Was I being unreasonable, or were M&S?

dfh

So did the OP ask for a refund or didnt she?

jillymit

Oh I see. I did wonder why you seemed so upset.

If the assistant was unhelpful or rude you have every right to take your complaint further, some customer services staff do seem less well trained than others.

On the other hand it might be best to just let it go and buy you umbrellas elsewhere.

I find that if I have to return an item, faulty or not, it's probably best to go in with a smile. Show them the returned item and politely request and refund or replacement just so the assistant is in no doubt as to what I want.

Just playing devils advocate here but she may have mistakenly thought you had just turned up for a bit of a rant.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

sarahg1969 wrote: »

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.

I've found this to be the case too.
As for the OPs umbrella,I think she has every right to expect the usual 12 month guarantee that most things are covered by,

tbw

dfh wrote: »

So did the OP ask for a refund or didnt she?

I think she was offered the refund initially (without asking) but then the conversation with the other staff member went on. She then gave up talking as she wasn't getting anywhere and said 'give me my refund then and I'll go' or something similar.

Resu

pendulum wrote: »

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?

That's correct- she'd already said (without having been asked for this) that my money would be refunded.

When I realised the conversation was going nowhere anyway, I concluded my business with this person by taking them up on their offer. (It would have been quite silly to refuse!)

So to be fair to M&S, it's not like they resolutely refused to refund my money. And to be fair to myself, it's not like I had ever demanded they do so!

BlueAngelCV

She was being unreasonable, probably fed up after being busy over Christmas!

Resu

rev_henry wrote: »

Maybe a pound shop umbrella is meant to last that long (or less!)

You'll be lucky! I actually *did* buy a pound shop umbrella once- more as a "quick fix" as I was sick of trudging round shops looking for a proper umbrella- and it had already fallen to pieces the second or third time I used it!

The only shocking thing there is that it's possible to make and sell *any* type of umbrella for a pound, no matter how bad it is! (I mean, consider the economics of it, taking materials, labour and distribution overheads into account. Someone I know reckoned it had to be a loss leader.)

rev_henry wrote: »

This isn't just an umbrella this is an M&S super duper flexigrip umbrella and all that.

The foldaway design itself was okay, at least when it worked. I had one virtually the same previously that lasted around two years. Two years? Fine. Five months? Nope!

Resu

jillymit wrote: »

I find that if I have to return an item, faulty or not, it's probably best to go in with a smile. Show them the returned item and politely request and refund or replacement just so the assistant is in no doubt as to what I want.

Just playing devils advocate here but she may have mistakenly thought you had just turned up for a bit of a rant.

No offence taken. I didn't ask for a refund or replacement because I was quite prepared to listen to what they had to say and/or offer before coming to conclusions. And IMHO I explained things in a straightforward manner.

Can't say I was either especially cheery or grumpy at that point!

To be honest, I think we (myself included!) are probably starting overanalysing the situation now anyway.

frannyann

sarahg1969 wrote: »

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.

I have noticed this too, to the point I once wrote a letter to the manager after one SA was so rude that she only just stopped short of accusing me of fraud, in trying to get my money back! :mad:

But just to balance, saturday I had to return a jumper bought for me, as the stitching was coming away and the SA was lovely and helped me no end trying to find a replacement!

vyle

I had a £5 sainsbury's brolly last nearly 2 years before it kinda fell apart and into the road. Dramatic way to go....