according to reviews I've read, I decided to give them a miss.
Amazon offered a good price but couldn't offer delivery in under 5 weeks. Sorry but I'm not prepared to wait that long.
I have bought stuff in the past from Misco and been very happy with their service but they didn't have one with the capacity I wanted and the smaller version was £329 ex vat anyway, so there was no way they were getting my business.
TickPC had it at £219 ex vat and delivery but the best price I found was from an outfit based in Bristol called NickKnows, at a very competitive £210 ex delivery. However, try as I may, I could find absolutely no information about these people so I decided not to take the risk. I may be being unfair to them and, trying to get your business up and running if you're a small outfit, always suffers the problem of “unknown quantity” I realise. However, I wasn't prepared to be a first-time-buyer with them based on so little visibility.
Then I found BroadbandBuyer. These people are based in Milton Keynes so are close enough to go and hassle them if I had any problems. They had what I wanted at a delivered price of £218. I doubted I would do better no matter how long I searched. A search on Google identified opinions and reviews that indicated that they would seem to be reliable. Dooyoo had nothing on them (it has now!). So, I visited their website.
The website is fairly unsophisticated, their Home Page displaying on the left a list of categories and on the right in the main body of the page, a selection of “bargains”. So, where was the product I was looking for? Here was the first problem (but fortunately the only one), I couldn't spot a category that looked likely. Eventually, under Digital Home I found Network Storage. Bingo!
The Network Storage page had the LinkStation as the fourth item down. Clicking on “Buy Item” took me to “Your Shopping Basket” and, yes, they had one in stock. The total price was shown, including Standard Delivery (you can choose any of a number of delivery options) and so I clicked “Checkout”.
If you are a first time customer then they ask for basic information like name and address plus, an email address and a password for your account. You can also specify and alternative delivery address. If you are a returning customer you only need provide email address and password.
You provide payment details, in my case credit card, and that's just about it. They do invite you to review their Terms and Conditions, which I did, with nothing unusual or alarming to note. You then just have to wait for delivery. Actually, you also get email confirmation of your order as well.
In my case I also get an email saying that there had been a problem with collecting the money from the credit card company and could I please give them a call! A call to their customer services was answered promptly. We checked the details I had provided on their website and everything was correct!
They tried submitting the request for payment again there and then and this time everything went through! (I have checked and I haven't been double charged, if you were wondering). They told me that delivery would be by courier and that it should arrive the following day. It did.
I've now set up my new toy on the network and everything is working perfectly.
So, what sort of experience has buying from BroadbandBuyer been? Well, based on this one transaction, I can't fault it. My one encounter with their customer services was handled promptly, efficiently and politely. Of course, I've had no reason (so far and, hopefully, never) to have to return anything to them so I can't give any opinions on their complaints procedures.
Will I buy from them again? Almost certainly.
Summary:
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Last comment:
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kingseany - 17/01/05 Bit of a long intro, wondered what the review had to do with the product at first, but you obviously know your stuff.
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