Argos and secondhand goods sold as new

zoesmummy_2006

I bought a Nikon coolpix camera which was on offer earlier this year. I reserved it and my brother collected it for me as he works near an Argos store.

When he gave it to me that night I noticed the seal was broken but just assumed my brother had opened it to check it was there etc.An hour or so later after I'd finished having a play and figuring it out I put it back in the box.......only to notice that the model was different to the one I ordered!!! Though this was in my favour as it was a 2012 model that had only been out a few months and was retailing at £100-£150 more than I paid.

The only thing I couldnt figure out was that Argos didnt stock this model lol

Techhead_2

zoesmummy_2006 wrote: »

I bought a Nikon coolpix camera which was on offer earlier this year. I reserved it and my brother collected it for me as he works near an Argos store.

When he gave it to me that night I noticed the seal was broken but just assumed my brother had opened it to check it was there etc.An hour or so later after I'd finished having a play and figuring it out I put it back in the box.......only to notice that the model was different to the one I ordered!!! Though this was in my favour as it was a 2012 model that had only been out a few months and was retailing at £100-£150 more than I paid.

The only thing I couldnt figure out was that Argos didnt stock this model lol

I think this is an example of another Argos practice that can be inconvenient. Substitutions.

Especially because there seems to be a flaw in the reservation system. Which allows you to reserve an item (which has been substituted)without letting you know is been substituted. So you get to the store to find a different item waiting for you.

Wouldn't be a problem if the substitutions were always an equivalent or superior replacement, however in my experience they are often quite bizarre.

I've often wondered how they decide on a substitute?

Doc_N

Doc_N wrote: »

As I thought - this seems to be pretty standard practice with Argos.

fluffnutter wrote: »

I'm yet to be convinced that half a dozen anecdotal examples on an internet forum constitute 'standard practice'.

Maybe you'd like to reconsider now, in view of all the recent posts?

hartcjhart

Techhead wrote: »

I think this is an example of another Argos practice that can be inconvenient. Substitutions.

Especially because there seems to be a flaw in the reservation system. Which allows you to reserve an item (which has been substituted)without letting you know is been substituted. So you get to the store to find a different item waiting for you.

Wouldn't be a problem if the substitutions were always an equivalent or superior replacement, however in my experience they are often quite bizarre.

I've often wondered how they decide on a substitute?

tell me about it, I ordered fish and chips and ended up with chicken curry:eek:

inspace

I bought some curtains and they had white cat hairs on them and also on the sticky seal on the bag - not really an issue for me i just brushed the hairs off and put them up.

pmduk

suited-aces wrote: »

If you never expect to be able to make a return (unless faulty), fair enough. If you do expect them to go beyond statutory rights, then there's a bit of give and take required.

And the bolding was unnecessary.

When you next buy something paying for a new item, please make sure that it's you that gets second-hand goods, because it's not acceptable for me.

pawsies

I work for a retail store and we do put things back out that are returned. However, we are honest with it. If someone bought 4 solar lights, one didn't work we would take the remaining 3 and put them out and reduce them to the equivalent price for 3.

With the other one- it gets binned. Unfortunate but true. In fact anything that gets returned gets written off and binned if it is not in a sellable condition. We also send them back to manufacturers if there seems to be an issue with the product.

We haven't tried to deceive anyone into buying returned products and we are a budget retail store, probably cheaper than Argos!

It is shocking tbh. Those items should be reduced to reasonable price, it is a shame to see waste building up though in our store. Especially if it's something simple that could be fixed.