Argos

I was looking for a projector, and having moved to London recently, i was a fan of the store’s concept and even purchased other necessary household items. But lo and behold… here goes the worst experience I’ve ever had in customer service, if any, at all.
The Dalston store managed to sell me an (used) InFocus projector packaged in an Epson box. Armed with a receipt and within one day, I returned to the location to resolve the mishap. The manager, however, wouldn’t exchange the product for the correct one because it was opened and «unsellable.» He recommended that, next time, I open the box at the store in front of an employee, so that situations like this can be avoided. The manager also recommended that I try exchanging it at the Angel location only to be denied by that location’s manager, recommending I try to sell it on eBay, and that I was, and I quote, «fighting a losing battle.»
The total lack of logic behind what were deemed to be «solutions» are laughable. Topping it all off with an insult, of course.
Feeling hopeless, I wrote in to the online customer service only to be told to return to the Dalston location and point out what management should do per their «actual return policy» process as if this were my job.
Needless to say, I am forever boycotting Argos. I lost £260 and all respect.

Argos was the shopping outlet of my youth. Flicking through their catalogue as a young child, on a rural farm, miles from any shops and years before the internet, it was my only retail outlet. Not that I had any money apart from Christmas and birthdays but the catalogue is where I got my present inspiration from.
These days, the Argos concept seems a bit outdated:
You pick up a catalogue and find the product code
You key it in to see if they have any availability
You go to a counter to pay
You go to a different counter to collect your stuff
Not until you pick up your stuff do you get to inspect it.
Ummm, it feels a little bit like internet shopping without the internet. Thus with a lot more hassle.
Still they sell almost everything you could need for your garden, home, camping trips, exercise, jewellery, toy box etc and you don’t have to wait 2 to 3 working days for the stuff to arrive if you can be bothered to visit the store and it’s not expensive. It’s like Woolworths with all the stock hidden in the back but they don’t do pick ‘n’ mix

This place is so much smaller than any other Argos I have been to. That said, the stock seems as varied as a larger local branch and the gap from payment to actually obtaining your item (from your collection point… like it matters) is much shorter!
It is in Dalston though!

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of Argos then i urge you to acquaint yourself. It’s a shop where the stock is not visible to you, but presented in a catalogue available on every counter.
They offer pretty much anything. Jewellery. Tea pots. Radiators. Lawn mowers. iPod’s. Their catalogue is never ending!
So you walk in, browse the catalogue, and then type in your order. You are given a magic piece of paper with your ‘magic’ number on it, you then wait until someone finds your purchase from the (supposedly never ending) stockroom. The you walk away, purchase in hand and smile on face. Yep; that’s it! A different (and yet very established) shopping method, it’s very cheap, its cheerful, and it’s completely stress free. Find your local Argos and stock up on cheap wares.