TL;DR: We were charged £125 for a job that wasn't completed, treated with hostility, and repeatedly…read morethreatened with police - simply for asking a fair and reasonable question.
I anticipate the shop would reply and claim this isn't true, so pls consider that we have documentation. We're local customers with nothing to gain from exaggerating. We're sharing this to help others make informed decisions - especially when high ratings don't reflect how customers are treated when issues arise.
My husband dropped off his PC with a new PSU and storage device for installation and was charged £125 (£90 for PSU and £35 for storage device). Two days later, the owner messaged to say the PSU wasn't compatible and suggested buying a smaller model from him. He only sent a photo showing the size difference.
Since we hadn't tested it ourselves and the PSU was quite a hassle to return/request for a refund, we visited the shop to politely ask if he could plug it in to confirm it wasn't faulty so we could return it to Corsair if needed. We're not experts - we just wanted clarity.
Instead of responding professionally, the owner took offence. He accused us of doubting his "40 years of experience," claimed he had no obligation to prove anything, and said my husband was raising his voice (he wasn't). When I calmly noted I was present and my husband had been respectful, he told him he didn't want to speak to me. I shook my head at how one-sided it was, and he called me rude, threatened to call the police, and told me to leave for trespassing. I stepped outside but could still hear the exchange.
My husband, staying calm, said: "Go ahead and call them. I haven't done anything wrong - let them come and take my statement."
At this point, we were frustrated. I told my husband to just take the PC back and request a partial refund since the PSU wasn't installed. The owner refused, saying he doesn't offer refunds based on the invoice/contract drafted.
We had already paid £125, down from an original quote of £200, which included unnecessary work (like a Microsoft update and storage switch we later confirmed weren't needed). The diagnostic fee also changed - originally £20, then suddenly £30.
The owner then said he would install a compatible PSU - either one we provided or one we bought from him - but still refused any refund. At this point, the offer made little sense. He had already diagnosed the PC, accepted our PSU, and only later claimed it wasn't compatible. For someone with "40 years of experience," he should have flagged this up front - not after charging us and failing to complete the job.
Instead of finding a solution, he escalated further by calling the police and refusing to return our PC until they arrived - effectively holding it hostage. He even made my husband count the PSU wires in front of him "so he wouldn't lie and make false claims," which was insulting and unnecessary.
When the police arrived, it quickly became clear that his report didn't match what had actually happened. They confirmed no crime had occurred and told him this was a civil matter and not an appropriate reason to involve the police. He continued to argue, and even asked the officers to take down our personal details "in case we did something to his shop in the future." The police refused, as it was clear he was blowing the situation out of proportion and behaving unreasonably.
Most disturbingly, the owner made a racially charged remark to my husband, saying: "This is the UK - you don't behave like this," and later suggested that the police were biased when they didn't support his version of events.
We left while the police were still inside - and it didn't seem like they were buying his story. He kept pushing, but it doesn't seem like they were having it.
The police told us in private not to come back to his shop again given the man's behaviour.
Please read reviews carefully. If you want your PC handled by someone who becomes hostile when questioned and escalates unnecessarily, this is the place for you. Everyone else - please avoid at all costs.
