Argos - Having a Laugh!

[Never-In-Doubt]

All,

I'm posting this for a good family friend, for two reasons:

1. It's absolutely disgusting; and
2. I will email the CEO of Argos tomorrow with a link here to see what he thinks

This is a complaint against Argos after my friend purchased a sofa from them, around 5th November. Now, at the time she placed the order on 5th Nov 2012 she was offered a 5 day delivery date which was fine as the sofa was in stock. However, my friend actually needed a later delivery due to moving house, so it made sense to get the new sofa delivered the day she moved to her new house.

Great, the sofa was in stock and she was promised 5 day delivery. So she instead requested the change of delivery to 22nd Nov 2012 - the date she was moving to the new house - and the order was accepted and payment taken.

The rest, will be email quotes to keep things easier to read.

I received a call on Wednesday 21st November to advise me that the sofa I had ordered was no longer available and the earliest I could now have it delivered would be 14th December. I asked the adviser how this was possible as delivery was available within 5 days, no acceptable explanation could be provided other than "I'm sorry but at least you will have it before Christmas".

I ordered from Argos in good faith that I would get delivery when agreed. The delivery timescale was one of the main reasons I purchased from them as I was moving in to a new house and required a sofa in a short space of time. At no point was I advised it was subject to availability.

I have therefore been in a new house without anything to sit on for 3 weeks due to the fault of Argos, also I had taken a day off to wait in for the delivery. Had I been notified earlier I may have been able to go elsewhere and find an alternative but the day before my expected delivery and moving house left me no choice but to wait! So because I had originally booked off the 22nd to take receipt of the sofa at the new address (as a holiday day) and a second day for the new delivery address, I am worse off because I could not cancel the day's holiday request of 22nd Nov 2012 as it was too late in the day to do this.

I am sorry to read that your delivery was delayed from the 22nd November until the 14 December. This is not the level of service you should expect from Argos, we never intend to mislead any of our customers with delivery dates and I apologise that you feel you have been misled.

Thank you for your email regarding your order. I am sorry to read about the problems you have experienced with your order. I can offer you a 20.00 in form of a gift card for the delay on the order arriving.

Im sorry but this is not acceptable! Bearing in mind that not only did I have to take a day off work for the delivery and in my line of work I am not able to cancel my holidays last minute, but I was also without seating for 3 weeks.

£20 may be what you can offer for a standard missed or delayed appointment but we are not talking a small delay here!!! As mentioned earlier either you mis-advertised or you sold my sofa that I paid for on 6th November; either way it is not acceptable.

I hope to resolve this complaint amicably and have my trust restored in Argos however if not I will be forced to take this further.

Thank you for your email regarding our offer of a £20.00 gift card.

I am sorry to advise that having reviewed the details of this order again I must reiterate the same offer made by xxxxxx on Thursday 20/12/2012. We will not offer more than £20.00 on a gift card with regards to this order. Please confirm if you would like to accept this or whether you would prefer to return the unit for a refund.

If you would like to claim for loss of earnings, please arrange for your Payroll Department or Accountant to provide the following information on company headed paper:

? Hourly rate of pay net of tax and NI
? Total hours lost
? Type of absence, for example, holiday, time in lieu or un-paid etc.
? Name of payroll clerk or Accountant and a contact telephone number

Please send this information, with a covering letter that includes your order number, to:

Customer Relations Department
Argos Direct
Acton Gate
Stafford
ST18 9AR

So, as you can see Argos think it's acceptable to offer just £20 for such a farcical carry-on and then to consider paying her loss of earnings for the original delivery date they are requesting lots of info that very few payrolls will provide! Surely if they just offered a reasonable amount of compo them my friend would walk away but to even risk having to pay for her loss of earnings is nuts, cos out of principle if she did they could be hundreds out of pocket!

Anyone able to offer any advice on this or would she be best to take £20 and walk...?

Cheers

Niddy

[MrsD]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

what gets me here is the dire customer service from the first email, this is a template, sent to anyone who has a complaint.

it doesn't matter what your complaint is, this is what you get.

Why on Earth would any reputable company think this is acceptable behavior to its customers?

They should be very aware that the world has changed, you don't do what you said you'd do with a bit of civility, then you're toast, lots of cold toast knocking about the high street..................

[mgfboy]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

I can understand why they want the info, otherwise everybody would be on thousand a day, but I agree if they offered her say £100 stright off everybody would be happy.

The problem is everbody wants great customer service, but no one is willing to pay for it. We all want prices cut to the bone and something then has to give. Large groups work on the basis they dont need to keep people happy all the time, lets face it , even if you friend is really pissed off , if the next time she wants something and Argos are the cheapest she will go there again.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

Just to add it was style - not price that made her purchase from Argos (plus the delivery date promise)....

This is a specific corner sofa - not your bog standard style

[gravytrain]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

I suppose you have seen this ?

Failed Delivery? Fight Back!: 'If I waste a day, you'll pay'...

[vossy]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

They stand and fight behind the name of a big company and the idiot screens the minimum wage users are given, you have to get beyond those people, I would go with niddy and head for the top!

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

I suppose you have seen this ?

Failed Delivery? Fight Back!: 'If I waste a day, you'll pay'...

Have now. Interesting - thanks

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

email quotes to keep things easier to read.

But not to phrase a reply.

Was the sofa actually delivered on 14 December?

Can an equivalent - or better - sofa be found for the same money (or less) elsewhere, with immediate or prompt delivery? If it can, then it may be a good idea to accept their (loopy) offer of returning the sofa for a full refund.

What manner of work does the customer perform?

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

Yes delivered on 14th Dec

No it's quite unique and would be weeks waiting!

She is a fraud investigator

[LooLoo]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

What a joke! And an insult of 20 quid !!

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

I suppose you have seen this ?

Failed Delivery? Fight Back!: 'If I waste a day, you'll pay'...

Have now. Interesting - thanks

Indeed it is:

Can I claim for my time even if I'm on a high salary?

You can claim whatever you want, but of course, as we'll come to later, the key is whether you'll get it. Don't forget you may be required to prove your rate. There are no hard or fast rules here, but the other side could argue your claim is disproportionate.

For example, imagine this happened to a supermodel who won't get out of bed for less than £20,000 an hour. It's likely that if she charged for a day (£160,000!) the other side would argue this wasn't fair as she could've hired someone else for £100 to stay in for her. So there's a balance to be struck.

Alas, Martin doesn't say how much she'd charge to stay in one's bed.

[gravytrain]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

Its called mitigating your losses CC, lets face it after the first 5 minutes your supermodel would be twiddling her thumbs

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

Its called mitigating your losses CC, lets face it after the first 5 minutes your supermodel would be twiddling her thumbs

Not if she were in bed with me - I'd be twiddling something and it wouldn't be my thumbs!

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

Which supermodel are we talking about...? Anyway - back on track boys

[gravytrain]

Re: Argos - Having a Laugh!

OK IMO.

legally I think it is a breach of contract so she is entitled to any consequential losses for her time off work, but she will have to substantiate these. This is, if they continue and deliver the article at some time in the future and she is happy with it.

If the breach goes to the core of the contract then it could be considered a repudiatory breach, in that case the agreement would be rescinded, the money returned, and she could then sue for damages. These could consist of the time she had off, plus anything else that was a result of the breach.