Beware When Buying Anything From Argos Stores This Christmas

By Author: Nicholas Witham
Total Articles: 1
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Beware when buying anything from Argos stores this christmas you might get more than you bargined for!

Whilst on our family holiday in Cornwall, July 2002, my wife purchased a digital camera from Argos StorePenzance and was given the wrong item by sales staff Shirley Salmon and Deborah Williams at that store. My wife had payed for a £549.99 Fuji digital camera but was given a Fuji Instamatic camera worth only £29.99. When the sales staff were confrounted with this they apologised and exchanged the item. The next day we were both extremly shocked when we were arrested by the police and questioned by Detective Constable Deborah Hunt from Falmouth CID. We had been wrongly accused by Argos stores of theft by Deception. Argos stores claimed that we obtained two £549.99 Fuji digital cameras and only paid for one! Our two young daughters were put under the supervision of social services, causing them (and myself and my wife) great distress and anxiety, while we were detained and repeatedly questioned by police. The police had raided our car and seized my photographic equipment. Apart from turning our family holiday ...
... into a disaster, this resulted in numerous court appearances (costing us thousands of pounds), lengthy journeys(14hours there and back), loss of earnings and a great deal of pain and suffering. The police are still refusing to return £1100 worth of my photographic equipment. What happened to consumer protection laws and who is guilty of theft by deception?! Argos stores maybe?!!!!! The sales staff at Argos stores in Penzance weren't put through the scrupulous, degrading searches and interrogation that we were. Why? The answer we were given by Detective Constable Deborah Hunt, "We don't take kindly to outsiders coming here and comitting crime." (Not sure I understand this and neither did my brief!). Is it a criminal offence to take a family holiday?
Sorry I can't attach any holiday snaps, they're still in the camera at Falmouths' police vaults!!!!!
Don't hesitate to e-mail me with any comments or similar experiences.
njwitham@eircom.net (Nicholas Witham, Rep.of Ireland)
About the Author I am a mature student studying biology.