Re: electrical retailers


Paul Hyett wrote:
> In uk.media.tv.misc on Mon, 28 Nov 2005, Dom Robinson wrote :
> >
> >If you're buying white goods, as opposed to the occasional little item
> >like the Joytech Xbox cable I've mentioned before on here which was
> >only sold at Dixons, you'll always find better and cheaper anywhere
> >else.
> >
> >And if it breaks down, you'll get *** all help out of Dixons.
>
> If it's within 1 year, they're legally obliged to get it fixed.

Been there, done that. Many years ago, I took a walkman in to be
repaired just as it was reaching the end of its extended five-year
warranty (yes, I was young and inexperienced so bought a 30quid
warranty on top of the 70quid unit)

When the time came to collect it, I went back to the branch in
Stockport town centre after work, and got there at 5.40pm to a locked
door. The closing time on the door was 5.45pm. I knocked on the door
and got the reply, "THE TILLS ARE CLOSED!"

I tried to get the point across that I didn't need the till to be open
to just collect the walkman as arranged over the phone. The guy behind
the door wasn't interested.

I wrote in to complain, but like the other time I complained, they
never wrote
back.

Basically, Paul, if you wanted to be treated like an inconvenience, go
to Dixons. If you want customer service, go elsewhere.

Yes, you'll get it fixed eventually, but only after they've got round
to sending it off and when they decide they're open again to collect
it. Either way, at that point they've got your money and they just
don't give a ***.

> >Do yourself a favour, be a Liquorsaver... er... I mean, don't shop at
> >Dixons!
>
> The alternatives are limited though - either Argos or Comet.

Had great service from my local Comet (which is why I'd happily go
there if I needed white goods like microwave, fridge freezer, etc) and
Argos shouldn't be a problem either. I had a faulty CD player part in a
midi-system - faulty because it was vertical and just didn't last like
it should. The unit was 8 months old.

Now it was Index rather than Argos, but both shops work on the same
principle of the way you buy things in there (surprisingly similar to
Russia's (in)famous Gum stores where you pick something out first, then
queue up to pay and then queue up to collect) and while we just hoped
for a replacement or partial refund, even though they were entitled at
that point to send it back to the manufacturer for this, the girl took
it into the back for a minute or three then came out and gave us a full
refund because they didn't have another (bought a different one from
Comet).

Fact is, shops like Argos/Index don't want the hassle of knowing why
something doesn't work and don't understand the workings of such
equipment either (similar to buying a PC from Aldi/Lidl - like the one
I took back to Aldi in 2003), they're just box-shifters so they'd
rather send it back to the manufacturer and refund you (or replace if
they have another) than waste time debating it.

Go to Dixons and a refund means losing commission for the staff so
they're all fighting each other to ensure you pay as much for the
product and then *** off out of their store as quickly as possible.

> I won't buy major electrical goods on-line because of the difficulty &
> expense of returning faulty ones.

See my tale of the Dabs faulty hard drive on here, which I bought
online because it was far cheaper than buying in a store). Eventually I
got a full refund once I'd contacted Trading Standards and understood
my consumer rights (eg. Dabs wanted me to pay for returning the item to
them via courier, yet as it was under 6 months old it was down to Dabs
to pay for this, but it took communication to their customer services
manager before he altered the RMA number details such that they website
would do this rather than automatically making me pay for it)

Buying online isn't the minefield some people think and electronic
goods generally go faulty within the first 12 months or not for several
years.

The Pricerunner site allows users to post reviews of their experiences
of the companies featured so you can find out what the customer service
is like.

> BTW Dom, on a completely separate issue - on your website re Madonna's
> #1, WTF are 'bingo wings'?

I'd say Google is your friend, but I'll tell you as long as you promise
never to go to any shop in the Dixons Stores Group again, or even THINK
about one!

Dom

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