PC World -competitive?

converse

I wouldn't say PCworld price are that competitive nor the warranties very good. Much better off looking for a quality brand which has good reviews in the press (PC Magazine, PC Pro etc etc). and if you can buying either direct or from a decent on-line retailer.

Better to have a long-standard or extended manufacturers warranty, as isofa mentioned with dell, or with independant brands such as Mesh (www.meshcomputers.com) and others, which usually come with 1,2 or 3 year on-site warranties, depending on the PC purchases, and upgrades to 2 and 3 years on site are far less expensive that "extended" warranties sold by high-street retailers lining their pockets. Also on-site is a lot better than returning to a store.

Also try John Lewis, better service and they'll price match.

I'd also agree that taking out an extended "warranty" to cover accidentaly damage seems weird. It is what insurance is for, and unless you are a very clumsy, it's not that often you'll use it. On travelling with a laptop, better to have this properly covered with insurance, as the data loss will be more significant that a easily replaceable piece of hardware. But we are veering off-topic here.

FallingDownMan

I'm sorry, but Mesh come in for a hell of a lot of stick on their customer support. So do Dell, come to that. Just having a warranty doesn't mean you always get what you want, anymore than buying a Dell or a Mesh means they'll never, ever, ever go wrong.

Why do people keep implying (or even stating outright) that if you buy so-and-so it will never break?

PC World don't MAKE hardware but they sell it (and insure it) on behalf of many of these 'perfect' manufacturers. And I can assure you that Sony, Compaq, HP, Toshiba, and so on ALL go wrong. Especially when someone drops one (or tries to 'upgrade' it without knowing what they're doing - i.e. they wipe the recovery sector by installing Linux because someone aspiring to geekhood said it was cool and used the label 'M$' for Microsoft :rolleyes:) .

Dell and Mesh extended warranties are worth having. So are ones from PC World unless you're trying to cultivate a cool attitude (in which case dissing PC World is the in thing). Problem is, you can't easily get extended warranties on Internet purchases, where even standard support can be pretty hard to obtain. And as for Accidental Damage - even harder.

The number of people who have accidents means accidental damage policies are sought after by many. Everyone can be smug about accidents - right up until they have one. After all, accidents ARE accidental.

thebroker1980

FallingDownMan wrote: »

I'm sorry, but Mesh come in for a hell of a lot of stick on their customer support. So do Dell, come to that. Just having a warranty doesn't mean you always get what you want, anymore than buying a Dell or a Mesh means they'll never, ever, ever go wrong.

Why do people keep implying (or even stating outright) that if you buy so-and-so it will never break?

PC World don't MAKE hardware but they sell it (and insure it) on behalf of many of these 'perfect' manufacturers. And I can assure you that Sony, Compaq, HP, Toshiba, and so on ALL go wrong. Especially when someone drops one (or tries to 'upgrade' it without knowing what they're doing - i.e. they wipe the recovery sector by installing Linux because someone aspiring to geekhood said it was cool and used the label 'M$' for Microsoft :rolleyes:) .

Dell and Mesh extended warranties are worth having. So are ones from PC World unless you're trying to cultivate a cool attitude (in which case dissing PC World is the in thing). Problem is, you can't easily get extended warranties on Internet purchases, where even standard support can be pretty hard to obtain. And as for Accidental Damage - even harder.

The number of people who have accidents means accidental damage policies are sought after by many. Everyone can be smug about accidents - right up until they have one. After all, accidents ARE accidental.

Fallingdownman
No one here is “dissing” PC World to fit in or sound cool, what people are stating facts drawn from the experiences and the level of customer service they receive when frequenting one of many PC World stores, which by my standard is poor.

From my experience which may I add has been in many of there stores on numerous occasions, the sales staff have been unfriendly, hard to find and also not up to speed on their product knowledge.

This is not a reflection on the employees of PC World but of a company in whole as these are training issues.

Going onto your point of extended warranty, this normally refers to time after the manufactures warranty has elapsed (which in most cases is 1 year from the date of purchase) after this time if you have taken an extended warranty out from a third party company not the manufacturer. This warranty will do the following: repair replace or refund the purchase amount of the kit if it malfunctions.

These warranties are usually underwritten by another third party insurance company. So in essence an extended warranty that is not from the manufacturer after one year is a type of insurance, and if you have home and contents insurance you will be covered for majority of the things that an extended warranty will cover you for.

So is it worth it? This is moneysavingexpert not the monthly DSG newsletter so I will say No, your home insurance will cover for most things you will need to be covered for after a year.

FallingDownMan

I think they are, the Broker. If these people are the tech gods they imagine themselves to be then they don't need to go to PC World in the first place, as they'd build their own PCs from parts bought at Overclockers or eBuyer, etc. And get their peripherals and consumables online.

I think you're missing a very significant point here: the quality of the PC World staff selling things is not directly connected to the quality of the things they sell!!!!! You can have a spotty know-nothing sell you a top-of-the-range Vaio, but is that Vaio any the less good as a result of that? Of course not.

The insurance policies available from PC World (or Currys, or Dixons, or Mesh, or Dell) stand or fall based on the cover people receive when they purchase them with items and not the attitude of staff who sold them. That is a ridiculous thing to suggest or imply.

PCW is not good value for money as far as hardware goes. I rarely buy anything there unless I'm desperate. I've never had a problem with staff - but then I don't consider myself to be in competition with them, as most wannabe geeks do (and they were frequent callers ).

In any case, we're now talking about extended warranties. These ARE valuable. Just reading these pages is enough to prove people DO have the kinds of problems warranties will resolve. All I can see here is repeated attempts by people who profess not to need warranties slating them for people who definitely would benefit from them.

The warranties - what this discussion has turned to - are not a rip-off unless you expect something they never offered to start with.

PCW waranties are at least as good as Mesh or Dell's and no one can prove otherwise - certainly not here. It is dislike of PCW for whatever reason which is firing those highly inaccurate statements.

The sheer number of machines I personally had fixed (including the repeat ones because someone bought a machine with compound faults) ran into thousands. That's just me - there were nearly 1,000 of us!!! This is genuine proof that these warranties ARE useful and not 'a rip-off' as others have blandly claimed.

thebroker1980

Fallingdownman

Please review my previous comments, and also past posts on this thread. there maybe spelling mistakes and grammatical errors but i'm sure they make sense.

FallingDownMan

And please do the same for me so we're not arguning againsta brick wall : my comments were directed at two people who WERE making rash statements before you came in to try and correct me

Someone said PCW warranties are a complete rip off. I'm making it clear that - factually - they are not.

wolfman

FallingDownMan wrote: »

I think they are, the Broker. If these people are the tech gods they imagine themselves to be then they don't need to go to PC World in the first place, as they'd build their own PCs from parts bought at Overclockers or eBuyer, etc. And get their peripherals and consumables online.

Not necessarily. If there's a bargain deal I'd still buy from PC World. There rarely is, but if there was I'd still go there. Printers, paper, cartidges, cd bags etc... are usually they area where I'd find an "ok" deal.

FallingDownMan wrote: »

I think you're missing a very significant point here: the quality of the PC World staff selling things is not directly connected to the quality of the things they sell!!!!! You can have a spotty know-nothing sell you a top-of-the-range Vaio, but is that Vaio any the less good as a result of that? Of course not.

Yes but do you really need a top of the range Vaio? And just because it's a Sony doesn't mean it's good, or the best available.

PC World from my experience, gives bad advice, or at least they generally don't seem to really know much about PC's, it's more about the sale. In which case people get sold something they don't need, often costing more than they would typically need to spend.

FallingDownMan wrote: »

In any case, we're now talking about extended warranties. These ARE valuable. Just reading these pages is enough to prove people DO have the kinds of problems warranties will resolve. All I can see here is repeated attempts by people who profess not to need warranties slating them for people who definitely would benefit from them.

Questionable. Most computer parts typically come with a reasonable warranty. And then there's also your consumer rights. If I bought a PC and it broke after 12 months, I'd be well within my rights to ask them to do something about it.

Of course this is more hassle than an extended warranty (not to say that they sometimes can't be too), but the plus side is you save money. Some people will take the money, others the warranty.

I personally have never taken a warranty and have never had any problems. I've sent cpu's, hard drives and a graphics card back to the manufacturers and been sent a replacement within a couple of weeks. But again, this is just my personal experience, it will differ for others.

Barracuda

The people on here who have said PCW's "extended warranties" are rip offs etc, have you looked at what you get?
Its a pay as you go policy, so can be cancelled anytime, average payment being £6.99 per month for a laptop, you get a whole lot more than just replacement parts etc. Next time you go in ask/pick up a leaflet on PCP, to name a few of the other things you get: support hotline national rate number to call 24 hours a day for a problem that could be solved at home over the phone, a health check once a year worth £50, vista training, its a long list tbh.
I am not defending PCW's srvice etc but look at this before you judge, I bet most if not all do not know this about the product.
Also PCW staff are no longer commisioned based as of 2 years ago.

EDIT:
Just found this link to what everyone is calling PC worlds exetended warranties:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/store_doc/GE/mb/pcp/pcp-support-service.html

FallingDownMan

wolfman wrote: »

Printers, paper, cartidges, cd bags etc... are usually they area where I'd find an "ok" deal.

This is getting a little specific, but... no, I won't do it. Everyone has their own opinion on that. Suffice it to say, I always buy my HP original cartridges online as they are the higher capacity ones and much cheaper (by about £15) than PCW.

Yes but do you really need a top of the range Vaio?

Absolutely irrelevent. I could have said Toshiba Satellite or anything else. Or even made a name up. It was an example intended to illustrate how what you buy it totally unaffected by how the person who sold it behaved.

PC World from my experience, gives bad advice,

Some staff do. Some staff don't. But not relevent to warranties as the eventual service work is not carried out by PCW staff or Dixons Group employees of any kind.

Most computer parts typically come with a reasonable warranty

But absolutely NOT accidental damage, NOT 5 years (usually 12 months manufacturers defects only), and NOT effectively unlimited. So not much comparison between the two options.

Fighting for your consumer rights is, as you suggested, a long process and a total waste of time if you have something with a 12 month warranty which breaks after 18 months and in the manner of a laptop which is used heavily. You'd have no chance of a claim. It is wear and tear, probably typical, and user-induced.

I personally have never taken a warranty

So please accept that your opinion, which is therefore based on what you've heard from others, might not be good advice for the majority of non-computer literate people out there. And also that someone who has repaired/had repaired thousands of pieces of hardware covered by them might actually know the score

Extended warranties provide things that you would not have otherwise. If you need those things they have value.

converse

FallingDownMan wrote: »

And please do the same for me so we're not arguning againsta brick wall : my comments were directed at two people who WERE making rash statements before you came in to try and correct me Someone said PCW warranties are a complete rip off. I'm making it clear that - factually - they are not.

This assumes you are comparing them with all the competition, you are making rash statements, or possibly aren't quite as impartial as you make out. with PC World! I suggest you read about warranties in the computer magazines, and just see how poorly PC World compete. These are written by people who's job it is to review and compare the competition of hardware and value for money, rather than making "rash statements".

These "people" aren't making rash statements anymore than you are, they are offering an opinion, which is what this forum is for, rather than trying to drag it off topic by constantly discussing accidental damage, which as several posters have earlier said, including me, is connected with insurance.

There are many interesting articles regarding problems, bad service and technical incompetance at PC World on Which, many you have to be a subscriber for, but this can be read by all:

http://www.which.co.uk/reports_and_campaigns/computers_and_internet/reports/computers/PC_World_repairs_news_article_557_99707.jsp

Anyone that know's anything about computers, would be unlikely to touch PC World or any of the DSG group with a barge-pole.