John Lews exchange policy

kitchenkaren

Before my local John Lewis closed down I could take an item back and exchange it easily.  If I bought a dress and then decided I needed the bigger size I could take it back and swap my size 8 for a size 10 (I wish I was actually this size).  However things have changed and I bought a dress online and decided I needed a different size, but I can't exchange, only get a refund on the original and re-purchase the different size.  OK so that's fine, until now.  It seems the dress I bought has gone up in price substantially, I can't remember if it was on special offer when I bought it or not.  So the dress I bought for £50 is now £70, so if I want to try a different size the dress will cost me £20 more.  Not good.

The moral of the story is, if you want to buy an item of clothing it seems the best way is to order the size you think you want, plus the size about and the size below.  Just return what you don't want.  That way you avoid any increases in cost.

Lavendyr

If you bought online they are still subject to consumer protection and you should be able to return without penalty. Which you acknowledge in your second paragraph. I'm not sure what your concern is other than that prices move?

jon81uk

Lavendyr said:

If you bought online they are still subject to consumer protection and you should be able to return without penalty. Which you acknowledge in your second paragraph. I'm not sure what your concern is other than that prices move?

That is their concern, that prices move.

Lavendyr

My point. 

Albermarle

The moral of the story is, if you want to buy an item of clothing it seems the best way is to order the size you think you want, plus the size about and the size below.  Just return what you don't want.  That way you avoid any increases in cos

I understand that some of the 'fast fashion' online retailers are starting to charge for returns, specifically to stop people ordering multiple items and sending most of them back. The cost of dealing with all the returns is costing them a lot.

Exodi

Albermarle said:

The moral of the story is, if you want to buy an item of clothing it seems the best way is to order the size you think you want, plus the size about and the size below.  Just return what you don't want.  That way you avoid any increases in cos

I understand that some of the 'fast fashion' online retailers are starting to charge for returns, specifically to stop people ordering multiple items and sending most of them back. The cost of dealing with all the returns is costing them a lot.

As a business that sells a significant amount of goods on Amazon that come in sizes, the cost and scale of these type of returns is staggering.

I think retailers efforts to be competitive have created a culture of toxic buying habits that is hard to row back on individually (e.g. buying lots of different sizes and return all but one).

We have seen that every time a fast-fashion retailer implements strategies to curtail these sorts of customer practices (e.g. blacklisting repeat offenders, charging for return postage, etc), the general response is to boycott the specific retailer.

Personally I think this issue stems by the fact that there is no sizing standard. As people are aware, a size 12 in Primark is different to a size 12 in Peacocks, which is different to a size 12 in New Look.

If we could have a nationwide standard that a size 12 = 30 inch waist (for example) then customers might feel more confident that the item they've ordered online might actually fit them.

But this is all hopes and dreams. The reality is, most businesses are investing significant efforts economising reverse logistics.

sheramber

Sizes are not just different between shops.

Size can vary in a different colour of the same item in the same marked size in M&S.