Laptopsdirect.ie

thenewdoc

I understand a UK discount laptop company - Laptops Direct have now opened a Dublin branch. It seems that their back office is still in the UK- its sales and admin that are here. Has anyone had direct experience of using this company? Their prices look good and their site looks detailed.

Also, I am thinkin of buying an Acer. Has anyone had experience of their after sales support?

rugbug86

yeah, my uncle had an Acer and it broke (part of the charger broke in the computer) and nobody could fix it. so its lying idle.

Asok

Ahm rugbug thats not an entirely difficult thing to fix where did your uncle take it?

rugbug86

computer centre somewhere. it wasn't as simple as i made it sound. there was a part that snapped and got lodged in the machine and broke something else and wherever he brought it couldn't get the replacement part from Acer cos they didn't sell the part needed for replacement parts.

Asok

Aye I know what your talking about, Have fixed plenty of hp's with that before, usually takes a bit of soldering but the machine will work again. If your in dublin I can take a look

Karoma

Sorry to go back ON topic..
I've had few dealing with Laptop Direct... not the best of impressions were left,tbh... But that could just be my personal experiences.

thenewdoc

Well I went ahead and ordered an Acer Ferrari from LaptopsDirect and although the transaction was processed in sterling I saved about €40 even after delivery. The laptop arrived next working day here in Dublin! I found the Dublin office staff to be helpful and knowledgeable.

Tom Dunne

Hmmm, they seem to have good prices on IBM/Levino. I was looking at Dell, but I utterly lurve IBM , so I might just give them a shout.

Edit:
Just rang them - first impressions are very bad. The guy who answered was simply not interested in the fact that I was buying two laptops. Not interested in the fact that I wanted to upgrade the memory, and utterly dismissive of the fact that we don't use pounds sterling "Well you will just have to do the conversion yourself, won't you?".

Stuff that, I'll take my money to corporate America.

pauldave

thenewdoc wrote:

Also, I am thinkin of buying an Acer. Has anyone had experience of their after sales support?

Bought an acer Travelmate 4100 in Italy euro899 last summer, QWERTY keyboard everything good but they refused to exchange the (unopened) software package for an English version even though i was told by sales rep that it was possible. Acer cust support told me to return it and get a refund. approx
They also told me that I'd have to return to milan for any repairs that needed to be done even though it was a laptop and designed for portability.
And If I changed the OS that it'd invalidate the warranty.

" Either you can return it to its place of purchase in Italy and get a refund or you can purchase an English Windows OS and put that on. The latter option will, unfortunately, invalidate the warranty.

The machine is good quality and have no problems with it apart from the paint/coating is wearing from the left mouse button.
Also the support or warranty/support line is in the UK only there is no support in Ireland so you have to call a UK number. BUMMER
My advice is to look at an option that has support in Eire.

Sorry to be bearer of gloom and doom.
I am happy with the comp otherwise mind the volume is a bit low but not too worried bout that

Moral of the story is never believe what a sales rep tells ya

PD

ianmc38

tom dunne wrote:

Hmmm, they seem to have good prices on IBM/Levino. I was looking at Dell, but I utterly lurve IBM , so I might just give them a shout.

Edit:
Just rang them - first impressions are very bad. The guy who answered was simply not interested in the fact that I was buying two laptops. Not interested in the fact that I wanted to upgrade the memory, and utterly dismissive of the fact that we don't use pounds sterling "Well you will just have to do the conversion yourself, won't you?".

Stuff that, I'll take my money to corporate America.

Sounds like some good customer service.

wet-paint

Eh? Laptopsdirect.ie just gives me the .co.uk site. And I'd be interested in this, I'm getting one from them this week, a Ferrari too.

astec123

Been to their Uk store last week, staff where helpful and allowed me to even test the unit even charge it in the store as I did. So I managed to get it to 100% Not bad for the train journey home! Saved a fortune. I would advise them.

ButtermilkJack

Didn't purchase from them in the end, but that was only because I found the laptop cheaper on digiuk.com

Having said that, the staff were very helpful. Many emails back and forth and they were only too happy to gather quotes and email specs. Shows good customer service if you ask me.

paddylonglegs

Thinking of doing the same as you guys.Getting an Acer from the UK.

One question,if I have a prob with the lappie will I need to send it to UK?

Also what is the warrenty like where ye got it from?

Thanks

chalky

Just found out that they don't accept credit cards from Ireland.
I called them a couple of times, they seemed very friendly and helpful.
I'll be buying a laptop from them within a week so I'll let you know how that goes.

Karoma

paddylonglegs wrote:

Thinking of doing the same as you guys.Getting an Acer from the UK.

One question,if I have a prob with the lappie will I need to send it to UK?

Also what is the warrenty like where ye got it from?

Thanks

Your warranty is with the manufacturer*; as such, it depends on the manufacturer of the laptop that you purchase...

chalky

Just ordered it there. Turns out they do take credit cards (just started apparently).

Karoma

chalky wrote:

Just ordered it there. Turns out they do take credit cards (just started apparently).

Tell them to update their FAQ

FAQ wrote:

Please note we only accept payment by Credit Card if the card is registered in the UK and we are delivering to the same UK address.

.. kinda odd in this day and age.. especially, if the co. goes to the hassle of registering a .ie..

chalky

I called them yesterday to ask them about that and they told me they didn't accept them, it'd have to be a money order. Called them today to order it and they said I could use it. They have to verify it first though. He said they only just started accepting them.

I'll post again when I receive the laptop.

Karoma

They changed the rule for you... If I were you.. I'd be suspecting that you're paying too much

Tom Dunne

Just to add to the confusion - I have an American Express card, so I noticed on their website that they do not accept them. Yet further down the FAQ, they say there is a 2.5% surcharge for using AE. When I rang, I asked them about this and they do in fact accept AE, again, as long as it is a UK AE.

TBH, they seem too amateur an outfit to deal with. As Karoma said, why bother going to the trouble of running a .ie domain and making it incredibly difficult for Irish users to order (if you go to the .ie website you will notice it directs to the .co.uk website, complete with pound sterling prices).

chalky

Well, I got my laptop yesterday morning. 1 day earlier than they told me.
Aside from one small problem* with it, it seems pretty sweet.

*The problem: I've had to perform a system restore already on it. For some reason it stopped recognising the sound card. The sound didn't work at all.
I performed a system restore and everything was Hunky Dory again.

Tom Dunne

Just a quick update on these guys.

I purchased a laptop off them last week, and I am typing this on it right now.

Can't complain - the ordering process was painless, especially since they now take Irish credit cards. Got it today, a new IBM Thinkpad Centrino.

No complaints so far. They are updating the website with more Ireland-centric information I am told.