John Lewis broke MY stuff on delivery!

hollydays

Something about this story doesn't ring true.

If a delivery man asks you to move something, and
you refuse,what person would then not be so extremely careful to that avoid said item so as not to break it?

Yet he managed to break it.

I would ask for a transcript of his version of the conversation.

I find it hard to believe JL would believe such a story.

You are saying there was only one delivery man?

webtalk

I've re-read your original post.

I'm wondering if a lot of the tears is because of how your husband is responding to the situation - it doesn't sound helpful. It also sounds as though his agenda is not purely to find a positive outcome for you (I may be wrong). Wanting the cost of the bed sounds disproportionate to the damage. Compensation can't mend a broken heart - it just buys 'forgiveness'.

JL are good at what they do. (they're my store of choice - always - and they price match)

Give them a call to ask why they've taken the figurines away (what they're trying to achieve). And ask when they expect to come back to you with an outcome.

Only then will you know what you're dealing with.

If you're dissatisfied with what you hear, then speak to the MD or the senior manager of Customer Service.

---

But be brutally honest with yourself as well.

Is there anything you as the person responsible for taking the delivery could've done to avoid this happening? (ie: moved the figurines?)

Sometimes this sort of thing is just plain bad luck or the consequence of all the people involved not thinking things through properly.

Tim_Deegan

I think there have ben a few mistakes that have caused the situation:

• Spending £2000 on a bed is way over the top in the first place. Delivery drivers are all human, and mistakes are made. I can't imagine that they would have broken anything deliberately. Did you have to sign a disclaimer before they brought the bed into your house? Most companies will only deliver it to the first room inside the front door. Many others ask you to sign a disclaimer before they will take it to your bedroom.
• If you knew the bed was being delivered then it was your responsibility to make sure anything breakable was well out of the way.
• JL have tried to do what they can. All I would expect at the most would be an apology and possibly a £50 JL voucher.
• Why do people think they can hold companies to ransom by expecting to get the bed refunded. If you try going down that route, then I think they should come and take the bed away, and give you a refund minus depreciation.

aliasojo

Tim_Deegan wrote: »

I think there have ben a few mistakes that have caused the situation:

• Spending £2000 on a bed is way over the top in the first place.

Unfair Tim. You are way out of line commenting (and exaggerating come to that) on someone's personal choice with regard to their buying preferences. It's no-one's business who spends how much on what. Nor is it the point of the thread.

Did you have to sign a disclaimer before they brought the bed into your house?

I have lived here 20 years, not once have I ever signed anything before the item was brought in. I've only ever signed after delivery to say the item had been received and was in satisfactory condition.

Most companies will only deliver it to the first room inside the front door.

Again, not in my experience. Whether that is supposed to be usual policy I dont know, or maybe I've just been lucky but every delivery driver I've had has been helpful and put things where I've asked.

If you knew the bed was being delivered then it was your responsibility to make sure anything breakable was well out of the way.

The OP said the figures were not 'where the bed should have passed'. So it sounds like they weren't 'in the way' as such. Although I have to say this bit isn't really clear to me and I'm not entirely sure what the OP means. Maybe if the bed was dropped, it toppled sideways onto an unexpected area where the figures were perhaps? Pure guesswork on my part though.

• JL have tried to do what they can. All I would expect at the most would be an apology and possibly a £50 JL voucher.

Completely agree.

Having said all that, I dont know why we're still discussing it as the OP is off now and is probably no longer interested in our opinions.

Tim_Deegan

aliasojo wrote: »

Having said all that, I dont know why we're still discussing it as the OP is off now and is probably no longer interested in our opinions.

Maybe I didn't explain my first point properly. What I was getting at was that many people think that by paying JL's over the top prices that they will get better service. The fact is that JL is a big company, and like all companies who employ many people there will allways be people who don't take as much pride in providing good customer service. It would have been possible to buy a bed that is just as good for half the price from a smaller independent company who would be more likely to take extra care.

As for the disclaimer, you may not have signed one, but it is the norm in order to protect the seller from people who will try it on and claim for the slightest thing.

Like you I am a little confused as to how the figures could have been damaged if they had been well out of the way.

ScattyKatty84

Hi,
Hahaha well I guess I couldn't help but keep checking! Just to clear it up, the poster was right about the dropping bit, they were off to a side, but when the delivery man dropped part of the bed (it came in about8 boxes) so he was carrying one smaller one by himself, he bounced a bit and hit them. I only saw it from standing behind him so I can't really be sure. What I do know is that he then tried to hide the broken bits and I had to go and find them before he said that something had broken.

As for the £2000 bit, that was in a month, it also included a dining room table and the bed was with a kingsize mattress too.

ScattyKatty84

hollydays wrote: »

Something about this story doesn't ring true.

If a delivery man asks you to move something, and
you refuse,what person would then not be so extremely careful to that avoid said item so as not to break it?

Yet he managed to break it.

I would ask for a transcript of his version of the conversation.

I find it hard to believe JL would believe such a story.

You are saying there was only one delivery man?

Oh and my main point was always that he never said they needed moving, always that he lied to JL when saying I had refused. God, I'm not stupid, if he had asked I would have moved them but I din't think they were near where the bed would be going.

And there were 2 men, but the bed was in a lot of small bits so one was unloading and the other was carrying bits in at some points apart from the mattress that they did together.

Tim_Deegan

ScattyKatty84 wrote: »

Oh and my main point was always that he never said they needed moving, always that he lied to JL when saying I had refused. God, I'm not stupid, if he had asked I would have moved them but I din't think they were near where the bed would be going.

And there were 2 men, but the bed was in a lot of small bits so one was unloading and the other was carrying bits in at some points apart from the mattress that they did together.

Did they ask you to sign a disclaimer?

hollydays

ScattyKatty84 wrote: »

Oh and my main point was always that he never said they needed moving, always that he lied to JL when saying I had refused. God, I'm not stupid, if he had asked I would have moved them but I din't think they were near where the bed would be going.

And there were 2 men, but the bed was in a lot of small bits so one was unloading and the other was carrying bits in at some points apart from the mattress that they did together.

Have I got this wrong ,or are you changing your story slightly here?

You say " If he had asked I would have moved them ,I din't think they were near where the bed would be going."

Are you saying he made a request for you to move stuff out of the way generally,and the reason you didn't move THAT stuff out of the way was because you didn't realise the bed was going anyway near it?

greenbee

I have to admit I'm really cautious in this kind of situation. I had a new bed & mattress delivered recently, and knew that they were going to take it up to the bedroom and put it together.

So not only did I clear pretty much everything out of the bedroom (small bits of furniture, rugs, lamps, pictures), but also made sure that the landing, stairs and hallway were free of obstacles, removed any plants/ornaments from furniture that they would pass and took all the pictures off the wall. I've had enough problems when moving stuff myself to know that accidents happen.

These items are obviously irreplaceable, and it's clearly the delivery driver's behaviour that has caused the problem. However, it appears that JL are doing the best they can - they've checked to see whether they can repair the items, and are now seeing whether they can be valued. I'm sure if they can come up with a valuation they'll honour it.

Otherwise, as everyone else has pointed out, it'll probably be an apology, voucher and maybe a bunch of flowers - but if you push it too far and they think you're being unreasonable then you're quite likely to get less. And don't be surprised that the didn't apologise immediately, they did need to check the driver's side of the story. Remember that they need to give him a chance to explain what happened, as people DO try to take advantage and they need to make sure that they have the full picture.

Hopefully you will get the situation resolved, and remember, although they had sentimental value, these were only 'things' - you still have your memories and no one can take those away from you. I've found myself spending far too much emotional energy on this type of thing in the past, and have now realised that it stops me getting on with the positive things in my life, and that I need to be less attached to things just because of what they represent... having said that, it's usually me that breaks the things that matter :rolleyes: