I have nothing good to say about my PC World / KnowHow experience. I bought an expensive HP Envy all-in-one computer in March 2017. It went wrong within 4 months. In summary, I should have,bought from John Lewis for their service: I recommend that you do too. Here's the debacle:
On Friday July 7th, I take the PC into a local PCWorld upon advice from calling KnowHow; the touch-screen has gone haywire. It's all smiles, they package it up and I'm told it should be back by around the 15th. Fair enough.
When it's not back, despite the online system telling me it is fixed, I call KnowHow. Apparently, KnowHow don't repair HP computers and it has to be sent off to HP via the store where I dropped it off. OK, so this is the first sign that PC World does not know what it is doing. I would have assumed that something that basic (that is, they don't repair HP) would be known by the staff. So I wait and assume that PC World is organised enough to get that done.
Monday 16th, I drop into the store to ask how things are going. The chap calls KnowHow and after I have to explain to them that the PC was supposed to be going to HP, they finally somehow figure it out and agree. Clearly, whatever system they are using is not that clear and easy to use. So I'm getting concerned now. The chap in the shop says that the PC will be delivered back to the store and that they will call me when it is in because apparently, I have to give them the OK to send it to HP. Now it's getting rather complicated.
I hear nothing. I call KnowHow on Saturday 22nd July. After explaining what should have happened to the guy on the phone (that is, the PC should have been delivered back to the store) after consulting whatever he needed to consult, he agrees and explains there is good news and bad news. The bad news: "your PC still has not been sent back to the store sir". So that's about two weeks it has sat there doing nothing. The good news: "we will write the PC off and you can have a voucher". I declined this on the phone and said that I would go back to the store to discuss what "getting a voucher" actually meant before agreeing to it. Regardless, the guy explained that he would put on the system that a voucher should be made available.
So I go into the store and explain the situation on Monday 24th and to discuss a voucher. We all go through the same issues of the call centre not knowing that the PC should have been sent back to the store, or that a voucher had been discussed. The manager of the store discusses the issue with the call centre and explains that I will be contacted by phone or email and that a voucher will be available in the next few days.
I hear nothing, I see nothing. Today, is now late afternoon Thursday 27th July. I call Know How again. There is no record of the voucher being requested on my first call. I call back, and this operative still cannot see that a voucher has been requested. I ask that I would like my money back and she says that she'll call back with details of how to do that. I strongly doubt this will happen at all. So far I am right.
So here I am: I have no computer, and PC World has no clue what it is doing.
Quite frankly, the PC is less than 6 months old and so according to my consumer rights (don't you hate it when you have to refer to these because of an incompetent retailer?), I can have my money back in full. So thats' where we are. I'm waiting for the last operative to call me back to explain how I get my money back.
PC World, if you read this, you should hang your head in shame. This is Class A incompetence. I will never, ever, buy anything from you again following this.
If you are even considering buying something, especially something as critical as a computer, then don't believe the hype of PC World and the KnowHow service. This KnowHow is just a way to get customers to actually pay for what is theirs by right. Thinking about it, why should youI pay for being able to return a faulty item? If it is broken, just take it back to the store and ask for your money back or agree a replacement.
Please, avoid PC World like the plague.