Argooooose (Argos Card)

Member Name: newby2

Product:	Argos Card
Date:	28/08/08 (331 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: works well

Disadvantages: can be used wrongly

The Argos Card......


The Argos Card is a store card where you can purchase items from that store on a buy now pay later type scheme. The scheme ranges from your small purchases where you can have over a months grace to pay off the item or the larger amounts where you can have 3 months, 6 months, 9 months or even a 12-month interest free period on the purchase price.

The main reason I when ahead and applied for this card was that we were just moving into our new flat and wanted to buy a large sofa from Argos and agreed we would be better putting the sofa on this card and paying for it in 9 months when are finances were a little better. Because it would cost us nothing to use the card as long as we paid the amount in full buy the time the agreement is up we decided this was the better option all round.

Getting the card was simple and after applying in store I received my new card within a few weeks. The sofa arrived and every month I would get a statement telling me that the money was still outstanding and if I wished I could pay some off but still the credit plan was due to end in however many months. A few weeks before the 9-month interest free period was up I received a different kind of letter, which did not look like a statement but it was informing me that my interest free period was coming to an end and needed to be paid, with this was enclosed a payment form.

Everything was smooth and simple with this transaction I paid it on time and that was that I had 9 months of no interest and in that time I had easily put by a little each month to ensure I had enough to pay off the full amount when it was due. Easy.

I have used the card quite a lot since am working it so that each month I do buy something large for the flat or other items giving me a good interest free credit plan I have enough from my wages left to pay.

I have up until a few months back been paying via cheque and this method was perhaps the safest way because a few months back I tried to pay via Internet banking. This, at the time, I believed had gone smoothly as I followed all the instructions printed on the back of the previous Argos Card statement. However once my monthly statement came in it appeared that I had not paid off a particular Interest free payment plan I had merely paid an amount of the existing balance. Therefore, it appeared that I had defaulted my interest free period payment option.

After a rather quick phone call to the Argos Card Customer Services, this was soon solved. The lady on the other end was very helpful and to be honest it sounded like this happens all the time. She was able to change the payment from paying off the total balance to pay off the outstanding amount for the credit plan. She informed me that now this had been done once it would not be able to do it for a second time, but I thought now I know that I cant pay the credit plans this was I wont be doing it again. The deal is if you want to pay off a particular credit plan their computer that end needs to know about it and therefore the credit plan number needs to be typed in so doing it via internet banking there is no one that is typing this in. All direct payments from your bank will need to be processed by an Argos representative consequently it is them that I should of phoned to take the debit card payment.

However now I know this, I think in future I shall just stick to sending a cheque that is the easiest way and I was doing it before.

So all in all my dealings with the Argos Card and the Argos Card Customer Services have been very positive. I have not incurred any interest on the items that I have purchased and I do think that if the card is used right then it can come in very handy. Because of the high interest rate however I would strongly advise against getting one purely to use like a credit card in the Argos tore unless you use it wisely its just not worth it.

Mine is used wisely and I will continue to do so for a while to come and I will be happy to use it too. 10/10 for the Argos card, as I really can be a little gem if you work it well.

Summary: a great card