Currys Refund Problem

NoCurrysRefund

Hi, it's my first post here. I don't often complain (11 years of being a waiter put me off). I almost always just let things go, but this situation is ridiculous.

I'll try and keep the story short because if I posted the whole thing it would take me all day!

I bought an oven for £340 online from Currys on the 26th March. Got a phone call about 20mins later from a family member saying they'd just bought me one. They knew I needed one, just a wierd co-incidence. So I called Currys and cancelled within an hour of the original order (they have a cancellation policy of up to 14 days)

I was told it'd be refunded to my debit card probably the next working day, five at the most. Fair enough, I had no problem with that. It's now been eight days, which I understand doesn't sound like a huge delay but when I called them after the fifth day I was told that they had cancelled the delivery but made an error and not processed the refund. Obviously I was annoyed, but things got worse.

I have called them several times every day since the originally promised five days expired and been told completely different things everytime. It's the worse customer service I've ever recieved. He's a mini breakdown. I can't put all the things I've been told, the post would be too long.

- One time they couldn't find the order at all, let alone a refund request.

- They said they would do a manual refund to my account on Monday, when I spoke to them today they have no record of that but said they would to one today.

- When I asked to speak to the manager who would be dealing with the refund I was transfered back to the beginning of the customer service line. The person I spoke to had no idea who I was or my complaint. I was also informed that I shouldn't have been told I was being transfered to the the manager I told I was being transfered to because she works on a different floor?! I thought phonelines could be transfered to different floors, but apparently not at Currys.

- The wierdest one was when I was told (for the 3rd time) that they were going to do a manual refund and that it'd take 3-5 more working days. But it was up to my bank to release the funds and I had to call them instead. Which sounded like nonsense. I called my bank, the person to which I spoke was even more confused than me. Said it was utter nonsense.

- The call after that I was told that they have notes on the account of some the people I've spoken to, but not the one that told me the "bank release" thing, and that was something they'd never heard of either.

- The last call I made before posting this they just stonewalled. Refused to put me through to a supervisor/manager and sneered at me when I said I'd post online which would be bad PR for them. (OK it's not a huge threat to them, but it's all I've got except small claims court)

Everytime I call I get a different answer. They seem to be making it up as they go along and only have notes on the account that suit them. Like most people £340 is a lot of money to me, but that's not the point. After the amount of calls I've made it almost seems like they aren't going to refund at all.

I can't be the first person to have been treated badly by Currys "customer sevices".

They sneered at the idea of me posting online? OK fine, it'd be great if anyone here could tweet this out, I've just set up a Twitter account for it. Share it on FB, post it on Reddit, maybe if there's enough online buzz I'll stand a chance of getting my money back and awful customer service should be outed in my opinion anyway. Maybe they'll listen if it goes viral. A lot to ask I know but I'm out of ideas, really annoyed and down 340 quid.

Thanks for reading
Stu

AJXX

Funds possibly been ring-fenced by your bank? Have you tried contacting them again? (this is definitely a thing! The lady from your bank is totally clueless if she told you this wasn't a thing - In fact if she's unaware of this process she should be re-trained immediately for talking out her bottom.)

As far as bad publicity, I doubt they care. They're famous for it! You're living under a rock if you think people aren't already aware that the likes of Currys/PC Word are terrible!

wealdroam

NoCurrysRefund wrote: »

Hi, it's my first post here. I don't often complain (11 years of being a waiter put me off). I almost always just let things go, but this situation is ridiculous.

I'll try and keep the story short because if I posted the whole thing it would take me all day!

I bought an oven for £340 online from Currys on the 26th March. Got a phone call about 20mins later from a family member saying they'd just bought me one. They knew I needed one, just a wierd co-incidence. So I called Currys and cancelled within an hour of the original order (they have a cancellation policy of up to 14 days)

I was told it'd be refunded to my debit card probably the next working day, five at the most. Fair enough, I had no problem with that. It's now been eight days, which I understand doesn't sound like a huge delay but when I called them after the fifth day I was told that they had cancelled the delivery but made an error and not processed the refund. Obviously I was annoyed, but things got worse.

I have called them several times every day since the originally promised five days expired and been told completely different things everytime. It's the worse customer service I've ever recieved. He's a mini breakdown. I can't put all the things I've been told, the post would be too long.

- One time they couldn't find the order at all, let alone a refund request.

- They said they would do a manual refund to my account on Monday, when I spoke to them today they have no record of that but said they would to one today.

- When I asked to speak to the manager who would be dealing with the refund I was transfered back to the beginning of the customer service line. The person I spoke to had no idea who I was or my complaint. I was also informed that I shouldn't have been told I was being transfered to the the manager I told I was being transfered to because she works on a different floor?! I thought phonelines could be transfered to different floors, but apparently not at Currys.

- The wierdest one was when I was told (for the 3rd time) that they were going to do a manual refund and that it'd take 3-5 more working days. But it was up to my bank to release the funds and I had to call them instead. Which sounded like nonsense. I called my bank, the person to which I spoke was even more confused than me. Said it was utter nonsense.

- The call after that I was told that they have notes on the account of some the people I've spoken to, but not the one that told me the "bank release" thing, and that was something they'd never heard of either.

- The last call I made before posting this they just stonewalled. Refused to put me through to a supervisor/manager and sneered at me when I said I'd post online which would be bad PR for them. (OK it's not a huge threat to them, but it's all I've got except small claims court)

Everytime I call I get a different answer. They seem to be making it up as they go along and only have notes on the account that suit them. Like most people £340 is a lot of money to me, but that's not the point. After the amount of calls I've made it almost seems like they aren't going to refund at all.

I can't be the first person to have been treated badly by Currys "customer sevices".

They sneered at the idea of me posting online? OK fine, it'd be great if anyone here could tweet this out, I've just set up a Twitter account for it. Share it on FB, post it on Reddit, maybe if there's enough online buzz I'll stand a chance of getting my money back and aweful customer service should be outed in my opinion anyway. Maybe they'll listen if it goes viral. A lot to ask I know but I'm out of ideas, really annoyed and down 340 quid.

Thanks for reading
Stu

Do you know that The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 allows them up to 14 days to refund you when you cancel a contract?

What response did you expect to your threat of social media exposure?

Valli

What would be annoying me here is not so much the delay in processing the refund, but the fact that, every time the OP contacts, he is told a different, contradictory tale.

Scrap the idea of flaming them on social media, waste of effort. Stop phoning, too because you are being passed from pillar to post, and it's a waste of your time, effort and money.

Post for further advice if you haven't been refunded after 14 days, when someone will advise you send a Letter before Action. Probably.

bod1467

Or raise a chargeback claim after 15 days for non-delivery?

NoCurrysRefund

Thanks Valli, the different story eveytime thing is what's driving me mad not the delay.

Have to disagree with people saying social media complaints can't be effective though. Try working in the restaurant industry. 1 bad tweet and every branch gets a memo and the offending branch gets f'in hammered by head office.

Valli

Restaurant industry? Thanks but no thanks.;)

If Currys were dependent on being held in high esteem by their customers then they'd have folded long since.

shaun_from_Africa

NoCurrysRefund wrote: »

Have to disagree with people saying social media complaints can't be effective though. Try working in the restaurant industry. 1 bad tweet and every branch gets a memo and the offending branch gets f'in hammered by head office.

Don't forget that there are a few different review sites that are quite popular with people checking up on bars and eateries and a few bad reviews could possibly have a big impact on the number of people deciding to use the place in question, especially if it is an area with plenty of other options to choose from.

The same doesn't seem to be the case with large online and high street retailers where these retailers are getting fewer and fewer in number.
After all, how often have you checked up on the reviews for Currys or PC World?

NoCurrysRefund

The restaurant has it's upsides. But, yeah, it's not for everyone.

I wasn't aware Currys were so terrible? There must be others like me too. I'm not trying to single handedly take them down with the 0 follower account I started about 10mins ago (@NoCurrysRefund), but I'm doing really boring paperwork stuff online and why not tweet at them every now and again to give myself a break. Not like I'm sitting here just crusading all day.

I'm sure that others have had far worse experiences I'll RT them (to my 0 followers

NoCurrysRefund

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Don't forget that there are a few different review sites that are quite popular with people checking up on bars and eateries and a few bad reviews could possibly have a big impact on the number of people deciding to use the place in question, especially if it is an area with plenty of other options to choose from.

The same doesn't seem to be the case with large online and high street retailers where these retailers are getting fewer and fewer in number.
After all, how often have you checked up on the reviews for Currys or PC World?

True, it is kinda apples n oranges. But not everyone knows Currys suck, so why not spread the word a bit. Stop others making the same mistake.

NoCurrysRefund

Currys responded on Twitter after about an hour!?

Want me to DM them my details.

Who knows maybe they'll actually help?