Was I being unreasonable, or were M&S?

Resu

I'm not 100% sure that this counts as "rights" since I got my money back anyway, but I'd like to ask if I'm being reasonable, and how long an umbrella should last under normal use.

I paid just under £15 for a Marks and Spencer umbrella at the end of July. About 10 days before Christmas- less than five months after I'd bought it- two metal bits broke. Due to lack of time on my part (and a desire to avoid post-Christmas returns), I took it back last Thursday.

At the counter, I explained that I'd had the umbrella for five months and it had broken, first to the original assistant, then again to another woman who he called to the counter. I should point out that I hadn't even mentioned or requested a refund or replacement at this stage.

Her *first* response was "don't you think you've had your money's worth out of it?" in a slightly disapproving manner that suggested I was being somewhat unreasonable.

She then went on to assert that we'd had "extreme weather" recently. I pointed out that while the weather from late summer onwards may have been fairly poor, it was hardly "extreme", the umbrella had been used on average once to twice a week, and had broken before the current snowy conditions.

She repeated several times that recent weather had been "extreme". I asked her whether rain falling on it would seriously cause the umbrella to fail like that and she seemed to be saying "yes". :huh:

(Significantly, I realised later that she never looked at my umbrella itself (it sat on the counter in its protective cover throughout), so she said what she said regardless of the specifics of what was wrong with it).

At some point she decided to give me a refund anyway (without me having asked for that), so fair enough, I got my money back. However, I was far from happy at the insinuation that I was being unreasonable in expecting a £15 umbrella to last more than 5 months under moderate use.

I could bore you with more detail, but that's pretty much what I wanted to ask.

jdturk

in short neither you or M&S were being unreasonable...however that woman was!

jillymit

In my opinion a brolly should last longer than that and it seems that the Marks and Spencer staff also agree it was 'faulty' as you received a refund in full.

lilac_lady

A £15 umbrella should last longer than 5 months. Some M&S staff need retraining on customer service attitudes.

magpiecottage

If it is under six months old, then the onus is on the retailer to prove it was NOT faulty when it was purchased rather than for the consumer to prove that it was.

It is also unlikely that snow, in the absence of wind, would break - a build up of snow on an umbrella would get heavy so you would probably shake it off before it caused damage.

deanos

Maybe it was the wrong type of rain

sarahg1969

I have to say that M&S have always been first class if I've returned something that's not to my taste, or doesn't fit. However, on the couple of occasions I've returned faulty goods, the SAs seemed to take it as a personal insult.

tbw

Reminds me of the time I took back some ankle boots - the hook type eyelets on one boot had bent and broken off after around only 4 'wearings' (and they weren't cheap boots!). The M&S staff member(who looked to be in her early 20's) looked briefly at the boots, eyed me up in a VERY patronising manner and said ' its not our fault if you don't know how to tie your laces up and you certainly aren't getting a refund!'

Bearing in mind that I was taught to tie my laces at least 30 years before she was even borne, I was not impressed with her comment. And she very quickly found out just how unimpressed I was! I was not as rude or patronising as she was - and I got my full refund very quickly once I had politely explained the error of her ways.

Resu

jillymit wrote: »

In my opinion a brolly should last longer than that and it seems that the Marks and Spencer staff also agree it was 'faulty' as you received a refund in full.

The person who gave me the refund- without me demanding or even asking for this in any form- was the same member of staff. I suspect this had more to do with them somewhat resentfully cutting their losses with a "difficult" customer.

As I said, what had *really* narked me was being told by someone- without them knowing any details of the case- that five months was a "money's worth" length of time for that umbrella to last in supposedly "extreme weather", and by implication I was being unreasonable to expect more.

While I don't want to demonise this person- as I said, they did refund me, and they were more unhelpful than blatantly rude- I really expected better from M&S given the circumstances described.


The (un-)exciting remainder of the story is that after she accused me of "raising my voice", I realised that nothing was going to be achieved, asked for my refund, and asked who I should contact with a complaint. Though I really meant contact details for customer service, someone else- apparently from management- came over. She vaguely said that she wasn't an expert in how long umbrellas would last (no, but you sell them, you must have some idea of what you consider reasonable?!), before sort of admitting that one like that should probably last longer.

She actually looked at the umbrella and (diplomatically) suggested that the location of the damage may have meant it was actually my fault (on reflection, I hope she didn't think I sabotaged it deliberately to get the refund- it may have looked that way). I'm sceptical, because my previous umbrella- which I had for two years- was the same M&S model, and the newer one felt stickier ever since I'd had it, suggesting that something about the mechanism was jamming and putting stress on the metal(???)

If anything, the new one was treated with more care. I even noticed while discussing all this that it was meant to be a "Flexirib"! I eventually left because I'd said everything I was going to say and was going to be late for work otherwise.

rev_henry

Maybe a pound shop umbrella is meant to last that long (or less!) but certainly not a £15 M&S umbrella. This isn't just an umbrella this is an M&S super duper flexigrip umbrella and all that.

pendulum

Resu wrote: »

... after she accused me of "raising my voice", I realised that nothing was going to be achieved, asked for my refund, and asked who I should contact with a complaint.

Huh? I thought you said earlier that you didn't ask for a refund and that they just gave you one in the end without you asking?