F*****g Argos!!!!!!!

So here's the deal. My electric cooker, which is only five years old, broke on Friday night. I went online Saturday morning and found a really good deal on a gas cooker on Argos' website. I have a brand new gas connection sitting there behind the cooker, so there shouldn't be a problem installing it right?

Wrong.

I rang Argos and ordered the cooker, told them my situation - electric out, gas in - and was told 'No problem'. In fact they had a deal on the cooker I'd chosen which meant not only would they disconnect and remove the old one, but deliver and install the new one for no extra money. Credit card details are handed over, and all is wonderful. I wait for a call from the delivery company.

That call came this morning interrupting my daily meditation, and again I clarify the details. The guy on the other end of the line goes silent, and next thing I'm speaking to a female called Lisa. 'Oh no, we don't install gas cookers to brand new connections, there has to have been an old one there in the first place'. 'But surely, I countered, if you move into a brand new house, that means you cannot get a cooker from Argos, it doesn't make sense'.

I was told it made perfect sense, and I guess it does in Argos world, she recommended I ring Argos and cancel the order and obtain a full refund. Nice to see British workers going that extra mile eh?

I did as she said, then found a much better quality cooker at a much better price on the John Lewis website. They don't do intstallation, but a nice man called Dave up the road will do the whole job for me at a great price.

I guess the 'pile em high, sell em cheap' policy of Argos ensures they'll always be profitable, but Customer Service seems to be a foreign country to these retards!

On a happier note, Sunday night's gig in Covent Garden was absolutely brilliant! It's a club called 'The Funny Side of ... Covent Garden' and is in the basement of the old Rumours cocktail bar in Wellington St WC2, now called The Corner Store. Fabulous crowd, great promoters, and a generally friendly vibe...check it out.