Praise for Royal Mail - sort of...

NBLondon

Many moons ago - I pre-ordered a book from Foyles on a half-price deal. Fast forward to the week of publication and I'm away when it is due to be delivered. I get home expecting to find a red card sending me to a depot but nope I find a red card telling me that the parcel is "in my Safe space" behind the bin. There it was, one end wet through because it had been standing on damp soil for 48 hours.

I emailed Foyles customer services asking about a return and got an automated response telling me their reply time was 7 working days. Since this was supposed to be a gift - I had to go out next day and get one from Waterstones. I sent a complaint to RM (with photos etc.) and got a fobbing off e-mail saying the sender had to claim because of the service used. I blasted one back pointing out that the card clearly said "Safe Space" when I hadn't agreed any such thing so that was the issue.

By this time, Foyles have actually got back to me and tell me they have sent a replacement! Which arrives the next day - so I now have 3 copies of the book; the damaged one, the replacement from Waterstones and another replacement from Foyles. So I had two to send back to Foyles...

I got another fobbing off e-mail from RM. This one included an e-mail to escalate. So I did - including the point that I'd had to buy a replacement. I was at this point just being bolshie and only expecting to get some stamps as compensation but 24 hours later I got a proper apology and a cheque for £20!

So thank you RM - shame it took three attempts for someone to actually understand what the complaint was about.

NBLondon

Banked my cheque from RM. Still waiting for a refund from Foyles - 10 days to respond each time is pretty poor customer service in my book.

Le_Kirk

NBLondon wrote: »

Banked my cheque from RM. Still waiting for a refund from Foyles - 10 days to respond each time is pretty poor customer service in my book.

Is that what the book was about ............. poor customer service?

NBLondon

I think I might write one....

Got an e-mail from Foyles over the weekend - saying that their e-mail bounced back (because they sent it to the old one on the order - not the one on the complaint...) and that they couldn't refund because the credit card used had expired. That's true - it was valid when I placed the order but expired by the time it was delivered. Funny that they still managed to charge it though...

However - they are now sending me a refund as a gift card - for the full £20 not the half-price I originally paid, so I'm now in profit !

Given that some of the e-mails I sent to Foyles CS have been responded to by Waterstones CS I suspect the takeover and merging of back-office operations might be a cause.