Computer problemo

Tusky

Im posting this here on behalf of a friend. You may remember a thread here about 6 weeks ago about a 3.5k pc bought from overclockers.co.uk. Basically the power supply blew and smoke came out of the pc within a week of receiving it. After many phone calls and emails with overclockers they told my friend to post it back to them..they said that it was too expensive to use a courier. When asked would they cover any damage that happened in transit they said they would.

Well after 6 weeks he has received the pc...and its battered. One half of the case is plastic so you can see inside and its completely shattered. The case is bent and battered all over. The fans and grating at the front are all out of place and the top of the case is really loose. Its obviously been thrown around in the post.

At first when he turned it on it started up for about 5 seconds and then turned off again. Now, it has started to turn on properly but displays a black screen with - Verifying DMI.Pool Data - Boot from CD : Disc boot failure insert system disc and press enter"

question 1: I take It I need to download windows(he has a valid cd key) and put it on a disc to get past this ?

Secondly, the USB ports seem to be acting up. The keyboard he has glows when its plugged in via USB. At the moment it only glows when its plugged in half way and pressing the keys doesn't seem to do anything...its unresponsive. We have tried it in each USB port with the same result and have also tried a couple of different keyboards.

He has decided hes not going to send it back to overclockers because they are too difficult to deal with and it will take another 6 weeks to get the pc back. What should he do ? Download windows and try install it ? Can yea recommend anywhere to fix it if he cant... ? I understand how the pc could have been physically damaged during transit but how has it managed to wreck windows as well ?

All help much appreciated.

TerrorFirmer

What are you doing even entertaining this idea of getting it running again in its condition? If I received an item in that conditition, after the supplier has insisted on using the postal system, I'd be looking to speak to a manager, and for his name. Madness....as if you (rather, he) hadn't spent enough money with them.

Tusky

HavoK wrote:

What are you doing even entertaining this idea of getting it running again in its condition? If I received an item in that conditition, after the supplier has insisted on using the postal system, I'd be looking to speak to a manager, and for his name. Madness....as if you (rather, he) hadn't spent enough money with them.

Yeah, I agree with you. Although I can see his point of view also. He just wants/needs to use his pc and cant really afford any more downtime. Also, it literally took about 15 phonecalls and and 10 emails to send the pc back in the first place. They will not let you speak to a manager, he had the same problem first time round.

They told him to get a quote for a courier, he got a quote and sent them an email with the price for bringing it to them and back. They sent back this in an email.

"thats too much"

They didnt on elaborate on how much they would cover or give any other advise. When he emailed again to find out how much they would actually cover they sent back another email saying.

"sorry, thats too expensive"

V.frustrating.

Sully

Hi,

Most of those conditions could easily be caused by the battering that the PC has got during its travels. The problem your reffering to could be caused by damaged hardware, loose cables, etc. Describing the events leading to the delivery - its very likely that this is the cause of the problem. If its not a hardware being damaged issue, then it will still take time to look at other causes and repair.

Your friend should not have accepted delivery by postal and should have insisted they use either their courrier or the one he got. Its a matter for Consumer Issues rather then this section. They violated their terms of the sale and he needs to look into and not be made a fool of.

Yes, im sure he wants the PC back asap but is it really worth bothering? Buy a new one from another company who respects their customers and have it in a a few days max. It will be worth it in the end. Ask for a full refund from the company he bought it from.

Seriously OP, dont bother trying to repair it - sort it out with the company. Probably better of in Consumer Issues now

Good luck and keep us informed.

Kintarō Hattori

Absolutely agree with the other guys Tusky, you can't possibly let overclockers away with this. I work in retail myself and that's SHOCKING customer care. I know it's frustrating not having a working PC but you really need to pursue these guys. Harass them, be a cúnt on the phone, emails, letters. Keep at them, hound them, wear them down. If that doesn't solve things then threaten legal action. They are in the wrong, they know it and if your adament about it eventually they'll back down.

Tusky

I agree with both of you. When I first heard he has posted it back I told him that he shouldn't have accepted that and should have demanded a courier. I can understand why he did it though, he was getting nowhere with them from phones and emails. They would take days to reply to emails and would reply with one word answers and were completely unhelpful. At the end of the day they sold him a faulty product and if they sell worldwide they need to offer customer support worldwide.

The problem is when you ring in you are only getting through to a call center type situation. They know very little and refuse to put you on to a manager.

Sully

Tusky; Either way, there are laws against what the company is doing. If he rings and they refuse to put him onto a supervisor (which he has a right to do) - politley inform them if they refuse one more time, he will take legal action against them.

If he says "he/she will get back to you", well you can either demand to be put onto him immediately or say "if he doesnt within the next X hours, I will inneciate legal proceedings."

You can also inform the company via email - try searching the web to get a particular email for CEO/Management.

Always take details such as time of call, details of call, and who he/she spoke to. Probably could contact the Consumers Assocation of Ireland for assistance to, but the lads over in Consumer Issues will assist further.