Argos Very Poor customer handling

colombes

Hi,
I went today for click and collect in Argos Childer Road Limerick. I had ordered an in ear headphone.
Once bought I tried it straight away. The right ear was not working.
Well it was shortly if you twisted the base and not move an inch anymore. I tried on both of my phones same issue. So I went back in store with receipt maximum 10 mins after having bought the headphones.
A very cold harsh lady tell me give me that they will try then she leaves. I say to her colleague that I don't understand why they can't exchange and that with Covid I don't think that it is hygenic...
Anyway, she comes back 2mins later saying it works WE tried on our phones and it works.
I was gutted.
First basically she calls me a liar or stupid as if I don't know how to use it.
Secondly, how have THEY tried exactly?
She gave it back to me touching with her hands saying harshly it works.
I asked the manager name and left with it.
I should have not I should have argue back but really I was shocked.
I am so cross to have been treated so badly she was rude, I very rarely return or complaint so I am not used to it but I don't think that this attitude is the correct one.
Plus am I supposed to use something which was potientally used in ears by other people in covid situation? How do I disinfect an electronic piece? Maybe it had not been put in ears but I have not seen what they did.
Now I try to see how to make an official customer complaint but of course it is not clearly stated on the site. Do anybody have any experience on this?
I understand that they don't have an easy job in retail and that we all have good days and bad days but I was polite and she was not right from the beginning. Is it because I have a foreign accent? She was looking at me very dismissive, could be that as well.
Anyway, I don't want to give up on that one. It is not for the value of the headphone it is for the attitude.
Thanks for your advice.
Have a good day.

Vic_08

You returned the item as faulty.

In this case you are entitled to a refund, replacement or repair of the item, it is up to the retailer not you which of those options they offer.

They were well within their rights to check the item for themselves, if they found it to be working then what do you expect them to do? An item without a fault cannot be repaired so you essentially want them to take back a now unsaleable item and give you another one even though the first is as far as they are concerned working properly.

Maybe the attitude of the staff was poor or maybe you are just accusing them of that because you didn't like their decision to return the item to you.

In case you are still bothered about the function of the headphones, may I suggest you clean the jack, bad connection due to contamination is often the cause of the fault you have described.

Your covid concerns can be dealt with by wiping the item with alcohol or leaving it for several days so any possible virus is neutralised, the same as I assume you practiced with the packaging when you bought it as this will also have been touched by shop staff.

colombes

Vic_08 wrote: »

You returned the item as faulty.

In this case you are entitled to a refund, replacement or repair of the item, it is up to the retailer not you which of those options they offer.

They were well within their rights to check the item for themselves, if they found it to be working then what do you expect them to do? An item without a fault cannot be repaired so you essentially want them to take back a now unsaleable item and give you another one even though the first is as far as they are concerned working properly.

Maybe the attitude of the staff was poor or maybe you are just accusing them of that because you didn't like their decision to return the item to you.

In case you are still bothered about the function of the headphones, may I suggest you clean the jack, bad connection due to contamination is often the cause of the fault you have described.

Your covid concerns can be dealt with by wiping the item with alcohol or leaving it for several days so any possible virus is neutralised, the same as I assume you practiced with the packaging when you bought it as this will also have been touched by shop staff.

Hi, we went back to the shop (well my husband did), demonstrated it was faulty front of them exact same ear side I said from the beginning. They reluctantly exchanged and refunded the difference. We had to go twice to prove a point and both times they were intimidating and made us look like liars and fool. I suppose it works most of the time so people give up. I just think that they pick the people they do this to as well. I am done with Argos, never again. It is hard to explain but the attitude was very bad and I find quite interesting that they listened more to my husband (he is Irish). I felt very unconfortable in that shop. Never never happened in 15 years in Ireland. Irish people are very polite and welcoming so I can't help to think that Argos policy is to make everything possible to refuse return and almost have a performance indicator against it.

But surely you understand that if you are returning a faulty item, they are entitled to check it?

colombes

Dav010 wrote: »

But surely you understand that if you are returning a faulty item, they are entitled to check it?

Of course they are but they should check front of the customer and demonstrate it works. Which was not the case. And when we finally all check together we were right. And overall it was the attitude, hard to explain, I felt unease and intimidated. My husband was right to come back and insist. But sure if they do this way all the time, people get impressed and give up. Even with him and having tested it by the manager he had to say that he would not leave without an exchange...

colombes

colombes wrote: »

Of course they are but they should check front of the customer and demonstrate it works. Which was not the case. And when we finally all check together we were right. And overall it was the attitude, hard to explain, I felt unease and intimidated. My husband was right to come back and insist. But sure if they do this way all the time, people get impressed and give up. Even with him and having tested it by the manager he had to say that he would not leave without an exchange...

I’m struggling to see what they did wrong or why you felt intimidated. They took the headphones to test them, they worked and they then gave them back to you. What is intimidating about that? I suspect most shops check electrical items before they hand the consumer a refund.

rock22

Dav010 wrote: »

I’m struggling to see what they did wrong or why you felt intimidated. They took the headphones to test them, they worked and they then gave them back to you. What is intimidating about that? I suspect most shops check electrical items before they hand the consumer a refund.

How do you know they checked them and they worked?
They took the item and then said they checked them. Customer has no reason to believe this now when it is clear they were faulty all along.

rock22

rock22 wrote: »

How do you know they checked them and they worked?
They took the item and then said they checked them. Customer has no reason to believe this now when it is clear they were faulty all along.

The op seems to have been “intimidated” by the fact that they wanted to check the item instead of just taking her word and giving her back her money. She deserves the refund of course.

If you read the op, she said that sometimes they worked. Personally I’ve always found Argos to be very good with returns, so I doubt very much they they would hand back a faulty item without checking it first.

xl500

This is why online shopping with reputable sites like Amazon etc is doing so well

Returns on items purchased online are allowed within 14days no questions no reason needs to be given And Amazon are usually way better than 14 days

Garibaldi?

I returned an item with a missing part last year. I had not seen that he part was missing when I had bought it. The receipt they had given me was an online one. It was on my phone but they asked for a hard copy! I told them that I did not have a printer as it was not something I needed on a daily basis. I politely asked why they issued online receipts and then asked for hard copy versions. The assistant told me it was to prevent fraud! The item was a fairly large one. I was in town, so was bussing it. I had other things to do and did not want to be saddled with it all day. They reluctantly took it from me and refunded the money to my credit card. A huge fuss about a faulty item costing less than forty euros! Apart from that incident I have always found Argos great.

colombes

xl500 wrote: »

This is why online shopping with reputable sites like Amazon etc is doing so well

Returns on items purchased online are allowed within 14days no questions no reason needs to be given And Amazon are usually way better than 14 days

Yes agree. Usually I use Amazon.

colombes

Dav010 wrote: »

The op seems to have been “intimidated” by the fact that they wanted to check the item instead of just taking her word and giving her back her money. She deserves the refund of course.

If you read the op, she said that sometimes they worked. Personally I’ve always found Argos to be very good with returns, so I doubt very much they they would hand back a faulty item without checking it first.

It was the attitude, the way they behaved. I returned to another Argos location in the past and they were nice. But this particular location the two instances I had to return the experience was not good at all.

Yyhhuuu

colombes wrote: »

Yes agree. Usually I use Amazon.

Returns are permitted on ALL EU online purchases, not Just Amazon, under the Law.

Why support foreign online operators when Irish online traders provide jobs to Irish people.

I personally will not be buying on e bay or Amazon who both charge extra to Irish customers for delivery than the charges they levy on their british customers. E bay allows click and collect for FREE in London Argos stores ( I collected an item from an e bay retailer a last year in Argos Tottenham Court Rd for FREE DELIVERY) had it been delivered to Ireland there would be hefty delivery charges.

JohnC.

Why are you surprised that delivery to a different country across a sea costs more?

And you see all those complaints about delivery companies? Largely because people are too cheap to pay the actual costs of delivery so things get cut back and drivers given too many deliveries to reasonably deliver in a reasonable timescale.

Jim_Hodge

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

Returns are permitted on ALL EU online purchases, not Just Amazon, under the Law.

Why support foreign online operators when Irish online traders provide jobs to Irish people.

I personally will not be buying on e bay or Amazon who both charge extra to Irish customers for delivery than the charges they levy on their british customers. E bay allows click and collect for FREE in London Argos stores ( I collected an item from an e bay retailer a last year in Argos Tottenham Court Rd for FREE DELIVERY) had it been delivered to Ireland there would be hefty delivery charges.

A few points. Firstly you'll find Amazon, incl postage, often much cheaper than Irish outlets. But, more importantly, you are incorrect about Amazon charging more for postage to Ireland. Even though it should be more, I have found them charging the same as for UK delivery on most items over the oast year or so.

But, perhaps this is for another thread as this thread is about Argus.

skinny90

well done OP for sticking to your guns or having your someone to help sort the issue . Either way you got there in the end!
I can tell you that argos are generally decent enough to deal with. As b&m shops go anyways. the issue here I feel is 2 things, the nature of the product and the intermitted issue.

they really cannot be exchanged if opened so they need to be faulty.

What argos did was probably correct(proceedure wise test it, see if its faulty, exchange/refund if so or hand it and show that it is working)
however maybe there was a communication barrier both ways explaining that the issue is intermittent and them understanding that sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt.

As for the poor service it can happen and be very off putting, often il avoid these people if I can but it wouldnt stop me from ever coming back.

Then again i too worked in retail and I cant imagine how difficult it is for workers during this time

xl500

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

Returns are permitted on ALL EU online purchases, not Just Amazon, under the Law.

Why support foreign online operators when Irish online traders provide jobs to Irish people.

I personally will not be buying on e bay or Amazon who both charge extra to Irish customers for delivery than the charges they levy on their british customers. E bay allows click and collect for FREE in London Argos stores ( I collected an item from an e bay retailer a last year in Argos Tottenham Court Rd for FREE DELIVERY) had it been delivered to Ireland there would be hefty delivery charges.

The Irish Times printed a list of Irish Websites to consider for Xmas pressies

I did and ordered a piece of Jewellery it was coming from Waterford it took 10days to get here so bad I actually emailed seller to check if it was dispatched

Never Again

The last number of Items I have purchased from Amazon have arrived in Dublin next day with full updates of delivery time etc I can even see where the driver is on a map and any issue I just return free of charge

Irish Retailers really need to up their game in the online world