to think that Argos should...

[Doublebubblebubble]

Maybe get more staff for this time of year?? In the stores and on the phone. (I know in the scheme of things that this is just very petty but it is also very annoying!)

The options for Argos are;

you go into the store and either the items are out of stock or home delivery only.

you order online for a specific time (because you might like to go out) and spend an exorbitant amount of time (and money) on the phone because the order hasn't arrived...

I am currently on the verge of giving up as I have been on the phone for 35 minutes. I've got a delivery that was meant to be delivered between 7am and 10am today (my order has also been split into two deliveries 1 apparently for today another for god knows when... If they couldnt do it today why split the delivery?? Getting myself cross)

I Would have just bought it when I went to the store yesterday queue out of the door but half of the items I wanted are now "home delivery only" so much for their ads which is just great for customers. not only do they/you HAVE to pay a delivery charge its great for the environment too!! I dont normally give this much time but currently feel like I'm being held to ransom. (i wanted to do a bit more xmas shopping - most stores are closed by 4!) I'm thinking of writing a very sternly worded email. Wwyd?

[Crazypetlady]

Our local Argos is terrible even with a lot of staff you have to be prepared to be there half an hour for a simple item. Everything is always out of stock .If they didn't faff about with mug cakes and heinz ketchup sets out front there might be more useful stock.

[TracyBarlow]

I can't type out my Argos experience in full here as I get so angry when I think about it. In a nutshell, they delivered a ripped box of cleaning items instead of my son's birthday present. I sent 14 emails, spent two hours on the phone and tweeted them 11 times before they finally sorted it out. They delivered my son's present two weeks after his birthday. Then fucking charged me again for delivery. I will never, ever use them again.

[littledrummergirl]

I bought a fridge freezer in the summer on next day del-it turned up 5days later and the drivers dropped it off the back of the lorry.
Customer serviced tried to get me to keep it with a tiny discount for the bloody great big dent and seemed most surprised when I declined.
They then said they couldn't deliver another one for a month.
I went to Currys and got one delivered the next day.
It still took a month for a refund...

[AlpacaPicnic]

I know someone who picked up one of the 'on sale piled up on the floor' items, it was the last one. As she was browsing the laminated book of dreams a staff member came up and tried to take the item she had picked up as they had received an online order for it. She refused to relinquish the toy as she wanted it for a Christmas present and the staff member became very unpleasant! She had to demand to speak to a manager who apparantly looked furious and embarrassed at the staff members actions.

[onadifferentplanet]

Credit where it's due. I ordered two items from Argos online at 2pm last Saturday and they were delivered by a very polite delivery man at 9pm the same evening.

[toopeoply]

Ive found the only way to get customer services to help resolve anything is to tweet them. Alot. Was on call for 2 hours today before the line went dead... grr

[pigsDOfly]

Wow, I must have been lucky with my local Argos. Always found them very helpful and polite. Although it is a very small town so maybe that helps.

Cancelled a big order with John Lewis recently because they annoyed me so much with their appalling lack of customer service and cavalier attitude to my time in relation to when they should make deliveries and went to Argos instead.

Order to Argos went through on line, had to speak to customer services on the phone to add something a couple of days later, very helpful man saw to it and it was added to my order without a problem.

Got a text the night before delivery day giving me a two hour slot - unlike JL who seem to think it reasonable to expect me to wait in for two days, 15 hours in total, in case they decided to turn up - got a phone call on the day an hour before actual delivery.

Everything came on the stated day at the stated time, all in good order, all exactly what I wanted. Completely happy.

[DeirdreDoo]

Oh gosh well fair enough if she is sure, I expect she has her reasons! I had imagined it being for a younger child (ds was 10 and it was a terrible idea!)

Hope you find one.

[Izzabellasasperella]

Deidredoo Dd is 16 and has her heart set on this one. I've tried tempting her with the Kindle, both Dh and I have one but you know what teens can be like!

[PurpleThermalsNowItsWinter]

Judging by the lack of staff on ours on Black Friday I would guess they are cutting back on expenses.

[abbsismyhero]

ive not had it too bad with argos this year although i bought a set of scales you could not read i contacted customer services who were very NO WE WILL NOT TAKE IT BACK i went to the store she said that's bloody useless do ya want a refund or a swap?

i do have issues with the online site it persisted in telling me there was not an item within 20 miles however when i asked about a store ten miles away item was there but not avaliable for home delivery so i caught the train and collected it myself!

i never used argos till woolies closed down

[OvO]

You can put in your postcode and check stock before even adding stuff to your trolley, so you don't then have a trolley full of stuff in stock in different stores or half in store while the other half is home delivery.

[DeirdreDoo]

Get a Kindle fire!

Seriously we have a nexus and it's been a nightmare from the start. It's not set up for children at all.

Depends how old she is though and obvs you may already be set on it, so apols if not very helpful!

[Izzabellasasperella]

I was going to start a thread about Argos this morning. I wanted to order a tablet for dd the website said it was available at my local store with my postcode and home delivery, got as far as payment then no they don't have this item.
It's another £30 everywhere else. It's the Nexus 7 if anyone has seen a bargain.

[OvO]

I like Argos.

Check if what I want is in stock near me. Reserve it. Go pick up.

Never had a problem. I live half a mile from one so use it a lot.

I like reserving stuff so there's no wasted journey.

I'd never do home delivery with them though - so many horror stories. And their last 3 for 2 on toys was a fiasco.

[maddening]

I had no problem - although some stuff was out of stock when I shopped online on Friday - both collect in store or online - quite a lot was Ok for store collect fast track so paid at home Friday and went straight to the fast track counter with no queue yesterday. Two things were delivery only which is fine for me. Had to go elsewhere for the out of stock items but my experience was fine - it's a sale so expected some to run out.

They could help themselves by taking your postcode and choice of stores when you first start you trolley then the website could show what is out of stock.

I used Amazon, debenhams, smyths and culture vulture for the rest of my shopping - I have already now picked up most of my Argos stuff, all my debenhams stuff and received my smyths stuff today, Amazon expected over the next week - all bar some booze and I'm done! Best shopping year yet for me :)

[Shakey15000]

I must have been lucky. Bought online during the 3for2 toys, delivered all together about 4 days later. Clearly I'm in a minority

[Doublebubblebubble]

I agree with you. Deirdre I do feel sorry for the staff. They are probably so disenchanted by the job because of the complaints that what difference will it make if they get another complaint... Evil Argos circle. They should get more staff generally but most definitely at this time of year.

[MyVisionsComeFromSoup]

in contrast, I ordered a printer from them at 10am yesterday, and collected it from a Homebase at 3.45pm. I agree trying to find out which store actually has stock is a bit tricky, but I tend to try the out of town ones rather than town centre shops, who are generally a bit better.

[LittleFishBigOcean]

They just can't keep up st the moment, and no, they don't have enough staff.

[MoonHare]

I've had a nightmare with Argos this week too. The goods are shoddy and their customer service is diabolical. I have vowed never to buy from them again. Customers have so many options these days unless they can turn around quickly I expect to see argos go bust within the next couple of years.

[DeirdreDoo]

I feel very sorry for their store staff at the moment. They are often trying their best and appreciate a bit of sympathy - they are vastly understaffed, the website is like a disembodied arm floating about and promising random things quite randomly, which then fail to materialise. Queues and queues of pissed off customers.

We had to drive about 10 miles away and back twice when things I'd reserved didn't turn up the first time. I got a fiver off, which I think she did by accident but she was really nice and didn't try and reclaim it - but also I couldn't use my gift card as it wouldn't scan and apparently the receipt that was stapled to it was necessary in order to process it

No one told me that.
Anyway it was sorted out in the end but what a flaming hassle.

Three tips:

1. Don't believe the website - and be prepared that everything you have in your trolley may be unavailable for delivery once you enter your postcode (this may save you hours, if you just avoid shopping there to begin with)

1. Have low expectations of quality - branded stuff is the same as anywhere else, but the ultra cheap shite will be just that.

1. Keep your receipt when they give you a gift card. Apparently lots of them don't scan.

I have my talking Bing Bunny, Bullseye the horse and Minecraft lego set and I am not going back this side of January.

[Doublebubblebubble]

frilly that is just horrible nevermind terrible service.

Im really worried about the second part of my order now and when that will be delivered as I haven't even got a date nevermind a time!! I have a 6 year old to take to school and a 6 week old to look after really don't want to be/cant be stuck indoors waiting....

[1frenchfoodie]

They are rubbish. Was to have something delivered in longish slot. Got texts saying it was 'dispatched' then 'on its way' then 'not possible to deliver. No explanation, even when I rang to reschedule though they did make the planned slot that time.