Very upset with Marks & Spencer....

cadburyminiroll

they made a big mistake, according to a friend that works for them, when they did their spectacular sale before xmas, ..people were taking stuff back to them that they had bought at a more expensive price, the goods were refunded and put behind the counter, people were picking up the same product from the shelf and buying them again at 20% off! so i think this may be something to do with whats happened to you, if only someone could help me with my electricity problem

jeppy

babyx1uk3 wrote: »

I had exactly the same problem last year but with boots, we brought a toy for our little girl everything was fine all worked ok and she was happy, 2 months later it broke, the item was in hte sale and we only got back £4 after paying £18 for it originally, problem is we too had lost our receipt.
Unfortunatly we were upset as obviously at that price the shelfs had all sold out. we were hoping to swap it as our daughter had got very attached to it but broken it was useless so we had to accept the £4 refund, we learnt a valueable lesson though KEEP RECEIPTS! I may laugh about it and have a huge jar of receipts but i know exactly how you feel. Try not to let it get to you and learn from the experience to always keep hold of your receipt whatever you buy.x

You were happy with your item, so you wouldn't think to keep the receipt. The op lost hers and then blamed M&S. I doubt very much that small businesses exchange without proof of purchase they can't afford to!

Anyone could buy at the sale price and ask for the original price, anyone could look genuine - especially fraudsters!!!

If it is true that M&S would exchange for a larger size I am confused why the op didn't accept the voucher and just buy the larger size at the reduced price.

It is annoying to pay the full price and then see the same items drastically reduced! Unfortunately, we over pay for goods at Christmas and other special occasions, but you cant blame the shop if you loose your receipt.

moggylover

gail5863 wrote: »

Thanks all for your replies.... I did expect them to have some kind of discretion in clearly genuine cases, but sadly I am wrong. How British retailing has changed. If these had been bought from a small independent shop, I'm sure I might have had a different response to the one M&S seem to work to in their 'big corporate bible'. They DID have different sizes in the store, and they would NOT let me exchange the PJ's for a size that would fit. Yes it was up to me to keep hold of a miniscule piece of paper, but the labels were all on the goods, there was no dispute they were from M&S and the labels had not had any reduction labels stuck onto them. To this end, I think I will just give them back to my sister in law and see if she wants them, as they might just fit her. I am just dismayed that there is no discretion at M&S these days and they do not appear to be reasonable in letting me change the PJ's for a size they have in stock, that will fit.

Actually, I would have to disagree with your feeling on this. When I was younger there was very little chance of changing/exchanging an item unless it was faulty: you bought it, you kept it, end of story.

I think it is totally fair that you need to have either the gift receipt or the purchase receipt for the item in order to be able to get your money back at all - and I cannot see what the shop is meant to have done wrong.

Also, I don't know if it is regional, but I have certainly never had problems with taking items back to Tesco and they have always been really helpful and on the occasion when I could not find my receipt but knew the exact date I had purchased it they did trace it back on my clubcard or cc (can't remember which) and exchanged it. However, I did ask very nicely and was only asking for an exchange of size not a refund:D

2boysmum

I think that the point you are missing Gail is that legally the store doesn't have to offer you anything. Refunds and exchanges are goodwill gestures unless the items are faulty, which yours are clearly not

tdiman

I recently made a similar mistake.
I bought a jumper for my mom from Per una for Christmas.
I saw and bought it in early October. Mentioned it was a present and cashier said no problems - just keep the receipt

Gave pressy to mom who didn't try it on till a good few days later - too small - "No problem mom, I'll exchange it or you try with out receipt if you want"
Well she tried - " Sorry without receipt can only give you £15"

I take it back a few days later, with receipt, "Sorry can only give you £15 as it has been in the sale and you are outside the 90 day period.

What 90 day period I hear you ask, why the one printed on the receipt that also gives the last day the item can be refunded. It was news to me - who reads the receipt apart from the price paid?

Even though M&S were still selling the item and I wanted to have another size or even a different item and pay the extra - I was only entitled to £15.

Manager and sales lady apologetic but said hands were tied.
I bought mom a different top - from M&S, don't see why she should suffer, I will send the extra jumper to sister - that will shock her!

I accept that M&S were leaving themselves open to abuse of the returns policy, but as the original poster said - surely there are some genuine exceptions?

VIJAY_FROM_KENT

tdiman wrote: »

I recently made a similar mistake.
I bought a jumper for my mom from Per una for Christmas.
I saw and bought it in early October. Mentioned it was a present and cashier said no problems - just keep the receipt

Gave pressy to mom who didn't try it on till a good few days later - too small - "No problem mom, I'll exchange it or you try with out receipt if you want"
Well she tried - " Sorry without receipt can only give you £15"

I take it back a few days later, with receipt, "Sorry can only give you £15 as it has been in the sale and you are outside the 90 day period.

What 90 day period I hear you ask, why the one printed on the receipt that also gives the last day the item can be refunded. It was news to me - who reads the receipt apart from the price paid?

Even though M&S were still selling the item and I wanted to have another size or even a different item and pay the extra - I was only entitled to £15.

Manager and sales lady apologetic but said hands were tied.
I bought mom a different top - from M&S, don't see why she should suffer, I will send the extra jumper to sister - that will shock her!

I accept that M&S were leaving themselves open to abuse of the returns policy, but as the original poster said - surely there are some genuine exceptions?

Nearly 4 months have passed! They can't sell it at the original price anymore! How long do you expect them to give you to return it 'no questions asked' if 90 days isnt long enough? Remember a retailer is under NO OBLIGATION to accept an item back unless it is faulty but M&S are giving you 90 days no questions asked as long as you have the proof! :rolleyes:

sahra

You say the pj's were £19.50. After VAT the final price would have been less.
Also there was a 20 or 30% promotion on nightwear before Christmas that lasted a few weeks, so without the receipt M&S wouldn't have known how much you paid. If they offered you the £19.xx I'm sure you would have been quick enough to take it.

You wouldn't believe the amount of unwanted socks, gifts, etc that were returned after Christmas and had gone into the sale, but not one person was awkward. They either decided to keep the item or accept the lower price.

And there is no policy to look up the electronic journal, this would take alot of time and would only be done as a goodwill gesture, depending on how polite and patient you are!!

You can't blame others for your own mistakes!!;)

SUPERJULES

I think M & S are great!

We ordered bunk beds online in November when they were doing 20% off, when I got to the checkout 30% came off making them £279 from £399, and £20 quidco making them £259.

On the day they arrived late as their van broke down and when they arrived they relised there were no slats, we said we could make the slats our selves so they suggested a £40 refund we said it would cost that for the wood plus our time etc.. so they gave us a £50 giftcard as well not bad! and the beds are really nice.

checked the other day and they hadn't done the £40 refund so I emailed them and they emailed me back the same day saying sorry they had now done the refund and increased it to £50.

They also came in and errected the beds minus slats, so £159 plus the wood quite a good deal.

tdiman

vjain wrote: »

Nearly 4 months have passed! They can't sell it at the original price anymore! How long do you expect them to give you to return it 'no questions asked' if 90 days isnt long enough? Remember a retailer is under NO OBLIGATION to accept an item back unless it is faulty but M&S are giving you 90 days no questions asked as long as you have the proof! :rolleyes:

I was speaking as a customer who had bought stuff from M&S previously and returned it later ,with or without a receipt, for a replacement - no questions asked. Yes times change.:rolleyes:

I fully understand my rights as a consumer and the rights that shops have.:rolleyes:
It was a pity the new (to me) 90 day rule wasn't pointed out when I bought the item in October after explaining it was for a Xmas present:rolleyes:

I have no problems with the 90 day rule, but not allowing staff a bit of leeway for exceptional circumstances is daft. :rolleyes:
Lesson learned - I won't buy Xmas presents that far in advance again and to be honest I will do what I do for the kids (the grown up ones) a few small pressies and a printed voucher entitling each to a shopping trip with their mom after Xmas. My kids love it - 3rd year now - plus the kids get more for their money - enough of the rolling eyes

smellslikemarmite

gail5863 wrote: »

Thanks all for your replies.... I did expect them to have some kind of discretion in clearly genuine cases, but sadly I am wrong. How British retailing has changed. If these had been bought from a small independent shop, I'm sure I might have had a different response to the one M&S seem to work to in their 'big corporate bible'. They DID have different sizes in the store, and they would NOT let me exchange the PJ's for a size that would fit. Yes it was up to me to keep hold of a miniscule piece of paper, but the labels were all on the goods, there was no dispute they were from M&S and the labels had not had any reduction labels stuck onto them. To this end, I think I will just give them back to my sister in law and see if she wants them, as they might just fit her. I am just dismayed that there is no discretion at M&S these days and they do not appear to be reasonable in letting me change the PJ's for a size they have in stock, that will fit.

You've CLEARLY never worked in retail.
Look at it from M&S's point of view. You have no proof that you bought it, no proof that you bought it from their store, and I think you will find that they would have let you exchanged them.
On top of that, you can't treat one person differently from everyone else. That's the returns policy, you knew that was the returns policy, and you lost the receipt.
You are the one who is liable.

Customers like you make my job so much more difficult. Is it my fault that you lost your receipt? Did I go into your purse and steal it? No, so keep a hold of your goddamn paperwork when we ask you to.