I have never purchased a computer from Packard Bell and never will, basically because I know not too. I have had a number of problems with other peoples packard bell machines though (I used to be a computer technician) and the people with the problems have all had a valid cover plan. So you ... Read review
Advantages: Look of the machines Disadvantages: Everything else
...never purchased a computer from Packard Bell and never will, basically because I know not too. I have had a number of problems with other peoples packard bell machines though (I used to be a computer technician) and the people with the problems have all had a valid cover plan. So you would think that Packard Bell would come along and sort the problem out for them….wrong.
In 2 cases I have been called out to fix Packard Bell machines, ... ...both customers to ring the Packard bell helpline as I cannot touch the machines without affecting the warranty. They have both done this and have been waiting weeks for a response. Considering you can pay from £200 upwards for coverplans you’d think they would offer better service than that, but they don’t.
In one case, we needed to format the hard drive, easy enough to do you’d think, but no….Packard Bell had previously installed ... more
I have never purchased a computer from Packard Bell and never will, basically because I know not too. I have had a number of problems with other peoples packard bell machines though (I used to be a computer technician) and the people with the problems have all had a valid cover plan. So you would think that Packard Bell would come along and sort the problem out for them….wrong.
In 2 cases I have been called out to fix Packard Bell machines, both times with the same problems (hard drive). I have told both customers to ring the Packard bell helpline as I cannot touch the machines without affecting the warranty. They have both done this and have been waiting weeks for a response. Considering you can pay from £200 upwards for coverplans you’d think they would offer better service than that, but they don’t.
In one case, we needed to format the hard drive, easy enough to do you’d think, but no….Packard Bell had previously installed a different CD-Rom drive into the machine so the boot disk that came with the machine didn’t work. We rang, the sent another one, that didn’t work either. In the end, I just formatted the normal way you would with any machine, but that’s not the point, packard bell’s are meant to be ‘user friendly’. Then the modem didn’t work, as the drivers were not available on the Windows disk that I had used. Again, we rang packard bell and they told us that it was not their problem as it was a software error and not a hardware error and the cover plan that we had only supports hardware, so we’re stuck again. I overcame that problem by formatting again and sticking windows 98 on.
A couple of months later, the hard drive fails. I know for certain that it was a hard drive failure as I used to deal with these sorts of problems myself. So, we rang again, after about 30 mins of explaining that the hard drive was knackered and after numerous tests that the operator told us to carry out, he said he would send us a boot disk! Now….a boot disk is no good if your hard drives broken, but he insisted that it was their policy and there was nothing he or I could do about it. So basically he was sending us a disk that we wouldn’t be able to use and when we had received that disk we had to ring them again. A couple of weeks later and the disk had still not arrived, so we rang again. This time they said that there was no record of any disk being sent out, so I had to do the same tests again (they don’t believe you when you say its broken) and he said he would organise an engineer and a new part. Great I thought, at last. They then had a problem, what a surprise…they didn’t have the part we needed in stock, so we have to wait a further 3 weeks for them to get that part in stock. They could have just given us a bigger hard drive but were to hard up too. 3 Weeks later I receive a phone call, they couldn’t get hold of the part so they would give us a new bigger hard drive, but now we would have to wait another week for an engineer to become available. I explained that I would be able to install the Hard Drive myself if they would just send it, but no, not good enough, we had to wait again. The computer had now been out of use for over a month now due to a hard drive failure.
So, more than a week later, more like 17 days later we get a phonecall that the engineer would be coming today. He did, he fitted it and it’s now running smoothly again. He did give me a bit of advice though….
He told us that it depends who is on the other end of the phone as to what type of service you get. Surely that’s not right. He then went on to tell us that if they don’t know what to do, they will normally fob you off with the boot disk story, as he did with us. So why buy an extended cover plan, infact, why buy a Packard bell PC at all?
Well, to any unsuspecting mums and dads, Packard Bell offer you all you want. PC World and Dixons will tell you that they are really user friendly, packed with software and have disks that you can just stick in the machine and it will fix it all for you. They then push a extended cover plan onto you which will come in the form of either an extra 2,3 or 4 years. I would only recommend buying 2 years if you must buy a warranty, best buying none at all and sticking with the years warranty you get with the machine, but buying anything more than that is a waste of money anyway as your computer will be outdated in a couple of years anyway, so your probably just throwing money away. (buying 2 years will boost your warranty to 3 years and buying 4 years will boost it to 5 etc). They know this and know that you probably won’t be using the same PC in 3 or 4 years time, but they don’t care, their making an extra few hundred pounds.
I have had a lot of other problems which I could have fixed myself, but if I did, would have voided the warranty, which isn’t worth the paper its written on anyway!
My advice is if you have to go for a Packard Bell machine, be very careful and don’t take no rubbish off the helpline operators, if they say they can’t fix it, ask to speak to someone in charge. Afterall, you have paid for a service. Another thing…. Packard Bell machines can be very hard to upgrade. They do this on purpose in the hope that you will take it back to them when you have a problem. One more thing…..read the cover plan before you sign it, they will catch you out on a lot of things otherwise!
Advantages: Available on the high street. Lot of free software Disadvantages: Very hard to upgrade. No actual OS disc
...I have been pleased with Packard Bell, but having said that I would not but another. I have a PB Club 40, purchased in October 1998. It has a Cyrix M II 300mhz processor, with onboard sound and graphics card and a 56K modem. It had 32mb ram, this has been upgraded by myself to 60mb. I was pleased with the purchase price at the time (£599) and got the usual package you can expect from Dixon's. Some games, MS Works, Win 98 and MS Money. I have never ... ...made me decide to never have another Packard. I suppose since becoming a net addict(!) I have discovered that I can get a much better PC online, and to my own spec too. The PB comes with a lot of preinstalled software, which is not uninstallable. This is bad as I am forced to keep certain items on my machine. I have got around this by borrowing the win 98 cd from a friend and doing a format/install. The PB comes with master cd and boot disc, which ...
alflavor 20.01.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Packard Bell (Shop)
Advantages: looks flashy Disadvantages: too many to list
Packard Bell do nothing more than manipulate ill informed people, selling them way more than you will ever get. The computers themselves are aimed at first time users and so the most vulnerable customers as well as helpless parents around christmas who don't know any better. To be frank in my opinon the computers do nothing more than make your life hell and cost over the odds.
The big stores are all in on the conspiracy against home owners, in order ... ...own manufacturers warranty anyway, all Packard Bell do is get your money and then send hardware back to the manufacturer and it costs them nothing. Yet they have taken a hell of a lot off money off those who can't afford it.
The warrenty is a laugh, there are so many small prints that fiddle the consumer that it is laughable and god forbid you should ever need to call the help lines! They cost you a fortune and the people on the other end of the ...
Gemgemmings 03.09.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Packard Bell (Shop)
Advantages: Good reliable system, Easy to reinstall Disadvantages: No Windows disks
...reading several different opinions of Packard Bell on here one thing seems certain, that being that they are a poor company, poor systems, poor customer support and so on. However, my own experiences with my Packard Bell system has been rather good so I have decided to try and redress the balance somewhat.
OK so I bought my PC just over 2 years ago now for university. Despite this I wanted a decent enough system to play some games with a few mates ... ...to the brilliant software that Packard Bell provided. Basically after I reformatted the hard drive I simply inserted the system disk which was provided and followed the onscreen instructions. They provide 3 CD ROMS ith all of the software on and the instructions on screen allow all of this to be re-installed simply to restore the PC to the condition it was in when I bought it. One downside of this is that it does install all of the software onto ...
pumfster 02.03.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Packard Bell (Shop)
Advantages: Not a lot! Disadvantages: Poor customer care, awkward designed case
We have owned a Packard Bell PC for almost five years now. Yes, that is very old, but as I had a new computer 2 or 3 years ago, the old Packard Bell was never needed for anything more than word processing. It was a Intl 486, 66MHz processor, originally with just 4Mb of RAM and a 512Mb hard disk. By todays standards, thats tiny! Anyway, about 6 months ago it died. Caput. It did switch on, made a bleap as it always did, and then nothing. We took it ... ...batteries just clip in, but Packard Bell has actually soldered the battery into place, thus making it impossible to remove without destroying the motherboard. So, we decided to give up, and just upgrade the motherboard. Urm..., well, we thought we would, until we found that no where made, and probably never did make, compatible motherboards. It was a very strange case design, and the expansion cards were mounted on a riser board. Not a problem in ...
aljones 02.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Packard Bell (Shop)
...I have a Packard Bell PC which I bought 18 months ago and have found the system to be reliable and trouble free. I have previously bought systems fro other lesser name retailers and always experienced serious problems with them. With Packard Bell I am pleased to say that I have had none of these problems at all.
The system came pre-installed and running correctly but also has a restore disk to re-install the system to its factory defaults should ...
jonwhite 11.11.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Packard Bell (Shop)
How well informed were ...
How efficient was the s...
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