The High Street Rip Off
Posted on 25 Sep 2009 at 13:31
PC Pro exposes the underhand tactics and incompetence of Britain's best-known computer retailers
With everyone from supermarkets to small independent stores selling computers nowadays, chances are you've got a PC retailer practically on your doorstep. But can you trust the advice you're given in Britain's leading high street stores?
Follow our tips to avoid the high-street rip-offs
This month the PC Pro team has gone undercover to test the quality of sales advice and technical knowledge of the staff in this country's best-known retailers. From Tesco to Tottenham Court Road, we've rooted out the good, the bad and the downright devious tactics of the computer salesmen.
All of our writers set out with the same basic brief: to attempt to buy a PC for their mum or girlfriend, who wants the computer for nothing more than basic web surfing, watching the odd show on the BBC iPlayer and downloading photos from their digital camera.
Given our scenario, we would expect a respectable, honest salesperson to guide our staff towards a low-budget laptop, costing no more than £450. As you'll see, however, that wasn't always the case. From pushy sales staff attempting to divert our staff towards over-specified high-ticket items, to the salesman who advised our reporter to check out the PC he was selling on eBay, we've uncovered a series of unscrupulous sales tactics.
To find out how the high street compares to buying online, our staff have also attempted to buy PCs using the online chat facilities on two of the country's leading direct retailers - Dell and Dabs.com - to gauge if it's any safer to purchase over the web.
Follow the links below to find out how the stores we visited fared.
From around the web
the high street rip off?
A tad misleading wouldn't you say since almost nobody appears to have actually tried to rip you off? "Avoid the high street ignorance" maybe or "avoid the high street appalling level of shoddy staff training" but rip off? Play fair chaps
By strangefish2 on 27 Sep 2009 
Nothing like a bit of prejudice
As the above commenter said, the real story completely different to your headline and summary.
In general you were offered what you wanted from the high street (even if the sales staff weren't that well informed) and it was the online retailers that tried to sell something spec'd way above what you needed.
Suggest you change the headline to "High Street Staff Too Stupid to Rip You Off!"
By JonathanC on 8 Oct 2009
For more details about purchasing this feature and/or images for editorial usage, please contact Jasmine Samra on pictures@dennis.co.uk
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