John Lewis - missing airpods

JoPhSh

I bought my daughter some airpods pros for Christmas from John Lewis. They were bought at the end of November, delivery was fine and there were no obvious issues with the packaging. The airpod box seemed sealed and we wrapped it up and gifted it to her on Christmas day. However on opening the box the airpods and case were not inside, only the cable. We were still within 35 days so contacted John Lewis immediately including photos and timelines. However they've refused a refund or replacement saying that this is a delivery issue and as a result we only have 10 days to raise a concern. Initially they said I needed to provide the original envelope the airpods arrived in but this was chucked out in the frenzy of Christmas wrapping.

As there was nothing untoward about the packaging or delivery and it was only once the box it came in was opened there was no possible way we could've known there was a problem. I assume most people don't fully unpackage presents and check inside the box before opening so it does seem unreasonable of John Lewis. I've made a claim on the credit card but the person I spoke to from the credit card company said John Lewis will almost always challenge and refuse repayment. When I spoke to someone in John Lewis they said they'd had lots of similar problems this year but still refused any redress. I'm unsure where to go with this and am wondering if anyone has any similar experience or advice. It seems to be disingenuous to me that this is a delivery problem and even 10 days to raise a concern seems arbitrary and isn't documented anywhere. I'd be grateful if anyone on the forum has any advice or comment.

Aylesbury_Duck

JoPhSh said:

I bought my daughter some airpods pros for Christmas from John Lewis. They were bought at the end of November, delivery was fine and there were no obvious issues with the packaging. The airpod box seemed sealed and we wrapped it up and gifted it to her on Christmas day. However on opening the box the airpods and case were not inside, only the cable. We were still within 35 days so contacted John Lewis immediately including photos and timelines. However they've refused a refund or replacement saying that this is a delivery issue and as a result we only have 10 days to raise a concern. Initially they said I needed to provide the original envelope the airpods arrived in but this was chucked out in the frenzy of Christmas wrapping.

As there was nothing untoward about the packaging or delivery and it was only once the box it came in was opened there was no possible way we could've known there was a problem. I assume most people don't fully unpackage presents and check inside the box before opening so it does seem unreasonable of John Lewis. I've made a claim on the credit card but the person I spoke to from the credit card company said John Lewis will almost always challenge and refuse repayment. When I spoke to someone in John Lewis they said they'd had lots of similar problems this year but still refused any redress. I'm unsure where to go with this and am wondering if anyone has any similar experience or advice. It seems to be disingenuous to me that this is a delivery problem and even 10 days to raise a concern seems arbitrary and isn't documented anywhere. I'd be grateful if anyone on the forum has any advice or comment.

Sadly, I think this is essential nowadays, especially for small, high-value items.  Several on here have said they'll never order such items online in future because although thousands of online purchases go smoothly, when a higher-value problem arises it's very difficult to get a resolution, as you're discovering.  I'd certainly buy in-store from now on, I don't want to be in the 0.01% or whatever it is where things go wrong.

You're in a "he said, she said" situation where you have no evidence that the package or box was tampered with before receipt, yet the item is missing.  From JL's point of view, it could be a customer committing fraud, so you can see why they don't pay out immediately.

See what the credit card company ends up with.  If you get no joy, you could try a letter before action, threatening small claims court.

Emmia

Aylesbury_Duck said:

JoPhSh said:

I bought my daughter some airpods pros for Christmas from John Lewis. They were bought at the end of November, delivery was fine and there were no obvious issues with the packaging. The airpod box seemed sealed and we wrapped it up and gifted it to her on Christmas day. However on opening the box the airpods and case were not inside, only the cable. We were still within 35 days so contacted John Lewis immediately including photos and timelines. However they've refused a refund or replacement saying that this is a delivery issue and as a result we only have 10 days to raise a concern. Initially they said I needed to provide the original envelope the airpods arrived in but this was chucked out in the frenzy of Christmas wrapping.

As there was nothing untoward about the packaging or delivery and it was only once the box it came in was opened there was no possible way we could've known there was a problem. I assume most people don't fully unpackage presents and check inside the box before opening so it does seem unreasonable of John Lewis. I've made a claim on the credit card but the person I spoke to from the credit card company said John Lewis will almost always challenge and refuse repayment. When I spoke to someone in John Lewis they said they'd had lots of similar problems this year but still refused any redress. I'm unsure where to go with this and am wondering if anyone has any similar experience or advice. It seems to be disingenuous to me that this is a delivery problem and even 10 days to raise a concern seems arbitrary and isn't documented anywhere. I'd be grateful if anyone on the forum has any advice or comment.

Sadly, I think this is essential nowadays, especially for small, high-value items.  Several on here have said they'll never order such items online in future because although thousands of online purchases go smoothly, when a higher-value problem arises it's very difficult to get a resolution, as you're discovering.  I'd certainly buy in-store from now on, I don't want to be in the 0.01% or whatever it is where things go wrong.

You're in a "he said, she said" situation where you have no evidence that the package or box was tampered with before receipt, yet the item is missing.  From JL's point of view, it could be a customer committing fraud, so you can see why they don't pay out immediately.

See what the credit card company ends up with.  If you get no joy, you could try a letter before action, threatening small claims court.

I have to agree, I got a mobile on click and collect in John Lewis, and opened the box before leaving the collection area to check the mobile was actually in the box. 

If it had been missing I would have immediately raised it with the staff at the collection point.