PC world problem

daycent

Hi all,

Just looking for advice. I bought a Sony Blu-ray player in Belfast a few weeks ago and it stoppped working almost straight away and needs to be replaced. I rang the UK customer care line and they told me it could be exchanged in any Pc world in the republic. So, off I went to my local PC world in Waterford and they were having none of it. Told me they couldn't do anything for me, and that it could only be exchanged in Northern Ireland.
I then rang UK customer care again and they now told me it wasn't possible to exchange it here. I also tried Irish customer care and they told me there was absolutely no problem exchanging it in any Irish store. I told the manager in Waterford this with no luck, I also tried it in Cork today and the manager told me he would look into it but didn't hold out much hope.

So, I am still stuck with a broken blu ray player and it looks like I'm going to have to drive up to Belfast to get it replaced, even though it is all the one company (as admitted to me by the manager of the Cork store).

Anyone had similiar problems? Or got any suggestions?

Thanks

OzzyNev

I just finished working in PC World in Dundalk as a xmas part timer, and the store manager definetely wudnt exchange stuff bought from the north. and vice versa. He also wouldnt even accept sterling.

so id go with this, you should be able to exchange it up north, belfast hav a store i think.

jahalpin

daycent wrote: »

Hi all,

Just looking for advice. I bought a Sony Blu-ray player in Belfast a few weeks ago and it stoppped working almost straight away and needs to be replaced. I rang the UK customer care line and they told me it could be exchanged in any Pc world in the republic. So, off I went to my local PC world in Waterford and they were having none of it. Told me they couldn't do anything for me, and that it could only be exchanged in Northern Ireland.
I then rang UK customer care again and they now told me it wasn't possible to exchange it here. I also tried Irish customer care and they told me there was absolutely no problem exchanging it in any Irish store. I told the manager in Waterford this with no luck, I also tried it in Cork today and the manager told me he would look into it but didn't hold out much hope.

So, I am still stuck with a broken blu ray player and it looks like I'm going to have to drive up to Belfast to get it replaced, even though it is all the one company (as admitted to me by the manager of the Cork store).

Anyone had similiar problems? Or got any suggestions?

Thanks

Technically, the shops in the Republic are a seperate company to the shops in the UK. They are run by DSG Retail Ireland Ltd..

I can't really blame the managers for not wanting to exchange the product in the stores here, as you bought it in NI to save money etc.

I think you're probably going to have to go to Belfast as no amount of talking to them is going to get them to change their mind, as the product was bought in the UK it would be covered by the UK Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act and not by the one here in the Republic

MunsterCycling

Why not get them to call CS in front of you, or better yet call CS yourself, get the CSR to tell you its OK to return here then hold the CSR on the phone while you get a manager to speak to them on speaker only so you can hear and see them try to wiggle out of that. That is more then reprehensible, not surprised by the actions of the Waterford store, found them rubbish but the Cork store is usually better than that but then again I know how they operate as I know people working there.

MC

Cabaal

While PC World up north and South are owned by DSG Group, it is serpeated into DSG Group Ireland as far as I know and as such is "technically" a seperate company, as such PC World in Ireland don't have to assist you with anything you bought in PC World up north.

Different policys in different countries to be honest even though its owned by Dixons Group, you#'ll have to go back up north as PC World in Ireland have no legal obligation to assist you in anyway.

projectmayhem

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Why not get them to call CS in front of you, or better yet call CS yourself, get the CSR to tell you its OK to return here then hold the CSR on the phone while you get a manager to speak to them on speaker only so you can hear and see them try to wiggle out of that. That is more then reprehensible, not surprised by the actions of the Waterford store, found them rubbish but the Cork store is usually better than that but then again I know how they operate as I know people working there.

MC

The service line is not above and beyond store management. They're merely an aid to customers, and will probably tell you anything to get you off their line in the fairness.

If you buy a product up north, it's the same as buying it in some DSG chain in Italy or Finland... you wouldn't bring it back to your local store in Ireland because the receipt has a different name & logo on it. Just because the company bares the same name, does not mean they are linked in any way.

To return the item down here means they DSG Ireland have to give you EXTRA money to make up for the Irish tax being higher... meaning they loose a fair whack. Not to mention the service routes are probably different.

If you were willing to take your money up North then you should be willing to take your problems up there too...

danjo

projectmayhem wrote: »

If you buy a product up north, it's the same as buying it in some DSG chain in Italy or Finland... you wouldn't bring it back to your local store in Ireland because the receipt has a different name & logo on it. Just because the company bares the same name, does not mean they are linked in any way.

...

If I bought a Sony product abroad I would expect it to be supported under warranty by my local Sony service organisation. Have you tried them?

Cabaal

danjo wrote: »

If I bought a Sony product abroad I would expect it to be supported under warranty by my local Sony service organisation. Have you tried them?

This may not be correct, often if you buy a product it may only have a warranty in that country....for example I buy a fair amount of Canon camera equipment from the likes of New York and Hong Kong and the warrentrys only cover US or China.

Even though they are also sold in Ireland they are not covered in Ireland in the same way

If you do buy a sony product in say the UK and it breaks then you contact sony directly...you don't go to a sony center as these are simply franchise shops and your warranty is with Sony directly.

Bottom line in the OPs case is contact PC World up north

Gillo

projectmayhem wrote: »

If you were willing to take your money up North then you should be willing to take your problems up there too...

Put that beautifully

lynchie

Cabaal wrote: »

This may not be correct, often if you buy a product it may only have a warranty in that country....for example I buy a fair amount of Canon camera equipment from the likes of New York and Hong Kong and the warrentrys only cover US or China.

Even though they are also sold in Ireland they are not covered in Ireland in the same way

If you do buy a sony product in say the UK and it breaks then you contact sony directly...you don't go to a sony center as these are simply franchise shops and your warranty is with Sony directly.

Bottom line in the OPs case is contact PC World up north

Depends on the company. I bought a nikon camera before in the US and the warranty card inside it specifically mentioned a worldwide warranty. Similarly I bought a Viewsonic monitor on amazon.com and brought it home with me when I was working in Boston and had to get it repaired 6 months later. Had no issues with Viewsonic in the UK to get it repaired as it was also a worldwide warranty.

jor el

lynchie wrote: »

Depends on the company. I bought a nikon camera before in the US and the warranty card inside it specifically mentioned a worldwide warranty.

Yeah, seems to depend on the company. My Cannon camera had a US only warranty, but the shop also sold international warranties, if you so desired. My Pulsar watch had an international warranty with it though.

The long and short of it is, daycent, that you'll have to go back to the shop where you bought it, unless there is an international (or just EU) Sony warranty with it. Check in the box for the warranty document, and see if there's a phone number to ring. They may be able to arrange something with you.

mickoneill30

danjo wrote: »

If I bought a Sony product abroad I would expect it to be supported under warranty by my local Sony service organisation. Have you tried them?

That's a manufacturer warranty isn't it? You're dealing with Sony. The dealers have nothing to do with it. Manufacturers can offer any extras they want in their warrantys but you always get your statutory rights as a minimum.

In this case the OP has his stutory rights. Maybe he can send it to the manufacturer too though, it'll say something like that in the warranty I'd say. It'll cost postage at least though and they're not going to refund.

daycent

Thanks for the replys.

Firstly, to the people who seem personally offended that I bought something up north; the reason I went up there in the first place was to buy a projector that I needed at short notice, and couldn't find in any electrical shop down here (most of the big shops don't seem to stock projectors) How dare I give my shilling to the Queen! :pac: I have a funny feeling I'm not the only Irish person to venture over the border recently...

Secondly, I never expected that PC world would exchange the blu ray player for me. That was until I was told enthusiastically, by both UK and Irish customer service, who, as far as I am concerned, speak on behalf of the company (that's a lot of commas in one sentence) that there was no problem whatsoever, and that I was foolish to think they wouldn't help me out. So I then drove an hour to Waterford, and waited for twenty minutes to be told feck off.

Rant over...(beautifully put I thought:D)

MunsterCycling

projectmayhem wrote: »

The service line is not above and beyond store management. They're merely an aid to customers, and will probably tell you anything to get you off their line in the fairness.

If you buy a product up north, it's the same as buying it in some DSG chain in Italy or Finland... you wouldn't bring it back to your local store in Ireland because the receipt has a different name & logo on it. Just because the company bares the same name, does not mean they are linked in any way.

To return the item down here means they DSG Ireland have to give you EXTRA money to make up for the Irish tax being higher... meaning they loose a fair whack. Not to mention the service routes are probably different.

If you were willing to take your money up North then you should be willing to take your problems up there too...

OP if you'd like me to get this sorted in the Cork store then feel free the PM me as they will I assure you deal with the matter for you, only need some convincing (twist of the arm).

MC

daycent

Just to give an update on this; they gave us a replacement instore at the weekend, after some more arm twisting! Thanks for the advice.

Chonker

daycent wrote: »

Just to give an update on this; they gave us a replacement instore at the weekend, after some more arm twisting! Thanks for the advice.

Thats great news.


Although I cant claim to be a spokesman for DSG Ireland (Nor would I ever want to be) The simple fact is you are a DSG customer and although I know most of the managers may be pissed at you going up north (Unpatriotic and all that as it is) they will and can replace your damaged machine providing they have one in stock and it is within the allotted time. Some managers may moan and groan but dont take it personally its just the recession. Just smile and thank them for their help.
They will no doubt do the same up north when the tide eventually changes and we see those northern guys spend all our lovely Irish euro's back down here. (It will change wont it:rolleyes:)

Blue_Wolf

Im a store manager of a ***** store and if someone bought a phone in northern ireland or uk i cant return or exchange. 1st of all its a different country, theres a different system, theres a different currency, and because it's a different country it's under total different managment. In my opinion, if you bought it up north and have problems you should go back up north. Reason i believe that is there are alot of people going up north whether its belfast or Newry availing of the cheaper pricing, contributing towards the growth of the uk and the demise of the irish economy and than if they have a problem they try and get the irish retailers to fix the problem. It annoys me to be honest!

(made an edit there as I'm not an official spokesman for my company)
Although everything I said is company policy it's not for me to post it with my companys name

Chonker

+1 to what's above. It bugs the sh*t out of most retailers but if its faulty it wont cost to replace as it will be sent back to supplier. Me thinks!

Blue_Wolf

It depends mate. Because there's a different system, there's different barcodes and plu's, therefore when you try to exchange the item it wont go through. It really depends on the Retailer but no Irish retailer is obliged to return goods and under no circumstances do they ever refund due to higher tax in the south etc etc.