Argos - click and reserve facility

jaxs

I reserved a tv last night on Argos's website and my husband went to collect it today only to be told the order had been cancelled. The manager came over and told my hubby that someone had come in this morning and used the same reservation number and bought the tv!!! He couldn't explain how this had happened (and didn't seem to care either). He checked the computer and told hubby that two other stores had the tv's ..... the stores were miles away.

I'd like to know how this has happened. I rang Argos customer services to complain and the person I spoke to told me it couldn't happen as all reservations numbers are unique. I personally think (rightly or wrongly) that it was an 'inside job' and as it was the only one of this particular tv left, someone in the store decided it wasn't going to be sold. I can't think of any other explanation. If it was a keying error when the assistant put it in and someone had reserved a kettle for example, I think they would have noticed the difference.

We did get another tv (and it was cheaper) but thats not the point!

Anyone else had this happen to them?

stugib

jaxs wrote: »

Anyone else had this happen to them?

I have a vague recollection of someone on these boards having a similar problem a year or so ago - think they same to the same conclusion that the staff decided it was too good a deal for a customer to buy and had it themselves.

looby75

it was over on the grabbit argos board I think.

jaxs

Do you know what happened? The customer service lady said she'd put it through as a complaint and I should hear from the head office.

Alexandria

Having worked for Argos many moons ago I imagine the more truthful answer is that they discovered on picking that the item was not instock. Its not unusual for the stocking info to be wrong due to a miscount, or for the item to not be in the right place and if its a big warehouse they sometimes don't feel like searching!

mrbnewc1

Makes a bit of a mockery of the reserve and collect facility doesn' it. Often people live miles from the store, so they rely on Argos telling them that it's in stock, that it's been reserved and that it can be collected on a certain date.

I'd have been fuming! The manager telling you that someone else had used your reservation number and actually bought the tv sounds like a great big lie to me.

nrsql

The collect and reserve terms probably say that they don't guarantee the item will be available.
Hapened to me (think it was PC World) and customer services pointed this out but couldn't say what use the facility was.

HonestJohn

It was probably a miscount. Same thing happened to me today. Made a special journey to pick up a car battery charger that I had reserved and they couldn't find it.
Would be nice if the reserve system gave an indication of numbers in stock as this is the second time this has happened to me.
They suggested I might travel 20 mile to another shop with stock but seemed indifferent. I suggested they might offer free delivery for me but that was quickly refused.

deanos

HonestJohn wrote: »

Would be nice if the reserve system gave an indication of numbers in stock as this is the second time this has happened to me.
.

You can sort of, just add 10 items to the basket and then check stock if you can potentialy reserve them then they have 10 or more in stock , any less and it will tell you its sold out, so just drop the quantity and check again until it says in stock :beer: