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Geek Culture / POLL : Isnt PC world (uk) the biggest pile of **** ever (ex. currys tiny, time, and comet)

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Terabyte
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 23:27
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POLL : Isnt PC world (uk) the biggest pile of $H!* ever to grace the earth (ex. currys tiny, time, and comet)

I have just had to fork out £35 bloody quid to obtain a set of packard bell master cd's for my computer inorder to re install windows. I was originaly meant to create the cd's myself until the software that s meant to do this for you system restore broke down and pc world didnt wana know

Vote here if you agree with the Topic Title
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Kangaroo2
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 01:17
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Yes, all PCs from the Dixons Group, (including Currys and PCWorld) don't actually include a restore disk, rather a partition on the hard-drive and expect you to create a backup CD yourself. No idea why, seems very lazy. Probably so that when people don't bother to do it they can charge them 35 quid for a new one

Personally I think you should have done it yourself, so thats kinda your fault. But I do agree with the title, I would not recommend anybody to buy their PC from any of the retailers you mentioned. They are often overpriced, high spec but low quality component systems, and they offer little or no after sales support, in my experience.

Ho - hum what do you expect from a large coorp tho? The best largish pc retailer I've found is Evesham, unless you count Alienware

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Redmotion
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 01:21
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I went to the future yesterday and an old woman living in the year 2090 said there was an old wives tale that went:

NEVER BUY A COMPUTER FROM A SHOP ON THE HIGHSTREET.



Dual athlon 2000 MP - 1GB ram
"It's the devils way now...There's no way out...You can scream and you can shout!
It is too late now..BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PLAYING ATTENTION.
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Rob K
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 01:25
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Packard Bell PCs are terrible.

Anyway, it isn't PC World that are "the biggest pile of .....", after all, they were able to make money selling you the CDs, something which cost them nothing (or next to it) to obtain. It's called profitable business

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Dazzag
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 01:53
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PC world is rubbish. Although price wise it's not as bad as it once was. My main problem is they seem to have a really good selection of stuff, but not everything (and they are pretty big stores too). I mean the best graphics card in one of our local PC worlds was an FX 5200. That's a sub £80 graphics card!!!! But there were loads of cards there. Just nothing decent. Also the stores are big, and there are like hardly any staff around. Impossible to find, then when you find one they haven't the foggiest.

But no. Buy on the internet. Last 3 computers were from the internet and had no major problems. As long as you haven't a problem with hardware or software then tuck in. For example my first internet PC didn't boot up. Quick inspection and was because the HD cable had fallen out. Oh, and a pen had been left in the case. Heh. Worked fine after that. And I had to reinstall XP professional on one PC. But no big shakes.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
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spooky
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 03:06
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Agree, PC World are rubbish. I got so mad a few months back I emailed them to complain. I have never emailed a complaint in my life!

I went to local megastore one evening to buy something and was amazed to find nobody at the tills, no security bloke who always eyes you up like you are a thief, infact nobody at all! There were some confused people hanging around with their purchases not knowing what to do.

There was one lad at very back of store but not allowed on tills and one bloke stuck on phone doing a support call. Apparently we were all supposed to wait for him! Sod that, we all slung our goods on the counter and left.

Have to agree with Dazzag about their products. They are SO far behind with latest technology. They are still trying to flog graphics cards I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Their special offers are just a big con. I bought some harman kardon speakers for 60 quid (they claimed were 100 pound off). Turned out everyone else sells 'em for 30. (They are nice though!)

The one saving grace is their brown box component stuff. Everything is pretty damn cheap.

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the_winch
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 03:59
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That is a dixons speciality, selling old products at full price and making it look like a bargain.
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MrTAToad
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 12:09
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PC World aren't too bad - better than Diskin most of the time anyway (expensive local computer shop, with shops around the UK).
I tend to buy over the internet now anyway (especially since I've found a good place that can take SWITCH instead of VISA); the local PC World is around 30 miles away.

Good news everyone! I really am THAT good...
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Rob K
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 12:24
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"Have to agree with Dazzag about their products. They are SO far behind with latest technology. They are still trying to flog graphics cards I wouldn't touch with a barge pole."

Have to agree there. I went to PC World only a week ago. Not only did they not have a single ATI Radeon card, but the newest NVidia card they had was a GeForce 4 Ti 4200.

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Redmotion
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 12:50
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I don't know which wallies buy things more expensive than blank CDs from Dixons/Currys but they clearly do and consequently have no ability in the brain department. And there must be a lot of them because Dixons/Currys are still going... It must survive on Bank Holidays and birthday presents... and zombies.

Dual athlon 2000 MP - 1GB ram
"It's the devils way now...There's no way out...You can scream and you can shout!
It is too late now..BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PLAYING ATTENTION.
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MushroomHead
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 13:19 Edited at: 1st Jul 2003 13:31
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PC World are a bunch of knobs, I never buy anything off them, except maybe games. I remember the first PC I bought off them was a 333 MHZ Packard Bell and even paid £250 extra for their "mastercare" cover which gives you extended 3 year warranty on your purchase. Try calling that hotline and it's always engaged, if you connect you may have to wait for half an hour or so listening to some stupid recording before someone answers your call ... not to forget number you dial charges is £1 a min!

The kiddie salesmen don't have a clue about what they're selling, instead want to make a quick sale and a fast commission by selling you unnecessary "warranty" covers. To say these cowboys were recommended to us by family friends (who claimed they offer excellent service) is way beyond belief ... I guess you learn from experiance, I learnt from mines in the mid 90's (Win 95 era).

Oh, another thing they don't tell you, their returns policy is in right shambles ... unlike other manufacturers (such as Dabs), you cannot return a product if you open the shrink wrapping because it's "company policy". I bought a Hewlett Packard tape drive for backups from them then realised the Packard Bell PC caused lot of Win95 conflict errors and driver software crashes. The update on HP's website didn't fix it so I went to return the hardware product but they refused because the shrink wrapping's come off! They then went on to claim that I could have pirated the software which is ridiculous because what good would a pirate copy be without a hardware drive which I was also returning?!? When you ask for the manager, you always get "He's not in today!". Secondly, all branded machines (HP, Compaq, Packard Bell) use custom components so trying to upgrade them in the future will be very expensive ... they quoted me £400 for a motherboard upgrade in those days for Packard Bell!!

I've have better experiance ordering from Dabs and Mesh Computers (Mesh service policy is a bit dodgy but their customer service is excellent) ... Evesham is highly recommended too. You want games, register yourself on www.gameplay.co.uk and get them from there.

- Rav.
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FieldDoc
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 13:26
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I used to work for PC World and I can confirm that that corporation is a pile of s***.

Regarding the extended cover stuff....don't blame the salesperson though....you would not believe the pressure they are under to get the cover. I remember one weekend, the manager said that we weren't to sell any PCs without the cover!! The issue is that they make maybe £50 on a £1000 PC....but they make £250 from a £300 extended warranty.

With regards to not providing restore CDs...that has NOTHING TO DO WITH PCWORLD. It is down to the manufacturer....HP are right little b*****ds for pioneering that little idea.

Life is like a penis:
When it's soft you can't beat it, when it's hard you get screwed.
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MushroomHead
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 13:29 Edited at: 1st Jul 2003 13:37
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My bro worked for them too, on a part-time basis when he was at uni ... he told us of the nasty tricks these guys use including repackaging PC's which were on display and selling them back to customers as "brand new" machines!

By the way, whats Time computers like? I heard horror stories of Tiny computers which was bought by Time (I think) ... Time has high spec machines at knock down prices, has anyone had bad experiances with them?
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MrTAToad
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 13:40
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Time always get pretty good reviews - the only real problem is you cant buy any off the shelf - they need to be made up...

Good news everyone! I really am THAT good...
http://www.nickk.nildram.co.uk/ for great plug-ins - oh my, yes!
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Martyn Pittuck
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 14:09
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I hate PC World, but i do go there regualry to see whats new etc.

Their staff are meant to know lots of stuff, for example ask a 'networking specialist' whether one wi-fi product is compatible with the other and he shuffles across and reads the box saying 'I will check what frequency they are on'

Haha, twat.

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Giles Papworth
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 14:15
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Well here's a tip:

Build your own pc, that way you are the support for the pc

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the_winch
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 16:19
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Quote: "Time always get pretty good reviews - the only real problem is you cant buy any off the shelf - they need to be made up..."


That can be a good thing, it usually means that the componants of the computer are fairly new.
I saw a tiny once and despite the fact it had only been brought about three months ago the componants where about 3 years old and one of them had stoped working.
It's not only a problem that it is outdated but it could have been sat anywhere. Storing componants in a damp warehouse isn't going to make them last a long time.
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MrTAToad
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 16:35 Edited at: 1st Jul 2003 16:36
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True - but it can be a long wait getting one...

Anyone else got a Diskin (or is it Disking?) computer shop near them ? They're okay (if vastly overpriced). I only really use them for emergencies (like the time I broke my IDE cable).

Good news everyone! I really am THAT good...
http://www.nickk.nildram.co.uk/ for great plug-ins - oh my, yes!
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Van B
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Posted: 1st Jul 2003 18:17
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My boss got a PC from PC World a couple of years ago, 1 month after the guarantee ran out - poof, on-board video chip starts acting weird, crashing the PC etc. So he brings it in for me to have a look at, no obvious onboard videa disabling jumper on the motherboard, no options in bios, no AGP slot, and a PCI display card would'nt work at all.

We managed to get the hard drive out, not bad for £1500 or whatever hellish price he paid for it. So he spent £300 on a new (basic shell) PC, no HD, no Video card, but 2.4ghz so it wasn't a slouch. Then I added a Radion 9100/9000 can't remember exactly, which was £45, he already had a monitor/speakers etc, the onboard sound was fine for his needs. So realistically you could spend £450 on a great PC or £1500 on a lump of crap from PCW. If anyone is wondering, his PC is running C&C Generals perfectly smoothly at full res, quite the little power-house for so little money.


Van-B

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