Vantage stripped of PC Pro Labs award

 

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By Alun Williams and Barry Collins

Posted on 19 Jan 2007 at 12:28

PC Pro has decided to strip Vantage Computers of its recommended award from this month's Labs, after the company was expelled from the Professional Computing Association (PCA).

Kent-based Vantage Computers, which trades as Vantage Direct, is accused of repeatedly failing to respond to the Association's attempts to solve customer disputes. It has also reportedly failed to refund at least one customer's pre-payment.

PC Pro has made several attempts to contact Vantage, but our phone calls and emails have also gone unanswered. As a result, we've decided to suspend the Recommended award for the company's Vantage Sniper GT Gaming System (see issue 149, p91).

Our new Recommended award winner is the Scan 3XS VP6 (also found in issue 149, p91), which offers a great balance of performance and features. Instead of spending the majority of the £699 budget on a top-end CPU and graphics card, Scan provides a decent digital 19in flat panel, a set of 5.1 speakers and a spacious chassis that's easy to maintain.

Genie Support Services, which is also known as CPU Direct and operates out of North London, has also had its PCA membership revoked. The PCA states that it has failed "to respond to repeated requests to cease promoting itself as being endorsed by the PC Association and stating that it is the official provider of insurance products to the PCA and its members". Neither of these statements is true, declares the PCA.

In terms of customer service, the Association had to make repeated requests to Genie over several months before a customer who had contacted the PCA to seek payment of a properly-due refund, was paid.

Genie Support Services failed to return repeated requests for comment at the time of going to press.

"By expelling these two companies the PCA is acting to protect both the reputation of the organisation and the industry at large - and of course, the consumer," said CEO of the PCA, Keith Warburton.

You can find more info about The Professional Computing Association on its website.