customer service

[keynes]

as i said i was happy with my build until they changed the GPU and i dont want to cancel it and the fact i`m ordering a PC from PCS would suggest my knowledge of PC`s
is every limited .if i could build my own i wouldnt be here .

You need to make up your mind regarding cancelling, it is up to you and mentioning in the thread won't help your case much as it is not an official channel of support. Many people in here could built their own pc but choose PCS to avoid the hassle of doing it. You do have a choice of choosing your own GPU and fitting it yourself.

 

[erhboy]

i dont have the cash thats why this seemed to be ideal get the best i can for my budget all in one hit on finance

 

[Oussebon]

What's the PC for?

 

[keynes]

i dont have the cash thats why this seemed to be ideal get the best i can for my budget all in one hit on finance

if that's the case I wouldn't suggest cancelling the order. It means going through the credit check again and you may not be accepted in your 2nd application.

 

[ubuysa]

as i said i was happy with my build until they changed the GPU and i dont want to cancel it and the fact i`m ordering a PC from PCS would suggest my knowledge of PC`s
is every limited .if i could build my own i wouldnt be here .

But they didn't 'change your GPU' they are giving you exactly what you ordered, a GTX 1080 from either Palit or Zotac. I appreciate that you now want a specific brand of card but that wasn't the deal you agreed to.

 

[erhboy]

mainly gaming i fancied trying VR as well later when the games get better i had a 2009 Alienware Aurora that died on me it just about played BF1 so it needed replacing

 

[Oussebon]

So looking at the spec you posted in: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...stomer-service&p=389299&viewfull=1#post389299

That comes to £1881 (£2,539.29 total on finance). I assumed you ordered Windows, and there might be other things you ordered e.g. keyboard, monitor etc that aren't on that list. But it's a starting point.

If you decide to cancel your order to review your options, should you decide to reorder from PCS you could go for something like:

Case
CORSAIR GRAPHITE SERIES™ 780T FULL TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-7700k Quad Core (4.20GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z270E GAMING: LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GB, Wi-Fi - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
FREE FOR HONOR or GHOST RECON: WILDLANDS with select GTX 10 Series GPUs!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i V2 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,757.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z270-overclocked/VFAbJMa940/

The finance calculator says that's £2,371.97

Which is pre-overclocked, so would potentially perform better in games, and cheaper due to only getting 16gb RAM.

Games barely get any advantage to 16gb RAM over 8gb RAM - 16gb is more than future proof, while 32gb is really a waste. Games just won't derive any benefit from 32gb.

I put in a 1TB HDD as it's £3 more expensive than the 500gb one, but gives double the storage and will be a bit faster due to the larger cache. Handy for storing a large games library.

If you're in love with the Graphite 780t case then fair enough but you could get a much cheaper case e.g. Carbide Air 540, Fractal R5, CM 690 III (that one's half the price of the 780t) and save a lot of cash there too.

So you'd get something a smidge better, that's a lot a good deal cheaper.

 

[erhboy]

ok thanks for your advice !

 

[Tony1044]

What cost do you think they would have to bear? It was only two days into my order I doubt they even took the PSU out of the box and it’s not as if they wouldn’t use again because I changed my mind .and the poor customer service is for when you’re told someone will call you later that day and no one does! And the poor customer service is for when you have to do the chasing round and the poor customer service is for when asking a question about my order no one knowing the right answer and all three answers being different as well as wrong! And the poor customer service is for when told they don’t know because it’s not their department and unwilling to find the right person to ask. At no point have they rang me to resolve my concerns about the GPU I’m not being an arse in the hope they’ll fit a maxed out GPU for free. I’m making sure I get the PC I’m happy with seeing as its going to cost me over 2.3k. And yes I did feel like I was being fobbed off by one of the PCS staff I spoke with.

Well how about the cost of employing the person(s) who have to spend time amending your order. Amending stock. Etc.

Or do you suppose that's a zero cost to a company.

Bluntly you strike me as someone who will find something to complain about justified or not.

 

[mantadog]

The refund to the finance company for the downgraded part seems like common sense, its the finance company who is paying for it so you would not be entitled to a refund of what is effectively money belonging to the finance company.

As far as I can tell you have not been disadvantaged by the refund going to the finance company, but rather are annoyed by the fact PCS couldn't tell you.

The fact about changing the GPU is a complete non issue, you bought a 1080 and they are supplying one. The configurator even lists that you will get zotac or palit, you cant realistically raise it as an issue if you are offered either as clearly availability changes between the two.

I'm not sure where you are at with regards to cancelling but it would seem pretty silly to cancel over these issues from where I'm standing.

 

[erhboy]

I have no idea how long it takes to remove and refit a Psu but can’t see it taking that long. And as for any cost I’m sure that will be covered in the large mark-up they have on each build.as I said before it was fine until they changed the GPU .I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong ! Who in their right mind would spend 2k on something they didn’t like. Would you? No you wouldn’t so you need to wind your neck in mate

 

[Oussebon]

I think there's a lesson to be learned here which is that while it's well-known that PCS do not guarantee a given brand of GTX 1080 (it's almost always Palit or Zotac, but which model is down to what they have in stock) PCS should perhaps be very clear on that point when answering enquiries. That will help avoid expectations of things that they can't guarantee to deliver.

Someone said in the thread earlier however that it might be worth phoning PCS to ask whether they might have any AMP! GPUs in stock, or if they think they might get them soon, and if so whether they could put one of those in for you instead.

Even though the Palit is actually faster.

Who in their right mind would spend 2k on something they didn’t like. Would you?

In all honesty if I were that bothered about a GPU (which as it happens I am, I wouldn't buy an unspecified GPU if there was a chance it might have a blower cooler) I'd buy a PC without a GPU and install my own preferred model. Installing a GPU is very straightforward and there are many videos online showing how to do this.

In a high end gaming PC one should expect to upgrade the GPU before the end of the system's overall lifespan, possibly every 2 years. So if you're going to have to do that someday, installing your own GPU at the outset should be an option.

 

[erhboy]

I never had a problem with the refund it was the fact no one knew what would happen and I had three answers from three PCS employee's all wrong over the phone and they never got back to me I ended up calling the finance company .and as for the GPU it comes down to personal choice I guess . but who in their right mind would hand over 2k for something they were`not happy with ?

 

[Oussebon]

For sure, and while there's discussion in this topic ultimately it's your money and you need to make a decision on how to proceed.

None of us who have posted in this topic so far work for PCS so there's no personal financial stake in what your decision is, as far as I know. I have no stake, anyway.

Seeing both sides of the discussion though, I think a lot of people are saying that in your position they would be happy, or at least satisfied, with the GPU since they knew there was no guarantee of X model. The Zotac may have nicer aesthetics depending on personal taste (I'm not convinced by the big yellow industrial style paint stripes over the backplate, but whatever), but the Jetstream is a bit faster and has RGB lighting built in afaik. And a GTX 1080 is a GTX 1080.

As for the customer service, I'd be somewhat concerned as well if I were told one thing (the credit note) and then it turned out something else was the case (adjusted finance agreement), and I'd be disappointed if I felt I'd been led to believe that I was definitely getting Model X GPU but instead it was model Y. That said, the people in this thread are owners of PC Specialist hardware and while they may have experienced occasional issues such as a slow reply to an email, a mistake, or a hardware fault they've generally found PCS very willing to make sure that at the end of the day they're left satisfied. Obviously, otherwise they wouldn't be hanging around on the forums discussing and advising other community members.

My point is that once most people got their computers, whatever issues had been experienced beforehand, they were very happy with what they received, how it performed, and the after sales support available.

I'm not saying you should spend ~£2000+ based entirely on other people's hindsight and opinions, but rather that the hindsight and experience that people here have makes us pretty confident that you'd be happy with your purchase (notwithstanding earlier advice on how to tweak the spec) even with the understandably high expectations you have of it given the money involved.

That's just my interpretation of the discussion anyway

 

[ubuysa]

I think there's a lesson to be learned here which is that while it's well-known that PCS do not guarantee a given brand of GTX 1080 (it's almost always Palit or Zotac, but which model is down to what they have in stock) PCS should perhaps be very clear on that point when answering enquiries. That will help avoid expectations of things that they can't guarantee to deliver.

This is a sensible idea but I can see potential problems for PCS in implementing it.

Firstly there will be an additional cost involved (whatever the OP might think). Somebody has to answer the query, check the stock levels and amend the customer's order, additionally a change might be required in the mechanism by which parts are picked since some builds will then require a specific card.

Secondly, it may well cause issues for PCS's stock ordering process because they will be unable to predict with any certainty how many of each brand or model of card they need to order and at what point to re-order. Anything that complicates their stock control systems will only result in a higher cost being passed on to us. There is obviously a good reason why PCS do things the way they do.

Those PCS customers who do care what specific brand or model of card they get can already opt to have no graphics card fitted and they can then get exactly what they want.

I would agree that perhaps PCS should make it clearer (perhaps in the Terms & Conditions) that they do not guarantee either the brand or model of graphics card but that it will be a genuine GTX whatever. The problem in this particular case is one of perception, the OP continues to claim that PCS have done something underhand, when in fact the user's expectations exceed the service that PCS agreed to provide. I'm sorry to say this, but this looks like another example of someone expecting the world to revolve around them. In life people treat you the way you treat them and I really do believe that if the OP had contacted PCS politely and humbly and asked if it would be at all possible to fit a specific brand and model of card, whilst accepting that PCS were under no obligation to do this, PCS would probably have done their best to accommodate him.

 

[Oussebon]

This is a sensible idea but I can see potential problems for PCS in implementing it.

Firstly there will be an additional cost involved (whatever the OP might think). Somebody has to answer the query, check the stock levels and amend the customer's order, additionally a change might be required in the mechanism by which parts are picked since some builds will then require a specific card.

Secondly, it may well cause issues for PCS's stock ordering process because they will be unable to predict with any certainty how many of each brand or model of card they need to order and at what point to re-order. Anything that complicates their stock control systems will only result in a higher cost being passed on to us. There is obviously a good reason why PCS do things the way they do.

I think you need to re-read what I said. I was suggesting that if someone phones up and asks what GPU PCS are currently using, when replying "Palit Jetstreams" they should also say "but that might change by the time we get around to building your computer".

"while it's well-known that PCS do not guarantee a given brand of GTX 1080 ... PCS should perhaps be very clear on that point when answering enquiries. That will help avoid expectations of things that they can't guarantee to deliver."

I didn't say anything about them arranging for a specific GPU model (notwithstanding the FTWs and Strix's they already do) other than reiterating your own suggestion that:

I really do believe that if the OP had contacted PCS politely and humbly and asked if it would be at all possible to fit a specific brand and model of card, whilst accepting that PCS were under no obligation to do this, PCS would probably have done their best to accommodate him.

Which I agree with.

In fact I hadn't suggested what you're saying I did as I also agree that it would be more work for PCS and I share your belief that PCS have likely already assessed the possibility of doing so and decided that it didn't add enough to the customer experience be worth the cost/labour of offering. I've posted before that with 130+ GTX 1080s on the market, and the performance and OCing potential being so similar, it wouldn't have much advantage to most clients anyway even if they did.

So we seem to be generally in agreement there


As an aside:

that PCS have done something underhand

Underhand is a strong word and not actually what the OP's saying. He's not suggested they've been dishonest. He just thinks communication has been poor, and is disappointed that they changed the model of GPU. I didn't read him as implying anything sinister, more just a human error and competence issue. It does seem he may have got different info from PCS and the finance company.

 

[ubuysa]

So we seem to be generally in agreement there

We're in complete agreement there.

As an aside: Underhand is a strong word and not actually what the OP's saying. He's not suggested they've been dishonest. He just thinks communication has been poor, and is disappointed that they changed the model of GPU. I didn't read him as implying anything sinister, more just a human error and competence issue. It does seem he may have got different info from PCS and the finance company.

Except that several times now the OP has said that 'PCS changed my GPU' when in fact they were supplying exactly what they'd contracted to supply, a GTX 1080. I haven't commented on the poor communication from PCS because it is an area where they are weak, but the OP is still comlaianing that he's not getting a service that PCS don't provide (viz, a specific brand and model of GTX 1080).

 

[Tony1044]

I have no idea how long it takes to remove and refit a Psu but can’t see it taking that long. And as for any cost I’m sure that will be covered in the large mark-up they have on each build.as I said before it was fine until they changed the GPU .I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong ! Who in their right mind would spend 2k on something they didn’t like. Would you? No you wouldn’t so you need to wind your neck in mate

Well let's see...you are accusing the company from what I can tell of being underhand, failing to communicate, lying about what you'll get (or at least misleading) and having "a large markup"

Let's take them in turn:

I see no sign of their being underhand or lying. You have a very valid point about their failure, at times to communicate effectively.

Where did they purposefully mislead, lie or act underhandedly?

Do you have any idea what the typical markup on tin is these days? I've sat in meetings with potential customers for tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of hardware alone. I've been told, quite bluntly that they can get it elsewhere from competitors who basically do nothing but shift tin so no integration or other services. Literally sell machines by the tens of thousand per month and that they've been promised that the competitor will do it at 1% markup.

1%

Now bearing in mind, the companies I've worked for are far from small fry but our absolute minimum markup on tin alone would be 1.5% to cover all the additional aspects of transporting, securing, building (and here I mean physically putting things like RAM and CPU into them - this is before we even get to putting images on).

And I doubt very much the PCS are shipping tens of thousands of units a month.

I'm sorry if I trod on your ego but (ask Ubuyusa) I have a tendency to speak my mind. I am sorry if you only wanted tea and sympathy and not any robust comments, but it is, after all a public forum. So no, mate, I won't wind my neck in just to appease you because I said something others are trying to say more diplomatically than I can be bothered with. You got what you ordered. You agreed to that when you hit submit. It's not PCS' fault you failed to appreciate you would get whatever was in stock. But. As I say above they could have communicated that part better on apparently several occasions.

But ultimately, if you're not happy, go and cancel. Go off and pay Dell a fortune for a lesser spec'd Alienware. Not sure, these days as it's been a while, but the last time I checked, they gave you even less information about what you get inside your box from them. Let's see how you get on changing the build post-order with them, too.

I also find it ironic you say you know too little to build your own rig but apparently enough to criticise PCS' choice of components.

 

[Rakk]

Ahem, don't suppose we can try and calm this down a little please.

 

[Tony1044]

Ahem, don't suppose we can try and calm this down a little please.

Perfectly calm here