On Monday my 17 year old daughter ordered 6 items of jewelery from the Argos website for home delivery. Stock was conformed the order was conformed and delivery scheduled for Wednesday between the hours of 7am and 6pm. When the delivery did not arrive i phoned Argos customer services quoted my order number stated my problem of the failure to deliver. Operator in put the order in to the computer and found that the paper work had not even been forward to the warehouse for dispatch. I was amazed to say the least the operator then checked to see the current stock ability of the items and said everything was now sold out and therefore unavailable. I questioned whether it was normal practice for them to take money for goods they were not actually prepared or able to supply. The operator said my daughters card would be re credited immediately and could only apologize. I was more than a little annoyed and asked to speak to the line manager to take the matter further and whether some compensation would be appropriate. I was told all line managers had finished their shifts and i would have to ring again in the morning. On finishing the call my daughter went back on the website to check stock availability for herself and found 5 items out of 6 still available for home delivery. Thursday m0rning I again rang customer services and after a brief chat with the operator requested i was put straight through to the escalation team I was put on hold and after approximately 2 minutes cut off.By this time i was getting very angry with being messed around again rang the operators and after an even shorter chat with the operator where i admit my tone was a little terse i was put on hold again and after about a minute finally got through to the escalation team. The women who answered the call informed me she was the person who i was being originally put through to when I had cut off the phone call. After assuring her that it was them who had terminated the call which she denied and a short 2 way banter ensued with her not wanting to take responsibility. Knowing I was getting no where I got to the point of my complaint and asked of they were in the nature of taking money for goods they were unable to provide, also that the internet was showing some of these items still in stock. She replied that the internet was not always up to date (I thought this was the whole point of internet ordering being able to check stock etc.) I also said that there must be some law which they were breaking. I asked whether in the circumstances they were willing to offer any compensation. After a moments thought she mumbled that they could send a £5 gift voucher as a gesture of good will. I said that was fine but how were they going to compensate me for the 3 lengthy phone calls i had made. Her reply was that for this to happen i would have to send a copy of my telephone bill to customer services.By this time I was in danger of losing my temper completely and asked for the address which i could write to informed her that i would be putting a complaint on the internet forum and that we would be recommending to our wide circle of friends that they do not use this Argos home delivery service. She sheepishly said good bye and call ended.
Briefly this is not the first problems we have had 2 years ago they took £500 for 2 couches which they failed to deliver and then could no longer supply. As in this case had we not chased the order up we would have been non the wiser and Argos would have held on to our money indefinitely.
Tell me is this the way that such a large corporation should behave and are they even acting legally. I fully intend to take the matter further up the chain of command until i get a satisfactory out come.
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