John Lewis Price Match if we feel like it.

superscaper

Second refusal today on price matching a TV. From a bricks & mortar store in Watford it's about £150 cheaper. First refusal was because "there wasn't any stock at the time we checked". Second time we made sure we did the check after the shop got a whole load more stock in, but this time the letter says they refused to price match because of "...+£49 delivery to xxxxx". They mispelled my home town yet it was spelled correctly further up on the same letter but it's irrelevant because I never mentioned anything about delivery.

Phoned them up and they said it must be because they charge delivery even for collection which I said contradicted the wording of the letter about "delivery to..." and that would mean the shop would have had have lied to me about the specific price. Told nothing they can do about it, the underwriters say no further discussion. If I want I can put it in writing (this is all on behalf on my mum BTW). But not very customer orientated if they refuse to even discuss the matter when as far as I can see they've essentially price checked something other than what I asked.

Lots of contradictory info, eg it's not really his problem as it wasn't his branch that sent people out to check, so I said so I should do price checking with branch nearest the shop rather than nearest us, "not neccessarily as the branch checking would lower their price and then all branches would lower theirs".

How do you get a price match if they seem to add conditions as they go along and "the decision is final"?

superscaper

Also liked this little gem after saying it wasn't customer orientated that I "wasn't really their customer because I wouldn't be getting the TV from their branch". First time I've heard a retailer's justification of "I'm not really their customer".

dmg24

Can't offer any advice, but just to see this attitude seems quite commonplace from JL at the moment.

Best of luck with trying to sort it out x

superscaper

dmg24 wrote: »

Can't offer any advice, but just to see this attitude seems quite commonplace from JL at the moment.

Best of luck with trying to sort it out x

It was on behalf of my parents who weren't able to phone them during the day but my mum is writing a letter and sending copy to MD as well. Doubt much will happen, so my parents are going to get the TV from elsewhere and have been put off using JL again. I was just amazed at the "no can do" attitude and that the guy had the audacity to get frustrated at ME. I didn't shout or get abusive or made it personal and that apparently doesn't get you anywhere either. Neither does logic or expectations of clarity. Considering I wasn't even phoning for myself I've now been completely put off them as well. I shall certainly add my 2 pence worth every time I see someone mention their "Never Knowingly Undersold" policy.

To sum up, it's an item from a bricks & mortar store that's in stock now and can be physically taken away at that price and somehow JL find there isn't enough reason to price match it. What I don't understand is that even if they were charging that extra £50 in store, that's still £100 cheaper than JL, so why not still price match that? There's just too many flaws in their arguments that it's impossible to reason with them.

Wish I'd thought about to ask why they could price match it as it is when I was on the phone but the guy was very reluctant to hear anything I had to say and kept interrupting telling me it's pointless telling him because there was nothing he could do. I really had to force the issue to even get out what I was actually trying to say. As usual there's probably lots I'll think of I should have said at the time but I spent most of it arguing the point of letting me speak and at least hearing what I had to say before coming to the conclusion I'm wasting my breath.

dmg24

What I don't understand is that even if they were charging that extra £50 in store, that's still £100 cheaper than JL, so why not still price match that?

That is what happened when my Dad was buying a TV from there. However, due to more recent events, we will not be shopping there again either.

louidog

Sorry to hear you have had problems superscaper!

Most unusual for JL or is it? Seems a few of you have similar stories. What a shame as JL's name used to say so much!

superscaper

louidog wrote: »

Sorry to hear you have had problems superscaper!

Most unusual for JL or is it? Seems a few of you have similar stories. What a shame as JL's name used to say so much!

That was precisely why my parents wanted to use the price check with them. They used to have a good name but things do seem to be going downhill. After this treatment at the start of a potential transaction my dad now has no confidence in their five year warranty anyway.

superscaper

dmg24 wrote: »

That is what happened when my Dad was buying a TV from there. However, due to more recent events, we will not be shopping there again either.

Well next time I get a catalogue from them I shall return it with the appropriate note about no confidence in customer care.

superscaper

Interesting, after my mum had sent a letter and a copy to the managing director, their undersales department phoned today to offer the price match and apparently "if you're willing to collect it then of course we're willing to price match" which is certainly not what the customer service rep was telling me the other day. There seems to be no flow of information between departments and asking to pass anything on or to leave a message gets a flat refusal.