Very, very disappointed

[MikeStroud]

I previously described some of the issues I had with my £2k laptop in this thread - https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/very-very-disappointed.87597/ and that ignores the many many calls, waiting for non existent call backs, many emails, blah blah blah that didn't resolve all my issues so I was ground down to the point I gave in and gave up trying to resolve my issues with PCS and just now put up with them but everytime I use this laptop it is a chore not a pleasure because of the issues it came with.

All in all a very frustrating experience. I feel my laptop was not setup properly before delivery despite being signed off by PCS QA etc. I appreciate this forum is run by enthusiasts, I just need to get this off my chest.

PCS after my previous comments sent me an emails saying they were putting me on "VIP Support". Hurrah! Maybe I will get a single person to resolve my issues instead of being passed between many many many people. Anyway that VIP support turned out to be a disaster. Below are the email I got offering me VIP Support and my reply and since then I have not heard a thing.... nothing at all.

___________________________________________________________
xxxxxx
Sat 19/02/2022 17:33
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


To:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Oh thanks for this xxxxxxxx.

As I said to many of your people I accept stuff goes wrong, it's how it is dealt with that matters. I ran a support operation of 100+ people myself at one point and know this well.

The laptop still doesn't turn on correctly in my view after a shutdown. So I use sleep only which seems to work reliably. After a shutdown I frequently get the keyboard to light up but the screen doesn't come on. I press the power button varying times and it seems a bit hit and miss to me if the screen actually loads up.

If you want to see this yourself remotely then I can only suggest some thing like a WhatsApp video call so you can see what I am doing. I've been using laptops for 20+ years and this is the only one I have any trouble turning on.

Cheers

Mike

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From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: 19 February 2022 12:20
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject:2253128 - continued support

Dear xxxxxx,

I am xxxxxxxxxxxx and I work in the customer service centre at PCSpecialist as a team leader who specialises in technical issues, customer feedback and complaints.

My manager has contacted me today to reach out to ask if you require our assistance with any remaining issues. After reviewing our forums and email conversations I see that your Office package has been refunded, and that the boot menu has been re-arranged due to a delayed start up process.

The collaborative efforts of our customer support team and forums members seem to show that we have mostly ‘resolved’ these problems, although I don’t personally see it as such. The Office activation process had been a failure and we sincerely apologise for that, and the unordered boot menu looks to be an oversight by our quality control team. Not exactly what you would expect from a well versed and one of the largest computer outfitters in the UK.

I have comprehensively read through your situation and the feedback regarding our technical support team. I agree on many points and internal feedback has been provided to those involved as note taking, ownership of the call and general upkeep of communication was not fantastic. Being left with unpromised call backs is a huge concern for us and we are sorry for the inconveniences caused to you.

PCSpecialist take this matter very seriously and that is why I wish to reach out and offer you somewhat of a ‘VIP’ service. You have access to my personal email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx and if you wish to continue the conversation on a 1 on 1 basis, I would be happy to do so.

Your continued support for our business is important and with your feedback, our services will continue to improve.

Take care and have a brilliant weekend.

Best Wishes,
___________________________________________


My laptop also crashes regularly without warning. Maybe it is a Win11 issue or maybe it is the badly configured laptop I was sold by PCS, I'll never know. The laptop was to have been my primary machine but now is used as a backup for my old machine. Not what I had intended at all having spent £2k on it.

I have attached some photos of the lockups I get. CTRL/ALT/DEL does nothing when this happens nor does anything else except powering off the laptop. Happens maybe once every 10 hours of laptop up time.

Anyway I have given up with PCS support, too much time on the phone already spent, too many emails, too many let downs and as for VIP support ... pfffff.

I'm not expecting anyone to do anything, I am tired of the whole thing now so have given up. (Have tried to anonymise everything, if I've missed anything then apologies).

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm very sorry you've had the experience you have, this is certainly not a usual situation.

I appreciate you're not looking for feedback and just wanted to voice your concerns publicly.

 

[Salmon Fisher]

That does seem exceedingly poor, unsatisfactory and frustrating. You certainly have my sympathy on this one.

 

[Scott]

I must say, that looks like a hardware fault to me. It seems you've been unlucky with both the configuration and the hardware. As much as you are completely at the end of your tether, I personally wouldn't accept that. You are well within your rights to return that laptop IMO, I would be arguing for a full refund as it's not been right since you got it and numerous attempts to repair it have been in vein.

 

[MikeStroud]

Many thanks for comments.

What made it all worse was I had some friends around for the "unboxing"! Of course got it unboxed and we couldn't turn the blinking thing on after 15 mins. They went home totally unimpressed ... as was I! So much for PCS QA before delivering their "bricks" - avoid them is my advice.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Many thanks for comments.

What made it all worse was I had some friends around for the "unboxing"! Of course got it unboxed and we couldn't turn the blinking thing on after 15 mins. hey went home totally unimpressed ... as was I! So much for PCS QA before delivering their "bricks" - avoid them is my advice.

That's not PCS fault, there's no way of preventing things coming adrift in shipping or the luck of the silicon lottery with component failures, unfortunately a large part of it is down to the care and attention of your local DPD driver as to how careful the delivery process is. The rest is all down to complete luck really as to weather you've got good silicon or not, but that's covered by warranty. But any part can fail at any time, and there's no way to prevent that occurring, that's just the nature of electrical circuitry. That's why warranty is so important.

99% of deliveries are fine, and most people get working systems. These things are very delicate and the slightest bump can cause some loose contact somewhere. When people leave reviews they tend to be negative as that's the time people want their voices heard. The fact they've retained extremely high feedback on review sites is a testament to their ongoing quality.

I'm not intending to minimise your experience, just trying to avoid the impression that it's always the case, just isn't true. Most people are very happy and get good service if something isn't right. That's generally the case and proven by their reviews all over the internet.

I don't know what went wrong here, and hope it doesn't happen again.

 

[MikeStroud]

That's not PCS fault, there's no way of preventing things coming adrift in shipping or the luck of the silicon lottery with component failures, unfortunately a large part of it is down to the care and attention of your local DPD driver as to how careful the delivery process is. The rest is all down to complete luck really as to weather you've got good silicon or not, but that's covered by warranty. But any part can fail at any time, and there's no way to prevent that occurring, that's just the nature of electrical circuitry. That's why warranty is so important.

99% of deliveries are fine, and most people get working systems. These things are very delicate and the slightest bump can cause some loose contact somewhere. When people leave reviews they tend to be negative as that's the time people want their voices heard. The fact they've retained extremely high feedback on review sites is a testament to their ongoing quality.

I'm not intending to minimise your experience, just trying to avoid the impression that it's always the case, just isn't true. Most people are very happy and get good service if something isn't right. That's generally the case and proven by their reviews all over the internet.

I don't know what went wrong here, and hope it doesn't happen again.

Clearly not read any part of my numerous issues; or simply have no idea.

For example one reason for my boot taking ten mins when I first got it was that the SSD with the OS on was set in the UEFI to be the 6th device that the laptop looked for for an OS. PCS already admitted they should not have delivered it set up like that, I changed it myself following some advice on here to be the 1st place and that helped the start up time no end (from ten mins to say 30 seconds) but not fixed it. Many other issues too.

I can assure you there is no way on earth a DPD delivery driver would have fiddled with those UEFI settings, absolutely no way at all. Add to that my many other issues with this laptop it is clear it has physical issues as well as set up issues which remain unresolved. These set up issues should have been picked up by PCS QA before delivery, 3 different QA/test people signed this off but left it set up incorrectly, doesn't inspire any confidence.

Take their VIP support as an example - they promise the earth (I did post their email offering VIP support and my response - then you never hear from them ever again. Complete shambles, but blaming DPD for all my issues is just not on imo.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Clearly not read any part of my numerous issues; or simply have no idea.

For example one reason for my boot taking ten mins when I first got it was that the SSD with the OS on was set in the UEFI to be the 6th device that the laptop looked for for an OS. PCS already admitted they should not have delivered it set up like that, I changed it myself following some advice on here to be the 1st place and that helped the start up time no end (from ten mins to say 30 seconds) but not fixed it. Many other issues too.

I can assure you there is no way on earth a DPD delivery driver would have fiddled with those UEFI settings, absolutely no way at all. Add to that my many other issues with this laptop it is clear it has physical issues as well as set up issues which remain unresolved. These set up issues should have been picked up by PCS QA before delivery, 3 different QA/test people signed this off but left it set up incorrectly, doesn't inspire any confidence.

Take their VIP support as an example - they promise the earth (I did post their email offering VIP support and my response - then you never hear from them ever again. Complete shambles, but blaming DPD for all my issues is just not on imo.

I never blamed DPD for all your issues, I said that was a common cause for failures on delivery. Same as silicon lottery. I was referring to the people who's systems arrive non working, not specifically to your situation.

You'd flat out said PCS systems would be like that - blanket statement because you're angry, and we get that.

But there's no need to try to dissuade other users. Just post your own experience and leave it at that. It's against forum rules to try to badmouth the company.

Critical feedback is very constructive. Name calling and exacerbations less so.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm not expecting anyone to do anything, I am tired of the whole thing now so have given up. (Have tried to anonymise everything, if I've missed anything then apologies).

Since you posted this in the first post and have not asked for any advice from the forum, I'm going to lock this thread as you've voiced your concerns.