Failed by Currys Terrible Customer Service

RS2OOO

To update on my situation....

The last update before Christmas was simply that no investigation would commence before I had completed a form emailed to me from the "back-office".

I still haven't had that form.

So I started a live chat again yesterday, around 3pm, initially got nowhere, just the usual we are sorry, we have to follow due process and their team are working as fast as they can to resolve my complaint. Eventually I managed to obtain a promise that someone would call me back within 24 hours.

Again, I pressed the options for the full chat text to be emailed to me, and yet again, the email never came through so I still have no evidence of any promise or guarantee I've been given since the outset.

The 24 hours is up at 3pm today.... not holding out much hope of receiving a call.

Almost a Month now since I made the purchase (6th December), the RM Tracking number still just brings up an error message, my son is still without his Christmas present, and the product is still showing out of stock on the website.

RS2OOO

An email arrived from Currys.

But not what I've been waiting for - They were asking me to "Review your recent experience with Currys"

That was the email subject line, so that's exactly what I did.

Have now received an email stating my review has been rejected because it is not relevent to the product I purchased!

The promised phonecall still hasn't come.

MeteredOut

This thread is a great example of the downside of vouchers - you have reduced rights outside of working with the retailer directly (eg, S75, chargeback etc).

m0bov

All you can do is send an LBA to claim for the cost of the item. Generally their helplines are useless.

RS2OOO

A week since my last post, so time for the latest update.

Phoned Currys 3 times in the past week. The first 2 occasions were as before - The case is still waiting to be investigated, no updates and nothing anybody can do other than send a chase up form to the back office, which would be pointless because they wont see that form until after they've started work on the original complaint form because they are dealt with in date order.

On the 3rd phonecall (Monday gone) the lady who answers confirms no investigation has yet been started but goes on to say not to worry I'll arrange for a replacement to be shipped immediately.

I mean, what? How? WHAT did you just say?

Transpires she can just arrange for a replacement to be shipped, so I ask why on earth this hasn't been done previously, this is what I've been begging for since 8th December. She says only very few customer service reps have the authority to do this and obviously I haven't been lucky enough to get through to one of them before. Even most of the Team Leaders don't have this authority. 

So I asked, why has she got it and nobody else?

Her response: I asked for it and they gave it to me. 

She implies most staff don't want this extra authority because it creates more work for them, but anybody can apply to have it added to their system.

Once I get over the suprise we start talking details, but lo and behold the item is now out of stock and she can't proceed further, and when it does come back in stock the price will be £20 more than I paid. Then she says "that's ok because I have the authority to override the price increase".

So I ask the obvious question, What are the chances I'll be able to get back to someone who can do this when the item is back in stock? She says, don't worry I've set up an alert to let me know when its back in stock, and once it is I'll arrange everything for you, no need to call us back or speak to anybody else.

Obviously I'm now thinking here we go, this ain't going to happen, so I'm back to square one.

Today I received a dispatch notification!

RS2OOO

As a final update, 6 weeks to the day since ordering this product I have finally received it.

The plastic mailing bag had been ripped open, with the opening only very slightly smaller than the box inside so I was lucky that it hadn't fallen out and got lost again. The box for the product itself was also damaged, but the actual item is fine, working correctly, and my son has finally stopped nagging for hourly updates as to when he'll get his Christmas Present!

ArbitraryRandom

I'm glad you had a positive outcome (eventually!) and I'm sure your son was able to take advantage of your subconscious guilt to benefit from the delay in some way  

Too late now, but for future reference it can be helpful to take screen grabs with any key information from online chat - just so you have a record if required: https://www.webwise.ie/parents/take-screenshot/

NunuoftheNorth

In the Darlington Curry's, a salesman conned me and my wife by telling us he could check, on his personal computer, whether or not our contract with Sky had expired. He told us it had, and sold us a new Freesat TV and box.

Subsequently, Sky asked us to pay a penalty for leaving the contract early. Since the salesman had assured us the contract was up, I refused to pay. I was then contacted by a Debt Recovery Agency, asking for £443.01.

I now learn that Curry's staff do not have the amity to make any such checks or to give any such assurances. I have paid the £443.01 to Sky but my credit rating will have been affected.

Trying to complain has been a Kafkaesque nightmare. A useless website, a phone number that doesn’t work, a store whose manager is unable to assist because it's a matter for the complaint dept., all topped by a phone call from a number in Chichester with a man who wilfully refused to understand the problem and hung up when I called him a fool.

Of course, the number he rang from doesn’t accept incoming calls.

Just to reiterate, this isn't an issue of faulty goods; I'm talking about deliberate fraud and a refusal to accept any responsibility for it.

Sorry to hi-jack this discussion but as a newbie I am not yet allowed to start a thread. 

Aylesbury_Duck

NunuoftheNorth said:

In the Darlington Curry's, a salesman conned me and my wife by telling us he could check, on his personal computer, whether or not our contract with Sky had expired. He told us it had, and sold us a new Freesat TV and box.

Subsequently, Sky asked us to pay a penalty for leaving the contract early. Since the salesman had assured us the contract was up, I refused to pay. I was then contacted by a Debt Recovery Agency, asking for £443.01.

I now learn that Curry's staff do not have the amity to make any such checks or to give any such assurances. I have paid the £443.01 to Sky but my credit rating will have been affected.

Trying to complain has been a Kafkaesque nightmare. A useless website, a phone number that doesn’t work, a store whose manager is unable to assist because it's a matter for the complaint dept., all topped by a phone call from a number in Chichester with a man who wilfully refused to understand the problem and hung up when I called him a fool.

Of course, the number he rang from doesn’t accept incoming calls.

Just to reiterate, this isn't an issue of faulty goods; I'm talking about deliberate fraud and a refusal to accept any responsibility for it.

Sorry to hi-jack this discussion but as a newbie I am not yet allowed to start a thread. 

I don't think there's much more you can do beyond trying to complain.  The contract and debt was a matter between you and Sky which you have now resolved.  Unless you have evidence of what happened I can't see any sort of court action being successful.

I presume you gave the salesman your Sky account log in details and password?  You should immediately change any passwords you have that are the same, if you haven't already done so.

Ergates

NunuoftheNorth said:

all topped by a phone call from a number in Chichester with a man who wilfully refused to understand the problem and hung up when I called him a fool. 

Pro-tip:  Insulting the people you're wanting to help you doesn't generally end well.