Its all about the service....

[MD]

You know, more and more people are buying products for service over price nowadays, sure you have the usual bargain hunters that will buy stuff just because its on a discount or its priced up too good to be true. At the other end of the scale you have companies charging more for products than their competitors, sure they have to factor in their costs and say what they truly can afford, but where does the average consumer draw the line?

Working for HEXUS has its benefits of course, but the thought that being involved in a site like this brings with it the riches of PC nirvana with the light hit to the wallet just isn't true. Just the other day I picked up an XFX 7800GT PCI-e from Scan, the service was, as always impeccable, courteous on the phone costs nothing, but makes such a difference.

The reason for this praising of service is very simple, I was one of the lucky few who picked up the stunning at the time XFX 6800GT AGP through the PC World component centre when someone posted a bargain code with 25% off the price. See I too was buying from PC World because of the voucher, even though I had made a promise never to buy anything from them, ever. But times change and I ate humble pie and awaited the pixel pusher with baited breath.

It arrived, and I was happy, games just looked so much better, and who would have thought it, PC World are now much better, its a crazily competitive market the PC world, and its getting harder by the day, I remember driving with the boss last year to a meeting and his surgically attached mobile phone was on fire with the news of one company going bust, only to be followed by another the next time I was with him for a meeting (some people say HEXUS is a force to be reckoned with, but surely its just pure coincidence that a company goes up the wall every time David and I are in a car... )

So why am I talking service? Why am I talking cost? Very simple really, the 6800GT was sold to someone on the forums last week, it turned up and was dead, fearing the worst I asked for it back and tested it, lo and behold there were more colours in the BIOS than there should be, it basically looked like it was snowing Joseph's Technicolor Dreamcoats, bugger.

Checking up reveals the card was well over a year old, but, what's this, XFX have a two year warranty on their cards in the UK. Excellent, RMA request sent on Tuesday, response in the afternoon, RMA number enclosed, off to the post office I go.

Today I get an update, card tested, and failed. I'm offered and replacement card, but its a GS and im none too keen (AGP cards are like gold dust at the moment, we all know this) so I ask if its possible to swap it for a PCI-e part to keep performance, I can and I do, the card is boxed up and due to leave the repair centre tomorrow, I already have the tracking number too.

This is odd, firstly you have Scan who are really good at service and are very open and honest if they get something wrong and do everything they can to solve it, and now secondly we have XFX, who did absolutely everything right, and quickly too.

I always knew that only buying XFX would pay off for me in the end, it has and whilst they are still around, I am going to continue to buy from them, put simply they have just done everything right.

It proves, its not what you pay, but the whole package - the web has changed purchasing for the masses, but if there is one thing that will get return custom, again and again, its service.

Top marks to the guys at XFX and Propellerheads (XFX Service Centre), its good to see if the quality retailers no longer have legal responsibility for your purchase that the manufacturers stand up and be counted.

Matt.

[TooNice]

Umm, I wanted to post about my recent RMA experience, but I couldn't quite find the right place to post. So I'll post it here

You are completely right. A service will make a world of difference. My story:

I bought an Enermax Noisetaker PSU a little over a year from OcUK. Fast shipping, no problem. The PSU failed when I came from my holidays early Feb, and so it made sense that I contacted Enermax (Coolergiant) directly (as the above, OcUK have no legal responsibility to replace it so I did not try to contact them). My initial impressions were not very positive. My first e-mail was unanswered until I emailed them again. Before I got a reply from the 2nd e-mail, I called them directly. The man on the phone asked me where I bought it from, as they apparently did not provide RMA under certain conditions (not explained - maybe e-bay?). Gulp. But after I explained it was from OcUK, the man just told me to send the PSU back with the RMA form and a copy of my invoice and they'll ship a unit to me straight away (making it sound very simple). However, the RMA form stated that you must provide an RMA number first. Concerned I asked about that, but the person assured me that it would be okay.

Shortly after, I got an e-mail back asking me where I bought my unit from. I replied with my answer and double checked whether it was okay to send a copy of the invoice instead of writing an RMA number. A few days passes without reply, and once again I had to send them a reminder and the green light. To be safe, I copied the e-mail and packed it together with the unit, RMA form and invoice (copy).
I took the unit to the post office to encounter yet another problem. The post office couldn't find their address using the postcode provided. Pretty worrying. So I decided to hold back until I confirmed their address over the phone and sent it using Parcel2Go (where I also had to manually type the address as they use the same postcode checker as Royal Mail).
I was really worried that Parcel2Go would fail to find the place (costing me a tenner for nothing), but I eventually got a confirmation that the parcel had been received.

Well, that is nice. But recalling how long it took me to get email replies, I did not expect a fast turn around despite what the man on the phone told me. So I helped myself with a Seasonic PSU while Scan had them in a 'Today Only' offer. It was ordered just before 5pm, but it was apparently dispatched just before 7pm.

Spoilt by Scan and City Link's fast delivery, I was kinda expecting knocks at my door the next day. And it did. At 9:30am. When I openened the door, the City Link delivery man greeted me with two parcels marked "Next day". Two? Strange. I've been ordering a whole lot of things lately, but I didn't recall ordering anything other than the PSU the day before from Scan. Puzzled, and still sleepy (just out of bed) I signed and took the two parcels in. Kinda heavy, as expected from PSUs... PSUs? The other one couldn't have been...
I openened the first packet to see a Seasonic box in its glory, then proceeded to open the other one. Yup, that's right, it was a brand new sealed Enermax PSU. Even the Seasonic PSU box wasn't sealed from the outside. Not some brown OEM box, it frankly looked "newer" than the Seasonic.

I don't know how long the Enermax RMA team took to test the PSU (if at all), but they were very efficient. I am completely ready to overlook the slow email replies.

Granted, I will keep my Seasonic, as it is still the quieter product. And granted, it would've been better if the PSU never broke down in the first place. But I am willing to accept that hardware do break down irrespective of the manufacturer, but when that happens, I want an effecient RMA service. Enermax impressed me, and I will not neglect their future products.

(Woah, this was long)