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dvd burner.. which one?



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 26th 04, 09:29 PM
db
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default dvd burner.. which one?

hi yas,

I'm intending to buy a dvd burner, probably from he

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...RW_Drives.html

spend around £60.
do any of these stand out from the others at around this price?

thanks.


  #2  
Old June 26th 04, 09:54 PM
Miss Perspicacia Tick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

db wrote:
hi yas,

I'm intending to buy a dvd burner, probably from he

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...RW_Drives.html

spend around £60.
do any of these stand out from the others at around this price?

thanks.


The only reason for buying from OverCockers is that you're a masochist. May
I strongly suggest you read http://www.romulus2.com/feedback/company.php?35
before deciding to proceed with any purchases from there?

Let me give you a flavour....

""all is rosy until." The've even sent me blatently used parts which they
charged me new prices for. So this is the public service announcement, use
them at your own peril, i've learned from my mistakes and have a list of
reputable vendors, OcUK's prices arn't that great either when you know where
to look.
They wave that 20% restocking fee in your face when you call to complain
about the quality of the goods, they often say they'll get a manager for you
and put you on hold, suddenly the phoen goes dead, they won't process RMA's,
this company is a JOKE!"


"ordered from this sham of a firm only once. the order was a day late, and
incomplete. the incomplete item was reported and they basically called me a
liar and told me there was nothing they could do as the stock was correct.
got no response to emails. had to wait 35 mins on the phone. finally after
mentioning trading standards and my bank's credit card services they agreed
to ship my missing item out. needless to say it arrived a day late.
absolutely the worst firm i have ever had the misfortune to have dealt
with."


"They are absolute cowboys. Steer clear! I too wish I'd read this forum
before wasting my time sorting out the rubbish they sent me. Don't buy from
them!!!!!!!!!!!"


"Having read a lot of negative reviews of this company I decided to try them
for myself, after all, you don't know until you've tried, right?
I placed an order back in March for basically a whole system. I ordered from
them seeming as their product prices seem very reasonable and delivery was
rather cheap being £10 for amtrak.

Once my order had arrived, be it 2 days late, I opened the huge box to find
that no bubble wrap had been used at all to protect my PC components. What
they basically did was just dump all of my components into one huge box.
This, I would assume is how they 'package' items.
I was basically disgusted, £500 worth of components merely chucked into a
brown box and dispatched to me.

But nevermind, nothing seemed to be broken during transit, and the system
build was implemented a few hours after.

All items were ok, apart from my motherboard. I therefore phoned OcUK up and
was held in a queue for about 45mins b4 anyone would answer. Once someone
did answer, he was very arrogant, obnoxious and rude, but did give me an RMA
number.

Once the mobo was returned to them it took them over 1 mth to provide me
with a refund, not without trouble of course. I had to phone up my credit
card company and threaten them with court action b4 they would do so.

I would say that this company is great to buy from, but dont expect peace of
mind when your item is faulty or develops a fault. They are laughable, to be
honest, I would pay more to a competitor rather than suffer crap from these
muppets.

Another funny thing, they were selling REFURBISHED Hercules 9800 pro's
before as OEM's and as brand new. Unsurprisingly about 90% of customers
returned their cards as faulty. Sigh....stay away from these idiots."


"Was looking for RAM. These guys had the RAM I wanted as listed in stock for
over two months. Was also listed in stock when I ordered. Ordered using next
day delivery: one week later, still hadn't turned up.

Emails get no response. Phone calls get you hung in their (slow, lousy)
queing system. only for you to be given lie, after lie, after lie...

Previous order to the RAM was also a shambles. Never did manage to get my
money back from them for 'next day delivery' which took 3 days - and even
then I had to go and pick the goods up myself.

In short, do not believe their web site: most of the products listed are not
in stock. Sales staff to not respond to phone or email, and if they do, are
arrogant and rude. Would not recommend this company to anyone."

I could go on, but I hope that gives you enough reason to shop somewhere
else. All the above comments were taken from
http://www.romulus2.com/feedback/company.php?35.








  #3  
Old June 26th 04, 10:03 PM
db
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Miss Perspicacia Tick" wrote in message
...
db wrote:
hi yas,

I'm intending to buy a dvd burner, probably from he

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...RW_Drives.html

spend around £60.
do any of these stand out from the others at around this price?

thanks.


The only reason for buying from OverCockers is that you're a masochist.

May
I strongly suggest you read

http://www.romulus2.com/feedback/company.php?35
before deciding to proceed with any purchases from there?



Thanks, used them once or twice before with no probs but will take it into
considertion. .. so about which dvd....


  #4  
Old June 26th 04, 10:18 PM
Miss Perspicacia Tick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

db wrote:
"Miss Perspicacia Tick" wrote in message
...
db wrote:
hi yas,

I'm intending to buy a dvd burner, probably from he

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...RW_Drives.html

spend around £60.
do any of these stand out from the others at around this price?

thanks.


The only reason for buying from OverCockers is that you're a
masochist. May I strongly suggest you read

http://www.romulus2.com/feedback/company.php?35
before deciding to proceed with any purchases from there?



Thanks, used them once or twice before with no probs but will take
it into considertion. .. so about which dvd....


You can purchase a Pioneer 107A from www.blankdiscshop.co.uk for around that
price. Unfortunately, their site appears to be down at the moment, but it
was definitely working the other day as I ordered a spindle of 50 DVD+RWs.
I've never had any problems with their products, though I've not had to
return anything yet. I bought a Pioneer from there a while back and it's
working fine in my secondary system.



  #5  
Old June 26th 04, 10:49 PM
Alex
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"They wave that 20% restocking fee in your face "

Which they're not allowed to do under the Distance Selling Act. If they do
they're breaking the law. I'd go with somewhere like www.tekheads.com -
used em loads of times with no problems. Same with www.dabs.com


  #6  
Old June 27th 04, 01:14 AM
Miss Perspicacia Tick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Alex wrote:
"They wave that 20% restocking fee in your face "

Which they're not allowed to do under the Distance Selling Act. If
they do they're breaking the law. I'd go with somewhere like
www.tekheads.com - used em loads of times with no problems. Same
with www.dabs.com


You want me to start on them too? IMNSHO, there are only three companies
worth buying from: -

Chillblast
Over-Clock
CaseTech

Avoid like the plague

OverClockers
Dabs
Tekheads
Watford
Simply
e-buyer
Komplett (used to be good, now just crap)



  #7  
Old June 27th 04, 08:38 AM
Alex
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

You kidding right? Dabs is the best company out there !! I must have
bought over 150 grands worth of kit from them (for home and work use), and
haven't had a single problem with them at all.


"Miss Perspicacia Tick" wrote in message
...
Alex wrote:
"They wave that 20% restocking fee in your face "

Which they're not allowed to do under the Distance Selling Act. If
they do they're breaking the law. I'd go with somewhere like
www.tekheads.com - used em loads of times with no problems. Same
with www.dabs.com


You want me to start on them too? IMNSHO, there are only three companies
worth buying from: -

Chillblast
Over-Clock
CaseTech

Avoid like the plague

OverClockers
Dabs
Tekheads
Watford
Simply
e-buyer
Komplett (used to be good, now just crap)





  #8  
Old June 27th 04, 11:22 AM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 08:38:49 +0100, "Alex"
wrote:

You kidding right? Dabs is the best company out there !! I must have
bought over 150 grands worth of kit from them (for home and work use), and
haven't had a single problem with them at all.


Yeah get the NEC.

There are still some people who swear by Pioneer , they and Sony used
to be the top brands when the dual formats were newer. NECs are one of
the best burners and also one of the cheapest. I think they took
Liteons cheap but excellent spot with DVD burners that they have with
CD burners. A lot of people still like Liteon too though because of
their rep with CD burners and youll see posts from owners who swear by
them.

The 2500a and 2510 are both good and cheap. They are both 8x but the
2510 is said to burn the new dual layer DVDs that hold twice as much
data. However theres lots of talk about the fact you can flash the
2500a up to the 2510 with a firmware flash. Dont know if they are
identical in hardware but they seem close enough to enable this if
they arent according to some posts.

Ive had the NEC 1300 and now the 2510 - and they both work great.

  #9  
Old June 27th 04, 07:47 PM
Miss Perspicacia Tick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Alex wrote:
You kidding right? Dabs is the best company out there !! I must have
bought over 150 grands worth of kit from them (for home and work
use), and haven't had a single problem with them at all.


And have you ever tried to *return* any of that £150K's worth?! Here's a
flavour....

"Always found Dabs to be OK in the past but will no longer use them now that
they have withdrawn telephone support. That IMO is not good customer
service."


"Aftersales? what aftersales. Rubbish"


"NEVER BUY FROM DABS!!! This is the most useless thieving sad excuse for a
company I have ever seen. A company without a phone is unheard of unless it
is called DABS. I sent them items months ago UNDER WARRANTY and have never
received them back. They don't answer e-mails. They are bandits and I
recommend that you order from them ONLY if you do not want to ever see your
merchandise."



"They have the worse after sales service I have ever experienced. Ordered a
hard drive from them two months ago, after 3 and a half weeks of used. The
drive no longer works, so I email them and explained the situation and
requested an RMA number. They replied 4 days later and refused to offer me
the RMA and direct me to the manufacture instead. This is unacceptable I
didn't buy the goods from the manufacture. So I email again and request a
full refund, waited another 3days, the second reply say "our policy state
that we can only refund product that is less than 30days". Imagine the time
it takes for their email replies (7days to reply 2 emails). Even the product
have faults in the 30days period, they will make it over 30days and kick you
to the manufacture.
I spend thousands of pounds each year on computer products, now I will make
sure DABS don't get a penny from me.
I suggest if you want a reliable service, stay away from this company."


"Ordered a few components from Dabs. They arrived over a week later than
promised on the site and then the case I ordered wasn't with them. I mailed
to ask where it was. No reply. Called: "Our customer service is now online
only. Goodbye." Great. Mailed again. No reply. I called the number they had
registered at netsol to get a direct contact for their customer service
manager. Mailed him. No reply.
Not recommended. Not at all."


"Ordered an "open box" item that arrived with vital parts missing. Went
through their RMA procedure, but it took weeks of emailing to get past their
excuses and actually get an RMA code, then it was another fortnight before I
could get them to acknowledge receipt of the return and refund me the money
to my credit card.

They now have no contact telephone number, responses to emails normally take
more than 24hrs, and they don't take enough care to answer your questions
properly -- so resolving disputes can be a frustrating experience.

Hint: if you are getting an operator who you feel is fobbing you off with
excuses, try the main or addresses in the hope
that someone else will pick up the call.

I've spent thousands with DABS over the years - but had not previously
needed to return anything. However, I won't be using them again after this
experience. Think I'll stick with KustomPCs, Insight and Amazon - they've
offered far superior customer service so far."


"Have used Dabs many times. They're fine until something goes wrong and you
find yourself without the backup of a reputable retailer. Once bitten.......

There's a lot to be said for the sales and aftersales service of major
retailer like John Lewis, which will be my preferred choice from now on."

"Still waiting after 2 months for delivery of a Saitek Joystick. Apparently
it was lost in the post. I have receieved no updates or information from
DABS, there customer service is attrocious. I will never use these people
again."


"From reading the postings it seems if everything goes ok then it is great
otherwise it is dreadful

I suppose if Parcelforce hadn't lost the d**m thing mine delivery would too
!

Parcelforce admitted that they had lost it, and apart from losing the thing
have been v. helpful, but I have to contact dabs to get a replacement which
is where the fun starts

All I have had from dabs is automatic email replies which say "we are very
sorry but we take 2 days to reply" after two days you get another email
saying "we are looking at this, please wait 2 days before chasing". So 2
days later you chase and get and "we are very sorry but we take 2 days to
reply" and the cycle begins again!

I am taking it up with my credit card company, but it has to be 30 days
before they will do anything



[Update:]
Parcelforce has now lost 2 laptops to the same address. After getting a
phone number for a sales person I have have had a much better response.
However the "lost item " cycle does take about 7-10 days to work through.
Most of this is actually Parcelforce's delay in admitting in writing they
have lost the item. I was given an option of replacement or refund about 10
days ago. Stupidly I opted for replacement. "

*STILL* think "Dabs is the best company out there..."?!


Now, let's look at some other reviews, shall we...?

Chillblast
-----------

"The only store in the UK with the X800 Pro in stock right now. They were
kind enough to mail me as a repeat customer to give me "first refusal".
Amazing service. Arrived this morning before 10am. "

"My first purchase, just a small £10 Dual display thermal probe. The item
was defective (one inoperable thermal sensor) and Chillblast promptly gave
me an RMA, refunding completely the cost of the item, initial carriage
charges and the cost of returning the item as well as taxes. An efficent
company and one i'll be glad to do business with again. Its all about after
sales service for me, any monkey can take an item throw it in a box and
charge you for the previlage, its what a company does a good is defective is
whats important."

"These were the only guys I could find with the card that I wanted. I asked
them if they could price match a competitors price, they did that and sent
me a free T shirt as well. Top quality service from chillblast, and
amazingly quick to answer emails and the phone."

"Ben was helpful, patient and knowledgeable, giving excellent advice on
components for my custom-build system, to ensure it matched my requirements.

I am fortunate in living close enough for Ben to deliver the system in
person (which he did) and to also return a few days later to solve a minor
problem (probably caused by supposed XP drivers for my old scanner).

I cannot fault the assistance and customer service provided and am extremely
pleased with the system Chillblast built for me.

I am more than happy to recommend Chillblast and wouldn't hesitate to use
them again."

"I've used chillblast for some time and have had absolutely no reason to
complain-not even any minor gripes on this score.

Their aftersales back up is also top notch and they've always displayed
great patience when dealing with some of my more newbish questions.

In conclusion I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them."

"I ordered via the telephone on Friday night at 4.40 and received the memory
at 9.30 this morning. Amil was kind enough to offer me a free upgrade from
the regular platinum version.

I WILL be back, keep it up guys!"

"Excellent serivice from chillblast, if you live locally they will happily
come an sort out problems on-site. Good prices and even a free upgrade.
would recommend them all day long."

"Ordered various bit for a new PC build. Motherboard, CPU, Cooler, Hardrive,
DVD Drive, Memory etc. I rang and spoke to Ben before ordering anything from
them. That way I was able to avoid finding out that items were out of stock
when it came to making up my order. Even so when the delivery arrived (3
days later not next day - after they had a mix up in the warehouse I was
told) the DVD drive was not in stock and they had delivered the wrong
memory - right brand, right size but not dual channel. But don't be put off
because they do respond to e-mails and they do answer the phone and are
always very efficient in dealing with your enquiry or problem. The memory
should be replaced tomorrow - and they will let me know as soon as they get
the DVD drives back in stock (which should be soon they tell me). Compare
this to other suppliers who have only just responded to my stock enquiries
four days after my initial e-mail enquiry! Providing the memory turns up and
the DVD drive is supplied within days not weeks I will be happy to continue
using this supplier."


OverClock.co.uk
------------------

"Ordered on tuesday night at 1 am, arrived thursday morning via business
post. Sweet. Prices are competitive and stock range is xcellent."

"I placed an order for various bits and bobs but some items were out of
stock due to a supplier problem.
The items that were in stock were delivered very quickly .. they sourced the
out of stock items elsewhere and they were delivered just a few days later.
Very efficient and kept me informed throughout .. can't fault them in the
least and would recommend to anybody."

"Can't be faulted. I don't know how the users rating this company came from
(Probably competitor forum members) but O-CuK are the best in the UK. Ok so
the prices aren't the cheapest, but the parts are quality. If you want crap,
go buy from ebuyer or scan.

Example: Lots of demand here in the UK for the massive MountainMods Case. A
few weeks later, it was announced that they were in stock! How about that?"

"Ordered a full system (apart from memory) from them yesterday. All arrived
today, went together fine and all worked. Add to that a great price and cant
complain at all. Will be using them again for sure."

"Simply an awesome Site and shop, quality goods, nearly all things in stock
and the speed of delivery leaves ALL other online shops, yes all of them
trailing behind. The fastest and most efficient way to please customers is
to make sure the product gets to them as quickly as humanly possible. O-CuK
does just that, i have never waited more than 20 hours for delivery of
ANYTHING!

The staff are very knowledgable about all things pootery and are supremely
knowledgable about everything to do with overclocking, i feel its a travesty
other stores are allowed to use the word overclock in their names...

Would i recommend this store?? I have, do and will continue too, they are
cheap, they are always helpful and they dont make u feel like you're
ordering from a robot like some stores i could name."

"Great store. Prices slightly high but you only get the best quality
equipment. I have never met Sue but she sounds hot.

The only reason I'd go anywhere else is because of the devil mod Hantai.
Stay away from him! He almost ruins the forums.

Overall - Go shop there."

CaseTech
------------

"this site is easy to understand and the customer services are excellent.
the delivery was on time and punctual. the site has all the latest offers
and products available and caters for everyones needs. i would definately
recommend this site to my friends! "

"I ordered a range of products form her; as I found their products list and
prices to suit almost my every need. At first I noticed they sold a case I'd
had my Eye on for some time, this unfortunately, but uncontrolably, became
unavailable; I think there was stockist problems, which does occur. But they
were very helpful in giving me advise as to an equally suitable solution,
and I decided on getting a Thermaltake damier case. Which looks and sounds
very good. Their customer service is Exceptional, this is due to teh team,
really taking into acount what I wanted, and advising me with the best line
of action, plus their web service is exceptionally good. As a Multimedia
student who has studied webdesign i feel they have really mapped out an
excellent solution for ease of use and some nice features suce as a support
ticketing service, and an amazing- live online chat with their team members
to discuss your orders or anything you like, making it a very fuctional
site. Top job guys..."

"There isn't many companies who will go out of their way for a customer, but
CaseTech bent over backwards to get me the product i wanted, at a good price
and most importantly when i wanted it - all with thanks! They have obviously
listened to that age old advice;

"A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not
dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our
work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider to our business. He is
part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a
favour by giving us the opportunity to do so." - Mahatma Ghandi"

"Great price on a Maxtor 250GB Serial ATA. They even measured the drive to
make sure it would fit a Mac!

Drive arrived in OK time (after a small delay) and well packaged but
unfortunately the drive failed after 5 weeks (hence the 5 on product
qualityt as I'm still to make a final judgment) - taking my Jaguar boot OS
with it!

Between Apple and CaseTech I was able to isolate an actual drive failure -
support at CaseTech even researched into the problem and emailed me with
url's of discussions with possible solutions.

10 days after the drive died and I've been told to contact Maxtor direct (as
it was out of the 30 day return period) which is frustrating but CaseTech
support have been understanding of this frustration and have offered to help
me by providing the required packaging to return the drive to the
manufacturer. It feels strange having to go back to the manufacturer instead
of the reseller but I understand that going through CaseTech in this
instance may cause further delays.

Overall, even though the product failed I would highly recommend CaseTech,
as they seem to believe in customer support which is rare - being generally
helpful and quick to respond to emails."

"After having a very hard time of ordering a Cooler Master Wave Master case
from another company, I found out about CaseTech.co.uk using a google
search.

Ordering and delivery was a sheer joy - I received my case within 22 hours
of placing my order! Outstanding.

The only very slight downside was that the case was 5% more expensive than
the first company I tried to get this case from. However, in this case, that
extra £5 has been very well spent as the service I received was at least
worth that much.

I would easily recommend this company to my friends - and my enemies too!"

A negative is 2 or 1 stars

Number of negatives for Chillblast: - 0 (out of 36)
Number of negatives for OverClock.co.uk - 4 (out of 63) 6.35%
Number of negatives for CaseTech - 2 (out of 42) 4.76%
Number of negatives for Dabs - 450 (out of 698) - a lot of the positives
were when they still had a phone service. They ditched that about 18 months
ago and went to eTickets. 64.47%

*STILL* think Dabs is so fantastic...?!












































 




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