Fine if you don't have genuine questions or problems with the merchandise. I doubt I'd ever return.
I spend an embarrassing amount of money on computers, electronics, and media. I've been to many such shops in Europe, Australia, and the US - I have a lot to compare against. Sadly, PC World falls to the bottom of the list.
While the prices are OK - you can easily get cheaper online.
I needed a laptop cooler for my laptop. There were two models available at PC World. I enlisted staff for help and they made a recommendation. I was repeatedly advised that if I had the receipt and it was not to satisfaction, just bring it back. Grand. Without that 'guarantee' I'd no intention of purchasing it, as the item was not even out on display.
I brought it home and the cooler, rather than being made of aluminium like the employee suggested, it was mostly plastic. I returned to the store to return the product.
I was directed to the back of the store, where the customer service area is. The initial clerk that assisted me was receptive and polite, however he had to swap customers because one clerk did not know how to handle vouchers. Regrettably, the new clerk was not as polite and not in the humour of doing a refund. He plugged the device into his computer and said 'it works, I'm not giving a refund.'
I was annoyed and asked for a manager. He refused to get one. He pointed toward the front of the store and said 'He's out there, he's the one that is bald.' I told him I didn't want to search for the manager and to have him paged. He refused, saying managers don't want to be paged. I requested again. His co-worker complied.
The manager came to me and told me that he will back whatever the customer service people stated. I informed him of what the previous employee said and the manager gave indication that it does not matter. It also did not matter that I had my packaging or receipt.
The manager was very wishy-washy on the position, he stated that it is a judgement call on whether the customer service clerks will take something back. It's up to them. This bothered me, because it is inconsistent and based on luck of who you receive. I began to think that if I wouldn't of had the clerks change places on me, I'd of had no hassle. He said that may of been the case and then did a shrug. He told me if the item had been broken, I'd get my refund, but since it works, not a chance.
He posed the most irritating question to me as well "How would you like to own a store and have a customer return an open product that you can not resell?" I responded with I lived in America for a few years and they have (and do) very successful and wealthy retail markets that accept open returns. You'd be hard-pressed to find a reputable shop in America that does not take returns - some even take them without a sales receipt.
I was ready to leave the store, as the manager was being quite wishy-washy and giving a load of lame excuses, he changed his tune when I indicated I was going to write to his headquarters about my experience. He assured me he wasn't 'weak' and wasn't over-riding the customer service position because I was 'writing HQ', but did so for the purpose of customer relations.
This was all fine and good, but it shouldn't of ate up 20 minutes of my time. I took my refund and went down the road and got an actual cooler (which I'm using right now) for 3 Euro more. At that shop, the manager guaranteed that I could come back in a few days if it wasn't working right. He even wrote it on the sales slip - now THAT is decent customer service. read more