MSE News: Flaw revealed in John Lewis 'Never Knowingly Undersold' price guarantee

Mobeer

John Lewis have been knowingly undersold for ages:
TV priced at £799
Person A enters store, buys TV for £522 on a price match
Person B enters store, buys same TV for £799

I was happy, given that I was person A!

Yinster

I knew JL won't price match a netbook that I consider getting the OH for christmas due to the extra year warranty. One of the reason why I joined MSE. This was pretty frustrating as I had already purchase a MacBook Pro and a Sony TV already so was spending more than £1200 from them. Still they won't budge. In the end I bought a laptop from PCWorld/Curry's.

Orrin

Paulgonnabedebtfree wrote: »

Indeed, but the way I'm reading it is that they intentionally create the situation where a product can never be an exact equivalent to one sold elsewhere, therefore making any price matching promise totally meaningless. Therefore, the only point in them mentioning it in the first place would be to carry out a deception.
Small print and exclusions is one thing. Intentionally creating a situation where the small print and exclusions would always apply 100% of the time is quite another (IMO).

I think it's a stretch to say that the only reason they offer an extended warranty is so they can deceive people about their price matching.

If that was their intention then it would be far cheaper for them to just change the model names rather than offer a better warranty.

If JL won't price match a particular product because theirs comes with a better warranty then you pays your money and takes your choice; cheaper price or better warranty. Seems fair enough to me.

Premier_2

..."It could give a little bit extra to everything and on the same basis could exclude all products form the price promise....

Most outlets will willingly sell extended guarantees. The price of those (or, for example, the added price of delivery) should be included where a comparison is made that includes those.
e.g. Argos 3 year breakdown care for washing machines appears to cost £81.99 or £100.99 extra! :eek:

If you don't want the extended guarantees that JL sell all their electrical items with, don't buy at JL.

dennisthemenace_2

I, for one, think John Lewis is a superb company. I shop with them because of thir unrivalled customer service, polite staff and sometimes take advantage of their never knowingly undersold policy.

I have recently bought a Sony TV for £599, they list it at £799. I emailed them the relevant details and 48 hours later I bought the TV with the £200 off. They are an easy and transparent company to use and I would always recommend them.:T

dennisthemenace_2

Yinster wrote: »

I knew JL won't price match a netbook that I consider getting the OH for christmas due to the extra year warranty. One of the reason why I joined MSE. This was pretty frustrating as I had already purchase a MacBook Pro and a Sony TV already so was spending more than £1200 from them. Still they won't budge. In the end I bought a laptop from PCWorld/Curry's.

You could not pay me to buy anyhting from PC World / Curry's. When you have a problem, they are far from helpful. Awful customer service and I will never buy from them again.:mad:

Percy1983

Surely the moral of the story is check prices before you buy...

moonpixiewitch

"it is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little. when you pay too much , you lose a little money...that is all. When you pay too little , you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the things it was bought to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot...it cannot be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder it s well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.
There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell for a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only, are this man's lawful prey."
John Ruskin (1819 -1900)

When I did a "never knowingly undersold" last year , they took all the details of the other retailer and the copy receipt , then telephoned me to refund the money to my card a few days later . This was so they could lower the price of the product in store and verify the information first.
I will always choose JL over any other retailer , service , quality , store layout , trained friendly staff ..... this list goes on .......and so does the debate ......i guess you either love JL or you don't !

vikingaero

Has anyone on here used John Lewis and wanted to take them up on their Never Knowingly Undersold malarky?

I wanted to buy a cooker and it was £200 cheaper elsewhere (same guarantee). You go into store and tell them. They fill in a form for you which they send for checking. If they agree with your findings they allow you to go back in store and order it at the same price as the competitor. With all that faff they can Booger Off.

bennett2kuk

So you buy a washing machine from Argos, after a year it breaks costing you the same amount of money you laid out to have it replaced. You buy it from John Lewis, after a year it breaks you pay nothing to have it replaced as the warranty is superior.

Read the terms and conditions and you will see they have not changed their policy at all.