PCWorld

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 10:48:41 UTC, "Rob Walker"
wrote:

Ok, ok I DO work for PC world but not in the store. I work on the phones. If
you try to find the phone number of a PC World store you will find that you
always get the same 0870 number which comes through to us at branch call
handling. So if you need to ring PC world for any reason you get us and we
try to help you while keeping the store staff of the phones as much as
possible. Opening hours, store locations, stock enquiries that sort of
thing.

Not to mention PCW getting a nice little kickback on an 0870 number.

It shouldn't cost £80 to install a modem.

It shouldn't cost nearly 8p a minute to call PC World either. Especially
if it's necessary because PCW have screwed up.

PC shop that can be found around the country and therefore people who don't
know much about PC's trust the name and know they will have somewhere to go
back to if things go wrong.

People who don't know much about PC World, that is...

things like 'it's making a funny noise' or 'it won't go'. Much the same as
people who have limited PC knowledge do every day in PC World.

The difference is that at least some garages have some idea how to fix a
car. Not all, granted.

--
Bob Eager
rde at tavi.co.uk
PC Server 325*4; PS/2s 9585, 8595, 9595*2, 8580*3,
P70, PC/AT..

"Andy" wrote in message
...
On some of these the removal tools (symantec's and panda's) weren't
detecting the worm, we then applied the patch and checked it connected and
stayed connected to the Internet without shutting down or anything.

I wouldn't use the removal tool, look for the registry entry and delete the
file. This virus is changing file names so the removers won't work unless
they're updated.

Although not that relevant in this instance, we were also updating
people's
virus defs or installing anti-virus software if they asked for it.

Fair enough. Good idea, PC world wouldn't give a second thought about doing
this though..... They may not even remove the virus as the only thing the
person sees is the RPC shutdown window counting down which the M$ patch
stops but it doesn't stop the virus doing everything else it does...

Each repair is different when the customer may have fiddled but our
average
time was between 30 mins and 1 hour per pc. Regarding general repairs, so
many of the PCs we get in for repair have other viruses, we do carry out a
quick scan with the latest pqremove or f-prot as it's a quick procedure,
we
find a lot of PCs infected (easy to spot, various peer-to-peer icons on
the
desktop) and the customer knew nothing as they had no antivirus software
or
antivirus software that is hopelessly out of date; original pc-cillin and
defs from when PCs were first bought, various vintages of Norton Antivirus
going back to 2000 and before with long-expired subscriptions, etc, etc.

Pretty scary. Bet 30% got diallers off porn sites and £10,000 phone bills
too, lol. Just get scared if Gary Glitter walks in asking to get his virus
removed.

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 10:48:41 UTC, "Rob Walker"
wrote:

PC shop that can be found around the country and therefore people who
don't
know much about PC's trust the name and know they will have somewhere to
go
back to if things go wrong.

People who don't know much about PC World, that is...

things like 'it's making a funny noise' or 'it won't go'. Much the same
as
people who have limited PC knowledge do every day in PC World.

The difference is that at least some garages have some idea how to fix a
car. Not all, granted.

So why does PC World have a turnover of £1.6bn? People wouldn't go back if
they got bad service. They wouldn't be my first choice either but I don't
think they're as bad as the more 'technical' people in newsgroups such as
this make out. I was looking at a system on their website and out of
interest priced up the components on ebuyer. It came to £50 less than the PC
world Price which of course included actually building the machine and 1
years on site waranty. Not a bad deal IMHO.

Rob

Ant C wrote:
"Spinal" wrote in message

I used pcworld recently and they were really helpful so theyre in my
good books :-)

Rank amateur go and crawl under that 386 its where you belong.

"Rob Walker" wrote in message
. ..
So why does PC World have a turnover of £1.6bn? People wouldn't go back if
they got bad service. They wouldn't be my first choice either but I don't
think they're as bad as the more 'technical' people in newsgroups such as
this make out. I was looking at a system on their website and out of
interest priced up the components on ebuyer. It came to £50 less than the
PC
world Price which of course included actually building the machine and 1
years on site waranty. Not a bad deal IMHO.

Notwithstanding the fact the RAM supplied is cheap generic of low speed and
low CAS latency, the motherboard is an old cheap VIA based one. The cooling
is stock AMD. The PSU will probably help self destruct the PC soon and the
case ain't too brill either. Also the monitor is of a low spec...

I'd rather build myself and know what I'm getting and know it's quality. If
I sold I'd sell based on quality not price. IMO you shouldn't get crap when
you pay over £500 for it.

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 23:52:21 UTC, "Rob Walker"
wrote:

So why does PC World have a turnover of £1.6bn?

The same reason M$ make lots of money - marketing.

Marketing does not a good product make! (not sure if that's a
*******ised quote or just a NLL imitation...)

--
Bob Eager
rde at tavi.co.uk
PC Server 325*4; PS/2s 9585, 8595, 9595*2, 8580*3,
P70, PC/AT..

"tHatDudeUK" wrote in message
...

"Rob Walker" wrote in message
. ..
So why does PC World have a turnover of £1.6bn? People wouldn't go back
if
they got bad service. They wouldn't be my first choice either but I
don't
think they're as bad as the more 'technical' people in newsgroups such
as
this make out. I was looking at a system on their website and out of
interest priced up the components on ebuyer. It came to £50 less than
the
PC
world Price which of course included actually building the machine and 1
years on site waranty. Not a bad deal IMHO.

Notwithstanding the fact the RAM supplied is cheap generic of low speed
and
low CAS latency, the motherboard is an old cheap VIA based one. The
cooling
is stock AMD. The PSU will probably help self destruct the PC soon and the
case ain't too brill either. Also the monitor is of a low spec...

I'd rather build myself and know what I'm getting and know it's quality.
If
I sold I'd sell based on quality not price. IMO you shouldn't get crap
when
you pay over £500 for it.



Trust me the parts I chose from ebuyer were cheap too! :-)

Rob

"tHatDudeUK" wrote:

"Paul Hopwood" wrote in message
.. .
"tHatDudeUK" wrote:
Obviously customers are being taken for the ride of their lives and
wallet
at PC world. I personally think it's dire. If I had a shop I wouldn't
charge
any more than £5-£6 to remove a virus. Damn, I might even have a box of
floppies prepared with the patch and removal tool and a little leaflet
telling them how to do it and an advertisement for my company and give
them
FOC. Goodwill would get me more return customers than PC world ripoffs.

Where else do you suggest they take it? Most local computer shops
would charge £20 to £30, or more.

I'm gonna have to set up business and charge a tenner each aren't I? Place
an ad in the local paper :-)

Why don't you do that, and report the results. I suspect you might
find that your costs are greater than you think - that the work
doesn't come in as thick and fast as you think it would, and that the
word of mouth effect doesn't kick in quite as rapidly as you think.
When you don't get any work for a few days, and then one job that pays
a tenner, but takes you an hour, then you'll change your mind.

I suspect that the reason PC World charges 20 quid is that they have
spare technician capacity, and that they know they'll probably get
addional sales from the people coming in anyway. I'd charge a lot
more.

Gareth

"tHatDudeUK" wrote in message
...

"Rob Walker" wrote in message
...
The company is only offering it becuase 100's (and I mean 100's) of
people
have been calling us on the PC world central number and asking us to do
it!

You are working on behalf of PC world then. Certainley it should only cost
under a fiver, just like your modems shouldn't cost 80 to be installed!
(Costs me £7 to buy a modem 5 minutes to install it.)

Obviously customers are being taken for the ride of their lives and wallet
at PC world. I personally think it's dire. If I had a shop I wouldn't
charge
any more than £5-£6 to remove a virus. Damn, I might even have a box of
floppies prepared with the patch and removal tool and a little leaflet
telling them how to do it and an advertisement for my company and give
them
FOC. Goodwill would get me more return customers than PC world ripoffs.

Dont forget to say a big HELLO to Mr Receiver, who might just be able to dig
some of your ill-informed arse out of financial ****.

I once saw a guy pull up outside a PC world in a convertible bentley with
a
few women and he was wearing a suit and wandered in with a briefcase. By
all
means, charge him £100 to remove the damn virus ;-) Anyone stupid enough
to
spend money like that deserves ripping off, he he.... However, me with my
bus ticket wondering if I can pay for my food next week before I get my
next
lot of cash don't deserve ripping off along with millions of other good
people...

And do you think Mr Bently charges £5 an hour ?



Can I ask what you do for a job ?

"tHatDudeUK" wrote in message
...

"Paul Hopwood" wrote in message
...
"tHatDudeUK" wrote:
Obviously customers are being taken for the ride of their lives and
wallet
at PC world. I personally think it's dire. If I had a shop I wouldn't
charge
any more than £5-£6 to remove a virus. Damn, I might even have a box of
floppies prepared with the patch and removal tool and a little leaflet
telling them how to do it and an advertisement for my company and give
them
FOC. Goodwill would get me more return customers than PC world ripoffs.

Where else do you suggest they take it? Most local computer shops
would charge £20 to £30, or more.

I'm gonna have to set up business and charge a tenner each aren't I? Place
an ad in the local paper :-)


Excellent .... I'll look out for the receivers auction when you go bust in a
matter of months. More Ebay fodder coming up ))