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

Angilion

Angilion

Angilion

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I ordered and paid for a gym from Argos 7 weeks ago. The catalogue gave 4-5 days as the usual delivery period. It hasn't been delivered. We arrange a delivery date and 2-3 days before it Argos phone me to tell me that they won't deliver it.

Delivery had been re-re-re-arranged for this monday. I got yet another non-delivery message today, this time with an excuse. The excuse was that Argos don't have any of that gym. So...why are they taking money for a product they don't have for sale?

Customer services is closed and in any case I know from experience that there's no point ringing it because nobody answers. Last time, I stayed on hold for 15 minutes before giving up.

I'm not pleased. As far as I'm concerned, Argos has obtained money by deception by taking money for goods they cannot supply.

So, where do I stand when I ask for my money back? Given their track record, I expect them to refuse to refund it. Can I plausibly threaten legal action to recover my money? If so, will it be worth doing so? The gym was £210.

EDIT: I'm assuming that Argos isn't a competitor to OcUK. They're certainly not one in terms of customer service, that's for sure.
 
They should just refund you if you ring their customer services. I can't see any reason why they wouldn't.

They are a useless company, It should say out of stock on their website. I have had the same issue with a chair and ended up waiting a month for it. Then when I got it it fell apart within 6 months :rolleyes:
 
Mark A said:
They should just refund you if you ring their customer services. I can't see any reason why they wouldn't.
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I have been given 3 numbers for customer services (which is a bad sign in itself). Two just ring and ring. The third sends you through nested menus and then disconnects you if you haven't selected an option that leads to buying something from Argos. Nobody is answering any of the numbers.

They are a useless company, It should say out of stock on their website. I have had the same issue with a chair and ended up waiting a month for it. Then when I got it it fell apart within 6 months :rolleyes:
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I was OK with waiting for the first month and the gym I've ordered seems to be OK. It weighs 65Kg without any weights, so it should be sturdy.

I wanted that gym. I've rearranged my house specifically to create a gym room.

It doesn't even say out of stock on their website now, although they've increased the delivery period to 20 days (which is unreasonably long anyway). EDIT: I just looked again and it's gone down to 13 days within the last 30 minutes. Maybe they're just generating random delivery periods.

It's now obvious that they don't have the product and are just hoping to get some in. I've bought from Argos in the past and found them OK, but it seems I was lulled into a false sense of their adequacy because I had only bought in a physical shop and only items in stock in that shop.
 
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Angilion said:
Unfortunately not. Work gave me a wad of high street vouchers and I paid £170 with those and £40 on a debit card.
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Only option is customer services then im afraid. They wont do a cash refund in full so they will prob issue you the vouchers back and the part paid in cash back.
 
troops said:
Just go into your nearest Argos store and kick off.
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And when they say "blah blah blah, excuses, we can't give a refund because mumble mumble blather", what then?

As I said in my OP, I'm hoping to find out where I stand before I go into an Argos store tomorrow and politely but firmly demand a refund.
 
Every single piece of furniture, or anything designed to support the human body, that I have ever purchased from Argos has a) been completely impossible to put together due to manufacturing errors or b) fallen apart within a couple of months.

Call Customer Service, get your money back, and buy the equipment somewhere decent.
 
HybridX said:
Stupid idea because its got nothing to do with them.
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I ordered and paid for the item in store. It does have something to do with them. Besides, it's the same company. If you ordered something from OcUK online and had a problem, would you be fine with people in the OcUK shop saying it had nothing to do with them and they wouldn't do anything about it?

If he wants to kick off he needs to do it over the phone with the CS dept.
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It's impossible to kick off over the phone when nobody is answering the phone. I may as well rant at a pot plant. I don't want to kick off, anyway. That just makes a person look like an offensive idiot who's in the wrong...and they are in the wrong, because they are inevitably kicking off at someone who isn't to blame. I want Argos to honour the contract - I give them money, they give me the item I have paid for - but since they're too incompetent and/or deceitful to do that, I'll accept a refund. EDIT: I didn't just say that nobody is answering the phone now. I said that nobody is answering the phone, full stop. I've phoned during office hours. Nobody answers. As far as I know, Argos does not have anyone working in customer services at any time.

Does anyone have an answer to my question?
 
So, where do I stand when I ask for my money back?
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Yes.

Given their track record, I expect them to refuse to refund it.
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You'll have to see what they say but given the delay I don't see why they wouldn't refund you.

Can I plausibly threaten legal action to recover my money?
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Plausibly you could but I wouldn't unless you're really getting nowhere.

It's not something I would threaten them with in the shop tomorrow (later today now).

If so, will it be worth doing so?
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You'll have to make a judgement on that if it, and I very much doubt it will, comes to that.
 
Slightly off-topic, but can you charge a company for wasting your time like? Especially if you are self-employed and have had to dip into working hours to sort something out which is not your fault.
 
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 have failed delivery for what ever reason on more than 2 occations - you are no longer happy to wait, its not your fault so get your money / vouchers back. You could push for a full refund in cash as you no longer want to shop in their store due to the service you have recieved - vouchers therefore would be useless to you.
 
If you use High Street Vouchers, & you use them in Argos, & you then want a refund they will try to give you a Argos credit note.

Had this problem myself with Argos, took several weeks to resolve with constant phone calls to them, before I had a cheque in the post.

EDIT: Our local store Bath, would not issue a refund, might be a different policy in other Argos stores.
 
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