googling Eclipse Computers (of Coventry) finds a horde of angry customers across PC and consumer boards.

Yet this company's PCs are frequently given rave reviews in PC magazines (though PC Advisor says their reviews rate only the PC they are given - not the company generally , maybe thats inevitable though owner satisfaction surveys do exist !)

Sure unhappy customers post more but google Dell, Evesham, Chillblast and maybe you'll find 1,2 or 3 unhappy customers but not dozens !!

So how many customers are happy with their PC from Eclipse ?

ie it arrived within a week or so of ordering (not over a month), it worked OK on arrival or if it did't Eclipse were happy to fix it (and didn't for example delay with unhelpful suggestions eg contact the monitor maker - and then say "30 days up, we won 't collect now under the premier30 warranty even though you reported the inital fault within 30 days and you'll have to post the PC to us at your own expense)

My computer from Eclipse took far longer to arrive than advertised, more than 21 days (10-14 on website). They took £50 from my account immediately. 20 days later they took the rest. The computer arrived faulty. I reported it at once, asking for a refund under the sale of goods act. They ignored all my emails until I contacted them by letter, recorded delivery. Then they told me it would be several weeks before it could be collected. Once collected, they did nothing for several weeks and again would not reply to emails or phone calls. Then they emailed to say that they had replaced various parts (whilst still denying there had been anything wrong initially!), and itemising a huge bill for parts & labour. I refused to pay & asked for my refund.

Then a new tack - pressure by phone to accept the revamped PC back at no cost for a trial...I was unwilling to do this, but unwisely caved in to the pressure once I had in writing from the Customer Services manager that I could still have my refund under thesale of goods act if I still didn't like it. This time it took 2 hours to return the computer to me (amazing, isn't it?), but without mouse or keyboard. I complained by email, got a very quick reply & the bits arrived next morning before 12 as requested.

That was the last service I had from Eclipse. I emailed back as soon as I had switched on, to say I still did not want it & asking them to collect it. No reply for weeks. Trading Standards advised me not to use the PC in case it implied acceptance. Under pressure from Trading Standards, the computer was collected about 3 weeks later. That was more than a month ago.

Eclipse have not replied to phone calls or emails. It is now more than 4 weeks later, and I have no computer and no refund.

They have had my money for more than 4 months, in which time I have had about 2 weeks use of a faulty computer.

Don't ever use Eclipse.

thats a terrible series of events, Kojak, thanks for sharing it.

I've heard similar stories re Eclipse ... obviously other PC makers let people down too from time to time but, even allowing for the fact that unhappy people are more likely to comments, Eclipse seem to have much worse feedback than others.

I'm sort of surprised you managed to get Eclipse to collect yor PC under their premier30 scheme.

I both reported my problem with a graphics card and requested it be fixed under the warranty within 30 days and they refused to collect it. I got the impression they ere happy to let things drag until over 30 days and then say "out of time".

I admit I said " is it the VGA cable, maybe you could send another", which was daft - it was a question !!! after all I thought they were the experts - it could easily have been traced to a dodgy graphics card (eg by BIOS). And some of their suggestions weren't so helpful (contact the monitor maker Hannspree !?)

I have heard from others that Eclipse do take ages to fix things (they allow themselves up to 30 days) - it does sound that even though they collected your PC you've been treated worse than me.

did you pay by credit card ?

I expect TS told you to keep the informed as they may claim compensation for you.

there's a guy here (Blind_Minotaur ) who ordered the Eclipse Vogue last w/e -

I can't register on that site to warn him re their feedback but he's already being messed about Moderator - Links to user forums removed, in line with MS terms of service.

"Called Eclipse computers on monday to find out what sort of a wait im in for. They told my its usually 2-3 weeks to build a comp (and I could have sworn it said 3-5 days when I ordered). "

mine too over a month to arrive .. and I nagged too !!

latest wheeze from Eclipse: having been hassled by Trading Standards, they refunded part of my money, but deducted £65 for the cost of the Vista OS, because 'it had been activated'. How they expect to sell a computer with an OS and the customer NOT activate it (without so doing, you can't access all features)...!! so am still fighting them for the full amount. I have reurned 2 PCs to PC World, both with Vista activated, & had a full refund on the spot.

well done on getting most of your £ back and I hope you got the £65 Eclipse were trying to deduct for the oem vista too,

of course you're quite right you had to use the oem in order to try and get the PC working ... they have got a cheek trying to grasp back that money.

if Eclipse don't like losing the £65 for that VISTA can I suggest they shouldn't have installed it on a dud PC !!!

really they should expect to take a hit for giving such bad service and maybe even compensate you for your inconvenience.

I see the latest June PC Advisor is still giving reviews to the latest Eclipse machines the Eclipse Matrix A64N88GS and the Eclipse Platinum i84n88GTS-SLI

They are both ranked number 3 after first getting rave reviews last month.

PC Advisor have admitted they turn a blind eye to PC makers record on customer service and product reliability (good or bad) but its a shame the reviews don't give this health warning.

I have written a 'letter before action' informing them of my intention to take them to court for the balance, interest on the full amount over 4 months, and costs.

good for you Kojak,

I think thats the least you can expect given the inconvenience of chasing Eclipse for months when all you wanted was a working PC 6 months ago.

You'll be pleased to hear PC Pro are recommending the latest Eclipse Computer, the Eclipse Zenith i82n98GTX - despite raised eyebrows on the PCPro forum whenever this happens !

lets hope that anyone snared by this ad doesn't have the experience with Eclipse that you and I and dozens and dozens of others have had

been a long time since you posted ..

if you're still around I'd be interested to hear if you managed to beat the rest of your money for that defective PC out of Eclipse

there are some complaints on Eclipse at the moment on the PC Pro forum and the consumeractiongroup forum.

PC PRo and PC Advisor still plug their products though