Currys Knowhow = Useless

Soldato
Joined
29 Mar 2007
Posts
4,648
Location
Swindon UK
Hope it's okay to mention the company in the context of kitchen goods, but felt I just had to share my annoyance and frustration with these guys.

Bought a new gas hob and electric single oven and paid £190 on top for Currys (Knowhow) to do the install. On arrival this afternoon, first problem was they took the old oven out (which was here when we moved in and has never been out of the unit) and declared they couldn't do the install as it was a 30 amp circuit and not a 13 amp, also appears previous install had wired the socket for the spark on the hob into the cooker circuit. Told us to get a local electrician to sort it out and Currys would refund the £90 element of the install (which we are having to sort ourselves).

Surely when they arrive at a property they must know they are going to face any kind of problem changing an appliance that may be 10 or 15 years old, god knows what is behind it? The guy admitted he is a gas fitter and only has the minimum electrical qualifications to do basic connections.

Then to add insult to injury, when he tried to put the hob in he was struggling to match up the fittings, then realised he had forgotten the washer. After dismantling and reassembling he then managed to cross thread the nut on the hob. After attempting to jerry rig with PFTE and a stern rebuke from myself, he admitted the hob was borked and we would need a new one. Then on the phone to head office and Bosch the theme seemed to be that the part was damaged from the factory. He then refused to put the old hob back in as he, "Didn't know what the pressures were."

His mate with him just looking on bemused at all this. They are supposed to be coming back on Wednesday with a replacement hob. After they had gone, I phoned a local sparkie who was out within an hour, could find nothing wrong with the wiring arrangement and had the new oven installed and working for less than half what Currys charged.

Knowhow seems to = Know Very Little.
 
Our local Currys a couple of years ago (maybe longer) had a 42" TV on display showing the difference between a cheap & expensive HDMI lead and there was a huge difference.
I called the assistant over who carried on with the BS and then I asked why the poor quality picture was connected from the DVD to the TV with a SCART lead :D
 
Our local Currys a couple of years ago (maybe longer) had a 42" TV on display showing the difference between a cheap & expensive HDMI lead and there was a huge difference.
I called the assistant over who carried on with the BS and then I asked why the poor quality picture was connected from the DVD to the TV with a SCART lead :D

They clearly assumed you had no idea!! Nice one :)
 
My current single electric oven has a 13amp plug, the old one was hard wired into a 30amp fuse. Electrician put a normal 13amp socket onto the end of the 30amp cable for the new oven. No idea if this is legal. was 5 or 6 years ago.
 
Different fitter returned this morning with a replacement hob, pulled the oven out and promptly started ranting at my missus (I was at work) about it not being safe, could catch fire at any moment etc. etc. After a somewhat frank exchange of views from my wife, he then refused to install the hob as he couldn’t find a power socket for the ignition circuit plug. If he’d looked, it’s in the cupboard next to the cooker cabinet. So we are now having to hire a local gas engineer to get that put in.

What really bothered me though is this “non-standard” fitting business. Most people changing their oven for the first time aren’t going to know what’s behind it much less any regulations about having a step down socket for lower wattage appliances. What do they expect to find when they go into an older house? They should carry the parts and skill to do the whole job, otherwise it’s no good coming back and moaning about someone else not doing it properly.

Now waiting for a response from Currys to an email (I'm not paying 0870 charges to hang on the phone) to get the £100 hob fitting charge refunded.
 
Don't the t&c state they only do bog-standard, piece of cake, installations? Which probably gets them out of a lot of installs. Or gives them scope to charge extra.
 
they couldn't do the install as it was a 30 amp circuit and not a 13 amp,
So why didn't you correct them? ampliances only pull as many amps as they need.
unless it pulls 30 amps and would likely cause your power to trip what's the problem?
 
Did the missus not know about the power socket for the hob ignition?
Unfortunately no so -1 to us on that, but common logic the guy would have seen the old hob was a wired unit not a friction spark and taken a look.

So why didn't you correct them? ampliances only pull as many amps as they need.
unless it pulls 30 amps and would likely cause your power to trip what's the problem?

Exactly what I thought and presumably the oven has some sort of internal fuse to protect against overloads anyway, but there was no convincing these guys either on Monday or today when the wife was on her own.

The guy today even had the cheek, when my wife said we would never buy from Currys again, to respond "You haven't got a lot of choice!"
 
Unfortunately no so -1 to us on that, but common logic the guy would have seen the old hob was a wired unit not a friction spark and taken a look.



Exactly what I thought and presumably the oven has some sort of internal fuse to protect against overloads anyway, but there was no convincing these guys either on Monday or today when the wife was on her own.

The guy today even had the cheek, when my wife said we would never buy from Currys again, to respond "You haven't got a lot of choice!"

Didn't you tell them Argos deliver? :p
 
Our local Currys a couple of years ago (maybe longer) had a 42" TV on display showing the difference between a cheap & expensive HDMI lead and there was a huge difference.
I called the assistant over who carried on with the BS and then I asked why the poor quality picture was connected from the DVD to the TV with a SCART lead :D

That sounds like it might have been around the same time I bought a new TV and Currys tried to sell me this "must have" HDMI cable priced at something like £79.99. Think original price was much higher than that but this was the 'special deal' price.Given that the assistant seemed more interested in this cable I assumed they were on a bonus for any sales they made.
 
If an oven is under 3kw (should state on data plate) it's okay to be fitted to a 13amp plug, any higher and i would be checking with installation manual.

Currys walk away from installs very quickly, probably to avoid damage claims!
 
Different fitter returned this morning with a replacement hob, pulled the oven out and promptly started ranting at my missus (I was at work) about it not being safe, could catch fire at any moment etc. etc. After a somewhat frank exchange of views from my wife, he then refused to install the hob as he couldn’t find a power socket for the ignition circuit plug. If he’d looked, it’s in the cupboard next to the cooker cabinet. So we are now having to hire a local gas engineer to get that put in.

What really bothered me though is this “non-standard” fitting business. Most people changing their oven for the first time aren’t going to know what’s behind it much less any regulations about having a step down socket for lower wattage appliances. What do they expect to find when they go into an older house? They should carry the parts and skill to do the whole job, otherwise it’s no good coming back and moaning about someone else not doing it properly.

Now waiting for a response from Currys to an email (I'm not paying 0870 charges to hang on the phone) to get the £100 hob fitting charge refunded.

Take the 0870 number and search for an alternative on say no to 0870 http://www.saynoto0870.com/
 
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