http://www.cloudsoup.com/weblog/2008/08/23/pc-world-scam no soup, no clouds Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:19:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.cloudsoup.com/weblog/2008/08/23/pc-world-scam/comment-page-1#comment-560 Tom Sun, 19 Oct 2008 09:42:52 +0000 http://www.cloudsoup.com/weblog/2008/08/23/pc-world-scam/#comment-560 For their misleading advertising PC World deserve prosecuting to the fullest extent. For months I've been checking availability of a particular model of laptop.....it's never in stock at any of their stores. Why keep advertising the product if they simply don't have them in stock? I'm in no desperate rush for the laptop as it's just a 2nd model for home email and internet, but still, I'd hate to be a customer who's set his sights on acquiring this product and was expecting a quick turnaround on his order. For their misleading advertising PC World deserve prosecuting to the fullest extent. For months I’ve been checking availability of a particular model of laptop…..it’s never in stock at any of their stores. Why keep advertising the product if they simply don’t have them in stock? I’m in no desperate rush for the laptop as it’s just a 2nd model for home email and internet, but still, I’d hate to be a customer who’s set his sights on acquiring this product and was expecting a quick turnaround on his order.

]]> http://www.cloudsoup.com/weblog/2008/08/23/pc-world-scam/comment-page-1#comment-542 Alasdair Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:19:21 +0000 http://www.cloudsoup.com/weblog/2008/08/23/pc-world-scam/#comment-542 I have also been after this laptop at PC World. The situation is a bit more complicated than you discovered, and is not a scam but simple bad management. If you really poke around on the PC World website, and specifically look for a refurbished laptop, they are selling the A300-1BZ at £499.99 on Home Delivery. However, if you go to the main laptop area, where they only list new ones, the same computer appears at £499.97 (note the price difference) as a "collect at store" item. The trouble is, when you try to buy it you find that all your local stores are out of stock so you can't actually buy it. Eventually, I tracked it down to the Swansea store, and phoned them. They have one A300-1BZ, but it is flood-damaged and therefore not actually for sale, but since it hasn't been sold the main PC World computer shows it as in stock, and will do until they can get it updated. My experience of PC World is that they are not dishonest, but the business seems to be highly decentralised with inadequate information systems, so that the centre (and the website) does not really know what is out there. I have also been after this laptop at PC World. The situation is a bit more complicated than you discovered, and is not a scam but simple bad management. If you really poke around on the PC World website, and specifically look for a refurbished laptop, they are selling the A300-1BZ at £499.99 on Home Delivery. However, if you go to the main laptop area, where they only list new ones, the same computer appears at £499.97 (note the price difference) as a “collect at store” item. The trouble is, when you try to buy it you find that all your local stores are out of stock so you can’t actually buy it. Eventually, I tracked it down to the Swansea store, and phoned them. They have one A300-1BZ, but it is flood-damaged and therefore not actually for sale, but since it hasn’t been sold the main PC World computer shows it as in stock, and will do until they can get it updated. My experience of PC World is that they are not dishonest, but the business seems to be highly decentralised with inadequate information systems, so that the centre (and the website) does not really know what is out there.

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