Order online, collect instantly! (Argos.co.uk)

Member Name: fayp

Product:	Argos.co.uk
Date:	31/01/09 (210 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great balance between online and instore shopping.

Disadvantages: Can't try furntiure!

I love shopping online as I find it so convenient, but sometimes don't want to wait ages for delivery, especially if companies won't tell you when they are delivering. For me Argos is the perfect balance, I can shop and browse online, then either reserve and collect immediately at my local store, or book a delivery slot that suits me!

The online catalogue for Argos is similar to the in store one, but more up to date, with new offers etc. You can search for items by typing in a key word, or by going through the different sections such as home furnishing. The results can then be viewed as the most popular item, or by price, low to high or high to low, which is handy. You can view all the details of the item, including a larger photograph; many items have customer reviews too. You can then check availability for your item, before you decide.

If you decide to buy the item you can decide whether to reserve it in a local shop or arrange home delivery. For me, that depends on the size of the item. My recent washing machine I arranged delivery as that was the only option! For an extra £7.40 I could click and arrange the old washing machine to be removed plus all the packaging. You can also pay extra for connection but I didn't bother. If you decide to reserve the item for collection, you type in your postcode and local Argos branches are listed, so you can choose. You are then given a reservation number, which is also emailed to you. You take this number to the local branch. You can either queue to pay, or use a machine to pay by card, which I find very speedy.

Argos has worked on its customer services recently and I find all the staff very helpful. My local store had never kept me waiting more than about 3 minutes to collect goods! Any returns or broken items are replaced with no problems.

I find the prices some of the best around. In the Jan sales I bought two 100% leather settees for £488, sand they are gorgeous. They said 35 days for delivery, then rang after 14 days and offered me Saturday delivery at no extra cost. They even give you a time slot usually 7am-noon or noon-6pm, But better than waiting in all day.

I find the range of good offered is massive, and often I need to look no further than Argos. I have shopped with Tesco direct and find them dearer on most items, or often goods out of stock.

The downside of Argos is that you can't view goods before you buy, but that is true with any online shopping. They do offer to give a refund for any good you are not happy with, so that seems fair to me! One other gripe, but only a minor one is that they no longer keep samples of fabric in store for you to view, nor do they allow you to order online! You have to ring, which did not take long, but then the fabric sample is posted 2nd class, so in my case, came over a week after phoning. I felt that was too long as in the sale, goods sell out! It might be a good idea to have a fabric sample section online, where you could at least bring fabric samples up full size to view on screen.

All in all, I find Argos online a great balance between home and store shopping, great value for money, wide choice, and helpful staff.

Summary: Good value, great staff, great products.