Find it, get it, Argos it. But once you've found it and got it, does your purchase always match the product description on the Argos website? Some of our viewers don't think so.
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(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'Argos' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
Watchdog viewer Dawn Norman got in touch with us. She saw a deal from the Argos website to buy a sofa and get a chair free. She saw that the sofa was priced at £99.99 and thought she had found a bargain. When Dawn clicked on the offer, she saw that the sofa and chair were being sold as a set for £164.99. Confused, she assumed that the price would be discounted at the check out page, but it wasn't so she decided not to go for the offer.
Dawn called Argos to complain and she was told that the sofa had been discounted and so was not eligible for the free chair, despite the fact that the online offer clearly states that if you buy a sofa, you get a free chair. The Argos representative agreed it was confusing, the website was later amended and Dawn ended up buying two sofas at the discounted price as it offered better value.
Dawn's is not an isolated case. Over the past few months, online shoppers have been getting in touch with us and it appears that Argos have some very unhappy customers.
Ali Zaidi is one of those customers. He wanted to buy a 2.4 litre water jug and thought he would save himself time by shopping online, so he opted for the Argos online catalogue where he found the very item, reserved it online and then picked it up. Smooth sailing so far, the trouble came when he got it home and realised it was not the jug he had seen advertised on the website. His 2.4 litre jug turned out to actually be the 2.0 litre model. Understandably, Ali was annoyed that the jug he had purchased was not as advertised and he would now have to go back to the shop.
Argos later refunded Ali and amended the details on the website.
A quick read through the review section of the Argos website reveals complaints about other products not matching their descriptions, like the universal charger, which Argos says contains universal charging tips for ipods and iphones plus an array of other gadgets. Just the thing for a tech-nerd like Chris Hollins - but when he tried it out he found out that none of the provided attachments fit any ipod device, although the charger did work with some other gadgets. We later found out that the device does charge ipods when used with the original ipod or iphone charger lead.
After hearing about these complaints, we decided to do some browsing ourselves, and came up with some very interesting results. Like the CD wallet, that from the picture on the website looks a very handy size to fit in a small bag or glove box. The picture also clearly displays it can fit one CD on each level. However, in reality, it takes 4 CDs per level and is far too big to comfortably fit in either a bag or glove compartment. On closer inspection, the website does give you the dimensions, but it's a good example illustrating that you can not rely on the picture.
Another product we found was advertised as a fish bowl, but when we got it out of the box it was clearly too small to house a fish. The packaging even read 'Clear Glass Rose Bowl'. According to the RSPCA you should allow 4.5 litres of water per inch of fish with a minimum of 45 litres, which makes our bowl not even suitable for a tadpole.
We also ordered a TV bracket - in black. However, when got it out of the box we discovered it was silver, not black as advertised. Looking at the reviews, it seems a number Argos customers were also surprised by the colour of the bracket.
So far, we have the CD wallet that's four times as big as the photo. The fish bowl more suited to roses than fish. And a TV bracket confused about its colour. But with Argos, sometimes it's not just a case of not quite getting what you ordered, but instead, just not getting what you ordered at all.
Take Keen gardener Tony. He noticed a special deal on the Argos website, a free Flymo Trimmer worth £19.99 if you buy a Flymo lawnmower for £68.49. He jumped at the offer, but now he wishes he hadn't.
Tony told us:
"I went to Argos on the Saturday morning. Purchased the lawnmower. They told me at that time that the trimmer wasn't in, but it would be in the following week. I called back in the next week. They told me the trimmer wasn't in and they didn't have it in any of their other sites in the country."
The problem is, that was 6 weeks ago and Tony is still waiting. Tony says:
"The only reason I bought that particular lawnmower was because the inducement of a free trimmer. All in all, it's really completely unsatisfactory."
So before you decide to buy online with Argos, it may be a good idea to double-check what you're buying, as all may not be quite as it seems.
Argos Response
"Argos.co.uk is the UK's largest multi channel retailer and our colleagues actively manage more than 30,000 live products on our website. These products can contain more than 2 million separate pieces of information at any one time.
"The sheer volume of data being manually inputted means that on occasion human error may lead to discrepancies between a product and its description (and on occasion price) on our website and in our printed materials.
"We make every effort to ensure that all product prices and descriptions are accurate and we have stringent processes in place to ensure that is the case.
"If we are made aware of a mistake, we correct it immediately.
"In the specific cases you have referred to, it appears that is exactly what happened."
"Mr. Zaidi:
"The description of Mr. Zaidi's water jug was inaccurately keyed into the website with the wrong capacity and as soon as we were made aware of the mistake, it was amended on line. We wrote to Mr. Zaidi on 24th August and he has been refunded for the cost of the jug.
"In the case of Mr. Zaidi's Kenwood blender, we are sorry that he was initially given an inaccurate response to his enquiry about the pricing of the blender. However, we have since written to him to apologise and he has been given a full refund for the product."
"Mr. O'Donnell:
"Mr. O'Donnell's lawnmower was advertised correctly on-line and the offer was accurately described. However, stock issues prevented him from receiving the free trimmer at the time of purchase and our staff did everything they could to help him to resolve the situation including extending the free trimmer offer indefinitely as a gesture of goodwill.
"Dawn Norman and Alan West:
"The final two individual cases that you provided us to review - Dawn Norman and Alan West, also seem to be the result of human error for which we apologise.
"Dawn Norman: Human error appears to have been the cause of the pricing issue. All our promotions receive vigorous checks on presentation of pricing messages and accuracy of pricing, so we apologise that we got it wrong on this occasion.
"Alan West: Since this item had been misdescribed, Mr. West should have been offered a full refund or replacement item regardless of any contact numbers stored on the phone set. Whatever data protection issues may exist do not affect our customers' statutory rights which are that the product that they purchased should be as described.
"Argos has stringent checks in place to prevent these sorts of errors from occurring and when we get it wrong, we correct the issue as quickly as possible on the website and do our best to resolve it to the customers' satisfaction.
"AI Universal Charger:
"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have now reviewed the online description for this product and while we can confirm that it is compatible with iPods, iPhones and iPads, the wording does not make it clear that customers would need to use their original cable to connect to the charger's USB cable.
"The web copy has now been amended to say: "Compatible with iPhone, iPads & iPods when using your original USB cable to connect to the chargers".
"We hope that this change will give customers a more accurate description of the product.
"Watchdog researchers:
"All the cases referred to by the Watchdog team are genuine cases of human error where the incorrect details were entered into the database.
"Customer reviews:
"We have had more than 700,000 reviews posted on our website since it was launched about two years ago. One of the benefits of our reviews section is that it allows customers to give us honest feedback so that we can improve our service.
"Inevitably, there will be some customers who are dissatisfied with our service and they are using this forum to let us know. The number of issues raised of this nature is very low in the context of the total transactions carried out across the whole business but all feedback is listened to and acted on as quickly as possible.
"We thank you for bringing these cases to our attention and we are sorry for any confusion they may have caused our customers. We will review our internal procedures to see if there is anything else we can do to reduce the possibility of these errors in the future."
Watchdog Viewers' Responses:
I purchased a chest of draws through the website when moving house. I waited 4 weeks for the delivery day which came and went. i heard nothing from Argos so i emailed them asking if i could cancel the order. They contacted me the next day and convinced me to keep the order and set my delivery for a priority. They gave me a new delivery date another 3 weeks later. That day came and went again. I recieved a phone call saying the delivery would again be delayed and they could not provide me with no definate date as the stock was not avaliable. After several more phone calls i was finally allowed to cancel my order.
Jimmy, Watchdog Viewer
I am watching your programme whilst at my computer and noticed the offer of the free trimmer with mower at Argos, I have checked online and it has confirmed that the trimmer is actually in stock in Goole, East Yorkshire. Surely they could have it shipped to the store which is local to the poor man who has been waiting all of those weeks to do his garden?
Lisa Renton, Scunthorpe, North LIncolnshire
Just over a year ago I purchased an electric fire from the Argos Website. Three months later, and nearly £200 out of pocket I still hadn't received the fire. It eventually transpired that the fire was out of stock, in fact the company had stopped producing it, however, it was in the new catalogue!
I never got the fire, but I eventually got my money back, after many phone calls.
Tom Garner, Dudley
I have had an extremely similar problem with Argos! I bought my sister a laptop case which was Pink in the Argos catalogue and on the Argos Website. However, when I received the bag it was blue!!! Argos Said That that is what I ordered!!! But it isn't!
Matt, Malvern
I too bought a cutlery set today from Argos which states '16 piece bubble cutlery set'. When i opened it it looks nothing like the set advertised - it was bubbleless !
Hence i will be returning them tomorrow.
Nicole Egerton
Not at all surprised to see Argos on. A while back my mum bought a bracelet which was listed as being 20cm on the site. It was 18cm when we got it. I took it back for her and when they tried to give me a replacement I asked them to measure it. Surprise surprise! It was 18cm again even though it said 20cm on the pack. I took a refund and left.
That fish bowl you showed was ridiculous! Why call it a fish bowl then send it in a box that says what it really is..
Nicola Shephard
I bought an external harddrive from Argos - I specifically wanted a Seagate branded product as I considered it to be a reliable brand but when I got home it was not Seagate - it was Iomega. I took it back to Argos and explained this was not what I had wanted to buy and the manager snapped at me "the person at the till would've told you it was replaced so I'm not going to take it back." The sales person on the till had spent minutes trying to sell me extras but never mentioned about the alternative product. After the attitude of the manager and this general experience I am not shopping with Argos again.
Jenny Jervis, Loughborough
I just saw the item on Watchdog about Argos and the famous Flymo Lawnmower deal. I had exactly the same issue - bought the lawnmower and strimmer deal and just got the lawnmower after the assistant informed me that the strimmer was "out of stock". After 2 visits to my local store in Sunderland (where again I was told it was out of stock), I finally was told that there was a strimmer in stock, had it reserved and duely went to collect it. No real problem after that - apart from the fact that I got a mini-strimmer rather than a full-size strimmer (although fairs fair it does work!)
Paul Whiteley, Sunderland
i ordered the 'montanns' lounge furniture just as the sale started for the new book, i recieved everything except the entertainment unit.
it was in stock when i ordered it. but it got left in the warehouse instead of being delivered. i arranged a new delivery date but it was forgotton again. when i called customer service i was told that it had been sold to somebody else. i got my money back and £10 compensation. but i wasnt happy
dawn perry
Argos deals may well not be steals....
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'Argos' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
Watchdog viewer Dawn Norman got in touch with us. She saw a deal from the Argos website to buy a sofa and get a chair free. She saw that the sofa was priced at £99.99 and thought she had found a bargain. When Dawn clicked on the offer, she saw that the sofa and chair were being sold as a set for £164.99. Confused, she assumed that the price would be discounted at the check out page, but it wasn't so she decided not to go for the offer.
Dawn called Argos to complain and she was told that the sofa had been discounted and so was not eligible for the free chair, despite the fact that the online offer clearly states that if you buy a sofa, you get a free chair. The Argos representative agreed it was confusing, the website was later amended and Dawn ended up buying two sofas at the discounted price as it offered better value.
Dawn's is not an isolated case. Over the past few months, online shoppers have been getting in touch with us and it appears that Argos have some very unhappy customers.
Ali Zaidi is one of those customers. He wanted to buy a 2.4 litre water jug and thought he would save himself time by shopping online, so he opted for the Argos online catalogue where he found the very item, reserved it online and then picked it up. Smooth sailing so far, the trouble came when he got it home and realised it was not the jug he had seen advertised on the website. His 2.4 litre jug turned out to actually be the 2.0 litre model. Understandably, Ali was annoyed that the jug he had purchased was not as advertised and he would now have to go back to the shop.
Argos later refunded Ali and amended the details on the website.
A quick read through the review section of the Argos website reveals complaints about other products not matching their descriptions, like the universal charger, which Argos says contains universal charging tips for ipods and iphones plus an array of other gadgets. Just the thing for a tech-nerd like Chris Hollins - but when he tried it out he found out that none of the provided attachments fit any ipod device, although the charger did work with some other gadgets. We later found out that the device does charge ipods when used with the original ipod or iphone charger lead.
After hearing about these complaints, we decided to do some browsing ourselves, and came up with some very interesting results. Like the CD wallet, that from the picture on the website looks a very handy size to fit in a small bag or glove box. The picture also clearly displays it can fit one CD on each level. However, in reality, it takes 4 CDs per level and is far too big to comfortably fit in either a bag or glove compartment. On closer inspection, the website does give you the dimensions, but it's a good example illustrating that you can not rely on the picture.
Another product we found was advertised as a fish bowl, but when we got it out of the box it was clearly too small to house a fish. The packaging even read 'Clear Glass Rose Bowl'. According to the RSPCA you should allow 4.5 litres of water per inch of fish with a minimum of 45 litres, which makes our bowl not even suitable for a tadpole.
We also ordered a TV bracket - in black. However, when got it out of the box we discovered it was silver, not black as advertised. Looking at the reviews, it seems a number Argos customers were also surprised by the colour of the bracket.
So far, we have the CD wallet that's four times as big as the photo. The fish bowl more suited to roses than fish. And a TV bracket confused about its colour. But with Argos, sometimes it's not just a case of not quite getting what you ordered, but instead, just not getting what you ordered at all.
Take Keen gardener Tony. He noticed a special deal on the Argos website, a free Flymo Trimmer worth £19.99 if you buy a Flymo lawnmower for £68.49. He jumped at the offer, but now he wishes he hadn't.
Tony told us:
"I went to Argos on the Saturday morning. Purchased the lawnmower. They told me at that time that the trimmer wasn't in, but it would be in the following week. I called back in the next week. They told me the trimmer wasn't in and they didn't have it in any of their other sites in the country."
The problem is, that was 6 weeks ago and Tony is still waiting. Tony says:
"The only reason I bought that particular lawnmower was because the inducement of a free trimmer. All in all, it's really completely unsatisfactory."
So before you decide to buy online with Argos, it may be a good idea to double-check what you're buying, as all may not be quite as it seems.
Argos Response
"Argos.co.uk is the UK's largest multi channel retailer and our colleagues actively manage more than 30,000 live products on our website. These products can contain more than 2 million separate pieces of information at any one time.
"The sheer volume of data being manually inputted means that on occasion human error may lead to discrepancies between a product and its description (and on occasion price) on our website and in our printed materials.
"We make every effort to ensure that all product prices and descriptions are accurate and we have stringent processes in place to ensure that is the case.
"If we are made aware of a mistake, we correct it immediately.
"In the specific cases you have referred to, it appears that is exactly what happened."
"Mr. Zaidi:
"The description of Mr. Zaidi's water jug was inaccurately keyed into the website with the wrong capacity and as soon as we were made aware of the mistake, it was amended on line. We wrote to Mr. Zaidi on 24th August and he has been refunded for the cost of the jug.
"In the case of Mr. Zaidi's Kenwood blender, we are sorry that he was initially given an inaccurate response to his enquiry about the pricing of the blender. However, we have since written to him to apologise and he has been given a full refund for the product."
"Mr. O'Donnell:
"Mr. O'Donnell's lawnmower was advertised correctly on-line and the offer was accurately described. However, stock issues prevented him from receiving the free trimmer at the time of purchase and our staff did everything they could to help him to resolve the situation including extending the free trimmer offer indefinitely as a gesture of goodwill.
"Dawn Norman and Alan West:
"The final two individual cases that you provided us to review - Dawn Norman and Alan West, also seem to be the result of human error for which we apologise.
"Dawn Norman: Human error appears to have been the cause of the pricing issue. All our promotions receive vigorous checks on presentation of pricing messages and accuracy of pricing, so we apologise that we got it wrong on this occasion.
"Alan West: Since this item had been misdescribed, Mr. West should have been offered a full refund or replacement item regardless of any contact numbers stored on the phone set. Whatever data protection issues may exist do not affect our customers' statutory rights which are that the product that they purchased should be as described.
"Argos has stringent checks in place to prevent these sorts of errors from occurring and when we get it wrong, we correct the issue as quickly as possible on the website and do our best to resolve it to the customers' satisfaction.
"AI Universal Charger:
"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have now reviewed the online description for this product and while we can confirm that it is compatible with iPods, iPhones and iPads, the wording does not make it clear that customers would need to use their original cable to connect to the charger's USB cable.
"The web copy has now been amended to say: "Compatible with iPhone, iPads & iPods when using your original USB cable to connect to the chargers".
"We hope that this change will give customers a more accurate description of the product.
"Watchdog researchers:
"All the cases referred to by the Watchdog team are genuine cases of human error where the incorrect details were entered into the database.
"Customer reviews:
"We have had more than 700,000 reviews posted on our website since it was launched about two years ago. One of the benefits of our reviews section is that it allows customers to give us honest feedback so that we can improve our service.
"Inevitably, there will be some customers who are dissatisfied with our service and they are using this forum to let us know. The number of issues raised of this nature is very low in the context of the total transactions carried out across the whole business but all feedback is listened to and acted on as quickly as possible.
"We thank you for bringing these cases to our attention and we are sorry for any confusion they may have caused our customers. We will review our internal procedures to see if there is anything else we can do to reduce the possibility of these errors in the future."
Watchdog Viewers' Responses:
I purchased a chest of draws through the website when moving house. I waited 4 weeks for the delivery day which came and went. i heard nothing from Argos so i emailed them asking if i could cancel the order. They contacted me the next day and convinced me to keep the order and set my delivery for a priority. They gave me a new delivery date another 3 weeks later. That day came and went again. I recieved a phone call saying the delivery would again be delayed and they could not provide me with no definate date as the stock was not avaliable. After several more phone calls i was finally allowed to cancel my order.
Jimmy, Watchdog Viewer
I am watching your programme whilst at my computer and noticed the offer of the free trimmer with mower at Argos, I have checked online and it has confirmed that the trimmer is actually in stock in Goole, East Yorkshire. Surely they could have it shipped to the store which is local to the poor man who has been waiting all of those weeks to do his garden?
Lisa Renton, Scunthorpe, North LIncolnshire
Just over a year ago I purchased an electric fire from the Argos Website. Three months later, and nearly £200 out of pocket I still hadn't received the fire. It eventually transpired that the fire was out of stock, in fact the company had stopped producing it, however, it was in the new catalogue!
I never got the fire, but I eventually got my money back, after many phone calls.
Tom Garner, Dudley
I have had an extremely similar problem with Argos! I bought my sister a laptop case which was Pink in the Argos catalogue and on the Argos Website. However, when I received the bag it was blue!!! Argos Said That that is what I ordered!!! But it isn't!
Matt, Malvern
I too bought a cutlery set today from Argos which states '16 piece bubble cutlery set'. When i opened it it looks nothing like the set advertised - it was bubbleless !
Hence i will be returning them tomorrow.
Nicole Egerton
Not at all surprised to see Argos on. A while back my mum bought a bracelet which was listed as being 20cm on the site. It was 18cm when we got it. I took it back for her and when they tried to give me a replacement I asked them to measure it. Surprise surprise! It was 18cm again even though it said 20cm on the pack. I took a refund and left.
That fish bowl you showed was ridiculous! Why call it a fish bowl then send it in a box that says what it really is..
Nicola Shephard
I bought an external harddrive from Argos - I specifically wanted a Seagate branded product as I considered it to be a reliable brand but when I got home it was not Seagate - it was Iomega. I took it back to Argos and explained this was not what I had wanted to buy and the manager snapped at me "the person at the till would've told you it was replaced so I'm not going to take it back." The sales person on the till had spent minutes trying to sell me extras but never mentioned about the alternative product. After the attitude of the manager and this general experience I am not shopping with Argos again.
Jenny Jervis, Loughborough
I just saw the item on Watchdog about Argos and the famous Flymo Lawnmower deal. I had exactly the same issue - bought the lawnmower and strimmer deal and just got the lawnmower after the assistant informed me that the strimmer was "out of stock". After 2 visits to my local store in Sunderland (where again I was told it was out of stock), I finally was told that there was a strimmer in stock, had it reserved and duely went to collect it. No real problem after that - apart from the fact that I got a mini-strimmer rather than a full-size strimmer (although fairs fair it does work!)
Paul Whiteley, Sunderland
i ordered the 'montanns' lounge furniture just as the sale started for the new book, i recieved everything except the entertainment unit.
it was in stock when i ordered it. but it got left in the warehouse instead of being delivered. i arranged a new delivery date but it was forgotton again. when i called customer service i was told that it had been sold to somebody else. i got my money back and £10 compensation. but i wasnt happy
dawn perry
Argos deals may well not be steals....