Why you should think twice about buying from PC Specialist

[boristhemoggy]

About this time last year I was planning a 6 month trip to Northern Italy. As I require a reliable computer for work I decided to have a brand new one built. I was quite excited as I had a 6 year old laptop so this was to be a big step for me.
When I went to order, they didn't have most of what I wanted and everything was a compromise but c'est la vie. Once they'd decided on a spec that was close to what I required, they asked for more money in order to get it in 3 days, otherwise it would be 9 business days to wait. I felt this was disingenuous at best as it hadn't been mentioned before. As I was visiting Yorkshire for the sole reason to get the computer I felt railroaded into paying the extra fee.
Never mind, I'm off to Italy soon

When I picked the machine up it wasn't the 21 inch I'd asked for. It was a hulking great 24 inch thing, even though the monitor reports itself in Windows as 21 inch! lol Never mind, it works fine so lets crack on. I got to Italy and no problems for some months until one day for no apparent reason I turned the machine on and the screen was dead. It was booting up, but the screen wasn't coming on. An Italian friend checked some computer repair shops who were unwilling to touch it so the unthinkable happened, I had to drive all the way back from Venice, pay an emergency vet to do the legal things with the dog's passport, change my ferry booking and pay the admin fee, then wait 24 hours to return to the UK. Work were great when I explained, and allowed me to use holidays until I was sorted.

On return to UK I drove to Yorkshire eyes hanging out of my head and handed the machine in. They had it over 24 hours but my 3 days were almost up so I had to go get it back and they finally said it was my electric system! I have an electrical system in my motorhome that produces pure sine wave mains electricity. It cost me £2,350 8 years ago and has never, ever failed me. So they told me they'd replaced the BIOS battery just in case...

Days later the same thing happened with the screen again. I was in the North East now and I popped it into a shop that charged me £40 to tell me that there is a setting in the BIOS called LDVS. You can set it to disable the main screen at boot and send the video signal to an external monitor. This switch was set to disable the screen so they simply clicked enable and hey presto. Just in case, I noted down the key strokes necessary to enable the screen should it go off again. That proved to be a very good idea!

The screen went off, time and time and time again. Probably every third time I switched it on, the screen was off. Apparently there is no way to disable this function either. So finally I contacted Gigabit who rightly said go back to your supplier, they will fix it. I decided to live with it because I simply wasn't getting anywhere with PC Specialist as they were saying it was my electrics. (Although they don't even know what electrics I have in the van!)

There was no point going back to Italy with a computer like this, so I decided to save for a backup laptop. Stupid really when you've just spent nearly £900 on a brand new PC...
However the screen issue was increasingly frustrating and then the DVD stopped working.
I contacted PC Specialist who responded by sending out a cable. I emailed and asked what the cable was for, and they said they had no record of sending me a cable. Was I sure it came from them. Erm...well it had your name on the packaging and a note inside from you! lol
I asked for a new drive and where to send the broken drive and the cable and had no reply for weeks. When I finally got a reply it was to say they had sent out a DVD drive. Well you may have done but it never arrived. Did you post it insured or registered? Nope, they never even asked for a receipt so I believe there was a mistake and it was never sent.

In the meantime I go back to Gigabyte with the problems I'm having and they say the motherboard is clearly faulty. Brilliant. Another trip to Wakefield and a wait for them to fit a new one. I reset the BIOS using the jumpers just in case but...it's still the same.

So I finally decided to put a new hard drive in as I do photographic work and I needed more space. No problems there until I went to install all the drivers. I can't as they're on DVD and my DVD has been broken for about 3 months. Silly me. The ones I need the most are for the wireless card so I can get my internet, but also the card reader drivers were missing and I was having problems with video because the graphic drivers were the wrong ones.
I actually installed a little free utility that identities the devices that were showing as problematic in Windows device manager, and gave me a link to the precise driver I needed from Realtek. I downloaded them and hey prestol....they didn't work.
I rang PC Specialist and a really helpful guy said if you login to your account with us all the relevant drivers are there. Sure enough after he sent me a password to an account I didn't even know I had there were all of the drivers, all 3.6 gig worth! LOL I kid you not, 3.6 gigabytes of drivers!

So I started installing them and guess what? not only were the wireless and card reader drivers missing but now I'd lost my bluetooth too! Oddly I googled one of the devices which was called CR-W and got a driver from Windows which actually worked. However I've tried lots of drivers since and none seem to give me my wireless and bluetooth back. I suspect because of the amount I've had a full reinstall is necessary again.

So, here we are 1 year on from the exciting planning of my 6 month Italian tour and I still have a faulty computer who's screen usually doesn't work, the DVD has been broken for 3 months, I can't use wireless or bluetooth on it and the picture is 'flaky' because the correct drivers still aren't in. And if I finally get my DVD drive, what good is that if the same drivers are on the discs...

So. What would you do. This computer has cost me a LOT of money and a LOT of hassle and lost time. Far, far more than it cost in the first place and to be fair it wasn't that cheap anyway. Would you pursue a civil claim? 3 lost working days, an emergency vet at £160 euros, £60 admin fee for changing the ferry, £240 for diesel for the unexpected trip, about 100 hours on trying to fix it at what....£10 per hour? That's £1,000. Plus of course my time for emails, telephone calls, and the sheer frustration at not having a decent working machine. £2,000. Does that seem like a fair legal claim and has anyone done it before?

I'm sure PC Specialist has some very happy customers, but they probably haven't had faults. Given the way I've been treated would anyone want to buy from them who hasn't bought from them before?

 

[keynes]

I am sorry you experienced so many problems. It is a hassle when trying to get a repair from another country. Not really sure you can get compensation for all your expenses though but i have limited knowledge on your legal rights on this situation.

Once they'd decided on a spec that was close to what I required, they asked for more money in order to get it in 3 days, otherwise it would be 9 business days to wait. I felt this was disingenuous at best as it hadn't been mentioned before.

It is mentioned in the website and the 9 working days is an estimate, it usually takes longer. If you made the order over the phone it is probably more difficult to come across that information.

 

[boristhemoggy]

I probably won't get compensation at all. I'm just very angry and feeling utterly helpless. I've actually configured a brand new computer from another manufacturer but I stopped myself from buying it yesterday because why the hell should I when this ones so new lol

 

[boristhemoggy]

Update**

I received emails from PC Specialist saying my replacement drive is coming out by DPD courier and I have to sign for it, something I specifically told them over the phone was impossible to do as it's being delivered to a post office.
They also said I need to be there to give them the old drive back, despite me offering to post this off to them months ago and them saying no need.
So I ring them up and they say no it's not coming by DPD it's coming by Royal Mail. Also they don't want the broken drive back....

Just when you think it can't get worse....despite me having downloaded 3.5 gig of drivers from their site, and about 6 gig of other drivers form the web, and telling them I have used up the bandwidth on my dongle so can they tell me specifically which driver it is I need, they email and say download these two. They're 400 mb. *sigh*

Luckily I had them anyway but as I'd pointed out when you open the folder, there's tons of things you can install and this takes me right back to the original request....Which one do I install!!"

Anyway I reinstalled for the 4th time then tried the drivers. Every single solitary one of them. Installing, trying, and un installing when they failed and guess what? Yeah...no card reader support, no web cam support and no WiFi card support, that one being the most important one of all.

So, that's it. I'm done with PC Specialist. They are indeed incompetent and I'm sure some have no problems, some have small problems that are easily dealt with. My experience has been that their customer support has several problems:

You never talk to one person, it's always a handful so they never really know what they're doing cos they don't share enough information with each other. This means you're constantly telling them over and over again what's going on.
They don't read emails. I sent 3 distinct emails asking which drivers I needed to use, only after posting my complaint here did they reply to that.
They don't actually read emails properly. I've told them several times I've used all my bandwidth and still they want me to download 400 mb of files and 'try them'.
They clearly don't have a clue. I believe they actually have no idea which drivers are installed, and they can't be bothered to check with techies to find out.
They lie. They make excuses as tow hat the problem is, denying all along there's a fault even when Gigabyte themselves say I clearly have a faulty motherboard.

PC Specialist aren't specialist, and are either incapable or unprepared to take very simple and easy steps to solve my problems.

I have officially given up on trying to get anything from them now and I'm in the process of getting a brand new machine made by someone else. I'm sure they'll be happy with this, but I am going to make sure that every opportunity I get i let people know how bad they are. And that's the point of this post.
If you're thinking of buying from them I would simply urge you to reconsider and make sure you have plenty of info first. For me, buying from them was a disastrous decision and has cost me a lot of time and money.

 

[DeadEyeDuk]

...in your opinion

 

[mantadog]

I understand your complaints but they are very specific to your circumstances, you have many complicating factors which make sorting issues much more complicated. Is that an excuse for PCS, not really, but trying to pursue them for compensation is not going to be very helpful as I don't really see they have done anything wrong. Yes some of the advice may be a bit slow and lacking in clear instructions but all of the information you require to find the drivers in your account was located in your welcome pack. I assume the gigabytes of drivers you have downloaded are for multiple operating systems both 32 and 64 bit. all of which should have been clearly labelled in the download section of the PCS website, I know mine are.

Anyway i'll keep it brief from here on in.

if you pop over and read the forum rules it will probably save you from getting this thread deleted as calling PCS scammers probably already gives enough grounds for any of the mods to close this thread. ( not that I think they will at this stage) but just tone it down a bit if you want it to stay open is my advice.

 

[boristhemoggy]

...in your opinion

In my opinion? What are you saying? Tis is my experience. If yours was good then good for you and I hope it continues to be so, but if you don't like my story don't comment. I never asked for this hassle.

 

[boristhemoggy]

I understand your complaints but they are very specific to your circumstances, you have many complicating factors which make sorting issues much more complicated. Is that an excuse for PCS, not really, but trying to pursue them for compensation is not going to be very helpful as I don't really see they have done anything wrong. Yes some of the advice may be a bit slow and lacking in clear instructions but all of the information you require to find the drivers in your account was located in your welcome pack. I assume the gigabytes of drivers you have downloaded are for multiple operating systems both 32 and 64 bit. all of which should have been clearly labelled in the download section of the PCS website, I know mine are.

Anyway i'll keep it brief from here on in.

if you pop over and read the forum rules it will probably save you from getting this thread deleted as calling PCS scammers probably already gives enough grounds for any of the mods to close this thread. ( not that I think they will at this stage) but just tone it down a bit if you want it to stay open is my advice.

Yeah that wording is a measure of my anger sorry about that.
}However, what are the many complicating factors?
I am not pursuing for compensation as I said previously.
Erm...what welcome pack? OK so some may get them but I certainly have never had a welcome pack of any kind.
Ands finally no, they are not clearly labelled and in fact if you open one of the folders they contain drivers for 32, 64 bit and vista and XP. Some are not marked at all.
If I wait for a year to have a problem resolved, if I have multiple queries remaining unanswered, if I have mistakes made every step of the way, and if I end up with no fixed machine, how can you possibly say they've done no wrong?
I find this sometimes where if someone has a complaint, people want to shoot them down as they feel they have some kind of allegiance for the company and are against anyone who was unlucky enough to have a poor experience.
If that's the case why let people give feedback if you don't want real facts of negative experiences too?

 

[boristhemoggy]

Just so there's no misunderstanding, here's a screenshot showing what my download page looks like

 

[boristhemoggy]

I think whenever you have a forum it's important that you have a balance of opinions. Yes I agree scammers was a bit ott and said in anger, and I've edited that out, however the basic message is sometimes companies mess up and people considering a purchase need to know the whole story.
If for whatever reason you don't like the story that's up to you however if you wish to offer balanced opinions with a lot of facts (which I've supplied) then you can't look negatively on those posts and should see them for what they are.
You can't say they've done nothing wrong, they've made bad decisions every step of the way for the last 9 months. I think to say they've done nothing wrong is at best disingenuous.

 

[Rakk]

Erm...what welcome pack? OK so some may get them but I certainly have never had a welcome pack of any kind.

Every machine should come with a welcome pack, its a separate box that is a bit larger than keyboard sized that should've been in the big outer box you got, the welcome pack box would've have a PCSpecialist welcome booklet, any manuals that came with the would normally come with components you ordered, an OS disc (if you ordered one), driver disks, and other bits that came with your components.

 

[maxbor]

"they asked for more money in order to get it in 3 days, otherwise it would be 9 business days to wait. I felt this was disingenuous at best as it hadn't been mentioned before." - It says this literally all over the website! It's a built to order computer, they don't just pick a box out of a warehouse and send it out. Why didn't you confirm this prior to paying initially?

"So finally I contacted Gigabit who rightly said go back to your supplier, they will fix it. I decided to live with it because I simply wasn't getting anywhere with PC Specialist as they were saying it was my electrics. (Although they don't even know what electrics I have in the van!)" - at this stage why did you not just send the PC back to them to fix? Why choose to live with it? Re-reading your previous posts it seems you only went back to them once.

"I had to drive all the way back from Venice, pay an emergency vet to do the legal things with the dog's passport, change my ferry booking and pay the admin fee, then wait 24 hours to return to the UK. Work were great when I explained, and allowed me to use holidays until I was sorted." - Again you could have just sent it back by post. Do you really need a computer that badly that you couldn't have waited and, if so, why on earth wouldn't you have a backup?

In amongst all your complaints it appears you only ever gave PCSpecialist 24hrs to try and diagnose what appears to be quite a complex problem. You could have had exactly the same experience with any other brand when trying to get help from a motorhome in a foreign country! Why did you spend all that time messing about with drivers after finding out it was a motherboard problem? You won't get any compensation because they have done nothing wrong. As for the electrics in a motorhome, computers can be incredibly susceptible to non standard electrics and I suggest getting a laptop or a UPS. "UPS’s are great at running computers for a short period of time as the demand on them is fairly constant, they also have additional technology that will keep the output voltage stable and clear of transient spikes even if the supply voltage varies." - from caravanchronicles

"something I specifically told them over the phone was impossible to do as it's being delivered to a post office." - how is this their fault??? It's your circumstances not their problem that make this an issue for you, they are clearly trying to put things right.

If you had dealt with the issues properly as they arose you wouldn't be in the situation you are now, possibly out of warranty and having slagged off the supplier online. They sell you a computer but they aren't required to train you in how to install drivers properly. As I said before, when gigabyte said the issue was your motherboard you should have gone through the RMA process and saved yourself a load of hassle.

 

[maxbor]

Just so there's no misunderstanding, here's a screenshot showing what my download page looks like

View attachment 6161

How could this be any more clearly labelled? You download wireless drivers. Install the drivers that suit your OS. Use wireless to download other drivers required.

 

[maxbor]

By the way I have no allegiance to PCS, I am awaiting delivery of my first laptop from them and I have found that their delivery estimation method is a bit pants. I have however read your posts and as an outsider to the situation it is you, not PCS, who comes across badly. Sorry.

 

[boristhemoggy]

"they asked for more money in order to get it in 3 days, otherwise it would be 9 business days to wait. I felt this was disingenuous at best as it hadn't been mentioned before." - It says this literally all over the website! It's a built to order computer, they don't just pick a box out of a warehouse and send it out. Why didn't you confirm this prior to paying initially?

I musta missed it. Why does this anger you so much?

"So finally I contacted Gigabit who rightly said go back to your supplier, they will fix it. I decided to live with it because I simply wasn't getting anywhere with PC Specialist as they were saying it was my electrics. (Although they don't even know what electrics I have in the van!)" - at this stage why did you not just send the PC back to them to fix? Why choose to live with it? Re-reading your previous posts it seems you only went back to them once.

I decided to live with it because I work all over the UK so it's not as simple as popping in after work.

"I had to drive all the way back from Venice, pay an emergency vet to do the legal things with the dog's passport, change my ferry booking and pay the admin fee, then wait 24 hours to return to the UK. Work were great when I explained, and allowed me to use holidays until I was sorted." - Again you could have just sent it back by post. Do you really need a computer that badly that you couldn't have waited and, if so, why on earth wouldn't you have a backup?

I had bought a brand new computer before I went, I thought I'd be fine. I got the computer back to them way before posting could have done. Time was important.

In amongst all your complaints it appears you only ever gave PCSpecialist 24hrs to try and diagnose what appears to be quite a complex problem. You could have had exactly the same experience with any other brand when trying to get help from a motorhome in a foreign country! Why did you spend all that time messing about with drivers after finding out it was a motherboard problem? You won't get any compensation because they have done nothing wrong. As for the electrics in a motorhome, computers can be incredibly susceptible to non standard electrics and I suggest getting a laptop or a UPS. "UPS’s are great at running computers for a short period of time as the demand on them is fairly constant, they also have additional technology that will keep the output voltage stable and clear of transient spikes even if the supply voltage varies." - from caravanchronicles

It isn't complex. the MB is faulty and the DVD failed. How complex is that? The drivers problem has resurfaced since I reinstalled. If you're going to be reactionary about a post why not check that you've read it properly first? I also stated that I have a top level electrical system installed.

"something I specifically told them over the phone was impossible to do as it's being delivered to a post office." - how is this their fault??? It's your circumstances not their problem that make this an issue for you, they are clearly trying to put things right.

Because i made sure they knew what the score was prior to them sending and that they could indeed do this. If not, as I said to them, you can send it elsewhere and I will have it forwarded on to me. I disgaree, I don't think they;re trying that hard really to put things right.

If you had dealt with the issues properly as they arose you wouldn't be in the situation you are now, possibly out of warranty and having slagged off the supplier online. They sell you a computer but they aren't required to train you in how to install drivers properly. As I said before, when gigabyte said the issue was your motherboard you should have gone through the RMA process and saved yourself a load of hassle.

I've given all of the facts and anyone can see clearly that they're at fault. If you don't like real world reviews when they're negative I suggest you don't read them.

 

[boristhemoggy]

How could this be any more clearly labelled? You download wireless drivers. Install the drivers that suit your OS. Use wireless to download other drivers required.

Let me say this again clearly cos you obviously missed it the few times I've already said it.

There are a selection of drivers in there, it is not clear which one is the correct one and using the Windows 7 64bit ones didn't work. I have tried them all anyway, and none work.

 

[boristhemoggy]

By the way I have no allegiance to PCS, I am awaiting delivery of my first laptop from them and I have found that their delivery estimation method is a bit pants. I have however read your posts and as an outsider to the situation it is you, not PCS, who comes across badly. Sorry.

I can only think from this that you think that way because you are one of those people who dislike those who complain. I will be watching very carefully because I hope you don't have any problems at all, but if you do, I'd be curious to see how they go.

 

[maxbor]

I can only think from this that you think that way because you are one of those people who dislike those who complain. I will be watching very carefully because I hope you don't have any problems at all, but if you do, I'd be curious to see how they go.

Not at all. Before buying anything I actively look for reviews on both sides I just genuinely believe that the issues you have experienced aren't a big deal. How did you install the OS onto the new harddrive without a working DVD drive by the way? I'm assuming you installed it from a USB drive or something? In future gather all the drivers you need before reinstalling, it makes it considerably easier. At a minimum get the wireless drivers backed up somewhere and windows 7 usually does a good job of finding the others.

Send the computer back to them for repair on site, it is the only thing I can suggest. I know you've since bought a new one but why bin a 1yr old computer?

Your electrical system may be top notch but it is 8 years old and you should definitely buy a UPS to prevent spikes and surges damaging your equipment.

It doesn't anger me that you missed the fasttrack charge but calling them disingenuous for you missing it isn't fair.

 

[DeadEyeDuk]

I apologise for my early flippant post. (O.k. that's not entirely true, but I do understand why it could be annoying).

I've given all of the facts and anyone can see clearly that they're at fault.

However, I just wanted to clarify something about the last line of your above post. What you HAVE given us is a series of events as you see them. This could be viewed as over and above an opinion, but it is still just your take on things.

This isn't about a PCS White Knight brigade or any other such nonsense. It is just there have been so many complaint threads in the past that laid it out as if PCS are the worst company ever, only for an admin/member of PCS staff to come along and straighten things out.

I am not saying that whatever retort PCS might post should be taken blindly as fact either, but with only your blinkered understanding of events (and I don't mean that disparagingly), you are always going to receive a level of scepticism from both new and old forum members.

Remember, this isn't a review site. This is a forum owned and operated by PCS. Can you complain? Of course you can! Can you get help? Damn straight. Can you outright call out a company for being terrible with only your side of the story available for everyone else to see? [Family Fortunes incorrect answer sound].

Really, nobody that posts in here will be getting at your personally, or even blindly doubting what you are saying (apart from Steaky, he's such a fanboy), but you also have to understand long rants with little to no evidence beyond "because I said so" isn't really going to be viewed in a very positive light.

...in my opinion.

 

[boristhemoggy]

I used a usb installation and it's all standard gear so I didn't foresee problems with drivers, I could always get them off the old disc anyway if needed. Perhaps the wireless card has failed too?

I am waiting for my new computer but no I'm not sending it back. If you read clearly all my posts you'll see the problems I've had and I don't see how me incurring massive postage costs is sensible when I believe from past experience that this won't be the end of it anyway. There has to be a stage where you cut your losses.

It is 8 years old mostly, with some upgraded components. It is far better than a UPS which in effect is nothing more than a battery with a smoothing circuit. Never in 8 years have I had electrical problems with anything and I continue to be preoblem free aside from this PC so I am confident it isn't that.

Why is it unfair? Legally credit card companies and many many other companies have been told that some of their finer print is not binding because it's not easily seen and understood by all. There's the precedence.