PC World Repairs

tk123

Hi All,

My 1 month old laptop is telling me the HD is going to die - failure is immenent!! but its ok cos i've made a back up. Anyhoo I got the laptop a Toshiba Satelite A30 from PC World...I was just wondering if any of you guys have dealt with PC World's tech support and what they are like? I'm assuming they're not going to be able to swap out the HD themselves - so if anyone has brought back a laptop how long did you have to wait or do you think they'd just swap the laptop??/
it's funny but since i work in IT i'm used to things going pear shaped so I'm not too freaked out! :rolleyes:

joePC

Well if its under warrenty I'd say it will be shiped out to the the manufacture for fixing.

Bummer tho 1 month old, I'd demand a new laptop

Thanks JoePC:D

KdjaCL

Well i overheard this last time i was in ,some indian dr was being told his hard drive had wiped its self.
He said he only brought it in beacuse the monitor was funky, didnt know any better methinks.
Young tech dude was trying to explain that these things happen and that drives are known to just wipe themselves and all info thats on it.
THEN tells him to reinstall windows with the Drs OWN cds it would cost him €50.

I was a bit shocked after all they are technicians but then agian these the same people who told me there was no such thing as a laptop HD to IDE converter or a male A USB to male A.

Be careful and make sure you note the serial on your HD in case its comes back. If Smart is saying its going to die ,its going to die and they may format it and say its ok.

kdjac

wes

Have fun with dealing with PC World. Its a pain to have anything fixed by them (well from my experience). If they send it out you will get it back in anywhere from a week to 6 weeks and with some luck they won't botch the job. I may have to talk to them myself if my laptop keeps on over heating.

tk123

noooooooo!! guys your not filling me with confidence here!! Anyhoos i'm going to wipe it and use the recovery disk in case they try that..also i don't want them messing with my stuff!! I'm going to call them tomorrow...I'll let you all know how I get on...

L5

Make sure u dont do a gary glitter and have child porn on it like he did when bringing it into PC World for repair!

SantaHoe

Just do the replacement yourself, it's not really that hard.
The only difficult bit is figuring out how to open the laptop, be it popping off the keyboard panel to find screws underneath or whatever.
Have a marker ready to put a dot or a slash on things so you know how they fit back in.
That's if you feel confident enough to do it, and don't mind blowing your warranty (if you have one), in which case why are you dealing with them in the first place?
Did you buy it there or something?

Tbh, I wouldn't pay a penny to anyone if it's a brand new laptop... the company you purchased it from should sort you out with a repair.

tk123

Yup SantaHoe I got it in PC World.....

Sleipnir

You'll have a year warranty on it so just bring it in and get them to replace the HD.
It only takes a few minutes to actually install the HD, then they'll have to put windows on it.
If they try to charge you, start roaring.
If your brand new car broke after a month what would you say to the dealer if they told you you'd have to pay for the repair?

Occidental

I presume Ghosting the old drive would be beyond the realm of thought in PC World.

aaf

Originally posted by Occidental
I presume Ghosting the old drive would be beyond the realm of thought in PC World.

They'd probably get scared if you mentioned a ghost!! :eek:

Deadwing

From what ive heard you can get those smart hard drive failure imminent messages for over a year before anything will actually go wrong with your hdd, so id make some backups but wouldnt go formatting it or returning it until it actually has failed.

thesteve

I used to work as a tech in compustore and one of my mates is in pc world so i'm quite familiar with the process behind these problems...

THEN tells him to reinstall windows with the Drs OWN cds it would cost him €50

this machine was out of waranty and a standard reinstall costs this price, if it was a software problem caused by user error (not updating anti virus definitions, etc) this is also not covered by the waranty... this is generally to try and get the customer to open his eyes, read the manual and realise its as simple as putting the cd in and booting off it... if they did it for free, everyone would be bringing their PC back in

My 1 month old laptop is telling me the HD is going to die - failure is immenent

if it's within 30 days you're entitled to a replacement, if it's just over it and you push hard, you might get one also...
otherwise the PC will have to be sent to the manufacturer to replace the hard drive, they won't do it instore because it's a waranty repair and manufacturers are pricks when it comes to these, basically they don't trust the technicians

If they send it out you will get it back in anywhere from a week to 6 weeks

this is true unfortunately, one thing to make sure is when you bring it in and tell them the HD is nackered, get them to check it and log the call to the manufacturer straight away, if not them it'll sit in a pile, waiting its turn to be seen, and then they'll place the call, adding another few days onto your waiting time for no reason... when the call is placed, the manufacturer sends out a courier to collect it and this can sometimes take two days so I'd recommend bringing it in at the start of the week

Just do the replacement yourself, it's not really that hard

DON'T DO THIS... if you do, you'll void your waranty!!!

From what ive heard you can get those smart hard drive failure imminent messages for over a year before anything will actually go wrong with your hdd, so id make some backups but wouldnt go formatting it or returning it until it actually has failed.

true but it's in waranty now, if you wait the year and it fails, they'll charge for the hard drive and the installation


if I can be of any other help just shout

steve

whosurpaddy

tbh they are the biggest bunch of clowns i ever had the misfortune to deal with. bought a pc there years ago when i knew nothing. had a hdd crash and didnt get my machine back for ages while trying to finish college year doing all projects on an old p1 not fun.

you had to wait on their phone lines for 30 mins avg to get through no matter what time of day. the staff would never know what was going on, and would just say anything to you to fob you off, blatent lies sometimes. supervisors were as bad.

and that was their good points avoid at all costs.

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by Sleipnir
You'll have a year warranty on it so just bring it in and get them to replace the HD.
It only takes a few minutes to actually install the HD, then they'll have to put windows on it.
If they try to charge you, start roaring.
If your brand new car broke after a month what would you say to the dealer if they told you you'd have to pay for the repair?

hehe. you think they'l do it for him on the spot.

tk123

:mad: I just rang the repair helpline in England(i think) anyhoo the guy says "oh you'll get another 9 months so call us back when it breaks" I said I wanted it sorted now and he was no help so I rang the shop in Liffey Valley - no joy either I'm waiting for them to ring me back....I got it on interest free credit so maybe i'll tell them I'm not paying my installments until this is sorted!!

KdjaCL

Get the utility disc from whoever made the HD and scan it to make sure SMART is ok.

kdjac

gaui3d0pnbz86o

You'll have a year warranty on it so just bring it in and get them to replace the HD.

cant happen. they dont stock laptop hard drives, or replacement parts for warrenty machines, all parts must be ordered in, to order a part in, the part number + serial number of orgional part must be given and faulty part is sent back. this part is then shipped from the uk, english store and all ya know

as stated above, software is not covered by a manafactires warrenty, if you want someone to remaster your machine it'll cost.

all toshiba repairs under warrenty are done BMS. they are in dublin, and you can bring your tosh laptop with reciept as proof of purchase to them directly, where they will deal with you face to face and itll only take a day or two.

if you leave it in pc world, they are left in a queue in the order they come in and are delt with in that order. you tosh would just be booked with bms about a week-depends on the store, blanchardstown are the slowest, ie have the most machines in to be repaired - after you left it in!

I presume Ghosting the old drive would be beyond the realm of thought in PC World.

looked into this before, and they wont copy your data, period. backups are your respocibably[sp?]

dgarrad

I used to work in PC World Liffey Valley, and I know how annoying it can be when this happens. Luckily Toshiba have the best service in Ireland. All repairs under warranty are handled by a company called Business Management Systems (BMS). They're based in Tallaght, and usually have about a 5 day turnaround. If for any reason PC World are no help, you can give them a ring or drop it in to them yourself, and they'll fix it under warranty. If you're in a rush it would be quicker to bring it there yourself, as they only pick up from the stores about once a week. I can't remember the address of their building, but I'm sure it's in the phonebook, or you could even ring PC World and ask them for the address.

Hope that helps.

tk123

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY thanks guys!!! I rang BMS and they were really helpfull and told me to bring it over to them so I can cut PCWorld out of the equation!

eth0_

I used to work in the repair centre of PC world Blanchardstown when I was in college, there was one guy there, Oliver, he was fantastic and there were never any complaints about him, but there were one or two who shouldn't have been in the job.

I'd sayt he main complaint about their service is the length of time itt akes to get your machine back. Well, that's because machines in warranty are sent off to the manufacturer and THEY'RE the ones who drag their feet

As for replacing that hard drive himself....wtf? The laptop is under a month old - get a replacement!

AdMMM

STAY AWAY FROM PC WORLD AT ALL COSTS!!!

One tech asked me for advice on fixing a computer... I was just buying DVD-r's!

Although some of the techs really do know their stuff!

SantaHoe

Originally posted by thesteve
DON'T DO THIS... if you do, you'll void your waranty!!!

Well I did already mention that.
Damn selective hearing.