Negative Laptop Reviews?

S

Sonic1506

Bronze Level Poster
Hello,

I've seen some mixed reviews recently with PC Specialist, if you have had bad customer service/issues or issues with your device (ideally laptops), please can you let me know either via PM or publicly here and also please let me know how PCS rectified your problem.

I am on the verge of pulling the trigger on a laptop build but would like to know how PCS are in unfortunate circumstances.

Mods, I hope this is okay, if not, please feel free to delete.

Thanks.
 
Bhuna50

Bhuna50

Author Level
Sonic,

The trouble you have with a post like yours here is that you are only inviting the negative comments.

I can tell you this from my experience:

I purchased a laptop in Feb 2016 - Defiance II - it was a great laptop, worked excellently. I left a review about it back then in 2016. During the next few years, I placed a few spare parts order - new keyboard, new charger and the service I received was EXCELLENT each time. I had to RMA it after two years - due to my own ignorance on thermal pasting etc but they fixed it no problem whatsoever.

I finally broke my laptop in October (it had been used practically every day for hours and hours at a time) and under the terms of the extended warranty insurance I had to send it to PCS to quote fixing it. They were busy, I was made fully aware they were busy, but the service I received again was EXCELLENT in obtaining a quote on fixing it and also eventually writing off and helped with the quote for a new system for my insurance company to approve.

As part of the RMA, I ordered a NEW laptop, my current one - and you have seen my comments about that.

Issues I have encountered are:

- a long wait time on the phone when trying to deal with my RMA originally - although after a while I had regular contact via email direct with the technician who was keeping me informed on the RMA and then on the new build and its testing (failed testing, and i even switched order part way through).

- the keyboard issue you have seen on another thread.

Excellent points:

- when you do get through, they have been very helpful.
- i had daily contact with my technician throughout my second order / RMA of old one - he went above and beyond what he had to do
- pricing and ease of use of website - during config, during order build and amending build and now afterwards for any upgrades I want or RMAs (keyboard).
- excellent machine build overall.

I will definitely be buying from them again.


Please note I am not employed or have any payment for helping on these forums from PCS - I do this voluntarily and you will see some issues raised on here as this is where people come to vent. What you dont see is that if they are making 150/200 machines a day then there must be a high percentage of happy people out there worldwide and i also see that people keep coming back.
 
NoddyPirate

NoddyPirate

Grand Master
The issue also is that currently we are seeing a completely unprecedented environment in all respects - GPU shortages, COVID, shipping Company issues, etc, etc. so the number of people complaining will naturally increase. That is entirely to be expected.

I also personally believe that many have not adjusted their personal threshold for annoyance under the current environment. It is all to easy to create a picture in your minds eye that when you try to call them they are doing nothing better and are just refusing your call. Or that when you have a problem that the importance to you is greater than the importance of any other issues for anyone else.

Don't forget that for every bad review there are 100 who didn't bother submitting a review because they were perfectly happy.

A little patience goes a long way.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
NoddyPilot said:
I also personally believe that many have not adjusted their personal threshold for annoyance under the current environment. It is all to easy to create a picture in your minds eye that when you try to call them they are doing nothing better and are just refusing your call. Or that when you have a problem that the importance to you is greater than the importance of any other issues for anyone else.
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I can't express how much I agree with this entirely.... and hasten to add it's not just PCS that are having this issue, it's all companies. You'll find that there are a collection of people who just don't understand the impact the current worldwide situation is having on the business world. There are delays across the board and some people have ridiculous expectations that their RMA will be dealt with within a week, which is just unrealistic.

For me, though to give some pointers to your questions, generally we tend to get more positive review with clevo laptops rather than TongFang. There have been quite a few issues with the TongFang chassis and even one model that really should have been recalled.

You will find this thread interesting which involved a TongFang chassis that had terminal issues. Do read it through as you'll see people were fully refunded if they requested it: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/vyper-17-slow-on-battery.71611/page-10

If you're interested more in a laptop, I would definitely recommend a Clevo chassis.

I understand you want some people who've had first hand experience with customer support related specifically to laptop issues, so if we could respect that and invite any people who've RMA'd laptops to post their experience that would be great.
 
AgentCooper

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
It’s time to get @barlew involved...

319DAAE8-3BD2-4EF4-AAF5-B4AF4A97EA21.gif
 
JUNI0R

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Hey @Sonic1506 My case isn't all that similar to yours as I ordered a desktop, not a laptop and I ordered in April 2019, instead in the middle of the pandemic but I thought I'd still drop by to sing their praises.

The build - Overall my PC took 9 days from purchase to delivery, which I was very happy with, (this obviously won't be the case now, but wait times are reducing if you're not purchasing pre-order parts) and I was updated every step of the way. Their system tells you what stage your build is at and who is in charge of each stage which is very reassuring. The PC was packed very well with expandable foam so it arrived with no scuffs or dings at all.

The PC- The PC looks amazing, the cables are managed very well and it's very neat, definitely a way better job than I could do, it has worked well for me and they have an upgrade system which allows you to fit the part yourself if you're confident to do so

The Price- I'm unsure what mine was like, but these days if you were to spec up a system on PCS and select the parts to build yourself they'd come to almost the same total, then considering that you get a warranty, it's all built professionally and the convenience if there's an issue, it seems like a steal to me!

The Support - I've contacted PCS support a couple times directly and they have been prompt in replying and very helpful both times. If you were to have a more general issue or need spec advice, the forums are full of fantastic, knowledgable people that will likely get you set up or sorted out.

I understand that a lot of the points I'm making don't pertain to you specifically as I went for a PC instead of a laptop and I didn't purchase in a pandemic, but I am generally very for PCS, they're a great company from all the examples I've seen, and the only places I could fault them are out of their control (stock issues and the like) I love them so much that I suggested them to a friend that bought a PC through them just last month!

As you can tell I'm a massive fan of PCS and I'd highly suggest you use them for your laptop!
 
S

Sonic1506

Bronze Level Poster
Thank you all for your responses. It looks like PCS are a good/fair company when it comes to issues and tries to resolve them. I haven't ordered yet but I was looking on trustpilot for reviews and I saw some negative ones as well as negative ones on here where the devices have issues out of the box. I want to be comfortable in the fact that if there is an issue PCS will resolve in a fair manner.

I'm aware that there are supply and demand issues as well as delays with PCS Customer Service, neither is an issue I can grieve at tbh.

I am interested in buying a laptop and I've been reading this thread here which says to avoid certain ones because they had issues. https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/new-17-laptops.76995/page-3#post-569330

In the laptop section there are also a few other threads with issues. My concern is spending near enough £2,000 and then having problems, is not something I want but understandable it is a possibility.

I originally ran the thread idea past the moderator @SpyderTracks just to ensure it was something fair to post and within the rules.
 
NoddyPirate

NoddyPirate

Grand Master
Sonic1506 said:
Thank you all for your responses. It looks like PCS are a good/fair company when it comes to issues and tries to resolve them. I haven't ordered yet but I was looking on trustpilot for reviews and I saw some negative ones as well as negative ones on here where the devices have issues out of the box. I want to be comfortable in the fact that if there is an issue PCS will resolve in a fair manner.

I'm aware that there are supply and demand issues as well as delays with PCS Customer Service, neither is an issue I can grieve at tbh.

I originally ran the thread idea past the moderator @SpyderTracks just to ensure it was something fair to post and within the rules.
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Very fair approach I think Sonic.

FWIW - I have contacted PCS twice after my order was placed - I didn’t use email or phone - but instead used the Tech Support messaging system through my online account. In both cases I had a reply within 2 days or so - which I think is great in the current climate.
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
NoddyPilot said:
Very fair approach I think Sonic.

FWIW - I have contacted PCS twice after my order was placed - I didn’t use email or phone - but instead used the Tech Support messaging system through my online account. In both cases I had a reply within 2 days or so - which I think is great in the current climate.
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I don't think a lot of folk realise that's there.........
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
Never had to RMA but needed information on various of the eight PCS machines that have been bought on my account (some for friends or family) and have always had email replies within a couple of days.

Trustpilot is an oxymoron, the, do not need require proof of purchases and can be a have for trolls. I complained about a review on there about another company, they responded by saying they did not fact check reviews and said it was up to the company in question to complain.

Good idea to check with Spydertracks before posting, hope you can sort a decent machine. There will be plenty of people on here willing to offer Good advice but the main advice now is, if you can wait a couple of months it will be worth it, world situation has pushed prices sky high but hopefully they will drop by Summer.
 
barlew

barlew

Godlike
Haha it does tickle me when you guys tag me in these RMA threads.

OP I have been a customer since 2012 and i have had 4 laptops all different chassis.

I have RMA'd all of those laptops, 3 of which multiple times for a variety of reasons from broken cooling fans to motherboards and everything in between.

2 of the laptops worked beautifully after their second RMA, I never had another issue with them. They were an early Vortex and the old 14 inch Defiance.

I then bought a Vortex in 2019 which was a horror show from the start. To paraphrase it arrived built in the wrong chassis so I had to send it back straight away.

Then the motherboard failed and I had to RMA it again. They sent it back to me and the Wi-Fi wasn't working because it was not connected inside the chassis. At this point I complained about the number of problems I had with all 3 of my laptops and that one in particular. I received a full apology and a free upgrade to the highest level of warranty for my laptop. I want to point out that at this point the warranty had expired so they would have been in their rights to charge me for the fix.

It worked for a bit then I had to RMA it again, they had to replace the GPU and the screen. Unfortunately the technician fitted the wrong screen to the machine so when i received it back G Sync would not work.

At this point I raised another complaint and PCS agreed to replaced the chassis for a different one of equal value or a refund.

I chose the different chassis of equal value. PCS let me choose the chassis and spec it up to the same value.

Unfortunately that chassis also had systematic problems with it and I raised another complaint at which point I was offered a full refund.

Even though this reads like a total horror story I am probably the only customer PCS has which has had such a bad time with their hardware. I cannot rate their customer service guys highly enough because they have always gone above and beyond to make things right for me.

PCS would have been fully in their rights to only offer me a partial refund due to the age of both of the laptops but they didn't try to wriggle out of it they took full responsibility and gave me all of my money back.

*EDIT* - I also want to stress that at no point did I have to fight PCS for any of this. At every stage I just laid out the basic facts to them. They would say "ok we lets have a look" as soon as they confirmed what I had said they owned it and cracked on with the next course of action.

At no point did I feel like I had to fight a battle to get any issues resolved.
 
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Cobblers

Cobblers

Enthusiast
4th PC purchase from PCS, with latest one arriving early Feb 2021. Can't say a bad thing about PCS really, good communication along the way, friendly customer service who did as I requested (ensuring operating system was added to the correct drive), delivery was on time and product exactly as was described.

Not sure I'd purchase a PC from anyone else.
 
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