Advantages: Very Cheap, wide range of products
Disadvantages: Dire customer service, no telephone support

...Like many others, I have been a customer of Dabs for a number of years, and until recently had experienced no problems with them. Their website is clear and well layed out, if a little basic, and they are certainly very cheap - only a handful of other suppliers come close to Dabs' prices. Unfortunately, my recent experiences of Dabs.com have led me to conclude that , no matter how cheap they are, I will never shop with them again. Shortly before Christmas 2003, I ordered a Dabs value MP3 palyer for my nephew. A few weeks later the player developed a fault. I have no problem with this - I have worked in IT for many years, and I know these things happen. It was Dabs response to the issue that appalled me - or rather, their lack of response. I logged a fault with Dabs and received an RMA number. I was told I would have to pay... Read review

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Advantages: Unit and interface design leaves most others in the shade
Disadvantages: Heavy with the six C batteries needed for power-hungry DAB

...Are you a DAB fan? The Sony XDR-S 20, retailing at around £80, is one of the best current designs on the market for a kitchen radio. As a family we have four DAB radios - two mono and two stereo - and really appreciate the quality and choice of digital radio. Channels such as BBC7, OneWord and FUNradio for the children are a real bonus, and while many households have other ways of experiencing radio via set-top box or the Internet, a compact and mobile radio is the most flexible. This Sony has the trademark clean styling and consumer design for which the brand is best known. You will probably want to leave it on AC power for regular use: you may have heard that DAB is far more power-hungry than FM, and while the six C batteries give very respectable battery life compared with our other radios, it doesn't really compare... Read review

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Advantages: Incredibly low prices, Excellent Customer Support
Disadvantages: Stock levels are inaccurate

...Dabs.com specialises in PC Hardware and Software including peripherals such as printers and scanners as well as accessories like MP3 players. If there's something you need for your computer, dabs.com will have it without a doubt. Dabs.com wasn't the first place I looked when trying to find what I wanted (in this case a Pentium D 950 CPU - I'll be reviewing that shortly!). I usually tend to check the obvious Ciao, Kelkoo, Pricerunner and similar sites when looking for a place to purchase a product, I also had an account from a family member to go by before choosing to purchase from here. Strangely enough, the verdict I actually got from my father wasn't particularly positive. He had tried to buy a wireless keyboard and mouse set from here a couple of years ago and to his surprise it didn't arrive! Apparently the customer support... Read review

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Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Goods may or may not be sent Lengthy telephone calls.

...On 12 January I ordered a new computer system over the internet from Dabs. Listed below is the 41 days of waiting and arguing it took before I received all my goods and was able to use my new system. I would never use this company again. 14 January. Told by Dabs goods despatched for next day delivery. 21 January. Numerous calls to Parcelforce trying to locate parcels. 22 January. Parcelforce eventually confirm no trace of parcels. I inform Dabs by e-mail I want replacements. 23 January. Dabs ask me by e-mail do I want replacements. As they didn't read my e-mail I telephone them (takes 30 minutes in queueing system) to say yes. 28 January. Computer tower despatched. 29 January. Dabs send e-mail printer despatched. 30 January. Receive computer tower. 6 February. After numerous telephone calls with Parcelforce and Dabs... Read review

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Advantages: Fast Delivery and Cheap!
Disadvantages: None

...Sorry for the lame title, couldn't think of anything else! I bought something from this site for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I have been a regular visitor of Dabs for some time, but usually just to look at their auctions. ++++Dabs.com++++ The website has recently changed and I think they have got rid of their auctions. The design of the site is much better and is easy to navigate through. I needed one of those USB pen drives for uni as I hated carrying all those floppy disks around with me, someone suggested I get a USB pen drive as its better for storage, so I thought I give it a go. I visited several other sites before I came to Dabs. I was told that I should be able to get a USB Pen Drive for around £30 for 128MB storage, some sites were offering it a bit more. I ordered it from Dabs straight away... Read review

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Advantages: Great service, low prices, fast delivery
Disadvantages: Limited payment methods

...Intro: Well since I wrote the original opinion about two years ago, not much of it stands anymore, so I've pretty much re-written everything here, so applies from Summer 2002. --------- Dabs have been around for a long time now, and I have been a regular customer for several years. In all this time they have never messed up on any of my orders. I can say that they provide first class service, even though there have been cases where customers see it completely different. I suppose I'm just lucky. This site deals mainly with computer goods, ranging from hardware to software, and the range is extremely wide, although for hardware enthusiasts such as myself, looking for tweakable products for overclocking etc aren't so good here. Dabs is a place to purchase upgrades or a new computer. As well as computers they sell a small selection... Read review

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Advantages: Big range
Disadvantages: Poor customer service

...To start with, I want to say that my past experience of Dabs has been positive in that the information provided has been correct, the despatch has been prompt and problems dealt with adequately. Unfortunately, this is not how many companies operate and, therefore, Dabs has seemed to stand out from the crowd. However, my latest experience with Dabs is the worst I have had with any company ever, online or not. Pre-purchase information, either in the sense of responding to e-mail enquiries or giving adequate stock availability is of a dire quality. I sent two e-mails regarding product compatibility but I received neither confirmation of receipt nor any reply to my actual enquiry and subsequently ended up buying the product from a more helpful company. When I placed an order on 23 March 2001, it was on the basis that almost all... Read review

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Advantages: Good Stock Range, Cheap
Disadvantages: Awful Service, Awful Support...And they are getting worse

...I have used Dabs for years as one of the main suppliers to me and the people around me that required semi-expert equipment buying advice. Unfortunately I have been using them less and less, because they have been letting me down more and more. My latest order, 27/08/2002 (Friday) was for a number of items, one of which was out of stock. Because of previous hold-ups with out-of-stock items I have tended to place 2 orders (one for in-stock items, one for out-of-stock items), it is either pay extra for carriage, or face an extra 2 days wait on the in-stock items before they allow a part-shipment of goods. Some of the goods (laptop, portable CDR and DVDRW drives) were for a client in Dublin who needed them quickly. The laptop and DVDRW drive were in stock and I expected the delivery sometime in the next week. For an unknown reason... Read review

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Advantages: cheap goods, free delivery
Disadvantages: free deilery over £40 otherwise £2 surcharge

...I won't admit to have used Dabs.com a lot, but the times that I have used it I have been very pleased with the results. I got a very good price for the goods that I bought, which were delivered promptly. I came across Dabs.com on recommendation from my Brother, who purchases a lot of goods from Dabs.com for the company he works for and he said that they were quite good. ~~Content~~ The content of the website is very extensive and very detailed, whenever you search for an item and the results appear this is grouped in manufacturer order. Along one side of the result screen you can click and find out information about the goods that you are looking at. This is very detailed and in it's best form will give you technical specifications, a little blurb about the product, a link to the manufacturers website and a picture of it... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good Range of Products, Cheap Prices
Disadvantages: Poor Customer Service

...I have been a Dabs.com customer for many years, and found them to be a good supplier until I tried to order a notebook PC from them...... I ordered the PC, it was despatched by Parcelforce on next day delivery, but never arrived! "OK" I hear you say, just tell Dabs and they'll sort it out - WRONG! I did tell Dabs straight away and they said they would look into it - THEY DIDN'T. I asked them to resend my order or refund my credit card - THEY DIDN'T. I spent a week emailing Dabs custoner services to no avail - all I got was standard email responses. I phoned my local trading standards office, and my credit card company, who both said "oh yes, Dabs.com, we've heard of them before". I phoned Parcelforce god knows how many times trying to trace my parcel, and was finally told a week later that Parcelforce were officially... Read review

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