PC World !!!!!!

[Face-Man]

Due to the snow I had some time yesterday. My Dad's been hassling me for sometime about a laptop so I foolishly agreed to go to PC world with him. I was hoping just to have a look and give him an idea on price.

Anyway after talking to 4 "sales" staff who basically were not even able to help find somebody who could help ! We finally got to speak to somebody. We asked about a laptop on a flyer that was in the laptop section. We found the laptop but the price was £50 more expensive. I asked why they said that the price had gone up I said but I didn't think you could advertise in store one price and sell it at another. We asked for the manager but the sales staff just came back with the flyer screwed up. eventally the manager came over and tryed to justify the price and even recommended I take it up with trading standards an offer I'm happy to take up. Needless to say that is the last time I step into PC world...

[maniac]

I've always disliked PC world, very very expensive (USB A-B lead, £14.99!!) and generally their advise is very sketchy, and even down right wrong on ocassions.

 

However, I like you was at a loose end yesterday, ended up there with a friend for some bizzare reason, and I actually bagged myself a bargain! (Due to a shop assistant placing a product in the wrong place.)

 

The ticket description was virtually identical, but the product that was there was twice the price of what should have been there. I therefore got (after a bit of an arguement) a network connectable portable hard drive for £59.99 insted of £129.99. At £129.99 it would have been a rip off, but at £59.99 it's a bargain. E-Buyer sell the same product currently for £80.

 

Afraid the rest were swiftly removed from the shelves, and they wouldn't let me buy more than one of them

 

Shame the manager of your branch wasn't so clued up to realise you were infact right.

 

Mike

[_Bat_]

I've had a few bad experiences with PC World as well.

 

The first happened about four years ago when I was 16. I tried to take a component back because it was faulty but simply got "i'm sorry, but we can't take this product back without its original box, you were supposed to keep it". No matter what I said, he would not accept that the component was faulty therefore I shouldn't need the original box. I went home and phoned the store up to complain. I was then told that if I came back to the store I would be given in-store vouchers in return for the product. This I refused as I didn't want to buy anything else from the store and I demanded cash (it was just over £100). He accepted this eventually. I went to the store and told them of the conversation I had just had on the phone. I asked for the cash only to be told that there wasn't enough in any of the tills. I waited for over 20 mins for them to find enough cash to give me the money.

 

The second was a similar experience, i.e. taking a product back. It was a processor heatsink/fan and it was very dodgy i.e. making rather a lot of noise it shouldn't have been making. I took it back to the store and I could tell they were very skeptical about what I was saying. They connected it to a test computer mobo and showed it to me. It wasn't making any weird noise at that point (I later found out that it needed to be physically on top of the processor for it to happen) so they were like "well if we can't see any problem with the product we can't replace it". I guess I would have done the same in their position but it still annoyed me at the time that they were so skeptical about what I told them.

 

I have more but I can't remember them off hand.

[Ch3rub]

If you want incompetent staff and overpriced products go to PC World !

 

I went there once... and found they sell ADSL filters for £10 each! Then I get back home, opened ebay and found 2 ADSL filters for 5£ with shipment.

 

Avoid PC world at all cost, imho that is

[Mr_T]

If you want incompetent staff and overpriced products go to PC World !

 

I went there once... and found they sell ADSL filters for £10 each! Then I get back home, opened ebay and found 2 ADSL filters for 5£ with shipment.

 

Avoid PC world at all cost, imho that is

 

I used to work at PC world many moons ago. Not a nice place to work very bad employers that care nothing for there staff, hence there staff retention rate is poor. The techie's tend to be just learning there trade when they start there and with the top end of the pay scale being 16k ish and those that have some aptitude tent to move on swiftly. The sales people are just that and have no ethics as they need the commision for a livable wage.

 

PC World has its uses if you must have whatever it is you want straight away. At the end of the day they are box shifters dont expect anymore than that from them.

[ChrisC]

http://edugeek.net/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5143

 

Need I say more?

 

Chris

[localzuk]

I hardly ever shop in shops like PC World, but I do occasionally pop in to check for mispriced goods.

 

I managed to buy a 250Gb freecom external hard disk for £8.99! Should have been £89.99. The person at the till didn't even notice either...

[CyberNerd]

I have used them on occasion and found the service to be quite good.

I've often been fixing my own and freinds/families computers and have needed a replacement part for testing- adsl modem most recently, cdroms etc. PCWorld are able to offer this fantasic service where you 'buy' the part you need and then return it to them after the weekend, the sales staff are easily fooled by the lamest of excuses and happily oblige. hmm, wonder if they do projectors, could be fun for half term. :twisted:

[openhgs]

PC World are good at what they do, computer shops chokka with gear you can fiddle with. I will go in sometimes, see whats on offer and then buy it elsewhere at a cheaper price. I guess many of us "in the know" do this, but for the average Joe, PC World offer good service. People in general would rather buy goods from a bright and airy emporium, rather than a dingy backstreet shop, even though the staff in the small shop will almost certainly give you better service. The average Joe probably wouldn't consider buying something as mysterious as a computer via the internet.

 

I know someone whose laptop needed a reload. She didn't know how to change the BIOS so it will boot from CD rather than HD, so she went to PC World who charged her £45 for the privilege. I wish she had come to me first; I'd have done it for £30 To be fair, they did load XP from the recovery disc, activated it and loaded all of the updates. I'm guessing an hours work, so £45 isn't to bad. When I worked in the real world, my company would charge me out at £120 per hour - shame I didn't see any where near that amount.

[_Bat_]

Just thought of another one...

 

My aunt went into pcworld and asked about home networking. The guy in pcworld she was talking to insisted you can't have a home network on a dialup internet connection 8O

[mattx]

How much do they charge for a memory upgrade these days ?

I did one for one of the teachers at school - took me 5 mins. [ Took me longer to get the case back on than change the memory ] and they were amazed it was that quick. Then came the: ' My friend took their PC to PC World to get theirs done..' Charged them around £40 !! Tossers.

 

You can't beat a good old PC World slagg off session on a Friday can you ?

[ICTsupport]

i never shop at pc world!!! :twisted:

[bishopsgarthstockton]

I went in to pc world ONCE to look around and have a few heart attacks while my girlfriend was shopping for shoes.

 

could not help but listen into a conversation between a sales man and 2 old poeple. he was trying to sell them a £2k system that was basically a games machine. the old guy started the conversation by saying he no idea what to get and he just wanted to send his grand children emails etc.

 

any way the sales man had to go get some information. this is when i jumped in and explained to him that he did not need to spend such crazy amounts of money on a system that he would only use for sending emails. and that he would get a much better deal if he went else were i.e. online or a local shop.

 

with that they thanked me and left the shop

[crc-ict]

hmm, wonder if they do projectors, could be fun for half term. :twisted:

 

Yup, been there, done that.

 

Steer clear of the £399 Optoma they do, though. Utter, utter crap. It lasted 30 minutes with me before I was driven mad by the terrible picture and returned it!

[mrcrazy04]

I did consider once going into PC World and pretending to be the average Joe, ask a load of really basic questions, then tell them why the machine they had recommended was wrong.

They also sell 2.0MHz (yes, not GHz!) computers. Perhaps someone ought to ask why they sell such rubbish machines!

 

Hadn't thought of "buying" stuff, then returning it.

[webman]

mcrazy04: I've also thought about doing exactly the same as well

[alonebfg]

but i have had a good experince with there bisness dept i was very shocked she was very knowlageable and told me some things i did not know and has helped me a lot get hold of origanal software. I have posted on recomended supplyers. but i do agree with you about the shop floor staff.

[eduabncs]

hehehe...you guys will love this piss take.....! :supz:

[localzuk]

any way the sales man had to go get some information. this is when i jumped in and explained to him that he did not need to spend such crazy amounts of money on a system that he would only use for sending emails. and that he would get a much better deal if he went else were i.e. online or a local shop.

 

with that they thanked me and left the shop

 

This is an all too common situation with computer retailers and people with low tech knowledge. It is a shame that companies haven't come up with a simple system to explain the level of functionality a computer will be able to provide. Something like a traffic light system for each type of use:

 

Office software: Green

Internet: Green

Games: Orange

Photo Editing: Orange

Video Editing: Red

Music: Green

 

Which would cover a basic entry level model.

 

However, it is more likely that retailers don't want such a system - it would make it less easy to get people to buy stuff they don't need.

[_Bat_]

Occasionally you get the odd person in PC World who really knows what they are doing. It is rare though admittedly and they are usually found behind the service desk if they exist. They don't work there for very long either before moving on.

 

I could not do what the sales people do there though. They twist words and occasionally tell downright lies (assuming they didn't believe what they were saying was true). This is something I could not do and if I believed someone would be better off downloading open office then paying £470 (pcworld prices for office 2003 a year ago) for microsoft office, I would say so. Then i'd probably get the sack for losing a sale.

[RobC]

Bat - I worked for PC World in Glasgow at the turn of the millenium as a finance filler (sales drone makes the sale, then I put their details into the comp & get them to sign the paperwork). That is precisely the reason that I didn't get a permanent job when my xmas contract ran out.

 

On the two occasions that I tried my hand at sales, I got absolutely bollocked because I showed the customer what would be useful to them as opposed to what the sales drones were supposed to push that week.

 

Also, Computing Which has already proven that the service there is poor and you will basically be ripped off.

[GrumbleDook]

From a friend who recently left a reasonably high paid job in PC World ...

 

When persuading people to buy a product you should always pitch to the highest application level that they want to do and then pile on the other stuff as options.. If they mention gaming you want a fast processor, lots of RAM and a huge graphics card. Than add in the options for a sound system, as large a screen as you can (good markup opportunities here) and then look at doubling it as an entertaninment system.

 

People who want to surf and email should always be targetted for music and videos too. Try and take the angle that if they want to communicate with family it should also be about sharing pictures and videos. Then sell them the idea of lots of music too ... this means you can increase the RAM and drive space on a low price machine. Remember to get the extended warranty on the low price machine as this is the one that is likely to be brought back in on repeated occasions. If you can get them to take a two year warranty rahter than one or three, this give the option of an extended two year warranty in two years time. A total of four years!

 

If people want an entertainment system then sell them a mid-range model with basic monitor and speakers, but then push them towards media centre deals that will allows us to get them to buy a HD enabled screen. This means we get the extended warranty on both the computer and the LCD/Plasma screen."

 

He ran me past another 30 minutes of sales training that is given to drones that show promise ... and finally told me that the only way to get a reasonable honest answer about what to buy is to use the website so you don't actually have to talk to someone. He also reckons that there are still a good number of people working for the company that will not follow this line as it is easier to do an honest sale purely due to the fact that it is quicker to tell the truth than to think up a series of plausible lies. Sell fast and move onto the next customer.

[_Bat_]

Bat - I worked for PC World in Glasgow at the turn of the millenium as a finance filler (sales drone makes the sale, then I put their details into the comp & get them to sign the paperwork). That is precisely the reason that I didn't get a permanent job when my xmas contract ran out.

 

On the two occasions that I tried my hand at sales, I got absolutely bollocked because I showed the customer what would be useful to them as opposed to what the sales drones were supposed to push that week.

 

Also, Computing Which has already proven that the service there is poor and you will basically be ripped off.

 

 

 

Interesting article. I can possibly understand re-installing windows... often if a file is missing there is going to be more then one that has been deleted and it might be best to give a the customer a clean start. Not backing up the data first though is unforgivable, as that doesn't take long to do even if windows won't boot.

 

"...advising the "customer" to replace their computer"

 

If I had the time and money, i'd be tempted to do a survey like this myself, purely out of interest. I hope for their sake that i'd never get a reponse like that above.

 

As you worked in PC World, you probably know more about how they work then the rest of us. Is there any other info you can give us about them that is interesting at all?

[_Bat_]

it is quicker to tell the truth than to think up a series of plausible lies

 

The one they told to my aunt could have been considered a "plausible lie" I guess. The one about not being possible to have a home network on a dialup internet connection, therefore she needs broadband if she is going to share the internet between the two computer. While broadband may be advantageous, they didn't give her the option of sticking with her current dialup connection. They wanted her to sign up with one of their sponsers.

[Lee_K_81]

One of our teachers had a load of trouble with PC World. His PC would read CD's but only after about 10 times of trying to run a game would it work, they said there was nothing wrong with it, and that it was a software issue (after keeping it for a week). He bought it in and gave it to me to look at, after 30 mins i diagnosed that the DVD-drive was faulty and not getting up to speed, only after a number of attempts was it finally going fast enough to run the game. He took it back to them, gave them my diagnosis, they kept it for another week, before accepting there was a problem and replacing the drive. Jerks!