Overclockers UK Welcome back offer

[EasterEEL]

Well I got a welcome back offer email and being the trusting person I am decided to give OcUK another chance after a horrible experience a few years ago. Read about it here if you are interested:

http://trust.hexus.net/user_profile.php?user=3075

Ordered approx £280 worth of stuff after 10% discount and it arrived on time Fri, just right for me to build over the bank holiday weekend. Inventory check revealed OcUK had sent the wrong motherboard (a model issued early 2007). Frustrating, but I thought this does give OcUK the opportunity to demonstrate customer service has improved.

Looked at the OcUK web forms and didn't fancy the RMA and thought the customer service complaint web form looked more suited to my problem. I asked OcUK to arrange a swap out or send correct motherboard at same time other was returned. No chance, received a reply I had to go through RMA, which entails waiting for them to collect, booking it in for checking and then them sending correct motherboard. Effectively adding at least another weeks delay. OcUK made the mistake but has transferred the inconvenience to me.

So I have ordered the motherboard I should have received from Dabs for delivery Thu and told OcUK to refund the cost of the motherboard sent to me in error once it had been processed through RMA. I wonder how long I'll have to wait for the refund?

OcUK have no idea about customer service, obviously can't be ars@d to find an equitable solution. Nope just chuck it at the RMA guy, the customer can go and whistle in the wind. I will definately not be using OcUK again, not because of the mistake, but because of the way OcUK customer service has handled resolving it.

Further update:
Despite agreeing a refund OcUK sent a RMA email stating Desired action:replace", when in fact I requested and agreed with OcUK that I would receive a full refund for the motherboard as I was not prepared to wait a further week to receive the correct mobo.

I have since purchased the motherboard from Dabs and will receive tomorrow. Meanwhile OcUK did not arrange collection today as they had promised.

They really are a company to deal with, can't believe I got sucked in again. I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.

Further update:
OcUK arranged and failed to pick a total of three times. To resolve this they agreed that if I sent the item back special delivery at a cost of £7.75 they would refund this.

The item was sent back a week ago, still no sign of a refund. After chasing they have today advised me the refund may take 2-3 working days but are only refunding the item not the postage. This is despite their RMA operative promising they would refund postage.

The worse thing is it is not possible to reply to their emails and deal with the same person and are forced to use the web forms over and over again.

Anyway I intend to go public on the various forums I frequent on how badly they treated me over this and back in 2004 every time somebody asks about OcUK. A quick copy and paste will take me seconds and I hope it loses them custom. Anybody that says they are ok clearly has not had to deal with either OcUK RMA or customer service.

[moogle]

Anybody that says they are ok clearly has not had to deal with either OcUK RMA or customer service.

Scary innit Still they haven't experienced OcUK in it's full glory yet.

[Cybix]

Further update:
OcUK arranged and failed to pick a total of three times. To resolve this they agreed that if I sent the item back special delivery at a cost of £7.75 they would refund this.

Inform trading standards and get them to deal with the postage refund, that’s what I had to do a few years ago and worked well for me.

The worse thing is it is not possible to reply to their emails and deal with the same person and are forced to use the web forms over and over again.

I had some bad RAM from Scan on my system build and they were talking ages to sort it out, but after a quick call got my new working RAM the next day.
Don’t have any of those overclocker problems as I refuse to use that bunch of jokers!

Why did you use them again? This 10% welcome back voucher can’t have saved you much money and sure has cost you a lot of time by the sounds of it.

[ShALLaX]

Bah, I never got this offer from them... not that I'd have taken them up on it after how they treated me. I bought a Cherry keyboard from them and the "enter" key on the number pad didn't work properly unless you pressed very hard in the centre. I got an RMA and sent it back only to find that they just sent it back to me saying that it was fine and charged me about £17 to test it (just shy of the initial value of the keyboard). After a "heated" phone call with them, I decided that I wasn't going to get anywhere, so I took the keyboard apart and found that the rubber membrane was actually folded over and creased under the key - no wonder it wasn't working properly. I called them back to tell them that a 15 year old (this was a long time ago!) with a screwdriver managed to do a better job of diagnosing the problem than them. His retort was "Now that you've opened it, we can't offer you a refund because you've voided the warranty"... As if they would ever have offered me a refund anyway!

[wapps]

I live near the shop, so naturally I get most of my stuff from there, have built two machines and can safely say no RMA's were needed for any of the parts. I go to the shop quite alot, and you just have to knowthe right people to deal with, there are a few in there that are really good to chat with, and if you ask for them you will probably never have a problem at all, only problem is there isn't many of them =D and two are senior members of staff, so getting hold of them when they don't know you is almost impossible (thankfully I have a personal number for one of them )

Prices to me have always been cheap, but this is probably due to the lack of postage costs needed, compared with other companies.

Thier weekly deals and weekend deals are good to watch out for, Many a time I've found a good bargin on there, just a case of looking =] they also do free shipping deals etc, but I've never needed to use one.

Oh and before you ask, I'm not an employer =D though I did go for an interview and they never got back to me </3

[Sacred]

Any problems getting a refund from any company and instantly call your credit card company. They will have much more clout than what you can muster from a heated phone call, especially since their more than happy to set their legal team on just about anyone if there not willing to refund for an item you've sent back. (usually need proof that you've sent the item back)

As for the additional charges they have charged you to not fix something, again do the same and tell your credit card company it is an unauthorised transaction. You'll be credited your money back while they battle with the company to sort things out.

Not sure how well this works with a standard debit / bank card. But i've had really good responces in three instances where companies refused to refund, or charged me for services I was not happy with. (card is with Barclays)

[moogle]

Which is why you should always buy with a credit card for that bit of protection.

[Cybix]

I live near the shop, so naturally I get most of my stuff from there, have built two machines and can safely say no RMA's were needed for any of the parts. I go to the shop quite alot, and you just have to knowthe right people to deal with, there are a few in there that are really good to chat with, and if you ask for them you will probably never have a problem at all, only problem is there isn't many of them =D and two are senior members of staff, so getting hold of them when they don't know you is almost impossible (thankfully I have a personal number for one of them ) </3

In dealing with them in person gives you face 2 face contact rather than having to fill in web forms and get RMA details.
I know that if you have a faulty product, sorting it out when you purchased online with most companies can take up to 28 days to get a replacement or refund. (Some better than others).
When buying over the counter normally you get a replacement straight away subject to testing.
In your situation it sounds like you bypass most of the problems with RMA’s and having to call up.

Prices to me have always been cheap, but this is probably due to the lack of postage costs needed, compared with other companies. </3

In using the Hexus deal for free postage with Scan (Orders over £20),this should not be an issue, but postage I agree can add a big extra cost.

[moogle]

In using the Hexus deal for free postage with Scan (Orders over £20),this should not be an issue, but postage I agree can add a big extra cost.

Even without postage from Scan it's still cheaper than OcUK, they've never been cheap except on refurbished or B grade items...

[ShALLaX]

Any problems getting a refund from any company and instantly call your credit card company. They will have much more clout than what you can muster from a heated phone call, especially since their more than happy to set their legal team on just about anyone if there not willing to refund for an item you've sent back. (usually need proof that you've sent the item back)

As for the additional charges they have charged you to not fix something, again do the same and tell your credit card company it is an unauthorised transaction. You'll be credited your money back while they battle with the company to sort things out.

Not sure how well this works with a standard debit / bank card. But i've had really good responces in three instances where companies refused to refund, or charged me for services I was not happy with. (card is with Barclays)

I'm about to try the whole "charge dispute" thing with my credit card for an entirely unrelated charge that was put on my CC while I was on vacation. It's only £15, but I'm using it as a test case to see how easy it is. Unfortunately, it was probably about 7-8 years ago when I had this run-in with OCUK... I was too young to have a credit card and I doubt there's much protection for debit card owners. It was also stated in their T&Cs that they could charge for an RMA which they felt was unwarranted. Live and learn.

[Cybix]

Even without postage from Scan it's still cheaper than OcUK, they've never been cheap except on refurbished or B grade items...

moogle, I compleatly agree. Further more Scan's "today only" page just makes things better still

[floppybootstomp]

My experience, no bias, no exaggeration, no axes to grind and no sarky comments.

I've used OCUK for years and the only problem I've had with them is when they don't ship an order because one item which was listed in stock at time of order wasn't actually in stock.

So instead of them e-mailing or phoning you offering to send all the order less that one item; wait until that one item is in stock before sending or cancel the whole order - they do nothing.

Which meant I stayed in all day to take delivery of an order which had never been sent. If I'm at home then I'm not working which is very annoying.

Which is why I haven't used them for over a year and I got the 10% offer. But I'm not really buying anything atm anyway, quite happy with all my systems.

I've had two rma's with OCUK, both painless, both dealt with quickly and effieciently and on both occasions my credit card was credited with the cost of the returns without me asking.

They possibly stock the best range of computer parts for enthusiasts in the Uk and they deliver next day (that's important to me). Their prices are fair although often slightly higher than other suppliers although if you put together a multiple order they often all work out much of a muchness compared to other suppliers.

In short, I like OCUK, except for that annoying out-of-stock/delivery quirk.

At Christmas time I had to rma an item to Scan. I had to wait four weeks for the turnaround with some excuse about deliveries being unreliable at Christmas time. Strange, they managed to deliver goods out when ordered. That soured my experience with Scan though they've mostly been ok, but their range isn't as good as OCUK imo.

E-Buyer were once terrible, I'm talking around six years ago and prior. But I've used them in recent months and would now thoroughly recommend them. They gave me a refund on some faulty memory (2 x 1Gb sticks of OCZ for those who want to know). When I bought the memory originally it cost around £110.00 and at the time of refund 11 months later it was selling for around £40.00. I got the whole £110.00 back so I promptly ordered some more stuff from them, partly as a good will gesture.

Aria were also once bad but have improved a great deal. I recently rma-ed a wireless Linksys card to them and it was turned around in three days. They didn't refund the postage though and a wireless card is cheap so that ended up being an expensive item from Aria for me.

Best two suppliers, in my experience, are Chillblast and Kustom PC's - especially Kustom PC's - but they are both more expensive than most.

Have also used Dabs, recently bought a Canon Fax Machine from them, but have never had a problem with any of their goods so don't know what rma service is like.

I posted here mostly to tell the truth about OCUK, I'm not fond of this mob mentality where everybody jeers and boos, it's infectious, rather like a lynch mob.

[markgor]

There del charges put me off

[moogle]

moogle, I compleatly agree. Further more Scan's "today only" page just makes things better still

Don't we know it, those GTX280's at £240 are really tempting

There del charges put me off

Another reason why most people might not buy from them. I remember a year ago or so even if you ordered 2 sticks of ram or something small you'd still be hit by the £10-11 delivery charge with no other option. You'd think what with their high markup they could get cheap delivery prices like most other retailers who have lower prices but still manage to do it and good on them for doing so

[EasterEEL]

Well I got a welcome back offer email and being the trusting person I am decided to give OcUK another chance after a horrible experience a few years ago. Read about it here if you are interested:

http://trust.hexus.net/user_profile.php?user=3075

Ordered approx £280 worth of stuff after 10% discount and it arrived on time Fri, just right for me to build over the bank holiday weekend. Inventory check revealed OcUK had sent the wrong motherboard (a model issued early 2007). Frustrating, but I thought this does give OcUK the opportunity to demonstrate customer service has improved.

Looked at the OcUK web forms and didn't fancy the RMA and thought the customer service complaint web form looked more suited to my problem. I asked OcUK to arrange a swap out or send correct motherboard at same time other was returned. No chance, received a reply I had to go through RMA, which entails waiting for them to collect, booking it in for checking and then them sending correct motherboard. Effectively adding at least another weeks delay. OcUK made the mistake but has transferred the inconvenience to me.

So I have ordered the motherboard I should have received from Dabs for delivery Thu and told OcUK to refund the cost of the motherboard sent to me in error once it had been processed through RMA. I wonder how long I'll have to wait for the refund?

OcUK have no idea about customer service, obviously can't be ars@d to find an equitable solution. Nope just chuck it at the RMA guy, the customer can go and whistle in the wind. I will definately not be using OcUK again, not because of the mistake, but because of the way OcUK customer service has handled resolving it.

Further update:
Despite agreeing a refund OcUK sent a RMA email stating Desired action:replace", when in fact I requested and agreed with OcUK that I would receive a full refund for the motherboard as I was not prepared to wait a further week to receive the correct mobo.

I have since purchased the motherboard from Dabs and will receive tomorrow. Meanwhile OcUK did not arrange collection today as they had promised.

They really are a company to deal with, can't believe I got sucked in again. I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.

Further update:
OcUK arranged and failed to pick a total of three times. To resolve this they agreed that if I sent the item back special delivery at a cost of £7.75 they would refund this.

The item was sent back a week ago, still no sign of a refund. After chasing they have today advised me the refund may take 2-3 working days but are only refunding the item not the postage. This is despite their RMA operative promising they would refund postage.

The worse thing is it is not possible to reply to their emails and deal with the same person and are forced to use the web forms over and over again.

Anyway I intend to go public on the various forums I frequent on how badly they treated me over this and back in 2004 every time somebody asks about OcUK. A quick copy and paste will take me seconds and I hope it loses them custom. Anybody that says they are ok clearly has not had to deal with either OcUK RMA or customer service.

Final Update:
Eventually got a refund for the motherboard, but they reneged on refunding my postage. This was despite me advising them in advance of the postage costs and the RMA operative promising in an email that refunding postage costs would not be a problem. They are now insisting I email a scanned copy of a receipt which I don't have as it was sent special delivery from the post office. I only have the special delivery receipt sticker which does not have the price on it.

Never never again, they are a bunch of

[bboivin]

Overclockers are good unless something goes wrong with the shipment or product and then you're screwed. I used to buy lots of equipment from them, they don't care about keeping customers and after one too many screwups and absolutely atrocious customer service, I deleted my account and have never looked back. I think I waited around 2 weeks to resolve an issue before I needed to freak out at them on the phone. They were nice enough to explain the steps I needed to perform to delete my account however. If the order goes smoothly then they are fine (if that is any consolation).