Thoughts on PC World (UK)

[Aw27]

So I just went to a pc world a few miles away (near Leeds United FC) to get my sisters new laptop. From what I have heard online, the "knowhow" team are apparently incompetent. Well, this wasn't the case as once I got there I asked a worker about the laptop and if we could see a display model. Once he brought it out I went over the specs with him and he was actually saying all the right things and we ended up more talking about components than the laptop itself.

 

Now this guy wasn't your typical techie, he didn't try and outsmart me he just talked about specs with me and we even talked about desktops, he was just a generally friendly salesman and didn't try to make me buy a more expensive laptop either.

 

Anyway, once the laptop was decided and we had paid the worker says "It was nice to have a customer who actually knows anything about pcs for once, let me know if you want a part time job", which was cool of him to offer and I think I will take him up on the offer over summer.

 

tl:dr I didn't have high expectations of PC world, but the attendant techie was cool and knew what he was on about, the prices were also good and so from now on I will try and use pc world when the prices are good

 

Also, thoughts / experiences of PC world?

[Oshino Shinobu]

The ones where I live don't know shit.

 

I asked for an active display port to dual link DVI adapter, this is how it went:

 

Me: Do you have any displayport adapters?

Store guy: What type of displayport?

Me: Full size (thinking he meant standard or mini)

Store guy: You mean VGA?

Me: ......... No, displayport. 

Store guy: Can you show me it?

Me: (Show him picture of it)

Store guy: That's HDMI

Me: No, it's displayport. It's an actual connection. 

Store guy: I've never heard of that connector

 

I've never been there again after that. . 

[Fred Castellum]

-snip-

I'm impressed kudos to that guy, he did everything he should and even went a step more by asking if you wanted a job there. 

 

I worked as a IT salesman in the past before, a local Fry's Electronics in the area. I was saddened upon finding out around 50% of my coworkers knew little to nothing about the more advance things in computer tech... 

 

That salesman you met was really A+ stuff. 

 

EDIT: its funny because its true, when a tech savy customer comes up he's usually just asking for where the parts are and already makes a assumption your just a dumbass that wants to sell more stuff to him. It's somewhat of a pleasant surprise when they find out you actually know your shit. 

[SirReallySam]

Yeah, No PC world here... SOOOOO

[Liam-McShane]

You must have bagged an honest one. Soon he will be forced to sell shit you don't want or need, taking advantage of the uneducated. It is only a matter of time.

[Scottonpc]

They are way to forceful in to you buying a product even though it's most likely not good quality I noticed

[Fred Castellum]

You must have bagged an honest one. Soon he will be forced to sell shit you don't want or need, taking advantage of the uneducated. It is only a matter of time.

Not necessarily, if his manager was aware that honest salesman brings in more loyal customers he won't have to deal with that crap. My supervisor at the time would always talk about stuff like this.  

[Jumper118]

i went to pc world a few times there are about 4 round here. i never speak to anyone though because i know what im doing. what im doing is loling at people with epic lack of knowledge buying those stupid aio and tablet things for rip off prices.  

[Madmanchris1]

I went to the one in leeds near the football stadium.

I said to the sales guy "can you get this laptop for me"

the guy said "this one is better" (showed me a very slightly worse one which was on offer and cheaper)

i said "no thanks I'm set on this one".

the guy then told me the stats of the laptop on offer (which he read from the sticker by it)

i said why my choice is of better use to me.

he said ok in a sarcastic tone and got me the laptop i wanted.

 

not the worse service but he was trying really hard to sell me a laptop that I didn't want. I would have bought my laptop in under 5 mins  if he had let me. (i was on my lunch break and had done research before hand)

 

i agree they pressure you into buying stuff that they're told to sell.

[Scottonpc]

"Tell me more about these specs". -Reads sticker- and says bs

[Murdoch]

So you bought an extended warranty, Norton 360, and MS office, and some other accessories then?

[squirrl]

I did work experience in the one in Huddersfield when i was 15. The people in the tech department were having a conversation about how they thought that Vista Ultimate was the version that supported over 4GB RAM and they didn't know what 64bit was.

One of the sales reps was trying to sell an overpriced laptop to this old lady even though the cheapest one there was perfectly suited to her needs. I tried recommending it to her and got told off.

 

So yeah, OP, looks like you found the golden tooth in the pile of poo.

Unless you're really desperately looking for a job, then i wouldn't bother because you'll be forced into doing things you know are wrong.

On the other hand, places like that need more knowledgeable people, but they're not getting paid for their knowledge.

[Aw27]

I did work experience in the one in Huddersfield when i was 15. The people in the tech department were having a conversation about how they thought that Vista Ultimate was the version that supported over 4GB RAM and they didn't know what 64bit was.

One of the sales reps was trying to sell an overpriced laptop to this old lady even though the cheapest one there was perfectly suited to her needs. I tried recommending it to her and got told off.

 

So yeah, OP, looks like you found the golden tooth in the pile of poo.

Unless you're really desperately looking for a job, then i wouldn't bother because you'll be forced into doing things you know are wrong.

On the other hand, places like that need more knowledgeable people, but they're not getting paid for their knowledge.

I had to decline anyway as I just got accepted for a job working as a lifeguard for the city council, its flexible hours and good pay for a 16 year old

[Cookybiscuit]

Had a laptop, it went bad. Took it back, took probably a month to get a replacement. Same thing happened again, only this time more like 2 months, when I get it back it looks like its been kicked about on the floor, returned it but only got in store credit, was done after that.

[LePawel]

IMO? Do. Not. Approach.

When it comes to anything related to PCs, you can maybe test mechanical keyboard switches if they have one on display.. otherwise, you pay for expensive-looking, wannabe apple-like shops with untrained staff after the Curry's / PC world merger. No chain shop in UK have either the expertise or products users of this forum would look for, some of them are still on vertex 2/3 era, PC world have a very narrow, filtered selection of products like GPUs even on their website.

Personally, Brick n Click is useless for buying PC parts and similar overall, so my opinion is possibly biased. Paying someone for rarely being able to expand over tech specs of a product is waste of both time and money for me, I prefer spending that time with a beer in my hand watching Linus talk about how thin the styrofoam is in the packaging

They may be hiding something better in the non-PC-related sector, but I have not had a chance to look for a new fridge yet.

Personally, for PC stuff:

Scan.co.uk (although it apparently has shit customer support), Overclockers.co.uk, Aria.co.uk (never used though), hell even novatech has more stock and is more focused on PCs when you look for one.

PC world is a place for people who can't browse products online. You can maybe buy a fridge there because you can see the insides IRL.

[TheGamingBarrel]

GTX 650 for £300 and the people didnt even know what it was

[FireFox]

'Thoughts on PC World (UK)'

 

Absolute shit, they are bloody useless and over priced, how these morons secured employment in a technology business is unbelieveable. The only times I buy there are if it is life and death and I needed it a week ago otherwise I will always buy from Scan.co.uk

[FireFox]

GTX 650 for £300 and the people didnt even know what it was

 

Shit, I have a GTX 650 Ti, I should have sold it to them for the same price. You have to make it look like a good deal lol

[TheGamingBarrel]

Shit, I have a GTX 650 Ti, I should have sold it to them for the same price. You have to make it look like a good deal lol

And I saw a i3 4130 for I think it was £200 do they follow intel's website for pricing?

[FireFox]

And I saw a i3 4130 for I think it was £200 do they follow intel's website for pricing?

 

I have no idea, I don't think so

[TheGamingBarrel]

I have no idea, I don't think so

Adn cant tell the difference between "£" and "$"

[FireFox]

Adn cant tell the difference between "£" and "$"

 

I've not come across that yet though there is a first time for everything lol

[SuperShires]

They are terrible, but ive found they are good for a few things, I got my Corsair K70 for £15 cheaper than anywhere online, and they had Corsair SP fans for £5 cheaper than Amazon, other than that they are useless, I find it funny when they try and big up a tower than has a terrible spec for the price and I ask who manufactured the parts such as mobo and stuff and watch them go blank in the face. When I bought my K70 I asked if they had any mechanical keyboards and he just showed me the isle of keyboards, I spent 10 mins explaining to him the difference in mechanical and membrane, only for him to tell me at the end he was 'just the tv guy'

[The_Strict_Nein]

Well, I have a friend at school who worked on the know how team. While she's extremely cleaver and more than competent, she has no interest in computers what so ever. So it can go either way

[Aw27]

IMO? Do. Not. Approach.

When it comes to anything related to PCs, you can maybe test mechanical keyboard switches if they have one on display.. otherwise, you pay for expensive-looking, wannabe apple-like shops with untrained staff after the Curry's / PC world merger. No chain shop in UK have either the expertise or products users of this forum would look for, some of them are still on vertex 2/3 era, PC world have a very narrow, filtered selection of products like GPUs even on their website.

Personally, Brick n Click is useless for buying PC parts and similar overall, so my opinion is possibly biased. Paying someone for rarely being able to expand over tech specs of a product is waste of both time and money for me, I prefer spending that time with a beer in my hand watching Linus talk about how thin the styrofoam is in the packaging

They may be hiding something better in the non-PC-related sector, but I have not had a chance to look for a new fridge yet.

Personally, for PC stuff:

Scan.co.uk (although it apparently has shit customer support), Overclockers.co.uk, Aria.co.uk (never used though), hell even novatech has more stock and is more focused on PCs when you look for one.

PC world is a place for people who can't browse products online. You can maybe buy a fridge there because you can see the insides IRL.

Yeh, I think i found a gem of an assistant. Also, it was the only place stocking the laptop in the UK.

 

You also missed out CCL, they have really good customer support and delivery and a great website