Reasons not to use Overclockers (OcUK)

[SheepCow]

They posted me some RAM among other things, the RAM was loose in the box. Full details are available in the following 2 PDF files.

I posted them the first PDF:
http://boneill.ninjagrapefruit.com/overclockers1.pdf

then sent them this one, along with a copy of the first one and the RAM:
http://boneill.ninjagrapefruit.com/overclockers2.pdf

I've yet to hear back from them about the refund ...

 

[Xavier]

Afraid you're not the first, OcUK have left a long line of disgruntled customers.

We should really consolidate all these threads under a 'Beware OcUK' title or something...

Fingers crossed you get your refund this week. My only dealings with OcUK was relating to some reader complaints a couple of years ago now, their owner became so paranoid when he heard the company was about to feature rather negatively in an article and tried to unleash his solicitors. He couldn't deny the complaints so tried to suggest that we weren't actually producing a magazine article and were just trying to extort, when our senior publisher rang him he rolled over like a puppy. Tosser.



We printed it anyhow, and proceeded to chastise them for months after, that was in 2002 and they're still no better.

 

[Chilly]

completely OT but i like you complaint letter wish I as that eloquent.

Now for on topic! I have used ocUK a few times with no major hiccups apart from the items arriving 2 weeks after I ordered them, although I did email the support monkeys and generally recieved a reply within the day on both occasions so I cant fault them there.

I use www.scan.co.uk now for my pc parts, they are usually cheaper than OCuk and deliver within 2 days (allowing for stock) on ALL the items iv bought from them (at least 15) i have also ahd to return stuff to them a couple of times and its been swift and relatively pain free, although Id advise you to never order over the phone because the monkeys working the sales dept are fucking idiots - use the web page

 

[throdgrain]

Ive bought loads and loads of stuff from overclockers UK. and Ive never had a problem.
2 things Ive had to return, first my 9800pro after 8 months or so, I had a no one with no quibbles within a week. The second was some ram I sent back recently, and had a replacement for that within a week too. And in hindsight, it was probably my fault, I dont think there was anything wrong with it in the first place !
I dont have a problem with them at all.

 

[Uriel]

I've used them on and off for a while now. When things go well they're not too bad a company to buy from, stuff is usually delivered next day and has (nearly) always worked fine.

The 'nearly' though is the rub. For example, I bought a Radeon 9800pro last March and it was DOA. Despite having e-mail support at the time to which I got a quick response to (can't believe they no long provide it) it took them over two weeks to 'process' the RMA and send out a new, working, one.

They're also pretty heavy handed with regard to questions/complaints on their promotional message board. I guess they're just insecure.

Thinking about it, if I hadn't bought from them before, the lack of e-mail support alone would be enough to put me off buying them, I gave up dealing with companies that force you to spend hours on the phone ages ago.

 

[pcg79]

I like this bit :

'I am typically paid £10 per hour for my time when I am working for companies, this comes to a grand total of
£39.23. I would be willing to waive this charge if your company could deal with this request swiftly and provide a
complete refund for the RAM of £49.94. If you feel this is unacceptable then I shall expect a refund of £76.69, that
is £49.94 minus the 15% restocking fee of £7.50, plus the £39.23 reimbursement for time and monies spent.'



hoep you get it sorted out soon!

 

[Ch3tan]

a 15% restocking fee for faulty goods? I think not somehow, your entitled to a full refund for faulty goods.

 

[Tom]

Having had a pretty shit time recently with dabs.com, I now refuse to do any business with a company that doesn't have a phoneline.

 

[tris-]

ive used ocuk for 2 mobos, graphics card, dvd re-writer, ram, blank dvds and i think maybe a cpu or 2. never had a single problem and everything came the day after1, apart from 1 item that took 2 days.
i think your just unlucky mate

 

[SheepCow]

The 15% restocking fee is for non-faulty goods that you just want to return. Or for faulty goods where you have lost some of the packaging, e.g. a manual.

It is actually completely illegal, under the EU Distance Selling Directive you have the right to completely cancel the order and receive a 100% refund within 7 days of the order.

 

[jaba]

Those letters are absolutely brilliant! if I need to complain ever will you help me sheepcow?? You should set up a complaint letter writing company

 

[Brynn]

I ordered the Destrukt mousemat which fair enough said it had 1-3 days wait on it. I ordered it on tuesday, and it still says my invoice hasn't been printed. I understand that sunday is a day of no work, but they work on saturdays.

 

[Teren]

IMHO, the best way to get non-faulty stuff, is to go outside (oh noes ) and go to a shop and deliver it to your home yourself

 

[SparKeh]

I also had issues with OCUK this week. Ok originally my fault, ordering in the early hours of the morning, slightly intoxicated, entered the wrong expiry date on my credit card. Anyway I had to contact them to solve this. No I couldnt reply to the 'automated' email as no one would reply, their email address on site / invoice being "phone@us" wasn't a great help either.

So 10am i start ringing the support line, number engaged so I stick auto redial on, hrs later, still engaged, infact it was engaged until 5:25 when i got in from work i stopped calling. They close at 5:30 and I was quiet pissed off i'd not made it through all day so quickly scribbled a fax stating my name/number/order number - call me now! type of thing. They called my mobile a few times while I was downstairs eating dinner, it was afrer 6pm so I did not expect a call until the next day, they actually then called the number that was listed on the top of the fax (my home office number) and got through which was quiet good as the matter got sorted. But in my opinion, if your not going to offer support through email you must at least have enough customer support staff and lines to deal with the demand.

Next day I came home from work to find my power supply had completely died so needed another one ASAP. Again called the sales+support numbers to see if I could get a PSU added to my current order without having to pay extra delivery. Since I am from Northern Ireland delivery costs me about £20 or something so I would rather not pay that everytime. Anyway once again it was engaged for over 30mins so I sent a fax asking for the PSU i had chosen to be added onto my exsisting order, left my phone number and email as means of contact and I received an email shortly after (from a real person :eek2: I dont know why they cant just offer email support in the first place.

Anyway if your having trouble getting through on the phone, try the fax!

 

[FuzzyLogic]

The only actual problem i've had with Overclockers was once when the courier managed to smash a case of wine over my motherboard (the box was dripping wet when the guy handed it to me), I refused to sign for it and told OcUK via email who promptly sent out a new mobo. So it wasn't their fault explicitly but they did send out a new one sharpish (arrived 2 days later).

This made FuzzyLogic a happy Pandaren

 

[Trem]

IMHO, the best way to get non-faulty stuff, is to go outside (oh noes ) and go to a shop and deliver it to your home yourself

Yeah great idea........my local supplier is OCUK though!


I've got to take a graphics card back on Tuesday and I only have the exchange invoice from the last time it got swapped. I don't hold out much hope of getting it sorted.

 

[Mercenary]

Having had a pretty shit time recently with dabs.com, I now refuse to do any business with a company that doesn't have a phoneline.

Agreed!!!

 

[Yaka]

ive had a maxtor 300gb hdd, delivered from oc.uk wraped in a single layer of bubble wrap and put in a big box, they might as well have dropped kicked it all the way to me door step

 

[Skyler]

Ive bought loads and loads of stuff from overclockers UK. and Ive never had a problem.
2 things Ive had to return, first my 9800pro after 8 months or so, I had a no one with no quibbles within a week. The second was some ram I sent back recently, and had a replacement for that within a week too. And in hindsight, it was probably my fault, I dont think there was anything wrong with it in the first place !
I dont have a problem with them at all.

Same testimony from me I'm afraid. Ordered lots from them and usually get it promptly. My Graphics card died once and I sent it back, got a brand new model within a few days and done fine since. Also some friends returned their Graphics card to them recently and got another one back promptly.

 

[Tilda]

What worrys me is that your address is the same as mine?!

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Having had a pretty shit time recently with dabs.com, I now refuse to do any business with a company that doesn't have a phoneline.

I've had to boycott dabs for the same reason. Useless fuckers. Ordered something in stock, and two weeks later my order was still sitting around waiting to be processed. About 4 e-mails of complaint asking as to why there is a huge delay on a product they have in their hands and no reply. Cancelled order and will never use them again (sent another mail off telliing them so and again - no response).

I have to say the only problem I've ever had with OCUK is a late delivery or two. I've found their customer service to generally be excellent. Ordered many times off of them, never received hardware badly packed or not working, and the one time I needed a refund this was done without problems.

Why people hate OCUK so strongly is beyond me, I hear about all these poor business practices but have never experienced anything in years of use. I think it might be the way some people raise issues with them: instead of being polite and phoning, lots of ***** go around slagging them off on their boards and boards like this. Not really going to solve anything, and I for one wouldn't want to help some moaning **** who's mouthing off on the internet/phone.

 

[throdgrain]

Me, Id agree with you there Swift.

 

[Ch3tan]

The only company I have ever had problems with ordering online is Dell. Huge customer service team, years of experience, no communication what so ever. Took me over 6 months to get a refund of £60, and no compensation for time or phone calls and faxes sent.

 

[Danya]

Having had a pretty shit time recently with dabs.com, I now refuse to do any business with a company that doesn't have a phoneline.

Dabs are piss poor tbh.
Pity I can't drive I'm within a stone's throw of half these companys, could just nip down and buy stuff.

 

[SheepCow]

I've had to boycott dabs for the same reason. Useless fuckers. Ordered something in stock, and two weeks later my order was still sitting around waiting to be processed. About 4 e-mails of complaint asking as to why there is a huge delay on a product they have in their hands and no reply. Cancelled order and will never use them again (sent another mail off telliing them so and again - no response).

I have to say the only problem I've ever had with OCUK is a late delivery or two. I've found their customer service to generally be excellent. Ordered many times off of them, never received hardware badly packed or not working, and the one time I needed a refund this was done without problems.

Why people hate OCUK so strongly is beyond me, I hear about all these poor business practices but have never experienced anything in years of use. I think it might be the way some people raise issues with them: instead of being polite and phoning, lots of ***** go around slagging them off on their boards and boards like this. Not really going to solve anything, and I for one wouldn't want to help some moaning **** who's mouthing off on the internet/phone.

I did try and contact them over the phone and if you read the documents you will see that. I was also extremely polite and courtious when on the phone and in my letters to them.

Basically, read the documents before you write.

 

[GDW]

lots of ***** go around slagging them off on their boards and boards like this. Not really going to solve anything, and I for one wouldn't want to help some moaning **** who's mouthing off on the internet/phone.

I would also agree about Dabs. However, you've done exactly that in your first paragraph by slagging them on a public forum.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

And if you can read, you will realise I attempted to sort this out with dabs over a spell of several weeks. I was not even responded to or acknowldedged that I had a problem, and I merely mentioned it in passing, I didn't create any threads while the issue was at hand, and I didn't set out to slag dabs - before I saw Tom's post regarding them I'd forgotten about them.

Context is everything.

 

[SheepCow]

Overclockers have today given a full refund. I do not intend to use them again, this thread was not designed to "slag" them, it is designed as a warning to others about my experience with them. I have used them before and had no problems, it's when the problems occur that you get to see how good a company really is.

 

[Brynn]

I cancelled my order last week, however they have still taken the payment off my credit card, so i need to whoop some ass on monday

 

[Gef]

Going to rez this thread a bit due to being in a royally pissed off mood. Okay to I order my nice shiney new PC to the tune of around £1000, received it all OK and on time. Kinda chuffed, everything is fine appart from the HD which has blatantly been dropped, it has a piece of plastic missing from the SATA connector and another corner of plastic has been smashed off the corner of the connector assembly.

The email ping pong begins..

Me:
Received my order on Saturday morning, everything is fine except the Hard Disk. The connector for the SATA cable has been damaged, i'm guessing before it was put into the anti-static bag, as the piece missing from the connector wasnt in there. As such it isnt usable, I need to know how I should go about getting it replaced.

Them:
You will shortly receive an RMA email, please follow the instructions in that email to return the drive to us for replacement.

Okay all is good, get my RMA number and ship it off, around 2 WEEKS later I receive back the SAME hard disk.

Me:
Hi, I received the returned hard disk on Friday, but its the EXACT same disk I sent back to you in the first place. It has a large chunk of plastic missing from the SATA connector.. Its even in the same bag! Please advise.

Them:
This was the report off one of the other technicians:
Received with damage, SATA data port snapped, not transit damage. Looks like user damage. Warranty void.

Well no shit sherlock, just like I told you originally!

Me:
Hi there, just received your reply:

"This was the report off one of the other technicians:

Received with damage, SATA data port snapped, not transit damage. Looks like user damage. Warranty void."

a) It was like this when I received it!
b) This is what I stated when I originally asked for a replacement
c) Not only that but if your 'technician' had inspected it more closely there is also a large chunk of plastic that has been SMASHED off the corner of the connector assembly.

Looks to me like it has been dropped at some point in its life, and before it was put into the anti-static bag as the missing parts were not inside the sealed bag.

I really dont see how you can send me a broken product then refuse to replace it.

So now i'm sat waiting for a reply with a bust hard disk, £120 down through no fault of my own. Cheesed off to say the least!