I started looking for a mid-range gaming laptop which I could also use for schoolwork (I'm a Computing Science major) around the start of August, and after a lot of browsing I came to the conclusion that PCS was the place to order from - the laptops were configurable, of good quality, relatively cheap and PCS was a respected company (at least from what I had heard). I had some reservations about the laptop I was about to order (Optimus V) as it was known to have issues with the fan, not to mention the concerns a lot of people had voiced about the tiny PSU, so I decided to talk to PCS about it. I was told the PSU wouldn't be an issue, and that 'a BIOS update is currently coming out very shortly'. After researching the topic myself I decided to finally order. This is where it all went downhill.
I didn't want to drop extra money on fast track if I didn't have to so I asked if it would be ready by Sept. 03 (Date of order: Aug. 08) and they said it shouldn't be a problem. The days went by and my laptop was spending an enormous amount of time in pre-production so I decided to ask what was going on.
I was eventually told that the RAM I had ordered wasn't compatible with that laptop (although it had been in the configurator for over a month and nobody seemed to notice) so they had to replace it with the only alternative - something worse/cheaper. I was told there wasn't a price difference in the components (which I really don't understand) so I wasn't reimbursed. I thought to myself it wasn't that big a deal and moved on.
A few days later, with the laptop still being in pre-production, I e-mailed them again to see what's going on and I was told the following: "I have placed this on an internal priority for you so with any luck we will get it there within plenty of time for you." - something I thought was very amazing at the time, since they were in no way obliged to meet my arbitrary deadline.
Sept 03 grew closer every day and it became apparent to me that the laptop wouldn't be finished in time, so I told them to just ship it to me on Sept 13, the date on which I arrived in the UK.
The laptop finally arrived on Sept 17. and everything seemed to be in order. Nothing was damaged, it worked great, everything was perfect, or so I thought.
One of the first things I noticed was the fan going into vaccuum cleaner mode for no apparent reason, something that should have been fixed over a month ago. Again I thought to myself it's not really their fault, since it's Sager who's responsible for coming up with the update. Two days later, the computer started shutting down repeatedly for no apparent reason. I talked to tech support and the first conclusion they came to was that the battery was faulty, so I tried running it with the battery removed, but eventually it started doing the same thing again. After making sure that it wasn't overheating, the laptop was diagnosed as having a faulty PSU. After waiting for 1.5 months, I had an unusable laptop 3 days later. I RMA-ed the laptop back on Sept 23, and after 3 days of an information blackout, they finally received it.
A day later, I got this:
Update for RMA 17833 by Carl Auckland on 27-09-2013 at 06:37:38 - The cpu has been sent back for repair eta 10/10/13
Now, not only does the CPU being faulty not make any sense (at least to me) since I'm 100% sure it wasn't overheating, but I have to wait OVER TWO WEEKS, JUST for the replacement to arrive, which means, assuming it isn't late, I'll probably get my laptop on the 14-th at the EARLIEST. For those of you that can't tell, that's 2 months and 6 days since the date of order. They wouldn't ship me something I could use meanwhile, since it wasn't covered by the warranty, and apparently they can't just replace the CPU with one of their own.
So here I am, waiting helplessly, unable to do my coursework properly (for Computing Science) or practice my hobby either which is the only reason I even bought such an expensive laptop in the first place.
All in all, I would recommend to anyone looking to buy a laptop from PCS to think long and hard about their decision.
I didn't want to drop extra money on fast track if I didn't have to so I asked if it would be ready by Sept. 03 (Date of order: Aug. 08) and they said it shouldn't be a problem. The days went by and my laptop was spending an enormous amount of time in pre-production so I decided to ask what was going on.
I was eventually told that the RAM I had ordered wasn't compatible with that laptop (although it had been in the configurator for over a month and nobody seemed to notice) so they had to replace it with the only alternative - something worse/cheaper. I was told there wasn't a price difference in the components (which I really don't understand) so I wasn't reimbursed. I thought to myself it wasn't that big a deal and moved on.
A few days later, with the laptop still being in pre-production, I e-mailed them again to see what's going on and I was told the following: "I have placed this on an internal priority for you so with any luck we will get it there within plenty of time for you." - something I thought was very amazing at the time, since they were in no way obliged to meet my arbitrary deadline.
Sept 03 grew closer every day and it became apparent to me that the laptop wouldn't be finished in time, so I told them to just ship it to me on Sept 13, the date on which I arrived in the UK.
The laptop finally arrived on Sept 17. and everything seemed to be in order. Nothing was damaged, it worked great, everything was perfect, or so I thought.
One of the first things I noticed was the fan going into vaccuum cleaner mode for no apparent reason, something that should have been fixed over a month ago. Again I thought to myself it's not really their fault, since it's Sager who's responsible for coming up with the update. Two days later, the computer started shutting down repeatedly for no apparent reason. I talked to tech support and the first conclusion they came to was that the battery was faulty, so I tried running it with the battery removed, but eventually it started doing the same thing again. After making sure that it wasn't overheating, the laptop was diagnosed as having a faulty PSU. After waiting for 1.5 months, I had an unusable laptop 3 days later. I RMA-ed the laptop back on Sept 23, and after 3 days of an information blackout, they finally received it.
A day later, I got this:
Update for RMA 17833 by Carl Auckland on 27-09-2013 at 06:37:38 - The cpu has been sent back for repair eta 10/10/13
Now, not only does the CPU being faulty not make any sense (at least to me) since I'm 100% sure it wasn't overheating, but I have to wait OVER TWO WEEKS, JUST for the replacement to arrive, which means, assuming it isn't late, I'll probably get my laptop on the 14-th at the EARLIEST. For those of you that can't tell, that's 2 months and 6 days since the date of order. They wouldn't ship me something I could use meanwhile, since it wasn't covered by the warranty, and apparently they can't just replace the CPU with one of their own.
So here I am, waiting helplessly, unable to do my coursework properly (for Computing Science) or practice my hobby either which is the only reason I even bought such an expensive laptop in the first place.
All in all, I would recommend to anyone looking to buy a laptop from PCS to think long and hard about their decision.
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