Shoppers Branded “Stupid” September 8th, 2009
I was amused this morning to read that staff at some shops owned by the DSG group of stores (Dixons Stores Group, i.e. PC World) have been caught insulting customers on Facebook. A group setup for staff of DSG features comments from existing and former staff. The comments accuse customers of being “stupid” and recount alleged incidents that have happened during the employees working time at the stores.
Are they for real?
I remember a few instances over the last few years, such as the time I was told I would not be able to buy a Serial-USB converter because “they do not exist Sir, what you need is a Serial-Parallel converter”, urm yes they do actually. Then there was the time more recently when I overheard an alleged technician giving advice at the PC Repair Helpdesk, “no sir, it’s not possible to put the original software back on the machine, you’ll need to replace the machine with a new one, can I recommend…”, great advice, not.
Stores such as PC World are a convenience; they stock a fairly good range of general IT peripherals although at an extortionate price. I try not to use them if I can as I get much better pricing from on-line retailers, but they do have a place when you need a particular component straight away. My gripe is the lack of knowledge available at the stores, the general public are fooled into believing that they are going to receive excellent knowledge and advice from the staff at a competitive cost when in fact, they are often simply mislead because the staff member in question does not know the answer. Perhaps it’s about time we revolted and created a new group on Facebook and shared some of our experiences with the staff of DSG, now that would make interesting reading!
2 Responses
Peter Eden Says:
Personally I love PC World. I went in there to buy a £349 computer with and for the brother-in-law. I also wanted an on offer £199 19″ screen. They told me the screen was out of stock so I wasn’t bothered too much. They then wanted to sell me 3 or 5 years warranty for £140. I balked at this but asked them for a discount. They said they couldn’t give a discount on the warranty but would discount the computer by £100. So I said OK.
Now we have a computer for £349 and a warranty for £140 less £100. So I make that £389. Yes? No…. They put it into their new till sytem 3 times and came up with …. £240 ! Instead of putting in the discounted price of the computer they put the discount. So the computer cost £100 and the warranty £140. And the did this 3 times !! If you start with a figure £349 and add something to it you are not going to come out with a lower number!! I love their staff. :-)
I was going to point out their error but I was in such a rush by then ……
Mike Says:
Ha. But that further proves how useless some of their staff can be, surely they should know how to use the till properly and apply discounts? That being said, if it works in your favour as it did in this case then it’s a good days shopping all round!
I’m shocked that you didn’t point out their misake though… lol ;)
