PB Tech Hornby — Local services in Christchurch

5/11/24 11am - UPDATE. Have heard back from PB Tech CS at HQ (Fernando) about my complaint and so far, are progressing toward workable solutions pending confirmation from branch (Hornby). Top marks to Fernando (CS) for all progress and communication so far.

16/10/24 - On drop off, i met Lance. He assured me, “without a doubt, its your CPU, i can guarantee it”. I asked how he could be so sure - he informed me of the numerous issues intel was having with its 14th gen. He was also adamant that the team there was capable of doing this diagnostic/repair. I voiced numerous times with him about keeping the near pristine characteristics and a tidy and clean process. Again - Lance reaffirmed they’ve got this, they’ll take good care etc. “its not the first big custom build we’ve got, it’ll be fine”. So i left far more hopeful than when i entered.

19/10/24 - I email customer services explaining i was yet to receive an update or even an email saying it was received. There was also nothing showing in the search function for my job order details via their website. To date (5th October - i still have had no answer to this ticket - but it has been marked as “closed” and “resolved”).

22/10/24 - i drive down to the branch after having had no updates or even a notice they had received my PC. I spoke to a man who’s name i don’t recall. He explained to me that the build hadnt diagnosed or repaired or even started yet. Why? Because “Our PC guy has been on leave for about a month now and he will be back in a few weeks”. I was understandably annoyed - as this was not communicated to me at any stage before then. I explained this and what was the next step? “Oh we have other guys, like side technicians sorta thing”. I left out of frustration and sent a follow up support ticket to PB Tech - explaining all of this and the conversation had with the man. Combined with the so far unanswered ticket outstanding. To date (5th October - i still have had no answer to this ticket - but it has been marked as “closed” and “resolved”).

23/10/24 - I get a phone call from PB tech Hornby at 1:43pm telling me my build is “done and ready to go”. I ask what that could possibly mean after the interactions i’d had the day before. The man on the phone said (and i’m summarizing, but the specifics are there) “ok - so the report says suspected motherboard, tested ram and cpu, switched ram and cpu to known build, worked. Put known working cpu and ram into host - no boot. Suspected mobo faulty. Ah yup and they have confirmed it”. I said “ah crap, ok so they have confirmed its the mobo for sure?” “Yup- diagnostics and testing confirmed its the motherboard is faulty. Everything else was tested and was fine”. I thanked him, a bit gutted but it was a solution to my problem even if not the one i wanted.

25/10/24 - i arrive to pickup and Immediately notice some damage - scratches on the glass panel, big gouges out of some sections. I notice the waterblocks are scratched, the ram sticks are chipped, pipes and fittings scraped and scratched, fittings and pipes not aligned…oh and it wasnt even fully reassembled. A mobo cable guide shield was sitting on top of the case with the lose screws.

Report says “suspected motherboard faulty”. I asked the lady there - she said they had tested and suspected motherboard. I asked what confirmations, she said none. I asked if they tested Psu, GPU, anything else. She said no. I asked about all the damage that was clearly visible - she said “well, you can send an email”. I asked what i was supposed to do next and who to speak to about it right then and there “well, the email”. I took my build - frustrated as hell - and drove home to further inspect it. This was approx 5pm.

I have 15 photos of damage caused by PB Tech Hornby technicians. Several of those photos have multiple points of damage to them.

I sent this all to PB Tech at roughly 6-6:30pm. Yet Another ticket. this one clearly detailing my confusion and frustration and seeking an escalation. I including all photos. That ticket was closed with no response. I have since...

The worst experience ever with this shop and especially the two staff members in the insurance dept , I was in Christchurch on business and my phone got ran over by a car after being left on the roof by mistake , I claimed insurance through State who promptly responded the same day and I was then contacted by my case manager stating Hornby Pbtech had three Asus Rog 9 Pro phones in stock and they would make contact within two working days , I received another call on the 21st of May stating he had managed to secure one and that I needed to go see them too pick said phone up , my daughter and I proceeded to enter said store once we arrove , I spoke with a cashier about my situation whom instructed me to go to another counter which was the insurance side of things , I managed to strike a young Asian worker and proceeded to explain why I was there , this chap looked flustered and had no idea what to do , I explained three times and he just stood there looking at me as if I was stupid and checking his computer screen each time , he then proceeded to tell me they had no Asus Rog 9 phones in stock and needed to order me one , this is when another worker a darker gentleman proceeded to ask me where my old phone was so they could send it to State and he would order my new phone as they had no stock , I nicely explained that I was personally sent by State and my case manager had confirmed and received notification that the store had three in stock and one of these phones was mine to collect , this is when this staff members lost his demeanor and changed into an arrogant person , and he started demanding my old phone again to send back to State as it was there policy , there were other customers in the store staring to say what the hell ? I tried to explain again and he shut me down , I then said in a bit of a louder tone that I would ring State and speak to the case manager and they could tell him themselves what the issue was he rolled his eyes and that's when they both walked out the back of the shop and disappeared , my daughter and I just stood there in disbelief my case manager was on another call and I was on hold , unfortunately I was on hold for 26 Minutes and in that time there was no show of the staff that had walked off ..... Just as my case manager answered my call the two staff miraculously reappeared with said phone in hand , I thought to my self wow these guys are magic they pulled something they we very adamant on that they had no stock out of thin air , I was handed the phone and my excess invoice to pay at the cashier's section of the shop , no sorry , no nothing , well Pbtech my name is Lee Brown I was your customer that day I have never in my life met two individuals that were so negative and arrogant as staff members of a huge company in such a way as to let down said Company . I'm appalled you have people like this working in your store , by the way the cashier was superb and friendly even asking me personally how my day had been , maybe the other two could learn some manners from him . Pbtech Hornby I...

I'd say more of a 2.5 stars but there's no half stars. A lot of pb tech stuff is really reasonably priced, they also have a wide range of quality products a lot of which aren't sold in other stores which is good.

But if you end up having anything wrong with your product you'll have to spend a lot of effort getting heard and taken seriously. The demeanor of the service workers is treating the customer like they are lying to them, even after being very specific about the problems you have, even after you give them specific instructions on how to recreate the problem after 3 days after they've found no problem you'll ask them if they did what you told them to do of course they didn't do it. In fact they'll say that the problem is on the customers side and we'll have to explain that no we're not crazy and the problem is in fact there.

While I was waiting to get my product back there were 3 different customers that brought broken things to service and the guy there was pretty dismissive. E.g "theres this one problem that when you do this it doesn't respond." The service guy barely does what he said and says it's working fine. Then he has to continue to explain the details and you can just see it on the workers expression that he's not really believing him.

After I was exhausted going back and forth having to drive 20 mins across town and back multiple times I just take it in and ask for my money back, which they agreed then said it would take a few days to process. Then 2 days later I get a text to say it's ready to be picked up, then I had to contact them AGAIN to say this wasn't what they agreed, so I get an email back saying oh okay we'll give you store credit. So I then had to contact them again and send it through 2 different ways because I was previously ignored, and then finally they asked for my bank details abd I will get a refund in the coming days.

This NOT how you do customer service especially when a lot of your customers will be very tech savvy and will have tried everything before coming in to be looked at like you're trying to scam them. I don't know if it is the pressure from higher ups to avoid refunding at all costs, or it's the workers that had to deal with layers of complicated customers, or id they're overworked or whatever.

If this was the first time this had happened I would have looked past it, but I have had multiple friends complaining experiencing the same thing. I think many different people would have just given up and maybe that's their goal. It felt like squeezing blood...