Arrrrggghhhhgos - why bother with catalogue shopping?

bruneythedog

Apologies, I need to vent some spleen. WHY do I bother ordering from Argos? It's always either broken or the wrong thing. Ordered some heated curlers a couple of days ago and was prepared to wait in all day as per the delivery instructions. It arrived at 9.20 - hurrah! Except, someone at the Argos warehouse thinks that a pack of manky curtain hooks looks like heated rollers?? :mad: Anyway, I know I coulda got a refund, but decided to wait it out another two days to get re-delivered on Friday. I wrote them though, and said I'd 'eat my face before I ordered from them again'. Yikes, I better stick to it this time, the stakes are high! Oof. Oh yeah, then I told them I was going to tell everyone at MSE! lol. That'll have 'em quaking. In conclusion - do yerself a favour and think twice about Argos - it may be cheap, but it's usually rubbish.
BTD - needing sympathy, please.

bruneythedog

Well, now I've calmed down a bit I s'pose I should put into context that this is the latest in many bad shopping experiences at Argos - the last one took three trips to Wood Green Argos to get a heater that worked. Ah well. Rant over. Sorry 'bout that.

wishingonastar_3

glad you got it off your chest. if its any consolation i ordered a bed from them about a year ago, and they turned up with a three piece suite, at quarter to six, when i'd been in all day, took a day off work, and would have been home at that time anyways.

RachelD

I'm in the middle of a bad Argos experience. I am having a complete bathroom revamp. I am disabled and find it difficult traipsing round shops, so decided to order the matching items I wanted on line. I ordered a vanity sink unit from Argos, and when the fitter came to build it the wood was split in 3 places. I was outside my time limit but they agree to exchange. My fitter goes off to another job, my second delivery is a week later and I examine it carefully- the lorry driver is reluctant, acts like there is never anything wrong, and why am I making a fuss. We open the package and find split wood again. Try to replace the split item with one from the first delivery but they are both damaged.

I ring Argos and am told they CAN'T PRE-INSPECT AN ITEM UNTIL IT HAS BEEN RETURNED 3 TIMES!! I think it's appalling they wait for 3 deliveries of damaged goods. I asked to speak to a supervisor , got put on hold and cut off after 12 minutes. (Thank goodness i had the sense not to ring the 0870 no.) I'm rather stuck with Argos as the sink unit matches my cupboard and bath panels, mirror etc

The guy on the phone offers £20 vouchers but I don't want to buy anything from Argos ever again. I've been stuck with a half finished bathroom and although my fitter is good , I come after his booked clients. I'm going to wait for my third delivery on Monday and then write and complain and ask for compensation.

Has anyone had a similar experience and got retribution?

Rachel

bruneythedog

Well, thanks for the support - I had a feeling it couldn't just be me. But your experiences sound much worse! I think Argos is my 'jinx shop' - you know, the one that most people have no problems with, but it always goes pear-shaped for me... what I did with the cursed heater was on my last trip to the store, I made 'em open the box and plug it in - granted that doesn't help big things like beds and stuff. I'm feeling your pain, though!

Mack_3

Argos delivery service = Terrible, they couldn't pick right if theyre lives depended on it, the drivers are awfull, they refuse to drop off/pick stuff up etc. you really hear some horror stores about it, i would never use them if i had the choice.

In store we tend to be more helpfull, but we do sell some crap, i would personally never recomend anyone buy anything that Argos have manufactured - Cookworks, Challenge etc. Also Alba/Bush/Goodmans = a bit dodgey, but the majority of brand name stuff we sell we hardly ever get back. I suppose there is a market for cheap stock, so corners have to be cut....

haveagoade

Argos don't manufacture anything.!

Stockie

haveagoade wrote:

Argos don't manufacture anything.!

They buy direct from factories in china and brand it as their own. Same type a thing as Tesco baked beans, someone makes them for tesco and sticks tesco's label on them.
The main trouble is it made to a price, not made and then priced. But if all consumers do is shop on price not quality we are going to end up with a lot more stuff like this.

Go to a store if it isn't home delivery only, at least the staff can tell the differnce between curtains and hair curlers!

Stockie

bruneythedog

Yup, you're right, I should've been more patient and ordered them for store pick-up (they weren't in stock when I went in, which is why I ordered online). Course, being in store is no guarantee it'll actually work when you get 'em home, from past experience...

jennybear

Argos are not the manufacturers of these goods - we do not have staff sitting out the back making toasters or hair tongs - we are just an agent that sells on goods that other people eg Sony make. The chances of getting a faulty Sony TV for example is just as high if you purchase it from Curry's.

Stockie

jennybear wrote:

Argos are not the manufacturers of these goods - we do not have staff sitting out the back making toasters or hair tongs - we are just an agent that sells on goods that other people eg Sony make. The chances of getting a faulty Sony TV for example is just as high if you purchase it from Curry's.

True that Argos don't make good themselves, but all the lines that are direct imported such as the challange/co*kworks stuff etc Argos are resposible for from the factory door where they bought it from in china. It dosen't apply quite the same to stuff that's sold on behalf of another company such as mobiles as customer can also have the benifit of the other companys customer services team(s).

But you are right about chances of faulty products - if a company such as apple make a batch of ipods with dodgy easily scratced screens or sony have a batch of PS2's with faulty power cords (again!) they go out to every shop (argos,currys etc) chances are the same whether you get a duff one in any store. It's what the store does when the item(s) are returned that's the critical point. You get it either right or wrong!

Stockie