I have just spent the best part of an hour calling PC World as we have 2 laptops refusing to work. I speak to my account manager, all very nice, he gives me a reference no and a telephone and off I toddle. First call gets re-directed to PC World in Northolt (?), second goes to God knows where, third goes to the Tech Guys - thetechguys.com - belong to the same company as PC World ie. The DSG Group - (hey I’m talking to the right people). The tech, he knows absolutely nothing about any previous history regarding the laptops as there are no notes on the system. After about 25 - 30 minutes we realise I’ve been put through to the wrong department yet again, he is full of apologies and very nice (thank you Shane), he then gave me another number which I call, boy, do I wish I hadn’t.
The phone was picked up in seconds, I can’t for the life of me tell you what was said as it was blasted out in one huge rush, I replied with ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that! Is that PC World Business Tech Support?’ ‘Yes it is’ came the aggressive and impolite reply - I gave my ID number and said I had two issues this morning one with a laptop that had been repaired and was still not working, the other which had been repaired two weeks ago and now had a different issue. As for the one which was sent away for repair and came back, they replaced the hard drive and lost all the data on it - I’ve been trying for the best part of four days to get it up and running again but it’s just not happening. She very rudely interrupted me and started yelling ‘it’s not up to us to save your data that’s your job’ I replied with, very stupidly I know ‘hang on, I’m just trying to get my bloody laptop fixed’ when she screams out ‘don’t you swear at me’ I was stumped thinking what did I just say? I didn’t swear, did I? Oh, I get it she means bloody. ‘Excuse me’ says I ‘bloody isn’t swearing’, to which she replies with ‘yes it is, that’s your final warning, you say it again and I’ll terminate the call’ I seriously cannot believe what I’m hearing here. I’m stunned so I say ‘terminate this call at your own peril’ to which she comes back with ‘don’t you dare threaten me’ at this point I laugh, I’m starting to find this a bit, I don’t know the words to describe it, funny, weird, like an out of body experience. I just spent almost half an hour on the phone with Shane, a lovely man in the other tech department, why can’t I have him back? The laugh seems to set her off, like a greyhound chasing a rabbit, she starts yelling at me, shocked I drop the phone onto my desk and Paul and I stare it as a huge vat of pus spews out of it! Well, actually it was just her screeching, we could hear her quite clearly even from a distance, I rush out of the room to check the children are ok … maybe not, but Paul shocked by what he’s hearing spewing out of the receiver picks it up and tells her to calm down, ask for her name, her department and to speak to her supervisor. Her name is Rebecca (!), she is in team O at business support (!) in Nottingham and unfortunately there are no supervisors present and she refused point blank to give the telephone number for head office. Hmm, I’ve called my business support manager and I’m waiting for him to call back, I will update once I’ve spoken to him. At the moment I’m looking for a nice person to come and fix my laptops ….
If anybody would like to comment or tell other about any similar problems they’ve had let me know.
** Edit
I have just spoken to Robert ‘The Firefighter’ Evenson at PC World Customer Support (a very nice man) and he has offered me a replacement laptop which I can go and pick up at my nearest store. I’d like to thank Robert for his help in resolving this so quickly and also sincere thanks to David Attenborough (PC World affiliate manager) for pointing Robert in the direction of my blog and passing on my telephone number. They have also agreed to pay the costs of my PC repairs.
In good faith we will now remove our PPC ad which we refused to remove at David’s request as this was not an affiliate issue it was a customer issue.
‘Power to the People’ and thanks to everyone for their support.
I know how you feel.
Other half got a laptop in December, 2 weeks later it went kaputt! She lost half of her 8,000 word dissertation with it too.Marching on to PC world we went!
I hate their customer service. especially when you go into the store with the laptop, saying ‘I work for a computer marketing company and the laptop hard drive is not working when turning the laptop on’ - they then take the laptop and give it to one of their ‘tech guys’ fixing pc’s behind them, who come back to me and tell me exactly what i’ve told them.
Frustrating! Jules - you are not alone
That is horrendous treatment Jules.
I will certainly think twice about using PC World if that is the level of customer support.
so it’s you whose been hogging the PC World techi department these last couple of weeks - no wonder nobody’s got the time to hunt down some recovery disks for the sparkling brand new Touchsmart which has gone completely haywire, we’ve spoken to everyone - including the fellow who empties the bins (OK that’s a lie :)).
the ad’s a genius touch
I refuse to use PC world.
2 little things got to me and I never went back
1) being ignored instore and when I did get some one talk to me they hadent a clue.
2) using their ‘click and clooect’ service or whatever it is called, went to pick up the item, they hadn’t got it in stock even though I reserved it.
Now if I need something I go to the guy in town who is not affiliated with any particular brand or big store, who knows what he is talking about may cost a few quid more but is so much worth it.
I don’t understand why anybody buys computers from PC world, 99% are shockingly poor value for money, and nobody working there has a clue about computers. I know too many stories about PC world “Support” that I would never for 1 second consider buying from them.
Just imagine if consumers were generally knowledgeable about paid search. Now mix this & adopt into a scenario where a consumer and had adequate case for complaints about a particular retailer or service which wasn’t being resolved to their satisfaction. That person(s) maybe had a blog and wanted to get their message out there, which would be more effective than simply commenting on a consumer review site.
Now, just imagine that consumer, knowing about paid search and having some disposable cash, bidded on that retailers brand and pointing the traffic to their own blog. Interesting maybe?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=PC+World
Anyone thought about Google-bombing it?
Hi
I have always shopped at PC World and have never had any problems with their stores or customer support. Their knowledge is excellent and the service the Tech Guys offers is great. I buy all my computers from them and am always satisfied.
I don’t understand why there is so much negativity
Poor Jules. Not surprised, mind you. Was just in PC World half an hour ago and I could hardly spot anybody over the age of 20. These companies just employ kids on minimum wage to exploit, kids who don’t know the first time about computers beyond how to use a chatroom… and then they exploit consumers with the kind of absymal service you received.
Many years ago, Dixons repaired a tv I bought from them, after waiting weeks for the return, I was told… it had been sold in the manager clearance specials.. So they gave me a new one
Oh and another, they once sold me IBM OS32 operating system, I went to by Windows 3.1, but luckily they knew what was what, and told me Windows would never catch on… true story
Just taken over the IT purchasing duties at work.
Trying to order equipment through our PCW business account. Customer services giving me the run around. This is when trying to give them money, what will they be like if something goes wrong?
I am recommending my company changes supplier.