No international warrantee and a lose, lose situation with Argos

Item: Argos
Rating: 1
Author: Antonio B

This is what Argus should have told me before I bought my Lenovo YOGA Tab from their Wimbledon store in London. Dear potential customer, Kindly note that if you buy a Lenovo YOGA Tab or (a list all the other products that this ridiculous rule applies to) make sure that, during the guarantee period of the product, you remain within walking distance of the Argos store from where you bought the item. We do not offer an international warrantee on any of our items and even though we market ourselves an e-commerce store, should there be a problem with your product, this is our policy: "In order to have this [Lenovo YOGA Tab] returned it would need to be in person, we can not accept the return of items via post. Also if the item was paid for via debit or credit card it would need to be the person that paid for it." So, this is what Argos expects me to do: Take two days off, buy a return ticket from South Africa (in my case) to London (around GBP 650), commute to Wimbledon to drop the product, fly back to South Africa and when the product is ready, take another two days off, fly back to London (another GBP 650), commute to Wimbledon to collect the product and fly back to South Africa. Am I the only one who finds this ridiculous? Below is the long version of my experience with my purchase from Argos. I bought a Lenovo YOGA Tab 3 in London on the 1st of June 2017 from Argos in Wimbledon at 13-19 Wimbledon Hill Road, SW19 7NE. On the 12th of June (1 ½ weeks later) my tablet screen froze. I was in Washington DC (USA) at the time. As I was flying to South Africa the following day, I decided to sort it out when I got to Port Elizabeth. I found that Lenovo contracts with a company called PartServe for their product repairs in South Africa. I phoned PartServe on the 19th of June 2017 and spoke to Thealinda who informed me that there is no international warrantee for the Lenovo YOGA Tab 3 and whatever repairs that they do would be for my account. I dropped the YOGA Tab with them the following day. On the 21st of June 2017, Thealinda phoned me to get the original e-mail and password that I used to set up the tablet in London. I gave her the details but the tablet would not accept the e-mail and password. They kept the tablet to "try something else". On the 6th of July 2017, I phoned Thealinda to get an update and was told that they have not managed to sort the problem. The following day I was informed that there is nothing that can be done as the operating system is a UK operating system and that the tablet will not work with a South African operating system. They cannot get hold of the UK OS which I find unbelievable but had no choice but to accept it. On the 14th July 2017, I visited the Argos website on-line chat and communicated with Rachael who informed me that none of Argus's items "have an international warrantee". She could not help me and suggested that it "will be best to contact the store you purchased it from and speak with them to see if they can help you arrange a repair at all." She game me an e-mail address which was returned with: "Your message can't be delivered because delivery to this address is restricted." Eventually I found their "help at Argus" address. I wanted to arrange to have the unit sent by courier to my step-daughter, who lives in London, and have her drop it off at the store for repairs. Greg McIntyre from the Argos E-Commerce Customer Service Team informed me as follows: "In order to have this returned it would need to be in person" and "if the item was paid for via debit or credit card it would need to be the person that paid for it." Thus my comments at the beginning of this post.

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