Which? Legal warning to PCWorld
Discussion
Seems odd, even if you might agree with the allegation, that a company can issue a legal warning (whatever that means) on another company about their treatment of 3rd parties. Is this just Which? Trying to take some moral high ground and be the defender of the good, or a load of bull in reality?
https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/03/currys-pc-wor...
https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/03/currys-pc-wor...
Flumpo said:
Didn’t realise, explains why they think they can. I’ve never rated their reviews in the past, they always seemed to concentrate on features I felt inappropriate (made up pistonheads example but they’d rate a sports car badly because it was difficult to clean and get into and the fuel economy was poor..).Flumpo said:
I know what you mean. It was always the sort of thing my grandparents would read.
I have no doubt if my grandad was still alive, he would genuinely believe a dachia Sandero was better than a Porsche 911 because which said it was the best new car. Or something similar.
Depends on what you're measuring.. The Porsche would win on looks or performance, but if you looked at mpg, value for money or boot space then the Dacia would get its revenge I have no doubt if my grandad was still alive, he would genuinely believe a dachia Sandero was better than a Porsche 911 because which said it was the best new car. Or something similar.
Heres Johnny said:
Didn’t realise, explains why they think they can. I’ve never rated their reviews in the past, they always seemed to concentrate on features I felt inappropriate (made up pistonheads example but they’d rate a sports car badly because it was difficult to clean and get into and the fuel economy was poor..).
I stopped trusting their reviews when they started licensing their star ratings and comments to be used by manufacturers in their advertising. They used to make a big issue of the fact they were free from commercial pressures.mcflurry said:
Depends on what you're measuring.. The Porsche would win on looks or performance, but if you looked at mpg, value for money or boot space then the Dacia would get its revenge
I think that's the whole point, their objective criteria is/was rarely matched to the product segment of the product. To damn a product by applying an irrelevant class of criteria. I'm no fan of currys or pc world. but I bought a computer from them (microsoft surface pro so once I knew what I wanted it was simply finding the best price) , I got asked the questions of setup, additional software, support, warranty etc, which I declined and all was fine. What do you do if your customer is relatively illiterate when it comes to computers? They need to be guided. Sure there's a way to do that and a balance of pressure and good advice. You can equally imagine Which having a problem if they offered zero advice and sent people away without an operating system.
Their complaint seems pretty reasonable in this case. PC World have been claiming laptops in store have been set up already and insisting the customer pays the optional £40 setup fee.
Even though their official policy is it should only be paid if the setup has not already been done.
At a guess, I'd say some of these pre configured machines are customer returns.
Even though their official policy is it should only be paid if the setup has not already been done.
At a guess, I'd say some of these pre configured machines are customer returns.
Heres Johnny said:
I think it simply means Which? was given standing in court in these matters, as usually a party who has nothing to do with the contract dispute (in this case PCWorld and its customer) would have no right to sue or be a party in the court case. So I guess Which? now is essentially a market regulator, but it can't threaten anything other than to sue, and whether that's successful or not is up to the court.rscott said:
Their complaint seems pretty reasonable in this case. PC World have been claiming laptops in store have been set up already and insisting the customer pays the optional £40 setup fee.
Even though their official policy is it should only be paid if the setup has not already been done.
At a guess, I'd say some of these pre configured machines are customer returns.
I used to work at PCWorld, they would be unboxed, recovery media created, and a "user" account created and then reboxed. We would have to sell them as "presetup, ready to go". We would initially have to try £40, then if we got pressure we could reduce it to £20 as a goodwill. If customers refused to pay it we had to use normal ones, which was great, but they often ended up setting the whole stock we had up, so ended up doing it anyway. Even though their official policy is it should only be paid if the setup has not already been done.
At a guess, I'd say some of these pre configured machines are customer returns.
We were heavily targeted on it and would get b
ked if we sold a setup one without paying for it. We couldn't win.mcflurry said:
Flumpo said:
I know what you mean. It was always the sort of thing my grandparents would read.
I have no doubt if my grandad was still alive, he would genuinely believe a dachia Sandero was better than a Porsche 911 because which said it was the best new car. Or something similar.
Depends on what you're measuring.. The Porsche would win on looks or performance, but if you looked at mpg, value for money or boot space then the Dacia would get its revenge I have no doubt if my grandad was still alive, he would genuinely believe a dachia Sandero was better than a Porsche 911 because which said it was the best new car. Or something similar.
Blanchimont said:
I used to work at PCWorld, they would be unboxed, recovery media created, and a "user" account created and then reboxed. We would have to sell them as "presetup, ready to go". We would initially have to try £40, then if we got pressure we could reduce it to £20 as a goodwill. If customers refused to pay it we had to use normal ones, which was great, but they often ended up setting the whole stock we had up, so ended up doing it anyway.
We were heavily targeted on it and would get bked if we sold a setup one without paying for it. We couldn't win.
That is shocking - when I buy something like a PC/laptop I expect it to come factory-sealed unless I've specifically requested it not be!We were heavily targeted on it and would get b
ked if we sold a setup one without paying for it. We couldn't win.How do PC World address the fact that an End User Licence Agreement must be accepted by the end user and not by the store? The very first thing a Windows 10 device does as part of the initial boot process is to run through all the EULA and 'snooping' features (which need to be turned off). Also creating a user account means that the account would have a generic name (ie. 'User' rather than 'Funk') and wouldn't be linked to a Microsoft account for things like OneDrive etc.
Aside from being a s
tty con/pressure tactic it's actually potentially illegal from a EULA perspective...mcflurry said:
Flumpo said:
I know what you mean. It was always the sort of thing my grandparents would read.
I have no doubt if my grandad was still alive, he would genuinely believe a dachia Sandero was better than a Porsche 911 because which said it was the best new car. Or something similar.
Depends on what you're measuring.. The Porsche would win on looks or performance, but if you looked at mpg, value for money or boot space then the Dacia would get its revenge I have no doubt if my grandad was still alive, he would genuinely believe a dachia Sandero was better than a Porsche 911 because which said it was the best new car. Or something similar.
My library has the magazine in stock and if I go to buy white goods or a product that's a significant investment for me, I'd spend an hour in the library reading up on their findings. The best buy is best ignored, unless the criteria they use, and explain, is what suits my needs and desires.
There was a very recent scathing article about the ratings "Which?" use, it's far too easy to game the system but I can't find it online due to the nature of the name "which".
My parents subscribe to them and the reviews of items in sectors which I'm familiar with (AV and Cars) which are generally very poor.
It's down as a charity but the wages for the staff are obscene, the highest in the charity sector afaik.
My parents subscribe to them and the reviews of items in sectors which I'm familiar with (AV and Cars) which are generally very poor.
It's down as a charity but the wages for the staff are obscene, the highest in the charity sector afaik.
Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff