PBTech Xmas Grinch

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Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#3013221 22-Dec-2022 18:39

Right, good news. PB called today and said its all done and ready. So yay! Downside is, I'm not there to finish setting the thing up, so they'll have to wait...

The mother said thats fine, kid can get outside :D

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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networkn

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#3013224 22-Dec-2022 18:52

xpd:

Right, good news. PB called today and said its all done and ready. So yay! Downside is, I'm not there to finish setting the thing up, so they'll have to wait...

The mother said thats fine, kid can get outside :D

What needs to be done? I can help out if required (so long as it doesn't require an onsite).

reven

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#3013412 23-Dec-2022 10:49

/rant

I had similar issue when trying to find a an AM4 MB for a 5500. But went with computer lounge. Emailed about 3 different boards, they said all needed BIOS update which cost around $50 IIRC...

me: errr why are you selling boards that dont support 5000 series? shouldnt you be doing this bios update as standard at this point?,

them: no, you have to pay to upgrade the bios

Went with a board that didnt need a 3000 series cpu to do the bios update. shoved in my 5000 series cpu and just worked.

Lesson learnt, AMD cpus are cheap, AMD motherboards are expensive. Next time, I'm probably going to stick with intel

Handle9

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#3013417 23-Dec-2022 11:05

reven:
/rant

I had similar issue when trying to find a an AM4 MB for a 5500. But went with computer lounge. Emailed about 3 different boards, they said all needed BIOS update which cost around $50 IIRC...

me: errr why are you selling boards that dont support 5000 series? shouldnt you be doing this bios update as standard at this point?,

them: no, you have to pay to upgrade the bios

Went with a board that didnt need a 3000 series cpu to do the bios update. shoved in my 5000 series cpu and just worked.

Lesson learnt, AMD cpus are cheap, AMD motherboards are expensive. Next time, I'm probably going to stick with intel

It’s ok that they are selling motherboards that require a BIOS update as some of these are one way only updates. Having them pre updated would mean people with earlier versions of Ryzen wouldn’t be able to use them.a Bios flashback means you don’t need a CPU for many motherboards

Not saying on the page they need to be updated to use for 5000 series isn’t ok.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#3013424 23-Dec-2022 11:35

networkn:

xpd:

Right, good news. PB called today and said its all done and ready. So yay! Downside is, I'm not there to finish setting the thing up, so they'll have to wait...

The mother said thats fine, kid can get outside :D

What needs to be done? I can help out if required (so long as it doesn't require an onsite).

Thanks, but needs some parts installed and Windows installed :) Theyre happy to await my return :)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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deadlyllama

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#3013507 23-Dec-2022 15:11

NikT:

Sorry to hear about this. Please ask them to drop a line with the details to the team at customer.service@pbtech.co.nz - I'll have a word with the right folks so they know it's incoming.

Do you have any other PBTech superpowers? I have a "no fault found" return that is driving me slowly insane... ironically on a device I chose because of the longer-than-usual warranty!

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#3013598 23-Dec-2022 20:53

Have just had the joy of an intel build with then installing windows and the cross you fingers hope that all the winds were blowing in the right direction.

Ended up needing multiple tries to install the media key, secure boot and driver issues and then TPM and I now remember why I stopped building PCs…

Jon

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#3013655 23-Dec-2022 22:17

jonherries: Have just had the joy of an intel build with then installing windows and the cross you fingers hope that all the winds were blowing in the right direction.

Ended up needing multiple tries to install the media key, secure boot and driver issues and then TPM and I now remember why I stopped building PCs…

Jon

I mean, I mostly deal with OEM's now who build our PC's but I can't recall the last time windows didn't install smoothly unless there was a hardware issue.

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#3013707 24-Dec-2022 01:00

xpd:
I feel like **** as I'm the one who recommended the AMD system and PBTech :(

Wish I'd gone with a slightly less specced Intel for her, avoided all these problems :(

I hope PB do come through for her and theres at least a working motherboard/cpu when I get back to setup for her son. Hes a neat kid and his smile is infectious :)

I find that everytime I get an AMD it's a recipe for trouble. Intel is not much better but I think the support base is better. I also use Nvidia for Gpu for the same reason.

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#3013814 24-Dec-2022 22:44

Batman

I find that everytime I get an AMD it's a recipe for trouble. Intel is not much better but I think the support base is better. I also use Nvidia for Gpu for the same reason.

Modern AMD's are pretty impressive. I have one at work as my main machine and I am impressed with it. No difference in stability than my prior 10 intel machines. I'd have considered one for my home if the 12th Gen Intels weren't so compelling at the time.

duckDecoy

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#3013849 25-Dec-2022 10:37

quickymart:

That's a pity to read about this, I've had pretty good service at both the Glenfield and Albany branches of PB Tech.

Ive had the opposite at Glenfield, they are fine when your buying and downright appalling when there's a problem. Here is my personal list (and why I will never buy a high $$ item from them ever again)

- Had a laptop repaired under warranty where they replaced the internals with woefully inferior specced parts. Tried to lie about it when caught and blamed HP. Lied again when their claim they sent it to HP was shown to be false and that they themselves had repaired it. Never once admitted their lies and continued to blame HP

- Bought a new gopro but the battery lasted a few minutes only. When taken for repair they denied there was a problem at all and lied on the job sheet and said it lasted hours. When we returned it again they once again denied there was any issue. We had to literally stand there with it on and make them see it shut down after a few minutes before they would take it back again. Returned to us working but with a generic non gopro battery. When we returned that they denied it and claimed we were trying to rip them off and refused to give us a proper battery.

- Got a new phone but the battery started running out very rapidly. Returned after approximately a month but they said it had to be user error and refused to replace it.

- I was in store and witnessed the shop floor staff passing the phone around to each other claiming to be higher and higher managers for the sole purpose of jerking a complaining customer around and trying to get them to hang up. They had a great laugh amongst themselves about that one.

I have sworn off them. There had to be a culture of thievery throughout their staff for me to have so many of the same problems with them.

Ragnor

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#3014018 26-Dec-2022 17:48

pbtech has never had good support and probably never will

Ragnor

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#3014019 26-Dec-2022 17:53

reven:

/rant

I had similar issue when trying to find a an AM4 MB for a 5500. But went with computer lounge. Emailed about 3 different boards, they said all needed BIOS update which cost around $50 IIRC...

me: errr why are you selling boards that dont support 5000 series? shouldnt you be doing this bios update as standard at this point?,

them: no, you have to pay to upgrade the bios

Went with a board that didnt need a 3000 series cpu to do the bios update. shoved in my 5000 series cpu and just worked.

Lesson learnt, AMD cpus are cheap, AMD motherboards are expensive. Next time, I'm probably going to stick with intel

The older mobo series probably pre-dates the new cpu series, it's actually nice that AMD do not require a newer no doubt more expensive mobo platform, just a bios update update. Great for hobbyists, not so much for the average consumer.

$50 is not unreasonable for a tech to do the bios update for you these days, probably still cheaper than a newer series mobo.

hotsupes

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#3019166 9-Jan-2023 18:01

Tbh, I've had nothing but excellent service from the PBTech Wellington Branches and the Online team. If you deal with a muppet in the sales team, then just simply escalate and it usually gets resolved - it's $80, I doubt they'd charge $80 for something you had ALREADY requested and they hadn't completed. Sounded like a bad miscommunication to me. Glad it got sorted for you though

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#3019335 9-Jan-2023 22:50

Ragnor:

pbtech has never had good support and probably never will

That's not true.

Like all large retail businesses they have staff who are better and better trained than others. They have their flaws, but considering the raw number of transactions they do, I'd say a very very small percentage are 'bad' though of course people mostly post the bad.

I can't recall a time I've had 'bad' service from them, and I have had plenty of above and beyond interactions in my years dealing with them.

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