Official complaint

[DwaKilo]

Hi All

I sent this complaint to PCSpecialist on the 14th of April and haven't received a response yet. Is anyone else having such bad experience with PC Specialist RMA department?

Summary: Despite keepingmy PC for 12 working days they haven't resolved the problem. Even worse, there are more issues with my PC now!

- granted, 1 issue was resolved but now I have 2 more: PC hanging when browsing multiple youtube tabs in Firefox, PC memory showing as 1333MHz instead of 2133MHz, intermittent frame drop in games (confirmed in Payday2 and FarCry4).


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From: Rico K <...>
Date: 26 April 2015 at 04:29
Subject: Re: FORMAL COMPLAINT
To: [email protected]

Dear PC Specialist
In regards to my earlier complaint I would like to add that my PC's memory speed is not being detected properly. It should be 2133MHz but the BIOS can only see 1 ram at 1333MHz and the second at 1600MHz. I have already tried to sort it out over the phone with your support but after 89minutes on the phone I was advised that the only way to get it rectified is to sent it back.
Also, in the last 7 days my PC got hung in Windows while I was browsing youtube. This is the first issue I have described when I submitted the RMA - and this clearly hasn't been resolved. Also, since I got my machine back I noticed a new issue. Every now and then the frame rate drops in all games (confirmed in FarCry4 and Payday2). This usually lasts for about 5 seconds and goes away for few minutes.
I am very unhappy with your support so far. You kept my PC for 12 working days and sent back a machine that hasn't been fixed. Additionally now I can't even change in BIOS the preferred configuration to "performance" as the machine won't start. I'm very disappointed and angry. Not only your RMA department kept my machine for so long but also did not manage to get it fixed. The list is longer and the word "incompetency" doesn't ever scratch the surface. I can only hope that I'm not being discriminated just because I'm not English, as it looks that way.
Please let me know how what can be done, as I don't want to lose my PC for another month!
PS: I'll be speaking to Citizen Bureau Advice on Monday as these emails are obviously being either deleted or ignored. I know my rights and I know that you HAVE TO FIX this. I have paid for the service and YOU WILL provide service which I have paid for!!!
Yours, no longer patient, customer
Richard K



On 16 April 2015 at 12:51, Rico K <...> wrote:
Dear PC Specialist
I have not received any response to my email. Also the desktop (6****8) you received on the 31st of March is still with your RMA department.
Not sure if you are testing my patience or is it a simple incompetency. Please be so kind and respond.
Kind regards
Richard K

On 14 April 2015 at 17:30, Rico K <...> wrote:
Dear PC Specialist

This is regarding RMA 2***4 in reference to order number 6****8.

I would like to complaint about the delays in getting my machine back (which is still with PC Specialist). I have a number of reasons to believe that my RMA is being mishandled and the internal/customer communication poorly managed.

On the 26th of March I requested the RMA for the order 6****8. The machine was picked up on the 30th and delivered back to PCSpecialist on the 31st of March. When I submitted the RMA I listed two issues and provided access to two games (lineage 2 and PayDay 2) which can be used to replicate the issue. Also to allow easier troubleshooting and guide the PCSpecialist Support team through the problem (right click problem) I have used my phone's camera and recorded a short clip where within 3 minutes I duplicated the issue multiple times. I placed the recording along with the games' shortcuts on the desktop. To my surprise I noticed that the PCSpecialist engineer without my permission used my steam account to download the Shadow Of Mordor (steam game) and heavily utilized it over the Easter period. This was verified by the number of hours spent in the game via my Steam account. This hasn't been agreed and is clearly an abuse of access to my steam account. I have doubts that my machine was left running during that period due to genuine reasons.

On the 7th and 8th of April I made print screens of the time spent in the game and confirmed additional 15 hours of gameplay between 13:00 and 08:00 AM the following morning. Since then I made multiple calls to PC Specialist team in effort to understand the situation and speed up the process but no luck.
Furthermore on the 8th of April I received an update (13:19) from PC Specialist engineer asking for permission to reinstall the system. I responded to that email within 30mins (13:42) granting permission to reinstall the system. I chased up the issue with PC specialist on the 13th of April to find out that the RMA hasn't been progressed and the engineer is still waiting for my response. At that time I granted my verbal approval to reinstall the system.

Today, that is the 14th of April I chased the PC Specialist again to find out that despite my response on the 8th and the chase up on the 13th the RMA hasn't been progressed and the engineer is still waiting for my response and approval to reinstall the system.

I don't remember the last time I was so upset. I feel like a fool each time I need to call your team and repeat myself over and over again!

Please let me know ASAP what can be done to resolve my complaint and what actions you will take to make up for the time I lost on the phone with the PC Specialist support. Be advised that I'm happy to provide additional details along with names and times when the communication was made.

I can be contacted via email or mobile.

Kind regards
Richard K
Mobile: 077*********7
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[keynes]

When you arrange the RMA did you do it over the phone? did you also raise the issue of your complaint over the phone?

 

[DwaKilo]

The short answer is Yes.

Before I raised the RMA I spent few days exchanging emails with the PC Specialist technicians. I need to say that at that point I was getting email responses within 24hrs and the support was polite and helpful. When it became clear that it cannot be fixed remotely I called the PC Specialist helpline again and confirmed that the RMA needs to be raised via PC Specialist's website. I have done so on the 26th of March (Thursday). The desktop was picked up on the 30th of March (Monday) and delivered back to PC Specialist on the 31st of March (Tuesday). Throughout the time the PC Specialist had my PC I raised my concerns multiple times, but because I was being ignored I decided to raise an official complaint. This is when I was told over the phone by PC Specialist analyst that I can raise the complaint by either post, or by sending an email.

I have also asked the guys from the PC specialist team (at least on two separate occasions) to put me through to their line manager or the person in charge of complaints, but on both occasions I was told that they can't do that. Just to be clear - I can prove that.

This is the first time I have ever encountered such a brick wall when speaking to any support team. Considering all the events that took place so far I'm more than happy to call them "anti-support force unit".

 

[SlimCini]

As frustrating as this situation must be for you, I don't think baseless accusations of racism are likely to help you

 

[keynes]

As frustrating as this situation must be for you, I don't think baseless accusations of racism are likely to help you

I missed that, I am not English either and got excellent support from PCS.

This is the first time I have ever encountered such a brick wall when speaking to any support team. Considering all the events that took place so far I'm more than happy to call them "anti-support force unit".

If the system is not running well and it requires another return to PCS for repair then I am afraid I don't see another solution apart from you requesting a refund. I would try to give them a call and request an update on the conplaint you raised.

 

[ubuysa]

I can well understand your frustration but there are a couple of (hopefully helpful) points I'd like to make...

1. In your first email you refer to three problems; "...now I have 2 more: PC hanging when browsing multiple youtube tabs in Firefox, PC memory showing as 1333MHz instead of 2133MHz, intermittent frame drop in games (confirmed in Payday2 and FarCry4)". Only one of these (the RAM speed issue) is definitely a hardware issue, the others are just as likely to be software or configuration problems. PCS are only responsible for the hardware, the software is not theirs and they have no control over how you install, use, nor configure your software. So they can't be expected to fix software issues (and AFAIK they won't). If you were able to do enough troubleshooting to prove that the multiple tabs and frame drop issues were definitely not software of configuration related you'd have more of a case with these issues.

2. It's a fact of life that people will treat you the way that you treat them. Your emails are angry and unpleasant, if you'd written like that to me your problem would most certainly go to the bottom of my pile (I'm not suggesting PCS would do that though). Using a phrase like "I can only hope that I'm not being discriminated just because I'm not English, as it looks that way" is completely unacceptable. Do you really think that speaking to people like that is going to make them want to help you?

 

[DwaKilo]

I do understand what you guys are saying but I think you have missed the main point. My original complaint to PC specialist was around them utilizing my steam account to entertain themselves. I see no reason to download a game via my steam account and to play it over the Easter Period - when clearly the office is closed. I have never allowed them to do it.
Secondly, I was very polite until the point when they started treating me like a 2nd grade citizen. I am simply adjusting my tone to the service I have received. Am I upset, yes. Could my emails be a BIT more polite, yes. But remember that I spent literally hours on the phone to.
*ubuysa - On the subject of the warranty itself. Yes I am aware that they are not responsible for s/w issues but I believe that these problems are simply symptoms of a h/w problem.

Don't take me wrong guys. I had only good experience with their sales department and the first RMA. I just don't like when someone tries to lie to me, or do it multiple times... as it happened during this RMA.

Thank you all for your opinions.

 

[SlimCini]

I do understand what you guys are saying but I think you have missed the main point. My original complaint to PC specialist was around them utilizing my steam account to entertain themselves. I see no reason to download a game via my steam account and to play it over the Easter Period - when clearly the office is closed. I have never allowed them to do it.
Secondly, I was very polite until the point when they started treating me like a 2nd grade citizen. I am simply adjusting my tone to the service I have received. Am I upset, yes. Could my emails be a BIT more polite, yes. But remember that I spent literally hours on the phone to.
*ubuysa - On the subject of the warranty itself. Yes I am aware that they are not responsible for s/w issues but I believe that these problems are simply symptoms of a h/w problem.

Don't take me wrong guys. I had only good experience with their sales department and the first RMA. I just don't like when someone tries to lie to me, or do it multiple times... as it happened during this RMA.

Thank you all for your opinions.

Again, none of that justifies your accusation of discrimination.

You believing that a web browser hanging is due to hardware is a different thing to it actually being because of hardware.

Hopefully you get everything sorted... but if it was me being the PCS employee tasked with fixing the PC for you after reading your emails, I wouldn't be working very hard on solving it quickly that's for sure.

 

[DwaKilo]

I can see that you guys do believe that PC specialist have more than enough reasons to treat me the way they do. I’m confident that your point of view would change if I have posted the transcript from all the conversations I had with them along with the emails that followed. But I’m not here to convince you. For the time being I prefer to spend this time exploring this from a legal perspective. There are some laws that protect me. Also they can’t keep my PC forever and based on my experience so far I know what to expect therefore I can make appropriate arrangements.

The other good thing is that you only made me realize even more how sensitive you can be if someone is very direct and calls things the way they are. I’m a straight shooter and by coming from a different culture I might be misunderstood. I only wish that nothing like this happens to any of you.

I wish you all the best.

 

[GeorgeHillier]

I can see that you guys do believe that PC specialist have more than enough reasons to treat me the way they do. I’m confident that your point of view would change if I have posted the transcript from all the conversations I had with them along with the emails that followed. But I’m not here to convince you. For the time being I prefer to spend this time exploring this from a legal perspective. There are some laws that protect me. Also they can’t keep my PC forever and based on my experience so far I know what to expect therefore I can make appropriate arrangements.

The other good thing is that you only made me realize even more how sensitive you can be if someone is very direct and calls things the way they are. I’m a straight shooter and by coming from a different culture I might be misunderstood. I only wish that nothing like this happens to any of you.

I wish you all the best.

PCS wouldn't treat you differently because you're not English, making accusations is not helping you.

And "adjusting your tone" won't help when it's in a less than polite manner. You'll get the best service if you're patient and polite. If you've ever worked in retail/customer services then you'd know exactly what I mean. If someone is polite to me then I'll be a lot more inclined to help them.

It's fine to comment on the speed of service, but completely unreasonable to say that's because you're not English.

Also, they probably used your steam account to stress test the machine, I doubt there was one random employee sat there playing games on your system for a laugh, I'm sure they have a computer they could play on if they wanted.

 

[GeorgeHillier]

Forgot to add, if you want to post transcripts then feel free to do so, because i'm sure there's nothing in there which shows they're discriminating against you...

 

[DwaKilo]

At the beginning of this thread I was extremely angry with PC Specialist but this has changed. I’ve found some of the points raised on this thread valid for which I am grateful, and some irrelevant. I can see that all the ppl who responded here have 1k+ posts therefore I can’t shake a strong feeling that you are somehow associated with PC Specialist. This also explains why all the valid points I have raised have been quickly ignored and how swiftly you have shifted the focus of this discussion away from the main problem.

I offer you my deepest respects for sticking together so hard and pretending that I’m at fault. It’s rare to see people doing this these days. Actually you guys are doing this so well it made me smile few times and laugh out loud at least once. I can’t express how grateful I am for that. Not sure if that was your intention but you made me feel so much better. I almost forgot about the “anti-support task force”. This is definitely a really pleasant learning curve for me.

I find it counterproductive to spend any more time on this thread when it clearly lacks objectivity therefore I’m not planning to keep an eye on it anymore. There is nothing for me to gain by winning an argument with ppl here who have 1k+ posts. Also I will not post any more evidence simply because this gives the anti-support opportunity to get their stories adjusted and I don't want that. You made your point clear and I will stick to sign-for/recorded mail correspondence from now on.

I only wish that someday I can reach your level of ignorance. I have to start somewhere so I will start by ignoring this thread going forward.

Thank you all again and have a lovely week and even better weekend.
Kinds regards
Now very smiley, Richard K

 

[keynes]

I only wish that someday I can reach your level of ignorance.

That really shows what others are trying to highlight whether or not you come from a different country or culture courtesy is something that should be shown. I don't think you are at fault, I think you realised valid points and my advice would be to either request a final RMA and then if you are not happy request a refund. No one that replied to this thread works for PCS and by posting the information you provided (with the tone you used) just allowed others to show their point of view. Whether that was of your liking or not is another issue.

 

[SlimCini]

PCS pay me £10k per month to defend them on the forums, correctamundo

 

[ubuysa]

I can see that you guys do believe that PC specialist have more than enough reasons to treat me the way they do. I’m confident that your point of view would change if I have posted the transcript from all the conversations I had with them along with the emails that followed. But I’m not here to convince you. For the time being I prefer to spend this time exploring this from a legal perspective. There are some laws that protect me. Also they can’t keep my PC forever and based on my experience so far I know what to expect therefore I can make appropriate arrangements.

The other good thing is that you only made me realize even more how sensitive you can be if someone is very direct and calls things the way they are. I’m a straight shooter and by coming from a different culture I might be misunderstood. I only wish that nothing like this happens to any of you.

I wish you all the best.

I'm a native Brit temporarily living in Greece so I well understand how a change of culture can cause communication issues. However, I have to change my attitude when I'm in Greece, I can't expect the Greeks to change to suit me, so I adapt to their culture and way of doing things.

Similarly, you are dealing with a UK company and that means you have to adapt to the UK culture and the UK way of doing business, you cannot expect PCS to adapt to you. Only you know what has taken place between you and PCS but collectively we have several years of experience of PCS's after sales support and the accusations you appear to be making do not reflect the PCS that we know.

If you'll take some advice, in life politeness and calmness almost always gets you what you want faster than aggression and threats. Talking about "exploring the legal perspective" is an example, have you thought about what will happen if you do that? PCS will most likely put the matter in the hands of their lawyers and in the meantime your PC will stay where it is until the matter is resolved - which could take years. Is that what you want?

I wish you well too, I hope your problems are resolved. None of us would want to be in your shoes, having PC problems is not fun, we all know that, but to be brutally frank you're going about resolving your problems in completely the wrong way.

Best wishes.

 

[TCO]

So DwaKilo sees people with 1k+ posts and makes the assumption that's because they're associated with PCS? And there was me thinking that it was because PCS are doing something right, and promoting a community and people like the company and its practices. Only one of us can be right, and I suspect it isn't going to be DwaKilo - sorry.

 

[Pagey]

Ok, I've sat back for long enough, but now I need to interject with my two pennies worth:

There are a few basic rules to consider when dealing with issues with any company:

1) The person with which whom you are complaining to isn't the person who has created the problem, show a little respect, they're only trying to help.

2) Going in feet first hot headed will get you absolutely nowhere, be pleasant at all time, no matter how aggrieved you are.

3) If someone shows you a bad attitude, do not respond in kind, they could be having a bad day. To keep in control of a situation, you NEED to keep a level head.

The above notes just point to the fact that regardless of the issue, if you're nice, people are nice back. And if you're aggressive then others will be too.

I'm sorry you've had issues, but going by what you've said so far, you've only dug yourself a deep hole. Granted I've had a few issues with PCS, but I've been nice about it and that just made things go a lot smoother.

Another thing I must add is the fact that if you're so adamant that there are hardware issues, why didn't you do testing to verify if that was actually the issue. You seem to be competent enough to determine it's a hardware fault but without any real testing to actually confirm the issue. The reason for this is if if you demand that there is a hardware problem only because you say it is so, then if it isn't the actual issue you're basically telling people who work for this company that they have no idea what thy're doing and from my point of view is bad juju.

Anyways, I'm waffling now.

Hopefully everything gets sorted in the end.

Oh yeah, I don't work for PCS in any shape or form, they've been good to me, so I have no beef.

 

[GeorgeHillier]

At the beginning of this thread I was extremely angry with PC Specialist but this has changed. I’ve found some of the points raised on this thread valid for which I am grateful, and some irrelevant. I can see that all the ppl who responded here have 1k+ posts therefore I can’t shake a strong feeling that you are somehow associated with PC Specialist. This also explains why all the valid points I have raised have been quickly ignored and how swiftly you have shifted the focus of this discussion away from the main problem.

I offer you my deepest respects for sticking together so hard and pretending that I’m at fault. It’s rare to see people doing this these days. Actually you guys are doing this so well it made me smile few times and laugh out loud at least once. I can’t express how grateful I am for that. Not sure if that was your intention but you made me feel so much better. I almost forgot about the “anti-support task force”. This is definitely a really pleasant learning curve for me.

I find it counterproductive to spend any more time on this thread when it clearly lacks objectivity therefore I’m not planning to keep an eye on it anymore. There is nothing for me to gain by winning an argument with ppl here who have 1k+ posts. Also I will not post any more evidence simply because this gives the anti-support opportunity to get their stories adjusted and I don't want that. You made your point clear and I will stick to sign-for/recorded mail correspondence from now on.

I only wish that someday I can reach your level of ignorance. I have to start somewhere so I will start by ignoring this thread going forward.

Thank you all again and have a lovely week and even better weekend.
Kinds regards
Now very smiley, Richard K

Only admins are associated with PCS and they won't hide it. We post on the forums to help out. If you want to know what I do I go to uni and have a part time job in a completely different part of the country to PCS, so don't assume things, especially things that will offend people, because once again, it won't help you.

And we're not saying you're at fault, we're trying to help by saying if you're polite and calm then they will be a lot more helpful. You're the ignorant one here, you're so set on believing that everyone treats you worse because you're not English, which is ridiculous. As ubuysa said different countries do business differently, that's why we're saying to keep calm when talking to them, but no one would ever be treated worse because of their ethnic background. They treated you worse because you treated them worse.

The same is happening on this thread now, you've decided to become aggressive towards us when we were trying to help and raise valid points. At no point did we say "PCS did nothing wrong and your computer is working fine, this is all your fault!", we pointed out that it would be both a software and hardware problem then proceeded to give advice on how to approach the customer service team, so if you can tell me at what point any of us blamed you for the broken computer then go ahead, but i can tell you none of us did.

This is the reason you're being treated worse, not because of your ethnic background, but because you as a person are assuming everyone is against you and treating them like that from the start.

Just a side note, In the UK a member of staff can refuse service to anyone becoming aggressive or treating employees in an unkind manner, so that's the exact reason you were being handled the way you were. If someone came into my place of work and accused me of being racist or any other form of discrimination I would ask them to leave and my managers would back me up, just as the people at PCS are more than entitled to do, but they haven't, because they still want to get the problem resolved.

 

[GeorgeHillier]

PCS pay me £10k per month to defend them on the forums, correctamundo

Only £10k a month?! Must be because you're from another country and they favor you less then!

 

[moosEh]

Sadly this forum is not an official medium of support so we are unable to take a complain on the forum further, I believe my colleague has taken up your complaint and has been responding to you regarding the issues you have raised.

As a final point I can confirm (apart from sending people coal) 99% of members on this forum are not PC Specialist employees, only Administrators are. I will now lock the thread.

Edit: I have unlocked the thread to allow for DwaKilo's response as the system has now been collected from us in person.