John Lewis too posh?

jimbo24168

I am really having problems trying to find out if a branch of John Lewis has a particular item in stock. If you ring any of the numbers for a store you get through to a scottish call centre who answer as that store but eventually admit they are a call centre. They say their computer is showing that item in stock at that store but we all know that what the computer says and what the actual position is can be two different things.
No amount of pleading would persuade them to either put me through to the store or for them to contact the store to find out the true position. To visit the store would cost me quite a bit in petrol and parking so I wanted to make sure it was in stock. I was told the stores do not deal directly with the public!!!
Does anyone know any email addresses for John Lewis other than the stock page on their website please?

Azari

jimbo24168 wrote: »

I was told the stores do not deal directly with the public!!!

Brilliant response from a high street chain!

fluffnutter

Hmm, I had no trouble ringing my local store. I found a local number on the website and definitely got through to the branch not a call centre. Here's the Southampton page clearly showing a Southampton number. Have you tried this with your local store?

http://www.johnlewis.com/Shops/DSShop.aspx?Id=16

jimbo24168

Each store has it's own number on yellow pages but when you ring that number you are actually talking to the call centre.

As I feared I have just been telephoned by the store to say that they don't in fact have the boots in stock even though the computer says they do so my daughter, who the boots are for, is now on her way to the store to get something that is not in stock.

fluffnutter

jimbo24168 wrote: »

Each store has it's own number on yellow pages but when you ring that number you are actually talking to the call centre.

For reasons too tedious to go into I know I got through to the actual store because the person I spoke to remembered me coming in that morning. Mind you, it was last year so perhaps they've changed things.

jimbo24168

tomjonesrules wrote: »

So rather than posting on here, call her to save her making the journey?

Now why didn't I think of that?

I posted on here because I thought someone might be able to help with a contact email address to voice my complaint. If my daughter had a mobile phone then I would have contacted her. She is one of the few people who does not have one, which is why I cannot contact her.

Andy_L

I'd of thought that the actual store would just look at the same computer system as the call centre so you'd just get the same answer

xxJudexx

Andy_L wrote: »

I'd of thought that the actual store would just look at the same computer system as the call centre so you'd just get the same answer

I don't know about John Lewis but in the store I work in if we get a customer asking for a particular item we go out and find it and put it aside. But we don't have a computer system with all our stock listed so this might be why...

jimbo24168

Andy_L wrote: »

I'd of thought that the actual store would just look at the same computer system as the call centre so you'd just get the same answer

One would hope that by getting through to the actual store they would physically check they had the item in stock or not. Marks and Spencer manage to do this with no problem so I cannot think why John Lewis should be any different...oh I forgot, they don't deal directly with customers!

jimbo24168

tomjonesrules wrote: »

Maybe she could use the shoe money to buy a cheap PAYG mobile, avoid the problem in future?

No point in complaining, all you'll get is a 'sorry' email.

If you haven't got anything constructive to contribute then why waste my time. I'm really struggling to see how you managed to get over a thousand people to thank you if this is the level of your contribution.

fluffnutter

Stock-taking systems are notoriously inaccurate because, guess what, people buy stuff all day every day and hence the system's always playing catch-up. JL unfortunately gave you the wrong answer originally but have since bothered to phone you and give you the correct response (albeit not the one you wanted).

If this isn't good enough for you, then perhaps you should take your custom elsewhere.