[slackline]

Having just been put onto the existence of scan.co.uk which I'd been blissfully unaware of I thought a thread of places where people shop would be useful.

Obviously its pretty hard to list everywhere so I've added a few.  Feel free to list your pet favourites and pet hates along with info on the quality of service, as well as any particularly good deals or promotional offers to help benefit others.

I often buy small components from ebuyer as they were fairly cheap and used to be based in Sheffield so things arrived ultra quick.

Recently micro-SD cards have been a bargain from memorybits.co.uk (and until midnight Wednesday you can get 15% off with the promo code '4815').

[unclesomebody]

Insight are also worth checking when you're looking for electronics. Very occasionally they have a killer deal. Play.com also have very good deals on smaller, cheaper items like sd cards etc.

Delivery is always the factor to consider, but I'm lucky because I've got free delivery for life on my scan account!

[Jim]

I live very close to microdirect and Aria so I normally go to these places

[philo]

ive used memory bits and still have the discounty thing. and think my scan discount is still valid, not sure how much 20% i think but i havent bought from there in a while
i use ebuyer alot of the time
sometimes http://www.overclockers.co.uk/ have some decent things in
but for bargains i use play.com/amazon/ebuyer

[rc]

re: ebuyer
fwiw I experienced good customer service from these guys. For a web-based outfit aiming to attract customers on basis of price (only?) I was amazed.

Bought parts, built computer, didnt work. Decided mobo or CPU must be faulty. (No post beep). Called up ebuyer and *spoke to a person* who arranged a courier to come to my house and pick the stuff up. Courier came next morning. That avo stuff got checked, mobo was faulty. New mobo and original CPU sent out by courier and arrived in my hands the following day.
48hs from me phoning up to having replacement parts in hand. I did not have to leave my house and didnt pay a penny for the extra courier-ing of stuff.

I dont expect suppliers to check every component is not faulty before sale, so was well happy it was fast, convenient and zero expense to sort it out.

[slackline]

re: ebuyer
fwiw I experienced good customer service from these guys. For a web-based outfit aiming to attract customers on basis of price (only?) I was amazed.

I too have experienced good customer service from eBuyer when an external HD I had just bought failed¹.  Picked up and replaced in a couple of days.

¹I didn't mention the fact that it worked fine upon receipt at work, but wasn't working later that day upon arrival at home......after riding home with it in my saddle bag! 

[underground]

Me too, HD in a desktop unit gave up the ghost, so they arranged a replacement and also the collection of the faulty box. Once the faulty box was collected (packed it a bit later when it suited having just moved house), they updated my account with the replacement which was a lot cheaper a year later but like for like, except it was a Vista machine now rather than no O/S. So I asked for a refund - got the refund on my account and promptly bought a much better specced HP Business machine with Vista installed... for the 50 quid extra that the original machine cost a year earlier.

Mind, a chap I met who told me he had worked for them told me that since the move to a big automated warehouse operation in Goole, which didn't work so many temporary staff had been employed, they would refund anything - new laptops in exchange for faulty USB sticks, that sort of thing. He claimed that a 'friend' had returned a box of used sparkplugs in place of a laptop and had an exchange sent back in the form of a new laptop.....

[philo]

i wish i was that lucky

[Paul B]

Right now I wouldn't recommend N2C (see router thread).

[Paul B]

I bought from Ebuyer yesterday at about 15:00 and selected free delivery (5 working days) but I was woken up this morning with my delivery. How good is that!

[slackline]

Not exactly computer stores per se, but I find ComputerManuals.co.uk to be pretty good for tech related books (computing/web/M$/Perl/Python/adobe/Dummies/etc.).  They also often carry stock of non-fiction books and prices are often better than Amazon/Play.

They regularly have discounts (just sign up for mails) and currently you can get 10% off anything ordered upto 25^th October 2008 using the code "S8".

[slackline]

Anyone got any recommendations for laptop spares?

I'm after a bluetooth module (and cable) for my laptop, just lost out on one on eBay (went for £7.62, note to self, don't be such a stingey bastard).  Nothing else currently listed, and shops I can find online range from £40-60 pound for the module only (15 cables currently on eBay at £10 so not a problem there).

Can't believe my old employers didn't shell out the £12.50 to have bluetooth when they originally bought the laptop    Still can't complain they let me keep it when I left their employment