DfES Designated Specialist Arts College
Iain Beveridge | Business manager
“rock had not only quoted for the specification
I had requested but had also quoted for a higher specification
machine that was backed by their 3 year collect & return warranty
and this still fell within our estimated budget.”
As
Business Manager at Lord Lawson of Beamish Community School it
is my responsibility to ensure that the school utilises it’s
financial resources as effectively as possible and to ensure suppliers
and service providers are of the highest quality. The school is
a secondary school and six-form centre with 1500 students on roll
and is a DfES Designated Specialist Arts College.
Having
been selected as one of counties ‘Leading Edge’ schools
we are fully committed to developing new, exciting and stimulating
ways of teaching and have embarked on a programme that is aimed
specifically at this.
The
school has set up a ‘New Technologies Group’, which
consists of 15 members of staff covering a wide cross-section
of disciplines. The group were to be fully loaded with Notebook
computers, multi-media projectors, electronic meeting pads, digital
video cameras, digital still cameras, USB memory sticks and all
the necessary software.
As
with any school based project budgets were an issue, as was ensuring
that ‘best value’ procedures were adhered to. Getting
the balance right is always tricky but finding a supplier that
provides a high quality product, backed by excellent levels of
pre and after sales service is even harder.
We
had carried out some investigation work and knew what we wanted
with regards the specification of the notebooks. The specifications
were then sent to several companies including rockdirect. The
quotations that I received were at first glance fairly comparable
with each other. However it was then I noticed that rock had not
only quoted for the specification I had requested but had also
quoted for a higher specification machine that they believed would
be more suited to our needs and that was backed by their 3 year
collect & return warranty and this still fell within our estimated
budget. Not only that, the quotation was e-mailed to me within
4 hours of the request being sent and all my questions were answered
in a polite and professional manner.
The
order was placed with rock for a number of their Quaddra XS and
Sigma DI model notebooks at the required specification. We took
delivery of notebooks within 5 working days and are delighted
with them.
Since
we purchased our notebooks from rockdirect, we have only used
their back up service twice. Once for a faulty battery, (the machine
was collected and returned within one week and has had no further
problems) and the second was for advice. I had a question for
them about the wireless connectivity, which was answered the same
day.
Having
previously worked within the customer service industry, I am very
particular about the level and quality of service that we receive
and I can say without reservation that rockdirect has met and
exceeded my expectations.