Western Computer www.western.co.uk

I’ve been a customer of Western Computers in Oxford ever since they opened the branch. I highly recommend it: their prices are agreeable (reduced prices for members of the University), their customer service is excellent, and the knowledge and supportis absolutely AMAZING!

Took booking for iphone battery replacement. Asked me to unlock phone then said had no battery. Must happen a lot.

My phone caused issues today when I was trying to take part in a zoom call and I was unable to access/ turn off/ reset. I visited the western computers store in Cheltenham this afternoon where in seconds it was all resolved. Extremely friendly and helpful staff member.

excellent customer service for my iphone ..recommended to update back at home but felt i was looked after and appreciated the approach.

Thank you for sorting out my iPhone which wasn't turning on. The root cause was quickly identified and it wasn't the battery as I had feared. This is the second time that I had a positive experience at Western Computer in Oxford.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this store to all Apple users in Oxford.

Purchased I phone 13 Pro at Oxford store in June 2022. The camera only works intermittently, it often freezes . Sometimes if I switch off the phone and then switch back on again it will work. I have been into the shop twice , but because the problem is intermittent I haven’t been able to demonstrate it. Apparently because they haven’t seen the fault they are unable to send it to be looked at by their technical department. There is absolutely nothing they can do to help. How can they justify this total lack of customer support

After calling their central support , I was advised to take my iMac to the store for the staff to assess. they would run diagnostics ( for a cost) and then be able to specify all hardware / software issues and fixes required. No need to book just roll up. So I did .

The staff had a completely different story to the service line. No diagnostics offered , the staff member said I needed a new hard drive without so much as turning the machine on. The store were not interested in even looking into the problem. They said that their 'support line' that I had called were useless and "did not know what they were talking about". When I asked if the hard drive replacement ( a week in the shop btw) would be reversed if it did not fix the issues , I was told no , there are no guarantees.

I suggested that they needed to look at sorting themselves out, as a result of bad advice , and the lack of any real interest in looking into my problems , I had wasted considerable time and money. I left the store as a "never to be customer" .

Some 'manager' fellow who had materialised from a back room but not participated in the conversation then followed me out of the store saying things like "If you don't want to be a customer get out of my store" and " you are abusing my staff". I had simply expressed my displeasure at their approach , and suggested they get their act together so other people did not waste time and money coming to their shop under false pretences.

Once at the door the "manager ( loose term)" tried to close the door in my face. Once I stopped that , I asked for his name , which as he was so polite and customer focused he refused to divulge.

Truly one of the worst customer service experiences of recent times.

My advice to anyone considering taking any business to Western Computers , particularly the Leamington Spa branch, should think again.

Thanks ever so much for helping me on my website in store.

I took my macbook in for a replacement screen a week before my A levels needed to be handed in. With this explained to them, that under no circumstances I could loose my data as it wasn’t backed up they proceeded to get my laptop into such a state it was unrepairable.

They offered to replace the board they had broken but at risk of wiping my device. Obviously this wasn’t an option due to my A levels being in a week. They recommended taking it to a data specialist which I did and who struggled to get the data off as the components inside the laptop had been fried. This couldn’t has happened from my laptop falling off my bed.

However, when emailing western computers they insisted it wasn’t their fault which is obviously not true.

I am now left without a laptop after they were the ones who fried it.

This is not something, I would expect from an apple verified company and I am now bringing up this case with apple themselves.

If I could give 0 stars I would!

I’ve been a customer of Western Computers for a long time- not quite sure how many years. I have purchased a few big ticket items from them.My last big purchase was an IMAC. The problems started soon after I got the machine home.

I don’t do any heavy processing on my computers, just email, Word and Excel really so the machine should run fast, it’s an Apple after all and that’s why I bought it (plus it looks good).

It started with any applications being slow wether they were Apple or others, I would get the wheel of death and as an example opening a Word document could take up to several minutes. Opening photos was touch and go as to if they would open at all.

I followed the process and went direct to Apple support- who spent hours on the phone with me, we did everything you can imagine including reformatting the hard drive- they recommended that I purchase a time capsule (I did) so I could back up my data. Even backing up to it took over a day- and yes I had hardly anything on the machine. Anyway computers aren’t my life and whilst this was an expensive inconvenience I almost gave up trying to get it fixed. Anyway I took my machine back to Western who claimed they could not find a fault after 7 days of testing. I took the IMAC to an Apple repair shop who diagnosed the fault as a faulty hard drive- replaced it and now my machine works like a dream.

I am taking Western through the small claims court. I have discovered two friends with the same IMAC and the same issue so will be helping them get the issue sorted. Also it’s worth noting that Western tell you in the shop that they offer a two year warranty that is exactly the same as Apples first year- this is not true they don’t cover hard drives but they won’t tell you this when you go to buy one.

The Sales Director that has been in contact with me is very rude and unhelpful, he also didn’t turn up for an agreed time for the small claims mediation service.

I have submitted a SAR’s request to Western and they don’t seem to have half the purchases that I have made or do they think that information in regards to my small court claim should/is part of the SAR’s request- will update how I get on.