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So with the unhelpfulness of the staff member at Kensington High Street still ringing in my ears I made my way to the Tottenham Court Road branch of PC World. I walked in, fully expecting to hunt for a member of staff, and I have to say that I wasn't surprised; such was the dearth of Sales Advisors that I had to resort to collaring one who had seen me looking at him but chose to walk away. "Excuse me", I called, fully expecting him to turn around and acknowledge my presence, instead he carried on walking away and pretended not to have heard me. At this point my ability to remain polite was beginning to break and decided to try and raise his attention a second time by calling much more loudly than would be considered acceptable; this second attempt worked and he turned around to acknowledge my existance. "I want to see the Manager", I said sharply, "He's over there", said the staff member, and gestured to the business department; I walked over and was greeted by the sight of another bone idle Sales Advisor chatting on the phone about what he'd done the night before.

My patience had worn very thin at this point and simply asked "Where's the Manager? I want to speak to him", the Sales Advisor stopped his phone call abruptly and stared at me with a look that would have ensured instant death if looks could kill. They put their call on hold and attempted to summon a Manager using the PA system, I really don't see the point in PA systems if nobody is going to listen and act on the announcements delivered by them. I must have waited for at least ten minutes before I came to the conclusion that a so called Manager wasn't coming to my assistance and decided to collar one that was passing. I explained my problem, and after listening to the issue, my requisitioned Manager happily informed me to take the replacement part I needed and go to the counter where the staff there could arrange an exchange. "Just out of interest, could I have done this at my local branch on Kensington High Street?", I asked, "Yes Sir", came the reply; words cannot express how wronged I felt about the whole affair. I then proceeded to pick up the replacement part I needed and take it to the counter which, after a considerable wait of over twenty minutes, the exchange was completed and I was on my way back home.

Since being forced to experience this painful debacle, I have now made a conscious decision to avoid shopping at PC World in future; I cannot see how one company can treat the very customers they rely on to contiue trading with such venom and disdain. So my advice is that if you are thinking of buying either a new computer or peripheral from PC World - don't. Your head could most probably do without the extra grey hairs.