What is Grumbletext? Grumbletext in the news Grumbletext Site Links... -------------- What is Grumbletext? What is SOS Premium Rate on Grumbletext? Grumbletext in the news Why would I want to Gumbletext? Report SMS Spammers Who is Grumbletext? Frequently Asked Questions Your privacy Contact Us Get the newsletter What is SOS Premium Rate?  FAQ   (Frequently Asked Questions)   Adv. Search   Register  Profile   Log in to check your private messages   Log in What you said about:  Watford Electronics Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next      Grumbletext Homepage -> Grumbletext General Consumer          Author Message mickym   20:29 26/11/07 Posts: 1   Item missing on delivery     I ordered a TV Card and two DVDRW Drives on the 11th September. The goods arrived 14th September, which was within the forecast delivery dates. On opening the package there was the TV Card, but only one DVDRW Drive. I telephoned the courier, and then Saverstore within one hour of receiving my delivery, to report the missing item. I was advised to fill in the automated delivery form on the website, which I did. I was then locked in contact through emails, sending several copies of my despatch notes as requested, and finally sending the documents by recorded delivery to Peter Hills. My first point of contact was a complete waist of time, the person to avoid dealing with is Ektaa Pithawa, I exchanged several emails in which the same questions were always asked, and then suddenly my emails were just ignored and contact ceased. Eventually after 10 weeks and several more emails to other contacts (I found off the internet ) within the company, I now have my missing item. If this is any help to anyone, the person who resolved my problem was Peter McCorkindale � email [email protected] -- 08718552332 I have had two bad experiences with this company over a three year period, and the service is just as bad now as it was then, unless you have a lot of time on your hands and enjoy stress, I would give these people a very wide berth as I will in the future. neilscanlan   14:14 10/04/07 Posts: 6   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     Re "Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces" posted by Michael3746 at 21:10 12/03/07 ... Well, well, well, what is this I see. A name change to Saverstore.com (how original...). http://www.saverstore.com/products/savastore/ looks like people have already rumbled it though and i'll do my best to help. http://www.hotukdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?s=0d23a9e14aac28031ae50c7a4d1cdd15&t=60631 Wherever did thiscoe go?? Michael3746   21:10 12/03/07 Posts: 8   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     Quote: Couldn't concur more with you. This practice is commonplace with many failed businesses. For example, a conservatory or double glazing business that has been ripping off customers for years go bankrupt and reform under a new name. The mendaciousness continues until the business collapses again. Of course, the individuals responsible reform under yet another name and so this continues. Unfortunately, customers will continue to be duped so it is important to warn as many people as possible. I am not sure if Shiraz Jessa (MD of Savastore) is legally entitled to run Globally but the law is easy to circumvent (he may have relatives who can run the new company). Well, well, well. Guess who the new boss of Globally is? A certain Mahmood Jessa, former Logistics Manager of ...., wait for it ....., this is good..... WATFORD ELECTRONICS. An ex manager buys his brother's business - as seen on Only Fools and Horses. Yes we see the connection - dodgy dealing! Message to ThisCoe (of whom has absolutely no connections with Watford whatsoever), I have replied and asked you some questions. Are you going to give us some answers? Niklowe   16:47 07/03/07 Posts: 8   Don't expect service from Savastore     I like many who bought from savastore rue the day that I did. Having purchased a laptop for my son to take to university Iwas dismayed to have it break down within 9 months. It took a three month battle to get them to repair it 6 months later it packed up again. It took 4 months and 87 E- mails this time. Since then it got so hot that the power lead is fused into the case. Bought my son another from a reputable dealer[/b] I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole Michael3746   20:15 26/02/07 Posts: 8   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     Quote: Do you have any evidence to back up these absurd and offensive accusations? Why are the accusations offensive? Are they offensive to you? If you have no connections with Watford Electronics then how does that affect you? Quote: Do you have any evidence to back up these absurd and offensive accusations? Yes have a read of this forum! If you want personal evidence from myself I can do better - I have records of some very offhand emails from (name suppressed by GT - no longer works for Watford). Quote: Or did you just have a bad shopping experience and lack the maturity to get over it? What???? If I was ripped off I wouldn't just count to 10 and forget about it and don't expect others to either. Quote: I personally would be sorry for those who could lose their livelihoods I wouldn't be sorry. If I worked for an establishment that behaved in an unethical manner I would leave. As you appear to have so much in-depth knowledge of Watford Electronics (even though you state categorically that you don't work for them), how many of their staff have actually lost their jobs and how many are given jobs in Globally. Quote: A business that makes 1% margin on �50m turnover is hardly ripping off customers What has that got to do with anything? Could it be that the margins are so tight that the company has resorted to behaving unethically? Quote: Finally � I understand what it is that Grumbletext is trying to do here � your childish and vituperative comments only diminish the credibility of this message board I think the poster who you replied to have made some very valid points. I find posting on this forum and pretending not to be a Waford Electronics employee very childish. Quote: BTW I don�t work for Watford, never have. But I know the business, the industry and the real rogues very well after 15 years working in it. So who are the real rogues then if it is not Watford Electronics? I have done some research and Watford Electronics have by far more complaints and than Dabs, Novatech and Misco. FoldHillFoods   15:47 26/02/07 Posts: 1   Re: Dear Grumble Text Grumblers     At 12:01 21/02/07, Peter Hills wrote: Warranty and support details for existing Watford Electronics customers will be posted on www.savastore.com shortly. Please bear with us while we are temporarily closed due to the take over. The website has also said that ... 07/02/07, Savastore wrote: Information relating to warranty and returns procedures for existing Savastore.com customers whose products are not covered by a manufacturer�s warranty will be provided within the next 48 hours. ... for the past 20 days - any idea of when the statement about warranties and support will actually appear? We have a number of Aries PCs on site, and we can't get in contact with customer or tech support if anything goes wrong - quite worrying as it was me that convinced the managment team to switch suppliers in the first place. Chris Meacher Fold Hill Foods Ltd neilscanlan   10:14 23/02/07 Posts: 6   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     At 10:30 21/02/07, thiscoe wrote: Don't get your hopes up. This is quite patently and obviously financial gymnastics to avoid paying debts, hold on to money and reinvent themselves as Savastore has obviously become too associated with criminally obscene business practices. Company founded on 5th Feb 07, based in same premises, same old company. Would you actually consider buying anything from the newly invented Globally?? Same dodgy individuals hiding behind a name change and avoiding past problems and responsibilities - all they have to say to existing unhappy customers is 'We're not responsible for Savastore/Watfords mistakes." and carry on ripping off the online customer. What's the betting the complaints soon come flooding in. Don't give them a chance to rip you off and avoid them like the plague. Read this link carefully: bought back all their own dodgy gear for a token sum: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/02/09/watford_aftermath/ Your comments are intemperate, inaccurate and unfair. Watford Electronics is not, nor has it ever been, a here-today-gone-tomorrow PC company that was so fashionable in the 90�s.Watford has been established for more than thirty years and can fairly claim to have been at the vanguard of the personal computer revolution in Britain. You call it financial acrobatics and accuse them of criminally obscene business practices, and ripping off online customers. Do you have any evidence to back up these absurd and offensive accusations? Or did you just have a bad shopping experience and lack the maturity to get over it? Whatever � but I personally would be sorry for those who could lose their livelihoods, and I am sorry for the loss of one more independent British supplier. When the global suppliers get their way you can expect prices to get firm sooner than later. And read the information on your own link. A business that makes 1% margin on �50m turnover is hardly ripping off customers. But I doubt facts like these, nor an explanation of just how ruthless the market has become with the interaction of global suppliers and the callousness of credit insurance companies would mean much to you. I for one hope that Watford does manage to survive this problem, and I�ll have a bet with you. Despite the fact that a new company could walk away from any liabilities with previous customers including liability for warranties � I bet they don�t. Finally � I understand what it is that Grumbletext is trying to do here � your childish and vituperative comments only diminish the credibility of this message board. Thankfully most of the users seem to have a better sense of perspective and are able to make more intelligent contribution. BTW I don�t work for Watford, never have. But I know the business, the industry and the real rogues very well after 15 years working in it. [/quote] 1. No they're not 'intemperate, inaccurate and unfair' - hundreds of others on this site plus no doubt thousands of others who haven't posted here would disagree with you. Try reading below before asking for evidence. 2. Re ripping off customers and business practices - I refer the poster to the many comments below. One bad 'shopping' experience'.....pfft, looks like quite a few others (inc me) have evidenced it on this site alone. Lack of maturity - thats a subjective view and you are entitled to that - however, I've never liked being treated as a fool and having people try to hoodwink me. (BTW my experiences are posted at length some way back) does tend to make me a touch vituperative. 3. Independent British supplier...? Yeah, much in the same way we mourned the loss of British Leyland and De Lorean. 4. Yes i did read the article and I wasn't talking about profit margins. It's what they do with your money and your goods when they've again tried to trick or have one over on you. Lot of comments here that people wished the'd paid the extra and been given what they thought they'd bought and not what a company that 'can fairly claim to have been at the vanguard of the personal computer revolution in Britain' (lol) thought they could get away with and foist on unsuspecting customers. Try reading all the 'childish and vituperative comments' below. Warranties are one thing - what about all the money the'd taken in orders from customers who had not yet received any goods. They may honour warranties, be interesting to see if they honour orders pre the ' buyout'. Hmmm could this be the start of a PR offensive by Globally / Savastore - the snake shedding its old skin and presenting itself with a new image - still the same old snake. Maybe I'd better start spreading the word on other forums as well as the keyword 'Globally' may not be that well spread yet. Peter Hills   12:01 21/02/07 Posts: 21   Dear Grumble Text Grumblers     I have been on leave for the past 3 weeks and have not had chance to reply to any posts, obviously there have been a lot due to the current situation with Watford Electronics buy out by Globally Limited. Warranty and support details for existing Watford Electronics customers will be posted on www.savastore.com shortly. Please bear with us while we are temporarily closed due to the take over. If I can be of any further assistance during this time please feel free to contact me as usual. Anyone who has emailed me over the past 2 weeks will receive a reply as soon as I can get to them all. Regards Mr Peter Hills On Behalf of Customer Services Direct Dial: 07077810047 Email: [email protected] thiscoe   10:30 21/02/07 Posts: 1   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     Don't get your hopes up. This is quite patently and obviously financial gymnastics to avoid paying debts, hold on to money and reinvent themselves as Savastore has obviously become too associated with criminally obscene business practices. Company founded on 5th Feb 07, based in same premises, same old company. Would you actually consider buying anything from the newly invented Globally?? Same dodgy individuals hiding behind a name change and avoiding past problems and responsibilities - all they have to say to existing unhappy customers is 'We're not responsible for Savastore/Watfords mistakes." and carry on ripping off the online customer. What's the betting the complaints soon come flooding in. Don't give them a chance to rip you off and avoid them like the plague. Read this link carefully: bought back all their own dodgy gear for a token sum: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/02/09/watford_aftermath/[/quote] Your comments are intemperate, inaccurate and unfair. Watford Electronics is not, nor has it ever been, a here-today-gone-tomorrow PC company that was so fashionable in the 90�s.Watford has been established for more than thirty years and can fairly claim to have been at the vanguard of the personal computer revolution in Britain. You call it financial acrobatics and accuse them of criminally obscene business practices, and ripping off online customers. Do you have any evidence to back up these absurd and offensive accusations? Or did you just have a bad shopping experience and lack the maturity to get over it? Whatever � but I personally would be sorry for those who could lose their livelihoods, and I am sorry for the loss of one more independent British supplier. When the global suppliers get their way you can expect prices to get firm sooner than later. And read the information on your own link. A business that makes 1% margin on �50m turnover is hardly ripping off customers. But I doubt facts like these, nor an explanation of just how ruthless the market has become with the interaction of global suppliers and the callousness of credit insurance companies would mean much to you. I for one hope that Watford does manage to survive this problem, and I�ll have a bet with you. Despite the fact that a new company could walk away from any liabilities with previous customers including liability for warranties � I bet they don�t. Finally � I understand what it is that Grumbletext is trying to do here � your childish and vituperative comments only diminish the credibility of this message board. Thankfully most of the users seem to have a better sense of perspective and are able to make more intelligent contribution. BTW I don�t work for Watford, never have. But I know the business, the industry and the real rogues very well after 15 years working in it. Michael3746   19:55 16/02/07 Posts: 8   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     At 20:02 15/02/07, neilscanlan wrote: At 14:03 08/02/07, augur-alpha wrote: Watford has vanished WOOHOO Globally Ltd was founded on February 5. Its registered address is Jessa House, 1 Finway, Luton. Watford Electronics also operates from that address. Don't get your hopes up. This is quite patently and obviously financial gymnastics to avoid paying debts, hold on to money and reinvent themselves as Savastore has obviously become too associated with criminally obscene business practices. Company founded on 5th Feb 07, based in same premises, same old company. Would you actually consider buying anything from the newly invented Globally?? Same dodgy individuals hiding behind a name change and avoiding past problems and responsibilities - all they have to say to existing unhappy customers is 'We're not responsible for Savastore/Watfords mistakes." and carry on ripping off the online customer. What's the betting the complaints soon come flooding in. Don't give them a chance to rip you off and avoid them like the plague. Read this link carefully: bought back all their own dodgy gear for a token sum: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/02/09/watford_aftermath/ Couldn't concur more with you. This practice is commonplace with many failed businesses. For example, a conservatory or double glazing business that has been ripping off customers for years go bankrupt and reform under a new name. The mendaciousness continues until the business collapses again. Of course, the individuals responsible reform under yet another name and so this continues. Unfortunately, customers will continue to be duped so it is important to warn as many people as possible. I am not sure if Shiraz Jessa (MD of Savastore) is legally entitled to run Globally but the law is easy to circumvent (he may have relatives who can run the new company). neilscanlan   20:02 15/02/07 Posts: 6   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     At 14:03 08/02/07, augur-alpha wrote: Watford has vanished WOOHOO Globally Ltd was founded on February 5. Its registered address is Jessa House, 1 Finway, Luton. Watford Electronics also operates from that address. Don't get your hopes up. This is quite patently and obviously financial gymnastics to avoid paying debts, hold on to money and reinvent themselves as Savastore has obviously become too associated with criminally obscene business practices. Company founded on 5th Feb 07, based in same premises, same old company. Would you actually consider buying anything from the newly invented Globally?? Same dodgy individuals hiding behind a name change and avoiding past problems and responsibilities - all they have to say to existing unhappy customers is 'We're not responsible for Savastore/Watfords mistakes." and carry on ripping off the online customer. What's the betting the complaints soon come flooding in. Don't give them a chance to rip you off and avoid them like the plague. Read this link carefully: bought back all their own dodgy gear for a token sum: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/02/09/watford_aftermath/ warweezil  Site Admin 1:06 10/02/07 Posts: 277   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     Re "Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces" posted by indy4 at 9:15 09/02/07 ... It may be best for you to talk directly to Barclaycard, as It now seems the change of ownership was due to Watford Electronics going into Administration on Wednesday. Reports on another site suggest that Watford were �3.5 million in the red. Globally have apparently purchased the "goodwill and chattel assets" of the company. You may have to rely on Barclaycard to cover the refund in these circumstances. Click here for Story indy4   9:15 09/02/07 Posts: 1   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     Can anybody help me. I bought a TV from Savasore 1 month ago but it was faulty and was sent back the following day.I am waiting for a refund of �1079,but they say they have sent it,Barclaycard have not received it. what can i do (apart from go legal) It takes up to half an hour each time to contact them,and when i do im told continued lies! Peter Hills - i tried contacting you as you ask,only to find you are off sick.Be true to your word and sort this out ASAP!!!!You know who I am as I have sent emails,registered letters and spoken to your customer services god knows how many time over the last month. augur-alpha   14:03 08/02/07 Posts: 28   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     Watford has vanished WOOHOO Watford Electronics, the elephant's graveyard of great channel names like Carrera, Time, and Tiny has been sold to Globally. Globally Ltd was founded on February 5. Its registered address is Jessa House, 1 Finway, Luton. Watford Electronics also operates from that address. Watford's online trading arm Savastore is closed today. A statement on the website says it will be re-opening shortly. It says the business of Watford Electronics has been bought by Globally Ltd which will invest in the business and hopes to "assist and support" customers' existing warrantees. The statement also says: "Globally Ltd will endeavour to fulfil all unshipped Savastore.com orders. In line with Watford Electronics' existing policy, Globally Ltd will not charge Savastore.com customers until orders have been despatched." � dfisher   11:44 08/02/07 Posts: 16   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     At 11:08 02/02/07, Peter Hills wrote: ,,,I assure you the fact that the BBC are starting another consumer show is of no relevance to me... Regards Peter Hills [email protected] 07077810047 ] Silly, silly, silly. Of course the BBC programme has 100% relevance to you. Its really simple. You see: BAD PR on a major terrestrial TV channel watched by millions of potential customers, leads to fewer orders which leads to less money being generated and cost cutting measures stepping in (or possibly closure). WHICH could lead to your job on the line (possible being fired) to save the Jessa's money. So ultimatly the BBC programme has a lot of relevance to you - doesn't it? And its rather strange that you just happened to discover the site was up and running after a post had been made by the BBC. Coincidence or bad timing, hmm. "I never received notification it was back up and no one replied to any posts I had made" - Quote Peter Hills. So what are these, if they were not replies to posts you had made? : davagixxer : 21:48 04/11/06 Subject: Watfords - how long will they last Michael3746 : 18:52 22/12/06 Subject: Savastore's new trick to cash in on the Nintendo WII craze nlel : 11:12 13/01/07 Subject: Customer Services hard to contact by Email warweezil  Site Admin 11:16 08/02/07 Posts: 277   Change of Ownership     It was reported today (on a Tech News Site that I visit) that Watford Electronics has been sold to a company named "Globally Ltd". There is no information about possible changes within the company both in terms of staffing and/or service. For news item - click here Peter Hills   11:08 02/02/07 Posts: 21   Re: "Peter Hills" surfaces     For your information I had never left, grumble text closed down for quite a while and I never received notification it was back up and no one replied to any posts I had made. My email address and contact details are still on here for anyone to contact me direct. I don't believe it is ever too late to resolve a customer problem. As far as I am aware you have never contacted me with an issue or a problem. If you do have a gripe please feel free to take it up with me, I will be happy to help. I assure you the fact that the BBC are starting another consumer show is of no relevance to me wanting to help customers with any outstanding problems or issues. Regards Peter Hills [email protected] 07077810047 To clarify the situation. Grumbletext was off line for a number of days during October 2006, following a targeted attack on the server that hosts the site, no other sites hosted by the same company were affected which, along with the severity and other aspects of the incident leads us to the conclusion that this was a professional job quite possibly executed by someone hired for the purpose by a company that has been featured here, but obviously we cant prove that conclusively enough to take matters further. Fortunately we were able to reconstruct the site from backups, although some slight detail was inevitably lost. We are happy to see that so many of the regulars felt motivated enough to keep checking back to see if we returned, as we had taken a deliberate decision not to add to the burden of spam in peoples inboxes by announcing the return of the site. - Moderator davagixxer   10:11 02/02/07 Posts: 2   "Peter Hills" surfaces     ....funny how mention of the BBC galvanizes people into action isn't it? Too late "Mr Hills" Watfords should have dealt with these complaints properly when alerted to them, but maybe they just didn't give a toss. That's certainly the way I still feel. Peter Hills   22:31 01/02/07 Posts: 21   savastore.com customer service     Dear Customers If you feel you have not had an adiquate responce from our customer services team please feel free to contact me direct, I will be happy to assist you or point you in the right direction to get the top service we pride ourselves on. The volume of customers we deal with, unfortunately from time to time something may go a miss. there is no need for you to sit ere and grumble, contact me direct and we can resolve your issues. Regards Peter Hills [email protected] 07077810047 Peter Hills   22:21 01/02/07 Posts: 21   Re: Savastore IS NOT selling second hand computers as new.     Re "Re: Savastore selling second hand computers as new." posted by DontgetdonegetDom at 15:56 26/01/07 ... Hi Anna I have read the posts on this site and I give my contact details freely to anyone who wants to contact me. I am no longer the customer services manager at Watford Electronics, I have moved on in the company since then. As an employee of watford electronics I am still here for people to contact if you feel you have an outstanding problem. There is no need for our customers to contact 3rd parties to have a problem resolved, this will only lead to the matter taking longer to resolve than dealing with someone direct at Watford Electronics... If you have any of our customers contact you Anna please feel free to contact myself or point them in my direction for a fast and prompt resolution. Regards Peter Hills [email protected] 07077810047 Peter Hills   22:08 01/02/07 Posts: 21   Re: Savastore selling second hand computers as new.     Re "Savastore selling second hand computers as new." posted by aspect at 6:17 16/01/07 ... Dear Aspect I have read your post and can confirm that we DO NOT use any second hand parts in our PC build department, but I am not saying that it couldn't have happened. For exampe a second hand drive could have been put in to stock by mistake, I can assure you that this would be a one off occurance. I would be happy to have someone investigate this for you, please get in contact with me by either email or phone. Peter Hills [email protected] 07077810047 DontgetdonegetDom   15:56 26/01/07 Posts: 6   Re: Savastore selling second hand computers as new.     BRAND NEW CONSUMER AFFAIRS SERIES BBC 1 Hello ! Your message demonstrates you are suffering from a consumer nightmare with Savastore/ been caught up in a bureaucratic storm or have been wrapped up in red tape. it seems you been given poor customer service and demand an answer? Is there anyone else out there grumbling about the same company? Or even a similar complaint with any other other companys etc? I am working on a BBC 1 new consumer affairs series and we want to speak to people like you, who have a serious consumer complaint or a social injustice which has left you financially unstuck. Our experts might be able to help solve the unsolvable and right your wrongs. If you think this is you, please contact me, Anna at Flame TV on 0207 278 5052 or email [email protected]. aspect   6:17 16/01/07 Posts: 1   Savastore selling second hand computers as new.     I bought a Perfecta 5000 PC from Savastore on 22/12/2003. I only bought the tower unit,keyboard and mouse - I already had a monitor with the old PC. In Nov 2005 I discovered some error logs in the Windows folder. After searching more I located a file that mentioned Windows Back Office Server.I bought the PC with Windows XP Home. I then found more files that appeared to have been installed on 29 August 2002 - I then realised that I had been sold a PC with a second hand hard disk. On Tue,8 Nov 2005 I contacted a "Technical Support Advisor" by email,and was invited to phone in to discuss the matter.In the phone conversation he said " No Way!" do we ever sell new computers with used hard disks.I told him I wanted at least half of the money refunded - which I thought was reasonable,as it was a second hand machine - he refused,telling me that would not be possible.I said I would call back after doing more investigation into the problem. On 22 Dec 2006 I sent a floppy disk with a copy of the error files that I've found since then - more than 650 error logs detailing the problems that someone had when trying to install Win XP incorrectly onto a PC that had not been cleaned properly! There is no doubt that the PC has been used in an office environment because it has had installation of programs that I have never even heard of. I sent the floppy to the home address of one of the Managing Directors. In the letter with the disk I reminded him it is illegal to describe goods as new,when they have already been purchased previously. Yesterday evening (Mon 15),I telephoned him at his house,and he said the person I needed to talk with wasn't at home( I was actually talking to the Director - but he denied it). How many of these have they already sold? If any representative of Watford Electronics is reading this he should understand that if I don't get a partial refund I will go to the Trading Standards Dept very soon. nlel   11:12 13/01/07 Posts: 1   Customer Services hard to contact by Email     Hi I just ordered a Core 2 Duo laptop from Savastore and I found that Customer Services are hard to contact by email as they don't answer emails sent to their customer services email address and to call them costs 10p a min and you have to wait over 20 mins usually. Looking on this thread and others I found 3 email addresses that you can use to contact Savastore I emailed all three and had a reply in 2 hours. They are; [email protected] Someone quite high up supposedly [email protected] Shazid Jezza the MD [email protected] Peter Hill the customer services manager Good Luck. Michael3746   18:52 22/12/06 Posts: 8   Savastore's new trick to cash in on the Nintendo WII craze     Savastore does it again. Most retailers are selling the Nintendo WII for �179.99 inc VAT as recommended by Nintendo but Savastore have to be different. It's a bargain �179.99 PLUS VAT. This is not the first time I have seen this company try to delude the public with such pricing. davagixxer   21:48 04/11/06 Posts: 2   Watfords - how long will they last?     Well, they're still here, God only knows why. While I lived in Luton until earlier this year I was prepared to stand for ages in their store with their "interesting" way of serving you, but compared to PC World and Currys (yeah, I know, same firm!) just up the road, their prices were more realistic for bits and pieces of hardware and consumables. The mistake I made was earlier this year. I had some cash to blow on a new machine and decided to use their "on line configuration tool" to make my dream machine. I did this - lucky me! - and got the machine as specified. Except when I ran SiSoft Sandra on it and discovered that the dual core Athlon 4200 wasn't running dual core at all - the tight wads at Watfords had installed a micro ATX motherboard that was socket 939 but didn't support dual core! Not only that, the lovely sockets at the front of the case were unusable as well - Firewire port? er..the mobo does'nt support that. One out of the 2 USB ports at the front work, because there's no header on the mobo for the other one, and the front audio ports weren't working for the same reason. The only bit I couldn't configure when originally ordering was the mobo - all it said was "nForce4 motherboard" so you'd think that would be OK for what you were buying. When I found this out, I came across Grumbletext and emailed "Peter Hills" (I have got a feeling that he doesn't exist - it's probably just a general email address for their complaints dept?) and haven't had a reply yet. That was back in the mists of time. Seems to me that sharp practice like this is not good business practice and I don't need an MBA to tell me that, Mr Jessa. This to me is just short of coming into the realms of breaching the Sale Of Goods Act for selling goods "not fit for purpose" but just not quite. Just enough to leave a nasty taste in your mouth and feeling as if you've had one put over you and you've been scammed. Well, Peter Hills or whoever you are, for the sake of a few quid for a mobo that would have worked with my machine, I've had to buy a new one. I had to buy that, a copy of Norton Ghost as my machine had been configured RAID 0 with its two drives and I would have lost my data if i had'nt, and you've lost those sales if nothing else. I have spent a lot of money with you in the past but will spend no more, and anyone reading this might think twice before parting money with "savastore" or Watfords now too. That was good practice wasn't it? Oh, and the lack of courtesy to just even acknowledge an email I sent months ago just goes to corroborate the complaints about you on this site. My machine was a Carrera. I know what happened to them, and what happened to SSC when they took them over. For the type of service you give, I won't be crying when it happens to you too. Recovered post hack  Guest 12:47 14/06/06    Hmmm, Peter Hills seems to hav     Hmmm, Peter Hills seems to have gone strangely quiet...thats unless he's busy sorting out all Savstore's complaints Dear DFisher... I am not trying to tackle the 'easier cases' as you have so kindly put it, I have tried to contact the last two complaints on the site. I can't contact everyone at once and I want my contact details to be shown. You are implying that we owe you money dfisher, you have not emailed me or called me to advise me of this, if we do owe you money then I will gladly look in to this and have this processed for you but you do need to contact me so that I can investigate this further. Regards Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Tel: 08716660140 I would like to see you post a statement on this website regarding Watford Electronics/Savastore's poor customer service. I and others DON'T want to hear 'the complaints mentioned on this forum are only a small proportion of our total orders...' nor do we want to hear 'lessons will be learnt.' I think Watford Electronics owes us a statement at least (and money too). You simply don't have enough people to deal with customer complaints and the fact is that Savastore doesn't seem to make an effort to contact a lot of complaints either. We hear time and time again stories of letters sent by RECORDED DELIVERY not being answered, telephone calls not being replied too and faxs not being answered. It seems that Watford Electronics needs to hire more people to deal with complaints so that you can tackle more complaints not just on this site but by other forms (letters etc.). Having insufficient staffing levels indicates bad customer service as the management see that the current levels are sufficient when in fact they are not. How can you explain unanswered letters, email, faxes and calls? Secondly my complaint has been dealt with and you don't owe me any money. I in fact tried to contact you on many an occasion and left various messages on your answer machine to which you never replied too. In the end I had to resort to phoning a mobile number of a guy who works for Watford to get anything done and even still he failed to telephone me back as promised. After following instructions and arranging for a courier to pick up my parcel (which they never did) and I tried to get in contact with 'customer services' about twenty times at all various times of the day across a whole week. I never got through once despite being on hold for over 10 minutes at a time. In the end I had to make a trip from London to Luton to get my refund at my own cost simply because no one would pick up the phones so I could find out what was wrong with the pickup. Moreover, I sent many an email to [email protected] and never got a reply either! Thirdly. I bought a PSP from you at X'mas. It arrived and was a Japanese edition (I was never informed or told on the website that it would not be a UK model). Further to that being a Japanese model it would not a valid guarantee, however one of the guys at Watford told me Sony had a worldwide guarentee (a lie - Sony told they don't do that). On top of that I was also told that the PSP was an OFFICIAL IMPORT by Sony to fulfill demand but a call to Sony rejected that claim as they said the hardware between UK and Japan models is different - yet again I was lied to. In fact Watford Electronics went as far as to black out with marker pen the words 'To be sold in Japan only' on the underside of the box - and then to tell me that Sony where sending official stickers to cover the words up - thats despite them telling me that they would never import Japanese PSP's to the UK?! I understand that all companies have their complaints blah, blah, blah. But its how they deal with the complaints that matter. Good companies deal with complaints quickly and efficiently but replying to letters, calls, faxes and emails. Recovered post hack  Guest 19:11 13/06/06    I am now caught up in my SECON     I am now caught up in my SECOND long running dispute with this company. First purchased Aries Perfecta System 2446 two years ago. Monitor supplied was defective from outset. This issue took no less than 14 months to resolve. During that time I had to make numerous premium rate phone calls to their 'support' line where I would be kept continually waiting. Their policy blatantly ignores the Sale of Goods Act where the seller of a faulty item is responsible for it while it is under warranty. It is NOT the responsibility of the customer to deal with the manufacturer of the faulty goods as was the desire of Watford Electronics. Writing to the Managing Director using Recorded Delivery did not illicit ANY response from this individual. I spent literally hours trying to contact them and to resolve the issue to my satisfaction until threatening them with the small claims procedure. Amazingly it was at this stage that I received a phone call from Peter Hill. So to my second ongoing issue with this 'organisation'. The DVD ROM originally fitted to my Aries Perfecta 2446 system failed in February this year despite having hardly been used, and was unfortunately outside the warranty for replacement. I was advised to purchase a replacement part which I did. Fitting the replacement DVD ROM in order to restore it to its correct functioning state has proved to be impossible. The replacement that I purchased cannot be fitted alongside the existing CD RW. I am unable to use my system in the same configuration that I was able to before. And so began the familiar, drawn out, frustrating and costly business of dealing with Watford Electronics 'customer support'. Costs of calls have exceeded the cost of the replacement DVD ROM. My unanswered demand is that my system is returned to the state in which it was functioning prior to the installation of the replacement DVD ROM. A return has been 'authorised' at my expense with conditions attached. This is unacceptable. Another detailed complaint together with copies of all email correspondence and evidence of costs of calls to the Managing Director, sent Recorded Delivery, remains unanswered after 1 month. Today I have sent complete details to TRADING STANDARDS OFFICE, LUTON BOROUGH COUNCIL, TOWN HALL, GEORGE STREET, LUTON, BEDS, LU1 2BQ. IF YOU HAVE READ THIS AND OTHER POSTS IN RELATION TO THIS COMPANY YOU MAY BE UNDER THE FOLLOWING IMPRESSION: THAT WATFORD ELECTRONICS IS A COMPANY WHO DO NOT DESERVE ANY NEW CUSTOMERS AS THEY ARE WHOLLY UNABLE TO TREAT THEIR EXISTING CUSTOMERS CORRECTLY. Recovered post hack  Guest 16:37 13/06/06    DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY     DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY - ONCE THEY HAVE YOUR ORDER THEY ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO CONTACT AND WILL TREAT YOU WITH CONTEMPT. I ordered a Business 2000 computer (over the phone with one of their sales team) on the 10th May and was told 5-7 days delivery. To cut a very long story short (i.e. numerous phone calls and e-mails that went unanswered) I received the following information from their automated system - 12th May - Picking of Components in progress - Delivery 18th May 12th May - Awaiting Build - Delivery 17th May 12th May - Build in Progress - Delivery 16th May 18th May - Picking of Components in progress - ""Again?!!!) Delivery 24th May 1st June - Picking of Components in progress! - "" Yet again?!!!) Delivery 7th June I contacted Watford on 1st June (with difficulty) to ask why the Picking of Components was in progress for the 3rd time. I was told the PC had been sitting in the build shop for almost 3 weeks because they could not build it to my specification - what?! THEY HAD CONFIGURED THE SPECIFICATION FOR ME OVER THE PHONE AS I WANTED RAID1 AND A REMOVABLE CADDY INSTALLED ON THE 2nd HARD DRIVE. Having agreed a change in the configuration they said the PC could now be finished/tested and shipped within a couple of days. It is now 13th June and still no PC! I have just contacted Customer Services. My 1st call took over 20 minutes to be answered and when I gave them my order number they cut me off. My 2nd call again took over 20 minutes to be answered but within seconds I was told the PC could not be built because they did not have any Hard Drives or Motherboards for this specification. Needless to say I cancelled the order. I would suggest they change their name to WATFORD SHAMBOLICS as I have never dealt with such a load of incompetent cowboys in my life. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Recovered post hack  Guest 13:42 02/06/06    Dear DFisher... I am no     Dear DFisher... I am not trying to tackle the 'easier cases' as you have so kindly put it, I have tried to contact the last two complaints on the site. I can't contact everyone at once and I want my contact details to be shown. You are implying that we owe you money dfisher, you have not emailed me or called me to advise me of this, if we do owe you money then I will gladly look in to this and have this processed for you but you do need to contact me so that I can investigate this further. Regards Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Tel: 08716660140 I would like to see you post a statement on this website regarding Watford Electronics/Savastore's poor customer service. I and others DON'T want to hear 'the complaints mentioned on this forum are only a small proportion of our total orders...' nor do we want to hear 'lessons will be learnt.' I think Watford Electronics owes us a statement at least (and money too). You simply don't have enough people to deal with customer complaints and the fact is that Savastore doesn't seem to make an effort to contact a lot of complaints either. We hear time and time again stories of letters sent by RECORDED DELIVERY not being answered, telephone calls not being replied too and faxs not being answered. It seems that Watford Electronics needs to hire more people to deal with complaints so that you can tackle more complaints not just on this site but by other forms (letters etc.). Having insufficient staffing levels indicates bad customer service as the management see that the current levels are sufficient when in fact they are not. How can you explain unanswered letters, email, faxes and calls? Secondly my complaint has been dealt with and you don't owe me any money. I in fact tried to contact you on many an occasion and left various messages on your answer machine to which you never replied too. In the end I had to resort to phoning a mobile number of a guy who works for Watford to get anything done and even still he failed to telephone me back as promised. After following instructions and arranging for a courier to pick up my parcel (which they never did) and I tried to get in contact with 'customer services' about twenty times at all various times of the day across a whole week. I never got through once despite being on hold for over 10 minutes at a time. In the end I had to make a trip from London to Luton to get my refund at my own cost simply because no one would pick up the phones so I could find out what was wrong with the pickup. Moreover, I sent many an email to [email protected] and never got a reply either! Thirdly. I bought a PSP from you at X'mas. It arrived and was a Japanese edition (I was never informed or told on the website that it would not be a UK model). Further to that being a Japanese model it would not a valid guarantee, however one of the guys at Watford told me Sony had a worldwide guarentee (a lie - Sony told they don't do that). On top of that I was also told that the PSP was an OFFICIAL IMPORT by Sony to fulfill demand but a call to Sony rejected that claim as they said the hardware between UK and Japan models is different - yet again I was lied to. In fact Watford Electronics went as far as to black out with marker pen the words 'To be sold in Japan only' on the underside of the box - and then to tell me that Sony where sending official stickers to cover the words up - thats despite them telling me that they would never import Japanese PSP's to the UK?! I understand that all companies have their complaints blah, blah, blah. But its how they deal with the complaints that matter. Good companies deal with complaints quickly and efficiently but replying to letters, calls, faxes and emails. Recovered post hack  Guest 21:15 31/05/06    People should not use this com     People should not use this company. They may appear to be cheaper than other at the outset but if you are supplied with a faulty product expect to pay out on lengthy expensive telephone calls that no-one except thier answering machine wants to answer. No-one really wants to answer your emails within their stated time. When you send a printer back to them which has a fault on (according to the manufacturer), you get charged for a no fault found charge of �10.00 plus �10.00 carriage charge plus V.A.T. They are robbing good people of their hard earned money and should be stopped. Trying to get through to this company took over 4 hours of phone calls over 10 days and twenty emails just to get a return authorisation. They however took nowhere as long to debit my credit card for the payment and the no fault found charge. I am sure I am not the only one. So come on let Watford Electronics know that they are losing customers and will loose a lot more. Recovered post hack  Guest 18:32 31/05/06    Dear DFisher The idea o     Dear DFisher The idea of me making posts is so that any customers with outstanding problems see my contact details, contact me and I can help to resolve the issue. It is not to get in to a slanging match with people who just want to jump in and and ill advise people to take us to court without seeking advice, I was simply pointing out that consumers should firstly contact organisations such as there trading standards office or consumer direct before filling out court paper work or look up the consumer rights on the DTI website. www.dti.gov.uk You should look under Sale of Goods and Distance Selling for consumer rights. I am simply saying there are steps people should take before seeking court action, if these steps are not taken it could leed in claims getting rejected and the consumer beeing left feeling disgruntled and even further out of pocket. I welcome any customers to contact me direct and I will assist them with any problems or issues they are having I am not trying to tackle the 'easier cases' as you have so kindly put it, I have tried to contact the last two complaints on the site. I can't contact everyone at once and I want my contact details to be shown. You are implying that we owe you money dfisher, you have not emailed me or called me to advise me of this, if we do owe you money then I will gladly look in to this and have this processed for you but you do need to contact me so that I can investigate this further. Regards Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Tel: 08716660140 Dear Rookie You have left your post anonymously so I am unable to contact you direct. I have posted my details on here so that you can contact me direct, if you have a problem I am here to help you. We do clearly state on our returns section and on our terms and conditions that if you return goods which have no fault then we will charge a no fault found fee and the cost of carriage. The carriage on a laptop is �15 each way so you have been asked to pay �26 which covers the cost of the test. I have not had a message to call you back but please feel free to contact me direct, I will happily review your telephone call and investigate this situation further. Regards Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Yes heres Peter Hills tackling two complaints. What about the dozens more that have been made here and have yet to be resolved or those going through Money Claim. One suspects he's here trying to tackle one of the 'easier' cases - no dis-respect to Rookie. COMMENT TO PETER HILLS I would like to see you post a statement on this website regarding Watford Electronics/Savastore's poor customer service. I and others DON'T want to hear 'the complaints mentioned on this forum are only a small proportion of our total orders...' nor do we want to hear 'lessons will be learnt.' I think Watford Electronics owes us a statement at least (and money too). Peter, If you do find out you owe customers' money then will you also be paying them interest? If not, I believe they have the right to claim back any interest in a court of law. Also will you compensate them for messing them about while they wait 30 or 40 minutes on the phone only to cut them off and also for them to resorting to send recorded delivery letters? Will you at least offer them an apology? As for my past experiences (of which there has been 3 and 2 regarding trading standards) there is no point in you looking into it anymore as I have resolved them after a long struggle. Only one was not resolved when I was told that I would have to pay �6 to return a DVD writer that was faulty although the Distance Selling Acts and Trading Standards tell me that if it is faulty within a certain period (which it was) then I should not pay for the carriage costs. If this is not an attempt to make a profit from customers' misfortunes then I don't know what is. Furthermore, after explaining to Jenny at customer services what Trading Standards told me and asked why I am being charged �6 to return faulty goods for repair, Jenny refused to answer the question and kept repeating herself. After she repeated herself about 10 times, my emails were then ignored. I decided to throw away the DVD writer rather than give Savastore the satisfaction of making more profit from me and bought elsewhere. I am so glad because I have a feeling that the technician would have claimed that the DVD writer was fine and I would be charged more money as I am sure Savastore would have believed the technicians reports rather than my reports of a misaligned laser which are similar events to what happened to a friend of mine. That is just one case and there are 2 others from me and about 5 more from my friends. Failing to reply to customers' needs and blatantly using (possiby fraudulent) comments disproving customers' claims of faulty equipment is shockingly iniquitous. I accept the charge for fault finding may not be illegal but it is an unreasonable term and I repeat, it CAN be argued in court. T &Cs are not always legally binding. Talking of legality is incredible how your T & Cs go as far as possible without being illegal and how you can charge as high a call rate as possible before the law is broken. Also it's interesting how customer's comments towards your products always include the line ""Once again Savastore does it again"" or ""Savastore have been brilliant"" rather than a review of the products themselves. I sometimes wonder ""who"" actually posts these comments. Negative reviews never appear. If they do, please show me an example. At least eBuyer do include negative reviews. Also check out Pricerunner's comments. Amazing how there are a spate of reviews within a short period of time commending Savastore and the format is very similar without blank lines separating the paragraphs and the grammar seems to be similar amonst all reviews. If these were posted by Savastore then is that legal? Finally, my brother defended you (you, as in Savastore) when I told him about my problems because he hadn't experienced any problems until he had to contact you regarding an issue. How stupid he felt afterwards! Yes, many of your customers are pleased with Savastore but when things do go wrong, the service and the intentional repudiation of their existence has made myself and many others very angry indeed. Your staff need to be trained on politeness, willingness to help, integrity and not just stand there gossipping amongst themselves while the emails are flooding in!! It is absolutely DISGRACEFUL. Research on the web does show Savastore (along with Dabs) amongst the worst regarding customer service (no matter what silly awards you claimed to have received - probably awarded by yourselves). Companies like Novatech have an almost unblemished record. I can provide the links if you would like to see them. You may be angered by this post but spare a thought for the many others that have been angered by Savastore. I think it's about time these people get their own back! Michael Recovered post hack  Guest 16:39 31/05/06    Dear Rookie You have left y     Dear Rookie You have left your post anonymously so I am unable to contact you direct. I have posted my details on here so that you can contact me direct, if you have a problem I am here to help you. We do clearly state on our returns section and on our terms and conditions that if you return goods which have no fault then we will charge a no fault found fee and the cost of carriage. The carriage on a laptop is �15 each way so you have been asked to pay �26 which covers the cost of the test. I have not had a message to call you back but please feel free to contact me direct, I will happily review your telephone call and investigate this situation further. Regards Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Yes heres Peter Hills tackling two complaints. What about the dozens more that have been made here and have yet to be resolved or those going through Money Claim. One suspects he's here trying to tackle one of the 'easier' cases - no dis-respect to Rookie. COMMENT TO PETER HILLS I would like to see you post a statement on this website regarding Watford Electronics/Savastore's poor customer service. I and others DON'T want to hear 'the complaints mentioned on this forum are only a small proportion of our total orders...' nor do we want to hear 'lessons will be learnt.' I think Watford Electronics owes us a statement at least (and money too). Recovered post hack  Guest 10:09 31/05/06    Nik, Carry on with the co     Nik, Carry on with the court case because they are NOT offering to assist if the 93 emails you have sent is unarguable. Peter, This person sent you 93 emails because Savastore do not reply so had to keep sending them. I have sent numerous emails without any reply and in the end had to send a recorded delivery letter issuing the company with legal action and only then did I get a reply and my requests for refund was finally dealt with although I never received any apology for Savastore's wrongdoings. You (and when I use the word ""you"" this implies Savastore) may have improved your phone support (yes I have been testing it) but you have still ripped off people by charging them excessive amounts for fault finding problems with goods that do have faults. I know because a friend has suffered this and I am a Hardware Engineer of 17 years experience. Your clause which states that a charge for fault finding will be issued is unreasonable and can easily be contested in court even if there is no fault. Someone who has little knowledge of computers is likely to misdiagnose faults. The charge for carriage is fair but to charge people to diagnose faults is unreasonable. Just because it is stated does not mean that it is legal!! Dear Michael I can assure you that it is quite legal to make a charge for testing goods that turn out not to be faulty, we will not make any charges for goods that are defective or for goods that are returned under the distance selling regulations. Your local trading standards office or consumer direct will confirm this. We do not charge excessive amounts if we can not find a fault and we do not make a profit out of this. Charges cover the cost of carriage and the cost of the test, I am aware that other manufacturers charge a far greater fee than we do. Obviously you have had a previous problem with our service. Should you like to call or email me direct I will happily look in to this for you and I offer my sincerest apologies for what ever the problem or issue was. Regards Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Tel: 08716660140 Post Edited by Moderator for clarity - Please try to avoid placing your reply inside the ""quote tags"" as this makes it difficult to distinguish from the quoted post - Thanks. Recovered post hack  Guest 9:24 31/05/06    Re ""Defective laptop"" posted b     Re ""Defective laptop"" posted by Niklowe at 20:13 29/05/06 ... Dear Michael I can assure you that it is quite legal to make a charge for testing goods that turn out not to be faulty, we will not make any charges for goods that are defective or for goods that are returned under the distance selling regulations. Your local trading standards office or consumer direct will confirm this. We do not charge excessive amounts if we can not find a fault and we do not make a profit out of this. Charges cover the cost of carriage and the cost of the test, I am aware that other manufacturers charge a far greater fee than we do. Obviously you have had a previous problem with our service. Should you like to call or email me direct I will happily look in to this for you and I offer my sincerest apologies for what ever the problem or issue was. Regards Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Tel: 08716660140 Dear Nik I believe that I have dealt with the matter of your faulty laptop before but I can�t be to sure as you have left no details for me to be able to find your account. Obviously I would like to assist you with this return and have your machine fixed as quickly as possible. I am not sure why you have sent us 93 emails, this seems very excessive, I would like you to provide me evidence of this so I can investigate why you have felt it necessary to send so many. It would be inadvisable to issue a court case against us if we are offering to assist you, which we are, I strongly suggest that anyone thinking of taking this action take legal advice before issuing claims as if you issue a claim without need this will lead to incurring additional expenses and you could end up with a counter claim issued against you for our legal costs. We are offering to repair your laptop so there would be no need for court action. We have a dedicated PC / Laptop support line which is answered within 40 seconds of calling, here your fault can be diagnosed and a return can be given. You can find the details on the contact us section on the website, your PC getting started guide and the number is given out on our sales line. PC support can and will be able to assist you very promptly so I am not sure as to why you have not called them for assistance. THE PC SUPPORT MUMBER IS 08716660101. The line is open 24 hour a day 356 days a year for your convenience. Please feel free to contact me direct Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Tel: 08716660140 Nik, Carry on with the court case because they are NOT offering to assist if the 93 emails you have sent is unarguable. Peter, This person sent you 93 emails because Savastore do not reply so had to keep sending them. I have sent numerous emails without any reply and in the end had to send a recorded delivery letter issuing the company with legal action and only then did I get a reply and my requests for refund was finally dealt with although I never received any apology for Savastore's wrongdoings. You (and when I use the word ""you"" this implies Savastore) may have improved your phone support (yes I have been testing it) but you have still ripped off people by charging them excessive amounts for fault finding problems with goods that do have faults. I know because a friend has suffered this and I am a Hardware Engineer of 17 years experience. Your clause which states that a charge for fault finding will be issued is unreasonable and can easily be contested in court even if there is no fault. Someone who has little knowledge of computers is likely to misdiagnose faults. The charge for carriage is fair but to charge people to diagnose faults is unreasonable. Just because it is stated does not mean that it is legal!! Recovered post hack  Guest 19:31 30/05/06    Re ""Defective laptop"" posted b     Re ""Defective laptop"" posted by Niklowe at 20:13 29/05/06 ... Dear Nik I believe that I have dealt with the matter of your faulty laptop before but I can�t be to sure as you have left no details for me to be able to find your account. Obviously I would like to assist you with this return and have your machine fixed as quickly as possible. I am not sure why you have sent us 93 emails, this seems very excessive, I would like you to provide me evidence of this so I can investigate why you have felt it necessary to send so many. It would be inadvisable to issue a court case against us if we are offering to assist you, which we are, I strongly suggest that anyone thinking of taking this action take legal advice before issuing claims as if you issue a claim without need this will lead to incurring additional expenses and you could end up with a counter claim issued against you for our legal costs. We are offering to repair your laptop so there would be no need for court action. We have a dedicated PC / Laptop support line which is answered within 40 seconds of calling, here your fault can be diagnosed and a return can be given. You can find the details on the contact us section on the website, your PC getting started guide and the number is given out on our sales line. PC support can and will be able to assist you very promptly so I am not sure as to why you have not called them for assistance. THE PC SUPPORT MUMBER IS 08716660101. The line is open 24 hour a day 356 days a year for your convenience. Please feel free to contact me direct Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Tel: 08716660140 Nik, Carry on with the court case because they are NOT offering to assist if the 93 emails you have sent is unarguable. Peter, This person sent you 93 emails because Savastore do not reply so had to keep sending them. I have sent numerous emails without any reply and in the end had to send a recorded delivery letter issuing the company with legal action and only then did I get a reply and my requests for refund was finally dealt with although I never received any apology for Savastore's wrongdoings. You (and when I use the word ""you"" this implies Savastore) may have improved your phone support (yes I have been testing it) but you have still ripped off people by charging them excessive amounts for fault finding problems with goods that do have faults. I know because a friend has suffered this and I am a Hardware Engineer of 17 years experience. Your clause which states that a charge for fault finding will be issued is unreasonable and can easily be contested in court even if there is no fault. Someone who has little knowledge of computers is likely to misdiagnose faults. The charge for carriage is fair but to charge people to diagnose faults is unreasonable. Just because it is stated does not mean that it is legal!! Recovered post hack  Guest 12:40 30/05/06    Re ""Defective laptop"" posted b     Re ""Defective laptop"" posted by Niklowe at 20:13 29/05/06 ... Dear Nik I believe that I have dealt with the matter of your faulty laptop before but I can�t be to sure as you have left no details for me to be able to find your account. Obviously I would like to assist you with this return and have your machine fixed as quickly as possible. I am not sure why you have sent us 93 emails, this seems very excessive, I would like you to provide me evidence of this so I can investigate why you have felt it necessary to send so many. It would be inadvisable to issue a court case against us if we are offering to assist you, which we are, I strongly suggest that anyone thinking of taking this action take legal advice before issuing claims as if you issue a claim without need this will lead to incurring additional expenses and you could end up with a counter claim issued against you for our legal costs. We are offering to repair your laptop so there would be no need for court action. We have a dedicated PC / Laptop support line which is answered within 40 seconds of calling, here your fault can be diagnosed and a return can be given. You can find the details on the contact us section on the website, your PC getting started guide and the number is given out on our sales line. PC support can and will be able to assist you very promptly so I am not sure as to why you have not called them for assistance. THE PC SUPPORT MUMBER IS 08716660101. The line is open 24 hour a day 356 days a year for your convenience. Please feel free to contact me direct Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Tel: 08716660140 Recovered post hack  Guest 12:21 30/05/06    Dear Rookie You have left y     Dear Rookie You have left your post anonymously so I am unable to contact you direct. I have posted my details on here so that you can contact me direct, if you have a problem I am here to help you. We do clearly state on our returns section and on our terms and conditions that if you return goods which have no fault then we will charge a no fault found fee and the cost of carriage. The carriage on a laptop is �15 each way so you have been asked to pay �26 which covers the cost of the test. I have not had a message to call you back but please feel free to contact me direct, I will happily review your telephone call and investigate this situation further. Regards Mr Peter Hills Customer Services Email: [email protected] Tel: 08716660140 We bought an acer laptop from Savastore(watford electronic) and there appeared to be a fault with the power light buzzing, sounding like it has shorted out. My mother rang a technician and he listened to it over the phone agreeing there sounded like something was not quite right. He asked her to send it back. by now this laptop is 3 days old only They sent a courier to collect it all well and good. Then there is a bill sent by e-mail for �56 due to technician finding no fault at all. Spen 1hr 15 minutes hanging on the phone at huge call rates to be cut off. Another 2 hours on the phone and we get through to a person that cannot actually make a descision about the laptop. Update, 19th May well what a suprise I requested to be called back by Petr Hills the customer services manager and that didn't happen, and the promissed phone call from the technician has not happened either. The cynic in me thinks this si so they can make the 4ppm that they should make from the national rate phone lines. ASK YOURSELF A QUESTION...If you are serious about providing good customer services, why would you want to make money from the customers, and would you deliberatly keep people on hole for hours so you could make more money. is this a company that is serious about customer services...I think Not..... No laptop will be sent back unless she pays the bill for �56 for no fault found. This could be an intermittent fault or anything but they deem there to be no fault and demand 'the bill has to be paid otherwise they will not send the laptop out' and that is a quote from customer services. At no time did they say there would be a charge, and promissed a complete replacement and not a repair, this is just deceitful At no time have they replied properly to e-mails or returned calls as requested. They ignore e-mail content of just do not reply. So far I am waiting for someone to call me back, but my experience so far is this is one hell of a shoddy outfit. I recomended this company to my 65 yr old mother and this is the first time she has purchased from the net. How bad do I feel. Shoddy Shoddy treatment. Take note I would not recomend anyone buy anything from this company They have my mothers laptop, her money and are holding it to ransom. Bloody poor show. I will keep you posted Recovered post hack  Guest 21:13 29/05/06    I'm about to contact Watford e     I'm about to contact Watford electronics to arrange the return for repair of my son's laptop. This will be the third time it has broken down with the same fault! Both times it has taken nearly three months for the repair and return to be accomplished. Last time took 93 E-mails to get any satisfaction. This time I shall give them a short but adequate deadline after which I shall pass the details to trading standards and then take the small claims court route. I advise any other customer to consider this course if you are having similar problems. You can find the online small claims court if required at: www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/[/b] rookie   13:47 18/05/06 Posts: 1   Customer services     We bought an acer laptop from Savastore(watford electronic) and there appeared to be a fault with the power light buzzing, sounding like it has shorted out. My mother rang a technician and he listened to it over the phone agreeing there sounded like something was not quite right. He asked her to send it back. by now this laptop is 3 days old only They sent a courier to collect it all well and good. Then there is a bill sent by e-mail for �56 due to technician finding no fault at all. Spen 1hr 15 minutes hanging on the phone at huge call rates to be cut off. Another 2 hours on the phone and we get through to a person that cannot actually make a descision about the laptop. Update, 19th May well what a suprise I requested to be called back by Petr Hills the customer services manager and that didn't happen, and the promissed phone call from the technician has not happened either. The cynic in me thinks this si so they can make the 4ppm that they should make from the national rate phone lines. ASK YOURSELF A QUESTION...If you are serious about providing good customer services, why would you want to make money from the customers, and would you deliberatly keep people on hole for hours so you could make more money. is this a company that is serious about customer services...I think Not..... No laptop will be sent back unless she pays the bill for �56 for no fault found. This could be an intermittent fault or anything but they deem there to be no fault and demand 'the bill has to be paid otherwise they will not send the laptop out' and that is a quote from customer services. At no time did they say there would be a charge, and promissed a complete replacement and not a repair, this is just deceitful At no time have they replied properly to e-mails or returned calls as requested. They ignore e-mail content of just do not reply. So far I am waiting for someone to call me back, but my experience so far is this is one hell of a shoddy outfit. I recomended this company to my 65 yr old mother and this is the first time she has purchased from the net. How bad do I feel. Shoddy Shoddy treatment. Take note I would not recomend anyone buy anything from this company They have my mothers laptop, her money and are holding it to ransom. Bloody poor show. I will keep you posted watfordfc   13:38 17/05/06 Posts: 1       I wanted to buy an lcd tv and needed to know if it was wall mountable.I was looked at blankly by one of the sales staff while he was texting on his mobile phone and his only words were i dont know !?. I then asked if he could find out for me because i wanted to purchase one if it was. He told me he couldnt and after about half an hour of trying to convince him to find out for me i gave up. I had to call jvc direct from my mobile phone and ask if this tv was wall mountable while standing in front of the guy who continued to text on his mobile phone . eventualy i managed to purchase the tv (after swapping the box as it looked like it had been taken out of a rubbish tip). I am not even convinced the products they are selling are new and are not not factory seconds ltough i could be wrong ? and even asked them only to be told he was pretty sure they are new. To cut a long story short, dont bother with them. You may be saving 10 -20 quid but i wasted an hour of my time and also spent 10 min of that on my mobile phone. And if your thinking about having your goods deliverd STAY CLEAR !!!!. You may be reading some very random reviews of this company and that may have something to do with staff placing their own reveiw rating . Once again be very wary or take a pair of boxing gloves in with you if you are going to collect somethig !! neilscanlan   18:07 10/05/06 Posts: 6       At 19:59 12/01/05, neilscanlan wrote: DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY TO BUY ANYTHING. Ordered a motherboard, they sent a cheaper inferior model. Hassle to return it, then as a replacement, they deliver the exact same cheaper model. They never ever reply to e-mails, they delete queries and requests for confirmation without reading them. Return the second item, all sorts of problems. They have NO customer service, they are incompetent at picking, they have no customer service telephone number, they will not reply to e-mails. How this company stays in business is beyond me. I am convinced thet they purposely send out cheaper products than those ordered in the hope you won't notice or be bothered to return them. Any financial savings you make make at the outset by choosing this company will be far outweighed by the incompetence and lack of courtesy you will encounter afterwards. NOT recommended in the slightest, unless you like having your pockets picked by an incompetent bunch of cowboys masquerading as a computer sales firm. Sigh.............nearly a year and a half later and it looks as though nothing has changed. This was my review from Jan '05 and it saddens and angers me immensely to see the same complaints, the same recurring problems from unwary customers. Spread the word - steer well clear and if you do run into problems with play hardball and get straight to online small claims. Initially I described them as cowboys - keeping tabs on this site and others leads me to believe that they are not cowboys, as they appear to have learned nothing - this type of consistent behaviour is nothing less that verging on criiminal - con artists at their worst. Put them out of business................................ theflcguy   21:47 06/04/06 Posts: 1   that is it!!     OK right where do i start ! I bought a computer for my sons xmas present last year. It arrived all good a well. He had it for just under a month and the memory went bust! could not load windows. Sent it back after it took me 2 weeks for a return number. Then i found out that i had to send the computer back at my own cost !!! stupid considering that it was still under warrenty and they even fitted the wrong type of hard drives !! Then after 7 weeks no computer sent back. I decide to phone them as i am getting no replys to my 3 emails that i sent them during the 7 week period. I got some woman that knew nothing about computers and basicly just said that she was terribly sorry and no i wont get my money back for the delivery nore the faulty computer i was already requesting my money back ! ) Computer finaly made it back after 2 weeks after my phone call. Ive had it two more weeks and its done exaclty the same again. im ringing them again 2 moz and then if no action after that im going to warn em with trading standards and watchdog i will be getting my solicitors involved as well!! if you can offer me any help could you please email me [email protected] Michael3746   20:42 05/04/06 Posts: 8   Re: savastore     No that's OK. I do accept that some customers have not had problems with Savastore but the amount of grief they give other customers is far too many. As I said, I know how they operate but I can't give full details and I find it absolutely appalling that they use such tactics. I work in the IT industry and we know what Savastore get up to. We have played them at their own game until they fell for the bait and revealed exactly how they operate. We reported the issues to Trading Standards who are fully aware of the situation. I am glad that you havn't suffered the same results that many others have. There are plenty of other alternatives to Savastore, albeit not always as cheap. thetrotters   19:56 05/04/06 Posts: 3   Re: savastore     Re "Re: savastore" posted by Michael3746 at 19:38 05/04/06 ... Yes I can see how you thought that, but no I don't work for them. Please accept my apologies regarding my statement, on hindsight it was rather condescending. I suppose I was just lucky I guess. thetrotters   19:47 05/04/06 Posts: 3   Re: savastore     At 11:40 05/04/06, gee_dee_ell wrote: Re "savastore" posted by thetrotters at 22:08 03/04/06 ... I am pleased that you have not had the difficulty in receiving fair service from this company that many of us others have suffered. I do however take exception to your implied statement that we others did not initially approach the company with courtesy and patience. In my case it took over 12 months from initial complaint to receive my refund, and even then it took a court order and baliffs to extract i I made countless attempts to contact them by 'phone but most times I gave up after holding for 20 minutes or more. Emails were ignored, and those times I did make contact the promises made by Savastore were each time broken. So excuse me if my patience and courtesy wore a little thin ! ! ! ! So, again I will say that I am pleased for you that you received swift, satisfactory service, but do not assume that we others who didn't, were anything less than courteous to start with. Upon reading it again I do admit and sincerely apologise that my statement would give you that impression. However, it really was not meant in that way. I do sympathise will all the customers that have had problems with Savastore and am just very pleased that I was not one of them. I will not be using them in the future because of all the negative press they have had and would not want to risk becoming one of those statistics. I just wanted people to know that not all their customers have had such a bad experience. Michael3746   19:38 05/04/06 Posts: 8   Re: savastore     Re "Re: savastore" posted by gee_dee_ell at 11:40 05/04/06 ... Or could it be that TheTrotters actually work for Savastore and is trying a last ditch attempt to try to save their bacon? I also take exception to the comments. I am very polite and courteous person but after the way Savastore insulted me and fobbed me off with numerous lies and excuses, their shameless attitude is so malevolent that it will even test the patience of a Saint . I do know what tricks Savastore get up to but won't say on a public forum for obvious reasons. The more people hear about their antics the better as far as I am concerned. I implore people to warn others about this decadent bunch of fools and I hope they get back what they have done to others. gee_dee_ell   11:40 05/04/06 Posts: 3   Re: savastore     Re "savastore" posted by thetrotters at 22:08 03/04/06 ... I am pleased that you have not had the difficulty in receiving fair service from this company that many of us others have suffered. I do however take exception to your implied statement that we others did not initially approach the company with courtesy and patience. In my case it took over 12 months from initial complaint to receive my refund, and even then it took a court order and baliffs to extract it. I made countless attempts to contact them by 'phone but most times I gave up after holding for 20 minutes or more. Emails were ignored, and those times I did make contact the promises made by Savastore were each time broken. So excuse me if my patience and courtesy wore a little thin ! ! ! ! So, again I will say that I am pleased for you that you received swift, satisfactory service, but do not assume that we others who didn't, were anything less than courteous to start with. thetrotters   22:08 03/04/06 Posts: 3   savastore     hello again, i posted text regarding my experience after buying a BNI 3in1 portable DVD player from Savastore last month and wish to now post an update. Since receiving the part that was missing we discovered that the DVD player was faulty. I requested a return on the website and almost immediately received a returns number. I sent the DVD player back requesting a replacement as it was birthday present for my son. Within a few days I received another e-mail confirming receipt of the player to their warehouse. I waited a couple of weeks with the status of the return as 'being processed' and thought I would phone to see if there was a further update on the return. This time I waited only 5 mins to get an answer from customer services, explained my situation and they said they would hurry the authorisation through for me and I would receive an e-mail with an update. After a week of waiting again I e-mailed to get the update and I received another almost instant reply stating that there was a refund authorised and the 'full' charge would be credited back to my credit card within 4 days. The full price included original delivery costs. I received another e-mail from the customer services assistant explaining that they had no more of the machines in stock so unfortunately I could not receive a replacement. Savastore kept their word as the refund has now been credited to my account within the time scale they quoted. After reading some of the horror stories in this section I wonder if perhaps I am one of the lucky ones? I certainly have been treated fairly and have had no real problems with the company regarding my transactions. I have not needed to go to trading standards or any such like. I did, however, approach them with civility and patience. Could that have made all the difference I wonder? I am writing this to give some hope to those 'not so fortunate' customers. boomerangpommie   12:19 28/03/06 Posts: 3   The WE Management     I did have a similar post placed on here this morning now its gone either it was too contraversial or got deleted due to an IT error. Mr Peter Hills is just another glove puppet working for the Jessa brothers (The WE Management) They are the people who need addressing or rather a dressing down but they are too smart to get their own hands dirty. I had heard that Watford Electronics could be registered abroad so may be that is why they have got away with unethical or perhaps unethnical business practices for so long . Our own UK consumer laws are also not tough enough. Nothing to do with being controversial and everthing to do with forum policy. To quote the founder of Grumbletext. Quote: The point of Grumbletext is for consumers to have a good idea about the kind of organisation they are looking to do business with, or how to solve problems they have with companies they have already done business with. It was felt that apart from a "personal rant" against certain figures within Watford Electronics, there was little in this post that was of obvious benefit to the average consumer. Further, It could be held that your post exceeded what could be called "fair comment" as it was clearly a "personal opinion". It is a shame you didnt check "what you had heard" before posting it here, as Companies House has a long standing registration entry for this company, a fact that I verified by doing a simple webcheck from the Companies house web page. It should be remembered that while factual posts of "personal experience" are welcomed here, simply posting a rant against employees etc of a company breaches this forum's policy and will be removed where noted, as will "Rants" against customers that are posted by employees of companies mentioned here. - Moderator Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next Do you like what we're doing here? If you feel we may have saved you a few quid or made you feel better and you want to support us, (er, that's me...), you can make a donation for as little as �1 by clicking the PayPal button to the left  Paypal - fast, easy and secure payments - as widely used by millions on EBay    Grumbletext Homepage -> Grumbletext General Consumer All times are GMT Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next Page 1 of 6 Grumbletext Home SOS SMS Home How to post via text message What can I say? Who are we? 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