Shopping at Curry's

One of our objectives recently, has been to replace every cathode ray tube in the house. One of the pieces in this jigsaw was the TV in the kitchen....

Of the three T.V.'s the one in the kitchen was going to be the most difficult. Not because of where it was going, or moisture or any other such considerations, but size.

Firstly, it had to be a widescreen. This is the way things are heading, and I'm not so traditional that we are going to stick with the 4:3 format.

Second, it had to be bigger than the 14" portable sat on a bracket above the fridge. But it couldn't be too big, or it would occasionally get clobbered by the back door as we opened it. My electronics knowledge is reasonable, but not sufficient to replace a flat panel, and I was certain that reception wouldn't be improved by repeaated clatterings with the door.

Finally, it had to have freeview. Like widescreen, this is the way things are going, but unlike the choice between viewing formats, the government are going to switch off the analogue signal, and so a digital tuner was a must.

We went to the Currys store based at the Manchester forts, where we bought a Polaroid TV that matched all criteria, or so we thought.

Setting it up, I was convinced that iit wasn't picking up all the channels, either digital or analogue, and was further convinced by the poor reception it was displaying on those channels it was showing. So we took it back, and that was where the fun began.

Starting off civily enough, we approached the "customer service" desk. "Customer service" is a wonderful euphomism, because I've never found it to be anything other than the complaints department. The girl at the counter promptly plugged the thing in, and managed to get it to tune to even fewer stations than we managed.

"Oh, it's your aerial. There's nothing wrong with this". Hmm... So we've got a faulty aerial, which gave perfect pictures with the set it was replacing, and they can't get it to tune in either. Couldn't possibly be the set could it?

This went on for a while, and after I refused to meekly leave the store with the inadequate TV, the assistant manager was called. His main concern was "What am I going to do with this". I explained that I couldn't care less what he did with it. I get enough problems in day to day life, without having to buy them at Currys. I did sympathise to an extent with his problem. He informed me, during the course of our increasingly heated conversation, that he was a D.S.G. shareholder. Obviously, if Currys start giving refunds on faulty/indifferent merchandise, then with no recourse to their suppliers, profits are going to drop.

He also didn't care for the fact that I was becoming animated. I did point out that my attitude was that I try not to give anyone a problem until they first give me one, but that didn't seem to cut any ice either.

Gradually, he arrived at a compromise acceptable to him. He would take it back, provided I 1) bought another set, and 2) took a 10% hit on the one we were returning. To pretend that I was happy with this would be overstating my enthusiasm, but I figured it was cheaper than hiring a lawyer.

So, we spent some time wandering around until we settled on an unsuitable alternative. (It was unsuitable in so far as it didn't have a freeview receiver built in, thus necessitating an additional set-top box). But as we approached the cash desk to resolve the refund/payment, the assistant manager then offered to give a full refund on the one we'd brought back!

Why, oh why he couldn't have done that to start with? Having destroyed every ounce of goodwill Currys had built up with us, since we'd made them our electrical retailer of choice following a similar fiasco with Comet some 15 years earlier, (and we haven't been to one since), it just beggared belief that the best way of utilising the sale of goods act, was by driving a coach and horses through it, in the sure knowledge that legal recourse is beyond economic common sense.

So, in the end, we almost got what we wanted. But at what a price. Because now, Currys are off my shopping list.

Home

This is how they did it right 10 years earlier, or was it just because it was a cheap item.

One of the most common kitchen items to go wrong is the humble toaster.

So off we go to Currys to buy a new one. The only thing I didn't care for with the selection in the store, was that most seemed to have infra red elements, instead of the more traditional wire types. But we're progressive folks, and we picked one, took it home, plugged it in, and commenced making toast with our new toy.

Well, sort of toast. Stripey toast. Part brown, and part, well, white.

The elements were so far apart, that manufacturers claims notwithstanding, this thing wasn't browning a full slice of bread even remotely evenly.

So. we took it back. The lady in Currys suggested that we should pick another, and then we'd sort out the finance, up or down. No question as to whether I was being too fussy in how I liked my toast done. Just a strainghtforward offer to exchange immediately. I wasn't happy at this idea, and pointed out that I wasn't prepared to be bludgeoned into buying something else. What I wanted was a refund, and then we'd choose, (if we could find one) and alternative machine.

"Fine - no problem", we received a full refund on the unit we'd bought, did find another,(with wire elements) and bought that.

Exemplary attitude. It was one of the things that earned Currys my continued patronage, until the episode at the Manchester Forts branch.