Occasional Dirt Cheap TV's Dixons & Currys

terrierlady

I think lots of us have had this problem with this site on their special deals.

fifo_2

A little word on Dixons / Currys / PC World "bargains". If it

A) Looks to good to be true
and
Ends in 7p, 97p, x7.00 or x97.00

99 % of the time you won't get it !

The traditional pricing system at Currys group was based around the stores and to help those simple souls, and often poorly trained or informed, staff we called Currys/Dixons sales "assistants" (ho ho ho !)

A 299.99 item is reduced to 299.98. The price ticket on the shelf edge tells the sales "assistant", (who cannot answer any of your questions about the product) that as well as deperartely trying to flog you an extended guarantee, when faced with a wall of a particular product, try and shift that item first as Currys head office need the shelf space for a new line, or new technology in that area.

The item is then reduced to 299.97, ditto for our sales assistant, the shelf price label tells them to get rid of it quicker than the ones ending in 98p or 99p to clear the shelf space. Once it ends in "7" it is "officially" a "clearance item".

Once it is "clearance" the item is placed on a schedule of reductions, the item keep getting reduced, all the way to 7p eventually. From 299.97 it will then be reduced something like 249.97 then 199.97 then 149.97 - somewhere along the line eagle eyed shoppers will notice a bargain and snap them up, Sometimes they will put a sign on the shelf saying "Clearance, Get It While You Can" etc, sometimes the more helpful assistants will point them out (and there is a bonus scheme for them to do so) - but whether in stcok or sold out the system keeps going 99.97, 79.97, 69.96, 49.97 and so on all the way to 7p.

The items keep getting reduced but even if the item is completely sold out, not even made anymore, or the technology does not even exist anymore, as its on the "system", the system keeps reducing the item to eventually 7p, however, while the item is still "on the system" there is no stock and never will be.

I believe that the rather pressurised Dixons / Currys assistants are regularly analysed on things such as how many extended guarantees they have sold, are they meeting certain targets etc, and one of these is a bonus scheme for how many "clearance" items they have shifted.

I could direct you to laptops, printers and so on that show on "they system" at 7p, but you are simply not going to get them , as it is all "academic", for example, there are Pentium 2 computers for 7p, but of course, nobody makes Pentium 2 computers anymore, or items from companies that have long disapeared.

However take it all with a "pinch of salt", while errors do occour with their bigger goods as they have a long way to drop, the cheaper goods spotted in Grabbit often do turn up. In the past few years I have had printer paper, blank DVDs and video cassettes, batteries, and some X Box games ! Win some lose some.

riker71

Thanks to TCDMCT on Hotukdeals for this info:

martin.meech@dsgiplc.com Managing Director
nick.wood@dsgiplc.com Director for The Link and Dixons
tara.vincent@thelink.co.uk Nick Woods PA

Similar thread over at
http://www.hotukdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22846&page=3

Hopefully if enough people vent their spleen something can be done about the utterly abysmal stock system that they run making buyers believe they have got a bargain when in fact its never going to arrive. Theres no excuse for them to keep doing this.

gerretl

fifo wrote:

A little word on Dixons / Currys / PC World "bargains". If it

A) Looks to good to be true
and
Ends in 7p, 97p, x7.00 or x97.00

99 % of the time you won't get it !

The traditional pricing system at Currys group was based around the stores and to help those simple souls, and often poorly trained or informed, staff we called Currys/Dixons sales "assistants" (ho ho ho !)

A 299.99 item is reduced to 299.98. This tells the sales "assistant", (who cannot answer any of your questions about the product) that as well as deperartely trying to flog you an extended guarantee, when faced with a wall of a particular product, the price labels tell them they should try and shift that item first as Currys need the shelf space for a new line, or new technology in that area.

The item is then reduced to 299.97, ditto for our sales assistant, the shelf price label tells them to get rid of it quicker than the ones ending in 98p or 99p to clear the shelf space. Once it ends in "7" it is "officially" a "clearance item".

Once it is "clearance" the item is placed on a schedule of reductions, from 299.97 it will then be reduced something like 249.97 then 199.97 then 149.97 - somewhere along the line eagle eyed shoppers will notice a bargain and snap them up. The items keep getting reduced but even if the item is completely sold out, not even made anymore, or the technology does not even exist anymore, the "system" keeps reducing the item to eventually 97p and then 7p which is the lowest it goes ! However, while the item is still "on the system" there is no stock and never will be.

I believe that Dixons / Currys assistants are regularly analysed on things such as how many extended guarantees they have sold and there is a bonus scheme for selling "clearance" items.

I could direct you to laptops, printers and so on that show on "they system" at 7p and 97p, but you are simply not going to get them , as it is all "academic", for example, there are Pentium 2 computers for 97p, but of course, nobody makes Pentium 2 computers anymore, or items from companies that have long disapeared.

Fifo
You obviously do not know what you are talking about. I work hard at Currys trying to get people the right product and have very few comebacks through mis-sales.. A look at my previous posting will show I have helped a lot of people on this site (for free) over some questions they have regarding the product they want to buy. Yes, we are measured on the product support we sell, but we get no bonus for selling clearance. Most of our time is spent dealing with people who can't be bothered to do a little research before they walk into a shop. ("Whats the difference between LCD and Plasma?" being the classic. We smile and patiently explain it, while a glazed expression goes over the persons face.)
We spot people like you a mile off, who seem to think they are somehow superior human beings. Stop your ignorant assumptions, and actually talk to the assistants with a little respect, and they may not blank you.

fifo_2

gerretl wrote:

Fifo
You obviously do not know what you are talking about. I work hard at Currys trying to get people the right product and have very few comebacks through mis-sales.. A look at my previous posting will show I have helped a lot of people on this site (for free) over some questions they have regarding the product they want to buy. Yes, we are measured on the product support we sell, but we get no bonus for selling clearance. Most of our time is spent dealing with people who can't be bothered to do a little research before they walk into a shop. ("Whats the difference between LCD and Plasma?" being the classic. We smile and patiently explain it, while a glazed expression goes over the persons face.)
We spot people like you a mile off, who seem to think they are somehow superior human beings. Stop your ignorant assumptions, and actually talk to the assistants with a little respect, and they may not blank you.

Hi Gerret,

I am afraid you are making far more assumptions than me here !

I don't assume anything, I don't think I am superior. I do talk to the assistants with respect. But if you do a straw poll about customer service in a variety of chain stores, I think you will find that the average shopper would rate Currys / Dixons staff as some of the worst on the high street. Indeed have a look around these forums and you'll probably find they are the most complained about retailer.

In store assistants are there precisely for people who don't do their research. That's one of the reasons that internet shopping is cheaper.

But on the high street, some Currys/Dixons staff are really worse than other chains. Not takign no for an anwer on an extended guarantee for a 10 toaster/kettle. Blantantly lying or making an answer up instead of just taking a moment to check. Blantantly lying about consumer law, rights, etc. Simply having a CantBeArsed attitude.

And it really says something when as an occasional customer you have to show a Currys / Dixons assistant how to operate the Eclipse system which they sit in front of all day and can't be bothered to learn ! Many times I have been faced with an assistant who does not know how to do a stock check, an area search for a nearer store simply by changing the LDC option, the correct words to use to do an effective wildcard search, check the variants for a special offer

They are shocked when you show them how "Do you work for Dixons" ? No I simply watched how your colleague did it once ... (but you don't say if I can learn how to do it in moments, how come you won't spend five minutes when it is quiet and boring to do it when it's your job, instead of texting your mates, as that would be being rude and superior. !)

There are some good Currys/Dixons staff, but they are heavily outnumbered but the very bad ones

And this will continue to be so as long as they rely on a high turnover of poorly trained, poorly paid part time staff, who have to rely on bonuses rather than a flat fee which affects the way they interact with customers, forced to "upsell" accessories, rather than being "straight" like say Carphone Warehouse staff, are "biased" because of what their managers are forcing them to do. The bad bits of currys/dixons come straight from the top, and the good people (like you for example) are hampered by this.

I am always polite, and expect the best, but nobody who has ever shopped on the high street, that in comparison with other chains, currys/dixons have a reputation as having some of the poorest staff and customer service.

anewman

riker71 wrote:

Hopefully if enough people vent their spleen something can be done about the utterly abysmal stock system that they run making buyers believe they have got a bargain when in fact its never going to arrive. Theres no excuse for them to keep doing this.

Remember there are terms and conditions of purchase! And also when you order and the site cannot check stock, this is clearly stated when you are asked to select 3 delivery dates! Be reasonable!

riker71

anewman wrote:

Remember there are terms and conditions of purchase! And also when you order and the site cannot check stock, this is clearly stated when you are asked to select 3 delivery dates! Be reasonable!

The point I am making is not about terms or about the site not being able to check stock,but about Dixons/Currys abysmal system, which allows people to order these TVs when they are confirmed as "in stock" during the night but then out of stock during the day, back in stock next night, out of stock during the next day etc. Its not unreasonable for them to have a half decent stock system and actually give an accurate picture of what is in stock rather than mislead people by saying in stock, allowing them to enter their Credit card details only to be told next day

Dear Customer,
Please accept our apologies but due to high demand, the ************** television you ordered from Dixons/Currys Online has sold out and unfortunately
there is no more stock of this model available. Your order for this product has been cancelled and we can confirm that no money has been debited from
your credit / debit card.

If this is the case they should then remove the product from the website rather then allowing people to be mislead.

MoneySavingSpender

ricker71 is spot on, what DSG is doing with these deals is misleading and breaks advertising laws IMHO.

It's amazing that the dispicable but nevertheless cheap ebuyer stock levels can be have website stock levels which are accurate and DSG does not.

The entire scheme around this type of listings from DSG since last year now is done very purposefully and deliberately without a single care of the time wasted by customers on it's site and the false listings of products of which it has none in stock and allowing thousands of people to order them is bordering on mafia type behaviour, the sooner trading standards and ASA investigate this, the better.

anewman

I agree. It is misleading where it says to check stock enter your postcode then it adds it to your basket (when it might not have done earlier). I can understand the grievances to this point. However, even though it's not in massive red letters, it does say "stock cannot be checked" when you are asked about the delivery date - and you are asked to actively agree to terms and conditions that cover this eventuality.

xFlake

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0679029863.1155829744@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccegaddiildfgmkcflgceggdhhmdgmj.0&page=Product&fm=20&sm=0&tm=undefined&sku=000367&category_oid=-25961

DIGIX LA2000 20" FLAT PANEL TV

Please note that this TV is a refurbished set and comes with a FULL 12 months warranty.

Standard Delivery £19.99