If you're in the industry, the first port of call for your electronic needs is usually RS…read moreComponents. For the rest of us, there is Maplins. They used to be more of an Argos-style store with catalogue ordering and take-your-form-to-the-counter service, but some years ago they began opening larger stores with a great selection of budget consumer electronics on display. They're great if you're looking for extension cords, phones and accessories, computer bits and bobs, and obscure branded electronic thingamibobs. They're especially good around Xmas as they always have some bizarre electronic toy that's just perfect for your 8-year-old nephew or the other geek in your life. Sometimes they don't have the item you want in store (as happened to me today), but they're more than happy to order it up for you and it will be delivered to your home at no extra charge. I do find them a bit overpowering sometimes as they always seem to have a surfeit of staff who hover around you asking if they can assist every couple of minutes, which wears thin very quickly with me, especially as this is the kind of shop I like to circumambulate several times whilst waiting for inspiration to strike if I've got a particular project in mind but I'm not sure what I need (which is most of the time when I'm in here!)

As a self-confessed technology know-none, advice from Maplin employees has set me on the right…read moretrack many a time. From buying CDs for burning, to rewiring my speakers, they've been kind enough to share their know-how all over the shop (literally). You can get everything you want electronically here - even from batteries to welders, and when you can't find it - guess who'll come to the rescue? That's right, the maplin employees! Everyone loves a Maplin Employee...

Repair Teamknowhow unresponsive, unprofessional !!…read more Repair Ref- 698132 LG TV developed blue screen, Issue raised with customer service and issue was determined to be "out of warranty claim" . GBP 95 was taken from my account and was ensured that once TV is picked up , within 5 days i will get it back after repairs. Also that 95 quid will be refunded if the issue is a manufacturing one. Pickup done on 3rd July but delivery to repair center was only done on 13th July.( Took them 10days for within UK service). There has been no update on my TV ever since. Have tried calling several times and raised my complaint twice(on record!) Still have not received any update. They cant even tell me whats the issue with TV is or if at all it will be repaired or when !!! Thats gross competence. Being told there is no way to contact their repair dept and i will have to wait for email from them.. This has not happened even after almost a month after TV problem was reported. Customer care/repair resolution dept is a disgrace. I have been left without TV for a month in a house hold of 2 little kids..Wake up team Knowhow!! UPDATE 05/08/2021 Even after a week of sending them again my case details as requested, there's has been no progress. Getting standard emails that they have contacted their repair team to provide update with my complaints reference number CC4449883. How shameful that even within there own teams , there is no communication nor any accountability on anyone's part. I hope people higher up pay attention to my plight and be made aware of their organization's failure in this case. Has anyone else faced the same issues with team knowhow? Thinking of going to the ombudsman as my last resort now. Thanks team knowhow , you have been a disgrace so far. Thanks again, UPDATE 29/08/21 Been almost two moths that my TV was picked up for repairs. Still no sight of it back. Such a idsgraceful customer service from so called TEAMKNOWHOW. Below is my mail sent to them today- Good day, Is anybody in your dept/organization bothered at all with my plight?? Been 2 months that my TV was picked and still no news regarding repairs. If i dont get my TV back or hear from you after this mail, i am going to proceed with legal action against you. Thanks for all your " help" so far ! Abhijeet

horrible, Lied to my face about the computer I have, said it wasn't compatible with my monitor and…read moretried to make me spend £2000 never again 0.5/10

Brilliant friendly service, quality work, speedy repairs. After having disastrous repairs at other…read morelocal shops, I decided to give Source a go. I didn't use them sooner, as it is such a smart looking shop that I thought they would be much more expensive that the cheap looking places, but it isn't and the service and quality of parts and labour is different class. I'd had my iPhone 5s screen replaced at a cheap shop and it broke within days. I kept taking it back, but it never lasted more than three days. He even replaced it again, but that one just broke. They charged £35, but I found out they are using the cheapest possible screens that are £10 from China, and are rubbish. Source charged £45, but it is a great quality screen, it took them 30 minutes and I've not had any trouble in the month since fitting. I know that's just a month, but you can just tell that it is repaired properly with a quality screen and it will last. I then spilt something on my Samsung RV711 laptop keyboard and completely shorted it out. Nothing was working. They usually charge far less for a keyboard replacement, but on the Samsung the keyboard, palm rest and entire top of the base needs replacing. The cheapest I found a second hand one on eBay was £45 , new ones far more. I called around, and some shops wouldn't do it, and one central one quoted £99, just for the labour, and another quoted 3 weeks turnaround. Source ordered the part for next day delivery and then only took one hour to complete the repair. Total cost for the brand new part and labour £79. They said most keyboard repairs are £35, but this is the entire top due to the Samsung design, which is the palm rest, keyboard, tracking pad and right and left mouse buttons. They even fixed my left mouse button for no extra cost. My computer is now working perfectly. I'm absolutely delighted with Source Electronics and won't go anywhere else again. I highly recommend them. They are polite, friendly, very professional and the quality of the entire experience is 5 STARS! TIPS: 1. They open at 9.30am and told me this is the best time to drop off a repair as they have an additional staff ember in the morning and can do the job straight away. 2. Call first to ask if they have the part in stock, if not they will order it and call you when it gets in. My part for the Samsung took 24 hours to arrive. They had the iPhone 5s screen in stock. 3. Calling in advance you can also book in your repair, so you know they can do it while you wait on an iPhone. Plenty of great coffee shops near by. 3. They can also fit phone screen protectors. Even the most careful of us can scratch the screen of our phones, and if you have a screen protector it is that getting scratched instead. When you come to sell the phone take it off and the screen will be as new. The protector will pay for itself many times over through the resale value of a perfect screen. Scratched screens really effect sell on value.

Absolutely amazing! Managed to revive my water damaged iPhone and did so in only a couple of hours…read more-needing a battery and screen replacement. Cannot thank them enough. The staff there are also absolutely wonderful and cannot thank them enough for the amazing job they did.

This place is like a little evil of necessary-ness…read more There are a couple things that we can only get here. I used to hate coming in here after watching hordes of small children flip the pages of these plastic catalogue while also depositing the contents of their nasal passages upon everything they touched. Booger covered sales literature was placed throughout the room and your likelihood of hitting one of those snot mines was 100%. But Argos stepped up and create a lovely app that lets you order and pay for the thing you want before you even hit the door. Difficult to do since they are all automated. So, no need to don the HazMat suit and put on the blue booties. Get online or pick up the app and leave the infested catalogues to Sneezy, Angry and Dopey over there.

Good old Argos, it's fantastic, good quality products at very competitive prices. They'll even…read moredeliver your goods to your door if you can't fit them in your car. Unlike other delivery stores they don't charge an arm and a leg, they pick a time that's convenient for you and they come on time unike some places that say they'll be there at some point 9 - 9. I mean good grief, how long is a piece of string? I particularly like Argos for electronics, their laptops are good prices as are cameras and they always have the top of the range brands. I recently got myself a very classy Rotary watch from here that came with a three year guarantee and you can't go wrong with a good quality Swiss watch. Argos stockss everything and the staff in this branch are so helpful so you'll never be dissapointed with a visit here!

A magnet for hi-fi buffs, my recent experiences with Richer Sounds come mainly through looking for…read morean LCD TV, a type of product notoriously awkward to buy as there are so many deals going about both in shops and on the internet, that it can be difficult to know where to start. The staff here are very helpful and don't give you the hard-sell bollocks that makes going into some other electronics retailers a stressful and often awkward experience. Their special offers are very good and new ones come up all the time, so it's worth checking back regularly. It's not unusual to find a £1000 Sony TV here for little over half price. Unfortunately for poor old Mr Richer, I found a deal on Amazon that just edged out what was on offer here, but I'd still recommend the place, and would make it first stop on my next quest for high-end consumer electronics.

An excellent emporium of all things electronic, Richer's is a fantastic place to go on your hunt…read morefor the latest and greatest in tellies, stereos and all the bumf that goes with them. My last experience in here was in purchasing some speakers and an amp for my beleaguered old stereo system. It was great to be able to actually ask some question and not be met with a blank stare of utter confusion by the staff. The only real problem with this place is that its so popular with those in the know that it can become very busy at times, however its worth the hassle. Anyway, great service, fantastic offers and a welcome tonic to the sterile nature of some of the big electronic stores.

Lovely family business that delivers a personal service that is hard to come by in this day and…read moreage. Went in to buy a tv .. It was delivered and installed free of charge and came with a free 5 yr guarantee. Would recommend to all my friends. S.M.

Excellent shop with expert knowledge and wonderful service and after care have used for yearsread more

I placed an order for something and it was ready to collect. I went there and showed them a photo…read moreof my driving license and they said that they needed a physical copy! Now if I was buying lets say an Iphone, then I would understand, however, I was trying to collect a £1 Keyboard! I mean come on CeX, it's only a £1 Keyboard, at least let me off with a photo of an ID on that one! CeX if you are reading this, please give me a way to contact you so that I can get a refund because I have given up. Good for value, but very stingy when it comes to try an collect something.

I love that I am still finding some awesome shops in Edinburgh that I never knew about before. Cex…read more(no idea how they want us to pronounce it) is tucked away on Rose Street, and is one of the best shops of its type that I have seen. It's a place where you can trade in games, DVDs, mobile phones and other electronic equipment. They also sell all of these things, with some great prices. You could spend £10 and come out with a lot of things if you hunt hard enough. People will so often discredit buying pre-owned items, but for prices as low as those offered by Cex, it's difficult to say no! This time, I just popped in for a browse, though I will be visiting there next time I want a cheap film or the like. I wonder how long it will be before someone trades in an iPhone 4? One can only hope...

HOW HAVE YOU SENT ME BACK THE SAME BROKEN PAIR!!!!…read more WTF IS GOING ON?!!! I've come home to my neighbour giving me back the same box with the same BROKEN PAIR that I sent back to you yesterday!!!! How is this actually possible!?!?????? I've now redacted all information on the box except for the DPD delivery number so they have no chance of getting confused. That's the only thing I can possibly imagine has happened... Despite it having their bloody sticker with a new barcode on the front! Could you please, PLEASE just send ANOTHER person to collect this stupid broken pair of binoculars again. This is such a waste of time, not just mine but everyone involved. So much petrol used for nothing... Waste is the key word here and me and my fiancé are actually so disappointed. Worst gift ever in my honest opinion, never had so much stress over something so simple. Just gimme a full refund tbh, I can't be bothered anymore. You win Jessop's, we'll tbf there are no winners here at all. Especially not my fiancé who's honestly had the most shambles of a gift ever. I've included some more pictures and video to show me proving it's the same broken pair. The same pair that doesn't zoom, has a ripped open part of the case, and a completely detached right lens (which I have since screwed back in as it was easier to repackage) HERE's MY ACTUAL REVIEW: My body physically aches, especially my neck with the amount of facepalming, pacing, stress, and anger I've had to deal with because of this crappy company. Worst gift giving experience of my entire life so far. Long story short, DON'T ever buy anything online from Jessop's. Ordered before Christmas, it's now been nearly a month since I ordered and it's ARRIVED DAMAGED, then returned BROKEN IN HALF, then the same broken pair was sent back to me, then sent away and made it way back to me for a third time. Still no response from either Csjessops.com or csresolutionsjessops.com outraged by the amount of time I've had wasted, a 7am-5pm collection slot (4 separate occasions now) for a pair of binoculars that arrived broken in half. Also Ive still been left in the dark with regards to what the solution is, I keep only getting umms and arrs about what they should do coz this is clearly such a massive fk up. I just want either a new pair or a refund and it's still such a struggle for them to even approve that and let me know what the outcome is. Nobody knows how to resolve this problem because not a soul has even tried to send me a new pair yet. They won't send you the goods you've ordered UNTIL they receive the broken goods back, now normally this would make sense, especially if the product can be resold or refurbished. The pair I received couldn't even zoom in, the zoom arm was completely jammed and the focus was never syncing... It's almost like one of the lens has been completely detached and forcibly been put back together again. It also came to me in a box labeled KITE PACKAGING.CO.UK so I know it was some other users broken pair that was sent back too, how the fk it ended up at my house, not once, not twice but three times due to Jessop's and DPD being incapable of delivery services. If you like being left in the dark, receiving countless broken or completly destroyed food then Jessop's is the place for you. Just make sure you take some Kalms or summin before you try and sort anything out with them. It WILL be a very stressful experience. Good luck. Oh, and wish me luck too! Haha ‍

One day a couple of months ago, I was handed a ten-year-old camera by my then boss and instructed…read moreto get it working. She'd taken it out of the loft that morning, and it was covered in dust and dirt. I took it and headed into Jessops on Sauchiehall Street. The member of staff I dealt with was really helpful, and was completely understanding when I explained what I wanted. He didn't even flinch a the sight of the old camera, and tactfully pretended not to notice the dust. He found new batteries and a new film and even tested the whole thing out for me. I left ten minutes later with the camera working. So yes, Jessops might not be the cheapest camera shop - but I think the service more than makes up for this.