Aaaaaaargos!

Eels100

As a first time buyer, I've been scrimping and saving for furniture for my new house, into which I will be moving this weekend.

I found a nice bedframe and a dining table and chairs for a reasonable price from Homebase (Argos family). I was guaranteed 21 days delivery so I ordered them online 3 weeks ago to be sure they would arrive in time. Argos took the cash from my account on the 9th of May (2 weeks ago) and when I called customer services last week to check the order I was assured everything was fine and that someone would contact me to arrange delivery which was guaranteed to take place by this Sunday 28th May.

Today I received a letter from them saying that due to exceptional demand (hmmmm, think I should buy shares in cheap bedframe manufacturers, there's obviously a boom coming) they couldn't deliver my goods until June 28th - a whole month late! Called customer services in a strop to be told that the goods were in stock and would be delivered by 1st June (next Thursday) - no use to me now, as I've had to arrange time off work already. I'll just have to hope I can wangle some more.

When I asked for written confirmation that delivery would take place by then, I was advised that there was no facility to do this. Apparently their system is definitely accurate - except that the head's telling me it won't come for another month, and the *rse says it'll be here next week!

Meanwhile I can look forward to living in my new home - with nowhere to sleep and nothing to sit on or eat from! While Argos enjoy the benefits of over £200 of my hard-earned cash! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Threadhead

Argos were similarly hopeless with us, and then pulled it back at the last minute;

We ordered a dining table and chairs with a four week delivery date on them. The wait for delivery wasnt ideal, but we figured we'd manage without a table for a bit. Then, about 4 days before the 4 weeks were up, we got a letter saying it'd be at least another 3 weeks. Helpfully, the letter had no telephone/email contact details. The day after we got the letter, we got a phone call saying it's be with us in 3 days. And it was.

Hopefully they'll pull the same for you!

Eels100

OK, so here's where we're at: Delivery promised on Thursday didn't happen so I phoned them up and asked where my bed and table and chairs were. They politely informed me it was nothing to do with them because a third party courier was delivering the goods and it was out of their hands.
"Out of your hands? Oh no it ain't!" said I. "I paid you over £200, more than 3 weeks ago, and I have nothing to show for it. I am sleeping on the floor. I am sitting, and eating on the floor. And until I get my hard-earned, paid-for furniture, this matter will be very much in your hands whether you like it or not. YOU have my cash, YOU sort this out."

"Out of our hands, madam. But, as a gesture of goodwill and heartfelt generosity we'll be happy to send you a voucher for £10, which will be with you within 7 working days. I can also promise you that our courier will be in touch within 48 hours of this call."

"Stuff the voucher, if you can do THAT in 7 working days, then where's my SODDING BED!?"

So, I waited 48 hours, which took me to 5pm Saturday, and no call from a courier. No bed. No table. No chairs. No response to the letter of complaint I sent to their HQ 9 days ago.

So I'll head to bed now, on the floor, with my grumpy, back-ache-afflicted OH, and plan for tomorrow's telephone conversation. I have every faith that my complaint will be taken as seriously and dealt with as efficiently and result in as satisfactory an outcome as every other attempt.

Ever just feel like you're at their mercy? I've done my bit as a customer - given them money, waited home for deliveries, tried to be patient with call centres. Surely they can muster the energy to provide the goods? I could cry - I just want some furniture to put in my house, it killed me saving for it all and nothing's working out. Sniff.

Eels100

ts_aly2000 wrote:

You could just demand a refund outright. Although technically it's not a refund as there is nothing to refund.

I am sorely tempted but then that would leave me in the quandary of having to wait another however long to order more furniture, and I can't think of anywhere as cheap, because money's really tight just now.

Ref responsibility for delivery, perhaps you could make this point to Argos, because they won't listen to me telling them that! This morning I have a new promise from Customer Service that they will 'try' to get the courier to contact me sooner than the 5-7 DAYS (!!!!!!!!) that they normally would. So much for being guaranteed a call within 48 hours! And I asked Customer Services to get back to me to let me know what was happening and she just said "No.".

Hopeless, useless, waste of time and money. Never again will they have a penny more of mine.

jockettuk

when you get your furniture look see who the manufacturer of the furniture is there is normally something saying who made it.. and write to them saying that you will not buy anything from them again because of the way argos have been, might help give argos a kick up the rear end..

Eels100

OK, so no word all day, I called back, was told by some geek called Wayne that he was as high as I could go, and that he'd "try" to get some more info for me by tomorrow.

I wrote another letter today, after one of the myriad advisers I spoke with hung up on me when I asked to speak to management.

Sick of dealing with such ignorant money-grabbing c*cks!

fannyadams

Argos Head Orifice is in MK -
You want me to take the 'doggies' (psychotic alsatians) there?
There's a Holiday Inn just up the road from there if you wanna visit the orifice and hand deliver your message...

Eels100

Yes please, tell them there's a Bonio in it for them!

Crabman

Did you pay by credit card? Give the cc company a call if so and they can force a refund, called a chargeback. They also cover for dodgy delivery companies (seen the barclaycard adverts?)

Eels100

Crabman wrote:

Did you pay by credit card? Give the cc company a call if so and they can force a refund, called a chargeback. They also cover for dodgy delivery companies (seen the barclaycard adverts?)

Thanks but this is my problem - I'm sure they'd give a refund if I asked but I'll still be left without a bed or table if I cancel the order. If I do cancel it, I'll then have to find another supplier who is as cheap (unlikely!) and probably wait for them to deliver it. I'd rather have the furniture than the cash and a longer wait. It's getting them to actually deliver the sodding bits of wood that's the problem - I could have grown some trees, chopped 'em down and made my own by now! :eek:

Crabman

Eels100 wrote:

Thanks but this is my problem - I'm sure they'd give a refund if I asked but I'll still be left without a bed or table if I cancel the order. If I do cancel it, I'll then have to find another supplier who is as cheap (unlikely!) and probably wait for them to deliver it. I'd rather have the furniture than the cash and a longer wait. It's getting them to actually deliver the sodding bits of wood that's the problem - I could have grown some trees, chopped 'em down and made my own by now! :eek:

then just get a refund and order again??