Page 1 of `Currys` in great customer service shocker!!!

after my heart being set on an x-box and now needed to find the best package and a 9 month interest free option. after dealing with the useless twats at comets (der whats a scart lead!) and dixons and apprehensively went to currys at white city, manchester. the people here were sound and actually knew a thing or two. after my initial deposit and free copy of edge :) i went to collect my x-box and was amazed at how well and quick my sale was processed. after a credit check which took a couple of mintutes and a few friendly smiles i was away in my car with my new purchase. now why cant all places be like this - quick, efficiant, friendly, couteous and informative.
so well done curries youve gone a long way into restoring some faith back to the major retailers......

And you only paid £300 for an unnecessary extended warranty, right ?

FYI:

Currys ARE part of the Dixons group!

Whenever you get good/bad personal service from the big chains, it`s precisely that - personal. All down to the individual assistant and sod all to do with the corporate suits.

You may be fortunate enough to live near a branch with some good staff. But their aftersales service is still an overpriced joke - like their extended warranty rip-off.

However I`m glad you got the product you were after, and with friendly service. So well done to the branch, but the company itsef still stinks.

they only mentioned the extended warranty almost only in passing...

the comet i refer to is the one at trafford retail park and the dixons in the trafford centre. theyre both s***e stores!

Elephant -

You said "they only mentioned the extended warranty almost only in passing..."

Boy is that store in trouble! Dixons etc. make a fortune out of extended warranties and really harass their sales staff into making sure they push them on the customers. So the less warranties the sales people sell the more bollockings they receive from head office and hence why you usually have to threaten to walk out of the store before they shut up and let you buy the goods you came in for!

This branch of Currys is really slacking by not towing the company line and having the audacity to sell customers the kit they want in a cheerful tone without beating them into submission with extended warranty threats.

You should have kept your gob shut. I’m sure Dixons head office will send “The Boys” around and get it back on track with the rest of the group, thus losing you a decent store.

;O).

oops!!! lol.....

All this constant whining about Dixons and Comet etc, and all the other chain electrical stores really annoys me.

No I don`t work for any of them, or am I connected in any way to anything in competition with them.

It just boils down to this.
What do people want?
They want to walk in to a store, pick a product up, pay for it and go home.
They don`t want to pay an extra premium in order to pay for staff who will be trained to the level where they can advise you on what exactly anamorphic means, or anything else that`s moderately technically minded.

The guys you see working in these shops, I assume, are on less than a tenner an hour, including their commission (whatever that entails) and if you want to talk to an expert then you should be prepared to either use the internet, find someone who knows, or pay an arm and a leg to Comet so that they can then afford to employ staff and train them to be experts.

It`s just a typical attitude of Brits who want their cake, want 50% extra free, and want to eat it and still have it.

And no, I`m not having a dig at anyone in particular in this thread, just venting frustration at people who don`t realise that money makes the world go round, and it makes it go round pretty well. :P

>They don`t want to pay an extra premium in order to pay for staff who will be trained to the level where they can advise you on what exactly anamorphic means, or anything else that`s moderately technically minded.

What a load of tosh! Almost everytime you buy something at Comet/Currys/Dixons you are paying a premium! e.g. Phlips 32PW6515 Store price = £950 , Best Web price £650. So what is the extra £300 paying for? This is not an isolated example, apart from when the stores are doing a special deal or genuine sale the prices are always substantially higher than an online retailer. If a customer is prepared to pay extra in store he/she should be able to expect some decent advice and service.

Yes, the guys in store are probably payed naff wages, so why dont the management pay these people a bit more and train them in order to give the customer a fair deal - the directors and shareholder can still fill their pockets - just a little less thats all.

This item was edited on Thursday, 4th April 2002, 10:13

Advertising and profit.
As long as people are willing to pay their prices they won`t change anything...and why should they? It`s a business made to make profits.
Then again, I don`t buy from them, not as a rule, but generally I wouldn`t look there first, and if anyone asked my opinion I`d tell them to shop around on the net.

Just on the subject of profit, and to provide an example, does anyone know the `cost` price of a new PC? As in, the cost to manufacture it, including materials, labour, energy etc? Well, it`s in the region of 20 quid. I imagine that the situation with other electrical goods is similar, although perhaps not as extreme? Regardless, there is an absolutely HUGE mark-up on electrical goods, which is why on-line retailers can afford to undercut the high-street by so much (although admittedly their costs are lower, because they don`t pay for prestige premises). So, to get to the point, Dixons Store Group could easily afford to lower their prices and invest more in training. But why should they? People are more than willing to patronise their stores at the moment, and pay their prices.
On the subject of training, I don`t think that it is unreasonable to expect staff in a shop that sells high-priced consumer goods to have at the very least a basic knowledge of the functions and features of their products. The problem is DSG, along with a lot of other establishments (retail or otherwise) does not seem to bother training up its staff to any real level. The problem is compounded by the general fluidity of the labour market for such jobs. Go into any shop in a years time and I bet you`ll struggle to find a person who was there today.
Ultimately, there are plenty of places that sell at lower prices than the high-street. It is up to the consumer to inform themselves, and make the EFFORT to do some investigation, especially if they are forking out large sums of money. Then, it is the retailers responsibility to solve any after-sales problems.
Right, i`ve said my bit. (bored now)
Bb