Note that this review is more than 6 months old and the company's procedures may have changed considerably since this review was written.
I HAVE HAD A unsatisfactory experience with CURRYS.

On the 14th December 2005, I purchased on line, through www.currys.co.uk a Pannosonic SCHT880 DVD Home Cinema System at the price of £349.99. for a Christmas present for my family. The delivery date that I was given was the 22nd December 2005, delivery promised, between 9am and 6.30pm to be delivered to my parents address . My purchase never arrived, so I then contacted Currys helpline immediately and I spoke to one of your colleagues, whose name was regarding non delivery of my goods. He was to inform me that the delivery had been cancelled owing to labels be ommited from the package at the depot.

What has really annoyed me most, is that know one from Currys had the decency to inform me whatsoever that the above goods were not going to be delivered on the date that was arranged, which meant that my parents waited in all day for a delivery that was not going to materialise.

My really major disappointment is, that I was offered a full refund which was issued on the 22nd December 2005, but the debit of the refund would not be cleared until the 5th January 2006. So I then had to pay out another £349.99. so I could purchase the product from an alternative retailer, so that I could get the present in time for Christmas. And so it was down to Currys that I had £349.99. less in my bank account over the Christmas Holiday period which I found most inconvenient and very distressing.

I have been a loyal and very good customer of Currys for many Years, always purchasing most of my electrical products where possible, and I have always found the service excellent, especially in your High Street stores, but after this recent experience I feel that your standards are deteriorating and I also feel that I have lost confidence in your company, and therefore I am considering to take my custom to a alternative retailer, unless you can persuede me other wise

I do hope that you can restore my confidence in Currys, so that I can be a returning customer, has you have the reputation of being the U.K.s leading retail outlet .

THIS WAS THE LETTER I SENT CURRYS AND ALL THEY COULD DO WAS TO REMEBURSE MY CALL COSTS!!!!!! NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Note that this review is more than 6 months old and the company's procedures may have changed considerably since this review was written.
Please do not shop at Currys.
They sold me faulty goods and because I had lost my receipt they would not exchange the goods. Normally stores only require a receipt for a cash refund - but not Currys.
And guess where they inform customers that if they lose their receipt their faulty goods will not be exchanged - no, not on a large notice in the store - but, on the receipt!! Catch 22!

Editor's note: For anyone else who has a similar experience, see this site for your rights as a consumer:
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/calitem.cgi?file=ADV0050-1011.txt

Note that this review is more than 6 months old and the company's procedures may have changed considerably since this review was written.
Do not buy computers from Currys. I have just been though 6 months of the worst customer support service I have ever encountered. I purchased a Compaq Presario from them in September 2004. In December hard drive #1 died. At first I was forced to package it myself and send it to HP (the manufacturer) who considerately gave me second hand replacement parts instead of new ones. In feb hard drive #2 broke, this time I made the mistake of calling Dixons customer "care" line.

They have no communication at all with HP over repairs to the machine previously & were not aware HP took machines away. This however pales in comparison to their internal communications issues. After calling for ages & getting cut off & queueing again I managed to book an engineer (naturally only available during office hours forcing you to take time off work). The engineer came and installed drive #3, but because all software comes pre-installed they left me with a box that did nothing. They wanted me to pay £26 for recovery CD's (even though the requirement to make your own is only recommended rather than required in their support guide) because all software including windows comes factory installed. I was informed I could copy software from other people onto my machine as I owned the license already - unfortunately this turned out to be a) illegal, and b) did not work because you need windows to get the CD drive to work anyway. Afer many calls of > 30 mins to their line, frequently getting cut off after queueing for ages I managed to convince them to send the recovery CD's free of charge. I was told they would take half a month to arrive - meanwhile the computer remained useless. When they arrived, hard drive #3 didn't work because it had been installed incorrectly by the engineer. I spent more time calling them and they arranged to send an engineer to replace the mother board & hard drive again. This time they sent him to the wrong address while I took time off work to wait for him. more calls & another engineer visit, more time off work. This time he replaced the motherboard & harddrive only to find the recovery CD's they sent were the wrong versions. He also found that the case for the computer was the wrong size for the system parts inside it. He ordered another one, telling me another engineer would come to take the entire computer from the original case & put it in the new case (this would apparently happen in 3 weeks as the parts were not in stock & required more time off work). Despite changing my address each time I called them their system constantly reverted to my original recorded address making communication problematic. I have been switched accross departments on the phone many different times, without knowing where I am or who I am talking to. I have been transferred to a 'complaints' line only to find that there is no phone complaints line or indeed any method of complaining except in writing. I have been advised that the only way I can get a replacement machine is by driving 100miles+ to the store where I bought the computer rather than the shop down the road. I have been told that no-one can authorise replacement machines or refunds except the orignal store of purchase. Eventually I was forced to write a letter quoting the Sales of Goods Act, and physically carry the machine into the local store & demand to see the manager to get a replacement. At first he advised contacting the sales team or booking a further engineer before finally allowing me to choose another computer from the small store nearby. Despite many periods away from work talking to them & waiting for engineers etc they did not offer any compensation at all when they did arrange for a new computer. Words cannot describe the contempt I feel for the people on the other end of the telephone who apprear to have completely lost any logical ability they once may have had. I can only suggest that you would have better customer service buying a computer from the local village idiot.