How long does it take to fix a TV....

May 23, 2003 9:36 AM

What is the value of good customer service? An oft asked question indeed, but one that is being answered as wee speak. The abject failure of Dixons, a UK retailer, to repair a TV set may cost them $475,000 of lost sales in less than a week (start from the bottom and work up....). [Via The Register.]
posted by davehat (10 comments total)

Its due to be delivered today, so keep checking for updates..........
posted by davehat at 9:37 AM on May 23, 2003

"wee we speak"

This post has nothing to do with wee.
posted by davehat at 9:45 AM on May 23, 2003

/.'ed
posted by nyxxxx at 9:57 AM on May 23, 2003

I don't think it's /.'ed, mefi'ed or anything else. It's just that blogspot has been blowing chunks all damn week.
posted by NortonDC at 10:50 AM on May 23, 2003

And Google has pulled Marie's adwords.
posted by FreezBoy at 11:31 AM on May 23, 2003

Has anyone had this level of problem with electronics before? I've never had a TV less than 10 years old go bad on me. The only thing that I've had problems with straight out of the box was a car CD changer I got in late 1996 (and it continued to cause me trouble up until the day it was stolen, along with the car, in May 2000).

From what it seems about Dixons, they have a reputation for selling bad equipment all the time. What gives?
posted by deanc at 11:37 AM on May 23, 2003

In my 24 years on this ball of dirt, I have purchased 3 items from Dixons, and bought "Mastercare" for 1 of them (a MiniDisc walkman).

The MD walkman broke down 4 times in its short and lonely life. It went back to Dixons monkey farm 4 times. On the last occasion, Dixons lost all record of it's existence. I never saw it again, nor received any compensation. They then proceeded to sent me a number of threatening demands for payment, as I apparently owed them money for shipping my MD walkman into the Dixons ether for evermore.

Item #2, a 28" widescreen TV stopped changing aspect ratio 1 year and 4 days after I bought it, rendering it useless for everything save DVDs, and dying just late enough to not be covered warranty.

ITem #4, 'Rocky' for the GameCube. When I got home, I opened the case to find that Dixons had forced a PS2 version of Rocky into the GameCube case. Lucky I'm lazy and also happen to own a PS2.


Fuck Dixons. I have never ever come across a company that treats it's customers with such utter, unabashed contempt. Not even BT are so outrageously hostile to any suggestion that they may have done wrong.

Here's a challenge for any Brit. Buy a pack of batteries from Dixons in under 10 minutes. They're right on the counter, next to the gum-chewing bovines they place there. Try and give them actual cash for the product, and receive your goods. I absolutely guarantee that somehow, God only knows how, the Dixons staff will find it necessary to involve as many members of staff as is feasible in this simple transaction. They will demand your postcode to authorise the sale of your 4 AAA Duracells. 50/50, they will try to sell you insurance for your batteries, and possibly throw in a "deal", consisting of a Jungle Book 2 mousemat for £10 extra.


I absolutely fucking despise Dixons with every ounce of my being. Put Hitler and the Dixon's CEO in front of me, hand me a gun, and the electrical shopkeeper is dead fucking meat. How they have managed to stay in business, let alone become the market leaders is an utter mystery to me. You might as well buy a moody TV from Cash Converters, and stick the other £600 up your arse.



(this also largely applies to Curry's, Comet and PC World. Nothing I have bought from the Dixons group has made it to the end of its warranty - normally a year). I hope Marie takes them for every penny that is humanly possible, and buys herself a nice TV somewhere else.
posted by influx at 5:47 PM on May 23, 2003

Dixons, Currys and PC World are a well known bunch of robbing bastards.

The problem is that they have such huge buying power that they can give the discounted prices that people want to pay. The reason they're so successful is that they're cheap (like the budgie).

Don't go into the store expecting customer service or technical knowledge, do your research beforehand, know what you want, don't let the salesmonkey try and talk you into buying a different item or a "deal". Don't touch "Manager's Specials" with a barge pole and the same goes for the poxy extended warranties. The amount of money they will cost you will probably buy you a similar (but current model) item in the event that the item you are purchasing dies on it's arse (which it will - the x factor is how long it will take).
posted by pixeldiva at 5:21 AM on May 24, 2003

I hate Dixons and PC World with a venom. At least they aren't as bad as the late, unlamented Tempo, who died a very deserved death a couple of years ago.
posted by salmacis at 9:41 AM on May 24, 2003

Dixons and their lackeys, Mastercare, are a bunch of c*nts. Sorry, but they are such a lying, double dealing shower of shitbags, it's astonishing they are allowed to continue trading. Save yourself, kill them all!
posted by Joeforking at 5:23 PM on May 24, 2003