Features

'Given today's environmental politics, there's a need to ensure that returned goods aren't being thrown out, stripped down or sent back to factories thousands of miles away in other parts of the world. For us, dealing with returns is a manufacturing process: we have our own production lines, highly trained technical staff and quality control.'

New products that are returned as faulty by the customer are known in the trade as 'DOA', dead on arrival. We asked Ben what was involved in resurrecting a DOA. 'It's not just a matter of spitting on the case, rubbing it with your sleeve and sending it back out!' Like Europc, PC Interworks tests every system it remanufactures, finding any faulty components and replacing them.

Surprisingly often, though, nothing very much needs fixing at all. 'About 50% of machines have been returned due to "error between keyboard and chair",' says Ben, using a well-worn tech support euphemism for customers who think their PC doesn't work because they don't know how to use it. 'However, the rest are down to actual faults. It can be as simple as an internal cable that's come unplugged, but a proportion have faulty components. Very occasionally you'll get a whole product line recalled, such as with the industry-wide laptop battery problem last year.'

Same PC, different price

PC Interworks prefer not to use the word 'refurbished', because it has such a broad meaning. Instead, they call their product 'Grade 2', a term they claim to have

ADVERTISEMENT

coined, although it's now used by a number of other companies as well.

A typical Grade 2 product, as explained at buyit247.com, is usually less than a year old, comes from a leading manufacturer, is functionally identical to its brand new counterpart, and comes boxed along with all its essential bits and pieces.

Another well known name in the market is Morgan Computer Company, which has shops in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Greenford and sends out its distinctive yellow newsletter to thousands of customers every month (you can sign up for it or read it online at www.morgancomputers.co.uk). Morgan'sTom Willett describes the 'factory refurb' stock that the company offers. 'It's probably been sold by one of the big chain stores, and has come back in, whether returned or just because the box got tatty - any reason it can't be sold as brand new. As well as PCs, we do a lot of peripherals and consumer electronics - printers, digital cameras, satnavs, PVRs (digital video recorders), cordless phones and so on.'

Nearly new and really new

While refurbs often provide some of the best bargains, both Morgan's and the other vendors we spoke to also sell PCs that aren't just as good as new, they actually are new. Yet they can still sell for hundreds of pounds below the price tags they'd normally carry.

Some of these products arrive by the refurb route, because they've been ordered by customers, then cancelled. Morgan's, for example, also sells surplus and liquidated stock from other suppliers. 'Overstock' units are typically supplied by the manufacturer to discount sellers rather than their usual retail channel because they have excess stock or are clearing end-of-line products. This doesn't always mean units have been sitting around on shelves and not been sold; they may come straight from the factory, sometimes in 'brown box' packaging rather than the printed boxes that would normally be shipped, but exactly the same inside and usually with the same manufacturer's warranty.