pc world-pc performance scam

endure

oilit wrote: »

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

This is not unique to PC World or even to the IT retail sector. The Hi-fi sector used to be full of sneering adolescents.

endure

dontdoit wrote: »

Ok, everyone is allowed an opinion, but come on, this is taking it a bit far.

Have you even checked the latest prices

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/editorial/the-techguys/?int=left_nav

This prices are stupidly high, and why people would even remotely consider using this service is beyond me. £15 to put a stick of ram into a machine,

£15 for 20 minutes work (£45 an hour) is quite a reasonable rate in the IT world.

Jakg

real1314 wrote: »

Yeah, please remind me of them. never heard of that sort of thing being done myself. Sounds like an apocryphal tale from a training manual to me.

Do you work for PC World too?

Yes I do work for PC World.

I'm trying to find the forum post now - it included quite hilarious pictures, but alas I can't it

real1314

endure wrote: »

£15 for 20 minutes work (£45 an hour) is quite a reasonable rate in the IT world.

Oh come on, fitting a memory stick is hardly a difficult job, and doesn't really need any sepcialsit knowledge at all.

Your post is a bit like comparing a nursing auxillary who changes a dressing to a brain surgeon's salary.

Oh and 20 mins to fit a memory stick - I'd sack anyone who took 20 mins to do such a simple task.

Let's try 5 mins.

endure

I'm talking about the real world of work - not your front room. £45 an hour retail cost for a relatively unskilled job is quite reasonable. The IT equivalents of brain surgeons are charging £1500-2000 a day. You reckon that, presented with an unknown PC, you could open the case, fit the memory, close it, boot it up and run a reasonably extensive memory test then complete the necessary paperwork to charge the customer in 5 minutes?

Jakg

real1314 wrote: »

Oh and 20 mins to fit a memory stick - I'd sack anyone who took 20 mins to do such a simple task.

You've obviously never changed the memory on an Acer One!

Rebel

I have to join in this discussion for a number of reasons.

I actually don't like PCWorld very much BUT I have to agree with a great deal of what trisgt_2000 and jakg have said.

I am a fully qualified computer engineer (or was before I became medically retired a number of years ago) I qualified as a Novell network engineeer (for those of you old enough to have dealt with networks that far back) a certified network installation and maintenance engineer and a certified network manager, all long before windows 95 was even released let alone windows XP or Windows Vista!

This gives me more than a little knowledge in the field (even though I am a little out of date as I now only work on friends and family computers)

There are occasions where I recommend PC performance even to my son (He is very impatient and at getting on for 30 yrs old not someone I can tell what to do) since the instant replacement warranties mean if anything goes wrong he can simply go to the store and walk out with a brand new product.

I DO NOT work for PCWorld never have and never will, I did work for the NHS if someone wishes to complain about that (as an IT Support and training officer) I have dealt with more computer problems than most as I used to support a regional health authority before trusts were as common as they are now.

Now let's go to the consumer law side of this argument as I have now given my professional credentials within the IT industry, I have also been a regional manager within the retail industry controlling staff and showrooms with a turnover in the region of 1.5 - 2 million a year as far back as in the mid 1980's and whilst in that and other professions I had to study some (but not all) consumer law, much of which has changed not least the most recent changes which do not favour the consumer as much as many here believe.

For example let's look at the sale of goods act in their latest reincarnation:

Sale of Goods Act Fact Sheet

Key Facts:

• Wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality (i.e. not inherently faulty at the time of sale).

• Goods are of satisfactory quality if they reach the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking into account the price and any description.

• Aspects of quality include fitness for purpose, freedom from minor defects, appearance and finish, durability and safety.


• It is the seller, not the manufacturer, who is responsible if goods do not conform to contract.

• If goods do not conform to contract at the time of sale, purchasers can request their money back "within a reasonable time". (This is not defined and will depend on circumstances)

• For up to six years after purchase (five years from discovery in Scotland) purchasers can demand damages (which a court would equate to the cost of a repair or replacement).

• A purchaser who is a consumer, i.e. is not buying in the course of a business, can alternatively request a repair or replacement.

• If repair and replacement are not possible or too costly, then the consumer can seek a partial refund, if they have had some benefit from the good, or a full refund if the fault/s have meant they have enjoyed no benefit

• In general, the onus is on all purchasers to prove the goods did not conform to contract (e.g. was inherently faulty) and should have reasonably lasted until this point in time (i.e. perishable goods do not last for six years).

• If a consumer chooses to request a repair or replacement, then for the first six months after purchase it will be for the retailer to prove the goods did conform to contract (e.g. were not inherently faulty)

• After six months and until the end of the six years, it is for the consumer to prove the lack of conformity.

What this means to all of us as members of the public is for the first SIX MONTHS ONLY if the goods fail the law assumes the goods were at fault BUT the retailer can deny that and take any and all reasonable steps to verify that any fault was a component fault and not misuse/abuse/accidental damage even if that takes a considerable period of time months in fact.

AFTER the first SIX MONTHS the consumer has to PROVE the goods did not conform to contract without the backup of technical assistance from anyone.

IF IT CAN BE PROVED the goods were faulty at the time of supply or that an inherent fault existed within the product the "up to six years after purchase (five years from discovery in Scotland)" rule MIGHT APPLY dependant on the individual circumstances.

All this information can be found on the UK Government website under the BERR heading (Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform) however please take note of the section explaining what an inherent fault is. It is NOT a catch all for a product that has gone wrong for any reason, it is only there to protect us all from companies who supply faulty components with KNOWN or PROVEABLE FAULTS that were there at the time of purchase.

This also means of course that any BUSINESS USER has no protection from the sale of goods act so if you use your computer in the course of your job.... well lets just say that could mean you are a business user and not have the limited statuary protection afforded by the UK government.

I apologise for the length of this post and even for the capitalisation of parts of the post and use of the bold attributes but it is necessary to highlight certain aspects which many of us get confused about (As I was recently in conflict with a large retail organisation I had to do quite a lot of research to find out and enforce my legal rights, in my case I was successful, not everyone is.

PS Please excuse any improper grammar or spelling mistakes/typo's I am certain if you look hard enough you will find them.

markbuxton

pc performance what a scam been paying for it for a year ,when my pc went down and had to be restored i rang them up only for them to tell me it was,nt covered for data ,when the sales assistant told me it was when i bought it ,then i rang them back talked to another person who then told me it was ,so i took it down and they told me it was,nt and had to pay £30 to have it done and its not the £30 but the sly and snide way they sell you this cover ,is this some sort of a sales ploy by pc world, anyway cancelled my cover and the £2,000 i spend every year there will be spent somewhere else oh and one last thing any body buying from there .......... dont buy pc performance its a scam:mad:

hendersonb

My pet hate is the way the "customer advisors" try to push anti-virus software on you whether it is required or not. A few weeks ago I got an Acer Aspire One with Limpus pre-loaded. After he tried to convince me that linux is very hard to use and that it wouldn't suit my needs 'which he never asked what were'.

He the proceeded to tell me about the special deal they were doing on Norton 360 and how I really needed to but it. I kindly informed him that it didn't run on linux, I was then told how he was an expert and it run on ALL the netbooks they sold regardless of OS.

Now even if I had gone for the windows version of the laptop after seeing how Norton slows down high spec machines, It running on an Atom 1.6GHz machine with a 16Gb SSD with 1Gb RAM - now thats a scary thought.

Pssst

Listen,PC World is OK. It is there mainly for the consumer end of the market, i.e the mass market of people who want/need a pc but dont often know a lot about them.

Now pc's are not like fridges or tv's, i.e plug in,works for ever but people still expect them to be !

One would hope that sales staff dont exploit inexperienced members of the public by overselling but inevitably,it probably goes on.

The thing that i find annoying if i go in my local PCW is that its often difficult to get hold of someone and sometimes the checkout is unmanned or only has one body on it and a big long queue.