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UK shoppers remain unhappy with most retailers but e-tailers are on the up
The third annual Comparisat study of UK customer service levels has placed high street chains Dixons (now branded Currys.digital) and Currys at the bottom of the list.
The survey found that poor service relegated the electrical retailers to the bottom of the chart but also found that they had the most unhappy customers in all of the survey.
The Comparisat study was conducted by UK market research agency, FDS. It interviewed 1,500 households about 36 top companies ranging from utilities and retailers to leading online stores and supermarkets.
The survey covers customer service levels, satisfaction with staff, quality, range, innovation, trust, loyalty, value for money and the complaint handling process.
Overall, and for the second year running, UK shoppers were unhappy with the level of customer service. However, the big change this time was that we are no longer going to put it up with it.
One in five surveyed admitted to having made an official complaint against a major organisation – up 10 per cent on 2005. Even more worrying for the offending organisations, almost one-third of people who complained reduced, or stopped using, that store or service.
Most criticism was reserved for energy utilities, which came bottom of the customer satisfaction chart by offering ‘poor value for money’.
On the bright side, online stores such as Amazon and Ebay surged ahead to second and third place in the overall survey rankings, indicating we are now a lot more comfortable with online shopping.
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mp3 player
purchased on 12.4.06 was informed the sound quality was as good as apple i pod. this was untrue i returned the item back to the store the manager refused point blank he was so rude he informed me that i should of asked to listen to the mp3 player instore. also the package had been open. ask for the area manager number was told to ring head office' i spoke to head office and they said i had to prove the assitant miss sold the product.
Posted by sarah hammond, 14 Apr 2007
mrs wood
I always shop with my local currys digital store in Lincoln and the staff there are always very friendly and helpful,not all stores are the same and shouldnt be branded the same publicity
Posted by wood, 14 May 2007
Never a problem
I have shoped in Currys in Bristol (broadmead & fishponds) for many years and never had a problem, even with returns. The staff are always helpful. I've worked in retail myself and some customer are soooooo rude, we're are just doing their job and following prosedure.
Posted by Hannah, 12 Aug 2007
Depends on the store
I work in a Currys store in Wales at the weekends (still in school). Obviously I would tend to be biased, but trying to avoid the bias, I think that the level of customer service in our store is excellent. If the incident with the MP3 came up there we would just return it as an opened, unwanted item. You can't judge an entire chain by the worst of it's stores. Granted the chain should ensure the highest standard but that isn't always possible. (And at one time I was myself against Currys, Our store was c**p until they fired half the staff and got new ones in.)
Posted by Jon, 03 Sep 2007
Currsy - The WORST service EVER - AVOID
I will never purchase another thing from Currys on the basis of my last customer service experience - I urge consumers to boycott the store and spend thier hard earned money elsewhere - where they will get a 'service' and more imposratnyl after sales service. Its far too easy for the likes of Currys to 'box shift', anyone can sell anything to a consumer who wants to buy it - its when you have issues afterwards that separtes the good from the bad. I will now only buy good from Jonh Lewis - more often they are the same proce as currys but with flawless customer service - exchanges of goods happen wiothout question or problems - they even give a 5yr waarranty on thier TVs, even Sony ones where the Sony store only offers 3 years!!! Currys is awful - i have just got off the phone to their aftersales team where the advisor would only giove me his first name, not surnname due to 'security'. One word should be associated with Currys: Avoid!
Posted by Robbie, 03 Oct 2007
Shocking customer service from Dixons
Brought a faulty washer online. On first use the product flooded my kitchen due to a faulty drum. Dixons attitude was very poor from the start with broken promises and lies. Initially they informed me that an exchange would be sorted, then they informed me that they "were too busy", then that "head office were dealing with it" then that "they could not contact head office as they had no number", this goes on and on. Matter is now with my credit card company to resolve. My advice is the following: 1. Do not purchase anything from Dixons. Go elsewhere like Amazon or John Lewis where the customer service is fair and reasonable. 2. If you must then pay on your credit card.
Posted by Tony, 30 Oct 2007
shocking aftersales service
i will never set foot in a currys store again i have been promised a repair its now been 2 weeks the tech guys they use are a complete waste of time.
Posted by robert savage, 16 Nov 2007
currys = bad customer service
I reserved an mp4 player for pick -up with currys online. Before i left to get the product i called to confirm it would be there as i had to drive 30 miles to the shop, "yeah no prob. they told me it will be here for you. So with that i drove the 30 miles to the shop ,the sales rep tells me that the item is not the new one I ordered but a display model with a dirty big scratch across the screen, and that is all they have.Then i was told if i came tomorrow they would have one for me and throw in a charger for free, I get there the next day and its all different people working in there and no-one knew anything about the charger( they were going to give me for wasting my time)!but rudely suggested they went out of their way to help me by getting me the item they didnt have in the first place. I left madder then hell and told them to stick the player you know where.Never will i step foot in currys again!!!!!!!!!
Posted by p kennedy, 12 Dec 2007
Never touch with barge Pole
From my experience I will never ever touch Currys shops or their group of shops with barge Pole. Their customer services to me is a fake. Don't waste your time or money.
Posted by Delvadin, 15 Dec 2007
false advertising
I bought a packard bell mx37 U004 that was advertised as having a Radeon Xpress video card. When i got home and checked the system specs, the actual video card was completely different to that advertised - an inferior SiS Mirage that could not handle most of the graphics of the games I installed on it. I sent a false advertising complaint to Currys a few weeks ago and now seeing all the online complaints I have little hope of getting any response from them.
Posted by Rach, 29 Dec 2007
tell me about it!
I took my laptop in as it had a faulty DVD drive and was covered by an aftercare package only to have them change my hard drive without telling me and claim that my policy does not cover data recovery. When I rang up to complain I was actually told I was 'f*****g idiot' for not backing up my whole hard drive in the first place and the only thing I could do would be to contact their legal team who 'probably wouldn't respond anyway'. I could not believe it!
Posted by Joanne, 04 Jan 2008
DSGI Micky Mouse Service
Well to all this i would say Dixons Stores Group have a very strange way of dealing with problems they pass the buck from jim to mary to joe and then back to jim. Its a circus act that company never buy work or have anything to do with them. Their staff know nothing about products and blagg things about prodcuts which are untrue etc.. very bad indeed.
Posted by mohammed bin talal, 06 May 2008
Caveat Emptor
Dixons is a place you go to look at stuff before you buy it on Amazon or elsewhere. The totally ignorant, couldn't-care-less attitude of the staff when you are looking to BUY something should give you an idea of what sort of service to expect if it then goes wrong. There are cheaper shops with better customer service. Only a fool would spend any money there.
Posted by Ceccily Swan, 03 Jul 2008
Curry's
I agreed that the Curry's customer service is really bad. I will never step my foot into this store ever again. The other day my friend and I went to Curry shop in Newcastle to look for a printer. We saw a very cheap one, so we asked the guy there about the price and its function. The guy did not explain much, clearly everything is already shown on the price tag. He and another lady staff ( she suddenly showed up from nowhere) basically just bribe us to buy this computer by complimenting how cheap it is. Thus, we decided to buy it. We could see the guy and the lady shook their hands together smiled and winked at each other after we turned our back. I knew something was wrong. When we asked to buy the ink which is supposed to go along with this printer, it was so expensive, the ink costs more than the price of the printer. So we wanted to return the printer. When we were at the store and returned it, the guy staff asked us with a very arrogant attitude what's wrong with it. We said because of the ink's price. He asked us to go around the store to look for another one. We refused. So then he showed a very annoying manner, and when he returned our credit card, he threw it in front of our face!! Honestly, I never been treated this rudely before when I went out and buying things. I was so angry and wanted to meet their manager, but my friend stopped me as she thought that we already returned the item so we don't have any business to deal with them anymore. So I didn't make it big, but I am sure that with this rude customer service, I don't think that they will survive for long, for me I already swear to myself I will never step into that store ever again!
Posted by Fong, 16 Aug 2008