How the hell do Currys stay in business?

[Diddums]

Rant time. I've been to Curry's many, many times over the last 13 years I've lived in the UK. It's always, and I mean always more expensive than I can find online, there and then on my phone. The service is non-existent, to the point I've actually wondered if anyone works there at all. On the very odd occasion I've actually had any service or witnessed their "experts" provide "service" to a customer, it's invariably obvious within seconds that they haven't got a clue what they're talking about.

This hasn't been a one off, this has been consistent, every single time, and when I say don't know what they're talking about, I mean trying to sell me an ADSL modem for a cable connection, or not knowing the difference between Full HD and HD ready (remember those days? heh). I'm not talking about enthusiast level stuff, but the basics, their bread & butter, they know none of it.

Yet there they are, on the high street, selling stuff. I saw a deal on HUKD today and wanted to pop in store to pick one up, walked around for about 15 minutes, nothing. Not a single person. Asked at customer service if anyone was available, was told someone would be with me. Another 10 minutes, nothing. Eventually I collared someone who was clearly dashing through the store in low-profile mode in the hope that nobody saw him, and asked him a few questions. Again, he knew nothing and was more interested in shaking me and buggering off.

I honestly don't know what I was thinking, expecting anything other than such crap service, but my optimism regularly fails me.

The only reason I can think of that this company makes any money is finance, or those who want their stuff right now dammit!

/whinge over

 

[Diddums]

I think you need to re-adjust your expectations.

Their overheads are higher than an online seller. They don't give away retail park premises for free that magically staff themselve with experts. If they sell stuff at insufficient margin, they'll do an HMV. That DSG have lasted this long is a miracle, and also why they're staffed lightly during the week. When I worked for a related company 20 years ago the main profit earners were accessories, extended warranties and the finance packages. Even then they made next to no margin on the actual products, and in those days Amazon were a small operation selling a few books.



If you're expecting a sales led organisation to staff a retail shop with staff that have an encyclopaedic technical knowledge of everything from dishwashers to TVs and every modern gadgets for while paying near minimum wage you've got thing coming.

As I said, I'm not expecting someone to tell me the fine details, but not knowing the difference between things like 720p and 1080p isn't acceptable, regardless of overheads. Otherwise they may as well adopt an Argos business model, right? What's the point in having the staff there? To serve customers. Which they don't. And when they do, they haven't a clue what they're talking about. Just boggles my mind.

 

[Diddums]

I'll never understand people like these who can't walk away.
On these forums we also have people who are kept on the phone by sales people, I just put the phone down, or sales people/Jehova's at the door, I just shut it and say 'not interested'.

Exactly. It's got a lot to do with age and upbringing. I was raised to be respectful so in my younger days I'd listen and give them time, but as I get older I have less and less time for people who waste my time. If I want something I appreciate some service or assistance or whatever but don't cold call me, don't knock on my door, don't approach me in a shop (although I do remain polite, they're just doing their job after all).

I notice that a lot of younger kids these days are rude little pricks who need a good slap.

 

[Diddums]

Aaaaand Curry's strikes again. Whilst this could be seen as a competitor, I think this serves more as a warning to anyone considering giving them any business to stay the hell away from that utter ****stain of a company/

What's wrong with these images:





This was bought as a deal by someone in Yorkshire for our friend's PC, hence Currys and not Overclockers. I just can't believe they managed to **** something like this up once again. Utterly unbelievable, I'm livid.

 

[Diddums]

That's a Samsung balls up or do you think Currys switch products in boxes?

I had similar with an Epson printer, it had Epson 2750 all over the box and it was only when my daughter ran out of ink I realised it was a 2860 and they don't do compatibles (yet). It's now in my attic because the box was thrown away and we can't prove it.

The seal was broken. Currys balls up.

 

[Diddums]

Still can't believe this company is in business.

We wanted an air fryer, but we had specific needs so we wanted to see some in person. Off to Curry's then. We wanted to see a specific model which they had in stock, but not on display, they had loads of them on the shelves. So I grabbed one, interrupted the two staff who were rather upset that a customer interrupted their tweets or whatever they were glued to their phones for, and asked if I could open the box and have a look.

No, sorry. We can't open boxes, it's got a security tag on it.

Of course that being utter horse**** I approach someone else, who then informs me that he only works mobile phones, but if I go to the customer services they'll be able to help. Of course the queue there has about 20 people waiting (no exaggeration, should've taken a photo actually) and the people behind the tills looked like they'd rather be flung off a mountain than doing that job so I put the box down and left.


Christmas eve my wifi card decides to die, so no internet for me. On the hunt for an ethernet cable so I can use my homeplugs, I walk in to Curry's again, and credit where it's due, a lovely girl in a santa hat walked straight up to me and asked if she could help with anything. She didn't know what an ethernet cable or a Cat5 cable is but after a bit of a description she pointed me towards the computer section. I almost fell over and when walking away from her I told my wife to buy a lottery ticket.

And then I realised why this company is still in business. How much for a cat5 cable, 2m long?

Fiver? Tenner because Currys?

£20.

Yes, £20 for a bog standard 2m Cat5e cable.

Bought two for a tenner elsewhere on the way home and supported a tiny local business in the process.

I absolutely actively loathe Curry's.

 

[Diddums]

You hate them so much you still visited twice?
I haven't been to a curries for many years.

Needs must unfortunately.

Minimum wage = minimum effort. I bet most of the staff were school leaving age/college etc too. They only turn up for their wage and their certainly aren't going to doff their hats for you.

True. I wonder if @1664kronenbourg works there?

 

[Diddums]

I remember Comet trying to sell a monster 3d hdmi cable for £79 lol when those TVs had just been launched.

Yeah, I know

Yes, this is the actual cable and yes, I bought it at Comet.

 

[Diddums]

Obviously not a computer nerd. I must have a box full of cat5 cable in the loft. In-between all those ide cables that never got used.

That's what irritated me. At work I've got access to thousands of the things, and at home I recently binned at least 10 of them.

Sod's law

 

[Diddums]

I've read the thread and am ready to offer my thoughts.

@Diddums it's not them, it's you. You know exactly what you're going to get as soon as you walk into that shop, and yet back you go again and again... It's rage porn. You didn't need to see that air fryer out of the box, and you knew that ADSL router wasn't compatible... You just craved the thrill of demonstrating your superior knowledge to the little purple clad minions again. I bet your heart was pounding when he said he couldn't take it out of the box for you to inspect, with your fingers starting to twitch like they were typing that strongly worded email to the manager even before you could fumble the phone past the erection that was partially blocking the exit route in your pocket.

Meanwhile, on your local Currys employee WhatsApp chat group, there's a sticky thread...

Like I said, I only go because I have no choice to see these items in the real world before purchasing.

The air fryer being a perfect example, there are literally no photos online of it with the basket removed so I can't see how easy it is to clean. I've checked everywhere, including youtube, and nobody's got an open one I can see, which is why I had to go to Currys.


This of course is completely irrelevant to the fact that these people are paid to do a job. That job is to serve people and if they can't, then they should find someone who can, not just shrug their shoulders and go "no soz lol", I might sound like a massive Karen here, but I also always appreciate good service and will usually tip when I encounter this and make sure I'm friendly to these people, I've been in their shoes and know the industry well. I also made sure to do my job to the best of my ability and if I couldn't do something or wasn't sure, I would enquire about it. This is why I am now no longer serving entitled prats asking about air fryers and am instead earning a decent salary with a decent career ahead of me.

"Rage porn" wtf is that

 

[Diddums]

The absolute irony and inference in that sentance surely can't have went over your head.

It's retail. It's boring, crap work. For most, it's their first job, for some it's a stop gap and for others, it's a career. And that's ok.

Whatever career you're doing diddums, there's someone out there with better prospects and more money in the bank than you. Probably worked harder too.

I seen someone mention on the insurance question. Just a heads up. If a cashier has every asked you if you want something totally asinine to what you're buying (insurance on a £12 charger, a bag for a tiny item) it's mystery shoppers. Always mystery shoppers. If they don't ask, the store will get marked down, area manager will come down on the store manager and thus, the lowly employee on the other end of the "what a plonker" gets it in the ear.

Did you read the rest of my post, or just pick the sentence that suits you?

 

[Diddums]

You aren't shopping at Selfridge's or Harrods. It's Curry's.

What difference does that make?

 

[Diddums]

Expectations should be tailored to the establishment you're visiting. I don't expect the high quality of service from a sit down restaurant as I would from the staff at McDonald's. But.



Curry's have you for convenience. That's why they are still here. But I wouldn't expect stellar service from such a big company.

Also, you got ripped off by your local independent computer store. £10 for 2 meters of cat5. They are £2 in Toolstation. Ouch.

I wasn't ripped off, I was happy to pay it because it was a small local business and I wanted it on boxing day when everything else was closed. Their service was also good.

That said, excusing crap service because its not "harrods or selfridges" is rubbish and part of the reason these companies have the reputation they do.

 

[Diddums]

I'll upgrade your SSD for an hour labour if you want.


//On a more serious note however, you have to be really hamfisted or stupid to screw up a PC upgrade or even complete assembly nowadays. If a PC was a Lego set it'd have 10+ on the box.


Back when I was a wee lad, I built a few PCs out of whatever scraps I could find. And when I say scraps, I mean literal scraps. Hard drive from school, motherboard from an old junker found at my mum's work, etc. I then had to connect it all using nasty-ass old SCSE cables which were extremely unreliable, using jumpers on the drives to sort out master and slave drives, and cycle through all the RAM I had to find sticks that worked to eventually get an image on a screen. Looking back at the process, it wasn't far off trying to crack a coded lock. Start with a sequence and move to the next one until it worked, over and over.

And over.

And over.

And over.

And over.

Etc, you get the idea. You kids nowadays don't know how easy you have it

 

[Diddums]

Never tried any of the above.
I've got an interna; SSD in mind but if I include the tools and the lead it'll cost extra and what about the OS?

You've already got the leads, they're in your PC. All you need is a screwdriver. You can shoplift these very easily.

 

[Diddums]

I wonder if a mod can split this off as a separate thread perhaps?

Why? I think it answers the question in the title perfectly, demonstrated and all

 

[Diddums]

Ended up having to. The less obvious pros of that option were that I could do a bit of shopping (two bags of Chinese style chicken thighs from the hot food to go shelving at Tesco). get something to eat and get a couple of pints in while i waited but I really wanted to do it myself and would have if it wasn't for the screws and screwdriver (I didn't have any alcolhol before I attempted it either). When I went in to have the job done for me there was only one member of the sales team behind the counter and the others were at the opposite end of the shop in a group talking. At least when I'm on the shopfloor I make myself available should a customer need help.

I strongly suggest you seek professional help, you have a drinking problem.