Argos reviews

Where do I start? If you read the things this company to me - including their Head Office, after my "dismissal" - you'll be absolutely shocked, and will probably give this rotten employer a wide berth. I was picked on by a guy (we'll call him X to comply with Glassdoor guidelines), who forced me out through a "below-par" probationary assessment (even though Team Leaders reckoned my performance was OK - significantly, their opinions weren't asked!). Strange. I was reinstated by the Branch Manager, X's superior, at my request (the company needed drivers, with Christmas coming). Within a month, however, X had found laughable reasons to "dismiss" me this time (no official "warnings" either, but I never received a contract, so I don't know what the legal situation was). I should really have gone to a tribunal, after some of the other things that had gone on there, but I simply left, shaking my head in disbelief. (Whilst there, X had persistently put me down for shifts I said I couldn't do, presumably trying to provoke a reaction. On one occasion he threatened me with "disciplinary action" over not appearing for a shift - even though we'd had two conversations the previous week (to which he'd replied "that's OK, leave it with me"), I'd sent him two emails too, and a Team Leader had also told me it was OK - but X now denied all of this!!! I thought he was suffering from amnesia at the time, but realised in due course that he was assuming (rightly, as it turned out) that his superiors would believe anything he said, and disbelieve the other party. In other words, he could behave as he liked with impunity - a dangerous situation which Argos have refused to address. I thought I'd got that company out of my head, as I attempted to find another job (not easy at my age, as it took 6 months), but the Curse of Argos had actually barely started! Next I received a letter from their Head Office saying that they'd overpaid me, and were now demanding their money back. This was news to me: how were they still paying me if I was no longer "clocking in and out"? Significantly, no-one had forwarded my final payslip to me either, so I was completely in the dark. The Head Office insisted this was correct, so I queried it at Branch level in a letter, deciding at this point to list all the things X had done to me during my time there. I never got a reply - but instead I got a letter from a debt collection agency, demanding £243 (a mere fraction of my lost earnings, as it happens)!!! This I paid with gritted teeth, wondering whether this was even accurate (it wasn't, as I discovered a year later). By now, I was beginning to disbelieve everything this company told me! Now I sent a detailed letter to their Head Office listing all my grievances, including some other dubious goings-on I haven't had time to list here, and after a couple of weeks, got an email from them, insisting that they were taking my complaints "very seriously indeed" and promising "a thorough investigation". Hooray! But my jubilation was short-lived. This is Argos, remember, one of the most deceitful and untrustworthy employers around (and I've known one or two in my time!) Months went by, as I assumed (or hoped!) that the delay was linked to the intensity of the investigation. But when I finally emailed the Head Office employee, my email was returned to me; I can only assume they'd left the company, and no-one else had done a thing. (In due course, I suspected they'd actually lost all the material.) I wrote to the HR Dept again, asking what was happening, and they said they'd taken steps to ensure similar "overpayment" scenarios wouldn't occur again. No apologies, you note. But what about all the other things they were supposed to be investigating?! They now told me too long had passed in order for them to investigate the allegations properly, they would not be offering any compensation whatsoever, the matter was now closed, and implied that I should have acted sooner! So it was really all my fault.....! I pointed out that it was nearly a year since I'd sent them a catalogue of complaints and allegations, and I'd assumed that they'd been investigating all this time. I sent them a copy of the email I'd received from an HR employee, complete with date, making it clear that someone had been idle, incompetent, or simply disinclined to investigate the matter, probably because it was merely an elderly part-timer who was being victimised, and the culprit was a permanent member of their staff. So, faced with the evidence that they'd been sitting on the allegations for the best part of a year, what did they do? They went on the attack, with further lies and counter-allegations! (At this point, my payslip of 18 months earlier suddenly arrived by post. The GROSS amount was £243, the net amount was £195. So this suggests that they'd used a debt collection agency to demand a higher sum from me than they'd originally (mis)paid me!!! And if that's not the case, Argos, then perhaps you'd like to re-open the channels of communication which you arrogantly declared "closed", and discuss the matter?!) As I said, they now came up with more lies and allegations - probably from X, who was the original cause of the dispute. My "dismissal" was presumably (I never received anything in writing, nor any "warnings" either) for firstly taking an extended "break", and then showing him "disrespect". Hampered by faulty technical equipment, I'd only returned from the afternoon delivery round at 7pm on the weekend prior to the day of my "dismissal", so I went straight out again on the evening round without being asked, on both Sat and Sun, missing my hour's meal break on both days. The following week, a colleague advised me that I wouldn't even be paid for the extra hours I'd done as the company automatically deducted an hour for your break anyway, whether you took it or not. Great! So the following week, with a lighter workload, and some "agency drivers" in to help as well, I figured that I might as well take an extended break after completing the afternoon round in good time. (It was just as well that I had some food with me the previous week, as I'm diabetic, so the consequences could have been serious. Now I kick myself for risking my health for such a rotten, ungrateful company.) But X, who'd already managed to evict me from the company once through his own, dubious "probationary period assessment", now arrived, and refused to accept my explanation for my extended break: "Get back to work!!!" he snapped. With a face of resignation, I complied meekly with the trainee tyrant's order (I'm told he was barely out of school, whilst I was 58!), but after he'd left, I muttered to the three other people in the Staff Room, "He's acting like a little dictator!" (A friend reckoned this was actually an accurate statement, rather than an insult!) But 30 mins later, in the Stock Room, X interrupted my work: "Did you call me a dictator?!". Since I had no problem with the guys in the Staff Room, there was no need for them to "drop me in it", so I'm inclined to suspect that X sneaked back to the Staff Room after I'd left to demand to know if I'd said anything derogatory about him! With less than 3 weeks to Christmas, you'd think a member of the "management" team would have better things to do! I should really have denied the allegation, which would have made things interesting, as he'd have had to declare the source of his information and admit that he'd been "looking for dirt on me"! But I didn't. After a brief dialogue, with one person nearby, and a second probably within earshot, he now shouted dramatically, "Go! You're sacked!!" (Regarding the "extended break", X took literally hours off every week himself to smoke outside - but as he was "staff", he didn't have to account for the time, unlike hourly-paid staff. And surely he was being more disrespectful than my throwaway observation earlier, at which he wasn't even present?!) As I said, I just walked away. I wasn't sure if I was legally entitled to go to a tribunal afterwards - technically, I was now a full member of staff after my "reinstatement", but as I never saw a contract, I don't know about my rights. Anyway, I went away and tried to forget about them, and to look for another job (which took me 6 months). I didn't receive my payslip, and received nothing in writing from them - until a month or so later, when they now announced that I owed them money, and in due course, sent a debt collection after me (whilst I was awaiting a response from the Branch - which never came). And it now appears that they demanded (and I paid them) nearly £50 more than they'd originally paid me anyway! I mention this because of Argos's most recent lies and allegations. They now alleged that I'd been asked to leave the site on my final day because my behaviour had been deemed "aggressive". Whilst it was tempting to have punched X's head across the store, I desisted (under that provocation, I suspect a few other people might well have reacted in a violent manner!). Instead, on leaving, I had calmly observed, "you have a lot to learn about managing staff", to which X shouted, "Be quiet! Before you get yourself into further trouble!" Er, just WHO exactly was being aggressive?! The other allegation was that the company had made a number of attempts to contact me after my departure, but I had not responded. In fact, I heard nothing from the company until the demand for the money for their own error! There was nothing by email, phone or letter, and no-one visited me (I live less than 2 miles from the store). I countered the first allegation thus: Did you speak to any of the witnesses (in the Staff Room or Stock Room) to confirm that I was acting "aggressively"? I bet you didn't bother! You simply listened to further lies from X, who caused all this! (I went further and suggested that if X had told them that he'd caught me rifling the safe, or chasing all the girls from pillar to post, they'd have immediately believed that as true, too!) And as to the charge that I didn't respond to the company's attempts to contact me after my departure, I replied: in view of the emails and letters I've sent you, is it reasonable to believe that I wouldn't have responded to these alleged attempts to contact me?! Surely you must have some record of these letters, emails and whatever, because I'd like to see them! I think most reasonable people would conclude that these latest allegations are at least inaccurate, if not downright lies. When I refuted them I felt at the time that my responses would have swayed a jury, and was hopeful that Argos would now perceive the truth, apologise and make some offer of compensation. But faced with the facts. Argos don't even appear to be responding now, despite a copy of my last communication going to their MD as well. Arrogant? Lazy? Indifferent to the actions of young full-timers towards elderly part-timers? Or all of these things? I've lost the best part of £3k in lost earnings as a result of this kid's actions, and possibly more since I'd left an ongoing, considerably better-paid contract in order to join Argos, where I anticipated working for possibly 6-7 years. I endured victimisation whilst there, sleepless nights because of the ongoing events and was even pursued by a debt collection agency for Argos's own error (which has probably not helped my credit rating one iota). An intense investigation was promised, but didn't take place: either a hollow promise or a downright lie. And the only apology I've had from the company was when one of their staff took a couple of weeks to reply to me earlier this year! OK, if you work for Argos, it's unlikely that you'll be unfortunate enough to encounter X or someone like him who goes around telling lies to get people he doesn't like kicked out of the company. (Incidentally, the only possible reason I could imagine for his actions was that I had broad experience of a number of industries, and since my own job was made very stressful by a number of practices which could be improved, I'd made a number of helpful suggestions. Maybe X, whose life appeared to revolve around Argos, saw me as a threat? If so, his fears were quite unfounded: I was happy to help out, but I didn't want a senior job there!) But there's a bigger issue at stake here. What is very clear to me is that Argos (and importantly, I mean their Head Office, too) do not appear to value or protect part-timers, especially elderly ones. Rather than discipline young "management" guys who lie and persecute staff they don't like, and force them onto the dole, they'll look the other way, they'll do nothing, or they'll swallow more lies from the original culprit(s) and then make further unfounded allegations. In other words, they'll do anything but confront the troublemakers (unless the troublemakers happen to be mere part-timers!). As a part-timer, you're worth nothing in comparison with their permanent staff. I'm planning a "Don't Work For Argos" website next. I'd like an article in The Guardian if possible - I've been treated in a disgraceful manner as a freelancer/part-timer by several other "big names", and think the underlying message that part-timers and freelancers are treated like dirt by major, well-known employers, is one that would particularly interest their readers. I hope you find the aforementioned enlightening. I've warned Argos for months of my intentions to "out" them, but they couldn't care less, which tells you a great deal about them. Good luck elsewhere!