How the hell do Currys stay in business?

Caporegime
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45,169
it's literally one of the easiest things in a PC/laptop to upgrade where almost nothing can go wrong.

it's not like when you buy a CPU+motherboard+ram and if your pc doesn't power on it's really hard to work out what's actually dead on arrival and what's not (never had any dead components yet personally though)
 
Associate
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I was told by the bloke there about the extra cost involved. All I have to do is bring the gear and while it's been done I can go for a pint or have something to eat or nip into Tesco for some of their chicken.
I'm only going along with what I'm being told but in this case it's two different things.
 
Caporegime
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I use currys more than amazon for electronic stuff.

Thier cashback rates are absolutely amazing.
Often 20 percent

Bought a Google doorbell on black Friday for 150 with 25 percent cashback.
Got another 30 pounds off. (it excludes vat)

Then a eufy g30 robot vacuum for 210 and got 20 pounds off that in cashback
 
Associate
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I use currys more than amazon for electronic stuff.

Thier cashback rates are absolutely amazing.
Often 20 percent

Bought a Google doorbell on black Friday for 150 with 25 percent cashback.
Got another 30 pounds off. (it excludes vat)

Then a eufy g30 robot vacuum for 210 and got 20 pounds off that in cashback

I was going to get myself a robot vacuum cleaner for less than fifty quid from Amazon (but I don't think the cat would have approved) but I decided against it. I've been looking on Amazons and now have another two choices-Samsung or Crucial. When I enquired at Cuirrys last week the bloke said it'd take half an hour but I had to provide the gear myself.
Why can't they sell the goods I need instore instead of online?
 
Caporegime
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I was going to get myself a robot vacuum cleaner for less than fifty quid from Amazon (but I don't think the cat would have approved) but I decided against it. I've been looking on Amazons and now have another two choices-Samsung or Crucial. When I enquired at Cuirrys last week the bloke said it'd take half an hour but I had to provide the gear myself.
Why can't they sell the goods I need instore instead of online?
Space. That’s it. A huge warehouse on an industrial estate in Milton Keynes will be cheaper than stocking everything in a huge store on a retail park with sky high rents.
 
Associate
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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

I only use them sparingly, E.g. as you said, I need printer ink right now!

Once or twice over the past few years, I did use them with stacked offers. E.g. I get discounted shop vouchers. Stack with any other offer they have gong, and a cashback website, etc.
 
Associate
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Livingston
I found their pc hardware cheaper in Curry’s than anywhere online.
I have got PSU’s, big brand keyboards mice and headphones cheaper with an easy delivery or click and collect service.

They also have the cheapest graphics cards, but they sell out quick, they didn’t scalp their consoles either so they are competitive because they know they need to be.
 
Associate
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I get it. I have the same sort of thing with my car or bike. People tell me how simple it is to do a certain job, but it's not something I've done before and it's expensive kit we're dealing with so I often 'pay a guy' to do it for me. With a PC, yeah I would swap a drive out myself, no problem. It's almost hard for those of us that know how to do it, to comprehend why someone wouldn't do this themselves, but I get it. This year I've been gradually training myself on home maintenance though and it puts you in a strong place for maintaining things in the future, so I would encourage you to give it a go.

What part of the UK are you in? How much where PC World going to charge? Maybe for a few beers/coffees a local OCUKer would observe and advise while you did it? Maybe even over Zoom?

Here's thr model number
IdeaPad Gaming 3 15IMH05
 
Associate
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A bloke in Currys gave me some false information.
When I originally asked how long it was going to take to get my internall SSD drive upgraded (I bought the gear) I was told it'd take half an hour by another bloke who worked there (long enough for me to do a bit of shopping, get something to east and go for a pint). Went in on Wedneday at half past ten and was told to come back at two o'clock and I wasn't going to pay until I'd seen that the job was done but Currys insisted on being paid first.
I don't know if it was the guy who told me to come back at two o'clock who did the job but I thanked him for it.
 
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Associate
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479
Hmm, I didn't ask that? Someone else asked that about a week ago... I'm beginning to think maybe you should let PC World to the upgrade for you?.

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.
 
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Soldato
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21 Oct 2011
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ST4
but I really wanted to do it myself and would have if it wasn't for the screws and screwdriver

Let me get this straight, you're saying you didn't install something as simple as a new hard drive, basically as easy as Lego and something a 10 year old can do, because you don't know how to use a screwdriver to undo a screw?

Yeah, I'm still saying wind-up.
 
Caporegime
OP
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Godalming
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.
 
Soldato
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Barnet, London
Yeah, for a £2 screwdriver to be the reason not to do it, I would suggest you didn't really want to and were looking for excuses, like when I don't want to go to the gym, I use anything as an excuse :cry:

Still, glad it's sorted and we can all move on.
 
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