New M&S Refund Policy

JoolzS

I'm hoping that this means that M&S can offer M&S quality clothes at slightly lower prices. I've always found their clothes to be a little over-priced but understood that this made sense given their returns policy.

Their old returns policy also made a huge amount of sense when they didn't have changing rooms in their stores and other stores didn't have the same "return without question" policy, but that seemed to change quite a few years ago. It's taken them a while to catch up.

Julie

liam8282

When I was at school I went on work experience to M&S. I worked in every department from the offices to the shop floor over a 2 week period.

When I was on the CS desk, people could bring any old item of clothing in with no receipt or anything and just make up an excuse saying it had some sort of fault with it.

If M&S could find the item code on their computer system, they always gave a refund at whatever the current price was showing.

I thought this was crazy, good way to keep customers happy, but bad business and a great way to leave yourself open to numerous different scams.

I can remember one particular scam when I was actually there, shoplifters were coming in store, ripping security tags of clothing, bringing them straight to the customer service desk and saying they had purchased them but there was damage where the security tag had been! They soon realised what was going on, but M&S didn't strictly ask for receipts or proof of purchase at that time, it was just at the discretion of M&S.

This was over 10 years ago now though so things might have changed.

I personally think that 30 days is more than enough time for a returns policy. If the item is actually faulty then that is a different matter, but if it is just a case of the person not liking the item they bought when they get it home, or the item not being the correct size, it should be the persons own responsibility and not the shops to sort the problem out.

The_Old_Bag

TOB - "I do not live, work or pass by"... an M&S store...

GeoThermal wrote: »

That's not M&S's fault..

Errr..... I never said it was !!

The_Old_Bag

sweetstudent wrote: »

So what you are basicly saying is that the stores should work their refund policies around you?????

Err....NO
I don't think I said that at all - in fact re-reading my post, I never said anything approaching that.
What I actually said was that personally speaking I do not have the opportunity to go to the main M&S stores very often.

Personally speaking I would struggle to return items within this new time limit. I am clearly not on my own in this respect, since pc10 has items to return purchased in February !!

Therefore personally speaking, in light of this new returns policy, I will probably be spending less in M&S.
I am sure they will not miss my miserly contributions to their turn-over :cool:

The_Old_Bag

Chris25 wrote: »

Boots returns policy is 28 days - I think it might says that on the back of their receipts.

Just for clarity.
I do not know what the policy is in your part of the country, but I have been told on several occasions in Boots that there is no rush to return an item, there is no time limit.

Also, the receipts I receive in my Boots says on the back:-

"Please keep this receipt...
...and we'll happily give you an exchange, giftcard or refund if you change your mind. Without a receipt, we'll give you an exchange. There are some exceptions and we'll always make these clear. For the safety of all our customers we can't accept returned medicines, cosmetics or foods, unless faulty.
This does not affect your statutory rights "

Nowhere on the receipt, front or back, does it mention 28 days, 30 days, 35 days or anything.

I also draw your attention to their use of the phrase "...if you change your mind"...so again a much more generous policy than is legally required.

So in my Boots - no 28 days time limit.

Chris25

The_Old_Bag wrote: »

Just for clarity.
I do not know what the policy is in your part of the country, but I have been told on several occasions in Boots that there is no rush to return an item, there is no time limit.
Also, the receipts I receive in my Boots says on the back:-
"Please keep this receipt...
...and we'll happily give you an exchange, giftcard or refund if you change your mind. Without a receipt, we'll give you an exchange. There are some exceptions and we'll always make these clear. For the safety of all our customers we can't accept returned medicines, cosmetics or foods, unless faulty.
This does not affect your statutory rights "

Nowhere on the receipt, front or back, does it mention 28 days, 30 days, 35 days or anything.
I also draw your attention to their use of the phrase "...if you change your mind"...so again a much more generous policy than is legally required.

So in my Boots - no 28 days time limit.

I don't have a receipt to see what's written on it but I knew I'd seen it somewhere re the 28 days.....this is from their website - which may mean that it only relates to online orders but I would have thought that for parity, they would use the same policy


Our Returns Policy

You can return any unwanted items free of charge within 28 days for a refund or replacement, as long as they are unused and in their original packaging and condition. For any refunds we will remove the Boots Advantage Card points collected with these items from your card.


Please note:

• Electrical and photographic equipment will only be accepted if complete with all leads, accessories and software. Any software must have its original seal intact to be accepted.
• Cosmetics, jewellery and fragrance will only be accepted if unopened and with the product seal intact.
• Swimwear will only be accepted if tried on over underwear and if its original packaging and all labels are still attached.
• Health and fitness equipment will only be accepted if dismantled and boxed as received.
• All returns are evaluated before being processed.
• Faulty items will be accepted up to the manufacturer's warranty terms. This does not affect your statutory rights.

For returns from our partner sites in Other Shops please see their returns policy on their Help section or Terms and conditions

GeoThermal

The_Old_Bag wrote: »

TOB - "I do not live, work or pass by"... an M&S store...



Errr..... I never said it was !!

No but you said "Sorry, I must disagree. I don't think that a month is necessarily ample time," based on you not living near a store. You can't say the policy is bad just because it doesn't suit you. It's plenty of time and generous given they don't have to do it. I live about 120 miles away from my nearest M&S but I certainly wouldn't argue that their policy isn't a fair one just because I would rarely be able to take advantage of it.

The_Old_Bag

Geo Thermal
I have re-read my original post, and again I am struggling to see anywhere where I say or imply that the policy is "bad" or "isn't ..fair".

My comment about disagreeing was in response to two comments in post number 3....

bubblegumcola wrote: »

Yeah Chris 25, I'd agree with you. Just over a month to return items is loads of time. . . . . . . . but for goodwill returns it still must be the best on the High Street.

Since my posting did not directly follow this one, I actually said
"Sorry, I must disagree. I don't think that a month is necessarily ample time"

I did try to be very specific about what I was disagreeing with.
Since I clearly said what I disagreed with, I do not understand why you interpreted my post as meaning I considered the policy bad or unfair. I never used those words or anything like them in my post

Personally speaking I will not find the new time-limit gives me "loads of time" or "plenty of time". Clearly the majority of posters here agree that it will not be a problem for them. Which is great for them of course.
I was simply expressing my personal position, which is that the new policy will cause me to re-think where I shop. This was why I used the expression "necessarily" because what one person may consider ample time, someone else may not. I then went onto explain why in MY situation, I do not feel it is "ample" time.

I was also adding the information for other readers, that in my experience M&S do not have the best returns policy on the High Street, as clearly many were unaware of Boots returns policy. Just as iNath pointed out B&Q's policy is 90 days.

Chris25, I have never shopped on line with Boots, so again, personally speaking, I was unaware of their on-line 28 day limit, and again am not personally affected by it. I do thank you for pointing it out though, as if I ever do shop on-line with them, it is a difference in policy worth knowing.

GeoThermal

To me the tone of your posts came across that you thought the policy was not good enough because of your curcumstances. If that is not what you intended or I misinterpreted them then I apologise.

tyllwyd

I just had a totally bizarre experience in M&S - I took back a few items for exchange which I'd bought at different times over the last few months, but I only had the receipt for one item.

I handed them over - and the customer service lady told me that there was no problem giving me a credit note or exchange for the items with no receipt. But since the receipt I did have was more than 35 days old, she couldn't do anything with that item at all, not even a credit note. She was very embarassed to have to stand there telling me that.

I knew that they had changed their policies, but honestly, can you see the logic in that? I'd assumed that keeping the receipt was a good idea, but I'm going to chuck them away as soon as I get home from now on, in case I get caught out like that again.