NAME AND SHAME! Argos lets down customers and sick children too.

MSE_Martin

Forgive the tabloid headline, but I'm unhappy about this. Here we had the chance to turn a mistake into something good. Yet Argos through it, and its good PR out of the window

The background

Last week's hot Chat Forum topic was a mispriced widescreen TV for 49p plus postage at Argos/Homebase (see original thread).

I've little problem with the fact that Argos has not honoured it (after all it was an obvious error) though well done to the MoneySavers who had a go. After all this was obviously a mistake and not the real price.

Yet Argos took the 49p plus delivery cost (over £5 in total) off the 10,000 who ordered and people were upset with Argos earning interest from its own mistake.

What I did

It seemed to me there was an easy way to help close the situation and have something good out of it. I publically asked Argos to donate a TV to a childrens hospital (see my blog here). It considered this for three days then sent a resolute rejection.

Shame on you. For the sake of £350 you let every one down. It would've been a nice gesture, it would've been a way of not profiting from its mistake and putting it across to charity.


The reply from Argos

Hi Martin


Thanks for your email and your call at the end of last week.


We have spent some time considering what you have requested, but unfortunately we won’t be able to help on this occasion. Argos is already very committed to supporting charities and the communities in which we work by supporting our charitable partnerships with fundraising and cause related marketing projects, rather than gifts in kind.

Our employees and customers raised over £550k for Whizz-Kidz during the partnership from 2003-05 and we are now currently working hard to support our new charity partner, Help the Hospices, which we started in July.


We appreciate your thoughts so thanks very much for coming to us with this idea, but we hope that you can understand why we won’t be able to donate a TV as you suggest.

elvis_bloggs

They could have at least donated the interest accrued from the P&P + 49 pence that was taken from so many accounts, a good estimate would have done if the exact figure was too hard to work out.

helen21_2

I think your title is a lttle unfair!!
We all new it was an error but hey we all still went for it, we have'nt minded them paying out in letters, stamps, e-mail but to now slate them for not donating is a little unjust!!

Remember peeps it's only MY opinion

raeble

Insert from Martin

As this is so vehement let me reply directly.

Argos should get the TV so it isn't profiting from its error by keeping the interest from 10,000 people. To give it to a childrens charity seems a perfect gesture.

As for giving to charity. Take a look at the about us of this site and the MoneySaving Charity fund. Last year I managed to donate around £40,000 this year I hope more and am setting up my own MoneySaving kids charity.

I think Argos is making an error of judgement. The users of this site are fiercely loyal to argos, there is a specific argos forum, most of the 49p TV people came through the site. A £350 TV isn't a big gesture, the cost price to Argos is about £200 at a guess - yet after days of thinking it said no. What a crying shame!

Martin
[/quote]

elvis_bloggs

helen21 wrote:

I think your title is a lttle unfair!!
We all new it was an error but hey we all still went for it, we have'nt minded them paying out in letters, stamps, e-mail but to now slate them for not donating is a little unjust!!

Remember peeps it's only MY opinion

They made the mistake so they must carry the cost of putting it right, as for the interest on the money they have already taken, well, because of their mistake I have lost some interest, not a lot I grant you but multiply that quite a few times and it becomes quite substantial, why should they not give it to charity instead of using it to offset some of their costs that they aquired due to their mistake, I've always paid for MY mistakes and not with other peoples money neither.

Large_Charge

imho: They are obviously better money saving experts than we are at spending it! No one will ever critise them for what they and there people do for charity, that is highly commendable. However, a little penance for their total incompetance in handling ALL aspects of this matter would not have gone unnoticed.

Sofa_Sogood

I'd be tempted to close the Argos Forum down.

aliasojo

I'm a little surprised to see the first few replies to Martin's post tbh. A poster above says:

'I don't see why argos should donate a tv just because every tom, !!!!!! and martin says they should.'

This isn't the first time Argos have made a error of this sort. Of course mistakes happen, but it's a measure of a company how they sort them out.

I was one of the ones who ordered a tv. I didn't for one minute think it would come off, and I have no intention of doing anything to fight to get it. I let it go minutes after ordering as I knew it was a non-starter. However there are people who feel aggrieved about the situation and regardless of the rights or wrongs, good pr is an important and powerful tool.

I agree that Argos shouldn't have to, but given the opinion of many of their customers at the moment, would it really have hurt them to donate one tv which is less than a drop in the ocean to them? Their unwillingness to do this speaks far more about them than the original misprice topic does, imo.

oh_heck

helen21 wrote:

I think your title is a lttle unfair!!
We all new it was an error but hey we all still went for it, we have'nt minded them paying out in letters, stamps, e-mail but to now slate them for not donating is a little unjust!!

Remember peeps it's only MY opinion

I agree.................................

Rose999

aliasojo wrote:

I'm a little surprised to see the first few replies to Martin's post tbh. A poster above says:

'I don't see why argos should donate a tv just because every tom, !!!!!! and martin says they should.'

This isn't the first time Argos have made a error of this sort. Of course mistakes happen, but it's a measure of a company how they sort them out.

I was one of the ones who ordered a tv. I didn't for one minute think it would come off, and I have no intention of doing anything to fight to get it. I let it go minutes after ordering as I knew it was a non-starter. However there are people who feel aggrieved about the situation and regardless of the rights or wrongs, good pr is an important and powerful tool.

I agree that Argos shouldn't have to, but given the opinion of many of their customers at the moment, would it really have hurt them to donate one tv which is less than a drop in the ocean to them? Their unwillingness to do this speaks far more about them than the original misprice topic does, imo.

I agree with you.

mountainofdebt

it states that Argos' CUSTOMERS AND STAFF raise the any charity money - it's not Argos that give that money!


I may be splitting hairs but I don't think that a £350 TV would have broke the bank and would have reaped more positive advertising for Argos than £350 could ever have bought.