for PCs (apologies if it appears already somewhere)

[techguyone]

Looking through the site, I haven't noticed anything relating to:

What happens to a PC once it's been ordered, by that I mean, do you for example :

Intensive Testing:
Every PC has to pass a 24-hour burn test and a 100-point inspection to ensure all the components are working reliably. We also benchmark each 3XS PC with the latest games and applications to ensure the best possible performance.

Is there any kind of progress indicator? if not, could there be?

Track and Trace:
Using our web portal you can track and trace the status of your PCs as it is built and tested by our talented team of engineers. You can see check our how fast your system is, as we push it through a rigorous set of performance benchmarks.

Just some stuff to think about that would give us some indication of what happens.

 

[vanthus]

There is a progress indicator telling you what stage the build is in,but if you mean a detailed report on the testing I think this would be very difficult,time consuming and expensive to achieve,and I reckon the cost would need to be passed on to the customer.

 

[techguyone]

Ah right, I haven't yet ordered, which might explain why I haven't seen a progress indicator (wouldn't mind knowing what it's like though/level of detail etc. I suppose the test results idea might be a bit OTT (although maybe pertinent for O/C builds perhaps?)

It certainly would be nice to know what happens post build, presumably your system is run for a bit to make sure all is well?.

I think ultimately it would be a nice touch on PCS part to put somewhere prominent on the site.
This is what we do when we build your PC, maybe go into a bit of detail (after all it's good self publicity)

 

[bigben]

Hey,

Your order has now entered the testing and configuration process.

Please regularly login to your account at http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/ to keep track of your order. On your online order tracking facility you may also find testing notes on your order - these testing notes will inform you of the exact status of your order and they are updated as soon as there is a change to your order. If you have forgotten your password, please go to http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forgot to have your password emailed to you.

The testing and configuration process usually takes less than 24 hours to complete and afterwards your computer will enter quality control, where further testing will take place. During the quality control process your computer will enter our "hot room" where the components will go through a "burn in" process. This checks that the components are performing correctly and your computer does not crash or fail. The quality control process may take up to 48 hours to complete, but can sometimes be quicker than this, depending on your specification.

This was in one of the emails I received after ordering my laptop. In addition, every time your order status changes you are sent another email.

 

[techguyone]

Excellent news, thanks for that. (Still think that PCS should put that on their website somewhere for a bit of self PR/information for customers)

 

[ubuysa]

What would you rather have the folks at PCS spend their time doing, building and testing your PC/laptop or entering status updates?

 

[techguyone]

What would you rather have the folks at PCS spend their time doing, building and testing your PC/laptop or entering status updates?

Actually i'd just like the website clarified, as stated, it's good self PR & informative for prospective customers

 

[Toxophilix]

I'm not sure it would be that useful to have PCS run benchmarks on new systems so that you can see how fast it is. Assuming they have built the machine competently, its speed is really a function of its spec and that is mostly the customer's responsibility. I mean, if the benchmarks are disappointing then it's a bit late to do anything about it as your PC has been built by then.

 

[ubuysa]

I'm not sure it would be that useful to have PCS run benchmarks on new systems so that you can see how fast it is. Assuming they have built the machine competently, its speed is really a function of its spec and that is mostly the customer's responsibility. I mean, if the benchmarks are disappointing then it's a bit late to do anything about it as your PC has been built by then.

From the OP's response to my last post I now see that he's just asking for clarification of what happens up front on the public website pages (ie. the pages you can see before you've placed an order). Perhaps putting the image at https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/images/main/status_guide.png on the public pages would help?

 

[techguyone]

Yes that's exactly the sort of thing that is useful & informative.

 

[Grimezy]

It would be great if they could say exactly what they do to test your machine like what software they use, etc, but realistically, it's not really that important. As long as the PC turns up on my doorstep and is working properly then I can't really complain. If there was a fault straight away I could say to them "what testing did you do and why was this not picked up?" but other than that it's not really practical to go into what they do. If they put the various procedures on the website they would probably get constant emails from people saying "why do you do it that way? It would be better if you did it this way, blah blah" which some may see as positive feedback, PCS may see it as never being able to please everybody.

The whole ordering system is very swift though and like others have said it works effectively already which you will see when you get round to ordering yours. Once you have survived the "Pre-production" stage things move very quickly. Mine was 1-2 days in building, 1 days testing and then next day dispatch. Pre-production was 8 working days I think.

You will no doubt be the kind of person that asks for daily pre-production updates once you've placed your order "Day 1 - Bob walked past the parts on the shelf today and said to himself "Not today". Day 2 - Frank made eye contact with the parts today, looked down quickly and carried on walking towards the toilet."

I'll stop teasing, I went through the exact same thing before I bought mine, I read into every detail and always wanted to know so much more than what was on the website. At the end of the day, PCS are much more informative than other competitors out there which is helped especially by the access to forums. I can't imagine surviving 12 working days without nagging the lovely people on these very forums. If a grand had dropped out of my account on another site I'd have been even more worried than I was!

 

[Boozad]

I think the information provided by PCS is first class to be honest. I love the fact that you can log in and check on the status of your order at any time (ten days in pre-production for me, I'm patient though and it could have sat there for another ten), they add notes to your order if applicable, and it's always a buzz when you get an order status update. I can see why people may want to know the complete ins and outs of the testing phase and what their PC goes through, but I'm happy in the knowledge that PCS know exactly what they're doing and, as Grimezy has already said, as long as the rig turns up in perfect working order I couldn't be happier.

 

[Toxophilix]

I went through the exact same thing before I bought mine, I read into every detail and always wanted to know so much more than what was on the website. At the end of the day, PCS are much more informative than other competitors out there which is helped especially by the access to forums.

+1 to both of those comments.

Because PCS provide quite a lot of information, one tends to over-interpret it and get into the "it went into Building today so if blah and blah and then blah .... it could arrive on Thursday!!1!11!". It's kind of futile because the schedule is not that predictable but, of course, we all get helplessly overexcited about new kit.

And they do provide a lot more information than any of the big PC vendors.