NB: DSG Retail LTD. Consists of the following companies:

PC World. Dixons. Currys. The Link. @Jakarta(Little known computer store apparently). 20% of Freeserve (Used to be full ownership).

I won't give my life story, but in short I was unfortunate enough to be employed by Dixons for nearly 2 years (part-time, as I'm a student).

Being naive I thought that it would be good fun to work for Dixons - I have lots of general knowledge on all the products they sell (with the exception of SLR's at the time), and I thought I'd help people choose what met their needs and budget. How wrong I was...

I started work in a brand new 'Dixons 21' store (one with checkouts by the door and the staff in blue shirt). From day one the company were soul destroying.

As many of you dooyoo'ers have experienced the number one rule for Dixons staff is to sell the magical 'coverplan' (overpriced extended warranty) to customers.

The reason is this. Every sale a particular member of staff makes is recorded against their employee number (for purposes of calculating commision and measuring performance).

If the amount of coverplan sold (in £) is less than 10% of the total sales by the member of staff they may be sacked (obviously, for another more plausible reason), or treated so badly they resign.

You may be starting to understand exactly why they are so anxious to sell it to you.

In the new store I worked at, there were only two of the original salespeople (from about 10) who remained after approximately 2 months. The rest resigned due to the pressure placed on them to sell the warranties. Dixons staff will not give up on warranties without a fight - especially on Laptops (Upto £500! for 5yrs!). If you decide you don't want coverplan on a particular item - you'll probably find the tills mysteriously develop 'a problem' and the manager has to be brought over - who t
hen 'notices' you're not taking the 'fantastic deal' on the coverplan and will argue some more...

Additionally staff have to sell 'essentials' and 'accessories' with all sales. Examples of essentials would be video Tapes, batteries or printer leads. Accessories would be products like Scart leads or cases. For every sale made be each member of staff the computer shows the managers that they had the opportunity to sell these things - and a percentage (or strike rate) is calculated.

For example, if a member of staff sold a PC, the computer would record the fact they had the opportunity to sell coverplan, essentials and accessories.

If the member of staff got the customer to buy these on that transaction - bingo they get 100% in that area for that opportunity.

This carries on throughout the day... week... month... year (they can even pull up your yearly coverplan % figures!).

The coverplan pressure does extend to the managers too.

I went into a different store a while ago where they had a discontinued laptop with a 5 year coverplan advertised at £799. Now I am well aware the 5 year coverplan on laptops can cost upto £500 and asked the store manager how much the laptop was WITHOUT the coverplan.

He said 'we're not selling that one without the coverplan'. I said 'I think you'll find you're legally obliged to' and he said he could do it with the 3yr coverplan. After an argument I eventually found out the price and left...

A note about this - ALWAYS check your receipts when you leave Dixons. Managers encourage the staff to lie about price to sell coverplan. Example - you see a TV for £500. Assisant asks you to buy coverplan - £150 for 5 years. You say no. Assistant puts TV through till in a huff - price comes up as £399. Assistant then says "Actually we're doing a special on this one i'll give you the coverplan for £50&qu
ot;. Naturally you assume this is a good deal and take the coverplan for apparently 1/3 of the cost. You've been had - and it happens at Dixons every day - I should know!

Many of you wonder why you are ill advised to buy particular items. I thought it would be good helping people find the right items for their budget and purpose, again I was wrong. Dixons place 'customer advice bonuses' on particular items - e.g. sell this camera we'll give you £20. That simple, so when a member of staff is pushing you to buy a particular model you're not interested in - this will be why!

Many of you wonder why you get treated like dirt when you return for a refund? The number one reason is that the staff lose the commission if you return the product. The other reason is that it takes up time that the staff are supposed to be using to sell products - management aren't fond of this. They want the staff pouncing on each and every customer...

Another thing - let me inform you all the only good deal you will ever find in Dixons will be:

1. A discontinued line reduced in price exponentially until they are completely out of stock. Watch out the true prices of these itemss are often hidden behind a "this product with 5 year warranty - £200" when the item is only £100 anyway... they just don't tell you it can come without.

2. A loss leader, usually a particular DVD or similarly priced item.

Every other piece of merchandise Dixons sell can be sourced cheaper, with less hassle and better service elsewhere. Even with 10% discount for staff, the products could STILL be found cheaper elsewhere.

Many people (including some dooyoo'ers) think they can go down to Dixons and argue their way to a good deal. That is simply not the case. You could go and buy a laptop from Dixons for £1500 and be happy that they threw in a free case worth £59.99. Or you could go and buy a Dell laptop of a similar spec
for £1200 and buy the damn case. Nothing they give you "free" is ever free. They just advertise higher prices. For example there was a particular Matsui CD player sold all year round for £24.99. Dixons put the price up to £39.99 for one day - then the next advertised the product for £19.99 as 'half price'... in reality it's only £5 off. If you're foolish enough to shop there though...

Staff make commission on all sales, they get no extra for coverplan - they just don't get a hard time if they're above 10%.

I once met a man who was very very good at selling coverplan. He came in with 12% every week. I asked him what his secret was. He said you had to believe in the product you're trying to sell - and he apparently had 5 yr coverplans on everything in his house... Well I had no faith in the product (I have more than one brain cell...).

In conclusion you may be wondering why anyone would want to work for, or shop at Dixons. Me too. Hopefully someone will eventually overthrow their ridiculous high street monopoly so we can have other, better AV chains in the high street. A "Richer Sounds" for all the products Dixons sell, if you will.