Currys £149 repair service

RubyTwoBalls

Hello, has anyone experienced problems with the Currys £149 repair service?  It offers to pick up, repair and return TV etc.  Parts are not included.  When I telephoned to book the repair I described my fault (TV screen turned black) and was told the fault was to do with the LCD/LED lights behind the screen.  The cost of parts would be minimal; the person quoted £10 or so.  I duly signed up and paid the £149.

The TV was picked up and a few days later I received a call to say that I would need to pay an additional £300+.  The person on the phone could not explain what this was for.  Needless to say, I declined and asked for my TV to be returned.  It was returned two days later, without its base, so can't even be stood up!

I have sent two letter to Currys with no response so far.  Just wondering if anyone has experienced similar.

Thank you!

MyRealNameToo

RubyTwoBalls said:

Hello, has anyone experienced problems with the Currys £149 repair service?  It offers to pick up, repair and return TV etc.  Parts are not included.  When I telephoned to book the repair I described my fault (TV screen turned black) and was told the fault was to do with the LCD/LED lights behind the screen.  The cost of parts would be minimal; the person quoted £10 or so.  I duly signed up and paid the £149.

The TV was picked up and a few days later I received a call to say that I would need to pay an additional £300+.  The person on the phone could not explain what this was for.  Needless to say, I declined and asked for my TV to be returned.  It was returned two days later, without its base, so can't even be stood up!

I have sent two letter to Currys with no response so far.  Just wondering if anyone has experienced similar.

Thank you!

At that price it's probably the screen itself, the mainboard dont tend not to be that high. 

To play devils advocate, is there much point standing up a TV that doesnt work? What are your plans now? With or without the stand the TV isnt going to be worth much given its dead. 

Never used currys and wasnt a TV, had a good experience with D&G on a washing machine that had a fixed price job inc parts. Based on the error code it was one of two parts, they sent a guy with both parts. On inspection it turned out to be the cheaper part but he said he'd leave the other part with us anyway as he'd already been paid for it and wasnt a common one that he'd use elsewhere. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Have they refunded/not charged the £149?

MyRealNameToo

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Have they refunded/not charged the £149?

Why would they? It's a fixed fee to cover shipping, diagnostics and the labour on the repair. 

They held up their end of the bargain and have provide what they could of the promised service its the OP that decided not to proceed with the repair. Obviously fixed fee repairs work because some are tiny jobs, some are big jobs with lots of parts that are charged separately and then you get the bad jobs that are lots of effort and virtually no parts which results in a loss but is offset by the preceding profitable jobs. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

MyRealNameToo said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Have they refunded/not charged the £149?

Why would they? It's a fixed fee to cover shipping, diagnostics and the labour on the repair. 

They held up their end of the bargain and have provide what they could of the promised service its the OP that decided not to proceed with the repair. Obviously fixed fee repairs work because some are tiny jobs, some are big jobs with lots of parts that are charged separately and then you get the bad jobs that are lots of effort and virtually no parts which results in a loss but is offset by the preceding profitable jobs. 

Telling a customer they need a £10 part and then changing that to a £300 part could be a prohibit misleading practice depending upon how clear the person on the call was about the expectations. 

MyRealNameToo

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

MyRealNameToo said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Have they refunded/not charged the £149?

Why would they? It's a fixed fee to cover shipping, diagnostics and the labour on the repair. 

They held up their end of the bargain and have provide what they could of the promised service its the OP that decided not to proceed with the repair. Obviously fixed fee repairs work because some are tiny jobs, some are big jobs with lots of parts that are charged separately and then you get the bad jobs that are lots of effort and virtually no parts which results in a loss but is offset by the preceding profitable jobs. 

Telling a customer they need a £10 part and then changing that to a £300 part could be a prohibit misleading practice depending upon how clear the person on the call was about the expectations. 

Would want to hear the sales call, I'm dubious that a telesales person is truly offering remote TV diagnostics. I suspect the conversation really said it could be a £10 or it might be something more expensive

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

MyRealNameToo said:

Would want to hear the sales call, I'm dubious that a telesales person is truly offering remote TV diagnostics. I suspect the conversation really said it could be a £10 or it might be something more expensive

Who knows? Plenty of people are bad at/don't care about their job, maybe OP spoke to someone on the ball and should have been fully aware, hopefully they'll post further to clarify  

MyRealNameToo

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

MyRealNameToo said:

Would want to hear the sales call, I'm dubious that a telesales person is truly offering remote TV diagnostics. I suspect the conversation really said it could be a £10 or it might be something more expensive

Who knows? Plenty of people are bad at/don't care about their job, maybe OP spoke to someone on the ball and should have been fully aware, hopefully they'll post further to clarify  

Ones that dont care won't try and go beyond their job and start doing electronics diagnostics. 

People who do care/ are chasing commissions will have a sales patter locked down that increases sales without breaching the rules. Been there, done that in my student days. 

Ergates

RubyTwoBalls said:

Hello, has anyone experienced problems with the Currys £149 repair service?  It offers to pick up, repair and return TV etc.  Parts are not included.  When I telephoned to book the repair I described my fault (TV screen turned black) and was told the fault was to do with the LCD/LED lights behind the screen.  The cost of parts would be minimal; the person quoted £10 or so.  I duly signed up and paid the £149.

The TV was picked up and a few days later I received a call to say that I would need to pay an additional £300+.  The person on the phone could not explain what this was for.  Needless to say, I declined and asked for my TV to be returned.  It was returned two days later, without its base, so can't even be stood up!

I have sent two letter to Currys with no response so far.  Just wondering if anyone has experienced similar.

Thank you!

What outcome are you wanting?

Realistically, they can't accurately diagnose a fault over the phone so an initial (small) estimate turning out to be something more serious/expensive isn't, itself, indicative or any wrongdoing. 

Whether you have a case here would depend on *exactly* what you were told on the phone.  If it was "This is definitely a problem with the backlights which will only cost around £10 to fix" then you could have a case.  If it was "In cases like this, it's usually the backlight, which would cost around £10 to fix" then you probably don't.


They should find and return your base, or a replacement.   However, as pointed out - if the TV is dead, do you really need it?