Started a course so went out an bought a 2002 Time laptop + worthless service. Suspicions arose when it arrived in all its ulgyness, screen bigger that its shoddy body. It then always failed to play a DVD for more than a minute and crashed however delft I was with the keypad. Actually quiet useful as an electric heater as caused flesh burns when touching its overheated keyboard on the odd occation that it didn't crash. Lost huge time phoning time, must be why they are called time. Was told among other things that computers were not DVD players. Now need a new main plug and wire to power it, which does not seem to be available and is scandalously expensive. If anyone is sensibly trowing away their time can they sell me the power lead. On the whole, the most expensive computer arround. Has any success been had in suing these people, or stoping them opperating.

When I first got my laptop, the spec looked fantastic and a bargain for the price. It worked fine for a bit (noting that it didn't work as well or as fast as my room mates HP laptop, which actually had lower specs, probably because HP use reputable parts and they have a much better build quality). But then everything started going wrong. The CD ROM didn't work, it wouldn't play DVD's, burn CD's or read any CD's at all! I tried fixing it myself; reinstalling drivers and software etc., but with no success. The drive was physically faulty. There were also loads of dead pixels on the screen, which kept increasing over time. I took it into the computer shop and they didn't want anything to do with it because my warranty had expired (literally a couple of days before - it was like it was programmed to break at this time to make Time Computers more money). Anyway, I paid for it because I wanted a working drive, and they sent it off.

I got it back about 3 weeks later, and they hadn't done anything to it! Furthermore, the wireless card didn't work, as I tried to connect to my broadband, and I tried reinstalling the drivers again, for the same faulty drive. By this point I was fuming, so I rang them up and explained to them what was going on, and that I had paid for repairs that hadn't been done. They just wanted me to ring the premium rate technical support line, or contact the courier for insurance, as it was probably damaged in transit... Rubbish. They hadn't offered to insure it in transit. I refused because I'd already paid over £100 for repairs, and God knows how much on their premium rate numbers, and I told them to sort it out. They hung up. In the end I snapped and punched my laptop in the screen (lightly), which smashed... Summing up the build quality of these rubbish computers.

Buy an HP, Dell, Toshiba or other reputable brand, as you will have a much better experience, and it will be cheaper in the long run!

I ordered 2 laptops from the Computer Shop (part of Time), and was informed that the order will take up to 10 days for delivery. After 14 days, I tried to contact them, but the customer service number was constantly engaged. I continued to contact them without success for a further 3 days, until I started to call senior management at head office. The MD, FD, Ops Director, Sales Manager did not answer their phones over 2 days. I began to believe the company did not exist. I finally spoke to a sales person, who stated my goods were going out today. When they didn't arrive the next day, I called again only to find they were still in dispatch. After a further 8 days of calling and being told they were leaving that day, I was told they could not be dispatched due to a missing badge.

I had to pay for the order before they would dispatch - therefore they had over £1000 of my money for over a month before I cancelled, and then I was told it would take 15 days to get a refund.

Time Computers - 11 months of hassle, they just do not want it back, been returned several times, still back with same fault, will not hear of replacing it so now in hands of the court.
Buyer beware, have heard terrible stories of this company since the purchase.

I also bought a Platina notebook from The Computer Shop (Time Group) and like ricko had exactly the same experience. I felt deceived and constantly misguided when I purchased my laptop and honestly regret ever stepping into their shop nor would I ever recommend the same to others. When I got down to my local branch I intended to buy Platina notebook for £999.00 but was "persuaded" by sales manager to go for £99.00 "add on" package for which I was getting 9 months interest free credit on the notebook + printer, games, memory stick etc. Initially, I only wanted notebook alone but was told that they have run out of notebook only deals and waiting time would be more then 30 days to get one. Incidentally, I was told that waiting time for notebook + £99.00 add on package was only 10 days so I agreed to go for this. 3 weeks later I received phone call from local branch saying they had to recall all notebooks due to faulty motherboard and told me my laptop was being delivered next Monday. I arranged for my partner to stay that day at home and wait for a delivery but it never arrived. I call them only to find out that my laptop is still in a depot and will be delivered to me next day. I then took a day off work to wait for my laptop as I was getting frustrated, which did arrive that day. Like ricko I couldn't boot up or load Windows as it kept crashing. I called a local branch only to find out it was closed down and relocated to another town together with all staff. I then called their Technical support line at £0.50 per min and was in queue for 15min before got through to speak to an advisor. After further 15 min on the phone we concluded that this was a hardware fault and that my notebook will have to be returned to them for a repair. At this point I had enough and I sent everything back asking them to cancel my order as I lost my confidence in Time products. Without going into more details just to say that I am still trying to cancel my order with them after 6 months and I even have my solicitor involved. I have already spent £40 on phone calls alone + solicitor fees and my wasted time. I will never again buy any product from Time or will I recommend them to anyone!

The machine arrived on time which was a good start, but soon discovered that they had sent cheaper speakers than the ones I had ordered. I returned these to the shop and after going back a couple of times finally got them to give me the better ones. Only to find that the sound card didn't work properly, also the card reader was faulty and the machine kept freezing. After spending £35 in phone calls to tech support they told me to take it back to the shop and get them to look at it. 2 weeks later they still hadn't looked at it even though I had phoned them many times and every time they promised to call back, they never did. The day after I went in to the shop to find out what was going on they finally found out that they had been recalled and sent it back to time computers. Then I received a letter saying I had to pay £111 because it had been damaged in transit due to bad packing. This was the last straw, I demanded my money back. The computer has now gone back Hurrah!! Never again will I use The Computer Shop.

I recently purchased a Platina notebook from TheComputerShop (aka Time). It was a one-off 3-day offer for £999 and a very good spec.
However, when asking ANY questions about technical spec they had to ring their head office as they knew nothing about the computer.

The delivery of the computer was guaranteed in 10 days. 4 weeks later and I finally recived my computer. When I wanted to know about the delay the shop said it was sue to "high demand" but when I rang customer service they informed me that the computers had been recalled as they were faulty.

When I did receive it I took it home only to find that it crashed on its first bootup and would not load Windows. I rang the shop and they said they "knew nothing about computers" (quote!) and could not help me. I was told to ring Tech help, which costs 50p/min. Not fair in my view since the computer arrived faulty.

I am still trying to get this sorted.

A good bargain if the computer ever works but totally not worth the hassle and the people in the shop became very rude at the first sign of trouble.