Pc Specialist are Really Really slow

[Mattie]

Firstly id just like to apologise for asking PCS for a delivery time for my order, and for giving them the delivery times of one of their competitors for comparison. I truly am a horrible person, a monster really. I'm sure there is a special place in hell reserved for people like me, and i probably deserve it.

Good point about the current happy customers not posting much on the forums.. although, there do seem to be a fair few of you lurking around. I cant imagine those with a negative view of PCS would have cause to stick around as much.

Anyhoooo. For today's update on my order:

Nothing. No response what so ever.

[video=youtube;MK6TXMsvgQg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6TXMsvgQg&feature=youtu.be&t=51[/video]

Keepin it light unk:

 

[ubuysa]

What a ridiculous comment, it takes as long as it takes.. What kind of a comment is that? The bottom line of the matter is that they are providing a service and they shouldn't have any approximations of delivery dates if they cannot meet them or provide any kind of accurate updates as to why.

The average purchaser would expect an approximation to be accurate; at present I am already 140% over this and still in their second stage. It took 30 minutes of holding on a phone call and 3 ignored emails to be told there is no issues and that the build would be dealt with yesterday which it still isn't today. I'm not looking for instant gratification just a decent level of customer service, as currently the system they have is appalling. I'm more than happy to wait patiently but I do not however appreciate being placed in the dark over a purchase that has cost such a significant amount of money. Perhaps you need to understand that having a decent level of customer service and expecting a company to come close to their own claims on deliverables isn't a luxury its a requirement.

Firstly id just like to apologise for asking PCS for a delivery time for my order, and for giving them the delivery times of one of their competitors for comparison. I truly am a horrible person, a monster really. I'm sure there is a special place in hell reserved for people like me, and i probably deserve it.

Good point about the current happy customers not posting much on the forums.. although, there do seem to be a fair few of you lurking around. I cant imagine those with a negative view of PCS would have cause to stick around as much.

Anyhoooo. For today's update on my order:

Nothing. No response what so ever.

Keepin it light unk:

Have either of you ever run a business? No, of course you haven't, otherwise you'd realise that sometimes you can't always meet your targets, even with the best of intentions and working as hard as you can. That's life. You'd also realise that you can't please all of your customers all of the time, no matter how hard you try. That's life too.

Your only complaints seem to be that PCS didn't build your PC in the time they estimated and they haven't told you why. Well, if that's all you ever have to get upset about you'll have a happy life. Where I am there are people leaving everything they own behind and making perilous sea journeys in open boats and rubber dinghys in the hope of a better life. Try telling them you're really annoyed because your PC is taking longer to build than you hoped, see how much sympathy you get there.

 

[steaky360]

Firstly id just like to apologise for asking PCS for a delivery time for my order, and for giving them the delivery times of one of their competitors for comparison. I truly am a horrible person, a monster really. I'm sure there is a special place in hell reserved for people like me, and i probably deserve it. ...*snip*

Please don't think you cant post your thoughts, no one will ever tell you that you're not entitled (or even not encouraged) to give both positive and negative feedback about your experience (including any feedback about apparent lack of comms / info regarding your order / delay / etc.). The active forum members will likely respond with positive comments from their own experiences but that is the whole idea of a forum isn't it?

*snip*...Try telling them you're really annoyed because your PC is taking longer to build than you hoped, see how much sympathy you get there.

Although I didn't mind a long wait (not saying that means everyone else shouldn't mind, I just didn't myself) and without trying to insert my own bias. I'm not sure its fair to draw this kind of comparison here, yes there are atrocities in the world but people still have the right to feel that they want a better quality of service than they are currently receiving.

 

[ubuysa]

Although I didn't mind a long wait (not saying that means everyone else shouldn't mind, I just didn't myself) and without trying to insert my own bias. I'm not sure its fair to draw this kind of comparison here, yes there are atrocities in the world but people still have the right to feel that they want a better quality of service than they are currently receiving.

Context.

It's perfectly ok to complain on here that you've had to wait longer than you expected. It's not ok to keep banging on about it as though it's the most important thing in the world. It's not.

And I stand by what I said, if waiting for a new PC to be built is the worst thing that happens to people they'll be the envy of everyone.

 

[smidge]

Have either of you ever run a business? No, of course you haven't, otherwise you'd realise that sometimes you can't always meet your targets, even with the best of intentions and working as hard as you can. That's life. You'd also realise that you can't please all of your customers all of the time, no matter how hard you try. That's life too.

Your only complaints seem to be that PCS didn't build your PC in the time they estimated and they haven't told you why. Well, if that's all you ever have to get upset about you'll have a happy life. Where I am there are people leaving everything they own behind and making perilous sea journeys in open boats and rubber dinghys in the hope of a better life. Try telling them you're really annoyed because your PC is taking longer to build than you hoped, see how much sympathy you get there.

Have I ever run a business? No I haven't but lets just clear something up. I'm perfectly capable of understanding that there are some instances where you can't meet your targets and you can't please everybody. The important part is how the company deal with their issue and recognise that there is a problem and do something about it. I can see no effort from the business in this regard and I am complaining about that. Also tell me.. how many successful companies do you know of consistently miss their own targets and upset all of their customers and just said "hey that's life"?

Also how can you compare two very different cultures and lifestyles and expect them to match up? Well they just don't I'm afraid, whilst I don't condone any of the atrocities that take place in this world and there isn't a day that goes by where I count myself as lucky to lead the life I do. But as you have said yourself, unfortunately that is life and it is happening today. However that just isn't even relevant here so bringing the subject back on topic I was merely pointing out that by today's standards PCS level of customer service isn't up to the standard that we would expect from a business of this stature I wanted to make people aware of this. Sorry I didn't realise I wasn't allowed to complain on here..

 

[steaky360]

And I stand by what I said, if waiting for a new PC to be built is the worst thing that happens to people they'll be the envy of everyone.

Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment. I do occasionally find myself saying if [this thing] is the worst thing that happens today, I'm having a very good day

Sorry I didn't realise I wasn't allowed to complain on here..

You are allowed to voice your aggravation/post a complaint on here.

Although I don't think this is what you meant but just to be clear if you want to make a 'formal complaint' you should do so in writing to PCS directly rather than on the forum.

Hopefully this will all be resolved shortly and everyone will get their rigs.

 

[Mattie]

Have either of you ever run a business?

Yes, I have. And when I took thousands of pounds of someone's money, I made dam sure I replied to their emails on the same day, and I expected the same from my suppliers.

It boils down to this: when there is a problem with my order, I want to know about it right away. When the restaurant I eat my lunch at burnt my burger, they didn't leave me sitting there for an extra 30 minutes while they cooked me a new one, they told me. I expect that level of customer service, sorry if that makes me a bad guy.

Where I am there are people leaving everything they own behind and making perilous sea journeys in open boats and rubber dinghys in the hope of a better life. Try telling them you're really annoyed because your PC is taking longer to build than you hoped, see how much sympathy you get there.

Well then what are you doing in here crying ur eyes out cause people on the internet bought a computer and weren't happy with customer service.

Didn't you know that where you are there are people leaving everything they own behind and making perilous sea journeys in open boats and rubber dinghies in the hope of a better life. Try telling them you're crying because someone on the internet used the same company as you and complained about customer service, see how much sympathy you get there.

What I'm trying to say is, your argument can be pointed towards anyone complaining about any thing, as long as its less important than the refugees. That's why its a silly argument.

To be honest, wtf are you even doing posting here in this thread? So many posters on here trying to start fights with people experiencing delays. This attitude looks just as bad for prospective customers as the problems with PCS itself. And some of them are foaming at the mouth angrily shouting out "CALM DOWN AND WAIT, WHY ARE YOU ALL GETTING SO WOUND UP, MOST PEOPLE HAVE A GREAT SERVICE" with as much venom as possible.

You cant tell someone cracking jokes and posting the benny hill music that they are being angry and need to calm down. Not if you want the internet to take you seriously.


Anyhoooooooo...

A response to my email!! Believe it or not, it really did happen, a real response.

Thank you for getting in touch, unfortunately we are currently having a lot of issues with the Skylake CPU’s and our ASUS motherboard, we have had a team of technicians working on this for the past couple of weeks trying to solve this issue, we actually have ASUS coming in tomorrow to take a look, as we can get some machines working by downclocking certain components and tweaking certain settings, but nothing that we are yet comfortable sending out, Unfortunately we currently have no ETA on when this issue will be fixed and we will be dispatching the overclocked Skylake systems, If you wish to speed up your order we can swap the motherboard to a Gigabyte board which we have got working no problem,



If you need anything else, Don’t hesitate to ask,

So, ASUS are coming in tomorrow to attempt to fix the problem, and if i need anything else, i can always send them an email and take advantage of their 4 days response times. At this point not sure what I'm gonna do, will have a think on it.


The last section was bolded as it was actual news of import.

 

[Everon]

Thanks for posting that info Mattie regarding the asus boards and what's going on at PCS.

As I said in other threads I was about to order one of those systems and this has totally put me off ordering a skylake system from PCS until they formally post on these forums with an update on those talks with Asus.

I wish someone from PCS would post on these forums regarding the issues being faced so potential customers are forewarned and not delayed with orders like you have been.

Thanks again and good luck with your order. Keep us updated if you can.

 

[SlimCini]

Thanks for posting that info Mattie regarding the asus boards and what's going on at PCS.

As I said in other threads I was about to order one of those systems and this has totally put me off ordering a skylake system from PCS until they formally post on these forums with an update on those talks with Asus.

I wish someone from PCS would post on these forums regarding the issues being faced so potential customers are forewarned and not delayed with orders like you have been.

Thanks again and good luck with your order. Keep us updated if you can.

You can't order a skylake system with asus motherboard anyway now so no new orders will have this delay.

 

[Everon]

I'm aware that you can no longer order a skylake with an Asus board at this time.

However, I am also not happy with the two middle range gigabyte boards available currently when ordering a skylake. No gaming boards, not even gigabyte range ones making for very poor choice when wanting to order a decent gaming setup on skylake.

I'll not waste my money ordering a decent system with a middle range z170 board. I'd rather wait until PCS get the Asus problems ironed out or get a better choice of replacement z170 gaming boards.

Edit: fat fingers on iPhone makes typing mistakes ��

 

[mantadog]

I think what winds people up most of all is the passive aggressive posts, that kind of strategy might work well at a poker table but in the real world it just gets really irritating.

PCS responded to your email in 4 days, its about what you would have been advised if you had asked how long it takes for a response. Yes your rig is delayed, yes that sucks. But as ubuysa already said, worse things happen at sea.

Consensus seems to be the customer is always right, my experience says that is very far from the norm. I have banned 2 people from my own business premises because they threw tantrums over waiting what couldn't have been more than 15 minutes or about 5 minutes longer than you could usually expect to be served. so anyone thinking I have little sympathy for issues like this (accompanied by the aforementioned passive aggressive comments) only because its the internet are very much mistaken. PCS are not holding your money to ransom, you can have it back if you ask, of that I'm sure. So my advice would be to ask for a refund or wait patiently as you have made your point and everyone can see it.

 

[SteveT]

It is a difficult situation for PCS. They are a small company. For obvious reasons it isnt easy for them to hire a couple of customer service people for a few weeks to ease the workload when they are hit by some big problem that isnt of their own making. I cant imagine they are happy taking 4 days to respond to an email but at the moment they are having to ride the storm somewhat.

It is a difficult situation for the customer services people who simply cannot provide a good service at the moment, there aren't enough of them. So they get a call from us asking about the progress of our build. They then have to go check with the engineers. The engineers are presumably under great pressure to sort this out. I imagine that customer services get in in the ear from all directions.

It is a difficult situation for the engineers when the products they are given dont perform as they should. I cant imagine they are being casual about trying to sort this out.

It is a difficult situation for the customer. We expect a reasonable level of communication, in fact we are getting used to really good contact, almost instant gratification, from online suppliers, especially from slave-drivers like Amazon. And of course we all have different levels of expectation and emotional investment. For some people I imagine it is quite hard to deal with comments like 'worse things happen at sea'. They do, of course, we all see the news.

At the moment it is quite difficult for me to make an informed decision (because I am not informed) about the differences between an ASUS MOBO and and Gigabyte one. The fact that the ASUS one looks prettier is totally irrelevant to me as that side of the box will be facing a wall. I suppose I could always use some cunningly placed mirrors. The reviews do seem to favour the ASUS one, I have read a bunch of them as I am becoming weirdly obsessed with these details. Better fan control, not so power hungry, (better sound?). I discovered I would need a bigger PSU to run the GPUs in sli etc. But hey, I have absolutely no idea how much difference there would be when I am playing Elite Dangerous using an Oculus Rift early next year. I suspect not much. If anyone can offer some decent advice (other than just their opinion), I would appreciate it I am in no hurry, I am working away for most of the next couple of weeks.

So anyway, my advice to customers (for what it is worth) who feel that PCS customer service isnt up to scratch is to firstly see the Big Picture. Get as much perspective as you can. And then, if you feel like it, complain, express your views and your feelings.

And my advice to PCS (for what it is worth) is to take a good look at your customer service protocols. I know this situation is very fluid but I do believe you can improve communication.

And, at the risk of going on a bit... at least there is this forum where there a several people who really know what they are talking about and are willing to freely offer help. Try searching for the Chillblast forum...

 

[ubuysa]

Yes, I have. And when I took thousands of pounds of someone's money, I made dam sure I replied to their emails on the same day, and I expected the same from my suppliers.

It boils down to this: when there is a problem with my order, I want to know about it right away. When the restaurant I eat my lunch at burnt my burger, they didn't leave me sitting there for an extra 30 minutes while they cooked me a new one, they told me. I expect that level of customer service, sorry if that makes me a bad guy.

And that's not unreasonable.

I'm not calling you a bad guy, and I do understand your frustration, but all of us on here have had to wait varying levels of time for our PCs to be built. You seem to be having to wait longer, but stuff happens. I'm delighted you've had a response from PCS even though it still doesn't give you a delivery date, and I do understand how important customer communication is. If finding out what was going on was so important to you then a phone call to PCS would probably have got you that information a lot quicker.

I apologise if you think I was getting you personally, but you're not the first to grumble on here that their PC didn't arrive when they hoped it would. As your email from PCS shows, the problems are unusual, unfortunate, and being worked on which is pretty much what most of us have been saying, PCS are doing their best for you. To be honest I really don't see what you hoped to gain by an almost daily post on here that you still don't have your PC? What do you imagine we can do about it? What more do you imagine PCS can do about it?

Hopefully it will arrive soon, I'm certain it will arrive as soon as PCS can get it to you and not a moment later. Once it's arrived this horrible waiting period will fade into insignificance.

 

[RType23]

Hopefully my Octane 15.6 is going into production today, working day 13. Even though I could order them at the time they were held up for 330w PSU's and extra batteries.

I note they must be having a hard time of it as the laptop complete % for 7-14 days went from 72% to 48%.

Inventory lag happens to the best of suppliers. I just got informed my 72 hour order of 2 x 128Gb ECC ram kits have arrived from Dell, 4 weeks late. While I was panicking about my engineering team lined up to complete work that would require said Ram my vendor just emailed yesterday to say their assigned engineer broke his leg and they looking for contractor to fill in. C'est la vie.

 

[Stephen M]

It is a difficult situation for PCS. They are a small company. For obvious reasons it isnt easy for them to hire a couple of customer service people for a few weeks to ease the workload when they are hit by some big problem that isnt of their own making. I cant imagine they are happy taking 4 days to respond to an email but at the moment they are having to ride the storm somewhat.
So anyway, my advice to customers (for what it is worth) who feel that PCS customer service isnt up to scratch is to firstly see the Big Picture. Get as much perspective as you can. And then, if you feel like it, complain, express your views and your feelings.
And my advice to PCS (for what it is worth) is to take a good look at your customer service protocols. I know this situation is very fluid but I do believe you can improve communication.

A very good post Stevre T. Totally agree with your points about hiring staff quickly for an emergency, plus PCS have another problem. It is not just getting customer service staff, it is finding them with the right computer knowledge, what is the point of hiring someone who will take a few days to train and then not be needed once they are trained?

On your final point and to PCS. Would it be difficult to have a "Latest News" on the top of your website. I know it would take time to edit but could be done fairly quickly and simply, perhaps the Lead times that are available when we log on to our accounts, that is a clear indicator and could be set to be updated automatically when the other is. Plus a few Bullet points, such as: Problems with Asus Mobos, very sorry orders will be delayed will contact individuals asap, or: GTX970 for Octane etc out of stock, hope to get new order by 28.09.

Just a minimalist thing like that would keep people up to date and, hopefully, be not hard to maintain.

 

[LFFPicard]

On your final point and to PCS. Would it be difficult to have a "Latest News" on the top of your website. I know it would take time to edit but could be done fairly quickly and simply, perhaps the Lead times that are available when we log on to our accounts, that is a clear indicator and could be set to be updated automatically when the other is. Plus a few Bullet points, such as: Problems with Asus Mobos, very sorry orders will be delayed will contact individuals asap, or: GTX970 for Octane etc out of stock, hope to get new order by 28.09.

Just a minimalist thing like that would keep people up to date and, hopefully, be not hard to maintain.

This can actually be done with the forum system, a simple Broadcast Mod will display on the front of the forum, and you could have it as a Broadcast post in each sub forum with the latest news.

 

[Mattie]

Thanks for the replies guys.

As to what i was hoping to gain by doing this, i hoped incorrectly that it might hasten my order, and i also wanted to inform other users of the internet superhighway of the situation, i hope that i have informed at least a few in this thread, and i will continue to update it as things progr.....

beep.. beeep.....beep.. beep.. ...beep.. . beeeeep.......beep.. ......... beeep......... beeeeep

Whats this breaking news here:

Dear Mattie

Your order has now entered the testing and configuration process.

Love PCS
xxx

I'm guessing that Asus were able to sort things out for PCS, those who were holding off ordering might want to give them a while to clear the backlog, but its looks like we are good to go!

 

[smidge]

Just thought I would give you guys an update. As a last resort I tried the livechat system yesterday which actually worked ok (much better than calling and emails did anyway). The guy was very informative and told me my delay was due to a chassis shipment delay at the end August and it is that that which is causing a big laptop delay. It was confirmed that their next ETA for another delivery was today and my order would go into building this Friday (it hasn't) and I'm still in pre-production 18 working days in.

If they had told me that me this at any point of purchasing or indeed at any stage after I tried to contact them I would of been ok with it. This being said I am happy that I now know what the problem is and that they are trying to get another shipment in ASAP so this is something I can now accept was out of their hands. Hopefully next week will be my turn to go into building once the backlog gets moving again.

 

[Mattie]

So not only did they go and test + QA today, they also despatched it! it will be here on Monday morning, which in all fairness is faster than a ferret up a drain pipe.

 

[Mattie]

what a strange edit lol ???