Page 1 of ARGOS - Warning

0n 16 Decemebr, 2004 I ordered via the internet the following which was a special
offer :-

HP 4mp Camera + Memory Card + Photograph Printer £99

There was nothing on the site to say that the items were NOT in stock and I
preceeded with the order form which gave a delivery date of Monday, 20 December, 2004 at the above cost of £99 + delivery.

Approximately 1 hour later I received an email stating that the camera was not
in stock, however they were sending the printer at cost of £79 + delivery.

I only wanted the special offer and there was no reduction in the printer, infact if
I wanted to re order the camera as a single item it would cots £149.

I immediately contacted their service desk at an 0870 number which took 20 minutes to get through. I was informed by their representative that on my request that my
order had been cancelled.

I however, forwarded an email to them a few minutes later through their CANCELLATION system.
Today you will have guessed a delivery van drew up with the PRINTER.
I checked with my credit card company and found that £83 the cost of the printer
had been costed to me by Argos.

I refused to accept the printer.

I therafter contacted their Customer Service Department again at 0870 number and was cut off twice , left hanging on for 10 minutes and in total spent 47 minutes on the
phone to try and sort out this problem.

I was told it was a internet fault and was put through to the I.T. Department who stated
that they had a problem with JOINT special offers. On asking the person his name
he hung up.

I eventually spoke to a manager who informed me to write to Customer Service regarding any complaints I had.

I do not know the legal situation regarding this matter but surely a Company
advertising a offer of 2 items at a total cost to induce to buy them knowing that they have only one item which they will send to you at the FULL price cannot be right.

I will be appreciatative of any advice.

Cheers

re-contact you`re credit card company, tell them what happened and that you do Not have the goods as you refused to sign for them or take delivery (i think that you said you refused the delivery ?) let them sort it out, if the argos number is not a freephone number inform them that you will also be charging them (argos) for the phonecall, do this in a letter rather than ringing up again, also send it via royal mail signed for (the letter that is) it only costs an extra 64p (which you will also state you are charging them for ;) ) track the letter online till it`s delivered & wait for a response.

if more people do stuff like this maybe they will stop taking the p*** so much 8)

This item was edited on Saturday, 18th December 2004, 22:02

My daughter is still waiting for a refund from them for a 3pc suite that she never took delivery of ( it wouldn`t fit through the front door). She phoned them straight away. That was 8th Nov. They keep telling her that they have not had the paperwork saying it is back in the warehouse.

DO NOT USE ARGOS DELIVERY SERVICE

Having tried them 3 times and recieved the wrong item each time, and upon recieving the correct item then being charged for the item i returned /refused as well as the correct one i can well and truely say i have learnt my lesson !

U HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!!!!!!

Used argos many times and cant fault them :p

This time last year I ordered a Bed, down from 500 to 270. Plenty in stock they say........

The frame turned up in february and the matress turned up in march....

To be fair on them though, they did give us 50 quid in vouchers after I rang and less than politely enquired how i was supposed to get a good nights sleep on 4 metal struts and a headboard.....

Further to my initial first post.
It appears Argos are operating an advertising SCAM.
Advertise through email and site a very special offer such as
camera and printer at £99.98
(making a saving of £130).
Have a small number of these offers available on the internet and for collection
at selected shops.
When selected stock sold, ( unable to buy thereafter due to to non avialability )maintain advert for whole duration of offer and attracting the consumer to visit site for more possible offers.
On 16 December, 2004 when the offer was only 1 hour old I checked stock at 12
shops in my area. NO STOCK for this offer.
On 20 December, 2004 when offer finished all 12 shops had the camera and printer in STOCK.
This is a well known ploy of the doggy Market Trader to encourage interest and
consumer purchase.
I have noticed other special offers by ARGOS in this category.
I decided to report the whole matter to TRADING STANDARDS who were not interested
and stated there was nothing they could do.
I explain the full facts and they told me I would eventually get my money backwhich I did
some 8 days later.
I wonder if some one took £83 from their purse or wallet for 8 days without any
authority how they would feel.
Any advice on my long winded story would be appreciated.

Supose I was a lucky b then with Argos. I ordered a PS2 from them (in November 04)and at the time they had a special offer going when you ordered the PS2 you could buy a game (I picked fifa 2005) for £5. Anyway the PS2 was out of stock but they still sent me my game AND only charged me a fiver for it plus postage was free as my original order was for over £100 so I clicked .
not that it helps you but just goes to show they do make mistakes in customers favour

argos are very reputable and i think this was a one off bad mistake

In store I`ve never had a problem with Argos over many years of using them. However just before Christmas I ordered a 3 seater and 2 seater settee via their website. It was showing as in stock, and I paid in full.

The confirmation email said someone would call us to arrange a delivery date. We waited a week and no-one rang, so we rang them. The were very surly and said the item said delivery within 28 days, and they still had 3 weeks left yet.

I told them that is what it says, but I wouldn`t have expected it to take that long for an item which they said was in stock. She told me that for things like this, in stock just means it`s available to buy, they don`t actually have any in the warehouse.

So it`s not really in stock at all then. They just order it in when they get an order, the same as a furniture shop would. I won`t be ordering any more big items from them when they`re so deceitful in their descriptions. :(