P C World help?

yvonneem_2

Hello everyone, not sure if i'm posting in the right place or if I'm going to make any sense but here goes.........

Last Bank Holiday weekend I decided to buy myself a Netbook just for normal use, e mails research etc. I know nothing about them so I went to PC World and was shown all they had. I liked a little Compaq 702 that did all I wanted, it was small and easy plus it weighed 1.2 kilo's. The price for that weekend only was £269 so I said yes to it.

However, the girl who I was dealing with past us to someone else who in turn passed us to yet another assistant. We were hanging around that shop for so long before assistant came back saying he didn't have a 702 but that he did have a 700 at thirty pounds cheaper. He told me that the spec was identical and that at £269 was a bargain. I pointed out that he had just told me that it was £30 cheaper than the 702 but now he was saying it was the same price. I decided that for the same price I would wait until he got the 702 in stock or get it elsewhere at which he decided to go find the manager to see if he could reduce the price of the one he had. He was gone for seconds before he came back saying that he'd spoken to the manager and that there had been a misprint on the price ticket. Apparently there was no such thing as a Compaq 702 and never had been. Apologies for misleading us etc...

Now I know in hindsight that I should have checked this out but I didn't. I just handed over my money and left the shop. The following day I decided to read some reviews on the 700 just to see what people thought and low and behold I found out the there is a 702 afterall.

I feel really cheated and a bit of a prat that I believed the guy. I have e mailed the store but they don't really want to know. They just say that they will speak to the shop manager about the conduct of his staff. Although I do like the one I have it is very heavy to carry around and I have since found out that it is over a kilo heavier than the 702.

Sorry to be long winded but I was wondering if there was anything I could do about it.

cte1111

I had a problem years ago with PC World misselling me a laptop in a very similar fashion to this. I eventually managed to force them to take it back, by going on and on in a phone call. They have lied in order you an inferior model, so are completely in the wrong. I fear you may have a fight on your hands, but you need to keep complaining.

1 kg heavier than the model that you were shown is a very straightforward difference, and means that you would not have bought it if you had known. I think you may well need to mention Trading Standards before they will refund you.

In my case, I rang the store and insisted on speaking to a manager and eventually managed to, and after about 17 denials they took it back. They tried to say that as I had taken it home that was the end of it, but it is not correct. If the item they sold you is not the one that they showed you, then it is not a valid sale.

4743hudsonj

cte1111 wrote: »

I had a problem years ago with PC World misselling me a laptop in a very similar fashion to this. I eventually managed to force them to take it back, by going on and on in a phone call. They have lied in order you an inferior model, so are completely in the wrong. I fear you may have a fight on your hands, but you need to keep complaining.

1 kg heavier than the model that you were shown is a very straightforward difference, and means that you would not have bought it if you had known. I think you may well need to mention Trading Standards before they will refund you.

In my case, I rang the store and insisted on speaking to a manager and eventually managed to, and after about 17 denials they took it back. They tried to say that as I had taken it home that was the end of it, but it is not correct. If the item they sold you is not the one that they showed you, then it is not a valid sale.

you need to re post this in the consumer rights thread

far better there then here

macman

I'm afraid the phrase 'PC World help' is an oxymoron.
Unfortunately, unless they have misrepresented the spec of the machine you bought, you have no case to return it. For example, if they said 'the 700 has 2GB of RAM' and when you got it home you found it had 1GB of RAM, then clearly that is misrepresentation. But I don't think what they did to you is the same, as the conversation was much more general.
TBH it appears you did your research after the event and PCW have simply sold you a lower spec model, at a higher price. The 702 is available direct from HP for £249 at present.
From googling the 700 and 702, I can't actually see a lot of difference in the specs. They are both 10.2 inch netbooks with 1GB RAM, Atom 1.6 Mhz processors and 60GB hard drives, running XP. The weight of each is almost identical, the 700 is certainly not a kilo heavier.
Both very much standard netbooks specs, except for the relatively small hard drives.

Strider590

The big neon lights do it again!
I don't know why, despite all the bad press, people still shop at PCW...

Sorry if I seem unsympathetic, far from it in fact, I just get so frustrated with their all too clear domination of the market.

macman

Strider590 wrote: »

The big neon lights do it again!
I don't know why, despite all the bad press, people still shop at PCW...

Sorry if I seem unsympathetic, far from it in fact, I just get so frustrated with their all too clear domination of the market.

Because it's there in the High St, and convenient compared to going to a backstreet independent (or buying online when you don't really understand what the specs mean or what you need). It's a bit like a big car showroom-you can see lots of shiny new machines to choose from. And you can take it away straight after purchase. The OP's experience is fairly typical of the many people who seem to buy computers almost on a whim, and don't do a bit of research on the net first. As long as people buy like that, PCW will have a market.
But I do wonder if they shoot themselves in the foot in the long run, as how many PCW customers would buy there again?

4743hudsonj

macman wrote: »

Because it's there in the High St, and convenient compared to going to a backstreet independent (or buying online when you don't really understand what the specs mean or what you need). It's a bit like a big car showroom-you can see lots of shiny new machines to choose from. And you can take it away straight after purchase. The OP's experience is fairly typical of the many people who seem to buy computers almost on a whim, and don't do a bit of research on the net first. As long as people buy like that, PCW will have a market.
But I do wonder if they shoot themselves in the foot in the long run, as how many PCW customers would buy there again?

this has been resolved in the consumers right forum as i suggested

just to save you wasting your time:)

turns out the 700 and 702 are identical and the op was exaggerating about the weight as it is exactly the same machine (1.1kg)

so yeh

no rights to any claim

macman

Thanks hudsonj, have added my 2 pennyworth there. Can't believe I'm actually (almost) defending PCW on this one...

4743hudsonj

macman wrote: »

Thanks hudsonj, have added my 2 pennyworth there. Can't believe I'm actually (almost) defending PCW on this one...

yes well i think we do like to slate pcw but that just spurs newbies to come on here and try to flex some rights that they know nothing about and dont apply

and we are the ones left explaining it all

thats not a slate to the op

no where near some of the worse cases of people who are leeches (again the op is not a leech)

motorguy

macman wrote: »

Because it's there in the High St, and convenient compared to going to a backstreet independent (or buying online when you don't really understand what the specs mean or what you need). It's a bit like a big car showroom-you can see lots of shiny new machines to choose from. And you can take it away straight after purchase. The OP's experience is fairly typical of the many people who seem to buy computers almost on a whim, and don't do a bit of research on the net first. As long as people buy like that, PCW will have a market.
But I do wonder if they shoot themselves in the foot in the long run, as how many PCW customers would buy there again?

But the o/p knew exactly what they wanted before they went

Lets be honest, very few wake up and think 'i MUST HAVE a laptop TODAY', so why not check around and buy online?

The machine is available from amazon for less, and available with next day delivery. Why would anyone suffer the inconvenience of dealing with PC World or the hassle of going there when the unit can be delivered to your door for less?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Compaq-10-2-inch-Bluetooth-Wireless-Networking/dp/B001PYIZUM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1243980719&sr=8-1

Pixulated

That's sales assistants for you, you know why? Commission anyway I think you should def phone them back up.