Debenhams Customer Service Department

assad

Dear members please help classic case of David v Goliath

if there are others who have bought a dinner set made by Rocha John Rocha from Debenhams and are unhappy with their purchase please complain to Watchdog.

I know this is not a big news item, but I could really do with your help, advice and assistance.

Below is a brief description of the problem.

In 2012 I bought 3 dinner sets from Debenhams in Leicester.

The set was made by Rocha John Rocha and sold for £92 per set.

Within the first couple of weeks two of the plates got chipped, which ended up in the bin, put this down to us being unlucky.

3 months ago we were having some guest round for dinner and the wife said she did not have enough plates, at which I said I bought you 3 dinner sets only a year ago.

At which she told me to find 6 good plates she could use, I struggled, virtually all the plates either had a chip, slight crack or the glaze was cracking.

At this point I contacted Debenhams to get the contact details of Rocha John Rocha to complain.

I was told that actually Debenhams manufactured the dinner set and I should send any complaints to head office and I should get a response within 48 hrs.

4 days passed and no response nor even an acknowledgment email, so I contacted customer services again to verify the email address which was correct, I also asked if they could give me a phone number so I could speak to someone at head office, I was told they don’t have a phone number.

Anyway I resent the email and waited another few days again no response.

I searched the internet and found the contact details of the Chief Executive Michael Sharp at Debenhams, surprise surprise I got a response within 24 hrs. from customer relations.

I explained to her that I thought the reason these plates were chipping was because I didn’t believe the sets were dishwasher or microwave safe making them brittle and more susceptible to chipping, we have also noticed that when food is warmed up in the microwave the plates get very hot but the food is still cold.

I was told to return some of the items to my local store so their quality assurance department could inspect them.

Which I did, waited a further 3 weeks with no response so I contacted customer relations and was told she was still waiting for a response from the quality assurance department.

Waited another 3 weeks and again contacted customer relations at which I was told the quality assurance department found no fault with the dinner set.

I asked if they would forward me the tests and findings that the quality assurance department had carried out, I was told a big fat No, this was confidential.

In the mean time I had been on the Debenhams web site and found 15 customer reviews for this particular dinner set, 11 of the reviewers had complained about the same issue, that’s over 70% surely this points to a manufacturing defect.

I spoke to the Citizens Advice Bureau and they told me to send them a complaints template letter from their website, to see if they would issue a refund, but she also said that it would be down to me to prove the dinner set is not fit for purpose and this could cost a lot of money, I think it is this that Debenhams are counting on, the little person not taking it further, this is why I need your help.

I got a response back from Debenhams and they are not willing to issue a refund and I would have to have the dinner sets independently tested and even if they were found to be defected, Debenhams would not reimburse the cost of the testing.

I did contact a company that do testing on ceramics, I sent them an email with photos, just to get some feedback.


Thanking you in advance, hope to hear from you soon and please if there are other customers not happy with Debenhams and especially this perticular dinner set please complain to Watchdog

Regards Assad

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Excellant

BoP will now interrupt for the Hard of Reading

OP Has problems with a Dinner Service. They think some TV programme may be interested.

We wait for such TV service to be interested. In the meantime, you can mark the Store as either Excellent or Carp.

Money-Saving-King

Excellant

The second I got to this "David v Goliath" I stopped reading due to the blatant melodrama that is bound to follow!

wealdroam

assad wrote: »

if there are others who have bought a dinner set made by Rocha John Rocha from Debenhams and are unhappy with their purchase please complain to Watchdog.

I would suggest that better advice would be to complain to Debenhams in the first instance.

By the way, what is the poll all about?
What do you intend doing with the results?

Anyway, that aside, if the independent reports shows the plates to be inherently faulty, then Debenhams must provide a remedy.
They should also refund the cost of getting that report.

Have you read MSE's Consumer rights article?

And their How to Complain guide?