PC World Won't Repair/Refund After 28 Days

[gyzmo]

Now then, back to the argument.

Well said again PatDavies. Perhaps a disclaimer should be put up everytime someone logs in and reads retailpointofview's posts.

[demon_x_slash]

And, er, 95% of my entire working life has been in retail, both full time and part time, salesperson, supervisor and manager. I've never had a problem understanding SoGA...I think I know what I'm talking about

[gyzmo]

Lol! Would love to see that actually being said to a TSO!

[rosiecotton]

Some retailers are actually very good

Retailpointofview/yourbestfriend is not one of them.

[joe1965]

Originally Posted by rosiecotton

Some retailers are actually very good

Some can be very good. My nephew got a PSP for christmas and a few weeks ago it went wrong. He took it back to Game to ask for a replacement. The young guy behind the counter tried to fob him off with the 28 day b*****ks. The manager was stood behind him and let rip into him in front of everyone in the store. He apologised to my nephew and sorted it out himself.
If only every store was run like this .......

[spikeachu]

Originally Posted by joe1965

Some can be very good. My nephew got a PSP for christmas and a few weeks ago it went wrong. He took it back to Game to ask for a replacement. The young guy behind the counter tried to fob him off with the 28 day b*****ks. The manager was stood behind him and let rip into him in front of everyone in the store. He apologised to my nephew and sorted it out himself.
If only every store was run like this .......

The problem that PC World faces is that nine out of ten times the user is at fault and not the equipment. The components and PCs sold by PC World require basic knowledge of computers and just because a customer cannot get a piece of equipment to work does not mean that it is faulty. Although explaining that to the customer that wants everything to 'just work' can be hard work.

The way PC World operate is that the stores are there to make money, the customer service centre is there to sort out problems. Knowledge is something that should be bought, as such, the technicians don't want to be spending half an hour setting up a customer's product and making it work with their system just because they lack the knowhow to do this themselves.

They have help lines for this sort of stuff and statistics show that 92% of calls can be resolved over the phone. Which means 92% of products are not faulty when the customer thinks they are. If the item is faulty after being diagnosed, the customer has an ID number which they pop along to store with and all hassle is avoided as the product has already been logged as faulty, therefore the store need not test it.

Now imagine another scenario where all products were taken to the store. If the store charged £29.99 for the set up of these products that were not faulty, there'd be a lot of miffed customers.

Now lets take this scenario to another extreme. You're in PC World wishing to purchase an item. But you can't because there's 100 people at the customer service desk because there is no helpline as this is deemed a breach of the SoGA and the store should be dealing with these issues directly. There's no staff available to serve you. We already know that statistically 92 of these people are carrying working products, but lack the knowledge in how to use/set them up. So now the store are alienating the very people that provide their cash in the first place.

From a retailers point of view, the set up that PC World has makes sense and for a lot of customers, the in-home service that they offer is preferable to lumping the whole kit down to a store.

Now don't take this post as saying that PC World or any other retailer does not have obligations under the sale of goods act, i know as much as the next man that they do. Just remember that 92% of the products that are returned are not eligible for any remedy under it anyway and the staff in store are trained in policy and selling, not law. Customer service staff are trained in law and policy and are the best people to deal with should you choose to quote the SoGA.

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by spikeachu

You're in PC World wishing to purchase an item. But you can't because there's 100 people at the customer service desk because there is no helpline as this is deemed a breach of the SoGA and the store should be dealing with these issues directly.

I think you are mis-interpreting what has been said on this thread.

This issue had nothing to do with the use of help lines - it's the dogmatic response from retailpointofview that consumers should deal with the manufacturer for themselves where the retailer is liable.

Although the help lines should not be premium or national rate numbers - but that's a whole different discussion.

[demon_x_slash]

Anyway, trying to get a resolution over PC World's helpline first is still trying to get a resolution from the retailer.

[gyzmo]

And just as impossible.

[StormWarrior]

It all boils down to money!
Everyone wants everything as cheap as poss, and is rarely prepared to pay for quality, or service, or knowledge. If this was not the case, stores like Currys, PC World, etc would not sell computers at all. In fact PCworld would prob not exist

I am totally in agreement with almost all the things said in this thread, with the obvious exception of the Retailpointofview, who seems to have a total lack of understanding of consumer law.

However, one point that really annoyed me was the comment

...announces that the problem is that the printer isn't recognising the non Cannon ink cartridges.

Now at this point many people will assume I'm gonna say something along the lines of " shouldn't have to use manufacturers carts", but I'm not.

In this case it may or may not have been the carts that were the problem, but from experience 90% of printing faults on printers ARE the result of non-genuine carts.
Should the retailer be responsible for damage caused by customers using the printer outside its instructions? IMHO No !
So if the next load of fake carts kill the print head, will the customer get a new machine? Nothing personal, but I hope not.

This is just one of my personal pet hates

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by StormWarrior

However, one point that really annoyed me was the comment
Now at this point many people will assume I'm gonna say something along the lines of " shouldn't have to use manufacturers carts", but I'm not.

In this case it may or may not have been the carts that were the problem, but from experience 90% of printing faults on printers ARE the result of non-genuine carts.
Should the retailer be responsible for damage caused by customers using the printer outside its instructions? IMHO No !
So if the next load of fake carts kill the print head, will the customer get a new machine? Nothing personal, but I hope not.

This is just one of my personal pet hates

To extend that a little...

So if a printer is returned because it is jamming, the retailer should not be responsible if the customer is not using printer brand paper?

[StormWarrior]

If the paper causes the jams, no, they should not be responsible!
There was a problem some years ago with laser and inkjet printers jamming due to cheap paper that had a large amount of 'paper dust'. I'm sure you will have noticed that even cheap paper these days is quite smooth, and dust free, a direct result of the problems. People will not buy paper that continually jams.
Damp paper is also a problem, should the supplier of the printer be responsible for that as well? Or should printers handle soggy papers?
Anyway most paper jams are the result of 'foreign bodies'

ok, lets put this a way that non technical people can understand.

If I sold fuel that was not upto the required specification, e.g. right octane, centane, pentane numbers, free for contamination, etc. Would Ford give you a new car if my sub-standard fuel killed it? No, they would tell you to see me, who supplied the bad juice.

Yet, when you buy cheap, sub-standard ink, the supplier is supposed to stand the cost!

From part of the Epson Enhanced Warranty ...

Where damage or blockage occurs to or in the print mechanism and non-Epson consumables have been used, the failure will be deemed to have occurred because of that use unless the contrary can be proved.

And do you know why they actually say this? because they have been testing returned printers for years and have the figures to show that non-original carts actually do cause the problems.

[reidnet]

Just my Tuppence worth..lol

But if Epson and the likes did not charge such ridiculous prices for their consumable then maybe every day punters like myself would buy them from Epson.

I paid £58 for an Epson Printer and yes they expect me to pay nearly £30 for a set of four ink cartridges..Not likely when I can buy compatibles that produce the same quality of print for under £4 a set. The amount of printing I do, I use a lot of Cartridges and even if the Printer has to be binned after 12 months then I will still have saved myself enough to replace the printer probably 5 times over in a year.

Ian

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by StormWarrior

From part of the Epson Enhanced Warranty ...

And do you know why they actually say this? because they have been testing returned printers for years and have the figures to show that non-original carts actually do cause the problems.

Pity then that the SoGA puts the burden of proof on them for the first 6 months to prove that there was no manufacturing defect; that they deem it not to be is simply not good enough.

[StormWarrior]

even if the Printer has to be binned after 12 months then I will still have saved myself enough to replace the printer probably 5 times over in a year

This is unfortunatly the sad state of the industry, hardware has become disposable. Not very eco-friendly, but a finacial reality!
I must admit that I have advisded people of this option, forget warranty, just replace it with the savings. Although I do point out that the quality, etc will not be as good. But for day to day printing it doesn't really matter.

AS for

ridiculous prices

I charge £45 an hour for some of my work, and my customers pay it happily, cause they know what they are getting, know the quality of work, etc. You get what you pay for.

I ALWAYS use genuine Epson carts in my inkjet, but my printer cost over £500, It's A2 capable, 7 years old, and still prints outstanding pictures.

But for day to day use at home, I have a little laser printer. Lots of prints, fast and neat. Thats what lasers were designed for.
For top quality, waterproof, fade resistant prints, blah, blah, I have a 'special' printer. And you don't want to kow what that costs to run :o

It's all "horses for courses", and "pay your money take your choice" stuff.

BUT I would not dream of complaining if I killed the inkjet by trying to bung 1000's of prints through it every day.