PALICOMP AND THEIR PRACTICES - UPDATED! READ ON!

OK, so i won a great PC package, AMD Phenom 9500 CPU, 2Gb Ram, 500Gb HDD, 22" Widescreen TFT .... Just 330.15 plus delivery at 24.95? How could this possibly go wrong, how could i not be impressed by the quality and power of my new sytem, how could i....? I COULD!

This company had a few dodgy feedbacks but all in all i thought it was worth the risk, after all - i was paying with my company credit card and they were a VAT registered company so what could go wrong?

PLENTY!

It arrived OK, but on start up it was clear this machine had more issues that the than the Beano! Would it install my Op System ( XP Pro with a valid licence... ) would it 'eckers like! Then it wouldnt boot, then it lost the DVD R/W drive, then it found it and lost the HDD...After some 6 hours with 2 of my Microsoft Accredited IT Staff and 1 Engineer it was decided this thing had a lot of problems....so i contacted Palicomp via the e-mail address provided...

48 Hours later i get an email saying that the email address was for Sales only and they weren't techincally able to help so please call the 090 number for "Support"...at, wait for it... 75p a minute!!!

I called this service to be told that the machine would have to be looked at by their engineers and to return it, they would only pay for returing the unit, if i wanted a refund i would have to pay the 24.95 to send it back... what to do i thought?

So i got sneaky, i agreed to a return at their cost for servicing it ( despite the fact this unit had NEVER worked ), then an hour after it was picked up i called the 75p line again and told them i wanted a refund... only to be told that if the unit was faulty after inspection i would only get the purchase price back and not the shipping costs....not happy i informed the "Support" number that i wanted a full refund and after 10 minutes haggling they agreed...however, read on......

Fast forward to 4th May ( initial purchase and payment 3rd Arpil !) and the refund has only just been credited, thats only after i threatened to report Palicomp to the Police and Trading Standards as well as my credit card issuer for attempted fraud!

I have had numerous emails from a guy puporting to be from Palicomp, stating that a full refund would be" speeded up" if i withdrew my (wholly warranted) negative feedback, i agreed only to get the refund, however this practice is STRICLY AGAINST EBAY RULES AND CONSITUTES BLACKMAIL!

I also received emails asking for me to withdraw my feedback as Palicomp wated to maintaina high feedback score! Unlikely!!

My advice is NOT TO DEAL WITH PALICOMP AT ALL! There are lots of very unhappy people who have been ripped off, made to pay extoritionate "Support" costs and been made to wait for refunds, in my opinion this company should be removed from Ebay as they do not trade within the rules and cause unnecessary problems when things go wrong, which wiht Palicomp is more often than not!

UPDATED:

OK, so i have kept an eye on Palicomp, they STILL seem to be letting plenty of people down, poorly constructed PC's, misdescribed PC's ( a Quad core Q6600 @ 2.4 per core will NEVER run at 10.4Ghz, its absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to do this, however Palicomp still describe their PC's as 10.4Ghz, they also state 1GB GFX, however the GFX on the majority of Palicomps PC's are ONBOARD and utilise some of the onboard Ram to run, they DONT tell you THAT, do they!)

They seemt o trying to keep their feedback at a steady level by selling 1