If SATAN owned a shop, that shop would be Dixons (Dixons)

Member Name: Del_Boy

Product:	Dixons
Date:	09/10/01 (316 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Product range, stops you getting wet

Disadvantages: everything else, crap

I am at the moment in the process of writing this review on Dixon’s; I haven’t a clue where to start though. You see I have already done a review on PC World the Sister store to Dixon’s that allegedly specialises in PCs. I will plod on however to try to inform you and warn you about Dixon’s:


I will start with the good points:

Product range
*************

Usually has a very good product range, all manner of electrical items are included. TV and Videos, Washing Machines, etc + a wide range of consumables.

Good place to shelter from the rain
***********************************

This shop can stop you getting wet – however be prepared to fend off the unwanted advances of the salespeople. They are nothing if not persistent.

I will now move on to the bad points:

Everything is far too expensive
*******************************

The typical Dixon’s product is usually well overpriced in my opinion. This applies to all of their Sister stores as well, inc. the aforementioned PC World and Curry’s.

Salespeople are pushy, rude and know very little about the products
*********************************************

To find a salesperson who is interested in helping you out and telling the truth, aided by use of their wide range of knowledge is a rarity in a Dixon’s store. The salespeople are just there to try to coax you into buying one of their hideously overpriced products and then buying one of their hideously overpriced extended guarantees.

Basically, if you dare to shop at any store within the Dixon’s group be very wary of any advice you are given. Usually it is complete and utter lies.

One example I can think of at the moment is:

I was in Dixon’s (mainly because I was sheltering from the rain if you must know!). Whilst I was in there I overheard a conversation between a t
ypical salesman and a customer. The customer was interested in buying a PC from Dixon’s (a costly mistake in the making). Anyway, the salesperson was running through the list of specifications – when the customer remarked that there didn’t seem to be any AGP port listed*

*For the non-techies AGP is something that all games PCs should have as it stands for Accelerated Graphics Port. Without this you are limited to what graphics cards you can choose (not good).

The salesman decided to tell a downright lie at this point and stated that the machine had 3 PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect – standard slot and a little slow) and 1 ISA slot (old and antiquated). He then mentioned that PCI was faster than AGP and that AGP was dying out.

It was my duty to point out this falsehood and hopefully deprive this shambles of a sale, I butted into the conversation and mentioned to the customer that I couldn’t help but overhear what he was being told. I then gave him the FACTS after all when buying such an expensive £1000+ product the last thing you want is to be told lies in order for you to purchase it. Anyways, good news the Customer upon hearing what I had to say confronted the staff member about it – when staff member couldn’t lie his way out a wet paper bag the customer thanked me and walked out.

Of course, I mentioned to the customer that he should consider getting his PC custom built for him and gave him some recommended suggestions J Just my good deed for the day.

Not all staff that work for this company are bad, indeed you may find some that are not purely motivated by sales and may be of great help. The majority are crap though!

Masterplan or Coverplan
AKA this is rubbish don’t bother buying it (it really is crap)
*********************************************

AKA, the extended guarantee nobody wants. Sadly it is rather forced on you by the sale
sperson. The salespeople if I am correct have to sell 90% of products with guarantee otherwise they are asked to see the manager to explain why. This is no way to run a business as it just ensures that the staff are pushy to try to get you to part with your hard earned money for something that constitutes a somewhat crap and over expensive insurance policy.

If you must have one of these policies, then by all means haggle the price of the product it is purchased for down. About 10 – 15% dependent on the item is a good place to start by all accounts.


If this opinion has told you one thing, it should be to avoid Dixon’s or any subsidiary thereof of the Dixon’s group. Customer service and satisfaction takes a backseat to their deplorable sales tactics and expensive products. Worthy of note also is the fact that their PCs whilst looking a bargain are usually proprietary pieces of sh*t – AVOID.

Summary: