I wasn’t going to leave a review, but I was chased by PC Specialist ….. as ‘Happy customers are the silent majority and tend not to write reviews’. This is my second PC from PC Specialist; the first was a little over 8 years ago and I couldn’t have been happier, it was an awesome PC that is still going strong but, sadly, it won’t support Windows 11. Unfortunately, my recent experience has left me disappointed and I will not use PC Specialist again because whoever built this machine showed a lack of care and attention. I received the PC and configured all my Apps and transferred my data to the HDD. I then opened the case to fit additional SSDs from my old PC. The cable routing looked neat and tidy but had been routed in such a way that I could not mount the SSDs in their nominated position. When I queried this, I was told I could use double sided tape and basically just stick them anywhere. So, the builder took the easy option routing the cables with no thought for the user and any future expansion. However, I’ll live with that despite having paid for a ‘professional’ build. While I had the case open, I noticed that the heatsink on the M.2 SSD was wobbling around and I could hear a ‘clacking’ sound when it moved, so I called (over half an hour on hold) and spoke to the support team. I explained that it didn’t seem right that the heatsink was not making firm contact with the SSD and that the cooling efficiency would therefore not be optimal. After multiple emails and me sending a video of the thing clattering when I touched it, I was told that this is normal – the building team tested the slot on another motherboard with an M.2 SSD installed and it was the same as mine and that is how my specific motherboard is designed and not a fault with the mounting. This still didn’t seem right – there is no way a heatsink should be loose – it makes no engineering sense from a cooling perspective. I had a look on the internet and nowhere did I read that heatsinks were expected to be loose – in fact, I found the opposite. I contacted Gigabyte and they confirmed this and they asked me to ask PC Specialist if they had fitted the second thermal pad under the SSD – per the Gigabyte user manual. I asked PC Specialist and they couldn’t remember so I opened the case (again) and checked - they hadn’t fitted the thermal pad. I looked in the box of bits that came with my PC and there was no pad in there (I wonder what other parts are missing that I paid for - the removed PCI slot covers are not in the box either) so I contacted PC Specialist and asked them to send me the pad they should have fitted. Even this wasn’t straight forward and I was asked to take a photo (of what, where there isn’t a pad?!) – almost like they didn’t believe me. It is worrying that the board they tested was the ‘same’ as mine; I can only assume they didn’t fit the second thermal pad to this one either and therefore gave me a false assurance that there was no problem! How many other builds have been sent out with this pad missing? Anyway, a couple pads were sent to me (several days after I initially reported the issue) and when they arrived, they looked second hand – the protective film wasn’t on straight on one of the pads and the exposed area of the pad was covered in grime. I’ve given up with PC ‘Specialist’ now and will go direct to Gigabyte for the pads. Sadly, it doesn’t end there….. after running some diagnostics, I noticed that the HDD had been used for over 2350 hours and had over 360 power-on cycles; so, I had been sold a significantly used HDD. When I queried this, I was told it might have been a drive that was returned, tested as not faulty and reused with warranty as if new (passed off as new to unsuspecting customers – how often is this happening?!). That’s broadly acceptable regarding warranty – but if it fails ‘early’ because it’s already old, I then have the potential for lost data, not to mention the faff of data recovery etc. And anyway, I paid for a new HDD! I had to raise an RMA to get a replacement drive delivered and swap the drives myself, which is fine as I am competent – but this lost me another 3 days using the PC. I’ve had the panels on and off this PC more in 3 weeks than I have on my old machine in 8 years. Some of this may sound trivial, but I now have low confidence in this build and it leaves me wondering what else I’ll discover later…… e.g. what care was given to fitting the CPU cooler, how many of the other components were second hand?! This was a big expense for me (nearly £3000) and I still haven’t resolved the heatsink issue which continues to cause delays in me using the machine. I have had to resort to my own quality control, diagnostics, internet searches, phone calls and numerous emails to PC Specialist and Gigabyte – all wasting my time. None of this would have been necessary for the sake of some care and attention during the build and some quality control before dispatch; on a positive note, the support team were as helpful as they could be although they seemed to take a day to respond to most of the emails. I’m sure PC Specialist will reply saying they are sorry for my inconvenience, say they will use this feedback to ensure they improve and refer me to their high (circa 80%) positive feedback – but this is my experience, and it wasn’t good. So, PC Specialist – here’s the feedback you chased me for – perhaps not the ‘Happy Customer’ you were expecting? I look forward to your reply.