Is that the same "Dixons" moniker
that a mere 4 years ago was considered so tarnished that it needed to be removed from the High Street altogether?
DSGi shares are up slightly this morning after the retail group posted results for the year at the top end of expectations. In the year ended 31 May 2010 DSGi, owner of PC World and Currys, made sales of £8,531.6m, up four per cent on last year or two per cent like-for-like. Pre-tax profit was up 61 per cent to £90.5m. In the …
"The Dixons name resonates strongly with suppliers, the market, and colleagues in a way that DSG international has not been able to"
Only highly paid management could come up with a strategy like that. If the Dixons name is so brilliant, why did they annex the name from the high street in favour of Currys.digital?
What does the D stand for again anyway? Oh yeah...
Whenever I go into these stores I'm gobsmacked by a) how rude the staff are, b) their complete lack of knowledge on the vast majority of their products c) their overinflated prices.
If it wasn't for customers like my dad who are unfathomably loyal to these places rather than taking the plunge with somewhere like ebuyer, they would be bust.
They should spend a bob or two empowering their staff and overhauling their business plan and rather than fiddling round the edges.
They don't give a damn, and why should they? None of the outlets in that group are places any sensible person should set foot in. But the days when the loss of a few customers counted for anything are long gone. No matter how bad their reputation, it only takes one more 'unbeatable offers' TV advert to have the punters queuing up at the door again, cash in hand.
Perhaps, as a population, we get the shops we deserve.
They're promising better service, swankier stores and lower stock levels?
"We are so sorry, but we are regrettably unable to supply you with the gleaming piece of dream technology that you had the good taste and judgement to wish to purchase. But we hope that we have enriched your life by this fulsome apology and by your unsurpassable customer experience in our luxurious retail-service establishment."
Surely one of their major problems is that of people coming in just to play with the hardware before buying it for cheaper on-line (from a site that is not DSG)
How is not having any stock going to improve this situation - surely their ONLY selling point is that of offering instant gratification
It certainly does with me, reminds me of the time when a spotty quavering-voiced herbet stood with his back to a large display of $PRODUCT, insisting that "we don't sell $PRODUCT". It also serves to remind me of the sales weasel loudly proclaiming to a customer that Tivo could fast forward live TV (Tivo dates it pretty effectively).
Even if it's a Sunday, everything else is shut, and I just need something relatively idiotproof, I try and avoid bloody Dixons. It's not just terrible service from the miserable disenfranchised staff, but because they spend all their time screaming about how great their prices are- often charging full RRP. The Advertising Standards Authority have had to had a word before now about them preying on the ignorance of the public by screaming "OUR PRICES R AWESUM LOLZ", when patently, they were TEH SUXX.
Yeah, "Dixons" resonates with me, like someone playing the brown note in a crowded lift.
It's well known that knowledge of IT products isn't a requirement for working at PC World. Someone I knew once entered a store, looking for a laser printer.
He was initially taken to the scanners, then when he asked Mr. Clueless again, he received the reply: "Are they the ones that don't use any ink?"
Needless to say, he walked out, went around the corner to Staples, was immediately taken to the laser printers, and walked out again a few minutes later a happy customer of the office supplies store.
That's interesting, when I tried to buy a laser printer at Staples recently they tried very hard to sell me an ink jet instead. The harder they tried the more convinced I was that a colour laser was the right choice... no more clogged heads, gallons of ink wasted in pointless attempts at cleaning, and almost new cartridges being thrown away because they stopped working, yay!
I agree though, Staples are a much better bet than Currys or PC World for most purchases.
Let's see now...
Their staff are miserable, rude, with no knowledge of the products that they sell. Generally the products they supply are just not that good quality, and their support is awful. They are more often than not out of stock. Plus they are regularly more expensive than other sources.
Clearly the problem is that they need a new marketing mission statement.
Simples!
I used to work for DSG (without the i, as it was called back then) and can confirm that a majority of the staff were professional, courteous and knowledgeable to the point of uber-geekdom - anyone who's ever been on a Dixons Staff training course will have played the "how many features of the new Panasonic video-recorder can you name" game. But that was nearly 2 decades ago.
Sadly, I now avoid all Dixons-based outlets as I have NEVER, in any retail outlet, been treated in the appalling manner that PC World once subjected me to. After consistently refering to my sister as my mother (she doesn't look that old!!) they tried charging me more than the ticket price as the machine I was actually buying was "of a slightly different spec". The manager then had the audacity to inform me that I may as well buy it as I'd been there 2 hours and it would be quicker than going elsewhere!! As I left, the imbicile called me a d*ck-head a little too loudly*.
Well done DSG. You'll always be a bunch of clueless box-shifters who deserve all you get!
</rant>
*I may be a d*ck-head, but I certainly don't need that fuckwit to remind me!!
the employee of Dixons/ PCworld on the trading estate near me. I went in to get a midi cable
After explaining what I wanted, he tried to sell me a soundcard... and then a Joystick. I said I wanted a MIDI cable. He tried to sell me a surge protected mains cable. I detailed the cable that I wanted (and I knew they had stocked them recently, but couldn't find it on the shelves on that day) and as soon as I said "well it has two DIN connectors on the end" he replied
"Oh, DINs! That's not a cable, that's memory" like I was some kid to be patronised.
Yeah, their brand still resonates with ME!
Staff who's entire knowledge on a product is what it says on the label, products on the shelves with no price labels, ancillaries priced to the point of outright theft, support staff loosing items sent in for repair after claiming for 3 months that it will be in next week, HQ staff who ship an order 3 months after it was cancelled.
....and they are going to turn the whole company around by revamping their stores?
Yeh that's going to win me back.
My local PC World underwent the redesign recently. 50% of the considerable floorspace is now given over to TVs. In fact I don't recall seeing a single PC when I popped in there. The amount of space and lack of any stock made it feel more like a place which was about to go out of business.
Surprisingly this re-invention has failed to address the number one issue with PC World, the ridiculous prices. The item I went in to get turned out to be available next door at Staples(!) for less than half the price and it wasn't a sale price either. Bought on-line I could have paid a quarter of the PC World price, but it was one of those 'need it today' situations.
PCWorld is even more irrelevant now than it was five, even ten years ago.
1. USB cable priced at £9.99, whilst Tescos had the identical for £1.29.. HDMI cable at Tescos £1.97, but at PC World .....wait for it......£9.99.
2. SCART cables costing 3 x the Freeview box (but they were Monster cables...say no more)
3. PC case (including PSU) £5 cheaper than the identical PSU without PC case.
Wow though: finding HDMI at PCW for under a tenner? Must've been a mis-price.
My local PCW, immediately next door to my local Currys (ah, were I a Dixon Group shareholder, whart praise would I shower on the board for that kind of strategic brilliance. . .) only sells HDMI cables via one of its mortgage advisers, it being a fact that you need a long-term loan secured against a property to buy such an item.
As I needed just such a cable double-quick, I thought I'd query the quality of the cheapest HDMI cable at PCWorld (I think it was 1m for £3,694.17p) but all PC World staff had been invaded by aliens and were catatonic. So I went next door to Currys and saw their mortgage adviser re Best Value! Gold Plated 1.8m Double Shielded HDMI Cable, ONLY £4,327.64p TODAY!
First off, for the kind of price you lot are charging, just how exceptional is the quality?
Answer: ah, well, it's not just quality. It's speed, sir. And this is the fastest cable you'll ever find. It's the absolute best High Speed Digital Medium Interface around, which is what HDMI means.
Me: I thought it meant High Definition Multimedia Interface?
Currys mortgage adviser: Well, wouldn't that be. . . HDMMI? (Big grin.)
Me: No more than yours would be HSDMI. (No grin.)
Currys mortgage adviser: Oh. I see what you mean. Well, it's just that High Speed is hyphenated, you know. So. . . High-speed Digital Medium Interface. HDMI.
Me: I never knew that.
Currys mortgage adviser: All these initials, they can confuse people. Anyway. . . If you're talking about High Speed, this cable is the highest speed of all.
Me: So images from my DVD player go quicker on my TV screen? I'm not sure I like the idea of that.
Currys mortgage adviser: Oh no. The images themselves don't go quicker. They just travel more quickly to your screen than otherwise. No waiting time, you see.
Me: Amazing. I hate having to wait to watch the trailers.
Currys mortgage adviser: And of course, there's no loss of quality, even at this high speed.
Me: Even more amazing. Tell me, does this explain why you're charging £4,327.64p for something I can get on Amazon for £3.99p?
Currys mortgage adviser: You cannot compare what's available on Amazon with what we have.
Me: You're saying, Currys is incomparable then?
Currys mortgage adviser: Definitely!
Me: The first place to shop, then. Unlike Dixons, which says it is the last place anyone would want to shop at.
Currys mortgage adviser: We have no connection with Dixons.
Me: Not even a High Speed Digital Medium Interface?
Anyway. I drove home, went online to Amazon, signed up for a free one-month Amazon Prime trial, ordered three 1.2 HDMI cables for £4,315.27p less than Currys / PC Whirl were charging for just one. All three arrived at 8.30am next morning and all three worked brilliantly (and have done ever since: no drop-outs, no glitches, nothing.)
As to Dixons renaming itself Dixons, well. . . That's bound to make a difference to everyone. They might even make an additional four quid profit on their £multi-billion turnover. . .
"Ah that explains why they've decided to phase out floppy disks."
No, the reason they very publicly phased out floppy discs is because they knew it would get them acres of free press attention that would also conveniently project an image of them being cutting edge (well, if you didn't know better...)
They did the exact same thing with video recorders (even though I saw them on sale long after one would have expected existing stock to have sold out) and audio cassettes.
"I wonder how much longer before the stores get re-branded ? After their refits, our local Curry's and PC World are identical. Most of the floor space in PCW is devoted to non-PC stuff."
AFAIK, many Currys and PC Worlds are being merged into a single store- happened with my local branch (they closed the old PC World store). OTOH, don't see why they'd merge the ranges but keep two nearby stores open like that- defeats the point, which was (I assume) to save money.
once refused to sell my brother a PSU.
Long story short, he's not *that* techincal, and needed a new one for the comp I had mostly built for him.
We were in the big city, so while I rummaged around Maplin for an AM2 heatsink and fan (got one aswell, and the attendant even knew what I meant!), I told him to head over to pissywerld to get his PSU as Maplin had run out (was a pretty small store).
He came back emptyhanded 25 minutes later and told me what happened.
He went in, and asked for what I told him to ask for - a 300 Watt ATX PSU.
The drone asked him "What's it for?"
He answered "A PC"
The drone asked him more questions - clockspeed of the CPU (but not what type), how much RAM (but not what type), whether or not the PC had a DVD Drive... some fairly fucking irrelevant questions considering the ATX *standard*, and that he knew how many watts he needed. The answers wouldn't have been much use either, considering...
This went on for a while, with my poor brother getting increasingly pissed off with the flangebag he was dealing with and, because I had built his PC, not able to answer all the questions fully.
So, the twatbucket said "OK I'm not convinced you know what you are doing so I can't sell you this".
There is no minimum knowledge requirement for buying something, beyond knowing what you want and that you have to hand over money for it.
Yes he could have killed himself with the PSU if he turned it on while taking a bath with it, but FFS there is such a thing as too much cotton wool.
This guy was just a jumped up "I do IT, me" type, with a little knowledge.
It's a dangerous thing in small quantities.
Their online operation is pretty good at boxshifting, even if the stores are still painfully bad...
The fridge I got from Dixons online was as low-priced as anyone else, and they let me pick a delivery slot on a Saturday for free - and fulfilled their promise of texting me the night before to let me know the time of the delivery, and then the driver phoned when he was on his way.
And the LCD TVs we just bought were cheaper than anyone else for the spec we wanted, and again their delivery service was second to none (even with the driver having to find his way round a big university campus for the delivery this time).
Until stores actually price match wesides, including their own, then I will use them. But ever since I went to buy a hard drive I seen online for £50, instore was £65, and was told "Well if you reserved it online you would have got it for that price", I simply opened my iphone and ordered the hard driver from amazon for £5 cheaper right in front of the guy and said "Too bad you just ost a sale, I wanted it now but, but willing to wait a few days for a £20 saving" ... it arrived next day. I now avoid all DSG stores and website.
Whenever I think of Dixons, I always think of Alan Partridge in the episode Alan Attraction...
http://www.meatpasty.co.uk/alanpartridge/scripts/imalans01/episode2.htm
"Jill, what do you think about the pedestrianisation of Norwich town centre? I’ll be honest I’m dead against it. People forget that [increasingly breathless] traders need access to Dixons!"
Personally being an ex-resident of Norwich, I quite liked the pedestrianisation of Norwich, after all it had pretty good access to Dixons.
Not sure why they went and changed the name of all the stores though to Currys Digital.
Rob
Finally managed to sell one of those premium USB cables, then.
I know they employ a lot of people but their brant of shit customer service seems to have laid the ground for the likes of Michael O'Leary.
My brother and I nearly wet our pants when the manager of (the now closed) Letchworth Dixons flew into a rage at a customer wanting to return something, when a DSG head office lady was literally standing nearby with a clipboard interviewing customers about their experience of the store. The look on the DSG woman's face was unforgettable.
Online vs Brick:
I went into PC World with my mum because we had seem reasonable Microsoft webcams on the PC World website for £15 and as I was only there for the weekend I thought I'd go in and get them so I could configure it for her before I left.
Once in the store, we headed for the webcam section and to our surprise saw the model listed on the website for £15, marked up at £26.
I checked on my Desire and sure enough, £15 online. I asked a sales droid and he confirmed that the online price is cheaper as it's handled by a different company. He said you could reserve it and collect in store, but the Windows machines don't have internet, so use a Mac (you'd have thought they'd have locked the Windows machines down, but heh).
So I used a Mac and reserved the webcams for that store. We then went to the checkout, where our webcams were brought for us, paid £30 and left!
So if you're a regular punter, it would cost you £52 and you'd have to carry the goods to the till yourself, whereas, if you reserve them online in the store, you pay £30 and have someone take them there for you...madness!
I assume it's a ploy to advertise cheap prices on the web and then rely on people blindly purchasing in the store expecting it to be the same 'bargain' they saw online. Buyer beware1!!111!!!!!
I had to go to the nearest PC World (Kensington) to get an emergency replacement 3m Cat5e Ethernet cable for a client.
Bog-standard 3m cable was £29.95 under a BIG banner saying "Great Value".
Whilst waiting 20 minutes in a queue to pay, I saw two sales muppets selling an obviously intelligent but non-techie lady a wireless basestation/router, when it was dammed obvious she needed one with an integral ADSL 'modem'.
Must be soul destroying for the few staff who know what they are talking about. A bit like working for the Civil Service though I've tried to erase those memories.
Funny thing is, I used to work as a technician at PC world, and whilst I lose all credibility by announcing that fact, I was forced out of the company for offering customer service. Funny that eh?
They want people to sell, simple fact. Head office are seriously trying to push the customer experience. But instore management are still judged on their bottom line. You can't maximise profits and have the best customer service, atleast not with the systems that Dixons have in place.
...that a friend of mine wanted a PS2 keyboard. The morron in PC World pointed him towards the Playstation 2 stand. He said no, I want a PS2 keyboard for a PC. Morron: Don't you mean USB. Friend: No I mean PS2. The morron in PC World pointed him towards the Playstation 2 stand again. My friend left with no keyboard.
When my friend told me this story, I reminded him that the connector on a PS2 keyboard is also known as mini-din 5. Somehow I don't think that would have helped him much.