Argos Outlet on EBAY

dizzie

For anyone wishing to make a purchase from Argos Outlet (or indeed, it seems Argos in general online).....just a word of warning.

First, it seems that their stock levels are incorrect. This results in people purchasing items which they are told are "in stock".

Second, with any online purchase, you are required to make payment immediately (Paypal method is requested by Argos Outlet on Ebay).

But, it seems that having taken your payment, they then realise that they don't have the item in stock......but can't refund your money immediately.


Having purchased a rather expensive item from Argos Outlet on Friday last week, I received an "on hold" refund from Paypal on Monday. No explanation, apology or anything. In fact, if I hadn't checked my Paypal account, on Monday I'd have still been expecting delivery of the item on Tuesday! Now I have to wait at least one full working week for the refund to actually be credited to my Paypal account.

I spoke with a customer services representative at Argos Outlet today. She said that they make it clear that the goods are not guaranteed to be dispatched until the customer receives an email from them. But where do they make that clear? They certainly don't do it on the Ebay listing for the item.....so where are these "hidden terms"?

Not being best impressed, I did a google search to discover that a lot of families who had also placed orders for Christmas presents directly with the Argos site are also having to wait for their refunds (after a considerable number of stock level mess ups!) One woman wrote that she'd ordered a gaming console as her kids main Christmas present on Friday last week. She can't afford to buy another until the refund is back in her account...by which time, all the best online "deals" will have probably been snapped up, and the item may be either unobtainable....or obtainable only at a premium price. She doesn't have a lot of money and is worried that by the time the money comes through, she won't then be able to buy the same console.

So come on Argos. Get your act together!

1. If you can't get your stock levels right.....MAKE THAT CLEAR! Include a line such as "Whilst we try to ensure that stock levels are accurate, there may be occasions where stock is still showing even when an item is out of stock"

2. If people do need to be refunded because of a stock error, certainly as far as payments direct to Argos are concerned, people should be able to receive their refund much more quickly. If a delay in the customer receiving their refund is unavoidable (e.g. because of other service providers such as Paypal....although I am still unsure of why this should need to take quite so long), then you should add something to the above statement such as In the event of an item being out of stock, we will issue a refund. However, please bear in mind that this can take between 5-7 working days to process

3 Try communicating with people! It helps to actually tell people that you've discovered that the item is out of stock and you need to issue a refund!

4. Finally, DON'T fob people off by telling them about "Terms and Conditions" that you don't actually make visible to the customer when they are considering whether or not to make a purchase from you. That is the whole point about "T&Cs"...it's about setting out the contract terms BEFORE the customer decides to transact with you! And your Ebay Outlet listings certainly do not include any disclaimer as your customer services reps erroneously seem to believe.

deanos

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Argos/Terms-and-conditions

Tiny_Tina

Never had any issues being promptly refunded by them.

But they don't like doing refunds and will probably block you buying again (in which case just make a new ebay user id )

Just file an Item Not Received complaint on ebay (as soon as you are permitted to). You'll get your money back