Do you shop at OcUK?

[shaffaaf27]

they layout of their onlien shop is the best i have seen EVER.

their prices for non new things are decent, but yes shopping around gets you cheaper prices, but its not like scan are always the cheapest, nor ebuyer.

if you look at their GTX280 and GTX260 they are OVER £100 (thats right, no typo) cheaper than scan for the 2850 and about £50 cheaper forthe 260. now who is price gouging?

yes they have higher prices on some things, but normally, they are in stock with those brand new items. even on the 4850 they are cheaper atm.

i had a DOA mobo B grade from them (my only RMA need after years worth of service) and it was refunded (inc postage) within 3 days.

cant say the same to ebuyer, who wouldnt give me back my £5 for postage for a PSU that was DOA.

as much as people hate their fourms, IMO they are run well. the rules are there, and so long as one abides by them, all is good.

the people and mods on them are helpful, as are the hexus forums, but i do prefer their layout, of haveing hardware first, and then GD near the bottom, as that i am sure, is what alot of people look for first.

[DavidM]

To repeat - pricing is real time - so any new stock changes will reflect in the selling price.

[Jay]

Even if OcUK where half the price of Scan I still wouldn't buy from them. I'll stick with Scan thanks.

[moogle]

Even if OcUK where half the price of Scan I stil wouldn't buy from them.

thats how the ocuk forum users feel about ocuk which is why they pay that extra premium all the time

[DR]

Guys


This thread is going seriously off track - can we please get it back on track or i will end up closing it.


cheers

David

[wja96]

Well, as someone who practically lives on the OcUK forums (don't delete this thread yet, PLEASE) I used to spend between £5,000 and £7,000 per year with OcUK. I almost never buy online now, as the RMA service has been awful, yet the 'real world' shop staff are sweetness itself.

As an example, I had (I think) the first of their J&W OcUK Value IP35-Pro motherboards. Well, anyone who followed the thread about that motherboard will tell you that I clocked that thing to death. It died and I RMA'd it. You know what they sent me back? An Abit IP35-Pro. Not the box or the I/O shield or anything like that - nope. Just the board. Luckily, they have a new management team in, and the relevant product specialist got on the case and they're collecting the Abit and dropping off a new J&W.

I think anyone who hasn't used them in a while probably ought to rethink their attitude as the new MD, together with some new customer facing staff, are trying much harder. I think they know they have a great name, and a terrible reputation amongst many users.

Scan are so much better though. Not only are the prices lower, they have stock quicker and I have never had an issue with an RMA. They even told me how to work the system so I can buy in-store when I'm passing and RMA by mail-order if I need to. The guys behind the sales desks know the products (especially the tall asian guy who always used to sit in the corner by returns before they moved the shop next door temporarily). If they could just reduce the queueing times, they'd be perfect. Hopefully the new shop layout will address that.

I think OcUK are a potential giant though - The forums drive huge volumes of sales for them. because users do want that support. If they could just get their aftersales right they could do significantly better again. The support I've had in the last 24 hours makes me think they're getting there. Slowly.

@the mods who are saying this is a shop thread - you can't unlink the forums from the store. 99% of the mods there are OcUK staff, and they use the forums extensively as a sales and marketing tool. I've been told to go and reference my own threads in conversations with the staff on the telephones. They were somewhat non-pliussed when I explained to them that "I wrote that reply post in that thread, and I'm telling you that's not what the problem is..."

[Jay]

(especially the tall asian guy who always used to sit in the corner by returns before they moved the shop next door temporarily).

I think you are talking about Hiten

[Betty_Swallocks]

I agree. The forums are an integral part of the business and you can't discuss one without the other.
I have to confess that I have used neither the shop nor the forums for several years, mainly because of the tone of the forums.
I used to be a regular lurker on the forum but found it to be unfriendly and I got the impression that it was very harshly moderated. I saw people being banned for trivial infractions that would merit a warning at most on other forums. I just stopped visiting and found myself here instead.
The forum lost my custom so in my opinion it is relevant to any discussion of the business.

[sleepyhead]

I used to buy from OcUK years back. Never had an issue with the parts but all the parts worked so never RMA'd.

I don't buy there now due to the uncompetitive pricing. I do like their shop website layout, easy to find what I want to but such a shame they priced themselves out of my range (especially as I tend to buy 2nd or 3rd generation technology...no longer can afford to be at the cutting edge).

[Saracen]

......

@the mods who are saying this is a shop thread - you can't unlink the forums from the store. 99% of the mods there are OcUK staff, and they use the forums extensively as a sales and marketing tool. I've been told to go and reference my own threads in conversations with the staff on the telephones. They were somewhat non-pliussed when I explained to them that "I wrote that reply post in that thread, and I'm telling you that's not what the problem is..."

I agree. The forums are an integral part of the business and you can't discuss one without the other.

Better try to discuss the one without the other.

The forum discussion started because someone asked why we "suppress" forum discussion. I've answered that .... again.

But, as Agent has pointed out, this is a shopping and retail section, and the OP asked if people shopped at OcUK, not what people think of their forums, or how they're moderated.

So .....

- Agent asked for forum discussion to stop
- DR has asked for it to stop
- now I'm adding my weight to that.

So, if you're unable to discuss the shopping bit without the forum bit, we'll end up discussing neither, because one of us will close the thread.

This is the third warning about it. As a rhetorical question, guess how many more warnings there will be?

[EzyRyder]

I shop at OcUk when they are the cheapest. Never had a problem with them and they few hitches I've seen other people have, have always been resolved efficiently

[shaffaaf27]

yes scan, stock reflects it, but to the customer, right now, they are undercutting you, not £10 or £20 but £100, customers wont see its to do when you re-order stock, NOPE, they will see the price now, compare, and buy.

[Skyboat]

It's Leadtek which are selling the stock dirt cheap to OcUK, who are in turn selling it dirt cheap to customers. Both companies are making very little money each, I'm sure they price their stock based on the wholesale price like Scan too....well, to some extent

[cambridge_blue]

sorry missed off quote - see below

[cambridge_blue]

I did not delete your post - don't assume

The bottom line is this is the shopping section of the forum. How they run their forum is up to them. Don't like it? Don't visit.
Think their forum reflects badly on OCUK? Don't buy from them.

As for the legal implication - unless you're a lawyer, its not really fair to say that. The law that governs things like this is not simple and very complex.

OCUK talk being suppressed? I suppose it depends at which way you look at it. We are just tired of seeing the same crap come up time and time again, along with the same misinformation that comes with it (OCUK asked to be removed from the HEXUS trust is my favourite!) - if we correct it, it doesn't get listened to anyway. The threads simply turn into flame bait for OCUK haters.

Oh and its not _because_ its OCUK that I said that - the same would go for any forum that is constantly getting bashed. If people have an issue with them - tell them, not complain about it here.

There is no need to add it to the rules (not that people would listen to it ) when we can simply ask in threads. That IMO is more than enough to know where you stand - if you're still unsure, ask one of us If anything towards a certain retailer / forum was added in the rules it would simply lead to threads asking "Why can't we talk about XYZ", leading to far more "conspiracy theories" than those that come (if there are any ) from us asking for people not to bash other forums.

To keep it nice and simple
Any retailer shop comments that are professional = fine
Any retailer shop comments that are abusive and add nothing to the conversation = are not
Bashing other forums for their rules / running = are not

Well said 'Agent'!
These threads on various etailers have become boring and mostly pointless.
Out come the fanbois and ........ cue more noise than light every time.

[Jay]

I agree this has hit a dead end. I feel overall the answer to the question is no for verious reasons.