fridge from currys store

SuperHan

I'm no longer an employee - also an ex employee who left just over 5 years ago, so also not that recent of an ex employee.

I know people who still work there, but I don't profess to be too in touch with their systems as to how the refund etc works, just that they have an additional process now whereby they place online in store orders through a portal of some sort designed for this.

The terms of the sale are the same as that in store, so no additional terms were required to be presented.

There may be a difference in the process if your mum had taken the fridge back and returned it to the store (by the way, did you actually go back in to store with the fridge? Eclipse sale or not, they would not process the refund until the goods were back in their custody).

You have to remember, you've said this fridge isn't held in stock. This could mean it is one of the direct from manufacturer orders that I mentioned earlier. These are not held in stock at all by the company, and so there will be some delay in getting a new fridge as it will need to be sourced from the manufacturer, and they may only be an agent for handling the monies so will process the refund when the manufacturer have custody of the item. If this was the case, Eclipse ordering was never a possibility. I don't *think* Eclipse would even recognise the product SKU if typed in, so it would be impossible to do the refund this way as they cannot hold that item in stock. Which may be what the manager meant when he said it would be easier if done the other way, but in reality, for this product line, was never an option.

AFAIK there is no way of telling from the website whether a product is stocked by Curry's or direct to manufacturer - but someone more up to date on this / who can be bothered to do research may know more!

Fosterdog

I ordered my Hotpoint cooker from them in the same way, it was a direct from manufacturer sale and the website does usually say this (where it says whether it's in stock online/in store).

I'm wondering if one of the reasons they couldn't refund in store is because it had already been arranged for a return for refund by the driver? You said it was all arranged at the time it was delivered damaged so maybe once the process has been started that way it can't be redone in store. I work for a different retailer and that's how our systems work, it stops someone going to more than one store to get a refund, once the process is started it has to be completed by that store/online department.

I do have to ask though from experience shopping in currys, was your mother at one of he sit down tills or the main till counter at the front of the shop?

If at a sit down till, the screens are perfectly visible to the customer so couldn't she see them using a website?
How did they get all of her card details if she didn't give them? Chip and pin machines mean the customer never hands over the card so she either read the details out to them or handed over her card, didn't she question that at the time? It's something consumers are always being warned about, never hand your card over without a valid reason.

If she is so poor with technology that she didn't understand about handing over a card or what a website looked like in front of her then there is also a very strong chance that they did say something about it being an online order but she didn't quite understand and just assumed it was a normal sale.

joshreade

SuperHan wrote: »

You have to remember, you've said this fridge isn't held in stock. This could mean it is one of the direct from manufacturer orders that I mentioned earlier. These are not held in stock at all by the company, and so there will be some delay in getting a new fridge as it will need to be sourced from the manufacturer, and they may only be an agent for handling the monies so will process the refund when the manufacturer have custody of the item. If this was the case, Eclipse ordering was never a possibility. I don't *think* Eclipse would even recognise the product SKU if typed in, so it would be impossible to do the refund this way as they cannot hold that item in stock. Which may be what the manager meant when he said it would be easier if done the other way, but in reality, for this product line, was never an option.

The fridge freezer was on display on the shop floor, and as far as I know every item on the shop floor has a SKU code which can be typed into eclipse.

joshreade

Fosterdog wrote: »

I ordered my Hotpoint cooker from them in the same way, it was a direct from manufacturer sale and the website does usually say this (where it says whether it's in stock online/in store).

I'm wondering if one of the reasons they couldn't refund in store is because it had already been arranged for a return for refund by the driver? You said it was all arranged at the time it was delivered damaged so maybe once the process has been started that way it can't be redone in store. I work for a different retailer and that's how our systems work, it stops someone going to more than one store to get a refund, once the process is started it has to be completed by that store/online department.

I do have to ask though from experience shopping in currys, was your mother at one of he sit down tills or the main till counter at the front of the shop?

If at a sit down till, the screens are perfectly visible to the customer so couldn't she see them using a website?
How did they get all of her card details if she didn't give them? Chip and pin machines mean the customer never hands over the card so she either read the details out to them or handed over her card, didn't she question that at the time? It's something consumers are always being warned about, never hand your card over without a valid reason.

If she is so poor with technology that she didn't understand about handing over a card or what a website looked like in front of her then there is also a very strong chance that they did say something about it being an online order but she didn't quite understand and just assumed it was a normal sale.

The delivery driver was not able to leave the fridge as it was damaged, he told her to go back to the store to arrange the exchange, obviously unaware of it being an online order. My mum rang head office who told her she would be able to go back to currys and leave with an ex display fridge so she was not left without a fridge. None of this was possible.

Im assuming she couldn't see the screen, but even if she could she wouldn't be expected to know the difference between a customer website and some intranet site the company might have been using.

As for taking the card, he asked for the card she handed it over, which is normal practice in some shops.

At no point did he inform her it was an online purchase, in fact when she queried why they wanted her email address she was told it was to arrange the delivery time.

Esqui

joshreade wrote: »

However I do have to disagree with the face to face sale. Although it appeared to be a face to face sale, the order was placed on the customer website just as if my mum had made the purchase from home, surely that makes it a distance sale? I imagine at some point during the checkout process the sales advisor would have ticked the box saying "I agree to the T&Cs blah blah" and those T&Cs would have been regarding distance selling as opposed to face to face sales. Maybe one of the potential Currys employees could confirm if this is the case?

I suppose in the letter of the law, it is not a distance sale. However, I'm pretty sure that the company blanketly applies the same T&Cs (including those from the CCRs) to all sales made through the website. So, for example, if something had been ordered by the store through the website, a customer could return it in accordance with the CCRs, purely by the fact that the same T&Cs apply.

CoolHotCold

joshreade wrote: »

- Actually, with regards to timescale, if she had been given a store receipt from Eclipse she would be able to arrange an exchange for another fridge, and paid or received the difference.
They then could have arranged the delivery of a new fridge for next day delivery, meaning she would have a replacement tomorrow, instead of having to wait for a refund before being able to purchase a new one. The manager even said this in store.

Which you can do with online orders. If a item is delivered faulty, you can arrange an exchange through the call centre. The only difference is its done through the call centre not through the store.

Also, with all sales through the website (be it online in store or ordering at home and paying online) the DSR (now replaced with CCR) apply.


Also in regards to SKU's and online only purchases. Stores receive manufacture delivered items only for display in store, they have a SKU and is applicable on the store POS system, except you can't order it, for example if you type 128596 into currys.co.uk, it is only available for manufacturers delivery, but there will be shops ranged for the item to display in store. They added SKU's onto items because it's easier to order them, even if they're only available for delivery by the manufacturer, stores will still receive one to display if they are ranged for them. Just makes it easier to remember a 6 digit code rather than a model number.