Someone recommend me a company

[sh4rk]

I am making computers for about 5 people, and i am looking for the cheapest companies around. Can anyone recommend me one/some?

[da_ging]

http://www.spotonuk.com/Hotdeals.asp
and ebuyer are cheap

[Stoo]

probably ebuyer

[Austin]

5 PC's? You'll surely want good customer service for the parts you buy and will surely want as few headaches as possible, right? I'd be more inclined to stick to the more trusted companies and find the cheapest deals among them rather than go for the real bargain basement suppliers. Perhaps www.komplett.co.uk www.cpucity.co.uk www.dabs.com ...

[gamezfreak]

www.planetmicro.co.uk

[pmk24]

another vote for ebuyer, not allways the cheapest for single item purchace but for a range of products its got to be one of the better shops around

[Saracen]

Originally posted by Austin
5 PC's? You'll surely want good customer service for the parts you buy and will surely want as few headaches as possible, right? I'd be more inclined to stick to the more trusted companies and find the cheapest deals among them rather than go for the real bargain basement suppliers.

I'd fully agree with that. When I've bought things from some VERY cheap outfits before, I've had a much higher than acceptable DOA (dead on arrival) and early failure rate.

When this happens, and it's the failure of equipment you've bought, you end up with the hassle (and probably cost) of returning dead equipment, and the time involved is fixing the dead machines ..... and all to save the customer a few quid on the up-front price.

Personally, I'd rather pay a bit more, and pass that to the customer, thus saving myself time and money in the long run. Also, personally, I'd much rather the customer bought the bits themselves and I just did the build. That way, if things DO pack up, I still charge for my time to fix them. I'll gladly recommend places to buy, but I insist on either buying on their behalf (and invoicing at cost) or, preferably, letting them simply supply the bits. That way, I'm charging by the hour and if it takes longer because they bought cheap tat, it costs them more. I also point this out.

There are other benefits of buying this way too.

As a consumer, you get the benefit of the protection available to consumers of the various bits of consumer protection legislation - like the Sale and Supply of Goods Act (the bits about merchantable qulaity, for instance) and the Distance Selling Regulations.

If, on the other hand, you are buying as a business, then you DO NOT get this consumer protection. The only protection you'll get is that afforded you by your contract. If you are buying for someone else, and explicitly acting as their agent, then it is them that is buying and they are (presumably) a consumer. Also, if you are buying as their agent, you are not personally selling the items, and therefore have no personal liability for the failure of components - that still lies with the supplier you used or recommended.

This all does, however, mean that you cannot buy goods at a low price and sell them at a higher one, pocketing the profit. So I tell anyone that wants me to build a machine for them that I'll suggest places to buy that will probably save them a fair bit over high street prices, and that they are paying for my time and expertise - not the components. They may save a bit on the hardware, and it'll cost them a bit on the labour side, but they get an individually built machine designed to their needs and with an optimum pick of quality components.

Of course, this means that a fair percentage of people that approach me decide not to use me. That's fine by me. I figure that if 30% of the customer walk away, so does about 95% of the headaches. The people that will decline to pay me appropriately for my time are also often the ones that will expect premium-class service the instant something goes wrong.

This way, if someone wants premium-grade service, they'll get it but at premium-grade prices. If they mess up their system installing freebie software from Mag cover discs - I'll sort it out for them - at my normal hourly rate. If they want a visit in an evning, or Weekend, then (if it's convenient) they'll get it - at evening/weekend rates.

I would stress, though, that this is not a good way to get a fast start doing this kind of stuff, but it IS a good way to get maximum return and minimum hassle, avoiding those people that think that just because they bought a PC from you, they get free and unlimited 24/7 technical support for the rest of eternity. Some people expect to pay for a mechanic or plumber, but for some reason, think that PC support should be free, just because "you know a bit" about PC's. Well, my attitude, these days, is pretty hard-nosed about that. It boils down to "if it's so easy, and worth so little, you can do it yourself, can't you? Or, get someone else to do it".

Anyway, this has all gone a bit off-topic, but the essential message is the same ...... if you want to avoid creating hassle for yourself, "cheapest" is not necessarily the best way to go.

[wilsonian]

try Aria Technology - www.aria.co.uk

we deal with alot of large and (in ur case small) system orders.

[blockers]

I would go for aria.co.uk myelf! found them to be very good.

Why dont you check out the retailers hexus rating.

http://users.hexus.net/companies_list.php

Will