Channel Register

Original URL: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/04/pcworld_currys_stock/

Not happy with PC World's customer service?

By Kelly Fiveash
Published Monday 4th June 2007 08:02 GMT

DSG employees are like one big happy family. In fact, when one of its retail operations lives next door to another - as is the case for PC World and Currys in sunny Crawley - it appears that it is not averse to sharing stock to get a sale.

Such was the situation for one El Reg reader who set off on a computer shopping trip to hunt down and buy a Compaq laptop.

With £1,000 burning in his pocket, PC World was the first port of call for our intrepid reader because, as its name suggests, the store offers a whole planet of computers, right?

Well, it's difficult to say, as upon arriving in the store he had a long, frustrating wait to be served - despite asking four separate PC World bods for help.

Instead, all he got was a succession of shrugged shoulders, blank glances, and a "not my problem, mate" response.

After waiting more than 20 minutes, he gave up and popped next door to Currys to see if its staff could be a little more helpful in the customer service department.

To his surprise, the store's workers swarmed around him like a fly on a very sticky chocolate cake.

Our reader told Currys that he was keen to get his hands on Compaq's V6254EA model which comes with Vista, dual core processor, DVD rewriter, and a 120GB hard-drive.

But, here's the rub: The store didn't have the laptop in question.

At this point our man on the spot should perhaps have quit, gone home, put his feet up, resigned himself to a life without Vista (not necessarily a bad thing), and drank a strong, sweet cup of tea. After all it's always good in an emergency.

This is usually where most shopping stories end. In tears. You go into several stores with your optimistic tail between your legs. You browse the items, check your wallet, make a decision, and then ask about stock, only to be told the usual line of "all we have is what's out on the shelves".

But instead, Currys leapt in and saved the day by offering to grab stock from its neighbour, PC World.

Both stores are of course owned by retail giant DSG, so perhaps the staff member figured that such action was akin to going next door and asking to borrow a cup of sugar.

Anyway, for our shopping hero at least, it was a happy ending and he now merrily owns a shiny new laptop after parting with £719 and a few pence.

As you would expect, El Reg has put a call into PC World to find out if such action is normal practice between the two stores, but we've yet to have a response.

Cup of tea anyone, and is that one lump or two? ®

© Copyright 2008