Currys..nothing changes...dishonest trading

kitty_3-2

I had thought Currys/Dixons had turned a new leaf this yera. I was wrong.

Bought an LCD TV yesterday. Boxed looked worse for wear. Asked whether a return or demo as unacceptable. Told no ,was definitely new. No seal on this product.

Got home. Cable ties cut, no manuals, packing damaged, batteries in remote, dented and with (on connecting) an obvious sound fault. Patently a return/demo.

Of course can't get anyone...just wasting money on their highly profitable automated 0870 numbers.

Two weeks ago found product on pricerunner. When clicked to currys link, delivery cost rose from £4.99 to £39.99!!!! Complained to ASA...Currys said an isolated technical error on their pricerunner link. Amazing then same on everyother product I,ve looked at. They just use it to reel you in.

The Currys/ Dixons group should just be avoided. They appear to me institutionally incapable of trading honestly. Of course fro many products...such as Packard bell computers...they have exclusive distribution arrangements.

Bossyboots

I have to wonder why you didn't simply check the product before leaving the store if you were concerned about the packing.

Why don't you just go back to the store with it and ask for refund/exchange?

I recently bought a Sony GX3 DVD recorder from Currys which was on offer at a reduced price.  It was faulty and checking on the internet it turned out that the fault was inherent in that model.  We returned it to Currys and the manager replaced it with a GX300 for the same price which gave me an additional saving of £80.  They had also thrown in some free DVD-RW's.

If you go back to the shop and make a fuss they should not only exchange it (ask for a re-sell rather than straight exchange) but you should also be able to persuade them to make a discount or throw in some freebies for the hassle.

madsamuri

i bought a tv from currys, when i got it home it din't work so i took it back.

the manager replaced it for me and gave me a £100 voucher, they also forgot to unload the old tv from the back of my car so i took it to a tv repairman who fixed it for £30. so i took the new tv back and got a refund. so i ended up with a tv and £100 voucher for £30.

i like currys.

kitty_3-2

These replies just show how Currys and other crap traders get away with it....they trade on your tolerance.

Simple FACT...you were both sold defective items...just what is the defect rate with electronics these days? In one case you easily found out the item was inherently faulty...do you think they didn't know? I suspect the other was a returned item they just sold on again...look at all the returned stickers at PC world.

I remind the group was prosecuted for this behaviour.

I repeat...avoid them

I live nearly 2 hrs from the store. Over 4 hrs of my time Xmas week to sort out their dishonestly. Great thinking.

Bossyboots

Its not a question of being tolerant. I was not prepared to accept a like for like replacement of the original machine. As it happened there was no difficulty. The model I had was disconinued and they ony had the next model up which was more expensive. The manager instantly offered it to us at the price of the first machine with the option of a refund if that did not suit. Without being asked he said he would do a re-sale so that the warranty started from that day.

Kitty you queried the packaging at the time but did not bother to check before driving two hours home. I suggest that you have to take some responsbility for your situation. If you had opened it on the spot you would have seen it was not new and could have dealt with the issue at the time. I would have thought this doubly important as you clearly already distrusted Currys anyway.

Big_Nige

I have bought numerous electrical items from Currys & by asking the hagglers all important question "are you on commision?" I have made substantial savings & obtained freebies in my local store. My friend bought a vacuum cleaner which was incorrectly priced (£30 cheaper due to old p.o.s. not removed) with no argument from the store. So please don't tar them all with the same brush

Poppy9

You have to pity the poor sales people. They are usually on commission and a friend who managed at one of these stores said he had a right rollicking if they didn't sell enough extended warranties.

hansi

The answer to your problems is very simple. Go to your local TV shop if you have one (not a multiple) and you'll probably find like I did, that not only will they be cheaper than Currys/Dixons, but they will usually deliver the same day for free and set all the equipment up for free, and more important, they DO know what they are selling!

leedsleeds

kitty wrote:

The Currys/ Dixons group should just be avoided. They appear to me institutionally incapable of trading honestly. Of course fro many products...such as Packard bell computers...they have exclusive distribution arrangements.

Have to agree with you Kitty, bought a Packard Bell laptop from them at the weekend - turned out to be different spec to their instore leaflet. Manager told us they can't issue a refund because we've opened it ........ we only found out the spec was different by switching it on! Thank god for trading standards .

student100

Retailers do face a bit of a dilemma with regards to previously opened products. Customers expect to only ever buy a completely factory-sealed, previously unopened, pristine boxed product, then take it home, unwrap it, plug it in, decide they don't like it, shove it back in the box and take it back and get a full refund.

Retailers will probably refuse to give a refund unless the item is completely resaleable (which greatly annoys some customers), and they sometimes have to re-sell goods that have been previously sold but returned unused (which greatly annoys some other customers). You can't have it both ways.

In one case when I was working at Argos, a customer requested that we opened the box on several different items so she could compare them instore (which we are able to do). She then bought one leaving us with the other three. But then she had the cheek to ask for a different (completely sealed) box because the one we had opened to show her was now in an open box! :mad:


In this case Currys was at fault - they should never have returned an item in that condition to resaleable stock - but if you were suspicious you really should have checked before you left the store.

And as for the Pricerunner thing it sounds like this is Pricerunner's fault not Currys'.

Humbug_2

My father is a retired Jeweller and when I worked with him in his shop, he would always use a demo version of the item, be it a watch, clock, or whatever, to show the customer, then when the customer agreed to purchase, he would open and check another one which is the one the customer would buy. That way he never had any returns because customers knew the item worked! And guess what? Sometimes the item fresh from the box didn't work. With the advent of the box-shifting retailers (Argos etc) who sold stuff cheaper because they didn't do this kind of service, consumers have been led to believe that the best way to buy an item is in an unopened box. This isn't so. Make sure the item you buy works before you leave the shop. Saves you time and money in the long run