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About LinkBacksRead more.In an update of its renewal and transformation plan, PC World owner reveals plans for new stores.
Read more.In an update of its renewal and transformation plan, PC World owner reveals plans for new stores.
I wished they would stop messing about renaming/refurnishing their stores and fix:
A) The prices that they sell at - Tesco etc under cut them.
B) Staff training - Idiots who don't know a integrated graphics card from a modem
C) Drop the pushy selling of extended warranties - When I say no - I mean no!
That's what they need to be spending money on now if they want to last another year.
I think the prices have improved a lot at PC World but their staff can be pretty poorly trained. They wiped my mother's friends PC for a faulty RAM problem and told her it was their policy and charged her for it. Now I work in IT and can't see the need to wipe a hard drive back to factory default for faulty RAM. Do overall I do think they are improving in certain areas.
First I used to work as a Technician in PC World so I know their policies, and that is not how they should diagnose the fault!Originally Posted by slypie
I think the prices have improved a lot at PC World but their staff can be pretty poorly trained. They wiped my mother's friends PC for a faulty RAM problem and told her it was their policy and charged her for it
The store is provided with the required tools to test for faulty hardware without having to format the drive, and she should not have been charged for them to wipe her data as it was not required in the first place!
All I can hope is that this was a while ago and they have now started doing it properly. I have to admit that there are alot of staff who are generally students but there is always the technicians that they can always go to for help, I used to always help out the sales staff if they were not sure about anything.
I feel sorry for you as you have been simply ripped off by someone not doing their job properly and then charging you for it. If I was you I'd write to the DSGi head office and complain, with a copy of your receipt as you should then get a refund.
M_Taylor40
A) Tesco generally sell older stock and not the current ranges, which is why they are normally cheaper. However I have noticed in my local tesco store that they sell the older models at around the same price and sometimes more than the local currys/pc world sell the current models.
B) The staff are not idiots, the whole group are currently running a whole new training programme to update them all and there are always the area specialists (Currys) or technicians (PCW) that will always know what they are on about. Also, almost all computers now sold by DSGi do not come with modems in them as very few people have any need for a dialup modem anymore.
C) The sale of the extended warranties should not be pushy as they are trained not to pressure the customer as most of the time the customer would leave the store and not buy anything.
It has also been proven that the new 'warehouse' style layout improves the overall custoemr satisfaction as well as sales in the stores. I worked in a store that is still using the old layout and its awful, to get from 1 side to the other you have to walk round so many aisles its crazy.
Also, there have been no stores renamed! They have had new logos designed and some stores relocated but not renamed. Currys is still Currys and PC World is still PC World.
If you are having those types of issues in your local store, contact the head office and complain and tell them what problems they have so they can put them right, but I can assure you that the store I worked in is not run by idiots who don't know anything that try to force you to buy the extended warranty.
M_Taylor40
I am sorry M_Taylor but I find your comments a tad biased and silly. I worked for DSG for over 8 years, from Dixons to Pc worlds and disagree with most of your comments.
The name of stores have changed or are you telling me Dixons still exist in the high street and not Currys digital??? Also the Link was integrated into Pc World.
All staff that sell goods, including check out staff have to try to reach a minimum of 10% sales of extended warranties or face going on report, this is fact.
Don't bother complaining to head office as the complaint will go down into a black hole. The customers views or opinion are not needed as executives think they have it all worked out.
DSG prices are rubbish, if they were so confident they would have kept there promise to compete with all retails shops and on line stores, instead of excluding retailers when they feel they don't want too... Oh yes DSG have the right to choose who they will price match, and it won't be cheaper companies.
You will find an average of 1 in 30 in store techies actually has any qualification to fix computers or electrical hardware. Because they can get a certificate from Intel or Microsoft from filling a form online does not make them a techie - this made me laugh on store visitslol
The training programme (Fives - look it up if you need to) is purely on sales tactics; mind games essentially to get the customers to say "yes" - although it should ensure that every customer is offered everything they need (if the staff don't rebel and refuse to use it for its awkwardness). It includes absolutely nothing about products or product knowledge. Each stores will have staff designated and attending manufacturer run courses, and in theory they should share that knowledge with others, but most of the staff in my local PCW only know that a laptop is a laptop, and a laptop should be sold with Norton 360, Office, PCPerformance (warranty), PC Setup service, a printer and a £15 USB cable...
Last edited by tickedon; 03-03-2009 at 09:58 PM.
What I was trying to say is that they have improved over the past few years. The prices that they charged years ago where so over the top you could get 2 of the same item if you bought it elsewere on the net!I am sorry M_Taylor but I find your comments a tad biased and silly. I worked for DSG for over 8 years, from Dixons to Pc worlds and disagree with most of your comments.
The name of stores have changed or are you telling me Dixons still exist in the high street and not Currys digital??? Also the Link was integrated into Pc World.
All staff that sell goods, including check out staff have to try to reach a minimum of 10% sales of extended warranties or face going on report, this is fact.
Don't bother complaining to head office as the complaint will go down into a black hole. The customers views or opinion are not needed as executives think they have it all worked out.
DSG prices are rubbish, if they were so confident they would have kept there promise to compete with all retails shops and on line stores, instead of excluding retailers when they feel they don't want too... Oh yes DSG have the right to choose who they will price match, and it won't be cheaper companies.
You will find an average of 1 in 30 in store techies actually has any qualification to fix computers or electrical hardware. Because they can get a certificate from Intel or Microsoft from filling a form online does not make them a techie - this made me laugh on store visits
The store I worked in there were 3 technicians, I was 1 of them and we all had computer qualifications and knew what we were on about, but then I did hear numerous complaints about other stores ripping customers off.
Yes Dixon's changed its name to Currys.Digital, which was a huge waste of money but it was also to merge currys and dixons and to offer white goods (Cookers, fridges, etc) in the old highstreet Dixon's stores.
The staff do not have to sell extended warranties and do not get put on report or sacked if they do not reach over 10%, so this is not fact! I personally had one of the worst rates of selling the extended warranties, as I would not hassle the customer and if they said no I was happy with that. I also know alot of other DSGi employees that are the same as me, if a customer does not seem interested then fine, you don't get extra money for selling it! However I have known some managers (Including an old 1 I worked with) who would bully staff if they were below 50% until they had enough an resigned, but luckily most of these managers eventually get sacked themselves.
I have helped many customers complain to the DSGi Head Office with 100% success in either getting the customer a refund, their product repaired or replaced. Always send your letter by recorded mail (And do this for any company or anything you want something doing about!) and address it to the customer relations department and you will get a response.
I do agree about them changing their price promise system where they now only pricematch stores and not the internet, but this is news to me as this has been changed since I left the company. But my local store has a tesco nearby, so they still have to pricematch them
All I can think is that you worked for them towards the time where they completely sucked (Which includes the first couple of years I worked for them) and have not seen how they have (Slowly) changed for the better (Until about 6months ago).
If you go to the states most stores are setup int he warehouse manner and it is alot nicer to walk around as its in aligned aisles instead of piles here and there. When your local store gets redone go and have a look in it, they do seem alot better and as in someone has thought about the layout instead of just throwing it all into the store. If you visit a refurbished store you will see and understand, but it is annoying that they couldnt have just done this years ago when most of the stores where opened.
The comment about Fives is correct, its the biggest pile of crap I ever heard. This again was starting to be introduced as I left, but again most of the staff I worked with went on this training, but mainly ignored it as they already had a good selling technique, that didnt make the customer feel pressured into buying anything they didnt need or want. And as I am a human with a mind of my own if I had done the 'Fives' training I would not have applied their tactics onto my customers and would have still sold them what they needed for what they wanted to spend, with no additional extras that they would never use. Any nice salesperson would normally do the same, seeing as they do not work on commision so are no longer out to screw you for every penny they can get.
And never ever buy a cable from any highstreet store! £15 for a USB cable is daylight robbery!
Also the PC Setup is a complete waste of money! The company want the technicians to setup the computer but do not officially announce what the setup is to include, and managers want them to take at most 30minutes so you can do as many as you can in a day. Again I completely disagree with this and the PC Setup we did in my store included setting up Windows, updating Windows, setting up Office if bought, any antivirus software, making recovery media, putting on all users not just one and installing any additional devices such as printers. But the managers wanted you to basically turn it on and get it booting into Windows, but we just never did that.
M_Taylor40
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