PCSpecialist - what opinions by customers?

[Muvizu_Man]

My past three computers were built for me to my specification by a company in Bradford. They've now grown and seem very reluctant to continue dealing with small one-off orders, so I'm look around for a business which can build me a new machine.

I landed on PCSpecialist as a result of Googling and was very impressed .... until I then found some truly ghastly one-star reviews on DooYoo. This has seriously dented my initial enthusiasm so here's my question .....

I'm guessing that many members of this forum will have bought from PCSpecialist. If you did so by providing them with your preferred specification and then asked them to comment, quote and build - how satisfied have you been with the outcome?

 

[Sleinous]

On a scale of 1 to 10? Ten.

All i'd say is this, there are absolutely thousands of reviews out there, all floating around, and, some threads have way more negative than positive while others (like one I read yesterday) didnt have one negative. Personally i'm thrilled to bits by their service. Its not just the actual build quality, its all the tidly details like, not overcharging on 0844 numbers, including the spare screws that come in yoru case, tieing all cables back neatly, sending you a text message when DHL have collected the parcel from them, or when theyve sent out an RMA'd product to you.

Then there's the friendly bunch. There's Gorman whom however much I try to annoy, never quite blows up There's Meds who's always reminding me about how obsessed I am about HDDs, there's PCS who's always in the forums day in day out, amending and improving my sig just to name a few.

Anyway enough from me, lets see what others think.

 

[PCS]

Our average rating on dooyoo is 4/5 stars. If you read the 1* reviews on dooyoo - you'll see that the majority are from 2006 and 2007 when we were a much smaller company and expanding rapidly. Also - don't forget that there is a huge silent majority of customers who have purchased from us, but if there is nothing wrong, you never hear from them. We are now one of the largest UK based system integrators and specialists in our area. We always try to provide the best possible service and have been trading for 8 years now. Before making any decisions, please read more reviews here:

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/testimonials/ - 1,502 genuine testimonials backed by email addresses
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews106007.html
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/www_pcspecialist_co_uk__6267622/SortOrder/2

 

[Sleinous]

Ye thats another good point I forgot to add, that in all businesses, only those that have problems, or those that have questions, will make themselves known

 

[Tom DWC]

I landed on PCSpecialist as a result of Googling and was very impressed... until I then found some truly ghastly reviews. This has seriously dented my initial enthusiasm.

While external review sites such as this can be somewhat useful in that they help you reach a decision in regards to a product/company, they also share one fundamental flaw - in general, people are much more likely to write a review online when they've had a bad experience than if they'd had a good one. It's a quick and easy way to express frustration in the heat of the moment and let off steam. The content also tends to be slightly exaggerated. Now I'm not saying they should be discredited completely (of course they shouldn't) though treated with a degree of caution. Such reviews may be true, but they may also be false and written with the sole purpose of discrediting another product/company. All in all, a resource, but not the only resource.

 

[RichardW]

until I then found some truly ghastly one-star reviews on DooYoo

there are few if any online companies that don't have those, there's always an element of risk with buying from a company from the first time, I do look at reviews having been stung a few times over the years, I always look for reports about the quality of customer service in case things go wrong.

I recently used a game retailer that has plenty of very positive reviews, and after one purchase would never use them again, I wouldn't be too worried about a few bad ones, I was in the same boat when I bought about 18 months ago, but lots of 1 or 2 stars usually makes me look elsewhere.

 

[Deklore]

Hi Muvizu_Man,
Hopefully all the comments above has swayed your decision. If not then let me say that i have had 2 previous purchases from PCSpecialist over the past 4yrs. (Only reason im back is, i am purchasing a desktop replacement).
The build quality, service, communication, and after sales service are second to none. Period. Before i discovered pcspecialist i did purchase from the other "big pc companies" so i am going back quite a number of years.
Seriously man, you wont regret purchasing from these guys and you wont look at anyone else once you do.

Oh by the way, this is my first post (just registered to post this) but i am one of the many silent (well not silent anymore) but satisfied customers that you normally never hear from.

 

[Sleinous]

Another point to add is the price. A friend of mine is going to be getting a new PC soon, and, they showed me this PC they found on PC World. £899 for an Intel i7 860, and a 5350 graphics card. How coudl tehy call it a gaming pc? RAM - brandless, no speed information, PSU, no brand, no wattage. All youre told is disk space, cpu, and graphics card occasionally.

Anyway, so I said, ok, let me try and price up the same thing on PCS. First problem: PCS don't stock the i7 860, only i7 870 minimum (better CPU) so ok I selected that, then I selected same GPU, etc etc, the build went from £899 to just over £640... big diffrence dontcha think? Not only that but you know what RAM youre getting and what PSU...+ wattage. Now if I manage to convince 'em not to get a 5830 GPU as thats not exactly top notch for gaming, the extra budget could be spent on a pc that is easily going to be way better than the pc world one.

 

[Gorman]

Hi Muvizu_Man,
Hopefully all the comments above has swayed your decision. If not then let me say that i have had 2 previous purchases from PCSpecialist over the past 4yrs. (Only reason im back is, i am purchasing a desktop replacement).
The build quality, service, communication, and after sales service are second to none. Period. Before i discovered pcspecialist i did purchase from the other "big pc companies" so i am going back quite a number of years.
Seriously man, you wont regret purchasing from these guys and you wont look at anyone else once you do.

Oh by the way, this is my first post (just registered to post this) but i am one of the many silent (well not silent anymore) but satisfied customers that you normally never hear from.

Hello Deklore and Welcome!

 

[Saivishal]

Got my lappy from PCS yesterday and I must Say Im impressed.
Its a Fab piece of Kit and works like a dream. Dont be swayed by a couple of negative reviews.
Always look at the weighted average (100 good, 2 bad) heh.. Theres not much thinking to do here eh

 

[Sleinous]

Got my lappy from PCS yesterday and I must Say Im impressed.
Its a Fab piece of Kit and works like a dream. Dont be swayed by a couple of negative reviews.
Always look at the weighted average (100 good, 2 bad) heh.. Theres not much thinking to do here eh

Another well built laptop successfully delivered

 

[Gorman]

Another well built laptop successfully delivered

Please dont say things like this, our laptop guy has ego issues already and if he reads this he will get worse.

Then we will have to have him put down and it will be all your fault.

 

[Sleinous]

Please dont say things like this, our laptop guy has ego issues already and if he reads this he will get worse.

Then we will have to have him put down and it will be all your fault.

Rumour has it that after a brisk chat with you Gorman, mr laptop guy needs his ego repumped Ouay!

 

[skylizard]

like the poster I've also read good and bad reviews, while I can dismiss some of the negative, there are the few bad points which should not be mentioned:
1: Poor tech support and after sales service, especially on brand new systems... hear it too often, once they have your money that's it, not interested anymore...
2: Paying for telephone tech support support when you've just paid for 3yr warrenty's etc... if my system breaks in the first few days I should not be paying money to get it sorted out
3: Build quality.. now this one baffalled me, are they not a custom build pc company, so why are people complaining about poorly put together systems??

while someone posted, take negative reviews with a pinch of salt, it's because of the above ppl are p1ssed off and are usually more accurate than what companies would like known to customers...

after that little bit off my chest, what to do, use them or don't use them..... just about to pay £1500, but vital i have no issues, no job in a month and vital for training till next role comes along...

 

[Sleinous]

Where do you see build quality complaints?
Just wondering. Yes, there will always be hiccups because noone's perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Its how you deal with them afterwards that is important.

 

[Gorman]

like the poster I've also read good and bad reviews, while I can dismiss some of the negative, there are the few bad points which should not be mentioned:
1: Poor tech support and after sales service, especially on brand new systems... hear it too often, once they have your money that's it, not interested anymore...
2: Paying for telephone tech support support when you've just paid for 3yr warrenty's etc... if my system breaks in the first few days I should not be paying money to get it sorted out
3: Build quality.. now this one baffalled me, are they not a custom build pc company, so why are people complaining about poorly put together systems??

while someone posted, take negative reviews with a pinch of salt, it's because of the above ppl are p1ssed off and are usually more accurate than what companies would like known to customers...

after that little bit off my chest, what to do, use them or don't use them..... just about to pay £1500, but vital i have no issues, no job in a month and vital for training till next role comes along...

1. Our after sales service is what our business is built on, there may well be rants out there due to the simple fact you cannot win them all. The vast majority of our customers never have an issue and those that do get it resolved. Anyone claiming that any company is not interested after they have got the sale is suspicious, in the UK thats not legal.

2.The only part of the telephone support that is to pay for is the cost of the call, which is lo-call rate. And this is for the lifetime of the PC no matter what level of warranty you go for. Our call centre currently provides free technical support over the phone or email etc for every single customer we have had since the company started.

3.Our build quality is very high, as a company we have no interest in cutting corners with builds as i refer to point 1. If something goes wrong with the machine it will just come back to us.

 

[Deklore]

Actually, i have an issue with my pc when it was delivered.
It came packaged well, but when i took it out, there was a hideous piece of masking tape on it with some 4yr olds writing on it. It ruined the whole product and i was tempted to return it there and then

But back on topic, i (probably like others on here) have had experience with a number of other companies and i do not hesitate to say PCSpecialists have the best after sales service to date. If i ever come across a company that has better i'll be sure to let you know.

 

[skylizard]

1. Our after sales service is what our business is built on, there may well be rants out there due to the simple fact you cannot win them all. The vast majority of our customers never have an issue and those that do get it resolved. Anyone claiming that any company is not interested after they have got the sale is suspicious, in the UK thats not legal.

2.The only part of the telephone support that is to pay for is the cost of the call, which is lo-call rate. And this is for the lifetime of the PC no matter what level of warranty you go for. Our call centre currently provides free technical support over the phone or email etc for every single customer we have had since the company started.

3.Our build quality is very high, as a company we have no interest in cutting corners with builds as i refer to point 1. If something goes wrong with the machine it will just come back to us.

Thanks for the reply, I'll hold you to everything you said

PS: just revised some items and the final price comes to £1,666, if that's not an omen then I don't know what is... for me a good omen...

 

[scorpio66]

My Pc is due to arrive tomorrow from PCS, and up to this point I have been very impressed with every aspect of this company.
What initially swung it for me was the number of positive testimonials. ALL with supplied email addresses. Beats the usual testimonials, ie: B.S from Wigan, Sue from Leeds etc. (Like they are real testimonials!).
I'll add to this post when my PC arrives, but price wise, and service wise, so far A1.

 

[skylizard]

Where do you see build quality complaints?
Just wondering. Yes, there will always be hiccups because noone's perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Its how you deal with them afterwards that is important.

Don't recall off hand..sorry....
I did a google at company name and reviews, and there are a lot of sites with customer reviews... so was looking at quiet a few.