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About LinkBacksRead more.PC World owner goes for a corporate rebrand to celebrate full-year profits up by 61 percent.
Read more.PC World owner goes for a corporate rebrand to celebrate full-year profits up by 61 percent.
The sooner best buy move throughout the country and take the market from under DSG the better.
Once started out as a good value company, now nothing more than poor quality goods, poor quality service and piss poor prices.
I can't believe anyone buys stuff from PC World. Their prices are a joke, at least on components.
Originally Posted by Brewster0101
I feared the tech orientated readership of HEXUS would probably miss the point of someone like DSGi or Dixons Retail existing, and as such, miss the reason for their success.
The idea of a retail chain, with advisory staff on hand to guide through the process of buying, setting up and using the technology that not everyone has as ready a grasp on as perhaps we do is a great attraction to many of the average UK citizens. The idea of choosing a computer/laptop/TV etc. to some is a daunting task of ridiculous complexity, where as perhaps you or I could readily make the choices concerned - and don't forget, they have physical stores, so the products which are available on the internet with illustrative pictures can actually be seen in the flesh, that exact model. For some, and especially those who have little conception of what they need/want/should get, it is a majorly reassuring factor.
The other element which is useful for the average Joe but us aswell, is that of potential immediate availability - you or I or average Joe can walk into a physical store, buy the bits we need and be back in time for tea. Yes, of course you will end up paying a premium to do so, but sometimes it is the only option - desperate need for a particular item or just a free afternoon to build a PC - has encouraged me to buy from a physical store rather than order it online. Recent example - Akasa Paxmate sound deadening - could have bought it online, but wouldn't have got to me in time. So instead, I popped down to Maplin, they had exactly what I wanted, and it only worked out a couple of quid more than I would have paid for the item online. That allowed me to start & finish building the PC in question in an afternoon, rather than starting, waiting 2 days and then finishing it when I eventually got the time again.
As to the other comments of poor quality goods, poor quality service or poor prices, have you been into a Currys/PC World recently? I'm sure so many people are part of the DSGi bashing bandwagon simply because everyone else says so. The last time I went into the local Currys store the range of TVs was the same as what I could get online, I'm sure it will be the same for the range of dishwashers/washing machines/etc/etc. Price wise, I'm sure you could get a few more quid off the item online, but can you take it with you that day? I very much doubt it.
As to the level of service, I'm sure it is different nationwide. No business is ever going to achieve absolute consistency across all stores. Well, not without a programme of indoctrination as part of the training....
So I'm not surprised DSGi/Dixons Retail have had a bumper year - it does seem they are making a fair effort to correct the wrong doings of the past. Ultimately whether they are successful or not I don't know, but equally, it is nice to have the stores there in case I need something. The other alternative is that BestBuy come in, Dixons Retail collapses, and all that happens is BestBuy become the old DSGi - eg a virtual monopoly in electronics retail. I can see that being so much better....
It just bugged me so much to see PC World charging £12 to insert memory into a pc that you brought to the store. That was 5 years ago, I can only imagine what it costs these days.
PC World has always been about dragging as much as they can out of current users, instead of trying to entice new buyers. The sad fact that nobody else is good enough to bury them yet says it all about our retail PC market, and the pc knowledge of our country as a whole.
Brewster is right, Bestbuy could run all over this country if they knew how bad it was. I'm thinking Tesco might have a go at it before too long.
I don't mind having a PCworld close by. Front of house has been improve enormously over the last couple of yours, they're no longer as pushy to make the sale which makes you more at ease when browsing and trying the hardware. However, that can't be said for CurrysDigital (Dixons) which, being on the high street, is still fiercely pitching the sales' talk.
Having worked at PC World in the last year, i hope i can add some information to the pile. As mentioned before, no two stores are the same. However, before i left, commission was re-introduced on a small range of items, namely mobile broadband where you could earn £10 for selling one dongle. The best sellers could do about 10 per day which is over double their daily salary.
Some of the prices are competitive and very little profit is made on hardware. The large overheads of the store have to be met in other ways.
Also, the training that the blue shirts in bestbuy is what will make them succeed. I'm quite knowlegeable in PC's, you can't know everything, but i've worked with salesmen who know nothing more than repeating the specification of the laptop.
Staff are under enormous pressure to sell norton 360 & office and the support package. Funnily enough the support package actually works out a pretty good deal - the people that use PC world tend to want to have free phone support, accidental damage etc.
Head office management sucks though, in a computing store holding over 40 computers, there isn't an air con. 28 degrees outside, 42 degrees inside - apprantly it costs too much. they never realised that most customers wouldn't stay longer than 10 minutes before leaving.
Competition is good - hopefully PC World will improve - now they risk losing it all.
About £50 an hour for service is not unreasonable - you have to pay the technician, their employers NI, provide the equipment, building, insurance, training ... all because you personally give your free time a low monetary value does not mean a profit making store should. Typically it costs 3-4 times what you pay a person per hour to actually employ them, and that's before running the store, making a profit etc. That's why the states is so cheap for stuff like this - the cost of buidlings and employment regs there is much lower.
If I was pricing up the service to fit memory to a desktop, i'd probably price it around £25 - by the time you've booted the PC to make sure it works, shut it down, opened the case, fitted the RAM, closed it up, booted up again and run basic memory validation tests, you're bumping up towards 30 minutes so £25 is not unreasonable.
When I visitedt he bestbuy at lakeside, they sold the same goods, at the same prices as pcw. I really cant understand why BB havent tried selling a slightly wider range of stuff, the makes and models of are exactly the same as the pcw the other side of the road.
I've found the lads and lassies at PC World & Currys in Hereford to be pretty good. One lad in particular at Currys, Hereford (a chap called Ben Turner) was exceptionally helfpul and proactive in sorting out an issue I had. Similarly, one of the Tech Guys let me have a molex y-splitter he had lying around when he didn't have any in stock. A little thing sure, but it all helps.
I tend to do impulse component buying at PCW. Simple stuff like cabling and maybe the odd switch or something like that if I need it in a hurry has been my shopping of choice there. Living in the sticks makes deliveries a pain. The majority of my computing needs are met by Scan (delivery to work is brilliant and very reliable, as are Scan themselves, of course) but I think Currys/PC World have a part to play on the high street too. I bought an ex-display Samsung LED/LCD from Currys last year - after a very enjoyable bout of haggling with the salesman - and I've always found them cheaper and more helpful than, say, Comet or the like.
It's odd to find myself defending PCW, really. I'd never buy a system from them or use the Tech Guys' services but if they disappeared then I'd definitely miss them.
Last edited by pollaxe; 25-06-2010 at 12:48 PM. Reason: I meant bout and put bought for some reason. Doh!
10 mins absolute maximum and that's with validation. PC World is just a con, I saw nonsense like £300 laptop repair last time I was in.
Yes, buts thats not half bad considering they replace whatever part has failed or died (including the screen) I admit that you can get a new laptop for this money but if for instance I'd bought a laptop that cost me close to £1500 then the cost of getting the screen replaced, motherboard or whatever else has failed for that money isn't all that bad.
Swapping out harddrives and ram is no real issue for most of us here on this forum, and to add to that you have to consider with so many independant computer stores out there you aren't going to be able to take the thing back if you've shelled out the above amount of cash to have a motherboard on your laptop replace. There aren't that many independants that have the skills to fix laptops. Neither do over half the general public.
So when you look at it, time is taken to diagnose whats wrong, parts need to be ordered, old parts removed new parts fitted and tested and operating system reloaded (if needed) all of which takes again time and some laptops are a right bark to get into. I know when you do enough of them it becomes easier the more you do.
Would I want to then go to all the hassle of getting the right parts for the job (usually these will be second hand off ebay) you can't be certain that it will fit your laptop, so you've then got all the hassle of either trying to get the seller to take the part back from you and normally thats a non start because its down to you to make damn sure your ordering the right parts, and if you do get the wrong part your stuck.
I think not, I'd sooner pay a trained proesional to do the above, and preferably a big company because if they fudge it up its their fault and they have to compensate me by giving me a refund on the service and a replacement product.
You just don't get this with your small local stores, if they fudge it (depending on how honest they are) and I'm not saying they are all like this but there are some right cow boys out there that claim to know about PC's and things and they clearly don't and they say they've fixed it and haven't and your into such a sink hole of support right there. I know so many people that have been ripped off by fly-by-nights looking to make a quick few quid at the expense of people that goto them in good faith.
So what I'm saying is quite simple, if you've got the know how and the skills, great repair your own product. But not everybody has.
You may have heard of someone who had a bad experience in a DSGI store, and like others have said no two stores are the same. The service you get in one can vary greatly from the service given in another. This is usally down to poor managerial skills and poor training.
Sorry lol on my soap box.
Behemoth - i have to agree.
£15 for ram installation isn't much on a £500 laptop, it has full warranty and it's tested - a blessing for many unexperienced people.
They also do hard drive recovery - it's very expensive, but they send the drive to a lab where it is dismantled and each platter removed and backed up.
Imagine having your business data on a hard drive and it fails? £400 isn't much then.
Most of the stuff they do is good value for money - much of the cost goes towards labour.
That attitude is what is responsible for the lack of a good supply of decent IT support for home users.
People will pay £100 per hour to pay to have their BMW serviced but balk at paying 1/3 of that for someone that's probably much smarter and much more experienced than the work experience boy in the garage checking the levels.*
With people unwilling to pay such low rates, anyone that's any good at IT will work for someone that pays them what their years of experience and qualifications are worth.
End result, most people that do home IT support are muppets. The number of people at my work that have begged me to clean up the mess left behind some muppet from a local IT firm or "someone that knows computers" just confirms this.
*anyone that takes that sentence literally probably has an IQ below 100.
Last edited by badass; 27-06-2010 at 01:39 PM.
"In a perfect world... spammers would get caught, go to jail, and share a cell with many men who have enlarged their penises, taken Viagra and are looking for a new relationship."
You are the same people who I bet moan and complain about laywers fees, bankers pay and MP's expenses yet it's different when it comes to lining your own pockets.
It takes less than 2 minutes to change a couple of memory sticks, sure you can 'validate' it but thats the same kind of nonsense the aformentioned groups have been using for years to justify their overblown payments. If you charge £25 and take 30 minutes to change a stick of RAM, you aren't a professional you're just greedy like they are.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargain...5&in_page_id=5 - bang goes the 'professional' theory. I just learned that PC World now charges £30 for upgrading memory. A 150% increase in 5 years? No wonder they are making record profits - by scamming people.
Last edited by Jimbo75; 27-06-2010 at 08:37 PM.
I hardly call it greedy, it has to be profitable for any company to offer any kind of service. At the end of the dau which big companies do you know that don't make any profits out of the services they offer.
There is little to no product margin in selling raw products alone, they have to get money from somewhere.
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