Currys/PC World selling used TV's as new

Southernman

My parents bought a telly the other week from Currys and asked for it to be delivered.

Now my mum stayed in all day waiting and it never arrived. Turns out Currys had LOST IT!?!

We still have no idea what happened to it even though it was paid for. Currys offered another more expensive one in the end but my parents missed the Eurovision (shown once a year and extremely important in our household) and had to watch it on the 12 inch screen in the kitchen instead!!

byron_hinson

sekrapa wrote: »

I had a similar experience with Comet several years ago. My "new" TV was already tuned, had a scratched base and there were scratches over the TV case and screen. It turned out that the TV was supposed to be in the returned bay, but was wrongly placed in the new bay. It was quickly changed for a new one. They delivered the new one on a Sunday and collected the used one. Problem sorted. Did I want compensation for my inconvenience? No. I got the TV replaced a few days later when convenient for me. Overall a good service and an apology from the store manager.

It may be just a simple mix-up. It looks like they were sorry and offered a replacement. Can't see what more they can do part from coming to your house to redecorate your room for your new TV. Sometimes it can be frustrating, but mistakes can be innocently made.

Although you waited longer than expected to, staff can be busy doing several things at once.

Oh completly understand if they were busy, though that wasnt the case which they admitted, it was just multiple people doing a bad job.
Don't want compensation and never asked for any either...simply pointing out the poor service and selling of used goods as new...might well be a mistake,but I'm paying 1200 I don't expect one.

Glad you got yours sorted well.

Looksguywalker

Southernman wrote: »

My parents bought a telly the other week from Currys and asked for it to be delivered.

Now my mum stayed in all day waiting and it never arrived. Turns out Currys had LOST IT!?!

We still have no idea what happened to it even though it was paid for. Currys offered another more expensive one in the end but my parents missed the Eurovision (shown once a year and extremely important in our household) and had to watch it on the 12 inch screen in the kitchen instead!!

Next year suggest they move the 12 inch into the living room?

SaLoGo

While I feel for the OP...

am I the only person in the world who has had nothing but excellent service from Currys? The staff at my local store are fabulous and have often gone out of their way for me. Maybe they've been better trained there than other stores?

faerie~spangles

Shock horror

the op was not treated like royalty

Jakg

It sucks you got the wrong TV, but it doesn't sound like it was in any way intentional - much more likely to be an accident.

If you received poor service (i.e. felt you had to wait to long), then by all means mention it, but don't labour the point in a letter of complaint - it just erodes your point as it makes you sound like "a customer who can't be pleased".

frustratedexjlemployee

I can't offer much in the way of advice, but to this:

byron_hinson wrote: »

When the TV was placed in our car I could clearly see that the box had been resealed which was bad enough, but then with a more detailed check it even had the delivery address of the previous owner who received the TV. It stated that they had the TV delivered to them at the end of May and clearly returned it either due to a fault or because it wasn’t wanted. Yet most people won’t open up the box and take out the TV if it was purchased mistakenly.

People do. They open them, stick them out and decide they dont match the wallpaper, or the colour is a bit too black and send them back. If it was taken back as not fault, and the customer insisted it hadn't been used (and imagine the complaints if the staff wanted to check anyway) I can see why it was put back in stock. The staff member probably thought it was sealed, and if they opened it to check they'd be devaluing an expensive item.

People are too happy to buy goods and return them frivolously, but resent it if they're charged even 5% of the item's value for it.

But yes, most returns will not be due to faults (no, not knowing how to use something isn't a fault) and will be done within the first few days of purchase, and they will unbox it all first.

I don't know if it is policy for currys to sell used stuff as new, as you accuse. It's far more likely that they simply didn't spot it had been opened because frivolous returners turn nasty if you want to actually look too closely at their returned goods, as if it's an accusation.

Fosterdog

It could also be possible that a customer bought the TV and returned it unopened but the staff did open it to check that it was still new and unused and they resealed it instore.

As it had never been used and only opened in store they would still be selling a brand new product and not a "second hand" one.

Another explanation could be that somebody asked to look at the TV before they'd had time/space to put that model on display so the store may have opened it just to show somebody and then resealed the box. Again this still makes it a brand new TV. They should have then used the opened one to put on display but if a different member of staff put one out they may not have realised that one had already been opened.

George_Michael

Fosterdog wrote: »

Another explanation could be that somebody asked to look at the TV before they'd had time/space to put that model on display so the store may have opened it just to show somebody and then resealed the box. Again this still makes it a brand new TV..

This couldn't be the case in this instance.

I could clearly see that the box had been resealed which was bad enough, but then with a more detailed check it even had the delivery address of the previous owner who received the TV. It stated that they had the TV delivered to them at the end of May and clearly returned it either due to a fault or because it wasn’t wanted.

spike7451

sekrapa wrote: »

I had a similar experience with Comet several years ago. My "new" TV was already tuned, had a scratched base and there were scratches over the TV case and screen. It turned out that the TV was supposed to be in the returned bay, but was wrongly placed in the new bay. It was quickly changed for a new one. They delivered the new one on a Sunday and collected the used one. Problem sorted. Did I want compensation for my inconvenience? No. I got the TV replaced a few days later when convenient for me. Overall a good service and an apology from the store manager.

It may be just a simple mix-up. It looks like they were sorry and offered a replacement. Can't see what more they can do part from coming to your house to redecorate your room for your new TV. Sometimes it can be frustrating, but mistakes can be innocently made.

Although you waited longer than expected to, staff can be busy doing several things at once.

Neighbor of mine bought a PC from a store that has now gone bust (Lazer Electronics) & it failed to start properly,the was no recovery discs with the PC,So we went to the store who said it was company policy not to supply recovery discs that come with every PC,Laptop ect,with the item.
They then gave my neighbor a ex display PC as they didn't have any new ones in stock,something I was urging my neigbor to get a refund & go somewhere else.
Got the PC home,turned it on & found !!!!!! on it...If I was my neighbor I would have been straight back to the store,but he decided to leave it as..