John Lewis not honouring codes

clarabella23

Hi, 

I placed an order with John Lewis 2 weeks ago, and used a voucher code that took a higher amount off the order.

That was the Saturday, on the Sunday I received 10 seperate dispatch notices, and heard from the delivery company they would be coming Monday with my items.

On Monday nothing arrived, on checking the tracking John Lewis called the items back from the courier (no notice to me).

On Tuesday they issued refund notices, and on Wednesday I got a cancellation notice because of a problem with the discount voucher.

THis is what John Lewis state in their terms and conditions:

Non-acceptance of an order may be a result of one of the following:

• The product you ordered being unavailable from stock
• Our inability to obtain authorisation for your payment
• The identification of a pricing or product description error

• Order acceptance and the completion of the contract between you and us will take place on the despatch to you of the Products ordered unless we have notified you that we do not accept your order, or you have cancelled it in accordance with the instructions in Change or cancel an order

John Lewis are refusing to honour the prices, but in my opinion that breaks their terms and conditions- upon sending dispatch notices they agreed to the prices in the order.

Any advice/ next steps?

powerful_Rogue

How much did you spend, what was the discount the voucher code gave?

Sounds like the voucher code was incorrect and you knew?

pinkshoes

clarabella23 said:

Hi, 

I placed an order with John Lewis 2 weeks ago, and used a voucher code that took a higher amount off the order.

What were the T&Cs of the voucher code?

Just because a voucher works at checkout, if you do not meet the criteria  and are not eligible for the discount then they can cancel your order.

JetpackVelociraptor

According to citizen's advice, and what I understand from my own dealings with the other side of this issue, the retailer (JL) can cancel your order if either the contract hasn't been formed yet, or if there is a genuine mistake that should have been obvious to you. Or, of course, if you've broken the terms and conditions for the voucher code. This would include any of the following situations:

• if the voucher code gave more money off than it was supposed to (basically a technical error, say you put in a 10% off code and it gives you 50% off instead)
• if the voucher code wasn't intended for use (e.g. if it was a test code, not one that was deliberately given out or publicised)
• if the voucher code had expired
• if the voucher code had specific terms and conditions attached to it, that you didn't abide by for example if it was issued to someone else, was single use only and had already been used, was for use on specific products only or for a specified amount, only valid for one item, etc.

Aylesbury_Duck

Were you exploiting an obvious mistake, e.g. placing 10 separate orders for 10 iPads, each with a large reduction?  Why did you get 10 dispatch notifications?

clarabella23

The code was for spend £100 on a certain brand, receive £20 off. It was definitely valid at that point.

I spent over £100 on that brand, the code took £20 off each item in the basket. I met all the conditions for buying using the voucher. It didn't specifically say that it was one £20 off. The code was advertised on their website, I used it once, at the point of checkout, so no, I wasn't purposefully abusing it. It took the order down from around £700 to £250ish.

I placed one order but with multiple items (was placing an order for Christmas presents of perfumes, beauty products, and for new bedding, which soon adds up). They split those items into seperate dispatches, I guess from different warehouses? I was very surprised by the amount of parcels- most items in the order were dispatched individually.

user1977

clarabella23 said:

The code was for spend £100 on a certain brand, receive £20 off. It was definitely valid at that point.

I spent over £100 on that brand, the code took £20 off each item in the basket. I met all the conditions for buying using the voucher. It didn't specifically say that it was one £20 off. The code was advertised on their website, I used it once, at the point of checkout, so no, I wasn't purposefully abusing it. It took the order down from around £700 to £250ish.

How, if it was only (at most) a 20% discount on each item?

powerful_Rogue

clarabella23 said:

The code was for spend £100 on a certain brand, receive £20 off. It was definitely valid at that point.

I spent over £100 on that brand, the code took £20 off each item in the basket. I met all the conditions for buying using the voucher. It didn't specifically say that it was one £20 off. The code was advertised on their website, I used it once, at the point of checkout, so no, I wasn't purposefully abusing it. It took the order down from around £700 to £250ish.

I placed one order but with multiple items (was placing an order for Christmas presents of perfumes, beauty products, and for new bedding, which soon adds up). They split those items into seperate dispatches, I guess from different warehouses? I was very surprised by the amount of parcels- most items in the order were dispatched individually.

As above, that makes no sense. What was the brand to get the £20 off. We can use the wayback machine to look at the voucher codes, however it's clear it was an error. You took a chance and it didn't pay off. Time to move on.

clarabella23

YSL spend £100 to get £20 (not 20%). It took £20 off each item in the basket. Some items were £20, some were £60, various prices.

clarabella23

I appreciate that this might not go anywhere, but it is worth an ask- John Lewis have dealt with this really badly with their lack of contact and cancelling deliveries without notice or reason until days after. They have taken nearly 2 weeks to get back to me with a generic response. I would just like to know if they are allowed to break their own terms and conditions (stated on their website), to not address that they are doing that or why they are allowed to do that.

If nothing comes of it fair enough, but I didn't set out to deprive John Lewis of anything, I used a code advertised on their website, I filled all the criteria, and they gave me a discount, just more than I expected.

powerful_Rogue

clarabella23 said:

YSL spend £100 to get £20 (not 20%). It took £20 off each item in the basket. Some items were £20, some were £60, various prices.

Clearly a glitch then. They can treat the contract as if it never took place, especially as you seem to be aware it was a glitch.