I lost the receipt! What an idiot I was really, when I think about it, but when the PC would not switch on, I just thought it needed a fuse changed in the plug. How wrong I was! I will tell you a story, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

I bought a PC in time for Christmas 2010, because my old one had died after 10 years faithful service. I owed it to myself and my penchant for survey taking! I reserved it at PC World online and got out the cash (after ascertaining I could not pay for it by credit or debit card online because then I would have to have it delivered to my house by carrier, and I did not want to wait...I wanted my new PC NOW, same day!! so it had to be paid for by the person who picked it up) and my colleague at work was going to Inverness that day to do an engineering job, so he offered to collect it for me. He did, and by the weekend I had it all up and running, great stuff!

Less than six months later, I phoned the helpline to say my PC would not switch on, but their systems were down (what a good advert for PC World that was!) and it was on a Sunday (5th June 2011) so I logged the call, we tried to discharge the static, by a little on/off procedure, over the phone, but my phone helper advised me that she thought it was a power supply inside the PC and the machine would have to come back to Newark for repair, into their workshop! This was a big disappointment to me, as I know how long these things can take. I work for a PC/cash register company and we have workshops too! However, I logged the call. She did say she had some difficulty finding my PC on the system so I said I would find all the paperwork and phone her back. I turned my house upside down that night, finding all sorts of things I had lost, and some I did not want to find, but no the receipt for my PC which you might remember I had paid for using cash, just before Christmas, and obviously mislaid same. Now I was in trouble, because when I phoned back the following day, Monday 6th June, I discovered that despite giving them all the information in my possession, they could not find a note of my purchase. I was downcast, but not downhearted. Surely in this electronic age, there must be a way of tracking down my purchase?

When I got peace and quiet on Tuesday, the following day, I phoned and spoke to the sales team, having been advised to do so by the team at Know-How (the department detailed to deal with PC fault repairs I had spoken to originally) but Sales were not very much help and could not find a note of my reservation anywhere however they suggested I spoke to the customer services team.

Here's the thing, though....NEVER ONCE did I accept failure, nor did I accept that I would have to repair the PC myself. I spoke to a young girl in customer services and told her my story once more. Surely there must be a way to find the receipt? I will see what I can do, she replied. I then said what a good company I thought PC World was, and how I had heard that they were very professional and had a great reputation for good customer services...I could feel her glowing on the other end of the phone...it was true....you could catch more flies with honey than vinegar...I was kept on hold for nearly 20 minutes but a very delighted voice came back on the phone and said "we found it!" and gave me my receipt number, exact date of purchase and then put me throught to a wonderfully helpful gentleman named Oliver in the Know-How team who booked my PC in straight away for collection and delivery to the workshop for a new power supply. He asked me if I wanted a collection on Thursday or Friday, I said Thursday and it was collected on Friday. My PC has gone now but I will not abandon it, I will diligently chase it up and let you know how I get on with regards to it's repair and return. I refuse to leave it to chance. I will phone every day from Monday onwards...I am determined!

The moral of the story, so far, I think is that you have rights and you have to exercise them! Praise where praise is due, and complaints where they are due too. In this case, I feel that it was praise which worked, it solved my receipt problem.