Overclockers.co.uk - The Saga Continues.

[Vijay]

Hey Vaul,

Did you or did you not get a refund and / or a replacement ?

[sparky191]

I'm curious too.

[Lambbuster]

Hope everything has worked out ok vaul !

i get most of my things from forums, buying off other members, but have never had trouble from OcUK.

In fact, i have ordered a coolermaster 'black widow' case from there today, so hopefully nothing goes wrong with that. *fingers crossed*

I would recommend kustom pc's though, they have a great customer service and a great forums where you can sort you problems out with owners graeme and thomas.

Phil

[Cole]

i decided to read this post since ive been fecked over by oc's twice(rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish hd and gfx) i hope that you can get it sorted m8, don't let them get away with it or they'll try and do it to everyone. i really hope it works out for you gd luck.

rob.

[Auron]

I have only ever ordered from OcUK once, when I ordered a Case, it arrived with a large bend on the "slotty in thingys( )" of the motherboard tray and a dent in one of the panels..

I didnt even bother ringing them up as it took them 2 weeks to send it out.. after countless phonecalls

I will never be using them again.

GL Vaul

[Planetside]

i wonder if they killed vaul
lmao

[TeePee]

Possibly a 'We'll sort it out for you if you agree to stop making it public' kinda deal. OcUK have always tried to keep this kind of thing quiet, look what happens if you try to talk about it in their forums (Which is surely the point of a retailer having forums?).

[Matt]

not really... if i was an online retailer and i provided forums, i wouldnt want them used to sort out/publicise problems with my store... doesnt make great business sense does it?

[jack]

Originally posted by Matt
not really... if i was an online retailer and i provided forums, i wouldnt want them used to sort out/publicise problems with my store... doesnt make great business sense does it?

Disagree!!

If OCUK have no probs with return's etc then making the problems ppl face public shouldn't affect there credit?

As ppl would c how quickly they can deal with it all!!

[Stewart]

Originally posted by Planetside
i wonder if they killed vaul
lmao

No, I'm still here.

It seems the Postal Strike hasn't helped. Anyway, Overclockers agreed to have another look at it, I've posted it to them, they've received it, and had a bit of a back log, but got around to looking at it today \ tomorrow morning, and I should be receiving a phone call from them tomorrow or Saturday.

It seems that the first test they did wasn't as complete as it could have been, however, as the tech bloke did agree that if my motherboard and 3d card had an intermittent fault, it may not have been detected on the first test.

Fair enough you might think, but remember, we are dealing with almost £400 of stuff, they do charge you a largish sum for returning items found to be working, and the fault does stop the system booting more times that it doesn't.

I get the feeling this whole situation was caused by an engineer with a lot on his plate, who tested my stuff once, on a very busy day, got a lucky boot out of it, and threw it in a box, convinced it was working.

Anyway, its back with Overclockers, they know all about the fault, and should find out that it is indeed broken, like I have been telling them for the last month, and maybe, if I'm really lucky, I'll actually be able to get some use out of the system I paid £900 for, 2 months ago.

Updates will follow as soon as I know anything more.

[Event Horizon]

I was sent a motherboard back, and charged for the pleasure (8RDA+ rev 1) when what thay had done was hot swapped the bios chip.

but they did post it back quickly.

[Saracen]

Originally posted by jack
Disagree!!

If OCUK have no probs with return's etc then making the problems ppl face public shouldn't affect there credit?

As ppl would c how quickly they can deal with it all!!

ANY company shipping quantities of goods is going to have some returns. It's a simple numbers game. And it's also a fair chance that some percentage of people are not going to be happy with the service, no matter how good it is. I have no doubt that OcUK have their share of problems. It would be a miracle of they didn't, just like everybody else.

BUT ... if those problems, small percentage of business that they may be, are forever being discussed on their forums, it would make it seem like the situation is much worse than it is.

No business in it's right mind would want to see that sort of negative exposure.

You also have to bear in mind that not every customer complaint is justified. Some people will just try it on. And if bitching, loudly, in a public forum will help then get what they want, justified or not, then they'll bitch loudly in a public forum. It could be used as a form of blackmail. Note - I'm not talking about Vaul here. It certainly seems like he has a fully justified complaint here, and it seems like even OcUK are coming round to that point of view. If so, then the moral of that might be to get it right first time when a customer has a problem, and not (if Vaul is right) let a rushed engineer take shortcuts. It certainly seems like a proper test first time round might have prevented this thread ever occuring in the first place.

I also think I know Spie well enough to say I don't see him caving in to such blackmail attempts. On the contrary, such activity is likely to piss him off and make him dig his heels in. The result of such arguments taking place on their forums could again be a public spectacle that could well put off genuine customers, all because someone is trying it on in a public way. This could well be why nobody from OcUK has commented in this thread. Because if they do, it's likely to lead to all sorts of other comments from disgruntled people, all anxious to take a pot shot - and that would apply much MORE so if this thread were on their own forums. They won't want to see that happen there, and I don't want to see it happen here, either.

It's easy to criticise someone for wanting to protect thier business interests, but try to see it from the other side. If it were your business, would you want every problem aired in public? I sure as hell wouldn't, and would take exactly the same stance on this issue as Spie does - the forums are not the place to air Customer Service issues.

This is not the type of thread I generally want to see here, and I've been keeping a close watch on it to make sure that it doesn't go too far down the public bitching route. Vaul has a good complaint (it seems) but we don't want to see this turn into a general Anti-OcUK rant (as it could have). There are a lot of people on Hexus that don't like OcUK, for one reason or another, but the problem Vaul has had could have occurred with just about ANY retailer. So I've been watching to make sure that this thread keeps some sense of perspective.

If OcUK, or ANY retailer, allowed this kind of thread on their forums, how could they moderate it? How could they stop people venting their dislike, short of banning people, and THAT alone is damaging to business if it happens publicly over an issue like this. It makes it look like they have something to hide when they don't. Allowing public debate of customer service issues is effectively a no-win situation.

This thread seems like a very genuine case of a problem, but we (Hexus) don't want to be used as a place to complain about OcUK (or any retailer) every time someone has a beef over a problem with a product. Vaul didn't even raise it until the normal avenues had been tried.

[doopydug]

This is a great point from Saracen and something often forgotten about when people openly complain about OcUK. It's their forums and their right etc etc.

I remember saying something like this to a colleague of mine who was banned from their forums as he (at my recommendation) had made two orders from OcUK in the space of three weeks both of which (unusually) were screwed up by OcUK. The real issue was, however, that they would not send out replacements without charging his credit card again and quoted a 10 day turn around if he was to send the goods back, have them tested and return working goods. To get satisfaction in the end, he had to pay for the goods twice but had to wait 5 weeks on one refund and six weeks on the other despite sending over 20 emails and spending hours on the phone (when he could get thru).

After he "left" the forums, I made the point to him about complaining on their forums and he said that it wasn't really a forum in a democracy if free speech was stifled .

Further to that, however, I remember Spie going on about how he doesn't get much business from the forums at all and he was considering shutting them down completely (there was hassle with the for sale sections too). I know from personal experience of running an online hardware etailer with linked forums that a major amount of business comes from the hard core on the forums who simply must have the latest kit etc etc.

[sparky191]

Well I don't believe that there isn't at least some business from the forums. Maybe there was more at the beginning but now perhaps other avenues of advertising are bringing in more punters than the forums do. The forums act as unoffical support to, so if they didn't have that they'd have to deal with a lot more support calls. I'm sure that the forums are hassle and a pain to run. But I can't believe that they don't give value back to the main store.

I also agree that most online store have their problems from time to time. But OcUK have changed from being an enuthasists site to a main retailer. I think this is as much the cause if the problem as anything else. Their own success means that the average Joe gets less attention than they used to. Its a pity but thats the way the cookie crumbles. There are other enuthasists sites out there that are more attentive. So you can always vote with your feet. That doesn't help Vaul , but I suspect if he had asked to be recommended a store he would have been pointed elsewhere.

[Stewart]

Originally posted by Saracen
Vaul didn't even raise it until the normal avenues had been tried.

Indeed. It wasn't until Overclockers returned £400 of my goods to me, with a £30 charge for me having returned 'working items', that I decided to start this thread.

I looked at the Overclockers statement, then at the engineers reports I had from other places, confirming that they were broken, and I though it was an interesting (and highly annoying) situation, which may be of interest to others.

Judging by the number of people who have asked what's going on, and wanting to be kept informed of any developments, I was right.

Could it of happened with any other online retailer? Of course.

However, as the problem was almost certainly caused by an engineer with a little less time to do the tests than he needed, and as the problem has not been helped by Overclockers inability to answer emails, or at least contact me before charging me £30 for the items, it all seems to point to one thing - they are now a large, successful company, and as such, you can get lost in the sheer weight of orders coming in and out, and cock ups can occur; as the posted above me, seems to have already mentioned.

Yes it could have happened with anyone, but Overclockers really could have handled the situation a lot better, with a little bit of old fashioned PR.

Answer emails politely, and within 48 hours of them being sent (well, answering them at all, would be a massive step in the right direction). Take longer to RMA items if needs be, as long as the engineers correctly identify faulty and working items. As we have seen, the trouble caused by getting this decision wrong, is far greater than the annoyance of waiting a few more days for your stuff.

Contact those people who have returned working items, by phone or email, and explain to them that their card will be charged £30, and do this BEFORE charging the card.

Certainly don't allow the situation I had to be common place, where after returning faulty items, I only find out that the same items have been returned to me with a £30 charge, after noticing that my credit card bill has gone up for no reason.

Keep customers informed and be polite, especially when you are taking their money, and they may return to let you take some more, at a later date.

Yes, it could have happened with anyone, but Romulus2.com would lead us to believe that it is less likely to happen with some, than with others. We have to assume that the difference the stores ranked 1-5th, and those ranked 20-25th is genuinely a difference in overall customer service... my experiences with stores near the top and bottom of that list certainly give that impression, anyway.

Shame I never knew about that site until after my order.

Saracen is right however, firstly in that this thread is not a bash Overclockers thread, as I started it when I had genuine reason to do so, and have only reported the facts; and secondly, I'm sure we could have the same thread about many other stores, with people reporting situations that make the way my one has been handled, look competent.

It just happens more often with some, than with others, and I am now a firm believer in paying a bit more, if needs be, to shop with those places where it happens rarely.

In short, yes it could have happend with anyone, but Overclockers could have handled it better; far better.

[jack]

Originally posted by Saracen
ANY company shipping quantities of goods is going to have some returns. It's a simple numbers game. And it's also a fair chance that some percentage of people are not going to be happy with the service, no matter how good it is. I have no doubt that OcUK have their share of problems. It would be a miracle of they didn't, just like everybody else.

BUT ... if those problems, small percentage of business that they may be, are forever being discussed on their forums, it would make it seem like the situation is much worse than it is.

No business in it's right mind would want to see that sort of negative exposure.

Jack points in the direction of Here

A nice site IMO and taking from experience a good service to!

Indeed there are a few ppl out there that are just gonna cause havock, BUT most angry punter's are those that wait week's without email reply's/No-one picking up the phone all the little things that make it imposible to get your product returned in the quickiest maner!
These are the ppl that have branded OCUK as a bad etailer for very easily dealt with problems

Yes this kind of forum help would need its rules ( im sure OCUK could manage that ) but run right could give OCUK great success, and these few ppl that come along moaning and shouting then shut them up the best way posible! A effecient return of there product on time and without faults, show the public that and you've got no threat in regard's keeping up your name.

jack