Not a great first impression so far

[Adz682]

Hello all new member here.

I just wanted to say a few things about my recent order with pc specialist. After using cyberpower for my previous system I had nothing but constant issues over a number of years. Since then 2 of my friends have told me to use pc specialist as they have had no issues with any of their orders in the years they have had them. I have recently put an order forward in which I haven't been overly impressed so far.

I use my system for everything which includes working from home which takes the majority of my time. My last system has recently died so I have placed an order via pc specialist. I have paid extra for the 3 working day build which was placed last Monday so I was expecting the system to arrive this Sunday alas that was not the case. I had not received an email since the 22nd which has stated it was still in testing. I have had to call pc specialist myself (after receiving an email saying it has been delayed due to heavy work load)

I was understandably frustrated with this since I have paid extra to receive my system as early as possible. But what annoyed me the most is that no one had bothered to contact me. The gentleman on the phone then made me aware that my pc had failed it's first testing run (I understand this may be a common thing) yet he wasn't able to tell me why it had happened.

I asked him if I could change the delivery date in which he made me aware that only I can sign for it and not a relative. Unfortunately this means I am now having to wait another week for my system until I receive my system. He assured me I will receive a refund for the fast build so I will be keeping an eye on that.

Overall after having a bad time via cyberpower I really expected better things from pc specialist. Hope is not lost yet but as you can imagine I am deeply disappointed so far. I just wish someone from your company had the decency to give me a call or even email me to apologise and keep me updated.

My order number is 1190507

 

[SpyderTracks]

Please be aware that PCS don't monitor these forums, they are moderated by and generally frequented by customers, geeks and curious george's.

I feel your pain. I'm sure if PCS do read this they will take note and put in place some action to avoid this happening again. From people feeding back on these forums, it does appear that communication is one of PCS's biggest downfalls. It's not something that happens all the time, but when it does it's the most common complaint.

I would suggest writing a formal letter to them via snail mail, more to vent yourself, but also to make them aware of your stance on this. They're a good company, and do listen to their customers and I'm sure they'll make steps towards improving matters.

As you say, a simple phone call or email is all that is required to diffuse this situation when it occurs.

Hopefully, going forward, they will have eradicated a potential or critical issue in the build and you'll get a top notch high flying beast as most of us have, and enjoyment will eradicate this from your mind.

 

[Oussebon]

The forums are mostly for the user community, and it's quite possible that PCS staff won't read this message. If you want to make a complaint to them about their communications processes (which in your position I would certainly want to do by the sounds of it) you may want to send them an email.

As you're probably aware the fast track isn't guaranteed and where they fail to make good on it they promise a refund (obviously) but having paid £59 for a 3 day fast track I'd certainly expect to be told if there was an issue as well.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/form...d=345&&category_id=99&&info_type=6&&orderno=0

There are a number of preconfigured PCs available for next day delivery, though being pre-set configs they may not have precisely met your needs: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers-for-next-day-delivery/

I guess the silver lining, such as there may be one, is that at least they caught the issue in testing so hopefully when the PC does reach you it will not present you with the constant issues you've had with previous systems.

I have had issues with PCs bought from PCS, but where these were hardware related they always honoured the warranty, and where these were service related it has generally been possible to agree a resolution. They've been open to reason, anyway.

When you do get the machine and have had a chance to test it out for your uses, you can always post a review of it and the service you've received here: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?15-Show-off-your-new-PC-Laptop! for everyone to see how things ended up, if you have the time to do so ofc.

 

[keynes]

I asked him if I could change the delivery date in which he made me aware that only I can sign for it and not a relative.

that doesn't seem right. As far as I am aware anyone in the household can sign for it.

 

[mantadog]

that doesn't seem right. As far as I am aware anyone in the household can sign for it.

I'd tend to agree, a quick scribble on the PDA and the driver will be happy. Could possibly cause issues if whoever signed for it doesn't check for damage prior to accepting the delivery, but ive had other people in the house sign for my PCS orders with no issues.

 

[Tony1044]

I would say too, that rather than any build quality issues etc, customer communications (or lack of) seems to be the most common complaint and one area that PCS really could improve.

 

[Sling23]

Hi Adz682,

Thank you for getting in touch with us, first of all, I would like to apologise that you have experienced this delay and inconvenience with your order. I am saddened to hear that we have not yet been able to live up to our name and have provided sub-par service, I can confirm that as the system experienced a fault during the testing stage the order was held back until resolved, this resulted in the system missing the Fast Track window selected. In situations like this, we will always and have generated a refund for the service on your account, as this is a finance order the refund information is sent to the finance company as soon as the system is dispatched and they will deduct this from the total amount payable as efficiently as possible.

The real issue here is that no contact was made to you which is unforgivable, I would like to assure you that this feedback has been passed to our Customer Service Manager and Production Manager, they together will be investigating this internally to find out how this has happened and why one of our customers was left in the dark with no information.

In regards to the delivery and signature issue, this is purely down to the fact that the order was purchased on finance. Unfortunately, any item purchased on finance is required to be delivered to the Invoice Address and signed for by the Finance Agreement Holder. We must comply with the finance company’s terms and conditions when dispatching a system and cannot advise against these, however, restrictive they may seem.

I can confirm that the system has successfully completed testing and QC stages, it is currently awaiting dispatch, the system will be held with us until Friday when it will be dispatched via Pink Link on a palletised service due to the size and weight of the system.

Many Thanks

Sling23

 

[ubuysa]

I would say too, that rather than any build quality issues etc, customer communications (or lack of) seems to be the most common complaint and one area that PCS really could improve.

I agree. It's a great pity that those regular contributors on here don't have a special channel of communication to PCS to let them know what the major issues are. Customer service, at least the 'keeping people informed' area, is number 1 I think.

 

[Tony1044]

I agree. It's a great pity that those regular contributors on here don't have a special channel of communication to PCS to let them know what the major issues are. Customer service, at least the 'keeping people informed' area, is number 1 I think.

Yeah it'd be nice if you highly rated, regular contributors and mods had say an email address as it just seems to be the one area of difficulty

 

[Sling23]

I agree. It's a great pity that those regular contributors on here don't have a special channel of communication to PCS to let them know what the major issues are. Customer service, at least the 'keeping people informed' area, is number 1 I think.

I have to agree that having a more consistent line of communication with our forum community would be a great asset and help both us and yourselves. I have requested for our web team to create a new mailbox so that we can begin to put this in place. I will, once this mailbox is up and running post more details to the Moderators so that we can discuss this further.

 

[Tony1044]

I have to agree that having a more consistent line of communication with our forum community would be a great asset and help both us and yourselves. I have requested for our web team to create a new mailbox so that we can begin to put this in place. I will, once this mailbox is up and running post more details to the Moderators so that we can discuss this further.

Just the mods? What about some of the more prevalent posters? Oussebon, Keynes, Spydertracks et al who have responded in this very thread??

 

[Sling23]

Just the mods? What about some of the more prevalent posters? Oussebon, Keynes, Spydertracks et al who have responded in this very thread??

I will be firstly speaking to the Mods. This does not mean that only they will have access to the account, this is something that needs to be done correctly and would rather discuss it with Staff, then Mods then other influential posters.

 

[ubuysa]

I have to agree that having a more consistent line of communication with our forum community would be a great asset and help both us and yourselves. I have requested for our web team to create a new mailbox so that we can begin to put this in place. I will, once this mailbox is up and running post more details to the Moderators so that we can discuss this further.

I think this could be a great help to PCS and bring your (that is PCS's) attention to what look like systemic issues quickly.

 

[rav007]

Adz682, it is a shame you've not had the experience you expected, but if you're feeling down about it I will just remind you of 2 things.

1) Based on your order number, PCS has completed over 1.19 million orders (though I'm sure many are RMAs or additional purchases), and the forums are usually where people come to write about the problems they have had and there aren't that many complaints compared to orders, so you really can put this down to a rare occurrence.

2) If the first point wasn't enough, people rate PCS at 9.4/10 on TrustPilot which is damn near unheard of to be honest! Its an incredible score. I think personally people who have problems with their orders would probably feel more compelled to give a negative review, than people who get their PC and everything is great so they just crack on.

Point is I believe you're in good hands. I don't understand why you weren't called about the delay but also I have noticed we do live in a time where companies don't really call anymore, tracking is all done online and the customer tends to call the customer services if something is wrong, rather than the other way round. Amazon is a classic example of this, a couple of times my orders which were supposed to be shipped and arrive next day were delayed, and nobody called me about it, they just arrived a day late. But at least when you called, they told you what the issue was and said you would be getting the refund. My experience with PCS has been the same in the 1 instance something went wrong, they look to provide solutions to problems, not to pass off the blame, which puts them ahead of most companies.

 

[ubuysa]

Adz682, it is a shame you've not had the experience you expected, but if you're feeling down about it I will just remind you of 2 things.

1) Based on your order number, PCS has completed over 1.19 million orders (though I'm sure many are RMAs or additional purchases), and the forums are usually where people come to write about the problems they have had and there aren't that many complaints compared to orders, so you really can put this down to a rare occurrence.

2) If the first point wasn't enough, people rate PCS at 9.4/10 on TrustPilot which is damn near unheard of to be honest! Its an incredible score. I think personally people who have problems with their orders would probably feel more compelled to give a negative review, than people who get their PC and everything is great so they just crack on.

Point is I believe you're in good hands. I don't understand why you weren't called about the delay but also I have noticed we do live in a time where companies don't really call anymore, tracking is all done online and the customer tends to call the customer services if something is wrong, rather than the other way round. Amazon is a classic example of this, a couple of times my orders which were supposed to be shipped and arrive next day were delayed, and nobody called me about it, they just arrived a day late. But at least when you called, they told you what the issue was and said you would be getting the refund. My experience with PCS has been the same in the 1 instance something went wrong, they look to provide solutions to problems, not to pass off the blame, which puts them ahead of most companies.

Nail > Head

 

[Tony1044]

Adz682, it is a shame you've not had the experience you expected, but if you're feeling down about it I will just remind you of 2 things.

1) Based on your order number, PCS has completed over 1.19 million orders (though I'm sure many are RMAs or additional purchases), and the forums are usually where people come to write about the problems they have had and there aren't that many complaints compared to orders, so you really can put this down to a rare occurrence.

2) If the first point wasn't enough, people rate PCS at 9.4/10 on TrustPilot which is damn near unheard of to be honest! Its an incredible score. I think personally people who have problems with their orders would probably feel more compelled to give a negative review, than people who get their PC and everything is great so they just crack on.

Point is I believe you're in good hands. I don't understand why you weren't called about the delay but also I have noticed we do live in a time where companies don't really call anymore, tracking is all done online and the customer tends to call the customer services if something is wrong, rather than the other way round. Amazon is a classic example of this, a couple of times my orders which were supposed to be shipped and arrive next day were delayed, and nobody called me about it, they just arrived a day late. But at least when you called, they told you what the issue was and said you would be getting the refund. My experience with PCS has been the same in the 1 instance something went wrong, they look to provide solutions to problems, not to pass off the blame, which puts them ahead of most companies.

Indeed - and if you look at my review of my Defiance II you will see that they cocked it up in the early days.

But as I say in said review, I understand things can go wrong - it's what a company (or person) does to put that wrong and here, I found PCS exemplary.

Don't give up on them.