Argos Store Card Review

Overall Rating

Would have been good if they didn't mees up on every possible aspect

Rude, incompetent staff, random charges and items added to our account, and harassment

The Argos card was easy to apply for, and quite convenient. Or so we thought. We were offered 'buy now, pay 12 months later' scheme in September 2008. In February 2009, we started getting letters telling us the full balance was now due. We made a phonecall to Argos and I spoke to a very rude saleswoman who kept rather annoyingly repeating "you would have been told what the scheme was when you first took out the credit, it's not our mistake". After she repeated this, I kid you not, SIX TIMES, I asked to speak to another staff member who told us this was an error and they would amend our statement. On the next statement, they had added £250 'late payment' charges and informed us we would be contacted by a debt collection agency! Again, after another phonecall, we were told that this was an error and they would send us a letter confirming this. No letter arrived. We THEN, a few weeks later, received a statement which had not only DOUBLED our original credit price, but had added on hundreds of pounds' worth of fees and told us to make the payment immediately and our details had been passed to a debt collection agency! Once again, after a phonecall (and this time also wrote a letter to Argos) I was told this would be sorted immediately and I would receive a letter confirming their error.

After many phonecalls, we have still not received a letter and now we are being plagued on a near daily basis by Argos asking us to pay the balance of our account immediately (our original purchase was £955, the statement now totals near £2,500), and after I insist to them this is their error (after which they INSIST we MUST have used our Argos card for additional purchases), they eventually see that there is an adjustment on another system (?) and both (?) systems aren't showing our correct details. Why are our details on two systems showing conflicting information?? I was then told yesterday that they can't put a note on my account telling them not to harass me, they CAN'T send out a confirmation letter of our correct balance, and that the phonecalls are automated. Unbelievable.

Utter nightmare. Never, ever again will I even breathe in the direction of an Argos card. Stay away.

And so our saga continues.