John Lewis: Good place to buy a computer?

I�ve just been checking out the John Lewis site, mulling over possibilities for my next main computer purchase. I need to reduce my �office� area and am looking at various alternatives to the traditional desktop design. I�ve tended to buy Dell over the years because of the next-day at-home warranties but looking back, my experiences in getting somebody out and the quality of the fix have been variable, though gthey were swift to sort the problem MHC reports:

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/t/4027488-...

A neighbour bought a mid-range laptop from the local branch of John Lewis recently, having �heard� that their aftercare is good. I like the look of some of the higher-end laptops on the website All John Lewis computers come with a 2-year guarantee with options to extend the warranty. But how good is John Lewis aftercare? I�m don�t want the PC-World/ Dixons model of care. Years ago, I had to return two desktops as unfit for purpose and it was not easy. Neither do I want an expensive system dispatched to somewhere remote for weeks on end�. You get my drift.

Anybody with experience of John Lewis aftercare?

I have not experienced their aftercare for a computer buy I have for their TVs. It was seamless and pain free, I would thoroughly recommend them.

I bought a laptop for a local computer group from JL, aftercare excellent. I know others who have bought from JL and the few that have had problems have had good aftercare. Maybe it's the staff at the local JL, maybe it's their normal countrywide approach.

Personally i have always found them to be very good with customer service but their prices can be a little high sometimes, as for the two year guarantee, yes thats nice but the law covers you if a product breaks down within a reasonable time, all these one year guarantees you see are actually longer than that under the sale of goods act although it can be a hassle getting shops to understand this law.

Check the link below.

http://www.monikie.org.uk/yourrights.htm

I would check out Amazon for prices as they are also good with delivery and customer services but John Lewis is a good shop to buy from.

John Lewis gave 5-year's Warranty on my TV. Had to use them once and first class next day at home service.

Can't give advice on PC's, but if you are prepered to pay a premiun (despite their 'never undersold' tag), might be worth considering.

Wife has a Dell Laptop, went wrong soon after purchase (bought from a non-related JL site) and Dell came out the next day and fixed it.

Exended Warranty to protect yourself?

Agree with your comments on PC-World- my Son had a Comaq Laptop that died; took weeks for them to 'fix' it, but still didn't work. Threw it into the skip in the end and bought an Acer.

You don't need to buy extended warranties, the law covers you without these, extended warranties are a way for these companies to make more money out of you.

In reply to a post by TalkTalk1969:

as for the two year guarantee, yes thats nice but the law covers you if a product breaks down within a reasonable time, all these one year guarantees you see are actually longer than that under the sale of goods act although it can be a hassle getting shops to understand this law.

Check the link below.

http://www.monikie.org.uk/yourrights.htm

Don't assume that process will be easy though.

I've just been through the process of trying to get a £600 laptop fixed that was purchased from Currys online and was 15 months old.

The first call I had I quoted the sale of goods act which resulted in being asked to provide an independent engineers report that would specifically say that the fault was due to a manufacturing fault.
They are perfectly entitled to do this from what I have read.

Of course I couldn't find anyone that would be able to say this in a report and if I could it would have been a major hassle to arrange.

I phoned back a second time and started the conversation from scratch not mentioning SOG act at all. This time got a completely different response with an agreement to pass me on to a special out of warranty team who agreed to a free repair through the PC world fixed price repair service.

When I took it in the guy at PC world refused to believe that I had managed to convince them to do a free repair!

They weren't able to repair it in the end so got some vouchers off them instead.

Given my experience if I were buying an expensive laptop again I would definitely take out an extended warranty.

Hi Tony
Can you say a little more about the aftercare you received? Did somebody come to you to fix the laptop or did you have to take it to JL, have it sent away and so forth�?

Two cases I can recall.

1) Wireless network stopped working. Took the Vista PC it in to JL, while there the assistant in CS booted it up, had a look, went in to "repair wireless" (or something like that). That did the trick. Was fine thereafter. Who knows what caused it go bad?

2) 18 month old HP laptop stopped working. Took it in, was sent away. Came back after a week or so apparently fixed. Failed again within a few days. Went back, after a few days JL admitted they couldn't find what was wrong. Offered the owner the new value of the laptop (£600 IIRC) to buy a replacement. He got a more up to date, faster, laptop for that money with a warranty that restarted the clock as it were. He was very pleased. As he was retired the absence of the laptop for a week or so wasn't that critical to him, that may not be the case for some, but few (if any) warranties will provide for a replacement, and certainly not for data etc.

Another case I've just remembered, though pre-sale rather than post-sale, was for a couple who, owing to speech handicap of the husband, needed special software which had some very specific and possibly awkward requirement. Also because of the way it was physically used, the arrangement of USB ports - how many on the left and how many on the right - was important. The staff at JL were incredibly helpful in working through the options to ensure the couple got a laptop which fully met their needs.

Maybe it's my nearby (3 miles) JL (Cheadle) but my own experience of their general customer service is good. Yes, they've made mistakes, but they've always admitted the mistakes and sorted them, even on one occasion sending a beautiful arrangement of flowers to my wife.

Even on price I've twice got money back via their "Never knowingly undersold". Yep, I'd use them again.

Edited by cheshire_man (Fri 12-Aug-11 14:53:34)

Many thanks for all that detail, Tony. It�s a pity there isn�t a rapid call-out option but what you describe inspires confidence in JL. I�ve found Dell good when it comes to replacing components (i.e. dial-up modem, CD/DVD drive, laptop lid/screen) but uninterested in potential major hardware faults (e.g. I ended up getting a local technician to reseat the RAM in a brand new desktop because I could not persuade Dell that it�s performance was, at best, one-third of what I expected.) I have a 5-year old Dell laptop and it�s fantastic for its age/spec but it�s a second system and I�m looking to replace my main desktop.

Did you try getting in touch with Trading Standards. ?

A tip for anyone getting a laptop, buy yourself a laptop cooler, i use a Belkin one like this one in the link below.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-V2-Laptop-Cooling-Lou...

This helps the laptop a lot since they do heat up more than traditional desktops, yes they are noisy but i think i'd rather have the noise than the laptop need to be repaired due to overheating and components failing.

My laptop feels cool when running this but very warm when not, so i think its worth paying a little for this, just my thoughts though after doing some online research and seeing that laptops tend to fail sooner than desktops and i feel its due to overheating issues.

The thing to know about the JL aftercare is that it's product dependant, as we found out after problems with a De Longhi coffee machine.

Some products they deal with in-house, others get dealt with by referring to the manufacturer's system - which can but a bit of a pain at times. You have to make sure that the JL employee you ask knows about the difference when you ask the question!

When our De Longhi coffee machine started leaking we took it back to JL and it was replaced there and then.

In reply to a post by TalkTalk1969:

Did you try getting in touch with Trading Standards. ?

Problem is if you do have to go down that route you are without a laptop for a good while and in it for the long haul. Plus it is extra hassle which tends to get me wound up

Once I got past the initial hurdle with Currys they were actually very good in getting things sorted.
Problem is I feel I got lucky in getting that outcome.

Edit...Totally agree about the laptop cooler if you have a performance machine.

Edited by deleted (Sat 13-Aug-11 10:26:33)

Talk of coffee machines reminded me of this blog post (you might have to spool down a tad to read about Vera):

http://timesonline.typepad.com/dons_life/2010/10/ind...

Work uses dell laptops and in ten years have had three or four repairs under extended warranty and always being good service.

Given the travel the laptops I have do, its a pretty good testimony to their construction.

You would be crazy to buy it from John Lewis no matter how good there after care is there are quite a number of very reputable PC manufactures out there who sell direct to the public, I.E http://www.overclockers.co.uk/ - http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Laptops
http://www.scan,co.uk

Just to name a few, you will get a much faster/more modern system and at far far better price than John Lewis.

Edited by deleted (Sun 18-Sep-11 20:58:16)

If you want a Dell, it might be worth looking at their outlet store; prices are lower and warranty as new. Had three in last year, no trouble with any yet (2 desktops 1 netbook).
John Lewis have been very helpful; a couple of years ago supplied a Vista 64-bit machine against a label saying 32-bit which wouldn't run a specialised software package for partially sighted folk. They took the machine back and installed a full retail copy of 32-bit at no charge whatever.
Perhaps yo pay your money and make your choice, as they say.

Laptop keyboard failed after 18 months due to food crumbs in it - they replaced keyboard within 5 days.

Definitely NO. Not in my experience. Bought an Apple laptop which was faulty. After another faulty one - both a few weeks old only, they insisted on sending it to their "Apple Approved repairer" who claimed I had taken it apart and damaged it.

Tracing the local repairer through their impressive website listing their repairers nationally, I paid him a visit. He operated from a small bungalow in a less than salubrious suburb. His national repairers were also individuals operating from home. Checking with Apple, they told me that, despite their claims, they were definitely not Apple Approved.

Apple were helpful at first when I contacted them for advice on the faults. When I told them it was from JL they said "Oh, it's a Jon Lewis special" and helped me no more. I have bought many items from JL and taken too many back which were faulty. In my opinion they are buying "specials" ie possibly B or `C grade products. I believe (but could be wrong) that this is the reason they have to have such long guarantees on their electrical items.

I've just come back from John Lewis having returned a faulty electric blanket. Again they resisted replacing it and said they negotiate deals with repairers. They said it would be back quickly but then at the very end said it could take over 5 weeks. Eventually I convinced them to replace it with one they said was the same - Not! An inferior one was substituted.

While I was there another customer was having similar problems.

"John Lewis: Good place to buy a computer?" NO NO NO

Hope this is useful. Good luck "Aerobear"

The John Lewis group are decent retailers. From my 15 years of buying almost everything from them, they have never done anything wrong. I have only ever had to use their aftercare servcie once when the screen went wrong on my microwave a good while ago. Was replaced and no problems since. I have had bad experiences with aftersales in currys and comet a few years back which prompted me to switch to JL. Their prices are not always the cheapest but will price match if you can meet their criteria for a price promise. If you want the very latest computer equipment though, I think ebuyer and the like would have it avilable first and cheaper though.

Trading Standards would be all over them like a rash, so if you have suspicion any retailer is selling goods as new, when they are B/C grade products then contract Trading Standards.