PC World -competitive?

thebroker1980

Sharky01276 wrote: »

I used to work for PC World some of the deals they have on computers wont be beaten. As mentioned above they are a huge group and therefore have enormous buying power. Try to stay clear on the extended warranty. This is where they make their money. Over 90% of people who purchase the warranty forget and never claim. I personally believe it's not worth the money. There are ways you can exploit it but then you have to question your own morals

I'm certain that the people that frequent MSE are not the types of individuals that would exploit an extended warranty.

isofa

I've bought thousands of pieces of hardware personally and for business clients, and occasionally we used PC World on-line (and PCWB) for comparison, I've never had them beat any price, and I'd be extremely surprised if their shops could ever beat an on-line price today for any current model of hardware or piece of software. (No doubt they shift out older models at a discount, but again so do on-line retailers).

Retailers that deal on-line only, don't have the overheads of many staff, shops, etc, so obviously can offer better prices. These on-line companies have enormous buying power too.

As the broker1980 says, avoid the extended warranties like the plague.

FallingDownMan

Sharky01276 wrote: »

Try to stay clear on the extended warranty.

I used to work for PC World as well (well, on the tech support lines), and I disagree with you on that

Laptops go wrong. Period.

It can be simply dust sucked in causing overheating and shutdown, loose processors, dropped, driven over, thrown in ponds (yes, really), and so on. Uni students treat them vary harshly. All kinds of things - including rubbish hardware to begin with (steer clear of Packard Bells )

The extended warranty guarantees repair or even replacement if repair not possible. Admittedly, some support staff will be rubbish and it will seem like prevarication, but stick with it and you'll get it repaired.

Useless for cheap items, but great for PCs and other hardware. iPods and so on get replaced immediately.

The warranty is an insurance policy, so if you never claim the best you can hope for is a big discount at the end (and they do that, too).

I build my own PCs, but if I went for a lappie I'd always want some sort of extended warranty.

isofa

I disagree, especially if you buy good quality hardware which has a good manufacturers warranty.

Extended warranties are in general a complete scam, especially from High Street stores and have been mis-sold for many years. As this is MoneySavingExpert, it's important to point out this point!

The other day I purchased an iPod shuffle as a gift from a high-street retailer at £50, and was offered an extended warranty at £30, how ridiculous would that be - if it failed in 1-2 years it'd be cheaper to replace, and obviously cheaper to send back for repair. Not to mention initial defects and problems would be covered by the manufacturer.

I've had laptops since the mid-1990s and use them in a professional capacity, and not one, in my experience (I have Dells and Apples) has ever failed. But equally none of my desktops have either. However obviously anything can and does fail from time to time, but it's usually a replaceable component in general, hard discs are the most common failure in computers as they contain moveable parts.

Good quality hardware has it's own manufacture warranty, some for 3-years. Just for example - about 4 years ago an older Phillips TFT monitor failed just before it's 3rd birthday, and Phillips they sent me a brand new free replacement but more up-to-date model. I paid nothing extra for this service, I just chosen to buy a quality brand with a good standard warranty.

Look at the replacement cost, and say it does fail in 3-5 years, it may well be cheaper then to replace (technology moves on at a significant pace) and if it's a desktop, components are easy to replace at far less than an expensive warranty.

motorguy

isofa wrote: »

Good quality hardware has it's own manufacture warranty, some for 3-years. Just for example - about 4 years ago an older Phillips TFT monitor failed just before it's 3rd birthday, and Phillips they sent me a brand new free replacement but more up-to-date model. I paid nothing extra for this service, I just chosen to buy a quality brand with a good standard warranty.

Look at the replacement cost, and say it does fail in 3-5 years, it may well be cheaper then to replace (technology moves on at a significant pace) and if it's a desktop, components are easy to replace at far less than an expensive warranty.

3 year warranties on TFT screens are pretty much the norm. three year standard warranty on laptops and pc's would be pretty much unheard of.

Extended warranties are an insurance policy. Its like saying the £500 to insure your car is a ripoff if you didnt have an accident. Most companies - Dell & PC world included - can be negotiated with over the price of their extended warranty, which can help considerably.

Personally, if its a cheapie laptop or PC, say below £350, i'd risk no extended warranty. Anything much over that, i'd give it serious thought.

isofa

Many of Dell's packages automatically come with some form of 3 year warranty, which you can remove to save even more money.

As Paul says it's insurance, and if you think it's worth it, then review it. Everyone has their own take and their own needs.

But like every insurance, it's charging you for your insecurity, and making the insurer rich (remember this is moneysavingexpert!)

However it is also worth pointing out is that most hardware / components generally fail early on in the life of a computer, usually very quickly indeed (due to thermal issues with components), and these failures will be covered by the manufacturer or supplier.

FallingDownMan

isofa wrote: »

I disagree, especially if you buy good quality hardware which has a good manufacturers warranty.

Extended warranties are in general a complete scam,

They're not, Isofa.

There's another thread where someone has an 18 month old lappie and the power pin has broken off. This is extremely common, as is smashed CD/DVD trays, cracked screens (closed with a pen inside it), and so on.

A decent extended warranty covers you for accidental damage - no manufacturer will touch that and all of the above is classed as accidental.

The high street stores will repair or replace accidentally damaged machines. Manufacturers will not - not without large sums of money being involved.

I know: I worked for the company that uses them and dealt with lots of customers phoning up for such faults without any cover. They're not happy when you tell them it will cost them. They're not so unhappy when they know it will get fixed.

Complaints about extended warranties often stem from the fact that software or certain user-induced damage (like opening them up and being clumsy) is not covered. People phone up asking how to copy DVDs or use Excel and are angry that the warranty doesn't cover that.

You see, not everyone is capable of fixing these things themselves, and what seems a waste of money to someone who won't have problems they can't fix, the vast majority of PC owners are not capable of fixing them themselves and would often benefit from this insurance cover.

Incidentally, Dell BUILD, which is why they offer free extended warranties. High street stores are under no obligation to add free warranties to something they didn't make. And quite rightly so.

isofa

For everyone that says they are good value, another will say they aren't.

If you have good home insurance cover, and make sure you specify your PC/laptop, it'll be covered for accidental damage. If you are foolish enough to trap a pen in the machine as you close the lid :rolleyes:.

Perhaps we need a survey to see just how useful / cost effective extended warranties on this type of product are...

I've seen many people get mis-sold extended warranties. Your advice is one opinion my another. Each to their own.
(I'm well aware Dell make their own PCs, I order tens of thousands of pounds worth a year from them, and a few other good brands, I was illustrating a point! Their extended warranties are not free, they are either costed into the system fee, or are an additional extra.)

The OPs question was about PC World which I think has been well covered.

FallingDownMan

I don't think a survey would prove anything other than you're right and I'm wrong

All people will do is vote based on opinion (and hearsay) and not from direct, relevant experience. And it's cool to say extended warranties are a waste of time.

I have no affiliation to the Dixons Group and much of what they sell is pretty ropey (Packard Bells, EiSystems to name but two). But the fact that people who have no chance of being able to open up a machine and poke a soldering iron in it DO get their machines repaired free under these warranties where they'd otherwise have to fork out a lot of money means they are worthwhile.

These people (non-techies) are by far the majority, by the way.

These policies are insurance: you don't always use them. But like most insurance it provides peace of mind AND works well if you DO need it. It's there if the worst happens.

And there's no point keep going on about house insurance because even if you can claim on that you may find your premiums affected. Fine if you have no choice, but the extended warranty is a specific and specialist item.

Have two repairs and the policy has paid for itself. And plenty of people have far more claims on them than that. I dealt with loads of people for whom they'd had so many repairs I arranged it so they got new machines because the repairs were costing more money than the value of the laptop/PC. Some nights every call resulted in a repair job (we're talking a couple of dozen for me alone, and there were close to 1,000 call agents on the lines during the day).

All this is hard fact. The opposite of uninformed opinion.

If you are foolish enough to trap a pen in the machine as you close the lid :rolleyes:.

That's a bit mercenary, isn't it?

Try telling the pensioner who did it - or the Uni student - that they're idiots and don't deserve to have it fixed and see where it gets you.

Not everyone is perfect and accidents do happen.

tali

wakandem wrote: »

pc world is great if you want something now!! If you are prepared to wait a day then order online. Not to say there aren't some bargains to be had every now and then. However when all the staff ina company are so non commital, unhappy, & most of them look enviously over the car park to mac donalds & wish they had a mac job, I'm not sure it is an organisation I want to support

have to agree -the staff are terrible