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Why is it that at the busiest time of year for most shops, and on offers they have only just started to advertise that they are already out of stock. This happened to me again today and for the second time with this particular shop, Comet, even though their computer said they had 7 in stock, they couldn't sell any of them. I find it unbelievable that a large chain store like comet cant really stock up at this time of year, surely any excess stock could be distributed to other stores if necessary, the store assistant did say that in January they would have hundreds available, very helpful! Anyone had any similar experiences?

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I hope you weren't getting me a steam iron for Christmas Grego..:D I did have a similar experience trying to find a present the other day. I had to go to 3 different shops before I found a place that stocked it.

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A lot of it isn't the shops fault, its what the suppliers give them. I know that my shop has been stuck with the current situation on the new PS2 console because Sony have decided to play silly beggars with supplying the stupid thing so that they can hype it up.
Common sense isn't a concept that is familiar to the powers that be.

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So do I Grego, cos I bought one first! The one that I bought is a cordless one, so that lettie cannot strangle me with the flex. :eek: :D

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No but being cordless Sparkologist she can throw it at you

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Aah, but if she threw a normal one there would be a secondary hit with the plug!!!

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Grego... that happened with me, but the store was Currys..... they were advertising a very good deal on a computer system and although they had them in stock they could not sell one to us.....being cynical, I think it was just a ploy to get people into the shop and then try to sell them something else......anyway it didn't work, got a better deal with TINY.

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It fair put me off Currys.

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Tiny? I thought they went out of business years ago.

I've not heard good things about them anyway...

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You're not confusing them with "Time" are you?

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No, but I've heard even worse things about them!

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Well, I speaks as I finds and I have had two very good deals from tiny in the past at very competitive prices too......and no probs with computers either.
You know what they say.....if you have bad service you tell everyone.....when you get good service you tell no-one (cos you're not disgruntled)

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My problem is that I bought my first PC from PC World, and after a couple of years I found out why buying from the high street is not necessarily the best policy.

I was stuck with an onboard 4mb video card and no agp slots, so I couldn't install a new graphics card. I also had onboard sound which was ok, but would have been better if it had not been to allow for upgrades.

I only had 2 usb ports as well, so had to buy a hub after a couple of years.

With regard to Tiny and Time I have heard bad stories about build quality and problems with after sales when the faults start to appear.

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Time bought Tiny when they went Bump. Personally I have been messing in PCs for over 10 years and have never seen worse put together PCs than the Time/Tiny lot. They build tings up with massive software packages that people never use.

I won't support a Time/Tiny with any of my friends. Having said that I can normally build them a better PC for less money anyway.

Their after sales/support is absolutely useless. I was asked by a colleague at work if what they were telling her was correct. They were telling her that the PC was completely shot and that she needed a new one. It was just a PSU. £20 later she was back running.

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I know someone who bought a Time PC and it was programmed not to be able to use system restore. A message actually flashed up onto the screen saying that system restore could only be carried out by Time personnel.

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Can't remember if it was a Time or Tiny PC that i was repairing a few months ago, but the componants were physicly GLUED together, it was hell trying to get stuff apart and the guy ended up having to buy a new machine :(

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I'v seen that as well. Shoddy is one word for them.

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I don't see how companies can justify doing things like that.

When you buy a pc, it's yours; not Time's or anyone else's. Yours. Do system restore/upgrade/throw out of the window or do anything else you like with it.

If you want to be led by the nose you'll buy one of those letter fun laptop thingies for kids (they're ok - my son's got one!!!), or (at the risk of upsetting a few people here!) you'll get aol!

People who do system restores are generally those who know what they are doing. And for those who don't, they ask someone who does!

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I know what you mean about Time, a friend of mine bought one from them and had no end of problems with it. Finally she junked it and bought a laptop instead, needless to say she has had no problems since. With regard to Comet, I think that they are without doubt the worst electrical retailer in the country. I went into Comet on six separate occaisions to buy different things with the cash fairly burning a hole in my pocket, only to be told every time that the product I wanted was not in stock, but could be ordered for me. "But I need it today", I said. "Sorry", they said. "Stuff it !", I said and walked out. Dixons and Curry's are much the same.

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Not sure about Comet, but I had a mate worked for Currys a few years back. Currys and Dixons are the same company, just different names. My mate normally worked in Accy Currys, but sometimes she would have to go and fill in at Dixons. It wouldn't surprise me if Comet was part of that company. They seem to have the monopoly on electrical goods. These large chainstores have got us all by the short and curlies. :D

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Isn't Comet part of Wal-Mart, the same company which owns ASDA?

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I don't know AB, but don't get me started on Wal-mart hehehe..

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Oh go on lettie, I'm bored, and need a bit of a diversion.

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I compared prices between having a computer built and buying all the component parts to have a go myself, but it was about £50 more expensive to get it built for me, so I thought 'what the hell' and got them to do it for me!

I will never buy a computer from the high street again!

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Sorry, Vorlon, I may be being a bit thick here, but what do you mean by "High Street"?
Do you mean chain retailers or independent retailers?

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Mainly the big chains - independents tend to be a lot more knowledgeable. I was referring to the likes of Time, PC World, Currys, etc.

Sorry about the confusion :)

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On the ps2 thing we was all told at work that in actual fact sony hadnt made enough, they have contracts with lots of stores we were told that they couldnt send any ps2s out to one store and not send any to any other stores because if they did sony could be sued for not giving all stores the same chance, thus why sony will stock pile and then just before xmas send them all out.

Although i did find this strange when on friday we got over a hundred sent to our store only to find no-one still had them. And mybe this will answer the question of why there is never anything left of what you want The ps2s were sold out by the next afternoon! so its not because there aint enough stock its because you dont get there first!
you have heard the phrase get there early to avoid disappointment havent you.
I get it all the time because we dont have something in stock "you have ruined my childs xmas i hope your pleased with yourself" like i personally went out and bought everything so that no one else could have one. At the end of the day we can only sell what we are sent we dont order its all done on computer so people are miffed when they find out they cant order it either (again my fault) obviously we cant order our own stock we are a huge toy shop to see what we need to order is big business we only do stock take once a year basically to check the losses for the year evey item in store has to be counted every person is tested on their counting and over 50 employees start at 6pm on sunday night till 11pm sunday night then it starts again the next morning until complete all the store rooms ave to be counted and even down to every pack of battries and ice cream have to be counted so theres why we dont do ordering plus our stock changes daily so we couldnt do it anyway. I dont know about other places but if you ask we will do all we can to help we will ring around other stores for you but at the end of the day if we havent got it , we havent got it , if we can get it for you we will its no good ranting and raving like some people do that wont get you anywhere i tell you what no one would like my job an xmas or after xmas (refunds week).

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>>On the ps2 thing we was all told at work that in actual fact sony hadnt made enough, they have contracts with lots of stores we were told that they couldnt send any ps2s out to one store and not send any to any other stores because if they did sony could be sued for not giving all stores the same chance, thus why sony will stock pile and then just before xmas send them all out.<<

I don't suppose this is anything remotely connected with marketing strategy. No, of course not. That would be implying that Sony purposley kept supply low to increase demand and I am sure that such a reputable company would never indulge in such devious and underhanded techniques. I sometimes think that I am far too cynical for my own good.

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Some people would call you a realist.

I know - I have been called it myself!!!

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It's Ok for those of you that know their way around the guts of a computer.....and can build what they want......but I can't so I buy........and although you may have had problems with those two retailers......I have had two computers and they have both been fine.......must admit haven't had to use the help lines......so those are my experiences with computer buying.

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Hahaha - you hit the nail on the head there. The next delivery date that is being bandied around for the bloody things is Xmas Eve. If this happens I will NOT be a happy bunny.
And Mummiboo, I sympathise with you. I too must have ruined Xmas for half of Accringtons children and of course its my fault too that they cannot order or place deposits. Its probably my fault that I can't defy the laws of physics and produce the stock out of thin air as well.

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This is why I start early with my Christmas shopping.

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I have finally been able to convince my wife that its not necessarily the best policy this close to Christmas to shop around to find the best price for something, after following her advice on previous years to do this, only to find that the original shop had the best price and were sold out by the time we got back. Then a return to the other shop to find that they, too had sold out :rolleyes:

A lot of our stuff though has come from Play.com, streetsonline and Amazon. Oh, and ebay!

We have bought a lot more online than on previous years, mainly because we haven't left it to the last minute