A quick pop at Argos

FatAndy

I've been after a wooden garden arch (at the right price) for a while and recently found one in the Argos sale for about £32. I went to order one only to find it is only available for home delivery which costs £5.80, ie the arch will in fact cost £38. There is no way to avoid the delivery charge, you can't for example have it delivered to your local store and collect it yourself. This means that it is impossible to buy the arch at the advertised price.

Perhaps it's just me but seems a bit of a con. Perhaps it would be less misleading to list the arch as being £38 but offer free delivery. Or otherwise do what everyone else does and have free collection from a store.

maninthestreet

It's probably not practical to pick it up at the store, due to it's size and/or weight.

FatAndy

I'll find out tomorrow as I've ordered one for delivery but based on the dimensions and materials used I'd be very surprised if I couldn't have got into my wife's car (which is a small people carrier).

It's one of these - http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7201709/Trail/searchtext%3EGARDEN+ARCH.htm

Halloway

Sorry if this sounds rude but what's the problem? It's perfectly normal to advertise a price for an item excluding delivery. It's scarcely a con. It's up to Argos whether they permit an item to be collected or not.

FatAndy

My problem is that they are advertising a product for £32 but making sure that there's no way whatsoever to buy the item for that price. I'm not saying it's a con as such but I was quite pleased when I thought I could but the item for £32 and was disappointed to find that it in fact cost £38.

If they are advertising the item for £32 I think that it should be possible to buy it for £32!

barloo69

Nope sorry. FatAndy, Im with you Im afraid. How can it be feasible to list the price of an item at a certain amount, but in order to get this item you no option other than HAVE to pay a delivery charge.

As Andy says, list the item for the total price and then state free delivery.

If I were you Andy then fire off a letter to Argos HQ. It doesnt hurt does it ?

FatAndy

Good idea. I could understand having to pay delivery for a bed or a large item of furniture but not for an item that could (possibly) fit in a car or van. Last year we bought a fridge freezer from Comet which we were able to collect from the store FOC so I can't see why Argos couldn't offer the same option.

mrcol1000

FatAndy wrote: »

My problem is that they are advertising a product for £32 but making sure that there's no way whatsoever to buy the item for that price. I'm not saying it's a con as such but I was quite pleased when I thought I could but the item for £32 and was disappointed to find that it in fact cost £38.

If they are advertising the item for £32 I think that it should be possible to buy it for £32!

But if I buy a pair of socks from Littlewoods at £5 I still get charged £3.95 postage? I could easily put them in the boot of my car. There are millions of things that are advertised on the internet for sale and in catalouges that you have to pay a postage charge for. If you think its unfair then don't buy the item!
Some people really have too much time on their hands!!

Halloway

FatAndy wrote: »

I'm not saying it's a con as such

FatAndy wrote: »

Perhaps it's just me but seems a bit of a con.

Glad we cleared that one up.

Shiny.Side.Up

Andy; Argos only have limited amounts of space in their stores. Do you honestly think they can house everything in their stores? Even if it was as simple as "collect in store", you'd still have to find space to store these things until the customer collects them.

Having worked in Argos on two occasions in two stores, I can assure you that their store rooms are floor-to-ceiling racking with stock on every part of it, and there is no more room for extram stock while people decide when in the next month is suitable for them to collect it.

Pound

OK, suppose that Argos took on board your suggestion and scrapped their delivery charge and increased the price of all their items by £5.80...

If you want to buy one item for home delivery you're paying the same price either way, but of course you pay the price you see in the catalogue.

Now, suppose that you want to buy ten items for home delivery. Before you would only have had to pay £5.80 for delivery of all 10 of these items. With your suggestion you would have to pay ten lots of £5.80!

So your suggestion would mean some customers have to pay a lot more but no customers pay less.