Watford Electronics nightmare company

[Japhet]

Let me warn you about the very real perils in doing business with this
outfit.
I have never come across a company that treats it's customers with such
utter and total contempt.
I made the mistake of buying an Aries system of Watford Electronics at the
beginning of december for business and home use.Computer arrived a few days
late,set it up and found it crashed repeatedly,wouldn't run my
printer,crashed on playing games(even in compatibility mode).
Now it took me a little over a week to get an answer on the so-called
helpline.By that time I had spent more than 6 hours hanging on the line at
national rate.
Finally got an answer from an engineer who said they had had loads of their
systems back with wrongly configured RAM and it sounded like mine was
another.
Would they send me the correct RAM asap?
No chance,unless I paid 60 odd quid for it.
Now despite being reluctant to pay this sum for their inability to correctly
put together a computer,In desperation I did so.
Still didn't work.
I have only managed to get an answer on the laughingly named helpline twice
in over a month.
Then I was forced to spend over a week emailing back and forth with a
certian Naveed Akhtar,to whom customer relations seems to be a mystery.
He at one point refused to send me an engineer although I had paid extra for
one site service,here is a copy of his fine reasoning:-

Dear Madam,


Thank you for your email. However I am unable to
send engineer to you ,
"REASON", we don't have engineer in you area. I
would recommend to
return the PC to us for Repair. I do understand that
you have paid for 1
years onsite visit. This is Okay, but if we don't
have engineers
available then I am afraid returning the Pc to us is
the only option.
Please let me help you. I understand your
frustration and would want the
PC up and running.

Thank you. Regards



Naveed Akhtar

I pointed out to him that I live in Aberystwyth,home of the UC Wales with a
large Comp Sci department,and the area is in fact packed with computer
repair engineers.
He reluctantly agreed to do so but has now mysteriously stopped answering my
emails since Jan 2nd.
Ive emailed the founder,the MD and various other folk since but not one of
them has answered.
So here I am 5 weeks after getting anonworking systyem from this seemingly
cowboy outfit unable to do anything about it
Last week I decided a bit of aggressive action was called for and contacted
a certain consumer program on the BBC.
Their producer was very interested and is contacting them this week!
Will keep you posted.
Meanwhile don't buy from them...it will only lead to misery and frustration
at their unbelievably unprofessional
approach to business and non existant after sales service.
Aimee Tregaque Morris

 

[Epona]

Let me warn you about the very real perils in doing business with this
outfit.
I have never come across a company that treats it's customers with
such utter and total contempt.
I made the mistake of buying an Aries system of Watford Electronics
at the beginning of december for business and home use.Computer
arrived a few days late,set it up and found it crashed
repeatedly,wouldn't run my printer,crashed on playing games(even in
compatibility mode).
Now it took me a little over a week to get an answer on the so-called
helpline.By that time I had spent more than 6 hours hanging on the
line at national rate.
Finally got an answer from an engineer who said they had had loads of
their systems back with wrongly configured RAM and it sounded like
mine was another.
Would they send me the correct RAM asap?
No chance,unless I paid 60 odd quid for it.
Now despite being reluctant to pay this sum for their inability to
correctly put together a computer,In desperation I did so.
Still didn't work.
I have only managed to get an answer on the laughingly named helpline
twice in over a month.
Then I was forced to spend over a week emailing back and forth with a
certian Naveed Akhtar,to whom customer relations seems to be a
mystery.
He at one point refused to send me an engineer although I had paid
extra for one site service,here is a copy of his fine reasoning:-

I'm afraid I cannot agree with you. I used to feel the same way but, after
sticking to my guns, I finally won.

Here's what happened to me: -

Back in May I purchased an Antec SmartPower 400W PSU - it proved to be
faulty and took out my CPU. I called Watford and spoke to a Jenny Murray.
She issued me with a TNT returns label and I packaged it up and TNT duly
collected it. I waited a fortnight and no refund was forthcoming, so I
called Watford (I had Jenny's direct line) and demanded to know what was
happening. I was informed I would receive no refund because (and I quote)
"we are waiting for a credit note from our suppliers". After she'd hung up
on me twice (and we're now going on a couple of months) I called back and
tried once again to make her understand that my contract was with them and
not their suppliers. She was still refusing, and I demanded to speak to her
manager; grudgingly (because I think she knew she was in trouble) she agreed
(enter one Pippa Owens). I explained what was going on to Pippa and she
apologised profusely and said I'd have the money in my account within three
working days. When I checked my account 48 hours later there it was.

Pippa has been fantastic and I have purchased twice more from Watford since
then (a 3200+ CPU and a Canon i9100 printer) with zero problems and, on both
occasions, I have dealt with Pippa directly. She has always told me that, if
I ever have any problems, to call her directly (I'd give you her number if I
knew where it was - I checked the one place I had it and I must have written
it down wrong, because it gives me unobtainable). If I find it, I'll pass it
along - I'm sure she'll see you right.

 

[George]

I sure wouldn't be a happy customer if it took a company "several months" to
resolve a DEAD cpu issue as you're dead in the water all that time and
"several months" later it isn't worth anywhere near what you paid for it.
Sounds to me like a dealer to avoid...

Japhet wrote:

I'm afraid I cannot agree with you. I used to feel the same way but, after
sticking to my guns, I finally won.

Here's what happened to me: -

Back in May I purchased an Antec SmartPower 400W PSU - it proved to be
faulty and took out my CPU. I called Watford and spoke to a Jenny Murray.
She issued me with a TNT returns label and I packaged it up and TNT duly
collected it. I waited a fortnight and no refund was forthcoming, so I
called Watford (I had Jenny's direct line) and demanded to know what was
happening. I was informed I would receive no refund because (and I quote)
"we are waiting for a credit note from our suppliers". After she'd hung up
on me twice (and we're now going on a couple of months)...

...I explained what was going on to Pippa and she
apologised profusely and said I'd have the money in my account within three
working days. When I checked my account 48 hours later there it was....

<<<SNIP>>>