Argos to refund over £500,000 to 114,000 customers after breaking extended warranty rules

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ARGOS will refund over £500,000 in total to 114,000 customers after breaking extended warranty rules.

The high street giant failed to remind customers to shop around for an extended warranty deal for more than a year, according to the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA).

Argos will have to dish out half a million pounds to thousands of customers

Affected customers will get the refunds paid in e-card vouchers.

We’ve asked Argos how much each customer will get and will update the story when we know more.

Extended warranties offer people the chance to pay for more protection when buying products, over and above any standard guarantee.

In 2012, Argos signed a legal agreement promising to provide a link to a price comparison website every time it offers an extended warranty for domestic electrical products online.

This is so that customers can compare the price of the warranty elsewhere, and potentially get a better deal.

But the CMA found that the retailer was not displaying this link – and Argos admitted it hadn’t been for more than a year.

In total, over 400,000 extended warranties were sold without a link to a price comparison website.

Around 114,000 customers may have found a cheaper deal if they had been prompted to shop around, the CMA said.

Argos will now contact all customers who may have missed out on a better deal to dish out an e-card voucher.

These customers will also have the option to cancel their extended warranty with Argos.

Argos said it will now put a link to a price comparison site when selling extended warranties from now on.

Adam Land, CMA senior director of remedies business and financial analysis, said: “We welcome Argos’ promise to provide a goodwill gesture of over half a million pounds to customers who may have missed out on a cheaper extended warranty deal.

“It’s only right that Argos is now taking steps to fix its error and make sure that something similar doesn’t happen in the future.”

Argos has remained closed over the third national lockdown, as it is classed as a non-essential retailer.

Standalone stores across England are closed for shoppers to buy items in-stores, but you can still use them for click and collect.

It means you’ll need to pay for your items online first before collecting them in stores.

Shoppers are not allowed to enter the shops, with staff bringing the items to them outside.

But this is set to change on April 12, when non-essential retail can welcome back customers once more – which includes Argos.

Is Argos open in lockdown? We explain the shop’s opening times and hours.

Argos’ toy clearance sale includes Disney, Toy Story and LOL Surprise.

Argos, Matalan and Dunelm have slashed up to 50% off hundreds of items in the spring sales.

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