Update 1
I emailed a tonne of people at Dixons, basically board members of Dixons Store Group, which owns Currys and KNOWHOW. Got no bounce backs so I assume those emails we’re recieved but haven’t been replied to as yet.
I also emailed two addresses that I pulled off of a DSG press release, these were for people at the London PR Agency MCSaatchi and I got this reply.
Hi Brad – thanks for your message, and I’m so sorry that your experience of Currys/KNOWHOW was substandard
We’re referred your query to our client in press office who will advise the customer service team to get back to you as soon as possible.
Kind regards,
So I know that someone who deals with the PR agency (and therefore probably in a more senior position) knows about the issue. I am a bit more hopeful of getting this resolved on Monday.
My “Experience”
My wife and I wanted to buy a new cooker and hob, after our old cooker gave up the ghost and started sounding like a boeing 747 whenever the fan came on.This should be a fairly easy task. You go to a store, in this instance Currys a UK nationwide retailer who must sell thousands of cookers per year, you pay your money and they deliver and install your cooker right? Wrong.
September 24th -
After waiting in all day, the installation van rolls up at around 4:30pm. The guys come in and say hi, they pull out the old oven, take a 5 second look under the work top and tell me that they can’t install it because it won’t fit and that the power cable to the old oven is too small (something that an electrician friend of mine tell me is complete BS). The old oven has a “recess” on the top at the back and the gas pipe to the hob sat over this, the new oven was a complete box and they said the gas pipe would be in the way. They never actually tried to put the new oven in, they were in the house and back in the van in less that 5 minutes. This is important later.
So we get a refund on what was a surprisingly good deal and are left to find a new cooker that will fit. A few weeks later we find an oven that fits our requirements (as told by the installation team) and a hob along with it and we rebook installation.
November 1st -
After waiting in all day the installation van rolls up at around 4pm. These 2 guys are much nicer, chattier and start checking the gas for leaks etc etc. When they look at the switch board, to turn the cooker off, they tell me that they can’t install the oven because it is on a 50Amp circuit and their “figures” only go up to 45Amps. I ask him to clarify what that means and he tells me that they could physically install it, but they aren’t allowed to, not something that I was ever warned about when I purchased the item, how was I to know? He tells me that the guys on the previous visit should have spotted this, but he reckons they were eager to get home. As mentioned before I have a friend who is an electrician so I ask them to leave the new oven and he can install it and to just replace the hob.
They get to work, whipping out the old hob, cleaning off all the sealant and most importantly chopping the plug off the old one to put on the new one. They try the hob for size and it doesn’t fit, so they grab a jigsaw and cut the worktop to make it fit, then they check to see how the brackets fit, they can’t seem to work it out so they look at the manual, it’s the wrong manual. The manual is for an electric hob and mine is gas. So they check the model number on the paperwork and not only have they been given the wrong manual, but it’s the wrong hob.
These 2 guys were really nice and tried their best to get it sorted out for me, they rang the store (Riverside Branch, Norwich) and ended up putting me on the phone to someone (and I don’t want to name names, so lets call him Schman) who EVENTUALLY located another model at a different store (surely my original hob should’ve still been in the warehouse?) and arrange for it to be picked up that night. Schman then told me that I’d have to go back into the booking system and that it would be 5 days.
Naturally, I protested and said that this was unacceptable I can’t be left without any means to cook for a week, Schman told me there was nothing he could do so I asked to speak to his manager, Schmeve. Schmeve told me exactly the same as Schman had and when I asked for someone more senior to talk to, I was told that he wasn’t able to give me the number of the regional manager and that all I could do was contact the generic customer service number. Schmeve what is the point in having you if you have no more abiltiy to sort customer issues than the rest of your staff?
It was at this point that one of the installation guys took the phone back and said that he knew full well that as long as there is an order number in the system it can be booked in sooner, we left this with Schman promising to sort the order out and calling me back the following morning. The installation guys take away my two now useless hobs, apologising for the error which was Currys fault and not theirs. I wish I could remember both of their names, Andy from KnowHow and his apprentice, thank you for your help.
November 2nd -
Schman calls me at 9:30am (go Schman!) installation is rebooked for the following day!
November 3rd -
I call the delivery line in the morning to make sure that the installation is definitely booked in. It is.
After waiting in all day the installation van does not roll up at 4pm, or 4:30pm, or 5pm and I have that sinking feeling. I call the installation line and Schmosh tells me that the order has been cancelled. I swear. Lots. Apparently this is due to someone in the depot cancelling the order when they couldn’t find the item, was I called and informed? Of course not. Schmosh tells me that someone from the store will call me to advise me as to what is happening.
5:40pm Schmatalie rings me from the store and tells me that the item has been located and that I can have it installed on Saturday. I dare to have plans to visit family on Saturday so am told that it will have to be either Wednesday or Friday. I have no choice but to have it booked in for Wednesday. So thank you Currys I have to spend yet another day waiting at home for a basic gas applicance to be installed. It will have left me without a means to cook food for 8 days.
What have Currys cost me?
- 4 days (including the upcoming installation). I am a web developer and can work from home but I have been unable to deal with client meetings and have had to spend A LOT of time on the phone.
- My Hob has been broken and removed. Leaving me with no means of cooking food.
- I’ve had to buy prepared food, take aways are not cheap (or healthy).
- The aformentioned phone calls all to numbers not free from mobiles.
What would I like Currys to do about it?
- Refund my delivery and installation charge – Schmatalie has agreed to do this, considering nothing has been installed, I do not consider this to be reparition, just appropriate action.
- Cover the cost of the additional food purchases that I have had to make, including takeaways and prepared foods.
- Cover the cost of all the calls I have had to make to various “customer care lines”
- Payment of an invoice for 4 days of my time, charged at my companies standard day rate.
- Hire a private Electrician / Plumber to do a proper installation job of the oven and hob should the hob ever arrive.
- I also feel that due to the stress and inconvenience caused I should be given at least a part refund on my purchase I think 20% is fair.
Think I am a one off?
Think again – @sazzy had a very similar issue with customer service at Currys (http://www.sazzy.co.uk/2011/07/currys-co-uk/).
A man on the AVForums explains his issues with a Plasma TV (http://www.avforums.com/forums/plasma-tvs/1139737-currys-shocking-customer-service-what-my-rights.html)
@JackWeds on twitter “@KoehlerBear @currysonline their know how dept ruined me, lost my iMac for a month, spent days being tossed around call centres being lied” & “@KoehlerBear @currysonline to,being told they would call back (they didn’t). Lesson learned BUY NOTHING FRON CURRYS, CUSTOMER SERVICE IS BAD”
I need some help.
- I would like to know where I stand legally, who do I go to for help?
- If would like contact details for someone senior at Currys (preferably in customer services or marketing) who will be of more use than the front line staff.
- I would like to know if you have had similar issues with Currys or any of the Dixons owned retailers please reply in the comments.
So Far.
I have contacted “Customer Service” and raised the issue, no response as yet.
I have contacted the Director of Home Services, Steve Gibb via linkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/steve-gibb/11/711/9b6) no response as yet.
I will be contacting Trading standards / Citizens advice today and from there most likely a Solicitor.
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This is a truly outrageous situation, We are lucky enough to live in the city and have no dependants, what if we had small children or an elderly relative to look after, or if we didn’t have the money to buy prepared food or take away meals?
This is probably not the end of this saga, I’ll update future events as and when they happen.
If you are from Currys and want to do the decent thing and get in touch, I am on twitter at @koehlerbear or email me on brad@nomad.coop
