John Lewis Cancelled Order Rant!

CathWales

Hi, first time ranter.

I am not one to make a decision quickly, but after much consideration I decided to go ahead and order an Ipad Air. I saw on the John Lewis site that their guarantee was for 2 years but are doing a 3 year guarantee at no extra cost until 22nd January so I decided to go to them online as I also can't get to a store.

I placed the order before midnight last night and opted for free delivery which would take 5-7 working days, but then saw that for an extra £3 I could use Collect+ and colect at a local shop tomorrow (Thurs). So this morning I phoned them up as orders could not be cancelled or amended online and was told I would have to cancel and reorder as they could not amend my order. The CS guy offered to do this over the phone, bur was having problems locating the account I created. He asked of I had an alternative email I could use and I said I did, but would this result in the order being cancelled as they may see 2 emails belonging to the same person (this happened to me once with a Sainsburys DVD order as I had forgotten I'd registered with them before, but had never used them after registering) but he said he didn't dee that would happen. However, he still had problems placing the order so I said I would do it online with the original email addy I set up for the first order of the cancelled Ipad Air. I placed order, but then a few hours later got a second email cancellation stating the details I provided did not pass their internal checks. I phoned them again and he looked at my account and said it was because I had not provided a contact phone number. So after another failed attempt to again amend order over the phone I had to again try online. But while on the phone I could not remember the correct sequence of my mobile number as it was stored on my home phone, of which I was using to talk to the CS so my home phone number was left on my account (actually in place of the mobile number which had been used in the first successful order I wanted the delivery amendment on). Order was placed, but then cancelled again with the same explanation from the cancellation email. I rang yet again and he spoke to his supervisor, but he said his supervisor could not explain why this has happened.

So I am in the dark as to what to do I chose John Lewis for the 3 year guarantee, but also know if I needed to use it I would have to take it to a shop, or use a courier service. But I am still upset at how I was treated and wonder if I am now blacklisted from ordering from them in the future. I paid through Paypal so it can't be a bank issue. Any advice please?

paddyrg

I imagine anti fraud systems are pretty keen for high cost items like Apple computers. It could maybe be your address has a marker for trouble if say it is a block of flats where someone caused trouble, maybe it is the fact you used PayPal instead of a card registered to your home address, maybe the phone number thing, maybe even they do IP checks and for some reason your current one is tagged, who knows?

Can you make it simple and drive to a shop if the deal is compelling enough? Or ask a relative to? Online anti fraud systems have to weigh up a host of data to avoid the risk of scammers ordering a dozen laptops with stolen PayPal accounts, in this case it sounds like a combination of several smallish things (phone number, PayPal etc) together which may make a system on balance decline your business.

WTFH

How many times have you attempted to place the order - I was a bit confused as to whether it was 2 or 3 (or is it 5)?
1. Placed order online 21/2
2. Phoned 22/2 to change to a collect. Tried to reorder to new email (was the original order cancelled - not certain?)
3. Placed order online using original email
4. Phoned up because of missing phone number. Was order cancelled or amended?
5. Went online and updated phone number (or was it that the order was cancelled and reordered?)

Based on what you've said, I'm not convinced the original order has been cancelled. It's also possible that something on a system (at JLP or Paypal) has picked up 5 attempted transactions with incomplete information on them.

You may want to check your Paypal account to see how much (if anything) has been taken out, and check your various email addresses and their associated John Lewis accounts to see what is currently showing as open orders. If you find something on Paypal, do not cancel it with Paypal until you can establish with John Lewis exactly what it is.

CathWales

Sorry if I did make things sound confusing, I am still confused myself!

WTFH - I originally made my first ever order with JL for the Ipad and in doing so I set up an account at check out. Order 1 went through and on checking hours later was still OK, but I wanted to change the method of how it was delivered and pick it up myself at a Collect + point, which is a news agent near me. I could not make any alterations online so had to phone them.

The CS could not find my account details, such as my email, but was able to cancel the order (yes, reading that I am confused, but it is cancelled) He asked if I had an alternate email to redo the order and I asked if this would be a problem and could it mean it would be cancelled if I was seen to have another account on file, but he said taking another email would not create another account. However, he was unable to take the order online so I did it myself with my original details, but it was cancelled. I contacted them again and he looked at my account and said I had not included my phone number, tho I did input my mobile the first time.

I then tried for the 3rd time (only 2nd and 3rd were unsuccessful) and noticed the phone number was my home one as I couldn't remember my mobile number while on the phone, but left it at my home number, so I suspect it was a combination of them taking the alternate email and number and successive attempts at ordering the same item, but it should have been easier to make amendments myself online.

Paddyg I can't drive and am a wheelchair user so using public transport is difficult and have no one who could have gone to the store for me, but that still doesn't mean ordering online should have been such a problem

Ordered from Tesco instead and hope to pick it up late noon tomorrow. Feel very let down by JL.

Edited to add that all paypal attempts have been refunded and my JL account also shows all cancellations and no open orders.

jacques_chirac

It was you that wanted to change your order in the first place, and the fraud check failed because you did not provide a contact number. Why do you feel very let down by JL?

CathWales

jacques_chirac wrote: »

It was you that wanted to change your order in the first place, and the fraud check failed because you did not provide a contact number. Why do you feel very let down by JL?

Yes I know it was my decision to alter the delivery option of the order, but there were no problems with it being submitted the first time. It was when the CS opted to change my email and then input a different phone number that I feel caused the problems and led to the cancellations. He said putting in the different details wouldn't affect the order, but it did.

Littlestars_2

Probably with online orders there is a limited time in which it can be cancelled so it may be the first order didn't go through security checks in the first place and was cancelled off before that happened.

CathWales

Littlestars wrote: »

Probably with online orders there is a limited time in which it can be cancelled so it may be the first order didn't go through security checks in the first place and was cancelled off before that happened.

The second and third orders were cancelled within a short space of time, especially the third one. First order cancelled by CS due to order not being able to be amended, I think it was down to the issues I mentioned with the change of email and phone, the former of which I didn't want to do, but he couldn't get into my account so suggested an alternative, but this seems to be one of the reasons to flag the order and cancel.