I Hate Argos

inmypocketnottheirs

I have always considered that shopping in Argos is like shopping in the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war! 3 ques, one to chose, one to pay, one to collect! But as above, it is cheap (ish), if you buy right (i.e. branded) then it usually is the most cost effective. Worth reserving on line, as mentioned above. Plus their offers of spend £50 get £5 and spend £100 get £10 vouchers have been good, especially combined with offers and promo packs. Have never had a problem with warranty issues, 3 times took a go kart back, on third occassion got vouchers as store did not have the same item. This was when the item was 10 months old. But it has to be born in mind, exchanging goods within 12 months costs Argos nothing, suppliers have to agree to take the goods back, so all Argos lose is the profit.

Johntea

My 2 local Argos stores are quite friendly and well maintained, but WHY NO SELF SERVICE POINTS?!

I mean I can understand not having any in my small local Argos but the next Argos closest to me is about 2 1/2 times bigger. The queues aren't too bad until this period of the year (I wonder why... ) but it can be annoying if you are in any queue for longer than 5 minutes for many reasons. One I found the other day - If an item is out of stock but is coming into store tomorrow you can put the number down on a slip and take it to a cashier to reserve that item. However this is flawed in the fact if someone in front of you also wants to reserve the item by the time you get to the checkout it is already reserved! Meaning you have just queued for nothing...Usually I can reserve on the phone or online but if the items are 'coming into stock on XXXXX' the phone and web just claims the items are out of stock until they are 'released' into the store!

Also the collection time/collection point/TV progress screen are all absolutely useless as they never seem to make any sense, basically I just watch for my item being put onto the 'shelf behind' and run to the desk and point out my item is behind the counter. In my opinion Argos should process all orders in a numerical and queue order, rather than the random method they seem to operate. Sometimes my item is ready by the time I walk over to the collection point, other times it can take an age to be found (Last Sunday I went in at 3:30pm and was waiting until 4:30pm for an item - I was the last 'Joe Public' out of the store!)

Also I wish they would not try mixing returns into the new stock. They should just send all returned items back to the warehouse for them to sort out what can go back to the store and what needs to go to manufacturers/auction. The 16 day money back guarantee (Which seems to be on hardly anything I buy these days!) states items should be returned in an unused condition, but Argos don't really seem to check how used the goods are!

Finally I think they should get rid of all this 'Extra' branding, or compile another catalogue just for the Extra items and place this in all stores - Then at least I would know they would take up to a week to come into my local store!

But you have to give credit to Argos as they are selling a lot of goods in a busy high street environment, and have much more of a challenge than other retailers who have a shop front with goods on display for people to look at and touch. The staff can't be blamed for much, a employee I know is thinking of leaving not because she hates the job but because the management has become worse and worse as the years have gone by.

P.S. Get rid of Argos radio too! Hi I'm Simon Beadle and I'm here to irritate you while you wait by telling you about all the things in the back of the Argos catalogue you never read!

Sweet_Pea_2

I just found this thread, and Im so relieved! I thought I was the only person who hates Argos. In fact I hate them so much Ive (sort of) boycotted them. If I really have to buy something from there I sweet talk (order) OH to go in and get it for me!

executiverocker

Johntea wrote:

My 2 local Argos stores are quite friendly and well maintained, but WHY NO SELF SERVICE POINTS?!

I mean I can understand not having any in my small local Argos but the next Argos closest to me is about 2 1/2 times bigger. The queues aren't too bad until this period of the year (I wonder why... ) but it can be annoying if you are in any queue for longer than 5 minutes for many reasons. One I found the other day - If an item is out of stock but is coming into store tomorrow you can put the number down on a slip and take it to a cashier to reserve that item. However this is flawed in the fact if someone in front of you also wants to reserve the item by the time you get to the checkout it is already reserved! Meaning you have just queued for nothing...Usually I can reserve on the phone or online but if the items are 'coming into stock on XXXXX' the phone and web just claims the items are out of stock until they are 'released' into the store!

Also the collection time/collection point/TV progress screen are all absolutely useless as they never seem to make any sense, basically I just watch for my item being put onto the 'shelf behind' and run to the desk and point out my item is behind the counter. In my opinion Argos should process all orders in a numerical and queue order, rather than the random method they seem to operate. Sometimes my item is ready by the time I walk over to the collection point, other times it can take an age to be found (Last Sunday I went in at 3:30pm and was waiting until 4:30pm for an item - I was the last 'Joe Public' out of the store!)

Also I wish they would not try mixing returns into the new stock. They should just send all returned items back to the warehouse for them to sort out what can go back to the store and what needs to go to manufacturers/auction. The 16 day money back guarantee (Which seems to be on hardly anything I buy these days!) states items should be returned in an unused condition, but Argos don't really seem to check how used the goods are!

Finally I think they should get rid of all this 'Extra' branding, or compile another catalogue just for the Extra items and place this in all stores - Then at least I would know they would take up to a week to come into my local store!

But you have to give credit to Argos as they are selling a lot of goods in a busy high street environment, and have much more of a challenge than other retailers who have a shop front with goods on display for people to look at and touch. The staff can't be blamed for much, a employee I know is thinking of leaving not because she hates the job but because the management has become worse and worse as the years have gone by.

P.S. Get rid of Argos radio too! Hi I'm Simon Beadle and I'm here to irritate you while you wait by telling you about all the things in the back of the Argos catalogue you never read!

ok
1. the collection business: The collection numbers and times are based on where the item is in the warehouse/how big the order is/what other orders there are and so on, its actually quite a complicated system. What you tend to find on collection is that people will come up, thrust a receipt in your face, so you have to serve them, so then it pushes your order further down and down as more people come up and be rude to the staff, this affects other customers and so forth. Sometimes an item cant be found due to human error/delivery error etc, cmon the warehouse carries tens of thousands of items! give them chance sometimes especially if its busy

2. If you return everything we return back to the warehouse then surely thats going to be a hugely expensive exercise, so we sort out good stock and place it back in the warehouse. After working on deliverys for a bit i actually found out most "used" or "soiled" items actually came on the delivery, where damaged items had made their way back into the system from other stores and warehouses by mistake. The obvious ones can be picked out, but not all items are opened when delivered to check for condition

3. There used to be an extra catalogue but it recently got combined into 1 catalogue, the whole exercise of extra is that argos can offer a much larger amount of different items, some stores canhold all the items in store, and others (all the smaller stores that cant hold the extra range) can have the items delivered to the store for a customer which usually takes 48 hours if the item is in stock.


yeah the reserve side of things is a bit silly there, when you ring it should offer the same info as in store. If someone in front of you reserves the same item as you then thats bad luck im afraid.

Argos have just made redundant a lot of sales managers/full time staff, and reduced a lot of hours(including mine which were 38, ive gone down to 6) so its left a lot of stores with hardly any experienced staff and a lot of new temps. Whenever im on till every other person always mithers about other items/reservations/payment which adds more minutes onto the order, making the queue bigger. I sometimes wish people would have a go at each other rather than the staff lol

I love it when people complain about queues and stuff in argos, its like erm its xmas! in my store sales on a weekday were £12000 they now hit £60000 a day! So obviously theres going to be queues/going to be busy etc

sorry im not picking on you lol, jst thought id respond to some points as they seem to be quite common ones:)

oh an yeah, argos radio annoys me too:P

ekkygirl

I hate Argos, however I dont blame the front line staff, its the system they have to operate from. If you have a problem they have set responses. I have tried to complain by phone (20 minutes) and by letter about non delivery and being charged for out of stock item,s delivery charge????. and having to book a day off work to wait for a no show item and waited 4 weeks for a standard reply to my letter saying "sorry" When I telephoned again (30 mins)the 0870 RIPOFF to enquire at what point Argos thought "sorry" was sufficient response to the problems Id has I was told I needed "escallations" but there was a 20 minute wait for them to ask if they would speak to me. When I asked if they could take my number and call me back I was told no only if you wait the 20 minutes and they might ring you back so I emailed, no reponse as yet.
I cant believe they are such a incompetent company but still dont think its fair to be horrible about the staff, I never have a problem in the shop or on the phone. Most of them young people trying to earn a crust. My boy still at school works part time at asda, Hes probably the same, No idea how to deal with stressed people. Dont agree withe pay peanuts get monkey comment alot are A level or Uni students and we will be looking to them to pay our pensions .... best start saving eh?

purplegirluk1

bunking_off wrote:

Seems to me that of the 1hr 20 mins, you can only really complain about 25 minutes of it.

Your dad waited 20 minutes to order. Well, clearly you have an internet connection (you're on this site!), so why didn't you reserve on-line?QUOTE]

Sorry but we aren't all used to the internet and my Dad does not use it very much at all also he did not realise the item was an Extra until he got to the front of the line to pay. He thought he would be able to pick the item up on the day, I would say that a 20 minute wait would have been ok if this was the case as I am aware that it is a very busy time of year. I think it is poor to expect a customer to wait 20 minutes to order an item and then to return another day to wait an hour to pick it up. Just because we have the internet doesn't mean that my Dad MUST reserve it on-line does it? What about others who don't have the internet?

QUOTE]You had to queue to pay. As others have said, why not use the self-service terminals - I've never had to wait for these.QUOTE]

Don't you think if they were available in my store I would have used them??? I am not so stupid as to complain about an awful service if there was an alternative route I asure you. This was a town centre store and it does not have self service ok.

QUOTE]So, the only delay was the difference between the predicted time and the item actually appearing, much of which appears to be down to the guy behind the counter.QUOTE]

Clearly, this is not the case.

purplegirluk1

freddie wrote:

Why should they say sorry if they are going as fast as they can. /QUOTE]

She should say sorry because she is a representative of Argos, a company that, at that time, was not meeting with the needs and requirements of their customers. As I wrote in my first message, there WERE many members of staff around but they did not appear to be doing anything constructive. There are six tills in this particular store and when I joined the line only two were being used. She should have said sorry because it was to both myslef and her that other staff should have been on these tills instead of walking around doing nothing.

In the five years that I worked as a sales assistant I saw myself as the face of the company and knew that customers would blame me for problems. I would always be aware that all the customer wants is for the sales assistant to understand the problem and appologise for any delay/fault etc. Good customer service = happy customers even if they have had to wait a very long time for their goods. Poor customer service = customers not willing to shop with you again.

mrbnewc

The main thing i like about Argos is punching the number into the stock checker and finding that what i want is cheaper than than the cataloguie price :rudolf: .

MrB

Anthillmob

me and me mum went there a couple of weeks back to pick up a duvet cover set that my sister had pre-ordered online. i handed the girl on the till the bit of paper with the order number (or whatever it was on it) and she stared at me blankly. "what is this", "its the order number for a pre-ordered item" , "right", "well can i have it then please"... on and on it went. she just could not grasp the concept of something written on a bit of paper rather than one of their order slips.

sat at the tills and watched our order number on the screen which then vanished completely. waited 20 mins for that item. you'd think being pre-ordered it would have been put to one side or something.

sparkymark_3

As somebody else mentioned they have made some staff redundant this year and cut hours of experienced staff then try to run stores with temps, clearly does not work ! However you need to complain to Head Office as they are the ones making stupid decisions, but not by phone LOL (0870 RIPOFF) and is not the fault of the instore staff.
Wonder if the person who had hours cut from 38 to 6 would have a case for constructive dismisal !!