Desktop RMA Time and Further on. . .

[fido0101]

Hi Guys,

I was hoping to get some general RMA information from my fellow PC Specialist consumers.

I will be sending in my PC for repairs tomorrow (12/01/2015), the PC broke after 70 days of usage and can't get past POST. It takes about 5-7 attempts to boot the thing. Not a happy thing considering the PC cost over £ 2000

Anyway, I have had a terrible experience with PCS during build time (which is a shame because my first PC done by them was and still is glorious). What i am wondering is, what is the average RMA time for a desktop?

Also, has anyone had problems after RMA ? How did you resolve them ?

I just want to be prepared should PCS fail to deliver and after hearing the horrible things about the RMA department I am terrified it will be months before I see my PC again. It was already delivered to me almost a month later than expected.

Can anyone give me some info on this ? Especially if they have had multiple RMAs.

Thanks All.

 

[keynes]

I really doubt it will be months, mine took less than a week to get sorted. You have to keep in mind that we wouldn't know what the actual average is at the moment, PCS may be busy with existing orders and they would be the only ones to be able to give you an accurate estimate.
I found the RMA extremely helpful and very efficient, kept me up to date and were very friendly and polite.

 

[fido0101]

I really doubt it will be months, mine took less than a week to get sorted. You have to keep in mind that we wouldn't know what the actual average is at the moment, PCS may be busy with existing orders and they would be the only ones to be able to give you an accurate estimate.
I found the RMA extremely helpful and very efficient, kept me up to date and were very friendly and polite.

Thank you keynes, that's good to hear. These latest negative experiences with PCS and the negative reviews about the RMA department have put me on edge. I suffered delays to my work back in October due to PCS being nearly a month late with my order (which is understandable I just wish they would have kept me updated).

Did they give you an estimate for your RMA ? I asked and they just told me they would do it as quickly as possible. When I asked for an estimate I was told they can't give guarantees.

 

[keynes]

no estimates for me, just a similar response to you.

 

[powernerd]

I don't know if it helps, but I sent mine back a week ago (dodgy processor) and it doesn't seem like much has happened yet. The RMA just shows as 'received', i'm assuming there's a backlog from the holiday.

 

[ricbai]

Mine took just about a week, but it wasn't without worry. Late November, DPD picked up my 2 week old machine in its original packaging and the next day PCS got it (Thursday). Got an email the same day (with screen shots) showing a damaged machine which hadn't been sent in the original packaging (which they therefore wouldn't cover). Let them know it was the wrong machine... They then plugged mine in to blow their test benches power supply (it had already eaten through 2 PSUs). Re-wired it, replaces the PSU and sat it on a soak-test over the weekend (they did ask if I would prefer to have it shipped back Friday evening to arrive Monday or just test it over the weekend: I'm glad I went for the latter). By the time they came in on Monday, it had failed again. They then rebuilt the machine with all new parts (including an upgraded CPU I paid for) and I had it back around Thursday.... Only problem(s) thereafter were a different model of graphics card (I didn't send them my hard drives so I had to swap out the graphics drivers and noticing for the second time that they had failed to connect up the X-Drive dock on the case. But that wasn't too bad.

 

[fido0101]

Hmmm looks like the reliability of the RMA procedure is up in the air. My PC has only been with them for 2 days now, so for now I can't complain too much with regards to the RMA process (even though the initial construction was a very negative experience).

I got a message from another consumer saying he was having endless issues with his machine and only saw a resolution when he went public with negative reviews, bad press, etc . . .
Another consumer whom I spoke with was so angry that he filed for a refund using Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act and another act which I can't recall right now.
If this is true that is a very sad thing. People should not have to resort to "bullying" tactics to get whet they paid for.

I have filed an official complaint with PCS regarding the holes in their customer service.
I sent the complaint on the 05/01/2015 and so far have had no response. Hopefully I will hear from them soon.

For a company with such great reviews and who build such great machines they should really put more effort into Customer Service. For example not being able to talk to a manager or supervisor is a very irritating thing.
When I started making enquires into PCS's customer service there was a lot of anger. Which I can understand because I have also been struggling to remain calm when faced with such bad customer service.

 

[keynes]

Hmmm looks like the reliability of the RMA procedure is up in the air. My PC has only been with them for 2 days now, so for now I can't complain too much with regards to the RMA process (even though the initial construction was a very negative experience).

I got a message from another consumer saying he was having endless issues with his machine and only saw a resolution when he went public with negative reviews, bad press, etc . . .
Another consumer whom I spoke with was so angry that he filed for a refund using Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act and another act which I can't recall right now.
If this is true that is a very sad thing. People should not have to resort to "bullying" tactics to get whet they paid for.

I have filed an official complaint with PCS regarding the holes in their customer service.
I sent the complaint on the 05/01/2015 and so far have had no response. Hopefully I will hear from them soon.

For a company with such great reviews and who build such great machines they should really put more effort into Customer Service. For example not being able to talk to a manager or supervisor is a very irritating thing.
When I started making enquires into PCS's customer service there was a lot of anger. Which I can understand because I have also been struggling to remain calm when faced with such bad customer service.

Just to get more info regarding your post. Did PCS refuse to get hold of a manager or supervisor when you call? When making enquiries what do you mean by met by an anger response? I personally don't think that if a refund was provided was due to bad publicity or raising the issue in the forum. I experienced a few problems with my first built that required 3 consecutive RMA (mostly due to damage from shipping) and I did not need to raise any complaints on the forum. The staff were always polite and calm and was offered the choice of a refund or a new build, I opted for the latter. There are always issues taking places and I get the impression that those are the minority, there are also complaints that from my view are unreasonable but from experience I can say I have always experience great customer service before, during and after the purchase took place.

 

[fido0101]

Hey Keynes,

Did PCS refuse to get hold of a manager or supervisor when you call?

Yes indeed they did. On multiple occasions I was told the manager was unavailable and today I was explicitly told "We can't actually put you through to a manager unfortunately. They don't really take phone calls. If you need to make any complaints it would be via an email" and this is a quote from the call rep.

When making enquiries what do you mean by met by an anger response?

Ah let me clarify. I mean to say that the response was very negative. Most people had negative comments about their experiences with PCS customer care to the point that their messages were "angry". There is genuine frustration and anger surrounding the customer care given.

I personally don't think that if a refund was provided was due to bad publicity or raising the issue in the forum.

Well these stories may be false. Again I am just forwarding what was told to me but situations like the following do exist . . .

https://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/www.pcspecialist.co.uk/54b3ee820000ff0002c3de76

Again, most of the time this is an edge case but there is clearly a hole in how PCS treat their customers.

The staff were always polite and calm

In the most case I would say this is true, but in my experience there are a few call reps that may require some more training. I personally have felt disrespected by some (not all of course) of their staff.

PC Specialist is a good company with a great product but their customer service is very lacking. Very lacking indeed.

 

[keynes]

If you feel disrespected I would sent a formal complaint (which you have done I think) via email and by recorded mail. I am sure it will get sorted. i am sure the review from trustpilot is genuine and I can also see there are a lot of positive reviews and just a few negative ones, from reading post in the forum there are customers that are living abroad and RMAs are almost impossible to organize and not feel confident enough to solve the faults by just requesting parts. I can see the refund has been approved and i was expecting that sort of outcome if the computer has consecutive faults (which I was also offered without posting there). As I mentioned before there are also unreasonable request such as compensation for time lost......
I hope you get the system sorted soon but from experience it all went well, staff were always calm and polite and I never resort to yelling or swearing (not that I ever do!)

 

[fido0101]

I have indeed filed a formal complaint with PCS, as did the gentleman on the trust pilot link.
The point is that there is a problem with PCS customer care and they should be aiming to resolve it.
If someone has an issue and wants to escalate, it should be escalated quickly, not 11 days and 1 bad review later.

Matters such as these should be handled internally not externally but when the internal process fails (which in some cases it clearly does with PCS) what are you left with ?

I ask this question literally. As I personally have exhausted all options. What do I do now ? Post a negative review and get a quick response ? That feels like bullying tactics to me.

As for the compensation thing. . . Mmmm I think in most cases its probably just people looking for a quick cash in. However, (playing devil's advocate here), my machine is for work and I am experiencing delays due to it being repaired, just as I experienced delays when it was late with delivery.

Would I like compensation for this ? Yes of course, as would anyone. I am behind on my work and I am in debt as a result of it (The hazards of being a researcher).

Do I deserve compensation ? That's the tricky one. That would have to be judged by a partial third party to arrive at a fair answer. On the one hand it can be argued that I should have been prepared for delays, faults etc. . . On the other hand it can be argued that PC Specialist had an obligation to ensure a timely delivery of a reliable product, that is what we pay them to do of course.

Regardless though, the flow of information from PC specialist to myself should have been more open. Keeping me or any consumer informed of issues is important.

PC Specialist are great of keeping you updated when things go according to plan. The auto emailing system they have in place is fantastic. However, they do not have any protocols in place for when there are unforeseen delays. If there is an unforeseen delay informing us of such would earn them major point. In my case I was 3 weeks in the dark and had to call up several times to get information. That is a waste of time for both myself and the poor call reps who deal with all this.

THE SHORT VERSION OF MY RANTY MC RANT

My point is: PC Specialist should have more protocols in place for handling edge cases which are unforseen. Protocols which are customer centric, keeping the customer updated.

Edit: While writing this, I finally got a reply from PC Specialist to one of my emails to them (not the formal complaint another email). Voilà, I feel better, I am informed of what is happening with my machine, I don't need to waste a call reps time, and I feel a sense of progress. Something as simple as acknowledging one of my emails does all this. I should note that this email was not auto generated but was actually written to me personally. Something as simple as this improves the customer experience.

 

[ImPQSx]

I sent mine in and 2 days later I received an email stating the issues and they sent it back the day after, the only problem being DPD not being able to find my address for the second time so I think you were quite unlucky.