Staff at UK electrical retailers such as Currys and Comet know nothing about the products they're selling – unless you're after an extended warranty of course.

This revelation comes not from usual source of the bleeding obvious WikiLeaks but from consumer organisation Which?

It made 154 visits to shops including Currys, Comet, Richer Sounds, John Lewis and some independents – and found that a third of shops were very poor or poor in terms of staff knowledge.

Anyone who has bought any electrical item on the UK high street will be amazed the figure was so low. In fact the report echoes this reporter's experience almost exactly: "Not one visit to electrical giants Comet and Currys could be rated as ‘excellent’."

Secret shoppers visited Currys five times to enquire about digital TV and were recommended a DVD recorder rather than a cheaper personal video recorder. Staff generally confused HD Ready and full HD TVs. Many staff also struggled to tell researchers how many hours of TV different PVRs could record.

Researchers were also recommended expensive, and useless, cables.

John Lewis and Richer Sounds came out on top, although Which? said even these were hit and miss – only eight of 154 visits were excellent.

Other complaints included staff being unable to tell researchers when items would be in stock.

Rumours that Which?'s next report will uncover bears shitting in the woods and Catholic tendencies within the Vatican are yet to be confirmed.

See Which?'s release on UK electrical retailers, and video, here. ®