Which Online Store Would You Buy From?

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Duff-Man

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Hi MyBB

Okay, so I'm doing some research for my PC Builders Guide, regarding which online store you, as a community, would prefer to buy from.

I've come to the conclusion that the average buyer would rather purchase all of their components from one online store rather than go bargain hunting and end up having wasting your time with poor online stores.

If you look at the PC Builder's Guide and the components contained in each of the builds, you will notice that the store of choice currently is Rebel Tech. This being due to a variety of reasons, but most importantly their good customer service, low prices, and reputation. So now I've put that position up for vote to you guys.

Basically the fairest way for me to do this would be to create a shortlist of online stores based on their customer services, pricing and reputation. Then you can vote for whichever online store you deem worthy. If you find that I've left out a reputable online store then post below and I'll add it to the shortlist.

In no particular order, this is the shortlist :

Web Antics - 1
EveTech - 2
Takealot - 14
Rebel Tech - 14
PC Direct - 1
Prophecy - 4
Landmark Computers - 0
Wantitall - 1
Sybaritic - 4 (Though I've heard a few complaints about them)
PC International - 3
Ikonic IT - 0
Matrix Warehouse - 0 (Very limited stock on most items)
Digital Sushi - 0
PC Mall - 0
Wootware - 15
Loot.co.za - 0
Nivo - 1
ComX - 1

Once you guys vote I'll update the vote tally.
 
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Rebel
woot
esquire
prophecy
pcint

In that order. Not familiar with the others. Depends on what I'm buying though....my current rig is a mix of rebel (80%) woot (5%), and esq (15%).
 
Wootware is best for me. Great prices and service.

Takalot and Kalahari experiences have been good as well but never had to take anything back so can't really comment on that.

I probably won't use Landmark again. Their listed products prices seem to not be updated frequently enough. Have ordered a few items in stock, paid, waited for 3 days for them to receive the funds (as they only have nedbank account) and then be told the item is no longer in stock. What a waste of time. This has happened to me 3 times with them. That or the item has not gone up by a couple hundred rands... pisses me off.
 
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I've always experienced exceptional service from Wootware - goes the extra mile :)

Sybraritic and Prophecy are unexceptional, thou prices are slightly high with Prophecy.
 
Sorry guys, can't put Esquire on that list as they are suppleirs not retailers. An individual would need an account with Esquire to purchase from them, correct me if I'm worng, but Esquire don't open accounts to the public. The Esquire Rep on MyBroadband though, has made accounts available to MyBroadband members.
 
I'll vote for Wootware, TakeAlot and Esquire!

I've had nothing but excellent service from them EVERY time.
TakeAlot's free shipping on stuff over R350 is awesome and they have credit card facilities. Unfortunately they don't list as much computer equipment as the online stores dedicated to computer equipment. Their RMA system is also pretty well automated and I've returned hard drives and RAM with them in the past and they collected the faulty ones and delivered the replacements for free.

The only things that I have against Wootware are that they lack credit card facilities and don't have a high BEE rating (this won't matter to consumers). Seeing that they have bank accounts with all the major banks in SA, the amounts are reflected in their accounts much faster. On numerous occasions I've bought components from them that we're even on their site.

Esquire CPT:
Their specials are amazing. Their delivery times are also top notch and cheap. They're not open to the public - but seeing that they're open to myBB members I made an exception :)
The only thing that I find frustrating is that I can almost never buy a complete system from them because they just have cheap brands, with the exception of like OCZ SSD's and Asus motherboards.

Prophecy Shop used to be my favorite, because they had excellent service, good prices and an awesome forum (with brand reps, etc). Now they can't compete with Rebel Tech / Wootware / TakeAlot in terms of prices any more - so I never really use them anymore.
In my opinion their website still remains one of the best in terms of navigation. For example when you want to view just Socket 2011 motherboards, they give you that option - where as the other sites that I buy stuff from does not have that!

Sybaritic was the other shop I used to buy stuff from - especially those kind of things that normal computer shops don't list - like monitor stands. I've had mixed experiences with them, just because they took long to source the components with a few of the times that I ordered from them.

I had a very pleasant experience with Rebel Tech, until I tried to place an order 2 weeks before Christmas. Like the Asus HD6970 that I ordered from them didn't function with my Dell 3008WFP (30" IPS) and they replied to my Emails over the weekend and I went to Frontosa myself (which they organised) to get it tested.
Their prices are extraordinary, but it seems their service has taken a big dive since end of last year :(

I've only once bought something (my Dell 3008WFP) from Landmark PC and I had a good experience with them.

I have nothing bad to say about IkonicIT, except perhaps that they're running a bidding site (IkonicBids), which is pure gambling in my mind. It is really like gambling against a casino when the odds of you winning is like 0.1% if that high.

Wantitall: they're generally too expensive.

Matrix Warehouse: I can't even recall that I've ever bought something from them, because they just stocked cheap & unknown brands. Has this chanced?
 
In no particular order:

Takealot
Prophecy
Landmark Computers
Sybaritic
Wootware

Havent had to return anything to anyone yet, but the upfront stuff was good from all the above
 
Takealot and Wootware.

Used to buy from Prophecy but their prices haven't been that good over the past couple of years. The service at Wootware is on par if not better than Prophecy so I can't justify paying more for something from them.

Takealot has a wide variety of stuff which is cool :), staff are also friendly and they respond to your queries fairly quickly.

Sybaritic is also good and I've bought a few items from them over the past 4-5 years. Delivery is quick and the status updates on your order are really nice (Email notifications for every stage and you get an SMS when your order is dispatched). Have 2 gripes with them though - they have hundreds of items listed but the stock level indication on the website is not accurate most of the time. There will be items shown as "In Stock" but after placing an order they'd contact you to say that it's "Out of Stock" or they'd give you a lead time that's also not accurate. Descriptions for most items are also very basic, most don't give you adequate information about the product. I've never had to RMA an item to Sybaritic (Thank goodness) but I've heard that their after sales support is also not that good (Quite a few threads about it on this forum actually).

I would advise everyone to stay away from Web Antics. They're terrible when it comes to after sales support. Placed an order with them last year in November and they responded to my queries almost instantly, order was dispatched a day after payment was made, staff was friendly and all that good stuff. Tried contacting them from the beginning of this year as I need to RMA 1 of the items purchased in that order and was just ignored (It's a small item but it's the principle of the matter...).
 
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Loyal Prophecy supporter here, they get some good deals, but most of all their service levels have never been in question.
I'll pay a little premium for that if necessary.


I would love to know though who on earth would buy from wantitall.co.za, their pricing is insane, do they survive on the ignorance of the the population or what?
 
I'll shoot a vote at Nivo
Recently bought an SSD from there that needed RMA'ing a couple of month's later & service was nothing but top notch & their system is built to deal with such pretty dam nicely - Thank you Marina + co

ComX is also pretty good,never had problems with them & comms is good as well.

NGR Computers: -1 You became a fail to me when you can't offer better than a 1-4 day courier delivery estimate to the same city on a specific item? to me = fail - You used to be good.
 
Ones I have used and would use again:

NGRComputers (highly recommended for first time buyers, best customer service out of all of them)
Rebeltech (very good on prices)
Wootware
Prophecy
Nivo
Takealot (mostly for games, sometimes has good specials on hardware)

My vote goes to NGRComputers if you can only vote for one.


Rizzler said:
I'm just about to buy this from Wootware http://www.wootware.co.za/dell-ultra-sharp-series-u2412m-24-full-hd-led-monitor.html

Anyone want to stop me ?
Click to expand...

Why would anyone want to stop you?

Also I would recommend people stay away from Matrix Computer Warehouse due to dodgy business practices.
 
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