wow pc world are such incompetant

londonTiger

I went in store to buy a computer monitor, I thought I've bought too many monitors online before and I need to go instore and compare different displays before buying.

They have all the monitors hooked up via VGA connections in the wrong aspect ratio as well!!. They have 4:3 display, some of the monitos are displaying it stretched, others are displaying it with black bars beside it. The resolution is awful.

Worst of all they have a £350 27" 4K monitor. I really wanted to have a look at the 4K to see if it was worth buying over a 1080p. Well since they were showing it though a VGA cable which maxes out at 720p I will never know.

Sigh

prowla

londonTiger wrote: »

wow pc world are such incompetant

>>incompetent<<

AJXX

Do you really expect anything less?

PC World is somewhere I'd go if I needed something in an emergency, and even then I'd do my research online first so I know what I'm buying and can go in/out ASAP.

The last time I set foot in PC World (several years ago), I just wanted a quick look at laptops - I had a salesman following me around like a bad smell within 10 seconds and the following conversation went down;

Salesman: Well this one has 500 GB of RAM that's more than enough for most things or this one here *points* which has a whopping 1 TB of RAM.
Me: Don't you mean HDD space? those models have 4 GB of RAM and 8 GB of RAM respectively, if you look at the sign it clearly says 1 TB HDD not RAM
Salesman: No it's just the way the sign was printed, if it only had 8 GB of RAM it wouldn't be able to run Windows (said in the most patronising way possible) This one definitely has 1 TB of RAM, I have this model myself and....
Me: *Walks out*

pappa_golf

AJXX wrote: »

Do you really expect anything less?

PC World is somewhere I'd go if I needed something in an emergency, and even then I'd do my research online first so I know what I'm buying and can go in/out ASAP.

The last time I set foot in PC World (several years ago), I just wanted a quick look at laptops - I had a salesman following me around like a bad smell within 10 seconds and the following conversation went down;

Salesman: Well this one has 500 GB of RAM that's more than enough for most things or this one here *points* which has a whopping 1 TB of RAM.
Me: Don't you mean HDD space? those models have 4 GB of RAM and 8 GB of RAM respectively, if you look at the sign it clearly says 1 TB HDD not RAM
Salesman: No it's just the way the sign was printed, if it only had 8 GB of RAM it wouldn't be able to run Windows (said in the most patronising way possible) This one definitely has 1 TB of RAM, I have this model myself and....
Me: *Walks out*

ahh , you spoke to the main "techguy" :rotfl:

londonTiger

there used to be a computer shop (indie) opposite pcworld. I asked them has the pcworld affected their trade. The indie was there since before PC world. "They said not at all actually, PC world draws people in from far afield but then after getting frustrated with PC worlds service they come to us".

Sometimes PC world would have a wait time of 2 weeks for someone to get their broken laptop back. The indie could turn things around quicker.

The business did very well, until that paticular high street just became too expensive and they got priced out. It was too exepensive that the pcworld itself downsized and moved into currys next door.

pappa_golf

londonTiger wrote: »

there used to be a computer shop (indie) opposite pcworld. I asked them has the pcworld affected their trade. The indie was there since before PC world. "They said not at all actually, PC world draws people in from far afield but then after getting frustrated with PC worlds service they come to us".

Sometimes PC world would have a wait time of 2 weeks for someone to get their broken laptop back. The indie could turn things around quicker.

The business did very well, until that paticular high street just became too expensive and they got priced out. It was too exepensive that the pcworld itself downsized and moved into currys next door.

yup , maplins moved into Preston , closed 3 smaller but running for 50 yrs electronic shops down , then moved to an out of town shopping centre , result , is the only electronics place is a 5 mile walk




ps: 1n4001 diodes , last time I looked at maplins they were 47p each , CPC/farnell which is 3 miles in the opposite direction they are 2p each




edit maplin Code: QL73Q 49p each


cpc SC07332 2p each orders over 100 , 3p each in orders less than 100

londonTiger

what surprised me is that it's really not that difficult or expesive to do HDMI outputs to 12 monitors. You can buy a standard 1080p 12 port HDMI splitter for less than £100. I'm sure 4K versions aren't that expensive either.

That's would be a very cheap way of doing it, the staff will need to get some training so they know the difference between a 1080p and 4k screen and the aspect ratio difference between a standard 16:9 vs ultra wide screen.

esuhl

It doesn't surprise me. Hardly anyone making a significant purchase from PC World would know what they're buying or how much they're overpaying.

People in the know would be scared away by their high prices and under-specced components. Instead they target those "not in the know", whose likelihood of buying something depends almost entirely on the salesperson's "charm".

To be fair, IT stock depreciates quickly, sales staff (even ones who would struggle to reboot a PC) are expensive, and rent in shopping centres and high streets must be pretty high. If they're competing with online companies with just-in-time ordering, no sales staff, and low rent, then they are never going to be the "rational" choice for an informed person who knows what they want to buy.

In short, you are not the customer they're looking for!

londonTiger

esuhl wrote: »

It doesn't surprise me. Hardly anyone making a significant purchase from PC World would know what they're buying or how much they're overpaying.

People in the know would be scared away by their high prices and under-specced components. Instead they target those "not in the know", whose likelihood of buying something depends almost entirely on the salesperson's "charm".

To be fair, IT stock depreciates quickly, sales staff (even ones who would struggle to reboot a PC) are expensive, and rent in shopping centres and high streets must be pretty high. If they're competing with online companies with just-in-time ordering, no sales staff, and low rent, then they are never going to be the "rational" choice for an informed person who knows what they want to buy.

In short, you are not the customer they're looking for!

I'm your typical online shopper but there are somethings I wont buy online, such as clothes and monitors/TVs. Currys do actually pricematch closely online in many occasions they were on par with amazon in price. Selling online is actually more and more expensive now, advertising cost is bloody expensive most online companys pay a fortune for adwords clicks. So it's no longer cheaper to buy online - if you try to buy white goods on ebay you'll be getting ripped off argos is the best place to buy.

Bollotom

pappa_golf wrote: »

yup , maplins moved into Preston , closed 3 smaller but running for 50 yrs electronic shops down , then moved to an out of town shopping centre , result , is the only electronics place is a 5 mile walk

You could always run it, save all that walking.

Mista_C

Not PC World but Currys (same parent company) when 56k modems came out. I accompanied my sister when she went to pick up a modem.

Currys Drone: Can I help you?
Me: We're looking for a modem.
CD: Well, this one's a 38k and is the fastest available.
Me: I'm a computer engineer.
CD: Erm... OK, let me just go get you a 56k from out of the back.