BHS returns policy - contact email address for CEO

DRH_2

I can assure you that I was extremely polite and said I understood that she was only acting under the shop's instructions/policy.

I think the variety of responses on here shows that there is a wide disparity of views on how retailers treat their customers, so there's clearly no "right" or "wrong" approach. All I know is that I felt afronted.

Slowhand

DRH wrote: »

I can assure you that I was extremely polite and said I understood that she was only acting under the shop's instructions/policy.

I think the variety of responses on here shows that there is a wide disparity of views on how retailers treat their customers, so there's clearly no "right" or "wrong" approach. All I know is that I felt afronted.

So you understood they had to check but still were affronted when they did? Hmm...I think the problem may lie with you to be honest.

DRH_2

No, I said to the assistant that I understood she was acting under instructions but I made clear that I didn't agree with the policy.

Slowhand

Stephb1986 wrote: »

Makro have never tested any irons that I have taken back to them yet. Neither have Costco.

Just how many irons have you taken back to them!

pops5588

DRH wrote: »

I can assure you that I was extremely polite and said I understood that she was only acting under the shop's instructions/policy.

I think the variety of responses on here shows that there is a wide disparity of views on how retailers treat their customers, so there's clearly no "right" or "wrong" approach. All I know is that I felt afronted.

I struggle with this bit because I sense the story has shifted, which in my eyes would support what Pollycat was saying. In my extensive experience working in the world of retail, I'm afraid it is never the polite and understanding customers that then go online demanding the address of the CEO of the company :eek:

There is absolutely a right and wrong approach. The wrong approach goes like this:

Shop Assistant: I have checked the kettle and it is indeed faulty, I will now process your refund back to you
Customer: Are you calling me a liar?? You have humiliated me, I want to speak to your manager right now and I am never shopping here again!!!

The right approach is more along these lines:

Shop Assistant: I have checked the kettle and it is indeed faulty, I will now process your refund back to you
Customer: Great, thank you. However while I'm here I'm a little surprised at the way these refunds are processed and I would like to give the company some feedback as to how maybe it can be handled a little differently. Is there an address that you can give me so that I can write to it with a couple of suggestions?



Respect and manners work both ways. If you go in with an off-attitude you are more than likely to get one back, if that was indeed what you sensed from her.

Slowhand

DRH wrote: »

No, I said to the assistant that I understood she was acting under instructions but I made clear that I didn't agree with the policy.

So you disagree with them confirming it is faulty there and then, on the spot, at the time...would you be happier if you were billed afterwards if it wasn't found to be faulty?

peachyprice

Slowhand wrote: »

Just how many irons have you taken back to them!

Don't know about Stephb1986, but irons rarely last me a year, more usually 9-10 months.

I start off with a £20 iron and upgrade with each one I take back, last run I got up to an £80 iron, that lasted about 18 months so I had to start back at £20 again when that broke, I'm up to a £45 one on this run.

Irons last such a ridiculously short time that as soon as I get a new one home the box, bag and receipt go straight in the cupboard ready to return it.

And I really don't care whether or not they plug them in when I return them, although I do tend to warn them beforehand if it's one that's had flames coming out of it.

Pollycat

DRH wrote: »

I can assure you that I was extremely polite and said I understood that she was only acting under the shop's instructions/policy.

I think the variety of responses on here shows that there is a wide disparity of views on how retailers treat their customers, so there's clearly no "right" or "wrong" approach. All I know is that I felt afronted.

I would expect to be treated with politeness and fairness.

If there was a possibility that I was returning an item that wasn't faulty (i.e. not a visible fault), I would not feel affronted if the assistant said she needed to check before giving me a refund.
I would not have taken offence if she said she 'needed to take it into the back to check that it wouldn't boil' - not even in those very words.

I would not think that she thought I was a liar, I would think that it was in her job instructions/store policy to do that.

I would not feel humiliated - as long as I was confident that the item was indeed faulty - and I wouldn't have told the CS assistant that I would be boycotting BHS from now on.

I wouldn't have asked to see the Manager.

I wouldn't have posted on the internet asking for the contact details of the CEO of BHS to complain about their 'short-sighted' returns policy.

Put simply, I expect to take a faulty item back, be treated with politeness and be given my money back.
I can't see that you have been treated any different to how I would expect to be treated.

I agree with this:

peachyprice wrote: »

I've taken plenty of irons back to Curry's, sometimes they've tested them, other times they haven't. I wasn't offended in the least, why should they just take the word of every person who walks in the store and give them a refund/exchange without testing the faulty product.

DRH wrote: »

As the original poster (OP?), I can assure you that I wasn't "trying it on" - the Russell Hobbs kettle would not switch on (and no, the fuse hadn't gone!). It was only around 6 weeks old, paid £24.99, reduced (allegedly) from a retail price of £50.

Why 'allegedly'?

I think I'd rather trust a reduction on an item in BHS to be genuine than Argos - with their 'Save 25%' and then 'item previously been on sale at £xx.xx' in tiny print.

Stephb1986_2

Slowhand wrote: »

Just how many irons have you taken back to them!

I've run an ironing service with my mum for the last 10 years, they use to last 18 months but the newer ones now are lasting around 6 months. We aren't talking cheap irons either we're talking the £200 steam generator irons. The seal around the bottom of the base tends to go on them making it impossible to use.

Pops5588 with an attitude like yours I would be in no doubt why people don't treat you with respect. I've been in the service industry for the last 10 years I treat my customers with respect and they treat me with respect it's a two way street.

pops5588

Stephb1986 wrote: »

Pops5588 with an attitude like yours I would be in no doubt why people don't treat you with respect. I've been in the service industry for the last 10 years I treat my customers with respect and they treat me with respect it's a two way street.

:rotfl: What attitude?!

Where did I say people don't treat me with respect?
I always speak to people as I would like to be spoken, that was exactly my point... We appear to completely agree (in fact I believe I also said respect is a two-way street or something along those lines). People in the service industry absolutely should be treated with respect, I myself was in retail for 5 years! I don't know where you got the opposite impression from anything I've posted?

Unfortunately OP, it is the case that occasionally these threads can become catty. Because every so often someone comes along, completely imagines that you've said something you haven't and instead of checking, just decides to bulldozer in and write complete fiction about you

Completely baffled by that one I'm afraid...