Perhaps our sour experience with a DIY PC would have been very different if we had used the contact sources provided by Hardwarezone.
Unfortunately, we did not have a chance go to the place they recommended. While hunting for a proper DIY shop, we got waylaid by the boss of PC G****, who convinced us to patronise his outlet instead. He told us that he has another shop upstairs. However, it turns out that he was only acting as a middleman for ComLab who charged us S$688, including paying extra for the GTX9400 graphic card. With every level of Sim Lim Square having more than one repair shops, no customers would want to pay a commission just to be brought to any shop. This was one unscrupulous guy.
The day we met him marked the beginning of one of the most trying PC experience one ever has to be put through. The way he operated led us on a trial of merry go-round. Instead of enjoying the pros of DIY PCs, we got the downsides in full glory!
In a nutshell:
The original DIY PC suffered many intermittant shutdowns from Day 1.
Forcing a repair immediately.
This is where the shocker comes.
Once a repair is activated, the original parts jsut paid for, is stripped and replaced with 2nd-hand inferior parts taken off other PCs.
Yet at the time of purchase, we were told that each part we paid for carries its own warranty, and that new parts would be given by the respective brand suppliers in case of repairs.
Since our expensive parts were switched, we demanded for it back - prompting yet another "repair".
Each subsequent repair only got worst, because every time a part has to be switched, it becomes more and more inferior in model or specifications.
Apparently, this is a common modus operandi at Sim Lim Square. At a recent IT fair @ Suntec, Harvey Norman's floor manager warned me not to DIY any PC at Sim Lim Square, relating that he "kenna kotok" (Malay for "got conned") by a shop there who switched his expensive graphic board and mother board for cheap ones during a repair. Once they found out what his line of work was, they quickly reinstated the parts they
We weren't so lucky.
The repair work itself was also exceedingly sloppish:-
Screws loose.
USB ports which sink into the casing when something is plugged into it.
DVD players placed upside-down in the CPU slot.
Power button that refused to come on.
Hard disk collapse.
Fans that sounds as loud as an aeroplace taking off.
Microsoft Windows reinstalled with "non-genuine" prompting.Malware and viruses.We do not understand why PC G**** could not simply effect the warranty, since we had carefully kept the original boxes (of parts like DVD, motherboard, graphic card, hard disk, etc. Each time, we offered the warranty cards, we were told "No need".
Each 'repair' took longer and longer, first weeks, then months. One of their delay tactics is to say that there is no spare parts. The DIY PC was literally parked at PC G**** shop almost throughout the whole span since May 2009, the date of purchase.
By September 2012, we came to the realization that further repairs with PC G**** isn't going to cut it. In the end, it was not even about technical issues or $, but how many more hard knocks you want to subject yourself to. Even if no repair fees were involved, there is a limit to how much longer we want to keep hauling the DIY up & down to Sim Lim Square, and how much more transportation costs to rack up.
To make the customers more of an easy con, the boss and the staff all do not fit the ready profile expected of a hooligan. The boss looks like a priest, with English so perfect you'd wonder if he's in the right occupation. The staff looks pleasant yet when the topic turns to the PC itself, all sense of propriety and civility evaporates. Mocking and insults became the order of the day. They simply didn't like it when you want to check if the repair is functioning before bringing the set home. When everything is straightforward, you don't get to witness the ugly side of the infamous Sim Lim Square service. When something needs working on, then we realise that hooligan attitude still rules in Sim Lim Square.
A hair-tearing experience.
He replaced the offending noisy fan with an Intel one. No more noise.
