“I could (and did) waste my time on eBay searching a replacement battery & charger for my 8-year-old HP laptop. The inherent 'catch 22' in using a dying device to access the solution was fraught ; the later absurdity (how do you check battery code without taking it out? - when laptop will switch off!) caused a rethink. If (say) I was looking for a particular coffee, why was I hunting around Lidl or Aldi, when a Waitrose might be a telephone call away?? And I wouldn't have to use the dying laptop...
So I Duckgogo searched. Found 'pcupgrade’s site, balked for a moment at 0844 code (why?), then saw international +44 listing. Drop the '4's, '0' in front, direct call, no premium. Straight through to Leo. Who was polite, efficient and very, very helpful. We discussed various chargers (the wattage can vary, while improving performance) and batteries. I bought one of each. The battery came by courier two days later ; the charger the day after.
Leo's (and the printed) instructions were clear. Normally at 70%, the battery should be installed & run down before charging - to maximise efficiency. I did as was told, the laptop booted, showed 70%, 69%, 68%. Then the screen/laptop died. In front of my panicking eyes.
I rang Leo (straight through), and he explained what my frozen brain should have realised - Don't Trust The First Reading. The taskbar meter might have said 70%, but the battery may have discharged during storage/transit. Power Up, And Wait. (Which I did, with him still on phone)
Success!! Boot, display... charging. Leo repeated the advice about running battery down after it had charged ; he also gave some pointers on unneeded background programs which were maybe eating up power. He must have spent twenty minutes on the call since he first answered (and much the same with the previous initial call).
Waitrose? More like Fortnum & Mason (without the mark-up). My advice: Stop wasting your time on shortcut shopping, and call the experts. Sure, you might pay perhaps a little more - but what's your time actually worth? Why waste it grubbing around for a deal, then wait fearfully for an item that may or may not arrive (or, if it's wrong - cos you've misread the infinitesimal small print - the returns post & packing BS?).
And, blessedly, I have a contact. Who I trust. And why I'm leaving this proper review, rather than meaningless 'Feedback'...”
“I needed a replacement motherboard for my desk-top PC, PCupgrade were the only UK shop advertising the make and model I needed, so I placed the order just after 18.00 Monday evening, about 3 minuets after placing the online order my phone rang, it was PCupgrade saying that model motherboard I had ordered, was in stock but that it was a slightly different specification (actually better) than the one listed on the website, and was that acceptable?
I told them it was fine, and they said they would try to get it out to me that night, and they were as good as their word, it arrived the next day.
Superb service, and very knowledgeable staff, five star rating :)”
