PC World's repair service is the worst, says Which? |
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Fri, 10 Nov 2006 13:05
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LONDON - PC World is one of the worst places to go if you ever need your computer fixed, according to a new report by consumer watchdog Which?
Experts for Computing Which? magazine conducted a survey to analyze the expertise of several computer repair companies including PC World. They introduced minor faults in several PCs and took them to 20 repair shops, seven of which belonged to PC World.
The remaining 13 shops were independent entities. At one store, the staff missed the fault entirely and told the people that it would take £350 to repair the machine. They were also advised to buy a new computer rather than repair the existing one. In the remaining six PC World stores, the staff refused to even look at the PC because it did not have a "boxed copy of Windows or a recovery disk."
Other retailers also had problems with some choosing to re-install Windows instead of finding the glitch meaning that customers had to shell out extra for a new Windows copy as well as lose data without any backup. But researchers said that independent repair shops carried out better service than PC World and at a lower cost.
"Consumers rely on PC repair shops to solve a problem and to do so at a fair price. It is shocking that simple problems such as a loose cable can be misdiagnosed, and stores are getting away with charging for their mistakes," said Abigail Waraker, Editor of Computing Which? magazine. "PC World is the only big chain that repairs PCs it didn't sell, making it the first port of call for many PC owners. We think they should overhaul their training- they could learn a lot from independent retailers."
PC World communications chief Hamish Thompson said that the company had fixed many PC problems for customers in the last year, "We're constantly improving the quality of our services and we're grateful to Which? for their feedback on 14 visits," he added.
Computing Which? has advised PC owners to follow these tips to avoid being hoodwinked:
1- Ask friends and family to recommend a repair shop
2- Always check the charges to look at the PC- whether it's an hourly rate or a flat fee for certain repairs
3- Get a quote beforehand for labour and parts
4- Make it clear to the shop that they must ask your permission of the cost of the work will go over a certain price
5- Ask the shop to call you before replacing any software or hardware- you may need to check if you risk losing data
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