That’s definitely unfortunate. I think first lesson is don’t ever buy HP. I’ve never had good experience with them myself or heard any good from anyone else.

I think PC World should simply send you a new laptop with an official apology letter (much like you had to write a – useless – complaint letter).

Im having a similar problem with know how. I sent my ps3 away to get fixed and it arrived back over 2 weeks later. With the same problem still occuring. I dont even belive they opened the machine to see what was wrong with it. (also it came back with white specs on the startup bottons.?)
I dont know if i have the right to request a new one however i have seen many similar complaints from costumers and do not want to wait another couple weeks in order to solve this fault which i belive is realtively easy to fix .
What do you think i should do? Im off all next week and was really looking forward to relaxing after just finishing some stressful exams.

Having bought an I-Pad for my husband, which speedily indicated a known fault, and having experienced PC World’s apology for service and (apparently famous c.f. Wikipedia)attemts to wriggle out of their responsibilities under the Sale of Goods Act, I am determined never to have anything to do with this firm or their associates again.

[...] Saga Continues Posted in December 14th, 2011 by Paul Mackenzie Ross in business, tech Remember my open letter to PC World back in September? Well they promised to call within 72 hours and I heard [...]

Hi Maria,

Thank you so much for your fantastic response. I’m so sorry to hear that you’re also experiencing tech and customer service problems with a big company, namely your hassles with HP and their CLJ1600 printer.

The encouraging thing is that it looks like you’ve got the same attitude as myself with regards to addressing a polite email to the CEO of the offending party; I tried this approach once before when I ordered a Canon digital SLR and lenses from Pixmania back in 2006. My past experience with Pixmania was excellent but this time the camera, ordered in good time to arrive for a photo assignment, still hadn’t turned up. Disgusted that I’d waited over a week for a product that was due within just 2 days, I complained to Pixmania’s customer service team who said that, if I was unhappy with their service, that I should simply reject the delivery of the package.

Lo and behold, the camera finally arrived at my home well after I’d been expecting it and days after the event for which it had been purchased had been over. I refused to sign for the package and that was the last I heard of the matter.

Some months later I was checking my annual financial figures and I realised that I hadn’t been reimbursed for the camera and lenses. A few emails later and I’d reached an impasse: It had been “so long” since the incident that the courier company were refusing to provide details of the failed delivery and the seller, Pixmania, were dragging their heels in providing a refund.

Exasperated at this reluctance to provide a swift and satisfactory service, I turned to the Internet to find the email address of Pixmania’s CEO at the time – Just by cc’ing him in the previously long-drawn-out email complaint process had a “magical” affect – Within 24 hours of the deed being done I had the money returned to me. From what I recall, there was little in compensation apart from, IIRC, a voucher to receive a discount if I stayed loyal to my offenders!

The ironic thing, Maria, is that Pixmania are now owned by… Yep, Dixons Retail!

—

If only more of us took this approach to demanding our rights then we’d have a much fairer system. Better still would be a more open and transparent methodology of consumer protection.

Thank you also for mentioning the Sale of Goods Act, Maria, a friend had also raised this point in a conversation. Readers would be wise to check out Faulty goods? You’ve still got rights when the guarantee runs out If this were more common knowledge then I’m sure companies wouldn’t get away with shafting consumers like they seem to be doing.

It’s also funny how I was told, in no uncertain terms, about what I was “entitled too” – KnowHow are so fixated on simply prividing a “solution” to this issue that any ancillary niceties go by the wayside. The latest update is that I’ve been without my laptop for a total of 27 days whilst it’s been away with Knowhow, another 6 months or so whilst it’s been functioning substandardly, and a further 14 days since the last “fix” which was yet another failure by Knowhow.

I too hope that our experience will be a warning for others, Maria – I’ve already received a direct message on twitter from a guy who said, thanks to the story of my problems with PC World, had refused to spend any money with them and, at a greater cost to himself, had gone elsewhere! How’s that for a small victory?

—

Keep at it, Maria, we’ll get there in the end

Nice one, Timsey, and for people who need to contact the CEO of Dixons, PC World and KnowHow (the same group, the same CEO) his name is John Browett and his email address is john.browett@dixons.co.uk although he has neither acknowledged nor answered a single one of the five emails that I sent to him.

I’m really sorry to hear that, Dave. It seems like you’ve had the same issues as myself – You’ve sent it to KnowHow because you’ve assumed, as their name implies, they actually know how to diagnose and repair a laptop and, hey presto, they don’t know how!

Get your laptop fixed by them Dave but, whatever you do, don’t expect a single thing from PC World/KnowHow other than a promise to (eventually) try and fix it and an insincere apology from them. I’ve had no personal message from the CEO, not one “gesture of goodwill” for all the strife they’ve caused me and they’ve failed to compensate me for the money I spent in driving 100 miles over 3 hours to get back my PC before Xmas.

You’re absolutely bang on the money there though, Dave, they really don’t seem to care. From now on I’m going to do the same as you and ensure that my money goes into the pockets of a friendly, local computer repair shop.

Cheers & good luck!

hi there im hoping that you can give me some advice as i am also suffering at the hands of the lovely knowhow idiots. the fact that they call themselves knowhow is laughable enough my problem is with a tv not a laptop but i have the same problem as the rest of you in the fact that they sent the tv back with a letter attached saying it had ben fixed inspected and given a vallet, the prob was still there when we rung the admitted on the phone that they hadnt even touched it just turned it on for 8 hrs am i the only person who see this letter as fraudulent there stating they have done something they havern’t i have been paying for my cover plan for 4 years a total of £340 if i took my car to the garage and paid for a service and it wasnt done i would be able to take action against them so why when i complain i get told by some stuck up customer services manager that i can have £20 voucher and thats it what the hell is going on with this company they need to be stopped!!!

He wont reply because you have the wrong email mate!

Why do you say that, Salty? I never received a non-delivery status message, so, at the time, that email address was valid. What’s the correct email address then, and if you have it would you be able to share it with us?

Another reason he wont reply is because he is no longer ceo of dsgi, he has gone to apple

Below is the letter i’ve sent to their CEO for a TV repair…. i think i’ve tried to be a polite as possible, but the reality is i’m fuming at this service

Hello Mr Browett

I apologise for the direct approach but i feel I’ve exhausted my avenues of pursuing this complaint within your organisation and have no where left to turn.
I do not really expect you to be able to do anything in my personal case but feel that i need some way of making this feedback known to your group. If for no other reason than to see it improve, in today’s challenging marketplace the only way to really succeed if you’re not an on-line mega shop is to differentiate yourself in some way from the competition. I think that should be in quality customer service, to make people want to come to your shops and business’s when they need a product. Instead of dreading doing business with your group as i now feel.

Early this year I purchased a TV from your Currys website which went faulty about 1 and a half months later. I need to stress at this point i in no way hold your company at fault for this as i understand that things do go faulty from time to time. I’m also aware i did not have your premium insurance services and so i shouldn’t expect premium service. This however, does not excuse the events that proceeded to transpire with various parts of your organisation.

Sequence of events (i’ll try to be as brief as possible) -

TV goes faulty and i report it on 20/02. I was given a date for collection 8 days away on the 28/02 from your Know-how organisation. At this point i understand without the premium service i would have to wait so that’s OK
I was promised it would be returned on 06/03. Again pretty much what i expected.
on 05/03 I was informed that you were still awaiting parts and so it would be delayed but no idea of any new time-scales. Technically a breach of a commitment, but I’m not unreasonable and know these things can happen so i wait. I also learned from your know how call centre that an extensive list of parts needed ordered including a new screen which i understand may not be something you immediately keep in stock. I do talk to another agent in the call centre and query the policy of ‘repair or replace’. I’m informed you won’t replace it until 28 days have elapsed, i check the terms and conditions on the Knowhow website and find this to be true and so i don’t escalate it any further.
Later that week I’m informed the TV is repaired and i will get it back on 13/03. This should have been the end of the story. If it was i would have been championing your organisation as having efficient after sales support at even the most basic level. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
on 13/03 my TV is returned. I was shocked to discover that it hadn’t been properly packaged – when i sent the tv for repair i had packaged it in it’s original packaging to ensure safe transit. On return I found the various component parts of the television hadn’t been protected in any way in the box and so were no doubt bouncing off each other in transit. This meant despite the extensive repairs already carried out the TV now found it’s self with a damaged screen, frame, stand and housing. This rendered the previous repair a complete waste of time and money and showed a complete lack of care for your customers property. This was what frustrated me the most, your organisation effectively damaged my property and would not go out of it’s way to do anything about it other than follow it’s standard policy, surely when you have made an error it can be escalated in some way?…..
I now start the sequence again, i call Know how again. Initially i was told there’s no way it could be damaged as it wouldn’t get through the ‘quality control’ phase. Fortunately, this barrier quickly melted away when challenged. I was given yet another pick up date of 20/03. and then at least another 7 days after that for the item to be returned.
Sure enough the day before i was meant to get my tv back (26/03) i got a call stating you were still waiting on parts and it would be delayed again. I was this time told it was the ‘back casing’.
After this call it occurred to me the back casing was dented when i sent the tv to you and the person on the phone implied everything else was repaired. The back casing isn’t seen and doesn’t affect use so i called back and asked for this to be confirmed. After all, if it was just that remaining i would accept the TV provided the screen and frame were repaired. This time i spoke to a guy who said on his computer that seemed to be the case but he needed to talk to the workshop. After being on hold for a minutes he stated he couldn’t get through but he would email them and would be back in touch within 24 hours.
24 hours elapsed and i received no call. If keeping count that’s the 3 broken commitments i had been given and this one has even less excuse.
Now at this point I’ve lost all patience. I call back on , repeat my previous query. This time i’m told i had been misinformed as there is actually still a fairly extensive list of parts that your awaiting including a new screen. (so i was misled and a call back promise broken?). At this stage it has now been over the 28 days one of the earlier agents had mentioned and so i query this on the phone. The lady i was speaking to confirmed that i was now entitled to a replacement but i would need to go into a local currys store and give them my customer reference number. I accepted this.
The following day i get a text saying my original TV will be returned on 27/03. However, as i had confirmation from 2 knowhow agents that once 28 days had elapsed i could get a replacement (which i could pick up sooner than the redelivery date) and the general bad experience i was having i decided this was the approach i would take.
Today (01/04) i go into my local Currys story (Berryden in Aberdeen). I approach the counter and give my story and reference number. After a few confused looks from some of the staff and quite a bit of time trying to locate my details the manager comes over. He frankly seemed bemused and looked to be avoiding any responsibility. He directed his staff to call knowhow and get the details. What proceeded was utterly shocking, confusion rained and in front of me (and other customers in the store) your member of staff argued with various Knowhow people over the phone (at one point getting cut off). In what can only be described as a ‘buck passing’ affair where no one in currys or Knowhow wanted to take responsibility. Eventually her call ended and she declared that I had no right to ask for a replacement and there was no point at which i could ask for a replacement. I reminded her of the Terms & conditions on the website and the commitments made by the 2 know how agents i spoke to. She maintained this was for a different product – although i could see no difference, i admit she may be right, but if that’s the case your terms and conditions are very misleading and it still doesn’t explain the 2 know-how call centre advisor’s that said after 28 days i could have a replacement.

So here i am, almost a month and a half after i reported my tv faulty. Still without my TV, having it’s repair botched once and perfectly functional parts of the television damaged by your organisation. Different bits of your organisation that refuse to deal with each other in a professional way (even in-front of your customers!). Multiple broken promises and commitments. Outright contradictory information being given by your agents and extremely confusing terms and conditions. Who was right? Was it the Know how advisors who said after 28 days i was entitled to a replacement? Or was it the staff in store that said i could in no way request a replacement and that i had misread the terms and conditions. If it was the latter then i stress again how poorly worded your KnowHow terms and conditions are.

I appreciate your time in reading this complaint/feedback

Regards a frustrated and disappointed customer

David Smith

Thank you for stopping by, David, and I’m so sorry to hear yet another bad experience with Knowhow. I didn’t think they could screw up repairing or replacing a TV but from your experience, it’s true!

What appears to be happening at DSG International, DSG Retail, Dixons Retail, Currys, PC World, KnowHow, or whatever anybody wants to call them is a deep systemic failure. And what is most dismaying is that this John Browett character, who we’ve been emailing and cc’ing in on all the sordid details of our experiences without a single response as he passed the buck to his minions, went to Apple! The worst part of this is that he was apparently head-hunted! http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/31/apple-poaches-dixons-chief-john-browett

The reasons for JB’s poaching by the Cupertino techies is even more astonishing:

“Analysts said Apple’s board was attracted by Browett’s many years of experience in the retail sector and his performance in successfully turning around Dixons’s reputation for poor customer service”

I’m gobsmacked – “successfully turning around Dixons’s reputation for poor customer service” – That’s a sick joke, right?

You only have to go back to this alleged tale of a guy returning his iPad2 because his “wife said no” to see the sort of culture at the customer service end of Apple – http://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/18/ipad-2-wife-says-no-but-apple-says-yes/

To think that, with the absolute zero amount of customer service we’ve had from Knowhow, Apple tracked down and forcefully employed John Browett?! It makes you wonder what fragrances they sprayed on the corporate bullshit to make Browett come up smelling of roses?!

The bets are on – How long will the ex-Dixons CEO last at Apple? If he stays a long time then we’ll know for sure that the corporate world is a sick twisted abhorrence of the real world the rest of us live in…

well PC world even screws up their price promise, by giving me the most terrible lie ,, i saw a TV that i wanted and as my current one had “died” I need a new one quick , so did a bit of surfing and saw y PCWORLD had one but at a higher price of another store so i went in and asked for the price promise . The managers had a talk and came back to me stating ” as the one in their shop is GB coded and the oone at the other sore is EU coded , they are not the same and noot gong to do the ” price promise” ” , so I asked them to show me , but they then said it is what they know ,,, not what the product shows . Say what ??? so I argued the point that it was bull, I then get told to contact customer service to confirm ,again ” say what?”. although I know I could argue and get it from them from their “price promise gaurentee” , I refuse to pay them any money . I will however contact CEO and trading standards to complain.

I bet you all gonna mad after looking at this
17th May 2012
To,
Customer Services
The KNOWHOW Team
Ref: CC0001813245 (Ms Brenda Kilby) and current ref: CC1828957 (Ms Monica)

Dear Brenda,

I called yesterday around 1630hrs to check whether I am eligible to get 10% discount according to your previous letter. The first team were very very helpful and the customer services person told me that she will put me through to the sales and then call me back so that I will definitely get the discount. I did not h have my credit card and hence decided to call later as I was working. Even the advisor was helpful for me to place order for product 287098 and 921625.
Later I called at 1900hrs to place an order, and then I had to go through the process and finally got through to one Ms Jackie at 1915 hrs and explained her whole scenario giving the reference numbers where ever possible. I even mentioned her that I do not want to be in embarrassing situation asking the same discount again and again. She said not to worry and put me through the sales team in Sheffield. The guy who spoke to me made me repeat everything took my order and when I asked him about the total he gave me the actual price without any discount. I mentioned to him that I have spoken to Jackie and the team earlier and they promised me that everything is taken care of. This guy was the worst I could think of. He was telling me that he cannot give any discount and it has to be another team. He was not ready or willing to talk to me. I had to ask him to first listen to me couple of times which he was very much reluctant not to as he wanted to tell me all his side of story. Now after 45 minutes I lost my patience and told him that I am not willing to talk to him and put me through to Jackie which in an abrupt tone he hung up on me.
Then I called back and spoke to Monika who gave me the ref CC 1828957 and mentioned that she cannot do any more apart from addressing this issue to some other department who were not open and there were no managers who could take my call.
All I wanted was to place my order and check for discount if applicable rather than going to the store and getting refused.
All together I wasted 1 hour time of mine over the phone yesterday and now I am very much disappointed how the way you treat your customers. I told Monica, and asked her to tell the manager to call me on Friday 18th May 2012 between 1300 to 14oo hrs as I was working.
This is getting worst and I am very much disappointed once again with the services of PC World and the team and I do not think anyone should such sort of treatment in near future. I really insist to highlight this issue and my previous issue to the local PRESS and get this article of mine published as other people will know how good PC World offers service. This is not the first time has happened to me and this is second time in a row which is very bad and shows how much you care for your customers.
I had to literally waste my one hour’s time standing outside the station talking over the phone (which includes my phone bill too).
I appreciate your reply at the earliest regarding this matter before I hand over my article to the local press along with your letter which you sent me previously.

“THE ABOVE WAS MY FIRST LETTER FOR WHICH I NEVER GOT ANY RESPONSE BUT PREFFERD TO LET YOU KNOW SO THAT YOU KNOW EXACTLY HOW GOOD YOUR COMPLAINT ARE DEALT. THE BELOW CONTENT IS CONTINUATION OF MY PLIGHT TO GET BACK IN TOUCH WITH THE MANAGERS”

18th May 2012

Now what can I say. Monica did call me as no Managers were available to talk to me and I appreciate her effort to retain customers. All she mentioned now is that you are willing to accept my discount and regarding the compensation which I have asked they will get back to me as to place an order is top priority. I did place an order for the laptop. Later the same evening around 1900hrs Monica called me back and gave me another BIG SHOCK mentioning that PC World has run out of the laptop which I have requested and will offer me another product 284441 at the same price. It was such an embarrassing situation that I could say nothing to her nor did not know whether to curse myself or PCWORLD. I told her to call me back tomorrow as without seeing the product I cannot confirm that order. She mentioned that she felt sorry for my situation and moreover as good will you will be offering me product 284441 instead of 287098 at the price of 329.99 along with my 10 % discount.
19th May 2012
As promised Monica did call me and mentioned that she was happy to go through the order and she will put me forward to some other team. As I was really busy at that time and could not place an order over the phone, I mentioned to her that we can do that first thing on Monday morning. Everything went on and she agreed to call me on Monday at 1300hrs to make sure order is placed.

21st May 2012
1305 hrs I get a call from Monica mentioning that some other team tried to call me on Sunday at 1157am or whatever as per her records which was really amusing to me as I had the phone with me and no one ever called me. More over I asked her why someone is calling me on Sunday when I specifically told that I will place the order on Monday. She just apologised for miscommunication and gave me another team to reconfirm the order. I told her specifically that I am going to place the order at the agreed price and discount and moreover I wanted the Manager to get back to me regarding my loss of time and phone calls and all inconvienice caused to me.
Things only got worse when Monica called me in the evening around 1800hrs to tell me that her Managers have decided not to give any discount on the product as they have reduced the product t price. This was the worst moment of life. I felt like screaming at the people on other end who cause me inconvienice and then make me place the order and finally tell me they cannot gave any discount even though I have a letter with me. Wow great customer service PC World. I thanked her for help and specifically told her that I want the Manager to call me back as this is not right. Around 1830 hrs a gentlemen named John Hall called me and I asked him to call me back after 30 minutes as I was still at work.
TO make things worst he called me around 1930hrs and was not at all willing to listen to me or understand the plight what I am going through. All Mr Hall was concerned is that PC World are making no money from this order of mine and he kept on mentioning that they have given enough discount by reducing the product price. I had to tell him first learn to talk to customers and understand the customer needs first of all as Customer Services Manager and then talk rather than giving the repetitive story from his side. Now for the sake of this order I feel that I have been humiliated to the worst extent by your staff and finally Mr Hall decided to refund back my 10% as per my letter.
My questions are
1. What is my mistake?? Is it wrong to call to call PC World Customer Services to check if my discount is available according to the order or not rather than getting humiliated at the store??
2. Why should the same mistake happen again and again?? Same customer, same issues and the worst customer services.
3. Did I ask you to reduce the price?? I wanted the product which was available on the 17th to place an order , all I did was called you and wasted my precious time and money over the phone calls
4. Stress stress stress. Can you teach your team how to deal with people?? Same mistakes, No communication within your relevant Departments.
5. How long does it take for a Manager to get back even though he gets a written complaint and when the customer calls to check what is happening to his earlier complaint??
6. Why this fake Marketing and Publicity that you have the stock of products. I think this complaint should be referred to Trading Standards and Media should be made aware of how good you treat your customers.

Yours Sincerely
Ranga rajan Tirumala Vinjamoor

Thank you for stopping by, DG, and sorry to hear of another balls up by Dixons and Yodel

I might just email the new CEO of Dixons, PC World, just to let him know that nobody bothered to follow up that I’d finally received the correct charger nor reimburse me for spending three hours driving to Southampton and back or the petrol that I used. I still can’t fault the attitude of the staff on the ground but it’s a shame the system as a whole seems to have major flaws in it.

i bought 2 notebook laptop nov 2011, I was sold knowhow premier insurance, they told me anything goes wrong with the machines they would repair it in 8 days, GREAT, one of the notebooks got stood on a couple of weeks ago and sent off for repair, it took 12 days to come back to me, the screen was changed as it was cracked but the frame around the screen had been straightened by hand then sent back to me, I was not happy with the repair as the frame around the screen was still buckled and dented, and it was sent straight back with a request of a right off which was advised by rob pc world staff swansea branch. 10 days have passed and I went to my local pc world store to find out what was happening and i was told they were sending it back to me as it is, as its only cosmetic damage, I was not happy with this as i pay £14 per month on 2 notebooks, the insurance does not cover cosmetic damage, if I was told this when I was sold the insurance that it does not cover this, i would not of taken out the insurance, where do i go from here, i have lost all faith in the insurance and do not want the noteboock back until it is repaired to a satisfactory condition,if i had a crash in my car and it went to a garage i would expect it returned with no damage not just made road worthy as knowhow have told me the cosmetic damage dont effect the running of the notebook,

Hi Steve, sorry I approved your post a bit late, I was away on holiday with spotty internet connection, a few days of driving back and then a day of exhausted catching up with sleep!

Wow, that’s really hard-nosed of PC World/KnowHow to swap a screen but not the cover/bezel – You’d think that they’d just thrown in the cover for free as a gesture of goodwill when the screen costs a hell of a lot more money.

They toed a similar line with me – The “customer service” manager kept on going on about what I was “entitled” to when I wanted an equivalent laptop whilst they had mine – a piddly little low-powered number which kept wiping its drive every time it was turned off was such a drag that I never used it in the end

i have tried to make a complaint to currys at the store with no joy then on the phone which they did not now what they were doing after two calls lasting nearly two hours which was on my bill I ask for a email address .the first one was http://www.currys.co.uk. No good so I phoned back then they gave me customer care @ currys.co.uk again I got a email from dixons saying it was the wrong address. I thought they were the same group .it is like banging your head against the wall.last time I buy anything from dixons group

8th October bought a Toshiba laptop. Got it home and found it had a scratched screen with fingerprints all over it (NEW?). Took it back the following day and had a replacement for which I checked the screen (obviously). However when I went to set it up I found a residue on the underside. Took this back also and got the run-a-round. Asst Manager implied I had done it. Still communicating with Knowhow after I sent email to several directors asking if they sold second hand units as new. Just dispatched similar email to head honcho at Toshiba asking what he thinks about it. Yes I am pissed off!

While I have sympathy with all suffering problems with this useless retail operation, I have to say some of these complaint letters defy belief. Why do complainants think that this is your opportunity to let your creative juices flow?! You are supposed to be writing a factual letter of complaint – these diatribes are counter-productive and give the impression of hysteria.

State the problem. State the desired remedy. As a former retailer I can promise you they are more likely to get results.

PMR’s daily diary letter or hwood1973′s epic, “2 days later no lap top back.., 3 days later no lap top back..” just make you sound unreasonable and more focused on impressing your readers with creative (and lengthy) letter writing than on obtaining a resultion to the problem.

I too have had problems with PC world. Below is a letter I wrote to them, I only got a reply from them today simply stating that they will repair and not replace.

Do you think this is reasonable

Correspondence team
Knowhow
P.O.Box 1686
Sheffield
S2 5YB
30 October 2012
Dear Sir or Madam,
Complaint about faulty goods
I bought an HP laptop (product: HewlettPack G61325 E2 RED) on the 18th February 2012 from PC world (4 Clough Road, Hull, North Humberside branch). I paid £350.00 by debit card and also got “whatever happens” pay monthly agreement, which is a form of insurance. On the 5th of March 2012, I took the computer back because the down arrow mechanism had broken and there was a fault with the harddrive, which was confirmed by the in-store engineers. I was given a replacement as the computer was within the 28 days return policy of the store. The replacement was of the same brand and make.
After 14 days with the second laptop, it developed a harddrive failure with the characteristic blue screen and unresponsiveness. I took the computer back to the same store and a hardddrive fault was confirmed, and a second replacement of the same brand and make was given to me. I inquired whether there had been a fault with that particular batch of computers, as I had purchased the computer on offer, which the store manager denied.
The third computer worked fine until the 16th October 2012. I returned the computer to the store and because it was outside the 28 days return policy, I was refused a replacement as I was informed that the store had their right to attempt repair before any other course of action. I requested to have tests on the computer to prove that it was of a satisfactory quality and free from defects when I purchased it and that the harddrive problems were not due to normal wear and tear or accidental damage on my part. The deputy manager who said his name was Nick (refused to give surname), assured me that if I sent off the computer to the engineers on 20th October 2012, he would chase up the engineers by the 24th October 2012 and get back to me to discuss whether they had had similar problems with other computers from other customers. The manager failed to do this and each time I called, I spoke to a different manager in store namely Graham (store manager) and Nicky (another store manager) and Peter (business manager), all of which refused to give their surnames and kept giving me different advice and passing me to other members of the team, as well as other members from the knowhow customer services with regards to a replacement. Peter advised me it was within my rights to be given a replacement of similar value as I had experienced the same fault with two other computers prior to the third replacement. He also said as Nick was already dealing with this matter, he would pass on a message for him to ring me as he has been off work at the time of my call. Nick then said that he was not happy to offer me a replacement and that I would need to prove that the computer was defective at the time of purchase but did not suggests ways of how I could do this. Furthermore, he was dismissive and aggressive towards me over the phone and he refused to offer me any sensible advice other than giving back the repaired laptop to me.
Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended), goods you supply must be fit for purpose, be of satisfactory quality and free from defects. If not, the redress available to me is to repair, replace or refund the purchase. I have already accepted two replacements since initial purchase, so I would like a replacement for another brand of the same value. This is because each time I have come back to the store with a problem with the computer, I have lost my data and more than £300 worth of software, which has included medical eBooks and single use licence software such as Microsoft office and Norton security.
I am a medical student and cannot begin to make you realise the amount of disruption these problems have had on my studies, mental wellbeing as well as the inconvenience of having to leave my studies in order to chase up progress with my case during working hours. I feel I have incurred more losses since the initial purchase namely: two times £30 payment for data recovery and storage, and over £60 of the insurance payment, plus the cost of calling and travel to the PC world store as I have been on placement far away from my Hull campus.
Finally, I feel that it is within my rights under the Consumer Law to be given a replacement of a similar value. The reason being I do not want to take back the same laptop even after a replacement of the harddrive (which has been proposed), as I feel these problems will escalate and the possibility that the laptop will be out of the manufacturer’s warranty when it happens. Moreover, I do not wish to have to deal with PC world in the future for similar problems, as I have had a terrible experience thus far.
I have enclosed a copy of the receipt in support of my claim.
Please respond within 14 days of receiving this letter.
Yours faithfully,
Busisiwe Ngwabi

Ive had problems with knowhow also.. i bought a TV from currys and a year later the thing broke… is rang know how who picked it up and sent it away to be fixed… 2 weeks later it was returned fixed but with a scratched case on the front around the screen so i phoned back and got the to take it away a 2nd time..

a week later i had a letter on the door mat saying ‘get a replacment heres the voucher to go back to currys’… great i thought a new TV! so i went and bought one and stupidly took out the knowhow insurance again.. well 2 years later the new Tv broke.. same problem…

broke at the beggining of the month and had to wait a week for it to be picked up.. took away and repaired.. brought back sratched again and the plug smashed beyond repair… GREAT!

so i ring up and have it collected a week later again and am told i will have it back the week after.. they dont have parts and are waiting on them to be deliverd but dont tell me this and have me waiting around all day! when it didnt arrive i rang and thus saying sorry we didnt have the parts.. they are being deliverd to us and will take 10 – 14 days… then i will have to wait for it to be re deilverd…

i said what about the ‘scratched case’ and they said there was no noted on that from the repair station… i said right so im not going to accept it with the same case unless its replaced also as knowhow damaged it..

was told well after we hav it for 28 days then you get a free replacement new…

i said well if the case isnt replaced and its deliverd i will phone and have it taken back again and this really be over 28 days.. i was told i will have to wait… so now im still wihtout a tv a a month later (including the 1st week i had to wait for the initial pick up)

i know it will have the plug changed but the case wont be replaced so i have had to go all december without a tv.. NOT HAPPY

Just so that there is no misunderstanding and that this is duly noted on my account (as that is the common excuse used for not knowing what is going on) – I write the following:

08:08 13 February 2013 Rang 0800 587 7874 (as instructed via email) to get the voucher code – Claim ID: ****** is the ID I was given. They could not give me a value – I had to go to a PC World, Currys or Dixons

10:40 13 February 2013 Went to Curry’s in Keighley BD21 3NJ spoke to representative – Harry
Harry pulled the Claim ID number and it came back “Redeemed”
Voucher Type: Item voucher
Voucher Number: Redeemed
Voucher Amount: £849.99

Harry rang Customer Service – after 20 minutes to a half hour on the phone the only satisfaction that he was given was that they had to email Czechoslovakia and that the code would be active in about 30 minutes – I was to get a phone call, I didn’t – I do have a print out of the Knowhow Claim ID stating full information and value

13:00 13 February 2013 I rang 0800 587 7874 again – this time I spoke to Julie. Once again no one seemed to know anything – there were of course no notes regarding Harry’s call from Curry’s.
I had to go through the entire story – AGAIN
Once again told – oh it needs to go to Czechoslovakia to be activated – blah blah blah
Will take about 20 to 30 minutes
It was aprox 13:40 that I finally rang off – I am now waiting again.

14:30 Still nothing back from Julie – I did receive another feedback call from 01142807500
which I once again answered to hear – sorry we missed you – don’t worry blah blah blah … what a waste of time

14:42 Julie did ring back – my thanks for that. I have now been told that the voucher is active but that the amount has been reduced – what is with that??????? I am NOT a happy person at all. It is now in two separate amounts – one for £500 and one for £29.72 – This is not on at all.

I would like to know how much Knowhow is going to contribute towards my loss of time, my numerous phone calls, the time without a working PC, a wasted trip into town (i.e. petrol and more time) in poor weather … the stress level that this has caused me and everything else. I received a phone call to give my view on service – I answered the phone and it gave me a recorded message of sorry to miss you not to worry … blah blah blah … It appears to me that KnowHow can’t even get their own Customer Service feedback line right.

Oh and if you use KnowHow’s “Tracking” – you will see that my laptop has been ready since 21 January 2013. Just ring the number to schedule delivery – MORE money and time – to find out that they STILL don’t even have the part – how in the world is the PC ready for delivery then??? More incompetence on behave of KnowHow, NOT their techs – the upper echelon who are to be dealing with such things.

Annoyed – oh yes … totally …

Lovely techs but they can only do so much and then it is up to KnowHow to perform which they are having a difficult time doing. I have forwarded this to PC World Business Customer Service also – they truly need to see what it is that they are selling their customers – unless this is THEIR service. Perhaps Trading Standards needs to be made aware of the incompetence as well.
In the meantime I have found the CEO of Lenovo and have written there too … ticked off … oh yes.

Regards
D Mercer

Thanks Cedric, yes, I don’t think I’d posted that anywhere. I remember hearing that he ruffled a lot of feathers with his policies, which doesn’t surprise me. Many businesses these days seem to be built purely for the sake of maximising profit and the customer expereince counts for nothing. Their loss, at the end of the day.

Hi customers/possible customers of Currys & PC World/KNOWHOW.

Reading the previous posts i can see im not alone when it comes to very poor and complete Incompetence with regards to Customer Services with Currys & PC World/KNOWHOW.

The CEO for this is now sebastian.james@knowhow.com or so i have been made to beleive.

My television was faulty after it was 5 years old, HDMI 1&2 stopped working, As i was insured i found my agreement and arranged for my TV to be collected the following day for repair.

I have looked after my TV as its also a piece of furniture in my living room in pristine condition with no scrathes or cracks.

My TV was returned to me a week later and had had a EPROM CHIP fitted to fix the fault. When my TV was unpacked from all the bubblewrap i was discusted to see my TV now had a CRACK in the casing and covered in SCRATHES on the screen,front and rear and on the side of the casing includind the stand.

But the fault was fixed, I phoned KNOWHOW and they appoligised and picked it back up again a few days later. A Week Passed and i phoned for a update. KNOWHOW gave me a date for a few days later my TV would be returned with the DAMAGE they caused FIXED.

The day my TV was going to returned i had a call at 07.00am from the delevery team saying there on there way to me and would be about 45 minutes. I waited until 09.00am and i had to pop out for a hour so i phoned to see if they can make my visit for the afternoon, Yes KNOWHOW said but if we cant make it is tomorrow ok? I said ok and he said he will phone me if there are any problems with my Delevery for today.

I was back home at 10.00am and waited in the remaining of the day. No show/no phone call so i waied in the following day as KNOWHOW said and it got to around 14.00 so i phoned for a update.

KNOWHOW answered and told me in order to fix the damage they had done to my TV i could wait another 42 days! Confused i told them my TV was in transit yesterday morning Repaired so whats changed? He was unable to answer my question so i asked for a loan TV while i was waiting for the damage KNOWHOW had caused to my TV to be repaired. I was told all the loan TVs were already out with other customers and i would have to sit it out while he was reading my contract out to me saying this is the procedure and i was fumming!

I was getting KNOWWHERE KNOWHOW on the phone so i sent many emails to express my anger and dissapointment. A few days later i had a phonecall from KNOWHOW stating my TV was unrepairable as SAMSUNG did not make the parts any more as it was just over 5 years old and was putting the blaime on them.

KNOWHOW told me they would phone me to arrange vouchers for a TV replacment. KNOWHOW did not call when they said they would so i had to keep phoning them as i was feeling IGNORED. Eventually i spoke to JOHN DICKLESON from the SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM.

I expressed my anger and told him i want the two days where i stayed at home waiting TO BE REFUNED as i had lost money from work and this totaled £160, He replied and said firstly we will get your TV replacment in order and we will deal with your compensation after. I told him when i was going to Currys & PC World to get a Replacment and he said would call me the following day just to make sure it all went ok and to deal with the compensation claim.

I went to Currys & PC World and i got a better model as mine was top of the range 5 years ago and had to pay a extra £150 what i did not mind as JOHN DICKLESON from the SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM was going to Disscuss my compensation claim the following day after i had a TV replacment.

The following day no phone call from JOHN DICKLESON. So the next day i phoned again and spoke to him. He got my file up and said whats the problem? I said i was expecting a phone call from you yesterday to discuss my two days loss of earnings compensation claim. He replied we dont compensate for time off work.
I felt misled by this and asked for the CEO contact details and he gave me this email sabastian.james@knowhow.com.

I sent a email the same day to the CEO sabastian.james@knowhow.com and had a phone call from KNOWHOW several hours later saying as a gesture of good will the will give me £50 in vouchers and i said what about the other £110? KNOWHOW said its the best they can do. I declined. I feel very disapointed and wish i had firsly gone to a respectfull company such as JOHN LEWIS. to be continued……

Yes, a waste of time!

When my son’s last computer was declared a write-off by Curry’s, under the knowhow policy, we decided to replace it with a Mac on 31 December 2011 and when I was asked about whether I wanted to take out a new insurance policy, I agreed because I believed that I would get the same policy and same terms. Two days ago I went to Curry’s so that they could arrange for the repair of the computer, which is now faulty and that is when I discovered that they had mis-sold their insurance and has sold me a lesser policy with a 28-day turnaround instead of the expected 10 days and no loan machine as an interim measure.

I took the computer home and phoned knowhow to arrange for a collection today and they agreed to provide a loan computer – not part of the policy that they had mis-sold to me – which would occur as soon as one became available.

The computer should have been collected today, by 11.55, but when it was not, I contacted Knowhow when I discovered that the driver had just been given a street name for the address, but no number, and that the telephone number given to the driver was incorrect, so he could not contact me. As far as collection today was concerned, the van was no longer close enough to my address to collect the computer.

After large doses of empathy from the member of staff who spoke to me and repeatedly tellingly me that there was nothing more that could be done, after she had updated the system to ensure that the same incorrect information is not given to another driver and I was then put through to a member of staff on the bookings side, Neil. I started to explain the problem, was not rude but still angry and then he hung up on me!

I then called back, spoke to customer service again, who steadfastly refused to let me speak to one of their supervisors – still oozing empathy – and after trying to put me through to repair bookings, they told me that the system had gone down, that there was no indication as to when it would be up again and promised me a call back – within 24 hours!

On the assumption that this information was as unreliable as everything else I had had from this organisation, I decided to call them back and was told the system would be back up by 2.00 pm, which is also cut-off time for a next-day collection. Not choosing to believe this either, I called them back at 1.40 pm, to find that the system was working, if creaking. Initially, the person I spoke to was reluctant to act because I had been promised a call-back but eventually she booked the computer for collection tomorrow.

I then decided it would be a good idea to check my details on the system and found that it was still incorrect, despite the fact that customer services had updated the record. But how could this be? Yes, you’ve guessed it, they operate two different systems, updating the customer service system has no effect on the system used for repair bookings.

As I write this, there are still no computers available for loan, so what are the chances that one will materialise? rather slim I would say.

This is a nightmare as far as service is concerned but to my son even more so, as he needs the computer because he is studying computer science at university.

I would like to say that this will now run smoothly – with the predicted 7-day turnaround time for the repair to be effected – but given what has already occurred, I see no grounds for optimism and will likely be back here soon.

The true measure of an organisation is how it behaves and what it does when things go wrong. I teach customer service and customer care skills and have awarded this sorry organisation one star because there is no facility to leave no stars.

hi paul, im also having trouble with pcworld and their knowhow team. i brought a little asus laptop from them in june 2012. for the first 4 mths it had very little use and it as only been recently ive started using it again. i was having problems geting it to connect to the net and so i took it to pcworld (isle of wight) and told them about the problem. the boy behind the counter couldnt have been less interested if he tried but i left it with them after being told it would be looked at by their in-store it man when he came in. i went back afew days later to see if they had any news for me only to be told it would have to be sent away because the hard drive was damaged.i explained it was only 8mths old so why couldnt they just replace it but was informed it wasnt their company policy to replace!! i left it two and a half weeks then went back to pcworld to find out what was happening. the young man looked on their computer and informed me that a letter from knowhow was on its way to me because in their opinion, i have damaged the hard drive and how have to pay for any repares myself!!im stunned at the lack of customer service pcworld offer and their blatent disreguard for their customers. i am now making arrangments to seek legal advice on this as the laptop is only 8mths old. i have spoken to some one localy that repairs laptops and computers and his opinion is that the hard drive must have been faulty when i brought it.