Not EVERYTHING in Argos is a bargain - be warned!

KittyKate

Just to warn you all what a rip off some of the items in the Argos 'sale' brochure really are.

My dad (who has a summer 06 catalogue) was looking in the catalogue for a new microwave. Saw one at £39.99 (think it was a DeLonghi, not sure). Few days later a sale brochure came with the paper. He looks in to see if the microwave has been reduced. It said save £10! Was £49.99 now £39.99 meaning they obviously upped the price in the winter catalogue in order to shift them in the 'sale' after Christmas.

Worse still, a few days before Christmas my dad said he would like an electric blanket (single). Checked Argos (winter 06 and the website) and Boots - the exact same Dreamland blanket was £29.99 in both, but I opted for Boots as I got 1000 bonus advantage points.

Went to Argos last night to get a dinner service in the clearance sale and on the clearance board AND brochure the self same blanket is £32.99 with a big SALE! next to it. It was cheaper on Christmas eve!!!

Whilst there are some excellent bargains to be had (my dinner service was £15 from £30!) there are some dodgy practices going on and not everything is actually the cheapest regardless of showy adverts and signs.

jamesp_3

Oh come on! Its hardly a 'Rip Off'

Argos were having a big sale leading up to Christmas so most of the items that are currently reduced were reduced then. Some items are just not reduced as much!

As for your boots issue, its hardly an Argos rip off. Boots are just offering there own incentive deal. Lots of retailers do this and as a consumer you can make your choice of where to shop based on what people offer.

jackieb

I agree, you just have to be wary though. I got a great bargain in Argos last year of a Tefal steam generator iron for half price.

Carrie.F

As Always...

Caveat emptor

Mack_3

The best way to tell if your getting a bargain or not with Argos is look at the pricing diamonds next to the price of each item, if you look at the rear of the flyer there will be an explanation (in v small print) to what they mean....

Theres stuff like; "this item has previously been on sale at this price" "this item has previously been on sale at a lower price" also stuff like its been charged at interveening prices etc, its done to confuse people and apparently trading standards really dont like it. I think if you really wanted the pricing history of something you could ask a CA as a years worth of price changes are saved on the instore computer, just depends if they would tell you or not....

Edit - The worst thing about Argos however is the supposed price reductions of stuff.... they just bring the item in a month before a promotion launches at say £150 and send stores a poster with the price on... noone will ever buy it as most stores dont even display the poster (its not in the catalogue etc), then after 28 days they will start to stock build it, then reduce it to say £75 and then claim its half price, where in reality it probably isn't... the current vacuum cleaner promotion is a prime example of this!

OldNelly

Loads of shops do this, especially the ones selling leather sofas in the post Chrismas sales!

MrRee_2

Does it matter?

As long as you do research and don't get duped - I think everyone on here is too smart for that - then Argos is a great bargain centre.

BUT - what I do notice they do which is very underhand is they offer amazing bargains but there is no stock at all (and never was!) just to be the top line on any search ................. just try the Argos offer on the Olympus FE140 - £65 but NO STOCK ANYWHERE!

jayok

I have had some fantastic bargains off Argos during the last 2 years (especially yhe 75% clearance ones). Do your research and you will not be duped

KittyKate

jamesp wrote:

Oh come on! Its hardly a 'Rip Off'

Argos were having a big sale leading up to Christmas so most of the items that are currently reduced were reduced then. Some items are just not reduced as much!

As for your boots issue, its hardly an Argos rip off. Boots are just offering there own incentive deal. Lots of retailers do this and as a consumer you can make your choice of where to shop based on what people offer.

It's not really 'my Boots issue', I was just making people aware Argos sales are not all they are made out to be.

As for your previous comment on the sale...I don't think you actually understood what I said in my OP so I'll leave it.

I know how to check prices. I know how to shop sensibly. But some of Argos' practices are far from honest IMO.

YES you can get bargains there but why are people posting about those? That's not what I was talking about. Well done for getting a good deal, but, er, I wasn't asking!?

Anyway, to those who I helped be a bit more wary, I am still thankful I posted.

Dave_T_UK

Don't you think that Argos's prices have generally gone up, since thier rival catalogue store Index(Littlewoods) closed down.

MOCHA

It's called 'the free market' it's not as if these were the only two outlets for goods in the past.