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

[Alex321]

Not Argos, but a few weeks ago my missus was interested in buying a Toyota Aygo from Motorparks in Preston. The salesman wouldn't let us test drive it until we'd committed to buying it. He said if we wanted a test drive we could go to the Toyota dealership, test drive one of theirs then come back and buy this one...!! Yeah right. Needless to say we went elsewhere. I've never heard the like of that before.

I would assume there was an issue with the car if they won't let you test drive it.

 

[Alex321]

Paying for something and then getting an almost immediate refund which is what was being proposed to view and decline can have an advantage using a credit card. In this case their would be a £50 debit and a £50 credit. If the credit occurs before the payment date for the last statement and you have that payment set up as a variable direct debit you will be charged £50 less and hence the £50 stays with you possibly earning a smidge of interest until the next payment is due.

I don't understand what yiou think you are gaining here?

Unless your card works in a very odd way, a debit followed by an almost immediate refund will result in nothing, as both will hit your accont within minutes of each other. The credit doesn't get applied before the debit.

 

[bonzobanana]

Just to rub salt in the wounds of Argos I'd also like to point out the terrible copy they have for their products. We have probably all seen the terrible descriptions of their bikes but across the whole site there is misleading info like for example this so called gaming pc which has GDDR4 memory despite not having a dedicated separate GPU. It only has Integrated graphics which surely means DDR4 only. Is it there by simple mistake or to mislead about the specification. Also I can't remember if its this one but one of their models has an integrated GPU of 1.2 Teraflops which is about the same as the original Xbox One console which struggles to run most games in 1080p normally 720p or 900p and that is with console optimisation. How can such a PC in 2024 be classed as a gaming PC especially as the PSU is typically too weak to take a graphics card as an upgrade. Just a desktop PC surely for general tasks and a bit of light gaming.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7129386

 

[gbb]

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.

Its hiw they used to work but sadly no more.
Argos literally have become a warehouse rather than a shop in the old sense. Years ago I could walk into Argos, there were counters, displays and staff. All that's gone.

As I was reading the opening post, I presumed OP was talking about perhaps an expensive item a mobile for instance. I could buy into the fact it awkward for them re packaging etc. But it's a £50 item....but the same applies so I'm not really surprised.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Just to rub salt in the wounds of Argos I'd also like to point out the terrible copy they have for their products. We have probably all seen the terrible descriptions of their bikes but across the whole site there is misleading info like for example this so called gaming pc which has GDDR4 memory despite not having a dedicated separate GPU. It only has Integrated graphics which surely means DDR4 only. Is it there by simple mistake or to mislead about the specification. Also I can't remember if its this one but one of their models has an integrated GPU of 1.2 Teraflops which is about the same as the original Xbox One console which struggles to run most games in 1080p normally 720p or 900p and that is with console optimisation. How can such a PC in 2024 be classed as a gaming PC especially as the PSU is typically too weak to take a graphics card as an upgrade. Just a desktop PC surely for general tasks and a bit of light gaming.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7129386

This is a sign of the times and not just limited to Argos. Many sites have this sort of ballony descriptions for their products; they simply do not care about checking anything they are advertising. In the case of Amazon, they don't even respond when you report it to them that it is blatant false advertising.

 

[Time Waster]

It's funny, I've been going into Argos occasionally for the last 10 or so years, and I've only just noticed the disappearance of the watch and jewellery cabinet. I suppose in some areas they had a problem with theft so decided to apply the draconian measures to all stores.

I don't really have a problem with Argos for other things, it is quick and easy if you want to buy something there and then (i.e. not want to wait for an online delivery), it's hepled us out a lot on holiday for example, things like swimming goggles and headphones. There are not a lot of stores who stock the range that Argos do all under one warehouse roof.

I would think the watch situation is somewhat of a "shot yourselves in the foot" though. If it were me, I would rather go to H Samuel or something where they do the same thing at the same price range and you can actually look at the watches and try them on.

H Samuel is expensive for the watches stocked in Argos IME. I like casios and have a few always checking out the deals and if you google a model you are interested in Argos seem to always be the cheapest. For example Casio UK site £60, HS £35 and same thing at £1995 in argos that is just one model the Royale. The others are also similarly cheaper.

 

[Fastpedaller]

This is a sign of the times and not just limited to Argos. Many sites have this sort of ballony descriptions for their products; they simply do not care about checking anything they are advertising. In the case of Amazon, they don't even respond when you report it to them that it is blatant false advertising.

In my experience these descriptions seem to be just copy of a previous description and the 'ball keeps rolling'. Many years ago I was looking for a bridge camera. I looked at the spec which said the macro was limited as it only went to 12cm. I thought this to be odd and on the day I bought the camera I specifically tested this and it was 12mm (not cm). Every review I saw online or in magazines said the same (and these reviewers had used the cameras?) Even the manufacturer's sales literature said 12cm. It became clear to me the reviewers were just making up their review from the spec shown. It was a good camera apart from a little blue fringing around edges if there was high contrast (eg edge of trees against sky) - none of the reviews mentioned that!

 

[Time Waster]

You do not like Argos for not allowing you to open the packaging, possibly damaging it so they can't sell it on later. All stores that allow inspection probably have ones in stock as a display item. They also probably have a showroom. They are simply different forms of retail. You can't get an Amazon item to view before you buy as that would be ridiculous. Argos is kind of halfway between amazon and actual physical showroom stores.

If you can't accept that then it simply is not the store for you so don't go there. You will of course be missing out on the ease of buying, The stock in a store that is often easy to get to because it is in Sainsburys, cheaper prices than a lot of physical stores, probably one of the best returns policies out there, etc. There are always positives and negatives. Pick which you see as worth it or not and shop accordingly.

 

[PaulSB]

Not Argos, but a few weeks ago my missus was interested in buying a Toyota Aygo from Motorparks in Preston. The salesman wouldn't let us test drive it until we'd committed to buying it. He said if we wanted a test drive we could go to the Toyota dealership, test drive one of theirs then come back and buy this one...!! Yeah right. Needless to say we went elsewhere. I've never heard the like of that before.

We had a similar experience with the Blackburn Fiat dealer over a Fiat 500. The salesman, knowing demand was high, was very awkward. That was on a Friday evening. On the Saturday morning I rang the Wigan dealership, asked if the model was in stock. It was, we drove over, my wife had a test drive and by early afternoon we had bought one.

The Blackburn guy phoned a few days later, my wife took a lot of pleasure in telling him she bought one on Saturday. Apparently he was speechless.

 

[bonzobanana]

This is a sign of the times and not just limited to Argos. Many sites have this sort of ballony descriptions for their products; they simply do not care about checking anything they are advertising. In the case of Amazon, they don't even respond when you report it to them that it is blatant false advertising.

I totally agree, I see so many fake products on Amazon designed to mislead the less tech savvy people. Android tablets sold as having 8GB of memory but only actually have 2GB with 6GB of virtual memory using the tablets main storage. Then you have action cameras that claim 24MP image resolution but the sensors are only 8 or 12 megapixels. So much on Amazon is mis-sold.

 

[PaulSB]

I totally agree, I see so many fake products on Amazon designed to mislead the less tech savvy people. Android tablets sold as having 8GB of memory but only actually have 2GB with 6GB of virtual memory using the tablets main storage. Then you have action cameras that claim 24MP image resolution but the sensors are only 8 or 12 megapixels. So much on Amazon is mis-sold.

All the more reason for supporting local retailers, only buying known brands online and avoiding high value online purchases which aren't from a reputable known brand.

Yes, I do shop online but primarily with companies that have a reputation to lose. If the quality or safety of an item is unimportant I would use Amazon but it does need to be something that doesn't really matter much.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Going back full circle here, but Argos is at least a store which you can go back to if there's a problem and speak to an actual person. Amazon is generally good but I was given the runaround when trying to return a quite expensive Vax vacumm cleaner. I was told to contact the manufacturer, so I did but it was a robotic chat. They said I had to trouble shoot the vacuum (which I couldn't because it was no longer charging), then said they don't do refunds if bought from a 3rd party, so I had to go back to Amazon and tell them this and eventually got a full refund after they sent someone to collect it.

 

[Drago]

Funnily enough I was given the run around by Argos trying to return a faulty Chromehook. The high street presence of the branch from which I bought the item was neither here nor there as they tried to fob me off towards the manufacturer.

Unfortunately for them my contract was with Argos and not Acer, andnit took a S**t-O-Gram to their head office with the small claims court form and a deadline to get them to do what the store should have done in the first place.

 

[T4tomo]

Funnily enough I was given the run around by Argos trying to return a faulty Chromehook. The high street presence of the branch from which I bought the item was neither here nor there as they tried to fob me off towards the manufacturer.

Unfortunately for them my contract was with Argos and not Acer, andnit took a S**t-O-Gram to their head office with the small claims court form and a deadline to get them to do what the store should have done in the first place.

I buy my Chromehooks from Screwfix and to be honest I've never had an issue, apart from being informed that my green shield stamps were no longer valid....

 

[Dogtrousers]

I buy my Chromehooks from Screwfix and to be honest I've never had an issue, apart from being informed that my green shield stamps were no longer valid....

It's a good job I've got you on ignore, otherwise I'd have seen that post.