Argos Direct been naughty

Wrighty46

Hi there,

Ordered 3 items from Argos on Monday to be delivered on 17th July 2007. The items were only available for HOME DELIVERY ONLY. I waited in all day for delivery but no Argos van arrived. On the Wednesday afternoon I checked my Credit Card account and it had been charged on Monday morning for the full amount. I decided to ring Argos to see when delivery would be.

"All the items are out of stock " I was told. I said "you sent me emails for each item on Monday to say items are now in stock as I have been waiting a week for them to be in stock" "Well there out of stock" the girl said and you will have to ring us back in 3-5 days to see if they are in stock again.
"Well why did you then charge my credit card for the items when you knew they were out of stock" I asked. "we always charge credit cards first" she said.

I was really annoyed and angry about this. It will take 7-10 days for the credit card to be recharged and my bill will arrive in before the credit transaction is completed.

I had Emailed Argos on the Tuesday night to ask them to confirm the Delivery date to me. However I did not get a reply until late Wednesday night. They apologised about the problem and had reserved 2 of the items at my local store available for collection until Thursday 19th July.
Why did they not arrage for a driver to delivery them to me. I could not get to the store as I am in a wheelchair and I could not manage a 4"6" headboard and a nest of 3 glass topped tables in my Wheelchair. I replyed back to their email explaining my predicument and they have replaied saying they will not be getting anymore stock of these items and they say they have refunded my card. I will have to ring them and confirm this tomorrow.

I find the whole experiance with Argos Website and Customer services a shammbles. I have used the internet to purchase items for almost 10 years and I have never had anyone charge me for items which had not been dispatched/out of stock. This has really annoyed me and I have wrote to headoffice to complain about the service I have received.

I wonder how much money Argos make each year keeping customers credit/debit card transactions in there bank accounts for 7-10 days at a time.

Just wondered if anyone else has had any other problems with Argos.

regards
Wrighty46

PPS, just checked on the site now and headboards out of stock but tables are now saying in stock at local store for pick up??? I cannot work Argos out, no-one seems to be able to tell the truth.

Mark7799

I'm interested to see that other people are still having these experiences with Argos Direct. Admittedly it's now about 4 years since we used them but we made a conscious effort to stop using them after two horrendous experiences (with a home entertainment system and a wardrobe)

skintchick

I had a nightmare with them some years ago when I bought new wardrobes. Aside from the issues with the prodcts themselves, their CS woman was so rude to me I got her sacked. Would never use them again.

diddlydum

Argos are fairly bad, you should consider giving Consumer Direct a call as they're behaving very shadily, if not downright illegally.

Make a written complaint (not email) and see what happens. They might bung you a few quid.

mrcow

I avoid them like the plague now after they messed me around with a mattress order about 3 years ago.

Diabolical customer services.

They dont deserve my money.

kickstart_3

Ordered two sofa's , was charged and delivery man did turn up ! Took one look and decided he wasnt bringing them off the van , as he said they wouldnt get through the door. I pointed out that the previous sofa was a lot bigger than the ones i ordered and that came in fine. He walked off ,got back in the van and drove off. Phone call to customer services and was told , 'we cant do anything'

Bernard_Coleslaw

kickstart wrote: »

Ordered two sofa's , was charged and delivery man did turn up ! Took one look and decided he wasnt bringing them off the van , as he said they wouldnt get through the door. I pointed out that the previous sofa was a lot bigger than the ones i ordered and that came in fine. He walked off ,got back in the van and drove off. Phone call to customer services and was told , 'we cant do anything'

...and what did you do then?

I'm hoping your answer would be along the lines of "Kicked up a real stink, got senior bods at Argos running around to help me out, etc"

Because if we don't complain, and complain properly, we'll all end up with the service we deserve.

Tim_Deegan

I really don't know why people on this site often rave about argos. Apart from the fact that their service is cr#p, I have been trying to tell people that they aren't as cheap as people think.

We sell a brass finish king size bedstead for £178. But recently a customer pointed out that Argos sell the same model for £349.99. So I had a good look, and zoomed in on the picture as much as I could, and I'm positive that it is the same model bed.

Clive_Woody

Similar experience for us. We ordered a cross trainer from them. When it arrived the box was held together with bits of brown tape. When we opened it up all the screws were missing as were the assembly instructions. We phoned Argos Direct up and told them what had happened. They assured us it had never been sent to anybody else before and was not a returned item, despite me describing it's current state to them. They said they would send out some screws and instructions on how to assemble it. They sent out the wrong screws and no instructions. We phoned again and they said it had been dealt with and there was nothing else they could do. In the end I phoned the manufacturer and they were great and sent out the parts we needed and said they had had loads of complaints about Argos Direct.

I wrote to Argos to complain and got back a really snotty letter basically denying everything. Their customer service really is appalling, I will not be buying anything from them again.

Wrighty46

UPDATE:

I have written to Head Office regarding the problems i have with Argos and non-delivery of items ordered. I will let you know what the outcome is.

Don't forget that Argos had my money in there Bank Account for 7-10 days before I had it returned. I wonder how much money they accumulate each year through doing that.

Could anyone please let me know if this is the right address for Head Office.

Argos
489 Avenbury Avenue
Milton Keynes
MK9 2NW


Many thanks for all your comments.

Wrighty46

sazzyb

I'm also having horrendous time with Argos - ordered dishwasher & washer on 5th September, more fool us, but we wanted them interest free, which i could get with argos card and nowhere else so took the plunge.

Anyway, over 6 weeks later and STILL waiting for dishwasher. Received letter on 13th Sept. stating the two items would not be available until 13th October, though highly possibly before. Gave CS a ring and had a big moan, got the £4.95 delivery refunded - WOW! But was told there was no stock of either appliance and that we'd have to wait til 13th Oct. Rang up again on 28th September to see if any stock on horizon as was fed up of waiting and was told the washer had been in stock all along; it was the dishwasher not in so could have washer delivered whenver - was i p****d off, still no sign of compensation.

Waited patiently til 13th Oct and gave them a ring yesterday only to be told no dishwasher stock til 29th Oct. I am MAD! I went ape on the phone to the poor bloke whose fault it isn't but I have to vent it some way; he said it is unacceptable and they would be willing to compensate but not until the item has been delivered, what a joke. I threatened to cancel and would do if i could find same dishwasher elsewhere but looked all over web. I think this is disgusting and argos will not be having my custom again.

To wait this long and still be waiting is ridiculous and their abysmal offer of some kind of compo is a joke - 2 months for a dishwasher and to be compensated with what...£50 of argos vouchers that i have to spend there anyway...sorry folks, just needed to get it all off my chest with ppl who'll understand!