PCWorld - Always Good For a Laugh!

[Siddie]

Hi all,
I work at Dixons (not really a job of choice) and in our branch the staff pride themselves on product knowledge. We get people coming in from the PC World around the corner (without realising it's part of the same group) complaining about the monkeys there. From my own experience in PC World there was only two members of staff who really know what they are talking about (the company classes the salespersons as "sales professionals"!!!!!!!!!!). I think that it is a case of some branches have good staff, others don't. PC World, as it tends to be big stores, tends to get the spotty faced youths who don't know much, where Dixons (at least in the smaller stores) gets the spotty faced youths who know a bit more!!!!
In our store there are about 30 members of staff (only 7ish on duty at a time) and out of them 10 know very well what they are talking about, 5 are high pressure salesmen and will only try to sell something, even if it is the wrong item for the customer, and the others don't know too much. The company is too "target led" to serve customers well, although in the past few months the Dixons part of the group has been trying to change this and has been getting better staff.
Anyway, back to PC World. Monkeys.... And the advertising team are worse.... Problems you get from a big company, but this is the best way to get things cheap...

Siddie. :D

[Justiceseeker]

Dear pocketgpsworld forum users.

I have sat and read your comments about the poor service and even poorer knowledge demonstrated by the staff at PC World.

Let me begin by saying if you feel that you have mislead by any comments from any pc world customer advisor you should rightly feel unhappy. Likewise if you have made purchases that were not suitable I too would understand if you wished to complain.

What I would like to say is that if something is wrong come and tell us. As a PC World employee I will not guarantee I could fix it immediately however I would do everything in my power to remedy the situation.

Yes we have our faults, yes our training isn't always perfect and yes we do get things wrong, however as consumer you have fundemental rights to highlight any greivances to your local store. If you feel you are not getting the service you expect from an assistant, ask to speak to a manager, if they cant help you write to head office. Always be assured that there is an escalation route available for you to get your point across.

What I would like to request is please be reasonable and mature with your demands. Dont waste assistants valuable time asking questions which you already know the answer for however you would like test their knowledge. Dont demand for unreasonable results such as compensation or petrol money because you will not receive it. Do not waste assistants time by asking them to search for SCSI Mice ( yes I do know what SCSI is) just for laugh. And most of all, if you want some info or something in paticular give us a chance to find out for you. Most assistants will try to find out or at least pass it on to someone that does.

You must understand that we supply a substantial amount of products and services and it would test even the most hardcore IT fan to have a extensive knowledge on all the products we sell.

In the end we would love to be able to supply all of you with your it needs and for you to be happy with them, but we dont live in such an utopia.

If you dont like us ................. dont shop with us, we'll manage.

Sorry for the long post but I felt it had to be said because even PC World with all its faults didnt deserve the slanging its received in this forum

bye.

[nej]

[HellFire]

Why is it PC world sell obsolete goods for higher than RRP, I’ve seen this twice a long time ago the fist was a sound card that wasn’t in production for about a year and they were selling higher than the RRP and the second time was a modem that was 6 months out of date and they was selling for the full price, I thing most people who shop there are people who don’t know about PC’s because if they did they wouldn’t unless they needed something urgently

[Myles]

I was in one of the Electrical Superstores in Southampton on Saturday. The sales man was telling this couple how the TomTom GO 500 has Bluetooth, 'That means you wont lose the GPS signal if you go into a tunnel'. I cannot believe how poor these guys/gals are. If I hear anyone else say they have loads of products to remeber I will go mad. I am sure they have all the product info in-store.

[theslaker1234]

This all made for intresting read.

I worked for Dixons Stores group for around 7 years, and ushering in new technology such from Digital TV and DVD players (£700 in them days) right up to DVD camcords and GPS navigation. And was the first in the company to achieve the expert sales award (just to put the other DSG workers in there place)


But lads lets face it, its not the first time and its the last time dixons group have c0cked up the publishing. In fact I would put it firmly under the regular heading.

In the morning brief tomorrow just count how many errors your being told about.

Most of the time customers will be served by someone who has not got a clue and will give uninformed advice in order to secure commision and an oppertunity to sell coverplan. "they will probley take it back to a diffrent store"

Good luck at peak lads.- how much training for the temps?

Slaker.

[martlewis]

Yes, I am pleaseed to say that DSG (Dixons, Currys, PCWorld, Link) do occasionally get it wrong, especially when the publications are all made up by staff in an office who've probably never even seen the devices before. And yes some of the staff also have no idea on specialised areas like satnav.

But then there are the rest of us who have studied hard and have a working knowledge of all the different programs and devices, and can demo any of them instore accurately. In case you didn't guess I work for PCWorld, and one of my specialist areas is satnav and pda's. Oh yeah, and the best complaint I've had to date was somebody annoyed that I couldn't get a satelite fix on a tomtom go700... indoors, metal roof etc...

My point is that you shouldn't judge the whole company by mistakes made generally by people who never worked instore before.

(The views contained within are those of the individual concerned and in no way represent the views of DSG Retail Ltd)

[martlewis]

[nej]

Why not get a re-radiating GPS antenna in the store so that you can get a fix inside? That way you can better demonstrate the systems. They are not expensive, either.

We've got one in the office and it's very useful indeed.

[theslaker1234]

[martlewis]

We all know DSG core training is a waste of time. And if you know anything about being good as a sales person, you would know that it requires building your knowledge off your own back.

I will point out that not a damn single peice of advice I offer is sponsored by sony, or any other supplier. I happen to be proud of the fact that I know a great deal about the products I sell daily, and all I know is from research that I've done myself. The more I know the more I can sell, and hopefully (as I frequently do) get repeat custom.

As an ex-employee you amaze me, knowing how hard it is working for a company that only care about sales targets, that you're so single minded on the matter. You should at least ensure facts are accurate before posting them please, especially with regard to things like sponsored training and package sale problems, all of which you will find aren't that common any more.

I will also point out that if you sold "coverplan" on the merits of accidental damage vouchers, then you were seriously misleading people. That's why you tell them the cost, along with all of the benefits, and whats not covered, so they can decide for themselves. Customers can think for themselves you know. You will also know about the government legislation which came into place this year to prevent misrepresented sale of extended warranty, and to prevent you from forcing the product upon customers?

Rant over anyway, it's just my opinion of working in 7 stores across the whole chain. Some points I agree with, inexperienced staff especially during peak season, some points are just no longer realistic.

[theslaker1234]

Sounds like your one of the minority good guys.

The fact your on this site confirms it.

Good for you.

Top sales man for dixons, cant conact a DVD Player to a TV, fact.

Slak.

[CoxyD]

Hi,
i'm thinking about buying a Navman Pin 570,but i understand that Tom Tom 5 is a better software package.
Does anyone know if it is possible to remove the Navman software from the unit and replace it with Tom Tom software. i.e is the the tom tom software compatible with the navman unit.Thanks for your help.

[Maxi]

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