PC World - Cover Plan Insurance - WHAT A JOKE!!

Countryripple

The other half bought a laptop from PC World 3 years ago. He paid an extra E500 for their Premium Coverplan Insurance for 5 years. About 6 weeks ago he turns on the computer, it wont run. Basicly, it needs a new hard-drive.

Grand.

Bring it into PC World. They say they dont take items under that particular insurance into the shop. Gave us a number to phone for some other department that deals with it.

So phone up the number, guy runs through certain tests blah blah. Says it needs a new hard-drive!!! Doh!! So he takes insurance details etc, says a courier phone and will come collect it during the week, take it and it will be returned in a few weeks!!!

Week 1 goes by, week 2, week 3, no phone call, week 4!!!! Go back over to PC World to have it out. Guy get on the phone there to the repairs department. Guy on the other end asks to speak to my other half and tells him that that collection was cancelled on the 21st of February!!! We are well p!ssed!!! No record of who or why it was cancelled!!! So he apologises and takes the details again and says if no one phones us monday, phone him back.

we gave a days grace and waited till yesterday to phone them. Guy again has NO DETAILS of anything on his computer!!!! What the hell do we have to do!!!! He says he'll go check somethin and put us on hold. we said no. have been put on hold too much and gave him our number and he can phone us bak with whatever it is he has to find out.

No returned phone call!!!

What the hell do we have to do? Aparently they dont have a complaints department. We have a broken laptop that has a Premium policy. We also have internet bills that have not one minute of internet access on them because the laptop has not been fixed!!!

Help!!!:mad: :mad:

Metacortex

Countryripple wrote:

The other half bought a laptop from PC World 3 years ago. He paid an extra E500 for their Premium Coverplan Insurance for 5 years. About 6 weeks ago he turns on the computer, it wont run. Basicly, it needs a new hard-drive.

Grand.

Bring it into PC World. They say they dont take items under that particular insurance into the shop. Gave us a number to phone for some other department that deals with it.

So phone up the number, guy runs through certain tests blah blah. Says it needs a new hard-drive!!! Doh!! So he takes insurance details etc, says a courier phone and will come collect it during the week, take it and it will be returned in a few weeks!!!

Week 1 goes by, week 2, week 3, no phone call, week 4!!!! Go back over to PC World to have it out. Guy get on the phone there to the repairs department. Guy on the other end asks to speak to my other half and tells him that that collection was cancelled on the 21st of February!!! We are well p!ssed!!! No record of who or why it was cancelled!!! So he apologises and takes the details again and says if no one phones us monday, phone him back.

we gave a days grace and waited till yesterday to phone them. Guy again has NO DETAILS of anything on his computer!!!! What the hell do we have to do!!!! He says he'll go check somethin and put us on hold. we said no. have been put on hold too much and gave him our number and he can phone us bak with whatever it is he has to find out.

No returned phone call!!!

What the hell do we have to do? Aparently they dont have a complaints department. We have a broken laptop that has a Premium policy. We also have internet bills that have not one minute of internet access on them because the laptop has not been fixed!!!

Help!!!:mad: :mad:

Just out of interest, did you ever at any point lose your temper with the guy who was supposed to call you back?
If so, theres your reason.

Personally i work in customer service and i have no inclination to help anyone who is going to give me a hard time over something thats not my fault.
The only reason my company cancels collections is if we cannot reach the customer after 10 business days to arrange the time. Maybe its the same here?

The best thing you can do, is to call them back, stay calm and polite and treat the person on the other end of the line with a bit of respect instead of treating them like a slave (not talking about you here, just general advice that helps)

pred racer

Metacortex wrote:

Just out of interest, did you ever at any point lose your temper with the guy who was supposed to call you back?
If so, theres your reason.

Personally i work in customer service and i have no inclination to help anyone who is going to give me a hard time over something thats not my fault.
The only reason my company cancels collections is if we cannot reach the customer after 10 business days to arrange the time. Maybe its the same here?

The best thing you can do, is to call them back, stay calm and polite and treat the person on the other end of the line with a bit of respect instead of treating them like a slave (not talking about you here, just general advice that helps)

If I call you 3 different times and a) dont do what you said you would and b)keep losing my details, you are getting the bolliking you rightly deserve.

In general I agree with the poster above that you normally catch more flies with honey than sh1te, but sometimes in the face of sheer incompetence and crappy service I cant help myself.

What I would try to do is talk to a supervisor (etc) next and see if you can get sorted out.

center15

If they have it longer than 6 weeks under the cover plan they have to give you a new machine.

The Roach

I used to work in customer service in PC World, and had to deal with the insurance crowd an awful lot. They can be a pain to deal with sometimes, but they do have some points in the policy to protect you. Firstly, if you've been ringing the PC Services phone number from the start, they should have details of each call, so you can show that you've been trying to get the issue sorted for quite a while. In the Coverplan policy there's a section that states that if the issue is not resolved within 6 weeks, you are automatically entitled to a replacement product. So if your first call was 6 weeks ago or more, then you should be eligible for this. HOWEVER, PC World won't replace the machine in-store for you, you'll be sent vouchers that can be used in PC World, Currys, or Dixons by the insurance company.

I had to go through all this for a PDA I bought which stopped working. The day after the 6 weeks was up I rang PC Services, asked to speak to a supervisor, and had my vouchers 4 days later.

And also, as Metacortex mentioned, the poor Joe behind the counter in the store isn't responsible for your laptop dying, or for the failings of the insurance/phone support, so do try to be nice! And if you are in the store anytime soon, ask to see the customer service manager, and get him/her to follow up on your issue, making a point to write down their name so you'll know who to contact next time. This is usually enough to get them to do all the chasing up for you.

Good luck, hope you get sorted soon.

Metacortex

pred racer wrote:

If I call you 3 different times and a) dont do what you said you would and b)keep losing my details, you are getting the bolliking you rightly deserve.

So you think its ok to give a torrent of abuse to someone who picks up the third call and has never even seen or dealt with this issue before?
Well its not and the person on the other end does not deserve it, ever, because you see theres a such thing as common human decency.
But i guess this a different topic altogether.

You'll have to excuse me, i get so angry when i see or hear people treating call centre / retail / customer service staff like slaves or idiots. 99.9% of the time its not the fault of the customer service rep and we're the ones who get torn apart 10 times a day, every day.

Kinetic^

There's such thing as good customer service too!!! :rolleyes:

MarkR

pred racer wrote:

If I call you 3 different times and a) dont do what you said you would and b)keep losing my details, you are getting the bolliking you rightly deserve.

No, the company deserves the bolliking. Not the person you spoke to. Assuming this is your habit, and you've done this three or more times, then from now on all call centre workers should be entitled to give youa bolliking by your logic. So be nice.

GreeBo

MarkR wrote:

No, the company deserves the bolliking. Not the person you spoke to.

How do you give a company a bolicking if you are not allowed to give any of its employees a bolicking?:rolleyes:

pred racer

Metacortex wrote:

So you think its ok to give a torrent of abuse to someone who picks up the third call and has never even seen or dealt with this issue before?
Well its not and the person on the other end does not deserve it, ever, because you see theres a such thing as common human decency.
But i guess this a different topic altogether.

You'll have to excuse me, i get so angry when i see or hear people treating call centre / retail / customer service staff like slaves or idiots. 99.9% of the time its not the fault of the customer service rep and we're the ones who get torn apart 10 times a day, every day.

Did I say a torrent of abuse?...No, I said a bolliking, which in my world is different thing. I never said anything about slaves or idiots either, but you are there to do a job, which in this case is take the guys details, see what the story is and give them a shout back with the details.....my 11 year old daughter could do that. Now to re-iterate to MarkR and Metacortex if you read my original post you would see that I agree with you that call centre staff etc should be treated with respect, but that can only continue for so long. If u fcuk it up thats fine, we all make mistakes and sure we'll try again, if you continue to fcuk it up thats not fine and you cant expect people to put up with it. Alot of customer service people dont seem to realise that in some cases at least Ive paid for this service and I would like some help.

sorry for getting off the topic OP, but the not calling me back thing is one of my pet hates. most of the time I dont mind if there is going to be a delay once I know and can plan accordingly.

What the Roach says sound like good sensible advice.

In this case nobody would have had to deal with me anyway coz I would have lost the reciept and the insurance details:o and would have just changed the hard drive myself.

Metacortex

pred racer wrote:

Did I say a torrent of abuse?...No, I said a bolliking, which in my world is different thing. I never said anything about slaves or idiots either,

I just wanted to claify, that wasn't about you i know you didn't say that , that was just my own rant.
Despite common belief this is a very hard job. Sometimes i don't get back to calling people, but there is a good reason for it. After you get off the phone, i may get 60 more calls that day, and thats 60 more people with the same issues. And at the end of the day, you work as hard as you can but you still can't help everyone. Sadly, thats just the way it is.

*edit* another thing people should remember if you don't get a callback. Alot of inbound call centres have a limit on the amount of outbound calls the employees can make. I take about 60 - 70 calls a day. Our call centre has a limit of 5 outbound calls an employee can make a day, do the math.
It may not be the fult of the person on the end of the line you didn't get a callback. I find alot of teh time, its company policy that creates the most displeasure amoung customers

layke

Coverplan is a joke and always has been. It's not PC Worlds fault that the machine can't be found because quite simply from experience the communication between the store and the repair company is dismal with 20 minute wait times and the like. I haved been that rep many a time and have been left standing there looking like an idiot while a customer demanded answers. (yes back 7 years ago or so I used to work for DSG).

What I would suggest is you go up there with a solicitors letter and ask for the manager. Present him the letter and I guarentee he will 'look into it personally'.

Dixons, Currys and PC world would be far far better if they didn't have to deal with those cowboys in the UK which is where all your returns go. They should have an unhouse repair team imo. I mean all that shipping charges just to swap a HDD is nonsense. Mind you in the eyes of the UK head office were small chips over here.

Sorry for your troubles mate but when you get the lappy back check it thoroughly, i've gotten more then enough damaged goods back from them after they've 'fixed it'.

catch--22

In regards to the OP there is a customer complaints department. Dial 1890 700 001. Sadly you'll get through to one of those automated machines that askes you to speak out the option you want! one of those options all you have to do is say "complaint".

Hope you get sorted soon!

whippet

Metacortex wrote:

*edit* another thing people should remember if you don't get a callback. Alot of inbound call centres have a limit on the amount of outbound calls the employees can make. I take about 60 - 70 calls a day. Our call centre has a limit of 5 outbound calls an employee can make a day, do the math.
It may not be the fult of the person on the end of the line you didn't get a callback. I find alot of teh time, its company policy that creates the most displeasure amoung customers

If you know you won't be able to call back .. don't tell someone you will call back !!! be honest !!!

I have had my share of calling customer care centers and the whole 'The computer says no' syndrome is so frustrating ... I always try to get to speak to a manager (not a supervisor - they only say 'no' in a more confident manner) .. but over all you are dealing with people who are fending off annoyed customers all day and to behonest you are just another statistic on their call sheet !!

Countryripple

No one was abused on the phone whatsoever. Only the one phone call was made initally and that was to clarify the problems and then they took the details to come and collect it. Then we waited weeks to hear about the collection and instead of phoning the call centre again we just took it to PC World with the idea of speaking to a manager and just getting them to take it out of our hands. Typically, all the managers were on lunch!! It was only then while in the shop that the call centre was contacted again.

Got contact there this evening that the laptop shll be collected tomorrow.

In terms of what you are saying about this 6 week replacement, do you receive vouchers for the ammount you paid for the item?

We have a reference number from the original call placed in February. If the 6 week policy stands from this date, then it probably will run over the 6 week period.

At the end of the day, the hard drive is screwed so anything that was not backed up from it is lost anyway. So an entire new machine would be sweet!!

Archeron

Sorry to continue the off topic part of this, but just to add my 2c on the whole blolicking of customer service reps. I have worked many moons in customer service too, and have had my ear chewed many times. Sometimes deservedly, sometimes not. At the end of the day, you are working in customer service and you represent your company, so what is being said to you is being said to the company. Its not a personal reflection on you as a person. As long as you act maturely, deal with the problem as best you can and take it all with a pinch of salt, then the customer will go away with an improved view of the company as a whole, and that is why you work in customer service after all.
Bad language and threats are a no go, and result in a warning, followed by a cut off line, but other than that, swallow your personal pride, have a bit of empathy for the customer and do your best.
I have experienced some atrocious customer service in certain companies (we all know the ones) and in fairness, if you are part of those thoroughly incompetant teams of people who seemingly do nothing to improve people's perception of the company, and frankly dont give a damn either way, then you rightly deserve to have your ear chewed off.

catch--22

Start a new post to rant about call centers et al ..... please stick to what the OP was talking about!

With regard to the vouchers.....you will receive vouchers to replace the machine you already have....NOT the full value you spent! But don't panic yet....this often works in your favour!!

Lets say for example you bought a Sony laptop, 15.4" screen, 256 Ram, 20 Gb Harddrive, DVD ROM drive, and a sony memory stick reader. Well that's what they have to give you vouchers to replace. The make and specs! Now this was 3 years ago and Sony laptops have come on a long way since....they don't make those specs any more! In fact....no laptop on the market will have specs that low! But you bought Sony...so thats what you have to get back! Also your laptop has a sony card reader which only the top end have (for example) and your replacement must have one of these too! You might end up getting a very high end laptop to replace the one exactly as you bought 3 years ago!!!! i have seen this work before. And if they issue the vouchers and you're not ahppy you can appeal it and they might re-issue!

Hope it all works out well!

Countryripple

So got home today to a note from UPS saying 'We Called'. Told us the pervious day it would be picked up sometime between 9 and 5. Now, we both cant take the day off and sit waiting for them so we asked could the courier phone the other half 30 mins before they call because he would be in a better position to run home and be there. We have all the details, refs and stuff of where its going and that. Tried to phone UPS but to no avail. Will be ringing them in the morning to see if we can just bring it to the depot.

I counted back the weeks and found out that the initial call into PC World and the subsequent phone call to the coverplan folk was made on the 28th of Jan. Which is pretty much up to the 6 week mark already but the thing has not been collected yet. May be making the call to PC Services soon!!

Will keep you updated.

dingding

How did you get on, I am currently having a similar experience.

chump

that 6 weeks thing sounds bloody impressive... im impressed

looksee

My daughter got a new camera (vouchers) when repairs ran over the 6 weeks, and by all accounts the main reason it was delayed was because it hadn't been sent off immediately by PCWorld. they gave her a good bit of run-around but she persisted and got the new camera.

Caroline666

Hi,
We bought a lap top from PC World in Swords last November, at the time we were going to take out finance on it but opted to purchase out right the same night instead, over the course of the transaction he gave bank details to the guy serving us, when the transaction was complete he asked us did we want insurance, as wed just handed over nearly a grand I said no, he said we had a month to decide anyway (thought the product would have been cover for the first year). At the end of the month we decided not to take out the insurnance.

Checked bank statement in Jan and noticed payments being taken out, once in nov once in dec and twice in the first week in jan, phoned bank to see who was taking out the money and it turned out to be DSG Ireland the parent company of PC Work and Dixons. PC World had passed our bank details onto them (without permission) and they automatically started taking money out, after a number of phone calls and to cut a long story short they agreed that they shouldnt have been taking the money out without bank account holder permission ( i asked them where the direct debit letter/standing order mand ate was, they said it must have gotten lost in the post )and advised us to write to our bank and have them contact DSG Ireland for reimbursment.
Still havent heard back from the bank.

If you took out an insurnace policy with PC World they should be able to tell you who the insurnance company is my guess is its DSG Ireland, not sure how you paid for the insurnace cover, maybe you could go back to your bank and see if you can trace where the payment went to.

catch--22

Caroline666 wrote:

If you took out an insurnace policy with PC World they should be able to tell you who the insurnance company is my guess is its DSG Ireland, not sure how you paid for the insurnace cover, maybe you could go back to your bank and see if you can trace where the payment went to.

A company called Mastercare looks after it all for them.

Caroline666

Have you contacted Mastercare?

dingding

Coverplan passed my call on to Mastercare as they have now agreed my laptop was lost. they are going to write of my laptop and give me vouchers to replace it. the laptop is 5 years old and they will give me vouchers to an equivalent spec according to the docummentation.

As the original laptop was a pentium, the cheapest pentium with them is almost 800 euros, also the lost laptop had a smartcard reader and a floppy drive that modern laptops do not have. I am going to raise this with them tomorrow and I will let you know how I got on. Sorry to hear that they have removed money form your account without permission. Is this fraud and can you contact the Garda. I am sure if you went into Currys and removed 40 euro worth of stuff every month it would not be long before you were called to answer.

antoinolachtnai

Caroline666 wrote:

Still havent heard back from the bank.

If you make a complaint to a bank and they don't reply, you could contact the financial ombudsman.

Antoin.

dingding

Latest update, Cover Plan have discovered that the courier lost the laptop, even though the laptop was not fixed within the six weeks. Will not process replacing the laptop till the courier who lost it pays them for the loss.

Going on 10 weeks now, I have raised the issue with the manager of the currys store where i purchased the laptop and cover.

I am thinking of taking the shop, as they are ultimatly responsible to the small claims court to recover the cost of the laptop. Would anyone have an opinion as to whether this course of action would be successfull.

I get the feeling that they work on the basis that they make things so hard that you give up.

Any advice or other peoples experience welcome.

dingding

catch--22 wrote:

In regards to the OP there is a customer complaints department. Dial 1890 700 001. Sadly you'll get through to one of those automated machines that askes you to speak out the option you want! one of those options all you have to do is say "complaint".

Hope you get sorted soon!

Any one get any joy by making a complaint.

catch--22

dingding wrote:

I am thinking of taking the shop, as they are ultimatly responsible to the small claims court to recover the cost of the laptop. Would anyone have an opinion as to whether this course of action would be successfull.

Any advice or other peoples experience welcome.

Consumer law protects you very well....my guess would be as soon as you lodged the claim you'll get a letter from them apologising and with a refund in full!

brightspark

paid an extra E500 for their Premium Coverplan Insurance for 5 years. About 6 weeks ago he turns on the computer, it wont run. Basicly, it needs a new hard-drive.

Isn't this another example why these insurance / extended warranties should be avoided. You could have bought a new hard-drive (and even got someone to install it) for a lot less than E500 and it wouldn't take 10 weeks either.

I've started a poll

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055088428

Mike...

Metacortex wrote:

So you think its ok to give a torrent of abuse to someone who picks up the third call and has never even seen or dealt with this issue before?

Of course it is....The 2nd & 3rd person wouldn't ever have to be involved if call centre's hired proper staff....instead of the muppets they usually have