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pc world-pc performance scam

i have just bought a laptop from pc world with my mother, and purchased pc performance although at the time i did not realise what my mother had done.

the sales assistant (female) did not mention the word "pc performance" nor direct debit, and insisted it was a must do thing to buy from pc world to "guarantee the software", the whole scam was underhand to say the least although she did say eventually most people cancel it as soon as they get home once vista had loaded and worked correctly.

of course if fools like me and my mother get scammed into signing direct debit forms then we get what we deserve.we will cancel and its not going to cost us anything.

im sure an elderly lady who clearly short of "computer knowledge" was an easy target for her, and even when we kicked off about not wanting a direct debit , she insited this was the norm and stuck to her "software guarantee line"

the real victims are those who buy on credit and its all in repayments and dont realise what they have purchased and carry on paying over and over again every month.

this is more of a warning to watch a very slick scam from pc world, the tittle tattle she came out with about nothing in general whilst pushing forms to be signed without once mentioning word like "pc performance", "direct debit", the cost every month, warranty, insurance or anything which bore any relavance to the truth was quite staggering from a major retailer.

we need your bank details to guarantee the software as the hardware is covered she kept repeating.

lying and scamming us is exactly what pc world did, although i can accept pc performance may be useful and their customers are happy to pay for it.
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Comments

  • http://www.pcworld.co.uk/store_doc/GE/mb/pcp/pcp-support-service.html

    outrageous..essentially the same extended warranty scam from the DSG group.
  • Kavanne
    Kavanne Posts: 5,093 Forumite
    Says at the bottom of that link you can cancel within 14 days so I recommend you do that ASAP!!
    Kavanne
    Nuns! Nuns! Reverse!

    'I do my job, do you do yours?'

  • oilit
    oilit Posts: 234 Forumite
    i had a friend who worked at pc world a few years ago, he always said that if you went in on the saturday evening just before closing, quite often you could buy things and then they woudl give you all their support and or extended warranty stuff free because they had weekly targets to meet on them, and it was number of sales as opposed to the price of teh sales, so if the store was short they just added them into the product price to help make the quotas!!

    PC world Dixons and Currys (aka DSG) have certainly cornered the market in recruiting sales staff who can speak a lot and yet say nothing valuable except whatever it takes to shove another bit of kit up you before they throw you out of the door ....

    I was in PC World yesterday, and was listening to the way a guy (boy) was selling a mac to a middle aged couple - frankly it was incredibly patronising - if it was me I would have told him where to go!

    It always makes me wonder why people go to a person who is financially incentivised to sell you something for advice on what to buy !!!!!

    Just cancel the DD !
  • edgex
    edgex Posts: 4,177
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Considering how few pc's they actually sell, i think they should be forced to change their name ;)
  • KILL_BILL
    KILL_BILL Posts: 2,183 Forumite
    edgex wrote: »
    Considering how few pc's they actually sell, i think they should be forced to change their name ;)


    personal crap world would be fitting maybe for their name :rotfl:
  • ynot2005
    ynot2005 Posts: 546 Forumite
    to be honest the whole show she put on was embarrissing to listen to, how her favourite laptops were the cheapest end of the range that we bought, blah blah blah.

    its no big deal really as we will cancel pc performance and the laptop is very nice and i knew what i wanted and it was comparable in price or better than other high street shops, its the sour taste it leaves in the mouth about pc world and how you cannot trust them.

    i expect they try and pull the wooll over every punters eyes who walks in pc world, not a very good long term sales tactic and puts more business into the hands of online retailers.

    computer newbies may not know about computers but they know an extended warranty type scam when they see one.

    infact the female who did the scamming wasnt some smooth operator that could sell anything to anyone, but a frumpy nerdy 20 something who seemed shy and a bit awakward who at first glance would be the last person to try it on.

    how wrong i was
  • pompeyrich
    pompeyrich Posts: 3,135
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Just to balance things a bit, I bought a Sony laptop from PC World on-line, the whole process was straightforward, the laptop arrived as stated etc. The price dropped by £30 in their sale, so I e-mailed them and they are going to refund the difference to my card. I have heard so much bad stuff about PC World so really only used them as a last resort for a last minute Christmas present but have to say that overall, my experience with them was really good.
  • philatio
    philatio Posts: 676
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    ^ Thats cos you did it online.

    In-store, PC World/Currys make ALL their money through warranties and tech service plans. Usually to customers who aren't that knowledgable that they're paying for nothing.
    Utter utter scum.

    And agree with the above about it shouldn't be called PC World anymore. Our local's just had a big refit and there's more TVs than PC stuff now.
  • not had any problems with them but I do hate people who pressure sell to the elderly.
  • The problem with PCW is that they make very little money in the 'big stuff' that they sell, stuff like computers, laptops, printers, t.v's etc.

    The average margin on these products is less than 10% so they need to sell stuff like warranties (pc performance), cables (at £15-£20 when they only brought it for 50p!), software etc.

    PCW have a margin of at least 40% on their warranties and near enough 50% on the little/secondary things like ink cartridge, t.v stands, software, cables etc.

    Now u can understand why the likes of PCW and Currys sell these additional items because that area is the most profitable for their business. Anyhow if more people knew about the sales of goods act and the govt. had the balls to enforce it, DSG will probabely go bust!
    the sales assistant (female) did not mention the word "pc performance" nor direct debit, and insisted it was a must do thing to buy from pc world to "guarantee the software", ....
    the female staff lied to u when she said it "guarantee's software", warranties only cover hardware faults and this is clearly written on your mother's policy document. Like the staff member said, you can cancel it because it is on a month to month basis, (You can cancel it anytime).
    It always makes me wonder why people go to a person who is financially incentivised to sell you something for advice on what to buy !!!!!
    majority of the staff at PCW have the title of 'customer advisor' in a sense they are not salemen/women but are there to 'advise'. Another thing is they do not work to commission instead it is the quality of the sale and how many warrienties the stores sells in a month in order to get themselves a team bonus from HQ.

    Frankly they do not give the crap about what PC or printer u go there to buy and will and as i have already mentioned they are only interested in selling in stuff that make more money for them, namely warrenties.

    Now what i am going to say(post) might sound silly but anytime you guys go to a retail organisation where u find the sales staff more interested in selling the warrienties or additional services over the intital item, agree to take it out and cancel it later (within 14 days of course).

    This way you are able to neogigate a discount with them in order to take it, e.g. get a free tv stand with your T.V, laptop bag+ anti-virus software for your laptop, camera bag/ memory cards with your camera etc. By agreeing to take out a warranty you are doing THEM a favour so he/she is in your hands.

    btw, most pc related problems is software related and is the result of user input, computer rarly fails by themselves unless u brought a cheap machine with ALL the parts made in taiwan. [FONT=&quot]
    [/FONT]
    Sup'
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