PC World "Collect at Store"
Why do I ever shop at PC World? I've received shoddy customer service there on countless occasions. The whole chain deserves to go under and with any luck this recession will put it out of it's misery.
Forgive me for posting an email here that I just sent to their customer services address. I'm only doing it because I get several hits a day via Google for people looking for stuff about Sky TV and finding my rant against their customer services. It's kind of satisfying to think that maybe I lose them a customer or two now and then. Hopefully this will do the same for PC World.
PC World UK are useless gits. There, that should be good for a few more Google hits.
. . .
Dear PC World Customer Services,
I'm writing to complain about my recent experience of the "Collect in Store" service from PC World.
Earlier today I was in search of a set of speakers. I used your site to find the item, and it informed me they were out of stock in my local stores.
Just to be certain, I looked up the number for my nearest store (King's Lynn) on the web site. I rang the number given as was put through to the national line, not the local store.
The lady I spoke to was quite helpful, and advised me that there was stock at the Norwich store.
Later in the day I decided to reserve the item at the Norwich store. I checked the site and it still had stock, so I went ahead and reserved the item.
Norwich is a 80-mile trip for me, so I decided it would be a good idea to check with the store itself. I looked up the number on the website and noticed it was the same for the King's Lynn store, and there'd be little point ringing as I'd just get the same national customer services system I'd spoken too earlier.
So I travelled to Norwich this evening with the sole intention of picking up the item. When I arrived they had my reservation I had made already printed out, and went to get the item. One of the salesmen assisting said that he didn't think they had any in stock.
After waiting about 10 minutes I was then told that they didn't have any in stock. Despite the fact that the stock system in store clearly displayed 3 items.
The assistant suggested that Colchester had some in stock, "but they might not want to send them over". Quite what use that would be to me in Norfolk I'm unsure.
I gave my contact number at the time of reserving, it would have been very easy for the staff at Norwich PC World to check my item pre-order, and called me to let me know the error, BEFORE I'd travelled out.
It would have also been nice for the assistant to offer some kind of decent alternative to waiting to see if Colchester would give up one of their stock. Such as offering to order the item for home delivery. As it was I was given little more than a shrug of the shoulders.
I'm not too experienced with retail, so perhaps you can explain how a shop's actual stock can be 3 whole items astray from it's computer records. Especially as the item in question wasn't particularly cheap. And if the system is routinely this inaccurate, how you can expect to run a collect in store system with any level of success?
Yours sincerely,
Simon
Forgive me for posting an email here that I just sent to their customer services address. I'm only doing it because I get several hits a day via Google for people looking for stuff about Sky TV and finding my rant against their customer services. It's kind of satisfying to think that maybe I lose them a customer or two now and then. Hopefully this will do the same for PC World.
PC World UK are useless gits. There, that should be good for a few more Google hits.
. . .
Dear PC World Customer Services,
I'm writing to complain about my recent experience of the "Collect in Store" service from PC World.
Earlier today I was in search of a set of speakers. I used your site to find the item, and it informed me they were out of stock in my local stores.
Just to be certain, I looked up the number for my nearest store (King's Lynn) on the web site. I rang the number given as was put through to the national line, not the local store.
The lady I spoke to was quite helpful, and advised me that there was stock at the Norwich store.
Later in the day I decided to reserve the item at the Norwich store. I checked the site and it still had stock, so I went ahead and reserved the item.
Norwich is a 80-mile trip for me, so I decided it would be a good idea to check with the store itself. I looked up the number on the website and noticed it was the same for the King's Lynn store, and there'd be little point ringing as I'd just get the same national customer services system I'd spoken too earlier.
So I travelled to Norwich this evening with the sole intention of picking up the item. When I arrived they had my reservation I had made already printed out, and went to get the item. One of the salesmen assisting said that he didn't think they had any in stock.
After waiting about 10 minutes I was then told that they didn't have any in stock. Despite the fact that the stock system in store clearly displayed 3 items.
The assistant suggested that Colchester had some in stock, "but they might not want to send them over". Quite what use that would be to me in Norfolk I'm unsure.
I gave my contact number at the time of reserving, it would have been very easy for the staff at Norwich PC World to check my item pre-order, and called me to let me know the error, BEFORE I'd travelled out.
It would have also been nice for the assistant to offer some kind of decent alternative to waiting to see if Colchester would give up one of their stock. Such as offering to order the item for home delivery. As it was I was given little more than a shrug of the shoulders.
I'm not too experienced with retail, so perhaps you can explain how a shop's actual stock can be 3 whole items astray from it's computer records. Especially as the item in question wasn't particularly cheap. And if the system is routinely this inaccurate, how you can expect to run a collect in store system with any level of success?
Yours sincerely,
Simon
They pays peanuts, etc etc.
And I bet they didnt offer to pay towards the fuel wasted either.
Yeah, it's primarily suicidely myopic customer service, lack of effective in-store management, and bad system design. Some companies, such as Argos, won't show any free stock to reserve against if there are less than five items available. Other companies will let you reserve anything - including damaged returns. It's always best to phone up to confirm that everything is okay, rather than trust minimum wage monkeys to be overbrimming with diligence and job satisfaction.
Conversely, I've known people to omit contact details from orders, or use false numbers to avoid non-existent spam. Then there are those wicked, wicked people who instead of collecting their dutifully reserved gooddies, take them from the shelf instead, leaving their order unclaimed and gathering dust >;-)
1 - Screw PC World
2 - Purchase airline ticket to San Francisco. 5,300 miles = 5,260 British Pounds (that includes Jane). I have priced out leaving next Friday, returning on Monday. Premium Economy Class.
3 - Add three nights hotel. I would recommend the Sir Francis Drake (A hotel named after an English sea captain can't be all that bad) @ 322 British Pounds.
4 - You will need a rental car. I chose a Chevy Impala. Might as well drive an American car while they are still making them. @ 215 British Pounds.
5 - Add in, say, 200 British Pounds for food and drink. You do drink, as I recall.
6 - Go directly to Fry's Electronics. The JBL Balboa is on sale right now for about $300 (215 British Pounds). Probably about a 25 mile drive from the hotel to any of about 4 or 5 stores. Hey, that would be 50 miles round trip. Still less than 80 miles. This place is the "Harrods" of computer stores.
Now, there is probably some sort of import charge...but...meh.
You won't come back with a tan this time of year, but you will come back with some great speakers and you won't have to drive 80 freaking miles to buy them.
Geez, I have too much time on my hands this morning.
I got an email back from PC World Customer Support today, basically saying that there's nothing they can do, it's all covered in the small print and yah-boo-sucks to you.
So, don't use PC World, is all I can say. :-)
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