Dixons

[xane]

Interesting link (via a Register article) of a blog devoted to encouraging people not to buy from Dixons (or any related shops, Currys, PC World, etc) due to their crap service.

Also a follow up article on how Dixons et al are ripping us all off in the Extended Warranty market too.

A couple of weekends back I got my step-son a TV for his Birthday, I found a nice one in "professional electrical store" Dixons for a good price, a Grundig 21" with NICAM, they checked it was in stock, then sold me a rip-off £45 Extended Warranty (EW) to go with it and I proceeded to checkout to collect.

After waiting around 20 minutes (a long time if you have a 6yo to amuse) I then was told it's not in stock after all, there is no suitable replacement, they're not giving me any offers, so they reimburse me and I sod off somewhere else.

Pop into "buy em cheap stack em high" Argos, see a great TV, a Toshiba, for slightly higher price, they sell me exactly the same EW for £22 !

So how come Dixons EWs are twice as much ? Blatent rip-off methinks. Lucky their incompetance saved me from over paying that time (although I'm half expecting the CC reimbursement to foul up).

Share your DixoCurryPC World horror stories here.

 

[dysfunction]

Capitalist Pigs!!!!

 

[silverthorn]

I used to work for PCWorld and the Dixons stores group really are the cowboys of the high street market!!!

I remember being told in my sales training that if they could only sell warranties they would as it was 100% revenue for them everytime.

As employers they were pretty p!ss poor too... I had to work 65 hour weeks at time with no double-time, time in lieu, etc...

Luckily I was saved....
....at the time though it was by Microsoft

I tell ya, out of the frying pan and into the fire!!!

 

[Durzel]

Isn't the extended warranty 3 years or something?

Paying £45 for 3 years warranty doesn't sound like bad value for money to me.

 

[silverthorn]

Depends on how much the TV cost in the first place Durzel... If it was a £500+ price then I think it ain't too bad, but normally the Dick-sons stores group charge that for cover on a £70 Printer!!!

Whenever we bought hardware for ourselves in the store, they would never let us purchase it without an extended warranty which was a load of crap tbh

We just used to wait until the 1 or 2 years were up and then decide to drop the PC/Monitor out the window and claim accidental damage and a new machine

 

[dysfunction]

It is a bit of a rip off!

You get 5 years free warranty on TV's from John Lewis.

And they price match so you are not getting ripped off with their prices.

 

[Wij]

I never buy extended warranties since my mate who used to work for them told me how much margin they made on them. Also most leccy stuff lasts ages these days. I'd rather take the chance.

 

[old.milou]

Dixons, which, the [competition] commission says, supplies at least 25% of all warranties sold in the UK, has long defended its position, saying that its contracts offer good all round value. City analysts estimate that over 40% of Dixons' profits and 80% of Comet's come from the policies.

Research by the Office of Fair Trading last year found that the average washing machine repair costs between £45 and £65, meaning that a £300 washing machine would have to break down four times for a customer to benefit from an average five-year extended warranty costing £150. A report from the Consumers' Association magazine Which? found that 81% of washing machines don't break down at all in the first six years.

source

 

[nath]

Richer Sounds do brilliant value warranties. Very cheap (something like 15-20 quid for 3 years on a 250 quid dvd player), if it breaks down you get a loan machine, you can trade it in for 50% of its value when you get bored of it, and you can have the money back from the warranty if it goes unused after the warranty has expired (obviously they think people are gunna forget but still..)

Extended warranties anywhere else are a joke tbh.

And yes dys, John Lewis do the best free warranties. Sony Shop do the same though. I went there to buy a 28" sony ws, they price matched JL and gave me a 5 year warranty. Super.

Originally posted by old.milou
a £300 washing machine would have to break down four times for a customer to benefit from an average five-year extended warranty costing £150.

Now, anyone stupid enough to pay 50% of the entire product cost on a warranty deserves to be ripped off tbh.

 

[whipped]

The ex works for Dixons and complains daily about how shit they are. The employees get prizes and bonuses for selling coverplan, so no wonder they push it so much. I've never bought coverplan on anything I've bought from the Dixons group and neither has the ex.

 

[Gumbo]

When I used to sell stereos for halfords they pushed extended warranties loads. Good trick was to say, 'Do you want a 1 year or 3 year guaruntee?'. Of course the answer is 3 years and then you say, well that'll be 25 pounds more please.

I don't work on Audio any more, but I think they still sell the warranties, but there's no charts up in staff rooms or incentives and stuff on them like there used to be. They are extremely easy money for a company though, so as soon as Head Office notice that again I'm sure they'll get pushed more.

 

[xane]

Originally posted by Durzel
Isn't the extended warranty 3 years or something?

Paying £45 for 3 years warranty doesn't sound like bad value for money to me.

Yes, if Argos offer exactly the same deal for half the price (because they are a percentage of cost rather than fixed).

 

[mank!]

Personally I think you're much better off going to somewhere local with a good reputation or a chain store that's more credible than Dixons et al. Not just for the warranty either.

 

[leggy]

Agree with mank!

I hate Dixons with a passion and wouldn't dream of soiling my shoes by walking into the store.

Although I went in a few months ago as I knew the cashier who gave me a "discount"

 

[mank!]

It's ok for smaller goods, but if you're buying a big TV or a large kitchen appliance then go somewhere like John Lewis or a local retailer who will price match, you'll get the best deal undoubtedly.

 

[Tom]

I bought a telly a few years ago from Comet. Took 30 minutes to get the tv to the front desk. Got it home. Big crack in the case. Took it back. Didn't have any more new ones. Got an ex-demo. Took it home. No remote control. Went back, got new remote and £50 vouchers.

I bought an extended warranty for 5 years, cost about £200, but if I don't use it in those 5 years, I get the £200 back. The catch is that I have to return the exact certificate (they will not give replacements), within 1 week of the expiry date.

I always haggle when I go in these places, if they won't budge, I walk. You'd be surprised how quickly then run out after you.

 

[nath]

Extended warranty for 200 quid? Fucking *hell*. How much was the tele?

 

[leggy]

50" plasma?

:/

 

[nath]

I'd bloody have to be tbh. Richer Sounds do a 3 year plasma guarantee for 200quid for plasma screens up to £2500. £250 for plasmas £2500 and over. They don't seem to do a 5 year for Plasmas. I'd imagine it's because a plasma screen is only rated able to last that long anyway, so given that some'll end before that they'd probably have to replace quite a few.

 

[Gef]

Heh, note the advert at the top..

 

[ECA]

revenge advertising.

That was already pointed out in el reg though.

 

[GDW]

/waits for thread to be deleted....

 

[bodhi]

Originally posted by nath
And yes dys, John Lewis do the best free warranties. Sony Shop do the same though. I went there to buy a 28" sony ws, they price matched JL and gave me a 5 year warranty. Super.

Sony stroes rock customer service wise. My Sony hi-fi broke after about 5 days (a tape got chewed and it fucked the tape deck pretty badly). Phoned up the store, they said "O.K Bring it in and we'll have a look". Took it in, and there was a replacement hi-fi waiting for me, they told me to take that one. I was in the store for about a minute.

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by nath
Extended warranty for 200 quid? Fucking *hell*. How much was the tele?

TV was about £800 I think, but the important thing was that any repairs after 12 months would be most likely around £200 and above anyway (they don't repair things anymore, they replace them), and that after 5 years I get my money back in full if its not used.

I don't use it that often, so I reckon I got 5 years free cover.

 

[old.milou]

My only recent experience with Dixons was a good 'un though. My son's personal CD player was borked only 2 days before the standard 1 year guarantee expired and Dixons exchanged it with no argument. Quite right too I suppose but I did expect some hassle.

 

[nath]

Still, Tom. That's pretty fucking expensive. As many have said, JL would have probably done a better deal.

 

[Embattle]

Nice to see Bodhi has a Hard on for Sony as per usual

Extended warranties are crap if you never have a problem, thus don't require it. My old man tends to get them just because its easier for him to do so, plus my mum tends to destroy the washing machine quite a bit

Margin on EW is about 40% hence why they try to sell them so much, I would consider EW on something portable and thats about it.

 

[nath]

I always get extended warranties from Richer Sounds. Mostly because they're cheap. I suppose to a certain extent also because their shit always breaks down

 

[mank!]

Originally posted by bodhi
Sony stroes rock customer service wise. My Sony hi-fi broke after about 5 days (a tape got chewed and it fucked the tape deck pretty badly). Phoned up the store, they said "O.K Bring it in and we'll have a look". Took it in, and there was a replacement hi-fi waiting for me, they told me to take that one. I was in the store for about a minute.

My Sony hifi broke in exactly the same way, didn't get it from a Sony shop though. An authorised Sony dealer, but they did exactly the same. Just switched it over for me.

 

[PR.]

I used to work for ScottishPower and if you were going to get £1 commision on a sell you got another £10 for a warrenty not to mention the finance.

One bloke came in one day and wanted to by a portable TV the salesman sold him a £299 28" BlackDiamond TV which were waiting to be picked up from a recall as you could pull the fake speaker grills off and stick your hand in the tele. He also managed to get him to pay extra for the stand £40 and a £200 warrenty not to mention that he paid for it on our finance package.

We also boxed broken products up to sell to customers as new so when they got it home and found it didn't work we would order in a new one because that way we had their money and in the mean time we could get a working product in.

Then there was the 100+ brown/white goods that were all broken and had been returned by the customers, unfortunately no one had filled the paper work out on what was wrong with them so our service centre wouldn't take them, so the manager had all the stuff that wasn't physically damaged put out on a special offer, so the new owners could find out [again] what was wrong with them