who to buy from

[mutantpoodle]

am just trying to choose who to buy wifes christmas laptop from
no gaming
basic surfing
netflix type stuff

am going to buy ACER Aspire 3...after hours searching that looks more than fine

but ARGOS...or AMAZON............??????????

both deliver and at present both have in stock (so web pages say)

but which might respond better in eent of problems??

(it will be no good her asking me...I know nothing!!)............and anyway she tells me I never listen so I wouldnt get the problem

[didds]

its really who offers best after sales support/care etc - cos the actual machine is independent from the source of course.

I generally get kit from ebuyer - but then I rarely have a specific make and model in mind etc

didds

[Arborbridge]

am just trying to choose who to buy wifes christmas laptop from
no gaming
basic surfing
netflix type stuff

am going to buy ACER Aspire 3...after hours searching that looks more than fine

but ARGOS...or AMAZON............??????????

both deliver and at present both have in stock (so web pages say)

but which might respond better in eent of problems??

(it will be no good her asking me...I know nothing!!)............and anyway she tells me I never listen so I wouldnt get the problem

My instinct tells me that Argos would be easier to get in touch with. I haven't used Amazon for years, but it was always a problem finding out what to do in the event of a problem. At least with Argos, one could storm down to the local branch at Sainsburys.

Given that you decide there is little to choose, I would always go for the company which pays a reasonable tax amount to our national exchequer, and this exclude Amazon or any other US disrupting non tax paying monkeys.

Arb.

[bungeejumper]

If price were no issue, I'd go for Argos because it's got a branch in your local Sainsburys. Whereas Amazon isn't quite such a unitary operation as it might appear - the actual suppliers might come from anywhere, and often do.

Besides, if you had to choose between packaging up a computer and posting it off, versus taking it in to a local desk, which would you prefer?

Having said all that, your local Currys is also open. But IME John Lewis beats everybody for being helpful about problems. And they'll ship it out to your local Waitrose by the following day.

BJ

[mutantpoodle]

many thanks everyone
I have bought in past from JL..Ebuyer and AO all have been excellent
but
John Lewis is far the best io but has no stock
Ebuyer has no stock of comparable models
AO nothing similar

ok they all have other much more costly laptops but...

I cannot see difference between Argos and Amazon models although as usual they each have their own unique model nubers...so not to be undersold with same 'model'
and I dont know enough to read small print about what each model has/does...
after GHZ....GB///and RAMs...I am lost

[AF62]

Having said all that, your local Currys is also open.

Didn't realise this was the joke section!

But IME John Lewis beats everybody for being helpful about problems.

Ten years ago that would have been the obvious answer. Unfortunately their customer service offering has fallen off a cliff in the last couple of years, with an outsourced call centre and instore any issues beyond 30 days you are referred to the manufacturer.

[bungeejumper]

Having said all that, your local Currys is also open.

Didn't realise this was the joke section!

Oh, there's nothing impressive about Currys, except that it often has the stuff in stock. And it's been a bit of a year for cheap laptops, for some reason or other.

Beg to differ about JL's customer service. They were superb last month when my new dishwasher failed to match up to expectations. Not an outsourced help desk, but an employee working from home. Got the refund sorted in a single phone call. Still, the OP's first job is to find somebody with stock.

BJ

[GeoffF100]

I do not think you can go too far wrong with Argos. It is nice to be able to take things back to a store. If the model numbers are different for the two laptops, why not post them here?

[AF62]

Having said all that, your local Currys is also open.

Didn't realise this was the joke section!

Oh, there's nothing impressive about Currys, except that it often has the stuff in stock. And it's been a bit of a year for cheap laptops, for some reason or other.

"stuff in stock" - not these days. They seem to have moved to a showroom operation and want you to order online after browsing in store. When in there recently for a toaster they suggested I went to Tesco next door if I wanted one that day.

Beg to differ about JL's customer service. They were superb last month when my new dishwasher failed to match up to expectations. Not an outsourced help desk, but an employee working from home. Got the refund sorted in a single phone call. Still, the OP's first job is to find somebody with stock.

Well with a 4 month old Samsung TV they told me to phone Samsung as it was past the 30 day period they were interested.

With a 2 month old mobile phone I ended up doing a s75 claim on my John Lewis credit card they were so unhelpful which ended up with them asking me to destroy it with a hammer in return for a full refund - and all because the store was not interested. And they messed up the s75 claim so offered my a bunch of vouchers as an apology. Unimpressive.

And I am not alone - https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.johnlewis.com

[bungeejumper]

With a 2 month old mobile phone I ended up doing a s75 claim on my John Lewis credit card they were so unhelpful which ended up with them asking me to destroy it with a hammer in return for a full refund - and all because the store was not interested. And they messed up the s75 claim so offered my a bunch of vouchers as an apology. Unimpressive.

I'd say it was highly impressive. A story to dine out on.

BJ

[Arborbridge]

Having said all that, your local Currys is also open.

Didn't realise this was the joke section!

But IME John Lewis beats everybody for being helpful about problems.

Ten years ago that would have been the obvious answer. Unfortunately their customer service offering has fallen off a cliff in the last couple of years, with an outsourced call centre and instore any issues beyond 30 days you are referred to the manufacturer.

That's not my experience of JL, though I haven't tested them beyond the usual short term issues such as a missing part in a product only last week. No idea about the 30 days issue.
However, as a general observation, I'd say we receive what we deserve. If the main proportion of people shop on price, then companies with better staff and service find it really hard to compete. In turn, in order to survive, those companies reduce the number of staff or their contact points, or outsource various helplines. This is accelerated by the distortion caused by what are in effect unacknowledged "handouts" to companies like Amazon and the other tax shirkers.

We are largely to blame for causing our own problems in this respect.

Arb.

[didds]

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