r/newzealand • u/FeitanWasNotTaken • Aug 19 '26
Support PB Tech
Is PB Tech trustworthy? I'm from Australia and have come across this site. I am looking at this monitor, and it's extremely cheap compared to normal retailers, which sell it for around 2.2K+. Apparently this is a normal store in New Zealand (?), and I have seen some posts about PB Tech here, so I thought I'd post it here. Due to the low price, I'm concerned about the legitimacy and whatnot; any help is appreciated. Thank you. https://www.pbtech.com/au/product/MONLGL43288/LG-UltraGear-32GX870A-B-32-4K-UHD-240Hz-OLED-Gamin
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u/CommunityOk20 Aug 19 '26
you’ll receive the product advertised, their pricing is usually very sharp. now, the aftercare is a little lacking, but you’ll definitely receive what you purchase.
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u/Samalini Aug 19 '26
That is where the NZ consumer guarantees act comes in. We need to be more active in applying it cause so many of us get caught out thinking aren’t covered due to how long owned products
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u/Practical-Ball1437 Aug 19 '26
That is where the
comes in. NZ consumer guarantees act Not for OP in Australia.
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u/G_Vades Aug 20 '26
Second this, customer service isn’t always the best by phone or email but otherwise they’re great to deal with.
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u/n8-sd Aug 19 '26
Is legit.
A tip is to check how many stores they have.
Now the infamous part is the after care.
It is always a fight for CGA with them
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u/Jumping-Spleen Aug 19 '26
Every warrantee claim I've had has been a pleasure.
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u/scottiemcqueen Aug 19 '26
Same here, go into to store, drop item off, come back a week later to either a repaired or replaced one.
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u/n8-sd Aug 20 '26
Yeah… but “warrantee” is irrelevant in NZ.
We have CGA.If something is covered under warrantee it’s easy, but it’s unnecessary
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u/ring_ring_kaching Aug 19 '26
I've never had a issue with PBT when it came to returns or fixes.
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u/Icy_Warning531 Aug 20 '26
Yea, me either, one time the item was just the wrong colour and the other time I didn't like the quality, I'd fully opened both.
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u/meowsqueak Aug 19 '26
I’ve returned a few items - never been a problem, and have received store credit in return. In fact I basically got free earbuds (all with serious design problems) for 5 years and then half-price decent headphones as a result. No complaints from me.
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u/transcodefailed Aug 19 '26
I had one shitty experience with them. Faulty product, the techs agreed it was faulty. They told me the only resolution would be for me to get the manufacturer’s support team to admit it was faulty. Went back and forth with the manufacturer for a few weeks before I realised CGA should cover me. I went back and talked to the same techs who were like, “why didn’t you just say so?” And replaced it no questions asked.
I shouldn’t have to say so! That’s your job! What a waste of my time.
Every other experience I’ve had with them has been fantastic. Just that one left me a bit sour.
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u/n8-sd Aug 20 '26
It is NOT their job to inform you about CGA.
It is not illegal to be ordered at work to NOT mention it.
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u/GlassBrass440 Aug 19 '26
I bought a computer from them and a week later it went on sale. I emailed them to see if they would refund the difference and they did it no questions asked.
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u/Disastrous-Quail8012 Aug 19 '26
They have got a bit better in my experience. When it has been a gaming machine they put together it was problematic but when it was an Apple or any big name product where responsibility is passed on it seemed very easy.
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u/wkoorts Aug 19 '26
The only thing that makes me hesitate to order from them these days is they use the horrible
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u/maxdelorean Aug 19 '26
PB Tech are fine- problems are rare, and they’ll sort you out in the end.
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u/mattblack77 Aug 19 '26
What? PBTech has a super shady reputation for honoring warranty claims.
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u/Taniwha_NZ Aug 19 '26
No, they really don't. When you account for their size relative to other retailers there's no difference.
I've been buying computers and associated crap for 40 years from dozens of companies and they are all more or less the same. They only time I've encountered businesses who were way worse than normal is the smaller companies run by incompetents.
If PB really were so difficult with returns, they would never have grown to the size they are. Just think about it.
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u/jimmcfartypants Aug 19 '26
They grew to that size from some shady supplier dealings in the mid 2010s essentially monopolising retail computing supply chains.
It definitely wasn't for the customer service
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u/mattblack77 Aug 19 '26
You’re only talking about your experience. Swarch this sub for PBTech and see how many complaint threads it brings up.
Shady warranty practices are exactly how they’ve grown so big. It’s a way for them to cut expenses and increase profit.
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u/Valentyan Aug 19 '26
I claimed warranty 3x on the same item, no issues. Unfortunately there were no viable alternatives so I had to keep rolling the dice until I got one that worked as advertised but it's six months later and still going strong. Not the first time I've warranty claimed from them either, always have decent luck doing so in person
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u/maxdelorean Aug 19 '26
If they had a super shady reputation for honouring warranty claims they would not have survived this long and grown to the size they are.
It is true that some people have had bad experiences with PB Tech when making high value claims under warranty.. however, at worst, every such story ends with a disputes tribunal threat followed by an acceptable resolution.
Perhaps PB Tech have an unwritten policy that insists a customer invokes the disputes tribunal before they accept a high value warranty claim, this being an attempt to shake out the lazy fakes.
On one hand this seems far-fetched, on the other hand exactly the kind of pragmatic approach that might explain their rise at the expense of other businesses.1
u/Nattteyy Aug 20 '26
The main reason PB Tech got to where they are today goes back to the early 2000s, when they secured a major government contract. That helped them grow rapidly, open more stores, and gain significantly more buying power.
As they grew, they were able to buy more products directly from manufacturers instead of relying mainly on NZ distributors/middlemen.
That essentially allowed them to buy low and sell low, which made it difficult for smaller retailers to compete on price and helped fuel even more growth.
As for their aftercare, I'd say it's definitely hit and miss. There are plenty of people who have had issues, and plenty who have had perfectly fine experiences. But when you're dealing with a company doing around $3 million in sales per day, you're naturally going to see a much larger number of complaints simply because of the sheer volume of customers and transactions they're dealing with.
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u/DontBanMe_IWasJoking Aug 19 '26
pb tech is good im not sure why people dont like them
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u/Vegeta_vs_Goku Aug 19 '26
Most of the time its becuz of their hesitation with
and returns/refunds. Most of the time though you usually have to go through aftercare warranty . U can even do some digging online. So many complaints. Disputes tribunal Edit: heres a few:
https://www.reddit.com/r/auckland/s/vmMVXRXDtX
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/1bze2af/pbtech_rejects_warranty_whats_the_next_step/
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u/ko_fe_a_spot Aug 19 '26
Yeah, I’ve never had any after care issues with them. They’ve been great to me and I’ve been a loyal customer for 10+ years.
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u/ElegantTurn7959 Aug 19 '26
Because my daughter brought a 3,000 laptop for university that was overheating from unboxing. She had to return it three times before they would even admit there was a problem, they keep saying there was nothing wrong with it despite the fact it was cooking it's componentry - and then they took two months to repair it. She missed deadlines and had to use University loners for exam 😑 It's hard to overlook.
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u/runtime1183 Aug 19 '26
PB Tech told me that I had to ship my DOA laptop to the Samsung depot in Australia at my own expense, and provide a pre-paid label for them to send it back to me, and it would be gone for up to 3 months. They wouldn't return or replace, said it was a Samsung issue and out of their hands. Was cheaper to just buy a new SSD and replace it myself. Won't buy from them again.
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u/blobbleblab Aug 19 '26
There must be some rogue people in there. I have returned Samsung monitor before (flickering), no problem gave me a new one. Also a Philips monitor about 10 years ago (dead pixel after 4 months, also replaced). I have got store credits on quite a few things that either were advertised with features they didn't have or weren't right for me, all no problems. One PSU I bought from them I suspected was not outputting the power advertised, they tested and offered me a different one, no problems. This is in Wellington mind you, I wonder if different stores have different levels of service.
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u/runtime1183 Aug 19 '26
I bought it online, and was dealing with their support over the phone, so maybe that's the difference?
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u/Antmannz Aug 19 '26
Samsung (and other tech manufacturers - but Samsung especially) are notoriously difficult to deal with when it comes to returns or repairs (significantly worse than you think PB Tech are).
What a lot of people see is PB trying to make sure that all bases are covered before getting Samsung (or whatever manufacturer) involved for repair or replacement.
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u/fresh-anus Aug 19 '26
Yep totally legit. On the same level as just buying from a normal everyday shop
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u/trippnz Aug 19 '26
Shopping with them is fine. They do have good prices however some people have issues when things break, I have had a couple of items that needed to go back (MacBook Air with a funny screen was one). Had no issue returning and getting it fixed as I was able to show them the issue. As long as you don’t go in and demand a refund you should be fine. In NZ the retailer has first choice to repair, replace or refund on faulty goods. So just let pbtech do its thing first (repair, replace etc) and you should be all good.
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u/bob5463546354 Aug 19 '26
I've probably spent over $30k at PBTech over the last 25years. Never had a single issue.
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u/Excession638 Aug 19 '26
PB Tech are trustworthy. LG are not. They recently had their monitors start showing ads. Might be why it's cheap now.
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u/ClimateTraditional40 Aug 19 '26
They are - now - nationwide and big. But overall no. They were bad with after sales service from the one store start and haven't changed a lot since. I was asked to do some dodgy things when they wanted me to manage one of their new stores.
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u/No_Degree5136 Aug 22 '26
Yeah for the most part, although I did overhear a salesperson overselling the benefits of VPNs to another customer where he claimed it would prevent packet sniffing.
I'm semi-technical, so correct me if I'm wrong - but isn't that a bullshit benefit nowadays of VPNs? As in, most things we connect to have end to end encryption which makes VPNs for the purpose of packet sniffing redundant. I didn't say anything, but it made me lose a bit of respect for PBTech
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u/ThatOnePunkDude Aug 19 '26
Short answer yes
Longer answer they're one of nzs biggest tech retailers, with usually great customer service and honestly great prices. Only tech place I really go to in nz these days.
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u/bennz1975 Aug 19 '26
Used lots over last 7 years. Had to take back Arlo smart hub a few years back due to fault. Never had an issue and they replaced it after checking it out.
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u/shoo035 Aug 19 '26
Yes, bought dozens of things from Queen St PB.returned a few, several great warranty repairs/ replacements, as well as some later under consumer guarantees act which they were also great for
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u/RaxisPhasmatis Aug 19 '26
I've not had trouble with pb tech over the decade I've used them
Mightyape on the other hand I got banned because a gpu was doa and they refused to refund back when they were new and they banned my acct, it was during the gfc and was too broke to do anything about it
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u/korutech-ai Aug 19 '26
I probably wouldn’t deal with PBT in AU given it’s all online. I wouldn’t like your chances if the product fails.
In NZ returning stuff can be a mixed bag. Each store is individually owned as I found out buying from one store and trying to return to another.
The pricing is usually good. These days most stores will price match. Not everyone will price match against online stores.
Stay away from anything refurbished. Chances are it will fail outside the 90 days as I had happen with an Asus notebook.
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u/05fingaz Aug 19 '26
Bought loads of all kinds over the last 10-years, including an e-scooter which had a minor factory issue which they fixed for me overnight. Overall they’re solid and totally legit
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u/LifeguardHorror2512 Aug 19 '26
I’ve used them several times over several years and have been their store in Petone. No issues with them at all.
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u/WheatleyNZL Aug 19 '26
Other's have mentioned their reluctance around returns and I agree that's accurate.
I had a software issue with my TV. They wouldn't accept, tried to tell me it was an issue with my other devices, effectively tried to charge me $50 for their time investigating. I took my other devices into jb hi-fi and tried reproducing on other tvs of varying models which of course unable to reproduce because the error was with the one I purchased. They still wouldn't accept...
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u/NonStopArseGas Aug 19 '26
theyre legit, but i wouldn't buy from PB without a retail store to come return the inevitable products with issues. the online RMAs an contact in general is a pain. Are you factoring in shipping cost or (aussie) gst?
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u/MrTheCheesecaker Aug 19 '26
PB Tech are easily the largest enthusiast technology retailer in New Zealand. They have a really good range of products, and it's usually only the more niche products that I need to look elsewhere for. They often have sales, though not especially steep discounts. Where I live there aren't really any other sizeable retailers for PC components anyway
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u/LightExo Aug 19 '26
Have recently rebuilt/ fully upgraged my Pc all from PBtech got all my parts within two days of ordering most overnighted but even my couple of weekend orders arrived within 2 days, so in my opinion yes they are trustworthy
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u/jcddcjjcd Aug 20 '26
I see mostly negative comments about them and my few dealings with them were unsatisfactory. I had 2 Noctua fans that went faulty just after one year which is highly unusual for Noctua and I have had a lot them over the years. They would not even consider any form of support.
I highly recommend Ascent to to you.
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u/wont_deliver Aug 20 '26
Personally, I wouldn’t buy monitors online. I’ve been burned too many times getting ones with dead or stuck pixels.
With the my current monitor, I went in person and asked if I can test the monitor at the store before taking it home.
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u/LycraJafa Aug 20 '26
LG has been getting a bit of bad press lately - TV's that watch you more than you watch them.
Im sure thats not the case with thier monitors...
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u/Full-Reception552 Aug 20 '26
PB Tech are legit. The link you've provided is from the Australian site, so as long as you're still in Australia, you're sweet as. If you are Australian but now located in New Zealand, you're on the wrong site.
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u/DebtComfortable2437 Aug 21 '26
Built a PC with parts from PB Tech and Mightyape nearly 10 years ago, both shipped to my rural address overnight and were absolutely great to deal with
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u/-Shameem- Aug 21 '26
They're a popular retailer and I've always found them to have really good deals and quality products, but from what I've heard, dealing with their customer support can be a pain, particularly for returns/refunds (which I haven't had to do yet thankfully.)
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u/Any_Broccoli550 Aug 19 '26
They must've fired all their site techs. They never have what they advertise in stock.
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u/Top_Boysenberry_6552 Aug 19 '26
Yep id say so. I haven't had any problems with them here in Auckland.
Just don't know about the shipping situation for you tho over in Aus.
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u/Hubris2 Aug 19 '26
While not loved by all,PB Tech