Another customer-care problem for Currys involves a hard-pressed school and a chest freezer that went Awol.
On May 6th, a particular school ordered a new freezer on the Currys website and was given a delivery date of May 10th, the principal writes.
“This delivery was subsequently changed to May 20th and then subsequently changed to an earlier delivery of May 15th – and finally the delivery was changed to May 22nd.”
All this chopping and changing wasn’t ideal, but the school was still pretty chilled out and confident their freezer was at least on the way.
But it wasn’t.
May 22nd arrived and “the delivery driver called our school caretaker to state that the delivery would be made ‘in half an hour’. We did not receive this delivery and still have not received this delivery, despite multiple attempts via webchat, emails and phone calls with Currys customer support,” the principal continues.
His mail was sent in early June – almost a full month after the purchase, and 10 days after the delivery man said he was 30 minutes away.
“Our frustration was exacerbated by the tracking reference number showing the delivery as ‘completed’,” he says.
On May 27th, when he contacted Currys customer support, he was told the delivery company had been contacted and an investigation had been raised “as the delivery had been shown as completed. I was informed that someone from the delivery company would call the mobile number on our account (our caretaker) before 6pm that evening, but that in his experience it could be up to 7pm. I asked what were we to do if we did not receive this call and I was told that we would have to call Currys again tomorrow, if this was the case. Our caretaker never received this call.”
[ Where in the world is reader’s Currys receipt?Opens in new window ]
The following day the school principal called Currys again and went through the same rigmarole, and was told “he would have to raise an investigation. I said I wanted a refund for the chest freezer, as we were ‘done’ dealing with this situation – as an investigation had already been raised to no positive effect.”
He was told a case would be raised with the “Goods & Orders Received Dept” for a refund, which would take up to two weeks.
“I asked for the details of the complaints department. ‘Brian’ informed me that staff do not have these details to hand and that I would have to go on the website to get the contact for head office. We are a school with very limited funds.”
We contacted Currys to find out what on earth was going on, and where in the world was the freezer?
“We sincerely apologise to the customer for the inconvenience caused. In this instance, the freezer they ordered was unfortunately not loaded onto the delivery vehicle due to an internal oversight, and as a result, the delivery was never completed. Regrettably, this issue was not identified and rebooked in a timely manner, leading to further delay and frustration for the customer. We take full responsibility for the error and are currently processing a full refund for the customer.”
Again, a spokeswoman said a voucher has been offered as a gesture of goodwill.
