PC World sent me a faulty PC, rant

ryouga

I bought the cheap one on offer here a few weeks back(well about 2 months) It arrived faulty, the 2nd ram slot wouldnt work, it was stuck on USB1, the DVD burner wouldnt recognise many discs.

I send it back, 2 weeks later recieve 3 confusing emails one saying I was getting a refund, one with a new order number as they ordered a replacement, one saying refund had gone through, I phoned up and was told I am definatly getting a replacement and the warehouse was keeping one aside for me.

5 days pass and I get another saying they are getting a shipment in 2 days and will send me another then. I phone again and am reassured I am getting a replacement.

I get a phone call today to say they are unable to get stock so they have refunded, but they arent refunding the postage and packing costs I paid either way, and I said I was unhappy, and they replied with "as far as we are concerned the case is closed as we have sent a refund" which I even wrote on return forms "I dont want a refund, I want a replacement" I ask if I can get a different PC of the same/similar spec to make up for it instead, and was told "no you would have to make a new order and pay full price"

What can I do about this as now I have no PC!

ryouga

Hmmm sorry for bumping up message, just thought id mention something.

I phoned PC World again as I noticed their website shows the item as in stock again, just higher priced, and yesterday it showed no stock, and I got through to a really polite woman who checked, and said she was confused herself, and admitted the system only showed the item in stock just today, and also confirmed the system had no refund sent or even ready to be sent.

She said she would email the warehouse and tell them to contact me.

What I am thinking is one of 2 things, 1 that they got stock in after my call so didnt refund, and/or 2 they decided not to sell to me lol

vetfred

This is my understanding...

I'm not too sure why they've gone along the refund route if you asked for a replacement as you're entitled to a repair or replacement within what you determine a reasonable time so just because there's no stock today might not mean you're not willing to wait a week! So you should be able to get a repair or replacement so long as one exists and it doesn't cost more than you've actually paid. ie if you wanted it fixing and it would cost £1,000 to fix and the PC was only £800 then they can refuse the repair.

I suppose their increasing of the price might mean they can claim they can't replace your PC without it costing them more than you paid... although that would be cheeky. Beyond that, you have a right to a full refund and possibly compensation to help you purchase the same thing should it be more expensive now which is the other side of the coin altogether.

PC World should bear the postage costs incurred in the shipping and subsequent return of their faulty PC. I'm not sure what the basis of their argument against this point can be as they've sold faulty goods which must be returned and why should the consumer pay in any form for that?

Their website says: "Any refund due to a fault or other defect will include a refund of the applicable delivery charges. We will also pay for our costs of collecting goods for replacement or refund if they are not taken into a store."

So, in the case they came to the house to collect the faulty goods, they cover their costs there... well isn't their costs in collecting items just another form of return costs like postage return costs?

I'd get my money back and avoid them - try eBuyer or somewhere better!

Col.Mastard

PC World are totally clueless in Customer Service :mad:

dangeroussports

PC World are as bad as DELL if you read up you could build your own.

gtone28

Just had the same problem withone of pc worlds partner company's DIXONS online.

My mother is learning web design and needs a laptop which can cope with multitasking so I looked for a computer in her price range under £400. I found a dual core packard bell for £329 with free delivery. It was cheap because it's a reconditioned laptop (been sent out to a customer then returned for some reason or was a shop sample, but checked and cleansed by a tech before being resold ) brill I thought because I've got a celeron M which i would'nt recommend. only had 256mb ram but she had £70 for memory upgrade.

Well after 2 days the disk drive dvd gave in and the computer keeps freezing, no better with the upgraded memory either.

I phoned them up and they have offered a refund or repair and said we get this all the time not every computer is perfect (What do the tech's actually do with these recondition computers, nothing by the looks of it).

ryouga

An update, after many phone calls to them, I finally got it sorted, I never recieved my email or phone call from warehouse like I was promised today, so I phoned at 11am to have the adviser say again "yes we have plenty in stock" and I should of been contacted by warehouse.

Anyway I get back from work at 5pm I phone again and am told yes we have 11 left in stock,but the problem was a refund has been sent(my card hasnt been credited yet) anyway I reluctantly agree to order from scratch but had to phone back as i didnt have enough on my debit card, I put some cash in my account then spend about 40 minutes on phone to sales who has a nice guy on phone but confused, as he thought I was wanting a discount on the new price, then thought Id already ordered and wanted a refund etc. The funny thing is he kept refering to me by my first name, and by that I mean he called me Mr(first name) and not Mr then my surname, it was hilarious.

Im just worried about the original refund now.