Argos wanted me to pay for a watch just to view it

[johnnyb47]

Has the world gone completely bonkers.
Today I spotted a Casio G shock on sale in Argos for a reasonable price of £50.
I like watches and thought about buying it ,so I popped into Argos to take a look at it .
It was really quiet in there and I asked the staff if I could view it.
The response I got was no sir, you cannot view it unless you buy it.They said if you don't like it we will refund your money.
They said the reason for this is because there short staffed and don't have the time to let customers view items (even though I was the only person there)
I looked at the young lad and said are you having a laugh.
By the time I've paid for it ,you bring it out and then decide it's not for me you then have to refund me my money.Surely that would take longer than just letting me view it before I decided to buy it.
He just shrugged his shoulders and said I've got to stick to the policy.
I just shock my head with disappointment and walked away.
When buying something like a watch or jewellery you need to see the item in the flesh to see it in the cold day of light,because pictures on the Internet never truly represent them.
I could of gone along with with what they wanted,but because I thought it was a completely absurd practice it's lost them a sale.
Now I maybe missing the point somewhere, but with high Street shops struggling nowadays you would think there would be more flexibility in their selling practices.
All the very best, 👍

 

[classic33]

Has the world gone completely bonkers.
Today I spotted a Casio G shock on sale in Argos for a reasonable price of £50.
I like watches and thought about buying it ,so I popped into Argos to take a look at it .
It was really quiet in there and I asked the staff if I could view it.
The response I got was no sir, you cannot view it unless you buy it.They said if you don't like it we will refund your money.
They said the reason for this is because there short staffed and don't have the time to let customers view items (even though I was the only person there)
I looked at the young lad and said are you having a laugh.
By the time I've paid for it ,you bring it out and then decide it's not for me you then have to refund me my money.Surely that would take longer than just letting me view it before I decided to buy it.
He just shrugged his shoulders and said I've got to stick to the policy.
I just shock my head with disappointment and walked away.
When buying something like a watch or jewellery you need to see the item in the flesh to see it in the cold day of light,because pictures on the Internet never truly represent them.
I could of gone along with with what they wanted,but because I thought it was a completely absurd practice it's lost them a sale.
Now I maybe missing the point somewhere, but with high Street shops struggling nowadays you would think there would be more flexibility in their selling practices.
All the very best, 👍

They did the same thing years ago, when Elizabeth Dukes were still part of them.
You handed over your cash, and they'd bring the watch out for you to look at and if you didn't want it they refunded your money.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I'm not particularly surprised. It's Argos. They are a catalogue shop. You look things up in the catalogue and then you are given them. It wouldn't occur to me to want to see stuff other than in the catalogue in Argos. That's not how they work.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I'd say both the Argos staff are right and @johnnyb47 is right. Argos's policy might not be sensible, but the staff rightly so fear breaking it and @johnnyb47 can't be blamed for walking away as he was right about Argos's not very sensible policy of having to buy before you can try.

But as @Dogtrousers says, it is a catalogue shop, so you don't get to look when buying from a catalogue, you have to buy the item, then send it back if you don't like it, so it seems Argos must work the same way.

 

[Chris S]

I'm not particularly surprised. It's Argos. They are a catalogue shop.

They started off as Green Shield Stamp shops. That's another one for the Odd Factoids section.

 

[biggs682]

Do they still do a paper catalogue?

Use to love thumbing through them and marking what the kids wanted for Christmas with them or cutting out stuff to stick onto the inside of a cereal box making your own favourite page , things we used to do to keep them entertained 😄

 

[FrankCrank]

I can honestly say I've never found shopping at Argos to be a pleasurable experience.

 

[T4tomo]

Has the world gone completely bonkers.
Today I spotted a Casio G shock on sale in Argos for a reasonable price of £50.
I like watches and thought about buying it ,so I popped into Argos to take a look at it .
It was really quiet in there and I asked the staff if I could view it.
The response I got was no sir, you cannot view it unless you buy it.They said if you don't like it we will refund your money.
They said the reason for this is because there short staffed and don't have the time to let customers view items (even though I was the only person there)
I looked at the young lad and said are you having a laugh.
By the time I've paid for it ,you bring it out and then decide it's not for me you then have to refund me my money.Surely that would take longer than just letting me view it before I decided to buy it.
He just shrugged his shoulders and said I've got to stick to the policy.
I just shock my head with disappointment and walked away.
When buying something like a watch or jewellery you need to see the item in the flesh to see it in the cold day of light,because pictures on the Internet never truly represent them.
I could of gone along with with what they wanted,but because I thought it was a completely absurd practice it's lost them a sale.
Now I maybe missing the point somewhere, but with high Street shops struggling nowadays you would think there would be more flexibility in their selling practices.
All the very best, 👍

And rightly.so, if you'd have legged it whilst he was distracted by another customer, he'd have been sacked for not following policy.

 

[EltonFrog]

If it was THIS one, then you’ve dodged a bullet, it’s a feckin f’ugly timepiece.

 

[Brandane]

My biggest problem with Argos is that they dispensed with the perfectly good cafés at several Sainsburys to make space for them. Cafés which were very handy and reasonably priced for use while out on bike rides.

 

[Illaveago]

I can honestly say I've never found shopping at Argos to be a pleasurable experience.

It used to be a long process in the past. A bit like travelling abroad to another county!

 

[Brandane]

I can honestly say I've never found shopping at Argos to be a pleasurable experience.

But it's not supposed to be. I look on it as being similar to on-line shopping but you go and pick the stuff up, rather than wait for delivery.

 

[oldwheels]

I have bought a washing machine and an under counter freezer from Argos. The big advantage is free delivery to an offshore island which saves me a considerable amount of money. The prices were ok as well as I did comparisons.
The only downside is that I now get regular junk emails from them but is just a drop in the bucket.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Think about it.

Argos price up each sale accounting for a worker to fetch an item from the warehouse and another worker to hand it to the customer. Customer takes it and leaves. Low staffing costs, almost zero chance of theft by the customer.

If they changed to a "shoe shop" type model with workers taking items to and from the warehouse and customers mauling them, ruminating over them and possibly nicking them before handing over any cash then their operating costs would skyrocket.

 

[Drago]

Just go to a jewellery shop, ask for a look, and be prepared to pay slightly more for it if you decide to buy?

Places like Argos bring out my homicidal tendencies somI steer clear.