Dixons Group investigates abusive Facebook comments

It's highly ironic....

....that the DSG staff I've dealt with in Glasgow area stores seem to be the least tech savvy bunch I ever meet in IT stores. They are the bottom of the rung in retail IT. (I'd like to assure folk I only go to PC World when I HAVE to). I have flummoxed them many times with basic questions. Tech guys?!

By Waderider on 7 Sep 2009

I have to agree with Waderider.

Given that Currys and PC World sell technology products - and sell them at a substantial premium over the price at which the same products are readily available elsewhere on the high street - one would reasonably expect their staff to understand the basics of the technology they are selling; but the staff in their stores are amongst the most technology illiterate I have ever come across.

As for their TechGuys, well they are a complete joke and I have yet to encounter a single one who can even pass my simple memory compatibility test .. and surely there is no more fundamental knowledge than what memory you can install in a pc.

If it isn't crass ignorance on the part of the TechGuys, then the only other plausible explanation id that far from being there to offer the customer the benefit of their expert knowledge, their role is actually to convince customers that their only option is to buy new, rather than to repair / upgrade their existing equipment.

By Bandigo on 7 Sep 2009

Currys Digital

Curry's Staff!
Working with a proffessional high street retailer, (The London Camera Exchange Bath), I can tell you now that it is the customers that brand Currys staff as 'retards'. We have a branch close to Currys Digital and a typical conversation with a customers would be, "I have just come from Currys, they seem to know nothing about cameras, they are just rude or completely ignore us. Can you help please?"
I believe that the staff in a shop can make or break the business If you need an example, there is another high street photographic retailer that comes to mind..........
It is businesses like ours that can take these big retailers to the 'cleaners'.....

TTFN
David

By DavidWright on 7 Sep 2009

It's a fair cop, guv

after a number of current "employees posted under their real names."

"Why is everyone who works in Currys a f***ing retard?"

Guess they were right!

By JStairmand on 7 Sep 2009

Two way street

I'm sure the employees of PC World encounter their fair share of idiotic customers. Simply shopping at PC World calls your mental acuity into question.

However, it's not for nothing that PC World staff have a reputation as being less than clued up about the products that they sell.

By Lacrobat on 7 Sep 2009

hang on a minute

hi i know a lot of people have a problem with curys and pc world, however please do not tar all members of staff with the same brush. I have worked in currys for a few years now and i know my stuff when it comes to what i sell. i will not say that all staff are great at what they do but i would challange you to name one company the size of currys/pc world that has amazing staff in every store. Please some are not great but we are not all bad

By bigben2503 on 7 Sep 2009

T'other end of the stick

Before we all get carried away with a flaming of DSG staff, I would like to say i've met some genuinely excellent / clued up staff, and some clueless numpties too.

I feel an important point has been missed here tho. Working for a company that deals with immense amounts of punters (millions every day - not an exaggeration either) I know as well as the next person who works in a customer facing job that we all have the odd laugh / joke about some customers. After all some really don't engage their brains.

The problem here is that these staff have posted comments in the public domain that would normally not go further than the staff mess room. Herein lies the problem, too many people write stuff on facebook without thinking of the consequences. I don't know what DSG's policy is, but where i work, this action would be classed as bringing the company into disrepute, and becomes a serious disciplinary issue.

It's one thing to have a joke, but in print it's libel

By hjlupton on 7 Sep 2009

thick staff

Well in my limited experience (once bitten, twice shy, as they say) Curry's staff are thick as well as untrained. One guy tried to read the back of the box to me out loud when he couldn't answer a technical question. They obviously don't get paid enough to know what they are talking about, and I'd imagine staff retention is a problem as well. Typical bloody British business if you ask me: should spend more on training.

By c6ten on 7 Sep 2009

training

Curry's are a typical British business. They spend hardly any money on training and the staff aren't paid enough to know what they are talking about. I've stopped shopping there as their prices are just not competitive and they never stock the latest gear. Their customers probably are a problem because they are the ones that don't seem to have realised this.

By c6ten on 7 Sep 2009

training

Curry's are a typical British business: they don't spend enough on training and their staff are not paid enough to know what they are talking about. I stopped shopping at Curry's and PC World a while back as their prices are not competitive and they don't stock the latest gear. Their customers probably are a problem as they are the ones who don't seem to have realised this.

By c6ten on 7 Sep 2009

Well some customers really are morons

The problem is that many of the staff are as clueless as the customers. If the staff are really knowledgeable then they really should not be punished. Far too often the public bring it on themselves.

By Amnesia10 on 7 Sep 2009

Whilst I agree that the staff at DSG stores are pretty clueless, I place the blame on the company management.

I'd love to go in to a store and be served by someone of the calibre of a PC Pro forum poster for example, but how many of you would work there for the money they pay?

Train your staff and pay them a wage that motivates them and you'd be on to a winner... oh, and stock up to date products.

By iwilson on 7 Sep 2009

Helpful Currys Staff

Whilst I do not buy much in Currys or PC World, I must single out a particular member of staff, at a store in the Glasgow area, who is remarkably knowledgable of all their products and also those that are not even released yet.

I was able to have a very frank discussion with him about LCD TVs and, as a tech professional, explained he has an honours degree in Electrical Engineering but couldn't get work so eneded up in there.

His knowledge of anything tech related was remarkable and I just thought I'd mention this so people realise that individuals stand out in these companies.

Hopefully, some day he will become a store or area manager, as he certainly works hard enough and knows his stuff.

By GlasgowGuy on 8 Sep 2009