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Rant Decline of local Computer Shops

Discussion in 'General' started by TaRkA DaHl, 7 Feb 2013.

  1. TaRkA DaHl

    TaRkA DaHl Modder

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    I always thought that small local privately owned computer shops would do anything to keep your business and would have far superior knowledge and experience to any general call centre monkey working for an e-tailor.

    Oh how I was wrong.

    I went into my local shop (3000rpm in Dundee, not afraid to shame them) and asked for a standard ATX case as cheap as possible. Only for a small project that will be tucked in my loft so looks are not important.

    They brought back a case, said it was £27 and I paid for it, they then provided an invoice for it and I noticed it said mATX on it. I queried it and was told that it does actually fit ATX boards easily and they fit them all the time in it. Assuming that this was either a typo on the invoice or that the case had a front mounted PSU or something I stuck it in the car and went home.

    Upon opening it, it was a bloody mATX case with only space for 4 PCI slots not the standard 7.

    4 mile drive back and told them I needed an ATX case, not an mATX case. Both the manager and colleague proceeded to tell me that it was a standard ATX case and I was wrong, I must of had some 'XL-ATX motherboard or some other non standard format'.

    He even went as far as to say that if I am correct, it means all of his stock must be micro ATX and has been wrong for years, even when I loaded up their own website on their PC and showed them that the case they gave me had form factor listed as micro ATX he didn't believe me.

    I thought local businesses would really want to make any effort to keep customers happy, clearly they have given up on people that know their stuff and just want to scam unwitting customers nowadays. :sigh:

    /rant
     
    mark1903 likes this.
  2. Shirty

    Shirty W*nker! Super Moderator

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    It sounds like they're just muppets.
     
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  3. lilgoth89

    lilgoth89 Captin Calliope

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    yeah local pc shops have really gone downhill
    we have 2 in lichfield and both have gotton basic things wrong and blamed the consumer for it.
    my brothers laptop was shipped with a screw lose inside the case and a cpu not designed for that case, when it went kaput they blamed my brother for the screw ( considering he doesnt know a spanner from his arse i see thats unlikely ) they also told him that CCleaner is malware, and Microsoft security essentials is a virus. and that i ( having built many pcs in the past ) do not know what im talking about, and shouldnt be allowed to touch his laptop again. the other pc shop i went into for a P4 power extender lead ( 4 pin mobo connector ) and i was told that it mearly didnt exist at all, and dispite showing them a google serch on there own computers...was still told that it didnt exist at all

    so yeah i dont trust either of my local computer shops at all, the best i ever used was PCB Plus in Derby, but i belive they have since closed down
     
  4. Teelzebub

    Teelzebub Up yours GOD,Whats best served cold

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    I'm not at all surprised the small computer shops are going out of business, Where I live most don't seem to have a clue there's one I spoke to about 2 years ago that tried to tell me P4's was the latest intel CPU out, Talk about behind the time's :rolleyes:
     
  5. suragh

    suragh Derp

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    Lmao. Heres the thing... I managed to stop my neighbour from being ripped off for something that I could remove within 5 minutes.

    The local computer shop charged her 20 quid to remove her viruses... ermm let me think "grabs Malwarebytes free" :sigh:

    Computer shops are a scam, and thats the sole reason why I have started putting my own business cards in local shops. I can do it far cheaper and quickly and won't ever have an unhappy customer.
     
  6. Nealieboyee

    Nealieboyee Packaging Master!

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    Admittedly, I charged the same. But not just for Malwarebytes. I cleaned his system completely so my price is justified.

    @Teel. Trying to sell you a P4 as the latest cpu isn't stupidity. They are hoping you are dumb enough to believe them and then they will charge you £50 for it.
     
  7. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    But the person who does the work in downloading malwarebytes, installing it, running it, knowing what to do with it has to be paid don't they?

    Depending on the virus, £20 sounds pretty good if they did clean it out. I know I've spent plenty of time on some computers sorting them out.

    Luckily, our local PC shop is pretty good, or has been for everything I've gone in for.


    What would you charge a customer for removing a virus from they're computer?
     
  8. TheBlackSwordsMan

    TheBlackSwordsMan Over the Hills and Far Away

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    Here they closed 5 'Best Buy/Futurshop (Big appliences, TV, PCs etetc) they said online stores injured them badly(ncix, newegg, tiger direct etc etc) :-/ IMHO they killed themself by being absolutely outdated.
     
  9. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    Wouldn't trust the staff of my local computer shop to turn a PC on, let alone do anything with one...
     
  10. suragh

    suragh Derp

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    I have my own license for malwarebytes.

    And that wouldn't come as separate. I normally bundle that with my own AVG license, defragmenting the drive, changing the performance settings/msconfig etc and a demonstration on how to safeguard your PC. All that is near £20. :geek:

    You are very lucky to have someone/computer store you can trust with your computer and knows what he or she is doing. :D
     
  11. Highland3r

    Highland3r Minimodder

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    Supply and demand.

    There are plenty of less tech savvy people out there who have PC's and don't know how to look after/maintain/fix them if they break. Likewise they wouldn't know what to look for in a new machine so may well get ripped off.

    If there are local shops (or even national chains) which offer to "fix" these issues for people who don't have the confidence to do it themselves then they'll get customers.

    As long as said company/person sounds like they know what they're talking about there's a good chance "joe public" will assume they're legit & knowledgeable. Whether they're just blagging/bullshi**ing OR whether they actually believe in what they're saying is besides the point. They'll do/say whatever to get customers and make cash.

    I've only ever found 1 local IT shop which employed skilled/knowledgeable people - people I'd actually be willing to take advice from and discuss problems etc. Unfortunately they were often very busy and lost business to "other" / worse firms who were able to pray upon the uneducated with poor advise.

    This seems to be the way at the moment. Generally unskilled people, spouting bulls**t on topics which they know little/nothing and are unable to accept when they maybe wrong in an attempt to cream money from people. With the advent of Google & the wealth of knowledge the internet may bring, anyone can seem to be an expert in any area......
     
  12. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    I never said I trust them with my PC, :D

    I do all that myself, I just occasionally go and buy bits from them. Did take my sisters laptop to them when it died and I couldn't figure it out. And they did fix it.
     
  13. suragh

    suragh Derp

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    haha sorry.

    Yeah... I mean, I'd be mugged if I went into a place like that near me.

    They don't know what they are doing. It actually makes me wonder if they are certified to do these things.
     
  14. Margo Baggins

    Margo Baggins I'm good at Soldering Super Moderator

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    I dislike local pc shops as much as I dislike pc world. And unfortunately, I dislike people that have been mislead by local pc shops as they chirp a load of garbage like it's gospel and won't listen to reason because "the man in the pc shop said" - suit yourself.

    consumer IT ultimately is balls.
     
  15. Guest-23315

    Guest-23315 Guest

    I remember hearing a woman being convinced to buy an entirely new laptop when Vista came out, "because Microsoft would shut down XP in a month"...
     
  16. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

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    £20 isn't bad.

    As an engineer in a medium sized IT support company, our hourly rates are 60-65 p/h depending on the age of the customers contract.

    I'd charge for virus removal, regardless of the tools used, because it's my time and expertise - That's the aspect that the customer pays for.

    However, the PC shops near me are rip off merchants, the sooner they disappear the better. Selling old hardware as new, using a virus as a reason to sell a new laptop because they can make more off that than a virus removal, generally being ill informed.. They don't deserve to be in business.
     
  17. Pliqu3011

    Pliqu3011 all flowers in time bend towards the sun

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    The worst part is people actually believe everything these guys say, without checking or even thinking rationally.

    I remember getting blamed for the destruction of my aunt's pc. Her cheap no-brand PSU blew up because it was sh*t and the chaps of their local computer store blamed this infamous virus-rootkit-monster called “Minecraft” - which I had put on there because my nephew had been nagging me for months (cheap kid never buys a game if I already have it… :rolleyes:).
    O yeah, they also stole one stick of RAM, the b*******. (the PC had a side panel, so I noticed)
     
  18. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    PC world has improved a bit since the bad old days.

    These days they dont try to upsell Windows every time they can. They also recommend some decent free Anti virus programs when a friend of mine was last in.

    Still charge rip off prices for cleaning and maintaince of a pc though.
     
  19. Lance

    Lance Ender of discussions.

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    Did you get it back?

    I went into my local store asking about a fan controller. "You don't want to get one of those, they're no good for the computer" apparently.

    I just walked out.
     
  20. yodasarmpit

    yodasarmpit Modder

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    Local PC shops are like local car mechanics(garages) and PC World is like Kwik Fit, both as bad as each other.
    If you are not tech savvy you have to trust what you are being told, whilst being charged exorbitant rates.
    This is the same for most of us when it comes to getting the car fixed. Whilst I might be mechanically minded and understand enough about cars, I don't have the tools, space, or expertise to do it myself, therefore I find myself at their mercy.
     
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