I know one shouldn't make light of the plight of others, but I today's news that DSG International, holding company of PC World, getting into even more trouble cheered up a very dull Thursday.
Whilst I had to abandon my quest for a refund of the money I had spent on a laptop that never worked (due to my moving abroad on business) I have nevertheless continued to spread the word amongst everyone I meet to avoid PC World like the plague.
Their customer service is rightly famed for it's appalling treatment of its client base and it is wonderful to know that the chickens are now coming home to roost.
27 November 2008
29 January 2008
Letter to John Browett
In response to Pam Hudson's letter, mentioned in earlier posts, I am replying to John Browett directly. I will copy in Pam and the Customer Services team at PC World, just so that everyone is kept up to date about what is going on, but I do think that it is important that the senior management realise what an utter shambles this company is actually in. The body of the letter is as follows:
I recently received a most unsatisfactory response to my letter of 17th December from Pam Hudson at PC World; for my full comments on the letter please refer to my blog www.pcworldletmedown.blogspot.com
I am writing to formally request, one final time, that you refund the £1,200 that I paid for my laptop that doesn’t work. Having wasted the four months since purchase with correspondence and numerous attempts by The Tech Guys to fix the problem it would appear we have reached a dead end. My machine cannot be fixed; it has always been faulty; I am entitled to a refund.
Given the clear cut nature of this case, and that all of the facts of the case are now accepted by your company, if I do no receive a full refund within one month of this letter I will begin legal proceedings to recompense me fully, not just for the laptop but also for the time and inconvenience that your firm has caused me. Neither of us wants to get into litigation, but from my perspective it is a more constructive use of my time than further pointless conversations with The Tech Guys.
I recently received a most unsatisfactory response to my letter of 17th December from Pam Hudson at PC World; for my full comments on the letter please refer to my blog www.pcworldletmedown.blogspot.com
I am writing to formally request, one final time, that you refund the £1,200 that I paid for my laptop that doesn’t work. Having wasted the four months since purchase with correspondence and numerous attempts by The Tech Guys to fix the problem it would appear we have reached a dead end. My machine cannot be fixed; it has always been faulty; I am entitled to a refund.
Given the clear cut nature of this case, and that all of the facts of the case are now accepted by your company, if I do no receive a full refund within one month of this letter I will begin legal proceedings to recompense me fully, not just for the laptop but also for the time and inconvenience that your firm has caused me. Neither of us wants to get into litigation, but from my perspective it is a more constructive use of my time than further pointless conversations with The Tech Guys.
One last conversation with The Tech Guys
I spoke to someone at The Tech Guys, who suggested one more fix - that the BIOS needed updating. This added one more excuse to the list, and like all the rest it had absolutely no effect when I did what was asked of me. My machine still does not work and sadly, I fear, never will.
21 January 2008
Email whilst I was away
As well as the letter from Pam Hudson I also received an email from PC World Customer Services whilst I was away:
Thank you for your email dated 4th January 2008.
Having read the content of your correspondence, I am most concerned to learn of the problems you have encountered with the repair of your laptop.
I understand that your laptop is now with The Tech Guys for further repair. Therefore, any further queries need to be made to The Tech Guys directly. Their Customer Service team can be contacted on 0844 800 3040.
Please accept my apologies that I am unable to provide any further information at this stage, as I have insufficient details to be able to check the status of your repair directly with The Tech Guys. However, if you call them on the above number they will be able to assist you.
Please accept my apologies for the difficulties you have experienced in this matter. If you have any further problems or queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours sincerely,
PC World Customer Services
This person should be a politician. They have brilliantly constructed an email that actually says nothing. They are "most concerned" but have "insufficient details to be able to check the status of your repair". Showing empathy with the customer makes the customer feel valued, even if you cannot be bothered to do anything about it. That would work if I hadn't been pushed from pillar to post and told every story in the book to cover up for the fact that my laptop does not work and no one will fix it or give me my money back.
I will not reply to this email directly, as I will be writing to John Browett, in response to Pam's letter, and I have to telephone The Tech Guys to book in yet another look at the machine.
Thank you for your email dated 4th January 2008.
Having read the content of your correspondence, I am most concerned to learn of the problems you have encountered with the repair of your laptop.
I understand that your laptop is now with The Tech Guys for further repair. Therefore, any further queries need to be made to The Tech Guys directly. Their Customer Service team can be contacted on 0844 800 3040.
Please accept my apologies that I am unable to provide any further information at this stage, as I have insufficient details to be able to check the status of your repair directly with The Tech Guys. However, if you call them on the above number they will be able to assist you.
Please accept my apologies for the difficulties you have experienced in this matter. If you have any further problems or queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours sincerely,
PC World Customer Services
This person should be a politician. They have brilliantly constructed an email that actually says nothing. They are "most concerned" but have "insufficient details to be able to check the status of your repair". Showing empathy with the customer makes the customer feel valued, even if you cannot be bothered to do anything about it. That would work if I hadn't been pushed from pillar to post and told every story in the book to cover up for the fact that my laptop does not work and no one will fix it or give me my money back.
I will not reply to this email directly, as I will be writing to John Browett, in response to Pam's letter, and I have to telephone The Tech Guys to book in yet another look at the machine.
Analysis of the response from John Browett
As a result of my two letters to John Browett I elicited a response of which Joseph Heller would have been proud. It is "signed" (actually an electronic signature) by "Pam Hudson, Executive Correspondence" but would appear to emanate from PC World, and not DSG International itself. Pam's letter is shown below in blue, with my comments in red:
Thank you for your letter of 17th December 2007 (no mention of the letter of 23rd December which further elaborated on issues) addressed to John Browett (whose office clearly cannot be bothered to respond themselves to customers), Chief Executive of DSG International (how he must be regretting taking that job on), who has asked me to reply on his behalf. Please accept my apologies for the delay in sending this response (and presumably also an apology for omitting any reference to my further letter?).
I sincerely regret (no you don't Pam) the problems you have experienced with your Hewlett Packard 9572EA laptop computer (at least you admit there is a problem). I do understand the frustration and inconvenience you have suffered as a result (if you did you would be just giving me a refund).
PC World are more than happy to exchange or refund a faulty product within a reasonable time from purchase (so when I went in to get a refund I imagined the conversation where I was refused a refund did I?). However (here it comes), on this occasion, a hardware fault cannot be identified (didn't the last paragraph just say that I had problems with my laptop and suffered "frustration and inconvenience", or did I imagine that too? In addition, Pam, you obviously don't realise that the laptop, in between my letter and yours, had gone back to The Tech Guys and had come back with a note which clearly stated that there was a fault). Therefore (I love this bit) there is nothing that PC World or the Tech Guys can currently do.
So here's the argument: your computer does not work, for which we apologise. However, because we cannot work out what is wrong, we cannot refund your money, which we would have offered you had you asked, but you only imagined that you asked so you cannot have a refund. Does this not all seem a little bizarre? Pam obviously thought so, and so went on to offer a solution in the next paragraph.
All I can suggest (other than a refund and an apology?) is that you obtain an independent engineer's report. Any decision to act upon this report, or over the cost of it, will depend on whether the findings differ from our own (your findings being what exactly, that there was a fault, or that there wasn't a fault. I have had so many different responses from PC World and The Tech Guys now that I have lost count).
PC World and The Tech Guys (tweedledum and tweedledumber) strive (but fail) to offer the very best in customer service (call me an ambulance, I've just split my sides laughing). I trust that in the future, (why the comma Pam, it's not necessary) the service (now that word should really be inverted commas, Pam) you receive will prove to be more in line with your expectations (give me my money back then).
Yours sincerely
Pam Hudson
Executive Correspondence
I will write a reply as soon as I have got over the dismay at receiving such an extraordinary response. My computer doesn't work, no one can fix it and we are all wasting a huge amount of time and energy on this when I cannot understand why I cannot just have my money back.
Thank you for your letter of 17th December 2007 (no mention of the letter of 23rd December which further elaborated on issues) addressed to John Browett (whose office clearly cannot be bothered to respond themselves to customers), Chief Executive of DSG International (how he must be regretting taking that job on), who has asked me to reply on his behalf. Please accept my apologies for the delay in sending this response (and presumably also an apology for omitting any reference to my further letter?).
I sincerely regret (no you don't Pam) the problems you have experienced with your Hewlett Packard 9572EA laptop computer (at least you admit there is a problem). I do understand the frustration and inconvenience you have suffered as a result (if you did you would be just giving me a refund).
PC World are more than happy to exchange or refund a faulty product within a reasonable time from purchase (so when I went in to get a refund I imagined the conversation where I was refused a refund did I?). However (here it comes), on this occasion, a hardware fault cannot be identified (didn't the last paragraph just say that I had problems with my laptop and suffered "frustration and inconvenience", or did I imagine that too? In addition, Pam, you obviously don't realise that the laptop, in between my letter and yours, had gone back to The Tech Guys and had come back with a note which clearly stated that there was a fault). Therefore (I love this bit) there is nothing that PC World or the Tech Guys can currently do.
So here's the argument: your computer does not work, for which we apologise. However, because we cannot work out what is wrong, we cannot refund your money, which we would have offered you had you asked, but you only imagined that you asked so you cannot have a refund. Does this not all seem a little bizarre? Pam obviously thought so, and so went on to offer a solution in the next paragraph.
All I can suggest (other than a refund and an apology?) is that you obtain an independent engineer's report. Any decision to act upon this report, or over the cost of it, will depend on whether the findings differ from our own (your findings being what exactly, that there was a fault, or that there wasn't a fault. I have had so many different responses from PC World and The Tech Guys now that I have lost count).
PC World and The Tech Guys (tweedledum and tweedledumber) strive (but fail) to offer the very best in customer service (call me an ambulance, I've just split my sides laughing). I trust that in the future, (why the comma Pam, it's not necessary) the service (now that word should really be inverted commas, Pam) you receive will prove to be more in line with your expectations (give me my money back then).
Yours sincerely
Pam Hudson
Executive Correspondence
I will write a reply as soon as I have got over the dismay at receiving such an extraordinary response. My computer doesn't work, no one can fix it and we are all wasting a huge amount of time and energy on this when I cannot understand why I cannot just have my money back.
19 January 2008
A new record!!!
I have just returned from my travels to discover a letter from the CEO's office (more of which later) telling me that the laptop could not be fixed, and a laptop, which the Tech Guys had returned to me and were claiming is now fixed.
Was this going to be the end of my problems? Excitedly I switched it on. Unfortunately 29 minutes later the problem had re-occurred. "Fixing" the computer has meant that it actually drops its WiFi connenction faster than it did before. Brilliant!
This company just gets worse and worse and worse.
Was this going to be the end of my problems? Excitedly I switched it on. Unfortunately 29 minutes later the problem had re-occurred. "Fixing" the computer has meant that it actually drops its WiFi connenction faster than it did before. Brilliant!
This company just gets worse and worse and worse.
4 January 2008
Why should I write?
My response to PC World customer services's request for me to put my complaint in writing:
Thank you for your response to my email of 23rd December (not 24th December as you state).
Sheffield is problematic.
Thank you for your response to my email of 23rd December (not 24th December as you state).
Like parent, like subsidiary
On closer inspection it would appear that the email thread to which the latest PC World customer services was responding to was the email I wrote to DSG's customer services. They simply forwarded it, without responding to me with an email that read:
This is a PC world issue.
Kind regards
Currys Support
----- Forwarded by Customer Services/Dixons on 24/12/2007 14:37 -----
So, having written to DSG for a response as I was getting no joy from PC World, their response was to pass the buck, as is the norm for this company.
At least the entire organisation is consistent.
This is a PC world issue.
Kind regards
Currys Support
----- Forwarded by Customer Services/Dixons on 24/12/2007 14:37 -----
So, having written to DSG for a response as I was getting no joy from PC World, their response was to pass the buck, as is the norm for this company.
At least the entire organisation is consistent.
Right hand, meet left hand
I have received another email from customer services at PC World. To recap, the last email from customer services told me that there was nothing that they could do:
Thank you for your email of 24 December 2007.
In order to process your complaint, please write us to the following given address:
PCWorld Customer Services
Customer Contact Centre
PO BOX 1687
Sheffield
S2 5YA
Alternatively, you can also send us an email. Please do not hesitate to contact us on 0844 561 0000 for further enqueries. Thank you for contacting PC World Customer Services. I apologise for all the inconvenience you have had in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
PC World Customer Services
Clearly the left hand of customer services has no idea what the right hand is doing, and goes against the previous series of email replies I have had from customer services. However, it is another brilliant way to pass the buck. The complete list of excuses so far for inaction has been:
- if it works long enough to get you off our premises your machine is not faulty
- it's not our fault it is your ISP
- it's not our fault it is your router
- it's not our fault it is incompatibility between your ISP and your router
- it's not our fault it is Microsoft
- you need to talk to The Tech Guys (from Customer Services)
- we can't be expected to fix an intermittent fault (from The Tech Guys)
- we don't answer emails
All I want is my computer that doesn't work to be fixed, or my money back. Is it really that difficult?
Thank you for your email of 24 December 2007.
In order to process your complaint, please write us to the following given address:
PCWorld Customer Services
Customer Contact Centre
PO BOX 1687
Sheffield
S2 5YA
Alternatively, you can also send us an email. Please do not hesitate to contact us on 0844 561 0000 for further enqueries. Thank you for contacting PC World Customer Services. I apologise for all the inconvenience you have had in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
PC World Customer Services
Clearly the left hand of customer services has no idea what the right hand is doing, and goes against the previous series of email replies I have had from customer services. However, it is another brilliant way to pass the buck. The complete list of excuses so far for inaction has been:
- if it works long enough to get you off our premises your machine is not faulty
- it's not our fault it is your ISP
- it's not our fault it is your router
- it's not our fault it is incompatibility between your ISP and your router
- it's not our fault it is Microsoft
- you need to talk to The Tech Guys (from Customer Services)
- we can't be expected to fix an intermittent fault (from The Tech Guys)
- we don't answer emails
All I want is my computer that doesn't work to be fixed, or my money back. Is it really that difficult?
Lies, damned lies and statistics
I found a wonderful claim from Capita on their website which really goes to show that you can prove anything with statistics. It claims a 95% customer satisfaction rate with DSG's customer service which is outsourced to Capita. This leads to the intriguing possibility that perhaps I have been talking partly to Capita and partly to DSG. I will investigate this on my return to the UK at the end of the month.
Truly there is a God
Sometimes things happen that just make life worth living. Turning on the radio yesterday morning to hear that DSG International, the holding company of PC World, has issued a profits warning because of poor sales at PC World made me think that perhaps there really is a God.
Speculation is the press that this might be a PC World-specific problem should come as no surprise to anyone who has had to deal with PC World. There have been suggestions in some areas of the media that this could result in store closures. Surely the only way PC World can survive is to recruit new customers to replace those bitterly disappointed existing customers, and therefore store closures would only exacerbate an already disastrous situation.
Sadly for new CEO John Browett it would appear, from the dramatic fall in DSG's share price when the profit warning was announced, that investors were not aware of the problems within PC World. According to the Lombard column in the FT:
"Mr Browett (absent yesterday due to a bereavement) bears little responsibility for this. He joined just a month ago, when Christmas plans were already in place and said at the time that he expected to spend his first few weeks walking the shopfloor, listening to customers and staff, rather than adjusting strategy from his desk. “Value, choice and service” are his priorities."
There will always be better value and more choice online, and therefore his competitive edge must come from service, which is like telling a man dying of thirst in the desert that he's 95% water and therefore has every chance of survival.
Speculation is the press that this might be a PC World-specific problem should come as no surprise to anyone who has had to deal with PC World. There have been suggestions in some areas of the media that this could result in store closures. Surely the only way PC World can survive is to recruit new customers to replace those bitterly disappointed existing customers, and therefore store closures would only exacerbate an already disastrous situation.
Sadly for new CEO John Browett it would appear, from the dramatic fall in DSG's share price when the profit warning was announced, that investors were not aware of the problems within PC World. According to the Lombard column in the FT:
"Mr Browett (absent yesterday due to a bereavement) bears little responsibility for this. He joined just a month ago, when Christmas plans were already in place and said at the time that he expected to spend his first few weeks walking the shopfloor, listening to customers and staff, rather than adjusting strategy from his desk. “Value, choice and service” are his priorities."
There will always be better value and more choice online, and therefore his competitive edge must come from service, which is like telling a man dying of thirst in the desert that he's 95% water and therefore has every chance of survival.
2 January 2008
John Lewis - a breath of fresh air
Together with my sister I bought my parents a laptop, keyboard and monitor for Christmas. Naturally I wanted to avoid PC World and I tried John Lewis instead. The difference in customer service was remarkable.
The staff were more mature, able to handle questions intelligently, an extended warranty was not heavily pushed and had there been any problems with the laptop I could have returned it for a no questions asked refund.
The computer itself, when I turned it on to set it up, did not come pre-bundled with pointless software of dubious value, as is always the case at PC World. The machine worked flawlessly and has continued to purr away without a hitch.
I would suggest that the DSG management could learn a lot by going to visit their nearest John Lewis, because if they carry on treating their customers as dirt eventually everyone will wise up.
Are you looking for a new computer? My advice, if you need some help and guidance through the process, is to shop at John Lewis. The range is not as extensive as PC World, and there are cheaper deals online if you know where to go, but John Lewis have computers at every price point, prices are comprable to PC World, and at least you know that you have proper, professional customer support.
For the ordinary person in the street John Lewis is a sensible, low stress, high quality choice.
The staff were more mature, able to handle questions intelligently, an extended warranty was not heavily pushed and had there been any problems with the laptop I could have returned it for a no questions asked refund.
The computer itself, when I turned it on to set it up, did not come pre-bundled with pointless software of dubious value, as is always the case at PC World. The machine worked flawlessly and has continued to purr away without a hitch.
I would suggest that the DSG management could learn a lot by going to visit their nearest John Lewis, because if they carry on treating their customers as dirt eventually everyone will wise up.
Are you looking for a new computer? My advice, if you need some help and guidance through the process, is to shop at John Lewis. The range is not as extensive as PC World, and there are cheaper deals online if you know where to go, but John Lewis have computers at every price point, prices are comprable to PC World, and at least you know that you have proper, professional customer support.
For the ordinary person in the street John Lewis is a sensible, low stress, high quality choice.
Now we wait
Finally I have once again convinced The Tech Guys to take a look at my laptop and the courier picked it up. Although I have ceased to use it day to day (because I work a great deal online and to reboot every few hours is tiresome and loses a few minutes work every time) I did have it switched on over the holiday season, when I knew that it was going to be collected on 2nd January.
Sure enough, the wireless connection tripped out every four or five hours and then the machine could not see any networks from my apartment (despite their being six networks shown as being available from my other laptop and seven on my iPod Touch) until it was rebooted and then it was fine for another four or five hours.
Will the problem be actually looked at this time, or will it just be returned with a note saying that there is no problem with the WiFi, as happened last time? The person I spoke to at the Tech Guys promised me (as they did last time) that the fact that this is an intermittent fault has been placed in the notes.
Whatever happens I will be unable to post the outcome until 19th January as I am away on business tomorrow. Needless to say, it would have been extremely helpful to have had my new laptop with me, but it's just not possible.
Will I come back to find that the laptop has been fixed, or even better that John Browett, CEO of PC World's holding company, has acceded to my request for a refund? Who knows. All we can do is wait, oh and not shop at PC World.
Sure enough, the wireless connection tripped out every four or five hours and then the machine could not see any networks from my apartment (despite their being six networks shown as being available from my other laptop and seven on my iPod Touch) until it was rebooted and then it was fine for another four or five hours.
Will the problem be actually looked at this time, or will it just be returned with a note saying that there is no problem with the WiFi, as happened last time? The person I spoke to at the Tech Guys promised me (as they did last time) that the fact that this is an intermittent fault has been placed in the notes.
Whatever happens I will be unable to post the outcome until 19th January as I am away on business tomorrow. Needless to say, it would have been extremely helpful to have had my new laptop with me, but it's just not possible.
Will I come back to find that the laptop has been fixed, or even better that John Browett, CEO of PC World's holding company, has acceded to my request for a refund? Who knows. All we can do is wait, oh and not shop at PC World.
23 December 2007
Common problem?
The funniest thing just happened to me. I was just sitting in the back of the cab, with some PC peripherals for Christmas presents (not from PC World obviously) and the driver asked if I knew anything about computers.
"A little" I replied.
"Well perhaps you can help me then" the driver said to me, "you see we have three laptops at home and my little girl's one keeps dropping its wireless connection. The others are all alright, and their connections are never affected, just this one. I wouldn't mind but I only bought it a few months ago."
I was intrigued. "What make is it?" I asked, suspecting that I knew the answer
"An HP" said the driver
"Where did you buy it?"
"PC World, I'm going to get onto their helpdesk people, The Tech Guys I think they're called"
"Good luck" I said, as I got out of the cab, when what I was really thinking was "you poor sod, you are about to endure a whole lot of misery"
Could it be that there is a problem with HPs, that PC World are managing to inadvertently cover up and at the same time alienate their own customer base? It would make their own goal style of customer service even more self-destructive if it was a problem which really should be addressed by the manufacturer.
"A little" I replied.
"Well perhaps you can help me then" the driver said to me, "you see we have three laptops at home and my little girl's one keeps dropping its wireless connection. The others are all alright, and their connections are never affected, just this one. I wouldn't mind but I only bought it a few months ago."
I was intrigued. "What make is it?" I asked, suspecting that I knew the answer
"An HP" said the driver
"Where did you buy it?"
"PC World, I'm going to get onto their helpdesk people, The Tech Guys I think they're called"
"Good luck" I said, as I got out of the cab, when what I was really thinking was "you poor sod, you are about to endure a whole lot of misery"
Could it be that there is a problem with HPs, that PC World are managing to inadvertently cover up and at the same time alienate their own customer base? It would make their own goal style of customer service even more self-destructive if it was a problem which really should be addressed by the manufacturer.
Back to appalling customer service
Having been assured that the problems would finally be looked at in the email I received this morning I thought that, perhaps, I might start to get a better service. I picked up the phone to The Tech Guys expecting some recognition that this was a genuine problem which needed to be addressed. Sadly I was very, very wrong.
I had to explain all of the problems again, spending over half an hour on the phone explaining why it was not the router or the ISP at fault and that this was an intermittent fault, that a system recovery and reinstalling the drivers for the wireless connection had already been tried and failed. No trying to blame Windows Vista though this time, which I guess was an improvement.
Eventually my laptop was booked it to be picked up on 2nd January. I don’t hold out much hope for a resolution of the problem. The chances are that they will simply turn on the machine, find it works, turn it back off and send it back.
After my initial excitement at finally having the problem addressed in an email, and thinking that perhaps I might be closer to a solution, I find myself once again frustrated and depressed by the intransigence of an organisation only interested in selling a product and moving on; an organisation committed to blocking any attempt by any customer to get a refund for faulty merchandise and an organisation that, when faced with anything other than a straight forward problem closes ranks and refuses to accept that it could be their merchandise at fault.
If you’re thinking of a last minute trip to PC World, don’t do it is my advice!
Suddenly I have their attention
Having started this blog, remarkably I have received an email for The Tech Guys, who had been claiming that there was nothing that could be done:
Thank you for your email of 19 December 2007.
Having read your email and understanding the content of it, may I advise you to book in your laptop again with The Tech Guys for a repair.
Please explain to the tech guys that the connection drops after a while after booting the system. If they are still unable to resolve the issue, we would then be able to look into the matter further. I apologise for the inconvenience you have had in this matter.
Thank you for contacting us. Please do not hesitate to contact PC World Customer Services on 0844 561 0000 for any further enquiry.
Yours sincerely,
The Tech Guys
I will send my laptop back to them, as instructed. However, I would point out that explaining "that the connection drops after a while after booting the system" is exactly what I had done the last time it was sent in to them to be fixed, only to be sent back, after a technician had simply turned on the machine, it worked, so he sent it back. In the notes it explained that this was an intermittent problem but that was ignored.
Will my laptop get better treatment this time? Will my account now have a note on it "For ****'s sake get this guy's laptop fixed or he'll make us look even more incompetent"? Only time will tell.
Thank you for your email of 19 December 2007.
Having read your email and understanding the content of it, may I advise you to book in your laptop again with The Tech Guys for a repair.
Please explain to the tech guys that the connection drops after a while after booting the system. If they are still unable to resolve the issue, we would then be able to look into the matter further. I apologise for the inconvenience you have had in this matter.
Thank you for contacting us. Please do not hesitate to contact PC World Customer Services on 0844 561 0000 for any further enquiry.
Yours sincerely,
The Tech Guys
I will send my laptop back to them, as instructed. However, I would point out that explaining "that the connection drops after a while after booting the system" is exactly what I had done the last time it was sent in to them to be fixed, only to be sent back, after a technician had simply turned on the machine, it worked, so he sent it back. In the notes it explained that this was an intermittent problem but that was ignored.
Will my laptop get better treatment this time? Will my account now have a note on it "For ****'s sake get this guy's laptop fixed or he'll make us look even more incompetent"? Only time will tell.
22 December 2007
Don't buy at PC World
I have published this blog as a warning to others. Sadly, it looks unlikely that PC World will ever accept that my laptop has been faulty from day one and that my money should have been refunded. However, if you haven't yet bought a product from PC World then it is not too late to avoid the same problems. I would strongly urge anyone reading this to shop anywhere else.
I will keep this blog updated with any response from PC World, and if they suddenly become more responsive to me, the customer, I will make it clear. Any response from the CEO, good or bad, will be published.
I will keep this blog updated with any response from PC World, and if they suddenly become more responsive to me, the customer, I will make it clear. Any response from the CEO, good or bad, will be published.
PC World's further response
PC World Customer Services then decided to wash their hands of me:
Thank you for your email of 18 December 2007.
Having thoroughly read and noted the content of your e-mail, I apologise for the information given to you by the The Tech Guys. I am unable to assist you from here at Customer Services, as we do not hold the technical knowledge required. I suggest you contact our Technical Customer Service team on 0844 800 2080 or visit ww.thetechguys.com for further support.
I would like to apologise for the prolonged nature of your enquiries with our company. May I assure you that customer service is of paramount importance to us and I regret any additional time or expense you may have incurred in this matter.
Please accept my apologies that I am unable to assist you on this occasion.
Yours sincerely,
PC World Customer Services
To which I responded:
Thank you for your email of 18 December 2007.
Having thoroughly read and noted the content of your e-mail, I apologise for the information given to you by the The Tech Guys. I am unable to assist you from here at Customer Services, as we do not hold the technical knowledge required. I suggest you contact our Technical Customer Service team on 0844 800 2080 or visit ww.thetechguys.com for further support.
I would like to apologise for the prolonged nature of your enquiries with our company. May I assure you that customer service is of paramount importance to us and I regret any additional time or expense you may have incurred in this matter.
Please accept my apologies that I am unable to assist you on this occasion.
Yours sincerely,
PC World Customer Services
To which I responded:
And so, to recap, the Tech Guys refuse to fix my computer but because it’s their responsibility to do so customer services will not deal with my complaint.
I am beginning to admire how good you all are at shirking responsibility. Having tried to blame Microsoft, British Telecom, me and the manufacturer of router, you are now blaming each other.
Here’s the thing. I am a customer (regrettably) of PC World. My computer does not work. The technical guys at PC World will not fix it. Now, I am beyond caring what they are and are not supposed to do. I have spent £1,200 on a computer that doesn’t work and as a customer I have asked for customer services to sort this out. Washing your hands of me does not resolve the issue, although I realise it is one more for the “resolved” pile in your management information.
Having failed to get a satisfactory response from the Tech Guys or from you I have forwarded the correspondence on to the new CEO of DSG; I will send this email exchange on as well to update him on the situation.
PC World's next response
The customer services team responded to my second email as follows:
Thank you for your email of 16 December 2007.
Having looked into the query, I am sorry to learn about the most unfortunate sequence of events taking place with the HP Laptop. I do apologise for the inconvenience caused.
In order to resolve the problem I suggest that you contact the Internet service provider and check the compatibility with your router. If the problem is not resolved please contact the Tech Guys.
Thank you for taking the time to contact to us. I hope that these actions will bring a satisfactory conclusion to this matter.
Yours sincerely,
PC World Customer Services
To which I responded:
My router is supplied by my ISP, BT. There is no problem with the compatibility of the two (unsurprisingly) and the WiFi connection can be seen by by Nokia E61i, my iPod Touch and my other HP laptop. My laptop drops its connection, despite there being nothing wrong with the router and the only way to reconnect is to reboot the machine. I went through all of this the first time I reported the fault over the telephone. I put this in my original email to you. There is nothing wrong with the router, there is nothing wrong with the ISP or the compatibility thereof. The problem is with my laptop. Your colleagues have already tried to blame the router and the ISP, and failed. The last person I spoke to at your organisation blamed Windows Vista and said that this was a common problem. Your response suggests that you do not believe your colleague either. However, I realise that you need to blame someone else otherwise you will have to admit there is a problem with my laptop, which by the way still does not work.
Thank you for your email of 16 December 2007.
Having looked into the query, I am sorry to learn about the most unfortunate sequence of events taking place with the HP Laptop. I do apologise for the inconvenience caused.
In order to resolve the problem I suggest that you contact the Internet service provider and check the compatibility with your router. If the problem is not resolved please contact the Tech Guys.
Thank you for taking the time to contact to us. I hope that these actions will bring a satisfactory conclusion to this matter.
Yours sincerely,
PC World Customer Services
To which I responded:
My router is supplied by my ISP, BT. There is no problem with the compatibility of the two (unsurprisingly) and the WiFi connection can be seen by by Nokia E61i, my iPod Touch and my other HP laptop. My laptop drops its connection, despite there being nothing wrong with the router and the only way to reconnect is to reboot the machine. I went through all of this the first time I reported the fault over the telephone. I put this in my original email to you. There is nothing wrong with the router, there is nothing wrong with the ISP or the compatibility thereof. The problem is with my laptop. Your colleagues have already tried to blame the router and the ISP, and failed. The last person I spoke to at your organisation blamed Windows Vista and said that this was a common problem. Your response suggests that you do not believe your colleague either. However, I realise that you need to blame someone else otherwise you will have to admit there is a problem with my laptop, which by the way still does not work.
PC World's initial response
PC World's response was as follows:
Thank you for your email of 15 December 2007.
I understand your frustration, if you give me the name of the store I will send a copy of your email to our Area Manager responsible for the store, who will take steps to make sure that this type of incident cannot happen again.
Please be assured at PCWorld we aim to deliver the highest level of Customer Support.
Yours sincerely,
PC World Customer Services
To which I replied:
The store was Harlow, but they were only following company policy - you will not allow returns of computers unless they cannot be made to work at all. I have given up using the laptop in question as it is now impossible to use
because it repeatedly drops the WiFi connection, but I cannot get it repaired by the Tech Guys because when it is turned on it works (until it fails).
It is your company that is at fault for refusing to accept that customers, if they buy something and it doesn't work, should be allowed to return the goods for a refund. These are manufactured products, every now and again they will be badly made, it's just one of those things. Customer brings it back, you (ideally) give him the cash back, or (at the very least) a credit note. Customer has positive impression, passes on the story to peer group increasing your penetration and boosting market share. To turn someone who has bought two laptops from you within a year into someone with such a negative perception of the company takes a very special company. In twenty years of dealing with corporate strategy I have never come across a more extraordinary way of dealing with customers.
In order to try to bring this to the attention of the senior management, I will send on a copy of this correspondence to your new Chief Executive. In my experience this sort of thing often does not get fed back to the Board, leading eventually to a catastrophic collapse in market share in the future.
Thank you for your email of 15 December 2007.
I understand your frustration, if you give me the name of the store I will send a copy of your email to our Area Manager responsible for the store, who will take steps to make sure that this type of incident cannot happen again.
Please be assured at PCWorld we aim to deliver the highest level of Customer Support.
Yours sincerely,
PC World Customer Services
To which I replied:
The store was Harlow, but they were only following company policy - you will not allow returns of computers unless they cannot be made to work at all. I have given up using the laptop in question as it is now impossible to use
because it repeatedly drops the WiFi connection, but I cannot get it repaired by the Tech Guys because when it is turned on it works (until it fails).
It is your company that is at fault for refusing to accept that customers, if they buy something and it doesn't work, should be allowed to return the goods for a refund. These are manufactured products, every now and again they will be badly made, it's just one of those things. Customer brings it back, you (ideally) give him the cash back, or (at the very least) a credit note. Customer has positive impression, passes on the story to peer group increasing your penetration and boosting market share. To turn someone who has bought two laptops from you within a year into someone with such a negative perception of the company takes a very special company. In twenty years of dealing with corporate strategy I have never come across a more extraordinary way of dealing with customers.
In order to try to bring this to the attention of the senior management, I will send on a copy of this correspondence to your new Chief Executive. In my experience this sort of thing often does not get fed back to the Board, leading eventually to a catastrophic collapse in market share in the future.
The problem
Below is my original email to PC World's customer services team, that explains the problems that I have had:
I know that all I am going to get is a standard customer services response to this email but I just have to get my frustrations off my chest. It won't change the way your organisation does anything, you will remain as awful as ever, but at least I will have said my piece.
I bought a new laptop in September, because the HP laptop I had bought last December suddenly stopped working, I needed to work away from home and I could not afford to be without my laptop for any period of time. Unfortunately you only had an HP in stock but I was persuaded by the salesman that problems with HPs were very rare.
I took the new laptop away with me and the first time I booted up the machine Internet Explorer crashed and refused to work. As it is part of the operating system of Vista I could not uninstall and reinstall it, but fortunately I have an AOL account which allowed me to download a Firefox browser and use that whilst away. Over the next couple of days I learnt that the DVD drive rattled everytime a DVD played, the system as a whole regularly crashed and the wireless connection frequently dropped. In short, it was a badly built machine which didn't do what I had bought it for.
If this were any other product in the entire world it could be returned, it is after all faulty, and I could receive a full refund. However, I was told when I returned to the shop that this machine could not be returned if the technicians could get it working again. After working on it for over two hours they gave me back my badly built machine and sent me on my way. How do you think this made me feel, as a customer, about PC World? Made to accept second rate goods because the technicians had just about made it work? Can you imagine a garage saying to someone who has bought a brand new car "there's nothing wrong with that car sir, we've managed to get it off our forecourt". Unbelievable.
So, Internet Explorer now worked, the wireless connection continued to trip out after 24-36 hours or so and the DVD drive continued to rattle. I put up with this - telling as many people as would listen never to shop at PC World after my experience - but after a couple of months the machine began crashing every 24 hours or so. So I phoned up the tech guys and they talked me through a system recovery, assuring me that this would solve all my problems. Whilst it made the crashing less frequent the wireless connection continued to trip out every 24-36 hours.
I put up with this for another month and in the meantime two of the keys fell off - reinforcing my theory that this was just a badly built machine. However, I couldn't send it back to be repaired because my other HP laptop that is less than a year old also developed more problems and had to go back. I did send my new laptop back once the WiFi tripping out time started coming down dramatically, to around four or five hours.
I telephoned the Tech Guys and spoke to someone who, to start with, assumed it was a problem with the router. When I pointed out that I had another laptop, a Nokia E61i, and an iPod Touch all of which could continue to use the router with no problem, he had to admit it may be the machine. After getting me to test a number of things he told me that it was a problem that he had never heard of before and that there must be something wrong with the set up of the machine and that it needed to be sorted. So I had it picked up.
Today the machine came back after two days; the keys have been fixed but on the report it said "no problem with WiFi", as doubtless it had just been turned on and it worked(as it always does); the person I had spoken to earlier in the week had carefully entered in the notes that the error only happened after a few fours, but nevertheless this was ignored by the engineers.
So I telephoned the Tech Guys today and I was told by a very surly American man, when I said that the problem had not been resolved, "sir, there is no problem with your machine". Now given that my machine doesn't work this was news to me. "It's a problem with Vista that everyone has in the world, it won't be resolved until Service Pack 1 comes out in the spring. In the meantime you can send the machine back 20 times, our engineers are not going to fix the problem."
Now I have checked with Microsoft, they deny there is a problem. I have checked with friends that have Vista in a laptop, they don't have a problem. I have checked with IT professionals I know, they are not aware of a problem. The person at the Tech Guys I had spoken to earlier in the week was not aware of this "very common" problem. Apparently your man I spoke to today has a unique insight into the workings of Vista that no one else on the planet has. Either that or he was being rude, arrogant, untruthful and disrespectful. I will leave for you to decide.
I know that you don't feel you have to give your customers good service, and I know that once we have a machine it is pretty much our bad luck if it goes wrong but I just want to go on record to say that this stinks. I should have been allowed a refund in the first place, I now have substandard equipment an appalling view of your company and I would rather do anything in the world than ever shop at your premises again.
You should be ashamed of yourselves.
I know that all I am going to get is a standard customer services response to this email but I just have to get my frustrations off my chest. It won't change the way your organisation does anything, you will remain as awful as ever, but at least I will have said my piece.
I bought a new laptop in September, because the HP laptop I had bought last December suddenly stopped working, I needed to work away from home and I could not afford to be without my laptop for any period of time. Unfortunately you only had an HP in stock but I was persuaded by the salesman that problems with HPs were very rare.
I took the new laptop away with me and the first time I booted up the machine Internet Explorer crashed and refused to work. As it is part of the operating system of Vista I could not uninstall and reinstall it, but fortunately I have an AOL account which allowed me to download a Firefox browser and use that whilst away. Over the next couple of days I learnt that the DVD drive rattled everytime a DVD played, the system as a whole regularly crashed and the wireless connection frequently dropped. In short, it was a badly built machine which didn't do what I had bought it for.
If this were any other product in the entire world it could be returned, it is after all faulty, and I could receive a full refund. However, I was told when I returned to the shop that this machine could not be returned if the technicians could get it working again. After working on it for over two hours they gave me back my badly built machine and sent me on my way. How do you think this made me feel, as a customer, about PC World? Made to accept second rate goods because the technicians had just about made it work? Can you imagine a garage saying to someone who has bought a brand new car "there's nothing wrong with that car sir, we've managed to get it off our forecourt". Unbelievable.
So, Internet Explorer now worked, the wireless connection continued to trip out after 24-36 hours or so and the DVD drive continued to rattle. I put up with this - telling as many people as would listen never to shop at PC World after my experience - but after a couple of months the machine began crashing every 24 hours or so. So I phoned up the tech guys and they talked me through a system recovery, assuring me that this would solve all my problems. Whilst it made the crashing less frequent the wireless connection continued to trip out every 24-36 hours.
I put up with this for another month and in the meantime two of the keys fell off - reinforcing my theory that this was just a badly built machine. However, I couldn't send it back to be repaired because my other HP laptop that is less than a year old also developed more problems and had to go back. I did send my new laptop back once the WiFi tripping out time started coming down dramatically, to around four or five hours.
I telephoned the Tech Guys and spoke to someone who, to start with, assumed it was a problem with the router. When I pointed out that I had another laptop, a Nokia E61i, and an iPod Touch all of which could continue to use the router with no problem, he had to admit it may be the machine. After getting me to test a number of things he told me that it was a problem that he had never heard of before and that there must be something wrong with the set up of the machine and that it needed to be sorted. So I had it picked up.
Today the machine came back after two days; the keys have been fixed but on the report it said "no problem with WiFi", as doubtless it had just been turned on and it worked(as it always does); the person I had spoken to earlier in the week had carefully entered in the notes that the error only happened after a few fours, but nevertheless this was ignored by the engineers.
So I telephoned the Tech Guys today and I was told by a very surly American man, when I said that the problem had not been resolved, "sir, there is no problem with your machine". Now given that my machine doesn't work this was news to me. "It's a problem with Vista that everyone has in the world, it won't be resolved until Service Pack 1 comes out in the spring. In the meantime you can send the machine back 20 times, our engineers are not going to fix the problem."
Now I have checked with Microsoft, they deny there is a problem. I have checked with friends that have Vista in a laptop, they don't have a problem. I have checked with IT professionals I know, they are not aware of a problem. The person at the Tech Guys I had spoken to earlier in the week was not aware of this "very common" problem. Apparently your man I spoke to today has a unique insight into the workings of Vista that no one else on the planet has. Either that or he was being rude, arrogant, untruthful and disrespectful. I will leave for you to decide.
I know that you don't feel you have to give your customers good service, and I know that once we have a machine it is pretty much our bad luck if it goes wrong but I just want to go on record to say that this stinks. I should have been allowed a refund in the first place, I now have substandard equipment an appalling view of your company and I would rather do anything in the world than ever shop at your premises again.
You should be ashamed of yourselves.
I have given up
I bought a laptop from PC World back in September and, having failed to get the Tech Guys (PC World's tecnical support team) to fix it I am left having wasted £1,200 for a computer that doesn't work. I have written to the Chief Executive of DSG, a publicly listed company that wons PC World, to try to resolve the issue, and I will post his response if and when it appears.
In the meantime, with Christmas just days away, I wanted to let other people know that PC World should be avoided at all costs this Christmas.
In the meantime, with Christmas just days away, I wanted to let other people know that PC World should be avoided at all costs this Christmas.
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