While there are new protections planned for consumers in the months ahead which might make it easier for them to seek redress, all the laws in the land are unlikely to resolve issues which stem from an almost complete lack of effective communication and an apparent unwillingness on inability to do the simple things properly.
This week we heard from a reader who had been given the right runaround by Currys PC World and left wondering where in the world the working computer that she had paid more than €1,000 was.
Her name is Akvile and she got in touch with us because she wanted to share her story about her “terrible Curry’s PC world store experience.
The sorry saga started on January 5th. That was the day she noticed that her brand new laptop had a “dead pixel on the screen and the battery overheated from charging for the first time”.
Disaster. So she brought the laptop back to her local Currys PC World. “I was expecting to get a refund or exchange” she says. “After a long conversation with a store manager they refused to do so and suggested they send it for repairs. I was truly disappointed that a brand new laptop needs to be sent for repairs but at the same time had no other choice but to agree and wait for the best.”
She says that on the day she dropped off her laptop at the local store she received a text message to say it had been collected and would be ready to pick up in store on January 23rd. She was also told she could track the repair on the retailer’s website.
“On January 17th I got a text again to say that my item had arrived at their repair centre,” she continues.
Three days later, she got another text message to say that Covid-19 measures were causing some delays. She was also told that the retailer needed “to order parts to complete my repair and they would let me know a new return date as soon as it was ready. At this point I was thinking that repair was taking longer than it was supposed to and on January 26th I decided to call the customer support team.
“After transferring me to different teams over and over, keeping on the line nearly for an hour, they told me that my laptop was on the last repair stage and the repair team were deciding if they should fix it or just give me a new one.”
She was also told the company would contact her “with their final decision at the end of that week. That conversation made me really upset and frustrated. At the end of that week I didn’t get any text or email, so on February 2nd I called customer support again just to get any update. A girl who was talking with me on that day stated that the decision was made, they would not repair my laptop and they would send me a voucher code which I could redeem it in my local Currys.”
Happy days, you might think. While she had been made wait longer than was ideal, at least she was getting a new laptop.
But sadly the story did not end there.
Our reader was told that it might take 24-48 hours to get the voucher to her email address.
“Unfortunately, their promises didn’t work, I kept calling them every day but didn’t get answers as to what was happening and why I still had not got the code. After another week of waiting, the code was sent on February 9th.”
Happy days this time?
Nope.
“On that day I went to my local Currys to get a replacement but when I gave my code to one of the sales assistants he told me that the code was redeemed already and they probably made a mistake. He said that meant they would have to fix this and I would have to wait again. Also, the amount on the voucher was only €1,049 instead of €1,299, that’s how much I paid originally. I couldn’t explain my frustration and stress at that time, I was wasting my time and not getting what I was waiting for.”
She spoke with the duty manager on that day as well and “explained my situation, how long I had been waiting and asked them to do something from their side once again. After over a week, I got a text with the same voucher code. I went to a local store on the same day showed the code to the team and it was finally valid. I was happy until they told me the amount on the voucher is still €1,049. Again, I spoke with the same manager and he reassured [me] that he will send an internal email to chase them up and sort this as soon as possible. Today it is February 21st and I have no news. It’s nearly two months of waiting and I still have no laptop. I hope you will take your time to help me with this problem because it has gone beyond belief now.”
That was last Monday.
On the same day we contacted Currys PC World and within 24 hours the problems that our reader had struggled to solve for the best part of two months had been resolved.
We then received a statement from the retailer. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” it began. “We’re very sorry to hear about [our reader’s] experience with us. The full amount for the original cost of the laptop will be reimbursed by way of a Bacs transfer. As an apology, and to compensate for the inconvenience caused, we’re also providing [her] a goodwill gesture of an additional €100.”
The statement went on to say that the company would “continue to review our repairs process to ensure our customers are receiving the utmost care and attention when purchasing with us. Our team has been in close contact with [our reader] and she is happy with the outlined resolution.”
It is just a pity she had to come to us to get that resolution.
