Couldn’t they have done this before? You know, when there wasn’t a crisis?
Maybe now a full-time staff member will be paid enough to afford one of their tellies.
I’m amazed Curry’s is still going. Some of their practises are a disgrace, like constantly advertising items for sale that are not in stock in an attempt to upsell you something more expensive
I worked for a sister brand within this company for 8 years and at the first sign of pandemic trouble (the day the very first restrictions were announced for non-essential contact and travel) they closed 500 stores and laid off 3,000 staff.
We found out from the news. The CEO said he “wished we could have heard it from him, but it was a very sudden, last moment decision.”
The next day, every store received a full set of window posters, static clings, A-board inserts and other material to be displayed informing customers we were now closed.
You don’t design, order, print, sort, pack and distribute 500 sets of that stuff within 16 hours. Last moment decision, my ass.
So yeah, they can go fuck themselves.
Every time I’ve been in there a staff member has tried to aggressively sell me some shit I didn’t need. Not surprising its taking more money to sign people up for such a scummy job. I never go in PC World/Currys for PC stuff anymore after have 3 idiots mansplain to me how I couldn’t use a USB stick to do a Windows 10 restore. I absolutely could. Just glad I hadn’t sent my MIL in to do it for me or she’d have come out with another copy of Windows 10 and asked me for extra money she spent.
Pay is one think but I’d be cautious joining them regardless as they seem like a failing business. So not much job security either way
Worked there last year, pay rise or not, wouldn’t go back.
90% of the people had no idea what they were talking about, unless it was how to sell you shit you didn’t need.
Watched a co-worker lie through his teeth about how a laptop was the best thing since sliced bread, but that it could be a bit ‘dodgy cos of how fast it is’ and made up some bullshit, so they would take the extended warranty.
Made my blood boil.
When I worked for them they expected a high level of knowledge about all of their products, a lot of training and a good performance in selling extras (that nobody needs) all in exchange for marginally over minimum wage. Not a great place to work.. Meanwhile, the shop manager was on >70K. The assistant manager was on £23k. Massive wage disparity.
Ah, the CEO will only get to take home 69 billion pounds a year now :'( what a tragedy.
I still wouldn’t let anyone I know work there.
You can raise pay all you like, but the top-down culture of bullying, the high targets, shady insurance policies, hounding customers, being all but told by the management to mis-sell. They couldn’t pay me enough to go back to work there after the abuse I suffered.
I was purchasing a PS5 in my local one (albeit in Ireland), and was being sold a second controller with it as a forced bundle. That’s fine, I wanted the second controller anyways.
Was first told they’re doing that because there’s issues with the controllers… “If that’s the case I’ll just return it and you are legally obligated to sort it out for me”. Was met with a blank stare.
Was then told that if one is faulty, I have to return the entire system, so that’s why they include a second controller. I said that makes no sense because the serial number won’t match, and part of their legal obligation to the customer is to facilitate a return with as little hassle to me as possible. Returning the entire console becuase of a faulty controller seemed like a tonne of hassle. Plus, I worked in GameStop years ago and knew that was completely untrue.
Then they started telling me it would be quicker to skip them and get Sony to sort it – shirking their legal responsibility. At that point I told them to just keep it and I’ll buy it from a different retailer that doesn’t treat their customers like complete idiots.
Their phone service is one of the worst customer services I’ve ever used in my life, about 7 minutes of automated voices until you can actually discuss as issue with someone. Every. Single. Time.
Tenner an hour, No wonder they can’t find the staff
Currys won’t find staff even after raising wages.
Toxic, target-based selling culture with crazy targets.
You are pushed to sell extra services for everything and the services are awful.
Ah should have held out a few months until Liz gets us a fresh batch of migrants.
I haven’t bought anything from there is years and then it was a psu cable and it was overpriced I only got it because I needed one and the psu didn’t come with one.
I work for a company that are point blank refusing to raise them. We have 65% less staff than two years ago too.
I’d of left if I didn’t get a promotion.
I’m not surprised they can’t keep staff, I’ve heard that the working conditions are appealing and they set absurd mandates for targets that staff have to fulfill on the floor.
My uncle worked for these for a long time 20+ years, was a warehouse manager, merchandising manager, among other roles, and he never once earnt more than pennys over minimum wage.
He recently took redundancy, because they wanted all the operations staff to start to sell also, (cut staff numbers and give the existing staff left more responsibility)
So have they really given them a pay rise? or just ripping them off by making them work harder for less?
A greedy company, that i couldn’t give a flying fook about shopping with.
It used to be that Currys relied on part time/minimum wage workers, like students, to fill out their rosters. They’d been slowly cutting cutting full-time numbers for years.
They then gave them a bunch of sales targets they had to hit. Problem is these guys looked at their job and thought “why should I put up with the stress of working here when I can fill shelves in Tescos or flip burgers in McDonalds for the same money?”
They’re literally paying 25p more an hour than a bloody shelf stacker at a supermarket. Which is a much easier and less toxic job/environment to be in. That’s abysmal
Worked there part-time for a long time. Everyone, even the service staff are given targets. They all hate it. They’re not on commission anymore, but if you don’t hit your targets you get disciplined. Even if you’re a till worker, with whatever foot traffic happens to come through the door.
In terms of knowledge, I was the only one who knew about, and was qualified to fix PCs (was a technician). But then a number of years ago, they got rid of most of their in-store technicians who actually knew their shit and wanted almost all repair work done at their central repair location. Almost none of the sales people know anything, and their training was poor and mostly involved selling, up-selling, and making sure to get that Direct Debit for the monthly extended warranty on high-value goods. There is so much pressure from management as they get their bonuses from this, it makes it super unpleasant to work for.
One note, they (used to, might still) do ‘instant replacement’ for a little extra on Printers. Over time, a few customers realised that you can buy a printer, and when it runs out of ink, ‘accidentally’ make the printer not work by loosening something inside, and then go get a brand new one with new ink in the box, no questions asked. It was often worth the extra tenner, as ink was nearly £30-40 for some. Over a year, you could save a fortune (while also causing all sorts of waste).
People don’t want to work for shitty employers anymore, businesses will have to learn that the days of low pay and big profits is **over**
Tories and their donor rightwing ‘think tanks’ like the Taxpayers’ Alliance believe that wage increases are inflationary so they insist on an increase in the base interests so companies find it difficult to borrow working capital. They want to induce financial stresses in SMEs as a counter to wage increases. Stressed companies reduce overheads like labour to survive. This is why Truss and Quasi Warthog are attacking working hours directives and employment rights too. The British government is being run by a libertarian kleptocracy.
24 comments
Couldn’t they have done this before? You know, when there wasn’t a crisis?
Maybe now a full-time staff member will be paid enough to afford one of their tellies.
I’m amazed Curry’s is still going. Some of their practises are a disgrace, like constantly advertising items for sale that are not in stock in an attempt to upsell you something more expensive
I worked for a sister brand within this company for 8 years and at the first sign of pandemic trouble (the day the very first restrictions were announced for non-essential contact and travel) they closed 500 stores and laid off 3,000 staff.
We found out from the news. The CEO said he “wished we could have heard it from him, but it was a very sudden, last moment decision.”
The next day, every store received a full set of window posters, static clings, A-board inserts and other material to be displayed informing customers we were now closed.
You don’t design, order, print, sort, pack and distribute 500 sets of that stuff within 16 hours. Last moment decision, my ass.
So yeah, they can go fuck themselves.
Every time I’ve been in there a staff member has tried to aggressively sell me some shit I didn’t need. Not surprising its taking more money to sign people up for such a scummy job. I never go in PC World/Currys for PC stuff anymore after have 3 idiots mansplain to me how I couldn’t use a USB stick to do a Windows 10 restore. I absolutely could. Just glad I hadn’t sent my MIL in to do it for me or she’d have come out with another copy of Windows 10 and asked me for extra money she spent.
Pay is one think but I’d be cautious joining them regardless as they seem like a failing business. So not much job security either way
Worked there last year, pay rise or not, wouldn’t go back.
90% of the people had no idea what they were talking about, unless it was how to sell you shit you didn’t need.
Watched a co-worker lie through his teeth about how a laptop was the best thing since sliced bread, but that it could be a bit ‘dodgy cos of how fast it is’ and made up some bullshit, so they would take the extended warranty.
Made my blood boil.
When I worked for them they expected a high level of knowledge about all of their products, a lot of training and a good performance in selling extras (that nobody needs) all in exchange for marginally over minimum wage. Not a great place to work.. Meanwhile, the shop manager was on >70K. The assistant manager was on £23k. Massive wage disparity.
Ah, the CEO will only get to take home 69 billion pounds a year now :'( what a tragedy.
I still wouldn’t let anyone I know work there.
You can raise pay all you like, but the top-down culture of bullying, the high targets, shady insurance policies, hounding customers, being all but told by the management to mis-sell. They couldn’t pay me enough to go back to work there after the abuse I suffered.
I was purchasing a PS5 in my local one (albeit in Ireland), and was being sold a second controller with it as a forced bundle. That’s fine, I wanted the second controller anyways.
Was first told they’re doing that because there’s issues with the controllers… “If that’s the case I’ll just return it and you are legally obligated to sort it out for me”. Was met with a blank stare.
Was then told that if one is faulty, I have to return the entire system, so that’s why they include a second controller. I said that makes no sense because the serial number won’t match, and part of their legal obligation to the customer is to facilitate a return with as little hassle to me as possible. Returning the entire console becuase of a faulty controller seemed like a tonne of hassle. Plus, I worked in GameStop years ago and knew that was completely untrue.
Then they started telling me it would be quicker to skip them and get Sony to sort it – shirking their legal responsibility. At that point I told them to just keep it and I’ll buy it from a different retailer that doesn’t treat their customers like complete idiots.
Their phone service is one of the worst customer services I’ve ever used in my life, about 7 minutes of automated voices until you can actually discuss as issue with someone. Every. Single. Time.
Tenner an hour, No wonder they can’t find the staff
Currys won’t find staff even after raising wages.
Toxic, target-based selling culture with crazy targets.
You are pushed to sell extra services for everything and the services are awful.
Ah should have held out a few months until Liz gets us a fresh batch of migrants.
I haven’t bought anything from there is years and then it was a psu cable and it was overpriced I only got it because I needed one and the psu didn’t come with one.
I work for a company that are point blank refusing to raise them. We have 65% less staff than two years ago too.
I’d of left if I didn’t get a promotion.
I’m not surprised they can’t keep staff, I’ve heard that the working conditions are appealing and they set absurd mandates for targets that staff have to fulfill on the floor.
My uncle worked for these for a long time 20+ years, was a warehouse manager, merchandising manager, among other roles, and he never once earnt more than pennys over minimum wage.
He recently took redundancy, because they wanted all the operations staff to start to sell also, (cut staff numbers and give the existing staff left more responsibility)
So have they really given them a pay rise? or just ripping them off by making them work harder for less?
A greedy company, that i couldn’t give a flying fook about shopping with.
It used to be that Currys relied on part time/minimum wage workers, like students, to fill out their rosters. They’d been slowly cutting cutting full-time numbers for years.
They then gave them a bunch of sales targets they had to hit. Problem is these guys looked at their job and thought “why should I put up with the stress of working here when I can fill shelves in Tescos or flip burgers in McDonalds for the same money?”
They’re literally paying 25p more an hour than a bloody shelf stacker at a supermarket. Which is a much easier and less toxic job/environment to be in. That’s abysmal
Worked there part-time for a long time. Everyone, even the service staff are given targets. They all hate it. They’re not on commission anymore, but if you don’t hit your targets you get disciplined. Even if you’re a till worker, with whatever foot traffic happens to come through the door.
In terms of knowledge, I was the only one who knew about, and was qualified to fix PCs (was a technician). But then a number of years ago, they got rid of most of their in-store technicians who actually knew their shit and wanted almost all repair work done at their central repair location. Almost none of the sales people know anything, and their training was poor and mostly involved selling, up-selling, and making sure to get that Direct Debit for the monthly extended warranty on high-value goods. There is so much pressure from management as they get their bonuses from this, it makes it super unpleasant to work for.
One note, they (used to, might still) do ‘instant replacement’ for a little extra on Printers. Over time, a few customers realised that you can buy a printer, and when it runs out of ink, ‘accidentally’ make the printer not work by loosening something inside, and then go get a brand new one with new ink in the box, no questions asked. It was often worth the extra tenner, as ink was nearly £30-40 for some. Over a year, you could save a fortune (while also causing all sorts of waste).
People don’t want to work for shitty employers anymore, businesses will have to learn that the days of low pay and big profits is **over**
Tories and their donor rightwing ‘think tanks’ like the Taxpayers’ Alliance believe that wage increases are inflationary so they insist on an increase in the base interests so companies find it difficult to borrow working capital. They want to induce financial stresses in SMEs as a counter to wage increases. Stressed companies reduce overheads like labour to survive. This is why Truss and Quasi Warthog are attacking working hours directives and employment rights too. The British government is being run by a libertarian kleptocracy.