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Overspecified PCs
As I am one of the few retired computer engineers (I installed the typesetter on the QE2 at its launch), I still do the odd computer build and repair for friends and relatives. I despair at people being ripped off by salesmen selling over-the-top spec PCs to customers who will never utilise all the peripherals. I called to look at a PC with no sound output which had been bought by a lady for her daughter the year previously.
As the guarantee had just expired, she was paying the premium rate on the telephone for advice on how to fix the problem. After three or four phone calls (and a lot of waiting time) she contacted me through a neighbour.
The fault was due to a faulty connector which was easy to find and only took a couple of minutes. What surprised me was that she had paid well over £1,000 for a computer to do word processing on. As I was leaving she asked me if I could explain what the controller did that had come with the computer. She didn't know that she had a TV tuner built into the PC.
This lady must be like hundreds of others who get ripped off by big name companies overselling and then charging premium rates for help.
It would be nice if a free service bureau could be set up to give advice to non technical buyers to find out what they wanted the PC for, and then give them a spec sheet on their specific requiements.
Bill Gordon
Overselling isn't restricted to the computer industry. Just take a look at all the four wheel drives on our roads being used for little more than the school run!
Posted by Marc Delehanty | August 8, 2006 11:44 AM
Its true that computer technical support is getting costlier by the day. And the worst part is that software support is usually not covered in the warranty. So God forbid you have a Internet explore issue or a virus, you have to shell out anywhere between 40 to 70 pounds to have it fixed.But what are the options? People like me, who are new to London can't really go to the local computer technicians because we dont know if we are getting ripped off. So we have to trust the big manufacturers, who are not less expensive in any way. Is there some place where we can get the 'standard rates' for different hardware and software issues?
Posted by Smitha Narayanan | August 21, 2006 12:02 PM