Currys / PC World ‘Know-How’'ransom' like?

Samsonite1

They do scam you on some things. My friend had a 3 year extended warranty on a PC for £300 (I mean you can buy a whole PC for that!). There was a fault and it would not be fixed under warranty because the PC was faulty, as in all of them. You could not connect to broadband using the network cable as the network card was faulty on all models. All they could do was give you a new £1,000 PC with the same faulty card. In the end he stumped up £15 for a different card...

rainygreyhound

Dreadful company. Would never use them again after letting one of their monkey's look at a tablet I had a problem with.

They were so incompetent I'd even be willing to pay slightly more for something just so I didn't have to use them again.

Samsonite1

My mum embarrassed me many years ago at PC World. She was buying some piece of computer equipment and took me along - I advised her on what to get. A salesman(?) steps in and tries to convince her of what to buy, but it conflicts with my advice. My mum then says to the salesman "My son has just graduated with a Computer Science degree, what are your qualifications?". At which point he shrugs and walks off. Thanks mum.

pendragon_arther

OP, you've saved yourself a lot of hassle by not using these monkeys. They used to be called Tech Guys but because they're paid peanuts they haven't a clue about repairing anything. Had you sent it back to them they'd have probably screwed up your mobo or similar and you'd be spending countless hours tooing and froing for the next few months. My advice is to avoid them like the plague.

Mr_Toad

The OP seems to have completely misunderstood how PC World operate.

PC World don't charge £50 to look at it and give a quote then charge for the part and fitting.

For a laptop repair they charge £50 + cost of parts and that's it.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptop-repairs-171-commercial.html#laptop

The flat fee of £50 covers the labour and time to take apart the laptop and identify the problem and faulty parts. It also covers fitting the new parts and reassembly. The only unknown is what parts and their cost are are.

Those costs are passed back to the customer who then gets to decide if they wish to go ahead.

If not the faulty laptop is reassembled and returned. Again the work this entails is covered by the £50.

Anyone who expects PC World or anyone else to do this for free is beyond me.

Look at Striders post, he tried, no doubt to build customer reputation and confidence. It isn't easy when people think they should get something for nothing. We all have to earn a living.

Strider590

Samsonite1 wrote: »

My mum embarrassed me many years ago at PC World. She was buying some piece of computer equipment and took me along - I advised her on what to get. A salesman(?) steps in and tries to convince her of what to buy, but it conflicts with my advice. My mum then says to the salesman "My son has just graduated with a Computer Science degree, what are your qualifications?". At which point he shrugs and walks off. Thanks mum.

My mate runs the IT systems for many of the local schools, he was given a comp science graduate to help his daily tasks.
This individual didn't know how to format a HDD, install windows AND tried to plug a USB keyboard into a parallel port.

I mean........ This is basic stuff, anyone remotely interested in their subject should know this a long time before going near any educational establishment.

So if someone said that to me, i'd probably laugh and throw a suitable tech question their way, one they wouldn't have a hope in hells chance of answering.

Samsonite1

Strider590 wrote: »

My mate runs the IT systems for many of the local schools, he was given a comp science graduate to help his daily tasks.
This individual didn't know how to format a HDD, install windows AND tried to plug a USB keyboard into a parallel port.

I mean........ This is basic stuff, anyone remotely interested in their subject should know this a long time before going near any educational establishment.

So if someone said that to me, i'd probably laugh and throw a suitable tech question their way, one they wouldn't have a hope in hells chance of answering.

Yes, unfortunately education has become diluted. There are "good" Computer Science degrees and "bad" ones. You need a good degree to be able to spot people who have bad ones (by which universty and course, syllabus, etc.).

I started work as a graduate alongside another comp sci graduate. It turned out that he had only learned how to use Microsoft Office and write the odd macro over 3 years - he struggled and ended up leaving because he was not interested and could not do the job! He went to a university in the same city as the university I attended, so you could forgive people for thinking they had the same degree. For what it is worth, my 3 year degree covered the following subjects (apologies, I just pasted it from the syllabus!) - there was no way you would pass the course without being very interested in computers!:

Year 1:
Architecture and Operating Systems
Computational Thinking
Developing Quality Software
Fundamentals of Computing with Java
Mathematics
Problem Solving with Python
Professional Skills
Web Applications

Year 2:
Advanced Programming *
Algorithms and Data Structures
Communication Networks and Pervasive Computing
Database Systems
Human Computer Interaction
Mathematics II
Object Oriented Applications
Scientific Computing and Multimedia Applications *
System Design and Group Project

Year 3:
Computational Intelligence *
Emerging Technologies
Graphics, Visualisation and Image Processing *
High Performance Computing *
Individual Project
Knowledge Management *
Large Scale Databases *
Multimedia *
Project and Programme Management *
Security and Forensics *
Strategic Information Systems *

Gavin78

The EU want to stop the general public from building their own pc's.

It's a sad day and age these days when you hear the words get someone "who knows what they are doing" to look at it as they have qualifications.

As we all know pc repairs or even a garage can have fancy techs/mechanics with fancy certificates doesn't mean to say they know what they are doing.

I managed to fix my wife's laptop a few years back guy wanted £150 I managed to fix it myself for £35

I have a few IT qualifications and have built pc's myself at home for years so have some idea. like with anything in life it's always best to have some knowledge of what it is you are using.

John_Gray

For a recent computer degree, it seems worryingly short on networking, websites, hardware, and so on. Presumably, and unfortunately, 'social media' should appear somewhere, too?

Strider590

Samsonite1 wrote: »

Yes, unfortunately education has become diluted. There are "good" Computer Science degrees and "bad" ones. You need a good degree to be able to spot people who have bad ones (by which universty and course, syllabus, etc.).

I started work as a graduate alongside another comp sci graduate. It turned out that he had only learned how to use Microsoft Office and write the odd macro over 3 years - he struggled and ended up leaving because he was not interested and could not do the job! He went to a university in the same city as the university I attended, so you could forgive people for thinking they had the same degree. For what it is worth, my 3 year degree covered the following subjects (apologies, I just pasted it from the syllabus!) - there was no way you would pass the course without being very interested in computers!:

Year 1:
Architecture and Operating Systems
Computational Thinking
Developing Quality Software
Fundamentals of Computing with Java
Mathematics
Problem Solving with Python
Professional Skills
Web Applications

Year 2:
Advanced Programming *
Algorithms and Data Structures
Communication Networks and Pervasive Computing
Database Systems
Human Computer Interaction
Mathematics II
Object Oriented Applications
Scientific Computing and Multimedia Applications *
System Design and Group Project

Year 3:
Computational Intelligence *
Emerging Technologies
Graphics, Visualisation and Image Processing *
High Performance Computing *
Individual Project
Knowledge Management *
Large Scale Databases *
Multimedia *
Project and Programme Management *
Security and Forensics *
Strategic Information Systems *

I mean no offence, but that's a whole lot of theory.... What about hardware?

I liken it to driving a car.
Anyone can learn to drive, but only someone who understands the mechanics can learn to drive the machine to it's full potential and with maximum mechanical sympathy.

I think with computers, hardware and software merge into one, neither can work without the other, it's a symbiotic relationship.
Knowing half of it, is not enough and those taking these courses for no reason other than to avoid getting a job, they come out with text book memory, no practical skills and a "I know everything" attitude.