Currys/PC World will never get a penny of my money ever again.
Right, I'm after a 120gb hard drive for the Xbox 360. I've seen them for £100 at Argos but on eBay one went the other day for £65. There was me thinking that was a bargain when I find out by accidentally typing in the search terms on GOOGLE instead of eBay, that Comet were selling it for £60 and Blockbuster for £70.
I rang my local Blockbuster, they tell me that they haven't got any in-stock, but if I go down to the shop and fill in a form, they can order me one - but it might take a while to arrive. Well, I'm going down on Friday to get Mirror's Edge anyway, so I said I'll fill it in then.
As I was going to bed that night I had an idea; Currys and PC World (owned by the same company) do a price-promise offer. For more details, I've quoted someone from another thread who has coincidentally mentioned the same thing today.
pc world have a price difference offer.
110% of price difference
So say PCW are charging £50 for CoD5, minus asda's price difference of £23 (making it = £27), plus the extra 10% difference (£2.30) = £24.70 INSTORE
I rang the PC World number (again, no local numbers, just a national number) in-case I was getting myself mixed up, but the guy confirmed to me that they did the above price promise offer, and he went as far as putting one aside for me. The local PC World didn't have one in-stock but he checked the local Currys and they did. He gave me a reference number and said to me "as long as Blockbuster is within 30 miles of the Currys store then that will be fine". I double-checked all the details with him, the address of the Blockbuster, the phone number etc., and he said it all checked out. So I went to bed safe in the knowledge that I would be getting a 120gb Xbox 360 hard drive for less than £70 this afternoon (and not their usual price of £90/£100 at PC World/Currys respectively).
Ho ho ho...
I arrive at Currys with my reference number, product code and the number of my local Blockbuster. So this elderly chap with a "Carl" nametag on comes over, says "yes yes yes", and runs off with my piece of paper. 15 minutes of looking at the wall later, he returns with a 120gb hard drive, and picks up a phone to call my local Blockbuster. "Do you sell 120gb Xbox 360 drives for £70? Right, do you have any in-stock? No, okay, thanks."
"I'm sorry sir but we can only offer the price promise if the store that sells the product cheaper has the product in-stock."
I resisted the urge to scream
well if they had it in stock I wouldn't have come all the way to this fucking shithole would I you fucking knobhead, and instead calmly asked "so what you're saying is; either I order it from Blockbuster and wait, or I go home, look up all of the telephone numbers of Blockbuster stores within 30 miles, ring them all and find one that has it in stock, and then come back?" "Yes sir."
"Right!" I said, stormed out of the shop, got back to the car, got out my mobile, and asked the missus to text me the telephone number of every Blockbuster in my local area. After ten minutes, and ten minutes ringing around, I found one in Liverpool that had one in-stock. Same price, obviously. I pumped my fists with joy, imagining I was smashing old farty-arse Carl in the face, and stormed back into the shop.
I asked the woman behind the counter, "can you get Carl for me please?" She sends out a message over the tannoy and five minutes later he arrives. I explain to him that I've just spent two quid on my mobile ringing around Blockbuster stores within a 30 mile radius and that I've found one in Liverpool, with the drive in-stock, for £70. "I'll just make sure that's alright with the manager", he says.
Five minutes later he comes back and says "I'm sorry, it has to be in the county that we're in now. It can't be in Liverpool, it has to be here, or in Chester."
My reply, through gritted teeth; "
but the store in Liverpool is closer than any in Chester."
"I'm sorry sir."
At this point I was literally clenching my fists so hard my fingers were nearly bursting through my palms, and I quoted to him exactly what the man on the PC World helpline had told me; "within a 30 mile radius", "yes that applies to both Currys and PC World". But he just repeated himself, like a slightly retarded parrot. To top it off, he said to me, "the most we can offer you is the tunnel fare over to Liverpool" (which is a couple of quid). I've never been so fucking incensed in all my life. I literally laughed in his face, turned round, and shouted "what a fucking joke, I'm never coming here again" loud enough to disturb anyone who is stupid enough to buy anything from what I already knew was the biggest rip-off shop in creation full of wankers who know fuck all about the shit that they're selling and will happily lie through their teeth to get you to hand over your money.
So there we go, a few quid on the phone bill, a few quid on the mobile bill, a fair few quid in petrol and at the end of the day I'm sat here with a growing blood pressure issue and the urge to kill people.
EDIT: Looking at
THIS FORUM the whole "price promise" thing is bollocks and they can come up with any argument they like to wriggle out of it.
Shame your down in Cardiff I'd like to come and watch that... I packed in playing due to a dodgy ankle but it's true, you get idiots rolling about because they see it in top flight football. Holding their face and faining broken legs, it's pathetic...
It's something I've hated for years, and I completely agree with you Radiation about the whole "caught on camera" thing, it's ridiculous that they won't do anything about it.
I've heard it all now!!!