The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice

I read your Buyer’s Guide in The Voice recently about buying personal computers. You advised readers not buy a computer from companies that advertise in The Advertiser, so my question is where would you advise someone to buy a laptop?

Just a brief correction. We didn’t say that you shouldn’t buy from companies that advertise in The Advertiser. What we said was you should “take particular care if you buy from a company that advertises in The Advertiser”.

We are obviously not saying that there’s anything wrong with all the companies you find in the Advertiser it’s just that every complaint we have ever had about PCs has been traced back to those who advertise there.

It’s perfectly possible that some of the companies there are perfectly respectable. However we know of two of them who were raided by Microsoft and the Police some while ago for allegedly selling and installing pirated software. They have apparently stopped this now and you’ll see that in their advertisements that they now offer Microsoft Windows for sale.

When buying a PC you must take care about a number of things. PCs are obviously technical and remarkably varied. The number of options available to you is amazing. That’s why you should consult a friend who knows about these things first.

That’s why you should also take particular care with things like the warranties that are offered by the manufacturer. That’s why we also recommend buying a PC from a well-known manufacturer. That way you are much more likely to get decent support if something goes wrong. It certainly doesn’t mean there will be no problems, it’s just that if there are, you’re likely to get them fixed.

As with everything else you might consider buying, the secret is to ask advice and to shop around. Also keep reading The Voice and call us if you have a problem.