Repeated non-delivery after payment - where do I stand?

[Redrum]

I ordered a whole load of furniture from them recently, and it took longer than their site said for it to arrive. With the bigger stuff, I don't think they keep any of it in stock, so it does take a while. But when I called them, I had no problem getting hold of someone. I may have had to wait for a few minutes, but I spoke to someone and they were helpful enough.

I think you should call them and just stick it out on hold until they answer. You mentioned giving up after 15 minutes, but that's really not that long. It is too long for a decent company, but if you really want to speak to them, it's not long enough to give up waiting. Or wait for them to call you, because they will presumably be in contact to arrange another delivery time.

If you really don't want to try speaking to them anymore, then put your frustration and request to cancel your order down on paper and send it to their complaints address.

As for your questions of where you stand legally with cancelling it, it's a bit tricky. Normally, the distance selling regulations would say you can, but as you ordered it in store, I'm not sure whether they would cover you. But that's irrelevant anyway, since it's highly unlikely that when you ask to cancel, they will say no, especially given the circumstances.

 

[Angilion]

No brainer - get a refund. They didn't deliver for x reason, they then dont deliver as they dont have it in stock ( where has the equiptment that should have been delivered the first time gone ?)

They never had it in stock. They were just chancing it, hoping that they could get hold of some within a halfway reasonable length of time.

Damn silly way to do business - if they had been honest and said it was out of stock, I'd probably have bought something else. By not doing so, they've not only lost a sale now, they've also put me off buying anything from Argos in the future.



Update for anyone who cares:

I went into the nearest physical Argos shop (where I ordered it from) and politely explained the situation and my dissatisfaction with what was either incompetence or dishonesty (or both, since if Argos was being dishonest then it was doing so in an incompetent manner). They gave me a refund in full to the card I'd used to pay for part of it, in effect giving me cash for vouchers. Well, they said they did. I haven't been able to check yet (bank was shut, bank's ATMs were both out of paper so I couldn't print a recent transactions list).

It was clear that the shop staff were quite used to this scenario and they seemed about as impressed with Argos' delivery section (Argos Direct) as I am. That would be very galling - they do their job well and then another section of the company, one they have no connection with and no control over, bodges their job and thus undoes the shop staff's work (and puts the shop staff's jobs at risk in the long term by undermining Argos in its entirety).