Currys shocking customer service - what are my consumer rights?

[admin_exported]

I have wasted so much time with Currys!

I purchased a 50in plasma TV in store from Currys, the whole experience has been the worst I have ever received.

Firstly it took over an hour to buy it due to staff incompetence. They sent me the wrong stand (even though I pointed out the stand I wanted), after taking it back I was told they were out of stock of the one I wanted, and would order me another, and to expect phone call within a week, a week went by so I went in store to find the stand hadn't even been ordered, despite paying for it two weeks previous.

Then the TV went wrong, they were sending out an engineer. Engineer never turned up!

Finally got and engineer out, they took TV away, came back three weeks later, exactly the same faults just a SOFTWARE UPDATE! TV then was taken back two days later, it then got to the stage of me being without a TV for 28 days (I also have children!), and so I was entitled to a replacement.

Rang up and was told to go in store to sort out a replacement. In store after almost an hour, I was told I could choose another TV for £699 (the amount I paid), my TV is no longer stocked, and the only sets available under £699 were HD ready not like for like full HD (full HD sets started at £899).

After explaining all this to the manager he had the cheek to offer me a gesture of goodwill of £30 despite all my time, phone calls, taking holiday to be there for delivery men three times, and me and my family being without a TV for 28 days! But if I had bought the extended warranty a like for like swap could be done?!

He said to talk to Head Office, and customer service would give me the number, customer service dialled the number for me, and the guy on the other line said he wasn't head office, got batted around some call centres and left in disgust.

When I returned home, I tried calling again, after being passed around again, finally got through to the right department, who are going to speak with the store, after agreeing with me that I should be offered a like for like set. I should be called within 24hrs...

DSG outfit are a joke!! What are my consumer rights?

 

[Frank Harvey]

There will be differing views on this, but generally anything that goes wrong within the first month should be swapped out for a new one, extended warranty or not.

I'd ask to deal with the store manager only (rather than dealing with people in store then more people over the phone). He's in charge of that store and what goes on in it, and any correspondence with their HO can be dealt with by him on your behalf, not that he should need to.

I'd stick with getting a like for like replacement as you'll benefit from it more.

I'm not aiming this at yourself, but you read loads of stories like this about DSG group, but it's usually the first place people think of when they need electronics!! It's a shame us independent stores can't keep their sort of product range with their buying power - but then again you'd end up having to employ monkeys, so probably wouldn't be any different!

 

[Anonymous]

I agree a like for like replacement is the best outcome, as £699 does not get much in the 50in market. Although the TV is now around 10 months old, it is still covered under he manufacturers warranty.

It seems I am a victim of being sucked in by the low price, only to find it has been more hassle that its worth, I genuinely feel let down by the DSG group. I should be getting contacted by the store manager tomorrow, but it seems he was very eager to wash his hands of the problem and push me over to head office, a job he should do!

I think it is unreasonable to offer an inferior product as a replacement, considering my experience so far.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I agree with the Customer Service at Curry's is terrible. Brought an ipod with free itunes vouchers. The muppets could not even put it through the till. 45 minutes later they finally sorted it out.

 

[Anonymous]

I think we have all experienced DSG at some time or another...

Recently I was in the market for a Panasonic TXP42G10... I foolishly visited my local Curry's (recently re-fitted) at 11am in the morning, and spent 45 minutes (yes, 45 minutes) in the store and was not spoken to or approached by anyone in this time...

Needless to say, a visit to John Lewis turned out to be the exact opposite and the TV was delivered 4 days later...

For what it's worth, the Sale of Goods Act states that "Goods should be fit for purpose", so you'll probably struggle to get a 'better' TV out of them than the £699 one you purchased.. That said, good luck

 

[Oldboy]

Totally agree with the above! Within the first month the tv should be replaced free of charge for a tv of the same spec if that model is no longer stocked, i'm not entirely sure and i'm sure someone else on the forum may well be better versed on the subject but i beleive that is a part of your rights under the sale of goods act....worth checking!?

I would also just like to say i agree that more people should seek out the independent stores and avoid people like DSG, trust me the extra you pay really is worth it if my experience was anything to by. I bought a Sony W5500 from PRC after having 2 faulty Samsung LE40B650 tv's sent to me by Amazon (mistake!) and i have to admit the service has been first class compared to the nightmare i had with Amazon, my first W5500 bought from prc suffered with the dreaded clouding so after phoning them they just said no problem bring it back and we will look at it. In the meantime they reserved another W5500 whilst i was on the phone so that if i wasn't happy i could freely take another tv in exchange...which is what i did and the new one is lovely. The old addage rings true i'm afraid that you really do get what you pay for

 

[matthewpiano]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. As Dave says, the Store Manager is your key person here. He is paid extra to deal with issues like this and he should be showing appropriate concern and making the right actions to ensure that you are satisfied as a customer.

 

[Anonymous]

maxflinn:white91:

I agree a like for like replacement is the best outcome, as £699 does not get much in the 50in market. Although the TV is now around 10 months old, it is still covered under he manufacturers warranty.

It seems I am a victim of being sucked in by the low price, only to find it has been more hassle that its worth, I genuinely feel let down by the DSG group. I should be getting contacted by the store manager tomorrow, but it seems he was very eager to wash his hands of the problem and push me over to head office, a job he should do!

I think it is unreasonable to offer an inferior product as a replacement, considering my experience so far.

id go back to the store and tell the manager that you are a regular poster on these forums , ask him politely to give you access to the internet , and show him this thread and your previous posts , he will probably tell his superior about the oppurtunity to turn bad publicity to good , and give you the 50b650 you want ... p.s. this post will self destruct in exactly one hour ...(we dont want the manager reading it now do we )

I like this idea, it just seems like I do not matter, which as a consumer is the worst feeling, when you are spnding your hard earned!

 

[sonycentre]

Yes its bad karma.im sorry to hear for your problems..........at least you know for next time.

 

[bigboss]

Oldboy:

Totally agree with the above! Within the first month the tv should be replaced free of charge for a tv of the same spec if that model is no longer stocked, i'm not entirely sure and i'm sure someone else on the forum may well be better versed on the subject but i beleive that is a part of your rights under the sale of goods act....worth checking!?

I bought a Sony W5500 from PRC after having 2 faulty Samsung LE40B650 tv's sent to me by Amazon (mistake!) and i have to admit the service has been first class compared to the nightmare i had with Amazon

What nightmare did you have with Amazon? I've always had a good experience with them over the past 5 years. They even accepted returns of my 18 month old laptop for a full refund (no questions asked) after the motherboard developed a fault.

Even if the TV is worth only £699, it does not mean you can accept an inferior quality product. Your retailer is responsible for a replecement / repair / refund for 2 years as per the EU law. The Sale of Goods Act actually covers you for upto 6 years, but that's a bit more complicated to enact.

So Currys should offer a full refund or replace the product with a similar product, or the next step better product.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip-offs/article.html?in_article_id=487304&in_page_id=5

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1207497/Shoppers-confused-rights-exchange.html

 

[bigblue235]

With regard to your rights, unfortunately they don't have to offer you an alternative, more expensive product just to match the spec of your current one.

They probably should, in the interests of decent customer service, but they don't actually have any obligation to do so.

You may be able to seek a full refund though, plus any costs you have met in the process of returning the product.

 

[Anonymous]

I would suggest that if any item is faulty within a short period of buying it - then get your money back. As soon as you accept repair or replacement you loose that option. You can buy again - from anywhere.

We had a Panasonic 42inch delivered from Dixons online, by a Currys van. It was terrible and gave us motion sickness of a horrible kind. Got our money back. Thing was, a neighbour watched them drop it over a foot off the back of the van to the lift. He just pushed it off with his foot. No wonder it was dodgy.

They do not give a toss, They would rather have a high turnover and have to refund the more demanding, than offer a decent service. I won't go there again. Our Philips was from Richer Sounds and they brough it in a black cab themselves.

 

[Oldboy]

The nightmare i had with Amazon is a long drawn out affair so i will spare you a page long essay and sum it up as best/shortly as i can. I ordered my original Samsung LE40B650 tv from Amazon and it arrived the next day (very suprised) delivered via City Link, and for a change no complaint with the delivery. Unfortunately the tv suffered extreme clouding in the top corners of the screen so i phoned them and they sent out a replacement and arranged for collection of the faulty tv to happen after i had recieved my replacement, so far so good. It's when the replacement turned up that things started going wrong.....

This tv was again faulty, clouding again only this time with added always 'on' pixels constantly white so again i rang them to complain which is where it gets interesting. I was told that tv had to be sent back and that before they would issue another they would have to wait for the 2 tv's i had to arrive back at Amazon for them to check for potential problems with their batch of tv's. This left me without a tv for 2 weeks and as you can imagine not very happy but they checked them eventually and confirmed what i had told them was correct so tv number 3 was sent....same problems again, clouding and pixels. This is where i gave up and demanded my money back. That was a mistake as i had to wait almost 4 weeks to be refunded (without a tv for that time) and in the first instance they even refunded my money into the wrong account therefore slowing the process even further and leaving it up to me to chase the banks constantly to get my money back. Sorry but i like Amazon but wont buy anything major from them again as the service i recieved was at first brilliant but it just deteriated the longer it went on and their attitude in the end was unforgivable and they offered no assistance in getting my money back, in short there customer service is not good enough and i felt hugely let down by them. I went to an idependent retailer after that and have had a 5 star service from them (prc).

Sorry it went on longer that expected.....lol!

 

[ukdavej]

The key phrase is "fit for purpose" - which it sounds pretty much like your TV wasn't. The store has a responsibility to sort this out, not head office, as it is with the store that your primary contract was made with. If they cannot offer a suitable replacement, you are entitled to a full refund. You may well struggle get another 50 incher for 700 quid and a refund might be your best option. At least then you can go and buy somewhere else.

On the subject of electrical retailers, I have always found the Currys/Dixons/Comet type places good to look at stuff as they have a pretty wide range. However, I would never buy from them as I find the staff either impossible, cluless or just non existant. It's a personal thing mostly. For me, half the fun is the looking, investigating, researching etc. I like to go into my local specialist store and chew the fat for a while with someone who is not only knowlegable about the product but actually takes an interest in what they are doing. John Lewis are pretty good. My local Sony centre is brilliant - the staff are always happy to chat and don't seem to really bother that you aren't going to buy anything there and then.

 

[Anonymous]

RESULT!!!

Spoke with someone at Currys who agreed I should be offered a like-for-like replacement, and was told to go in store with the name and telephone number of someone who could vouch for this.

Turned out I didn't need to ring anyone, a lovely lady called Stephanie was on the customer service desk, she said I someone would help me choose a replacement.

Again the sales guy said I could choose anything up to £699, but Stephanie pointed out I needed a like-for-like replacement.

My TV was PS50A556 (£699), current equivalent is the PS50B551 (£899), so I was offered this set or refund of (£699). However while I was there I saw the PS50B650 (£999) and couldn't resist (I know there is a 50Hz bug, and cinema smooth issues, but the G10 was £1199, and the 650 will looks beautiful in my pad) so I paid the difference between the 551 and the 650 (£100) to upgrade, and it's being delivered for free on Saturday.

I am satisfied, I will have a brand new set, with 12 month warranty, why this could not be done yesterday is beyond me. On the way out I saw the incompetent manager who couldn't look me in the eye!

 

[Anonymous]

ah thats good news , please post your opinions of the b650 once youve had a good look , roll on sat huh

 

[idc]

Excellent result white91. Patience, perserverence and keeping calm pays. Finding the right person to help you is often the key. Unfortunately companies often end up with idiots who dont really care or know how to handle people (not always the company's fault at times, just life). Then a complaining customer meets that employee and it all goes wrong.

 

[Anonymous]

I will do a full report on the new plasma after I play a few blu rays, been without a TV for a month now. It should be an improvement on the old A556, as it certainly looks good even switched off!

Glad to get something out of them, if only this could have been done 30 days ago....

 

[Anonymous]

As a (part time) employee of Currys I know how horrible some peoples experiences are. Glad you got it sorted in the end. There's actually a bit somewhere on one of out intranet sites that states how such situations should be treated (It's under a section called Loss of Bargain) and basically, as others have said, you should have been offered a like for like replacement or a refund, but staff never really get told about that, and when my microwave broke I rang out customer services to see if the information was out of date, but I was told it was correct. It's a case of talking to the right people. There are some decent staff out there. Hope you enjoy your new Samsung anyway. We have it playing on a Blu Ray demo in our store nad it looks superb.