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News PC World profits slump

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 11 Apr 2008.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

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  2. Amon

    Amon inch-perfect

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    PC who? Curry what?
    I've never heard if either of them :confused::duh:
     
  3. RTT

    RTT #parp

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    YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY :D when will they die and rid my tv of their god awful adverts?
     
  4. MrWillyWonka

    MrWillyWonka Chocolate computers galore!

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    Maybe, perhaps just possibly if PCWord gave out proper advice and sold proper computers and components with proper online prices perhaps just possibly more people would shop there!

    Now there's an idea!
     
  5. Leitchy

    Leitchy Minimodder

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    It was Currys that gave me the best offer on the Samsung 50" TV I've got. The cheapest online was only 30 quid cheaper than it was in store. I think there is still a big market for 'physical' stores like Currys and PCworld for the more expensive goods. Atleast you can take it back to a store less than 10 miles away if things go wrong!"
     
  6. Paradigm Shifter

    Paradigm Shifter de nihilo nihil fit

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    Well, a drop in profits is not a good thing, sure... but it's hardly the end of the world, as long as there still is a profit.

    PC World have been pretty decent recently; I bought my HDTV there as they were the same price as online (but wouldn't add the shipping costs) and a good £300 cheaper than any of the other high-street retailers. They also honoured their "webprice" for a couple of items that were expensive for their instore price, but rivalled or bettered e-tailers when the online price was used... and again, no cost of shipping.

    Being able to take something back to a physical store has it's advantages, too, as Leitchy says... return shipping costs for some things really start to add up.
     
  7. Boldar

    Boldar Minimodder

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    I don't know...

    Prices that miraculously increase between the shelf price and the till price, boxes on display only to find after a ten minute wait at the till that there's none in stock and the incessant demand for more and more personal data for less and less good reason, who's surprised punters are voting with their feet?
     
  8. Shadow_101

    Shadow_101 Minimodder

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    Die, PC World, Die ?

    While I realize PCWorld/Currys can never really offer the cut prices of online stores, there is reason. For example about 5-6 years ago I was building my first network at home, I was looking at network kit from net gear for £32 online, in the PCWorld Store it was £99.99 and that was a "Special Offer". That’s more than a reasonable price hike!

    Also Maplin should die a slow and painful death imo, £14.99, for a D-sub to DVI converter. That are what, worth 50p? £1?
     
  9. naokaji

    naokaji whatever

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    I hope they die, the faster the better, we need a real computer shop not that rubbish.
     
  10. Paradigm Shifter

    Paradigm Shifter de nihilo nihil fit

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    If that happens, it's quite easy to take the price label off the shelf (or get one of the staff to come look at the label) and kick up a stink if the till magically makes it more expensive. ;)

    ...

    Maplin are pretty bad too - but it does depend greatly on what you want to buy. They overcharge for the most silly stuff, but then other items are cheap. Same as everywhere else, to be honest - you need to shop around. :)
     
  11. BigD79

    BigD79 Gadding about...

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    Only every purchased twice from there.
    Once brought a cheap replacement GFX card after my last one fried in order to stop my COD:UO withdrawal symptoms! Only about 1 – 1 ½ years ago!
    And second to get a HDMI cable to try the PS3 out on a HDTV.
    But yeah they aint' great places to go for puta stuff, perhaps they'll buck their ideas up.
     
  12. Fod

    Fod what is the cheesecake?

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    the prices, yes, they're expensive. they'll never be as cheap as online as they have staff to pay and buildings to maintain, so it's only fair that you would pay a bit extra. BUT a lot of the time the price difference is exorbitant. The fact that every time i have gone there the staff have behaved utterly stupidly and came across badly trained and under-paid doesn't really make me want to spend the extra dollar there in order to make an informed decision, either.

    Drop the prices a fair amount, train the staff so as to be able to 1) serve the customer without coming across an imbecile and 2) actually answer questions at least semi-intelligently rather than (seriously! they did this to me once) MAKING STUFF UP, and the place would become decent.

    Currys is just crap and should die, on the other hand.
     
  13. herbs

    herbs Nobody but us chickens

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    Currys price match my arse, they agreed to pricematch argos on my camcorder then refused to knock the 10% difference off, although there was a big sign that stated that they would. The only stuff I buy from the DSG group are cheap stuff that is only a £ or 2 difference, the mark up on cables is amazing.
     
  14. frontline

    frontline Punish Your Machine

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    Out of date products sold at above recommended retail prices? No surprise there...
     
  15. AlexB

    AlexB Web Nerd

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    I was in PC world less than 3 months ago. We were looking for a laptop for my wife. We knew we were going to buy online, but wanted to see the quality and finish of the laptops in person. When asked if we needed help, we said no, as we didn't want to waste anyone's time as we weren't buying.

    Now, whilst we were looking at a few of the laptops, a japanese man came in and spoke to a sales assistant on the floor, asking 'what's the best laptop I can get for £1000'. He was clearly in the market for one, well dressed etc. He asked about what to look for in the spec of a laptop, and if the guy could reccomend him anything in particular.

    The sales assistant simply said 'the details are on the bits of paper', pointed to the little flap of paper stuck to the shelf next to each laptop, and looked blankly at the man.

    The man asked again, explaining that he didn't know much about laptops, and that he would like help choosing. The assistant responded in the same fashion. "Everything you need to know is on the spec sheet".

    Then he walked off, leaving the japanese man to look at the laptops on his own, beamused.

    No wonder they aren't making any money.

    Also, the spec sheets do NOT cover all the details. They mention processor (Dual Core!, not megahertz), the Ram, and the Hard Drive. They give no mention to graphics, accessories, ports, or any other information that might be needed for anyone spending a serious amount of cash on a laptop.

    Useless.
     
  16. Shielder

    Shielder Live long & prosper!

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    Go on, I'm dying to know...

    Andy
     
  17. MrWillyWonka

    MrWillyWonka Chocolate computers galore!

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    One of the things at PC that really annoys me is the lack of knowledge and fobbing people off. Once such incident is such that a customer went to the PC World service desk complaining the computer is slow. Right in front of me, the PC World employee was telling the customer it needed more memory and explaining the (outragous) price plans for a memory upgrade. The employee did not even check the computer specs or whether it may be spyware/virus, on the front of the computer facing me was the spec sticker clearly stating 2GB of RAM. I doubt the customer needed more memory.

    Likewise their customer support is utter crap. It took almost 3 months for PC World to replace a failed HDD in my brother's laptop last year (thread about it here I think). A 2m USB cable costs £14.99. They target the unknowledgable with their non-knowledge.

    The problem with the UK that PC-World is practically the only PC chain around. Bit-Tech would do well to create their own high street store :D
     
  18. Brett89

    Brett89 Minimodder

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    That's why I keep spares, for just such emergencies. Though, I did happen to buy a X700 PRO, generic ATi guise, for 200 USD, from Best Buy. I probably could've gotten a X800 online for that, though here they are knowledgeable to some degree.
     
    Last edited: 11 Apr 2008
  19. rewind

    rewind What's a Dremel?

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    Serves them right for being crap, employing muppets, being massively over prices, having poor choice, having a support department who feel they are better than you despite only working in a shop and sit behind a glass wall doing nothing and making you wait, not really taking advantage of the huge games market by never putting games out on time or having the latest releases, pricing them high and not having them arranged so you can find anything and generally being unaware of the industry they play in and being behind the curve on trends, only selling older components such as graphics cards at the price they were at 2 years ago while still telling people they are cutting edge........ I could but won't go on.

    I love putting PC World down because frankly, they deserve it.
     
  20. neillyb

    neillyb What's a Dremel?

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    I work for Currys part-time and I can assure you that we're not all muppets, but thanks for tarring us all with the same brush. I'm openly honest with my customers; I tell them about avast! instead of touting them Norton, I don't offer them any nonsensically priced USB cables and try to give them what they need in a laptop / home computer, not some quad-cored powerhouse for "browsing the net and doing homework."
     
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