Arrrr GOSH! Argos website goes titsup to make it EVEN BETTER UK High Street retailer Argos, which recently made a big deal of sexing up its store, is suffering from a major online outage right now. The company coughed to the blunder just before midday by saying sorry to its customers. We’re sorry for problems you’re facing online this morning, we’re working to fix these as quick as we …
I understand the BBC doing it - they are nothing more than a Reuters portal/press release site for current affairs these days.
But El Reg, come on...? Where is the pride, the Sneering Superiority (tm), that we, the readership, have come to love?
Seriously, though, please don't resort to a twitter-paste-fest...
Argos....last thing I bought was a pair of crutches, many years ago. Moving on, back in the day when people used to actually use argos, I was always amazed by the queuing. Normal shop : buy your stuff, queue to pay, leave. Argos : queue to see one of the big nailed down catelogues, queue to pay, then queue to collect your item from collection point 'Q'. Same stuff, thrice the queues.
'Clearly you haven't been there for a while.'
Correct sir. I never leave the safety of my fall-out shelter these days. People seem to bring the stuff I need from the interwebs, straight to my bunker. I always feel that Vitamin D is a 'nice to have' rather than an essential.
Argos has been down all morning. Hold the front page!
Some of those twitter posts were sounding as if it was the end of the world...
It's not as if it's facebook, or email (yes, yes, i know, but some people can't go 5 minutes without their fix)
Just wait, or order that life-critical product elsewhere?
Argos seriously need to get with the times. Laminated catalogues and slow broken touchscreens aren't cutting it any more. They should have a decent Argos app and WiFi in every store so you can smoothly browse, reserve & pay with your phone whether there or at home.
Also they should be partnering with Amazon/others for the locker thing where you can have online goods delivered to a store. Their entire business is basically storing stock in a warehouse, a partnership that would bring extra revenue and footfall should be a no-brainer.
Argos app - very decent. Far more useful to use than using a catalogue (painful to find things via the index, the search function is brilliant) and you can reserve straight from it.
Wifi - last I heard they were going to introduce the Argos app in a fixed-to-table tablet to all their stores and get rid of the catalogue altogether. Don't know how far they have gone with that (my store still has the shitty catalogue and dot-matrix-screened numberpad).
Also they seem to uniquely have one of those Eco-Drive recharging watches with a digital display for the date, so you don't have to dick around with a dial thing every month to set it back to the 1st. Just put a bag over your head or something so you're not recognised at the Lizzy Dook counter.
Some years back I ordered an iron from Argos and reserved it for collection. When I went to the store the next day the price had been jacked up by £10. Unbeknownst to me the new catalogue had started over that night. Had I spotted that I could have had it delivered for £6 on top of the old price. I remonstrated with various people from the cashier upwards to no avail. The only result I achieved was for Argos to promote their small print to medium size. They obviously were not bothered about losing my custom.
It didn't happen Monday. Needed a couple of cheapish bookshelves for keeping stuff under control. Reserved online during day. Turned up at store round 7 (nice and quiet) used self-serve terminal to confirm and pay.
Curiously, while waiting, got an automated text message from Argos telling me there was "a problem" with my reservation" (and to check my emails) even as the staff were laying it out on the counter in front of me.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
