# PC World faulty items returns policy.



## machalla (15 May 2007)

I went against my better judgement and bought a wireless keyboard and mouse (relatively expensive one too) from PC World last week.

Got home plugged in and found a key seemed to be constantly stuck on it though there was no key actually stuck on the keyboard.

Having brought it back to them (with full packaging and receipt of course) they then refuse to do anything much about it since the serial number on the keyboard didn't match the box! They also claimed that the keyboard had been opened up and was not the keyboard that matched the box.  They did confirm the keyboard was faulty.

So it seems to me that they have sold me a faulty second hand item as new and are now refusing to resolve the issue.  Either one of their staff has swapped a faulty keyboard for a working one or else the manufacturer is doing so.

I would be interested in hearing of similar problems with PC World.  I expect to be taking this up with the small claims court since it seems they are selling what they claim to be new items when in fact they are not new nor in fact even working.

I wish I'd just listened to my head and never gone near them in the first place  mind you.  Bit late now of course


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## ClubMan (15 May 2007)

I don't see how the serial number issue is your problem. Presumably the box was not shrink wrapped? Maybe you can see others in the store in the same condition (and point this out to them)? Either way if the goods are faulty then you are entitled to a replacement, repair or a refund. See ConsumerConnect for more.


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## machalla (15 May 2007)

The implied excuse which they did not outright say was that I had switched a broken keyboard in for a new keyboard and was attempting to con them in some way.  I certainly took it in that way and was less than impressed obviously.  You would think they had discovered some elaborate plot based on what I was seeing and hearing from them.

Thanks for the link Clubman that will come in useful.


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## tomred1 (16 May 2007)

My Brother bought a laptop with PC World in January. In February it developed a fault, we went a couple of times to get it fixed, first time he was told there was nothing  wrong with it because the fault never occured when they were looking at it,Then i went up with him and they said it would get fixed quicker if they sent a courier out to collect it and fix it. The courier never showed up after 4 weeks, my brother had stayed in the house on different days waiting for a courier to show up and wasted his time ringing up PC World and the courier company about a collection time. He submitted a claim in the small cliaims court, at the end of March. The small claims court rang him last week to see have PC World contacted him. They hadn't until friday and offered to have someone out today and some compensation. They have absolutely no customer service at all. I would never buy off them at all or Dixons.


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## aircobra19 (16 May 2007)

It would seem that the small claims court is a good route for this.


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## igora (16 May 2007)

Hi,

Here is my experience with them.

Last August my friend for a birthday present bought me an Epson photo printer. I never actually opened it until October and when I turned the printer on initially an error code displayed.

I tried everything from reading the manual to troubleshooting online. Nothing worked.

I called to the store and explained my problem and was told to take the product back for refund/replacement as this error was not fixable.

I got the receipt from my friend and brought back the entire unit complete with packaging. The guy I had spoken to had left.
No refund or replacement was offered but the unit was to be sent to Epson for analysis. 

On 23rd of February I received a call from the store telling me the unit was going to be replaced by Epson and would be sent out to me directly from their factory.

Two weeks later I was posted out from the store the leads,manual etc.. in a torn envelope which I assume were the ones I had returned.

To date I have never received anything else from either Epson or PC World. 
The Waterford store never ever answer their telephone. I have rang PC World's customer care line (UK Based.. I think) to be told it is not an issue for them to handle.

Anyone know where I go from here?


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## ClubMan (16 May 2007)

tomred1 said:


> first time he was told there was nothing  wrong with it because the fault never occured when they were looking at it


In this sort of situation it might be an idea to take a (digital) picture of the machine when the fault occurs to corroborate the fact that the fault does occur sometimes. Then you can show this to the retailer in case the fault does not exhibit itself while they are looking at it.

Also - if anybody is finding it difficult to pursue their statutory rights in a situation like this then at least write a formal letter of complaint to the store (manager or head office) and then consider taking things to the _Small Claims Court_. Mention the latter in the letter as one option that you are considering. A _Google _search for the term "how to complain" throws up some useful guides to phrasing a letter of complaint for best effect.


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## z108 (17 May 2007)

tomred1 said:


> they said it would get fixed quicker if they sent a courier out to collect it and fix it. The courier never showed up after 4 weeks,




I thought PC WORLD have a repair centre in store with experts where you can hand in computers which give you trouble ?


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## bond-007 (17 May 2007)

You must be joking.  Experts? LOL! 

If you bring anything back to Dixons/PC World/Currys they will not want to know and they will refer you to the manufacturer.


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## z108 (17 May 2007)

I've seen in Blanchardstown  for example, pc world have a whole part of the store where you can drop a pc in to be repaired with technicians where they can run tests  and find out whats wrong . Its not that complicated to do in my view. 
I ve gone to this desk with little questions sometimes (not very recently actually it must be 2 years since I ve been there) and the staff were friendly but there was maybe one guy who knows what hes talking about who  manages them and was hard to track down but he answered some pretty complicated questions I posed.

If something fails under warranty they wont accept it back there?


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## bond-007 (17 May 2007)

I have had the whole "Not our problem guv, you will have to contact (company name) etc for a replacement etc" This would be on something you bought only a week ago!


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## Technologist (17 May 2007)

They can't do that.

Tell them you're not claiming under warranty and that you're asserting your rights under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act.

Check this site: [broken link removed]


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## Joe1234 (17 May 2007)

bond-007 said:


> If you bring anything back to Dixons/PC World/Currys they will not want to know and they will refer you to the manufacturer.



Under the sale of goods act are they (retailer) not responsible for the problem?


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## bond-007 (17 May 2007)

Joe1234 said:


> Under the sale of goods act are they (retailer) not responsible for the problem?


They are indeed, but they won't accept that it is their problem.


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## tomred1 (17 May 2007)

"I thought PC WORLD have a repair centre in store with experts where you can hand in computers which give you trouble ?"

I did go to that desk, they said it would be quicker to send it back to the manufactuer. As if they took it in he was 4 weeks backlodged.


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## Towger (17 May 2007)

sign said:


> I thought PC WORLD have a repair centre in store with experts where you can hand in computers which give you trouble ?



Umm... If you were an expert on computers, would you be working for PC World!!

Towger


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## z108 (17 May 2007)

Towger said:


> Umm... If you were an expert on computers, would you be working for PC World!!
> 
> Towger



OK you win   haha .. the type of thing they would deal with Im guessing  reinstalling a problem computers operating system with a fresh one and transferring data to a separate drive while reinstalling , installing peripherals and extra drives and memory etc  you could learn to do with a few night classes.



About the service they provide. I always though their selling point was that someone who fears technology can speak with  a member of staff in person but going from the experiences in this thread If you cant bring something back personally to the store and have them look at it there then I dont see any advantage over companies like Dell .


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## aircobra19 (17 May 2007)

For home PC support I think you'd be better getting a recomendation to a local PC repair guy, than going to somewhere like PC World. Theres been lots of reports here and there about people having problems with repairs and warranty returns via PC World. Personally I've never had a problem with normal returns though.


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## CCOVICH (17 May 2007)

bond-007 said:


> They are indeed, but they won't accept that it is their problem.


 

Then you are perfectly entitled to threaten them with an action through the Small Claims Court.


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## Wonderwol (17 May 2007)

We bought a digital camera package (i.e camera & photodock printer) in Dixons, took it home, opened it up and the camera wouldn't work.  I brought just the camera back and they agreed to a replacement but advised me to being in the printer as well and they would replace the whole package.  Fair enough, my husband brought the whole lot back and they refused to exchange it for a new one.  Eventually he got sorted but only by threatening to report them to Consumer Affairs and take them to the Small Claims Court.

3 months later we bought a pc from them, got it home and it never worked properly, took ages to boot up and then constantly crashed if we tried to load any software.  Phoned them up 2 weeks after buying it and got nowhere, they didn't want to know.  Eventually said they would send someone out to look at it, they did and we need a new mother board (after 2 weeks!), they ordered the part and told us it would take a month to get the part in.  We took advise and we were told that Dixons did have the right to offer a repair but if it wasn't done within a month we could demand a replacement or our money back.  The part arrived in 2 days after the month's grace so we brought the computer back to Dixons' - they refused to take it back.  We had to phone their Head Office in the UK, the manager there had my husband holding on one line while he phoned Dixons and *argued *with the manager in Dixons.  We eventually got our money back.

I would suggest the OP phone the UK Head Office - it was the only way we got satisfaction and even then Dixons in Liffey Valley were refusing the instructions from HO.  I would also threaten them with consumer affairs and the small claims court


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## gotsomenow (17 May 2007)

Just so you are aware.  I used to buy regularly in PC World Swords for my other half.  I wouldn't be as PC literate as my other half who is in to upgrading every 6 months or so.  Last Christmas I was buying a complete new motherboard, processor, ram etc for a gift for other half.  

Only when I was there I discovered that the new stuff would not 'fit' the graphics card which I had only bought about a month prior to that in the same place.  I explained this to the sales person/technician. His response was, 'Has it been used?' to which I said 'Yes'.  He went on to say, 'well if you bring it back in a saleable condition, we can give you back the full price paid, less 10%'.  

So basically it boils down to - they take trade-ins and resell them.  If you buy any of these items, they are not in sealed bags as such, just a plasticy type bag inside a box.  

I will not shop there again as how am I guaranteed I am not buying second-hand goods which could be 'well used'.

G


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## Deimos (20 May 2007)

Firstly, gotsomenow, never buy pc worlds components, not for the obvious reasons that are mentioned above, but basically because they are over priced and out dated, there are a great many places where these items can be sourced cheaper online. If you need any pointers I, (and i'm sure all the people here) will gladly give you any help you need.

My story, first I've had dealings with the Dixon group before and when it comes to returns they are the worst, like the OP I should have known better.

I live and work in Dublin and my aunt asked me to buy a pc for her family for christmas, (joys of being an IT graduate) I chose to buy it from the  PC World website for two reasons:  
1. There is a PC World beside her so if anything went wrong she could go there, I'm not home too often and honestly get sick to my teeth having to fix pc's for everyone who knows my name when I get home.  
2. It was actually good value!
I ordered it in mid Oct (lots of time for christmas right?) well the cash was charged to my credit card rapidly but by the end of November there was still no sign of the pc, a full month after it was due to arrive, PC World where not answering my phone calls, the one in Blanchardstown  is the only store that can handle online sales......I asked my aunt to ring them from her home phone and they answered quickly. She didn't really know what to ask so we didn't get any really answers, we weren't expecting them to answer seeing as they weren't answering to me, I never thought a company that large would screen calls.
In a fury I drove over to PC World in Blanchards town and immediately asked to see the manager, I let him know in no uncertain terms that I was not happy and that I knew they where screening my calls. He denied this, so I asked him if he had his mobile on him, he did so I asked him (while we stood in the middle of the store) if I rang would anyone answer and if they did not answer in a reasonable amount of time if he would then ring the same number from his phone to see if they'd answer it. He sheepishly said that would not be necessary, all but admitting I was right. He assured me that the pc had been specially shipped from England, I asked for the tracking numbers. It emerged that they had been shipped the previous day (from blanch) they arrived at my aunts house later that week. But they had delivered a CRT monitor not the flat screen I had ordered.

I was furious, I picked up the entire pc and brought it into blanch, plonked it down in the middle of the floor and demanded that they sort it there and then or give me my money back. They spluttered around, firstly denying that the pc I bought came with an LCD, I asked them to check it online to back up my claim but they had no internet access to check the offer online (believe that if you will) when I showed them a print out of the web page  (I'm a quick learner  and made sure I went in prepaired) listing the offer they changed their tack.
They final got me a 17" LCD, I asked it I could see it working before I left the store, they said they had no where to plug it in! I pointed at the PC displayed 2 ft away from us and asked how about there? I plugged it in and found it was littered with dead pixels so I asked for another one, after a lot of rolled eyes and huffing they got me one which turned out to be good.

I haven't stepped back in there since.

You need to be really firm with them, not agressive or shouting obviously, but let them know that you know your rights (dates and names of laws scare the crap out of them) and what you are talking about technically.

Good Luck OP, but personally I wouldn't go to the S.C.C. just yet, go back  in there and don't take no for an answer.


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## KalEl (20 May 2007)

I've also had a bad experience with this company.
I went to the Sandyford store to buy an ISDN modem a few years ago.
I found one but was unsure whether it was compatible with Windows ME so I asked one of their "experts" who confirmed it was. After about an hour of searching for drivers and trying to install it I rang a helpline number on the box to be told it didn't work with Windows ME. When I brought it back to PC World to explain what happened they said "no problem", of course I could have a refund minus a 30% restocking charge.
It took 10 minutes of facing the cashier and his manager down and quite a bit of ranting about the Sale of Goods Act to get my money back.
Not a pleasant experience!


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## bond-007 (20 May 2007)

They seem to thrive on peoples ignorance of the law and their rights.


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## machalla (20 May 2007)

Just to update you all on this, I do now have a working keyboard and mouse but I can only say anyone even considering dealing with these people will do so at their peril.  They include PC World, Dixons and Curries in the same group so be wary of any of these.

I ended up ringing them two days in a row until I finally got another manager who was aware of the situation.  After having asserting to him that the items I had returned were the ones they sold me he finally agreed to replace the keyboard with a new one but only very very reluctantly.  The implication was that I was swapping a broken keyboard in to them.  Obviously I'm not too pleased at being accused of such and never had this problem before.

To recap on this, they claimed that the serial on the keyboard did not match the box.  In which case they must have sold me a broken keyboard.

They also claimed the keyboard had been opened up when it had not. I checked this keyboard against two other keyboards which were the EXACT same (the reason I got this keyboard in the first place is that its a good one) and noticed that they also would have looked to be opened up at some point based on their criteria.  

They claimed that as the screws on the keyboard were slightly off centre someone had opened them.  On the other two keyboards the same off-centre screws were in evidence also.

They told me they had to follow procedures and call head office to check if they could replace the keyboard or not.

So as far as I can see they blatantly lied to me either through ignorance or quite deliberately.  I had to badger them into replacing a faulty keyboard which was all of a week old. 

I did ask them to test the new keyboard before I left (and was going to tell them to check the serial against the box) but was told that would incur a charge so I left it at that.

God help anyone buying anything more expensive from them!  I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune.  I knew how bad they were for pcs and I would never have bought a PC from them but I thought I was safe enough with a keyboard.  Lesson learned in my case.  I will stick to building my own with parts from the likes of komplett (never a problem with returns) and Peats for the future.

Thanks for your suggestions and help in general.


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