Argos

So, I’m glad I had a decent experience at Argos when I returned my damaged lamp and the light bulbs that I purchased for them. The manager actually apologized very kindly about the whole mess and gave me no problems at all. The returns were processed within a couple of minutes and I was on my way out the door just like that! I’m not sure I’ll be ordering online at
again, but I wouldn’t mind dropping by the actual store to check out some stuff.

Just another Argos, but of course it sells virtually everything from furniture to electronics, even if the catalogue ordering system can be a bit irritating.

An Argos store like any other, the store in Oxford is hidden in New Inn Hall St and is easy to miss if you don’t know where it is. Best way to get to it is either via the Clarendon Centre (take the exit next to Currys digital) or across the road from BHS on Queen St. The store is often quite busy and you may have to wait to peruse a catalogue, though the staff are quick to fetch your items once you have ordered. For items unavailable at the smaller Argos, there is an ‘Extra’ store in Botley.

If you shop at Argos at a less busy time they are quite happy to unpack the goods and let you inspect them — I once had a long discussion with a very helpful lady about kettles. We unpacked three before we found one with a spout wide enough to go under the tap so you can fill the kettle without lifting the lid which, strangely wasn’t something the catlogue description had mentioned.
They’ll swap things without quibbling.
You can use the web to check if they have things in stock and to reserve them so you can pick them up later.
And the reason they get the 5 stars is that today the staff were all very understanding when I asked if I could bring my bike into the shop. I’d left half my bike lock at home and needed a new one but I didn’t have anywhere safe to leave the bike while I bought the lock. The staff didn’t mind. In fact they even tried to speed up the purchase by finding the catalogue page with the bike locks for me.

Argos is fun because of the novelty of ordering from a catalogue. For those who’ve never experienced the way it works, it’s a relatively small shop containing mainly catalogues. You find the item you want, type its number into a little calculator gadget which tells you how many are in stock, then pay for it and wait for your order number to come up on a TV screen, at which point you run to the till, triumphantly brandishing your receipt, to collect your prize, which is usually in an obscure box or package, making you look really mysterious.
They’ve got pretty much everything here, from furniture to toys, to electronics, sports equipment, jewellery and gadgets. There’s usually a good range for each product, meaning several hours of painstaking decisions between 10 sorts of kettle. The descriptions aren’t as good as seeing the items themselves, but it’s just about worth it for the fun of waiting for your number to come up.
For some products, you can get a good deal, such as MP3 players and games consoles; for others, such as camping gear, Argos is definitely a budget brand and should be approached with caution. The Oxford store is quite scruffy with pages coming out of the catalogues and always, inexplicably, hundreds of pushchairs and whole families standing around arguing.