IT Shops in Inverness

[Jay_7]

It's something that Inverness lacks is a good quality computer shop IMO. I only go into any of them if I absolutely have to. Also having worked in one (naming no names) in particular - gave me an insight to what goes on when you put your computer into a place like this.

Generally I find local computer shops poorly stocked and have inflated prices for what is actually on offer. They never have anything I'm looking for at the time, and if it's not something that'll be kept in stock you'll usually need a small mortgage to get it ordered in specially.

I prefer to give my money to the likes of Ebuyer.com, Scan.co.uk, Aria.co.uk, Overclockers.co.uk etc.

Logic 2 in Shore Street had a relatively short lived stint in Inverness. IIRC they were only actually open for around 6 months before it closed again.

[Scotty]

Inverness needs a TigerDirect (think they partner with MISCO in the UK) or a FactoryDirect type of location ........ these are great over here, especially for price, but only if you know what you want and are not expecting mega customer service. The guys are knowledgeable but in typical geek fashion have little in the way of people skills

[Jay_7]

Inverness needs a TigerDirect (think they partner with MISCO in the UK) or a FactoryDirect type of location ........ these are great over here, especially for price, but only if you know what you want and are not expecting mega customer service. The guys are knowledgeable but in typical geek fashion have little in the way of people skills

I'd love it if we had a place like that! Sadly I can't see it ever happening :D

[PullMyFinger]

I'd love it if we had a place like that! Sadly I can't see it ever happening :D

Is Maplin not pretty good for components and peripherals? I thought they had all sorts of stuff.

[CaleyD]

I used TigerDirect for years until they stopped shipping to the UK from the states and started directing you to their partner site here and charging you twice the price.

[Jay_7]

Is Maplin not pretty good for components and peripherals? I thought they had all sorts of stuff.

Not really. Maplin doesn't really keep a very up to date stock list, the stuff they do keep a stock of is usually pretty old. It can come in very useful though, if the parts you are looking for is to repair an old computer!

Edited July 24, 2009 by Jay_7

[kiltarlity]

Bob's first shop was above Video Giants in the Mealmarket close, before Bob was their it was a arcade of sorts with 2 or 3 arcade games.

I have no problem with Bob's service, but I do find him very expensive..

However, perhaps if I had charged more, I would still be in the computer buisness myself... I just couldn't morally justify charging ?40 for a stick or ram, anyone could buy over the net for ?13 or so...

[Jay_7]

Bob's first shop was above Video Giants in the Mealmarket close, before Bob was their it was a arcade of sorts with 2 or 3 arcade games.

I have no problem with Bob's service, but I do find him very expensive..

However, perhaps if I had charged more, I would still be in the computer buisness myself... I just couldn't morally justify charging ?40 for a stick or ram, anyone could buy over the net for ?13 or so...

A problem that plagues Inverness at the moment.

[Scotty]

Hey, its not just Inverness .... like anywhere else you need to shop around over here too.

I got my most recent purchase - a 1 Terabyte external drive - for about $120 (?68 roughly) from TigerDirect. Went to one of the "big box stores" a few days later for a non computer related browse and saw the same drive on sale for just under $200 ... I took great delight in pointing out their rip-off to them !!!!!

The same was true of the same chain when we bought one of our flatscreen TVs before they were so cheap. They were selling a Sharp Aquous LCD for a touch over $3K and I had seen the same TV advertised at another retailer for under $2K. I had the advert so showed it to the salesman who came back with his manager ... and when both had finished crying, I invoked their price promise, got it marked down to the same price as the other place, plus an additional 10% discount because of the terms of their price promise .... that was a good day :D

[Jay_7]

Hey, its not just Inverness .... like anywhere else you need to shop around over here too.

I got my most recent purchase - a 1 Terabyte external drive - for about $120 (?68 roughly) from TigerDirect. Went to one of the "big box stores" a few days later for a non computer related browse and saw the same drive on sale for just under $200 ... I took great delight in pointing out their rip-off to them !!!!!

The same was true of the same chain when we bought one of our flatscreen TVs before they were so cheap. They were selling a Sharp Aquous LCD for a touch over $3K and I had seen the same TV advertised at another retailer for under $2K. I had the advert so showed it to the salesman who came back with his manager ... and when both had finished crying, I invoked their price promise, got it marked down to the same price as the other place, plus an additional 10% discount because of the terms of their price promise .... that was a good day :D

Gotta love price promises!

I've pointed out to PC World before about their almost criminal prices of network cables - For example a 5m Cat5e patch cable is around ?10 from there I think. The manager actually argued with me about the cost of production of a cable - I know it's roughly 20p per metre at cost, yet he tried to claim there was only a 5% profit margin on all of their cables!

[kiltarlity]

USB cables are my pet bugbear. Normal punter goes into PC world buys ?40 printer, takes to counter, is asked do you have a usb cable. If they need one are charged ?12.99

5 years ago when I supplied computers, I got them in bulk from ebuyer for 50p each...

My father in law 76 years young bought a Panasonic 32" LCD telly from a specialist shop, he asked them to install (for which they charged), when guy comes around to install and tells him he would get a better picture with a gold plated scart lead, charged him over ?40 for it. I was mad but FIL refused to let me take it back and complain. Saw one in Tesco for ?5 (gold plated too).

This week, I put 4 new budget tyres on the taxi, shopped around quote ?60 a corner. Went to Tyreshopper on the net, bought there, delivered yesterday to local National Tyres (who own the Tyreshopper site), fitted today ?45 a corner same brand/tyre all in.

It's a joke with the other cabbies, that i'm mad for vouchers/deals!! (paid for 80% value of my car in clubcard points)

This week, I've saved ?15 a tyre, had 6 bottles of Cava from Tesco for free indeed they paid me ?3 to take away!!, bought 11 packets of Findus Crispy Pancakes when found reduced to 25p a pack (thats what freezers are for!), oh and 10 pairs of fathers day socks at 25p each as well.. they can laugh all they want!!! .... but I will always go the extra distance to save money, especially in the current economic climate...

G

Edited July 24, 2009 by kiltarlity

[Jay_7]

5 years ago when I supplied computers, I got them in bulk from ebuyer for 50p each...

They've gone up in price since then, I think they're around ?1 each now :022:

[Jay_7]

We badly need a good, competent IT shop in Inverness. A hard disk in one of our servers at work went pop today and can I get a replacement?... Is it honestly too much to ask for to have someone stocking a wide variety of disks?! :angry: