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“Very poor customer service”

written by on 24/06/2013

Myself and my husband have now bought 6 desktops/laptops from PC Specialist. Until this year, I would have recommended them and have had no issues.

However, this all changed recently when I experienced my first problem.

My Desktop PC, which is about 18 months old, began to restart over and over again. Long story short, I had to send the desktop back to PC Specialist to be repaired. This was on 13th May 2013 and subsequently they advised me that the GPU and Motherboard was faulty and they would have to go back to the manufacturers. It is now 24th June and my desktop has still not been returned.

However, it gets worse....

As I work from home and am an avid gamer; I could not be without a system for more than a few days; so I decided to buy a laptop from PC Specialist, as a backup.

I ordered a pre-built laptop to ensure the quickest turnaround time and it did arrive quickly as promised but then the problems began.

Each time I did right mouse click in Windows Explorer, it crashed. I contacted PCS and they advised that this was a Windows problem, which would need a complete reinstall.

Also, each time I rebooted, the CDROM drive popped open. PCS advised that this was a firmware issue and attempted to remote in and downloaded but this failed, as the firmware update was not for the make of CDROM I had installed.

PCS advised that they would send me a new CDROM and that I would need to swap this out.

When this arrived several days later; I swapped it out but still had the same issue. PCS checked and the 2nd CDROM that was delivered was exactly the same model as the first, with the same issues.

They then delivered a 3rd CDROM, which I installed but the firmware update still didn't work.

Meanwhile, I had reinstalled Windows 7 and had to reinstall every driver again myself.

By this time, I was very cross and told PCS that I was not confident that the laptop was fit for purpose and returned it to PCS.

Stupidly, after several conversations with PCS in which they apologised profusely and offered me an extended warranty; I ordered a 2nd new laptop to replace the 1st and this time specified the components.

It arrived (after purchasing the 3 day build time) but only had a trial Windows 8 version. PCS had stated previously that as I had activated the Windows 7 version on the first laptop; they would not refund this amount and so they would send the 2nd new laptop with a Windows 7 disc and the key.

The laptop arrived but without the Windows 7 disc.

After many emails with PCS, the Licence Key was emailed and I reinstalled Windows 7.

I attempted to reinstall the drivers for my hardware and realised that these were for W8 and not W7.

I emailed PCS again and they said they would post the drivers out asap.

Two parcels arrived nearly two weeks later. One with W7 disc and one with a flash drive with the drivers on.

Unfortunately, about 5 of the drivers, including the USB port and graphics card, error on installation, as they are incompatible!

I have attempted to contact PCS again today but their phone line is currently not manned and there is no facility to leave a message, other than an online email.

They do not phone me back, despite numerous requests and I still have a new laptop with many hardware conflicts and I still awaiting the return of my desktop!

My laptop spec is as follows:

Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 765M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Floppy Disk Drive NONE
Battery Optimus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Cable 1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse OPTIMUS SERIES UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)