Scan, not Scam! (scan.co.uk)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	scan.co.uk
Date:	19/08/00 (221 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Lots of choice, "Today only"

Disadvantages: P&P Charges to N.I.

Coming from Northern Ireland, I've had to put up with local computer hardware and software vendors really getting the arm into your wallet in terms of the prices of the stuff they were selling. Not that the prices were my only bugbear with the local retailers, but the selection of components rather than pre-built PCs was sadly lacking as well. It would now appear with the advent of secure online shopping that their days may be numbered.

One company offering such an online shopping presence is Scan (www.scan.co.uk). They offer an online and offline presence and are based in Bolton.

Their website is easily navigated, with all the normal pieces of an online store easily navigated and laid out in a logical manner. The colour scheme is muted, meaning that if you are going to spend a while surfing around their site trying to find that piece of PC equipment you are after, your eyes aren't going to be burned out by bright, garish colours. At the top of the page, there are a series of links to each product section as well as handy links to the "today only" only page, help page etc. and everything is clearly marked. The speed of the site depends on how many pictures of products they have ? for example their special offer page (see below) loads a lot slower than their normal catalogue pages because it contains more product pictures than the ordinary pages, but generally the site is pretty quick.

Scan currently offers a feature that I've not really seen anywhere else (although other places do offer similar ideas) and that is their "Today Only" page. Each day, for 24 hours, they take a few items from their catalogue and charge seemingly stupid prices for. This goes right across their entire catalogue and every now and again, they'll make up special offer bundles for the page. As an example, they might offer a motherboard, CPU and memory package as a special offer. One of their recent innovations is a weekly offer w
hich will appear on their "Today Only" page for the entire week. The "Today Only" page is updated every day Tuesday to Saturday (the Saturday TO pages lasts until Tuesday morning) at approximately 10 am, although this isn't an exact time and can take place any time from 10 am to 11 am. It's found at http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/

The information on offer at Scan regarding product specifications is generally good, but can be lacking in some areas. I would make a rough guess that over 90% of their catalogue has an added information page, complete with picture and technical information.

The product catalogue is extensive and features practically any PC component you can imagine. This ranges from the larger items, such as monitors, PC cases, printers etc. to the smallest pieces such as memory cards and floppy or ZIP discs and the like. They've also expanded their PC range to include things like servers and overclocking equipment. Since I've started using them, Scan have also started selling other types of electrical equipment such as audio/video equipment (CD players, DVD players etc.) and mobile phones and accessories. They even offer their own brand electrical equipment which seems to have very good specifications compared to some of the big names on the market without the associated price tags.

With regards to prices, Scan offers a range of products over the full spectrum of pricing options. If you want to build or upgrade a PC system cheaply, Scan has a range of components to enable you to do so, but if you want to spend more money, then you can. I won't say that Scan are the cheapest out there, because it's my experience that each online retailer has their own little niche where they can offer stuff cheaper than the other people in the market, but I can say that Scan are amongst the cheapest across the board. If you're a patient sort, you could even wait and see if what you want comes up i
n their "today only" page because a lot of the deals seem to rotate every 10 to 14 days. It might be a bit obvious, but Scan if you're ordering a few items, and don't mind the wait, Scan will be better than your local retailer as far as price and range of components is concerned.

My experiences with Scan are nothing short of excellent. Over the last few years, I reckon I've used them at least a dozen or so times, and every single time I've been more than happy with the level of service from them. Packages have arrived on time, and on the only time there was a problem with delivery, I sorted that out myself with City Link (Scan's couriers) because there was no-one in my house when they tried to deliver with no fuss whatsoever. Any time I've made a query to Scan via email, I've had quick responses which solved any problems I've faced.

Of course, with living in Northern Ireland, I've always found that the real sting in the tail is the postage costs for using a courier service. While people based in Great Britain may get away with fairly cheap postage costs, here in Northern Ireland we get stung because of that stretch of water known as the Irish Sea. Scan or rather, their couriers, are no different although in fairness they're no more expensive than any other website/courier service.

Overall, I can't fault Scan at all. All equipment has arrived in one piece and on time. Scan's prices are very competitive, and their big selling point is their "today only" page which can usually produce one or two real bargains each day. Questions have been answered promptly by email or by phone call, and their web site is clearly designed and easy to use. I have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone who needs PC components.

Summary: