Issue With Next Directory

aaarrrggghhh

Back in January 2012, I ordered a few items from Next with the intention of sending back the ones I didn't like/didn't fit. This went well, bar one suit jacket which they failed to credit to my account. It was £50 in the sale. I called them up and was fobbed off (was told to wait a further week each time I called). I emailed them and received an auto-response with no detail of a forthcoming human response. I contacted them on Facebook and received a reply informing me I 'had a message in my inbox'. I didn't.

By this point, I told them I wouldn't be making any further payments until this issue has been sorted. I owed them just under £100 at this point. Thanks to the courier they use (myHermes) I didn't receive proof of collection as they simply hand you a sticker with a premium-rate phone number on as they collect. The only evidence I have that the jacket was returned is the request for collection email from Next and obviously no subsequent 'missed collection' emails.

Today, I owe them £180 thanks to interest/late payment charges but still refuse to pay due to this issue.

What would you advise I do? Obviously, I intend to put this in writing to them, but is there anything in particular I should include, anything I can quote, etc?

Sianey

Hermes are pretty infamous for not leaving proper collection receipts! Check your collection card for a sticker with a long number on it (your collection reference), otherwise just call Next and tell them that you've sent it back and their courier service have incorrectly dealt with your parcel. A large company should value your custom more than an argument over a £50 jacket.

Search online for a geographical number for their customer services as it might be best to call them. As you are now owing money (which will have a time frame for repayments), you have some responsibility to sort out the disputed debt asap.

I assume you sent the jacket back within some sort of returns period? If so, then even if you did get a tracking number from Hermes to prove you sent the jacket back it would be outdated and completely useless by now.

Good luck!

aaarrrggghhh

I did send the jacket back within the timeframe stated by Next. In fact, I organised collection the very same day I received the item! They collected the next.

The problem with MyHermes, or at least with my collection/delivery person, is that they NEVER hand me a card. Instead, I get a perforated slip, the size of two stamps, with a sticker attached that states the MyHermes customer service phone number. I always found this disconcerting and now I know why.

I'll certainly try calling Next again, but I have a feeling I won't get anywhere. I think I'll have to resort to putting the whole experience in writing and requesting the £50 be deducted along with interest/missed payment charges since then. I was hoping someone would be along to help with the wording and, ideally, provide something I could quote to them in terms of consumer law.

go_cat

Whilst I understand why you don't want to ay them this could affect your credit file which can affect you for the next 6 years. You need this sorted asap

SADIE

aaarrrggghhh wrote: »

Back in January 2012, I ordered a few items from Next with the intention of sending back the ones I didn't like/didn't fit. This went well, bar one suit jacket which they failed to credit to my account. It was £50 in the sale. I called them up and was fobbed off (was told to wait a further week each time I called). I emailed them and received an auto-response with no detail of a forthcoming human response. I contacted them on Facebook and received a reply informing me I 'had a message in my inbox'. I didn't.

By this point, I told them I wouldn't be making any further payments until this issue has been sorted. I owed them just under £100 at this point. Thanks to the courier they use (myHermes) I didn't receive proof of collection as they simply hand you a sticker with a premium-rate phone number on as they collect. The only evidence I have that the jacket was returned is the request for collection email from Next and obviously no subsequent 'missed collection' emails.

Today, I owe them £180 thanks to interest/late payment charges but still refuse to pay due to this issue.

What would you advise I do? Obviously, I intend to put this in writing to them, but is there anything in particular I should include, anything I can quote, etc?

Hermes couriers are instructed to hand over the numbered sticker it matches the other part that's attached to your returned item. That is your receipt. We don't have tel numbers stickers, a Hermes card is a possibility but you should have Next paperwork that couriers sign, date and put stickers on.
Couriers have nothing more to give to the customer.

You should be contacting Next, the premium number is for Hermes recruitment and not for queries, unless you booked your Next collection by MyHermes and you paid instead of using the free Next courier collection

It looks from your post that Next are disputing what items have been returned, seems as though a suit jacket within your bag wasn't credited, this isn't a Hermes courier problem. Your given a return sticker for a return(couriers don't know or care what's inside).

You would have had to put within the parcel, a signed declaration of your returned goods and seal your returned items, if you have you shouldn't have any problem, ask for a copy and ask if your returned items arrived open or still sealed.

You won't have a missed collection email, if your out you would have to re book your collection, if a collection was made then there's no missed collection.

Let us know what happens, I'm interested as a courier.