I am writing to inform of a worrying support experience I have had today with Best Price Computers Ltd.
I bought a A17/1200 PC from them nine months ago and have recently experienced a serious boot-up problem because of hardware failure. After ringing to say could I drop the PC at their offices (because as a small business I need my computer up and running asap) I visited them this morning - one hour from where I live in St Albans.
The Best Price warranty is based on stickers covering two edges of the unit. The text on the stickers states that removal of these stickers will invalidate the warranty. These stickers had not been touched on my machine because;
1) I had three months of warranty left and
2) I didn't know how serious/costly this problem was going to be
3) I don't go inside PC's unless I can really help it.
I brought the PC into a room at their East Lane office and was meet by one of their young technicians. He took the PC and noted down the details of the problem. He asked whether it was still under warranty and I said yes and he checked the seals. He seemed happy that there was no problem - or didn't say anything. I was just preparing to leave while he was filling in the receipt paperwork, and I went upstairs to the toilet.
When I came down I was meet by the supervisor who said that there was a problem with the warranty. I said I didn't understand why and he showed me one the two stickers had been cut. I was incredulous, I had entered the building with a PC and two untouched labels and now 5 minutes after leaving the PC it was not the case. The Best Price supervisor wouldn't look me in the eyes and I rapidly lost my cool. He claimed that I had broken the warranty seal and then come in hoping they wouldn't notice - how stupid would that have been to try.
I had wanted to get a memory upgrade done at the same time as the repair, but as you can imagine I would wish to use the company ever again given their thoroughly deceitful/criminal behaviour.
Anyway I bought the A17 based on reviews in the popular PC press and I have written this email in the hope that you might be able to warn other customers of the risks they are taking trusting this company with their PC, once the sale is done.
Regards
Brent