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

aliasojo

Just as an example of a company that values good pr........

A power tool of mine required repair. Although an exact date of return was not given, the repair took much longer than I expected and I was not telephoned to be informed of this, nor was I told an estimate of costs involved.

I picked the tool up today and the bill should have been in excess of £100. I didn't dispute this amount but I did politely comment on how I felt the service could have been improved.

As a result, the manager took my comments on board and halved my bill there and then, as a good pr gesture.

He did not have to do this, there was nothing in writing about time or service expected, so the terms of a contract were not broken as such. He could easily just have shrugged his shoulders whilst holding out his hand for payment. Although I didn't feel I had grounds for serious complaint, I was nevertheless a little unhappy and he recognised that.

The fact he was willing to act the way he did has ensured that I will return and he now has my business.

As for Argos, as I already said, of course they don't have to do anything. They are quite within their legal rights not to. The point is though, this subject has been in the papers and on radio etc. They have been slated for allowing this to happen again.

Think how much better they would be thought of, if they held their hands up and said ' yes, we made the same mistake again, we're sorry and although we can't supply all those tv's to everyone for 49p, we like to offer to donate 1 to a charity as a gesture'. I think most people would change from being annoyed to now being mollified.

Outcome....Argos emerges as company that cares. Most people don't see the behind the scenes charitable donations that may be made, they judge on tabloid reporting. A picture of an Argos boss handing over a tv to a kiddies hospice would have been worth thousands to them in good pr.

However as they have opted to be more rigid, then people's views will follow suit.

Given the mistakes the company seem to be making, maybe they should consider employing a spin doctor, I can't help but feel they need one, lol.

MSE_Martin

OK let me clear a few things up

First of all - i have no problem with Argos not honouring the TV deal. Yet it made a mistake, a substantial one. It has got money sitting in the bank which it shouldn't have and is earning interest on that. The donation of one TV as a friendly good will gesture is a small amount to ask and I am surprised it is so short sited.

As for the person who asks - why don't you donate. 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. Yet I have nowhere near the funds or scale of an Argos.

Martin

Mr_Skint_2

Instead of 1 TV why don't they donate the interest evenly on there existing charities.

aliasojo

oh_heck wrote:

Argos does have a wide and varied range but who benefits most.........................mse'ers or argos

Just wanted to reply to this point....imo, Argos benefits hugely from us lot. We may be getting bargains but they wont be selling stuff off at a loss, they will still make a profit.

Their sales must have increased greatly since the advent of info sharing on this site. I know (to my cost ) that I certainly spend a lot more in there now than I used to. I also buy stuff I wouldn't normally have bothered with but 'since it's a bargain'......etc etc.



Now, Ikea....well that's a whole different ballgame!

deemy2004

Donation is supposed to be through choice and not through instruction.

I am not surprised that they have not donated having been instructed to do so. As it would have been bad publicity and admission of guilt when all it was, was a mistake.

As no one here seriously thought you can get a 32 in tv for 49 pence ? :rolleyes:

If you make a mistake, and someone asks you to donate money that you have not made because of that mistake then what would you do ? As I don't buy this making money on interest bit, its more likely they have incurred credit card chargeback fees.

P.S. I'm no fan of Argos and have sent my own load of time consuming letters when they refused to take back an Playstation... so I got all the directors involved and probably cost them many times the cost of the playstation in admin time.. .. Though for obvious reasons they would not relent since it had gone too far. i.e. bad publicity.

Never mind I took the playstation back to a different argos ... and got my money back.. :rotfl:

aliasojo

deemy2004 wrote:

Donation is supposed to be through choice and not through instruction.

For crying out loud deemy........where were they instructed? They were asked.

As no one here seriously thought you can get a 32 in tv for 49 pence ? :rolleyes:

Agreed. We all thought we were getting a 28" one.

:rotfl:

Mr_Skint_2

Does anyone realise that we are still giving free A***s advertising
by going on about this, so stop now

Well I did try.

oh_heck

Sofa_Sogood wrote:

Well I'm not an Argos shopper (only because it tells me I own a credit card that I don't, and never would - but that's a different story ) and whilst I'm led to understand that a large community of MSE'ers have made good friends through the Argos forum, I'd still reiterate that if it was my forum, I'd be tempted to close the Argos sub-forum down.

Btw, I didn't apply for a 49p telly because I wasn't here, and I doubt it would ever have been honoured anyway. But I might have tried. Nothing ventured etc ...

Now toddle off to Ikea will you?

got a few posts to answer first

meheraltaf

deemy2004 wrote:

As I don't buy this making money on interest bit, its more likely they have incurred credit card chargeback fees.

Though for obvious reasons they would not relent since it had gone too far. i.e. bad publicity.

-Very valid points-;)

oh_heck

aliasojo wrote:

Argos benefits hugely from us lot.


We may be getting bargains but they wont be selling stuff off at a loss, they will still make a profit.




Now, Ikea....well that's a whole different ballgame!

of course they do ,and mse'ers get bargains...........but who benefits most,the chiocken or the egg:p .........profit:eek: ,they make a profit:eek: