John Lewis / Retailer standards are becoming unacceptable

alexrose1uk

This is both a warning and headsup, but also a lamentation on the state of modern retail in the UK.

Myself and my wife have shopped with John Lewis for many years, as traditionally customer service and warranties have always been excellent, and JL have traditionally been one of the stronger large retailers when it comes to issues.

Unfortunately, it seems they are now beginning to go the way of MANY other retailers, and customer service is declining, but they are also now lying to their customers, seemingly on an institutional level.

This started for myself and my wife, when we bought an electrical from JL quite recently in the sales. We have often used John Lewis for larger electricals, Apple devices etc, due to the fact they offer extended warranty as standard on 'all electricals'.

This extended warranty can be seen clearly here:
Guarantees | Customer Services | John Lewis & Partners

"Guaranteed for longer
Minimum 2 year guarantee now included on all electricals, 5 years on TVs. All at no extra cost."

With this in mind, I picked up a sound bar on offer/clearance (as new I might add, this wasn't some sort of open box special) from the website, along with a few other bits. I noticed an issue however when I received an email confirming the 2 year warranty for 2 items on the order, but I did NOT receive one 

Confused as to this, I spoke to customer services, and I had 3 separate advisors tell me that the item doesn't come with 2 year warranty, one in writing by email, they could not identify why (the person via email stated it depends on what they get from the manufacturer; but if that's the case, they should NOT be advertising 2 year warranty on all electricals which they cannot deliver), nor could they answer to the fact it directly contradicted the JL T&Cs or statement on the website, which I raised with them, and even screenshotted.

I also highlighted to them that nowhere on the item's page did it explain the item does not have standard warranty. Normally I'd think maybe they were mistaken, however, the simple fact multiple advisors all gave me the same story, and I also did not receive the standard extended guarantee email leads me to believe this may well actually be correct. I must be honest, the customer service staff very obviously didn't care also, and also refused to raise a complaint over the phone, despite the website explicitly stating they should. Overall though, this lacklustre feedback and experience from multiple advisers via different methods tells me that this at least partially comes from above.

I then went into my local store, to customer services and they were confused as they confirmed it DID contradict the T&Cs and advertised standards, and whilst they were at least much less disinterested they ALSO could not find warranty info for this item and confirmed no where on the pages description or page did it highlight a non-standard warranty; they tried speaking with electrical whom basically told them they couldn't help!! 

All in a terrible experience, but also one that doesn't entirely sound legal given the statements they make on the website.

In the end I was able to get a refund, as I didn't want to have the argument if it ever came to need it, but realistically it shouldn't ever have got to this level; the item should have been warranted as advertised; explicitly as John Lewis states they do. 

Ultimately, it shows to me that the quality of John Lewis support; and also remote customer service has deteriorated massively, in years gone by they used to be fantastic, now you cannot even speak to a store without going in; and I wanted to leave a warning here for all to be more careful with John Lewis than you needed to in the past; it seems even ALL <X> does not mean ALL anymore.


Unfortunately this general decline in standards appears to be all across the board, my wife had some hell of trouble with Sports Direct whom essentially cheated her out of a promotion and voucher, just a few months ago, and then customer service was none existent to resolve the issue, even communication was dire.
Now Sports Direct are known to not be amazing, but John Lewis, and so many other stores which USED to be amazing, seem to all be in general decline. I am guessing it is the rush to bottom out prices, but at the rate its going, customer service and guarantees aren't going to be worth the paper they are printed on, and we will all be worse off for it.

tacpot12

John Lewis' customer service has been in decline for some years. Well done for standing up for a refund. 

swingaloo

So all that trouble for a 2 year guarantee which was totally unnecessary anyway as you already have your statutory rights. Most guarantees are not worth the paper they are written on anyway.

born_again

Warranty is over & above you consumer rights. 

alexrose1uk

swingaloo said:

So all that trouble for a 2 year guarantee which was totally unnecessary anyway as you already have your statutory rights. Most guarantees are not worth the paper they are written on anyway.

Not really about the warranty itself, more the principle of being promised something, and then finding out you don't have it after purchase.

By the above argument, you wouldn't be upset if your car actually only has a 1.4l engine, not a 1.6 as promised? Or the model of car doesn't have DAB or Bluetooth like you were promised? Of course you would. It's not about how useful, or what the previously promised thing does for you, its the fact it WAS promised, and therefore formed part of your decision to buy and enter into purchase/contract, and you expect it to be there; especially when in this case, John Lewis blanket promise ALL electricals will have said warranty.

Statutory rights may exist, but as someone with experience in having to hold companies to account over it and sales law, it is often an involved and headache/time inducing experience, something I don't really have time for nowadays.

John Lewis used to be excellent at providing a reasonable service, even for tech, which is not something that can be said for a lot of retailers; however this is not a decline in service, more a complete negligence to provide the appropriate one.

DullGreyGuy

You reap what you sow.

Customers have become increasingly cost conscious, encouraged by sites like this, and value price above almost anything else. There aren't many people now willing to pay 10% more to buy from a better retailer even if they can "afford it". The result? Companies have to cut prices, they cannot simply buy cheaper and so what supports the price cuts is cost cutting... less and cheaper staff is an easy win, less generous goodwill gestures.

JL have been struggling for years, they've had a turnaround plan for a while but for the last half year they had £59m losses (improved from the £99m losses for the previous period). It's not much of a surprise that they have followed their competitors in cutting service because they have lost their business to those cheaper competitors.

Great service are, at least on a national level, increasingly limited to those aimed at higher earners and not high street but those companies are getting at better identifying their target customers and investing in those relationships rather than your average man on the street who may have saved up for a one off purchase.

km1500

people don't want customer service they want cheap prices then when something goes wrong they want customer service

henrygregory

tacpot12 said:

John Lewis' customer service has been in decline for some years. Well done for standing up for a refund. 

I completely agree. Customer service at John Lewis has really gone downhill, and in my experience, they often employ deceitful tactics to avoid honoring their "warranties". I've had several run-ins with them where they tried to dismiss my claims, only for me to prove in the end that I was right and had a valid case.

It feels like they have no respect for their customers. Once they’ve got your money, they just don’t care anymore. Is it any wonder that retail is struggling when businesses like John Lewis have zero interest in providing decent customer care? I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole based on my experiences. 

ThumbRemote

I would suggest making a complaint to the ASA, they do get companies to make changes where needed. 

sheramber

My son bought a tv from John Lewis.


Recently, It developed a fault still under the 5 year warranty. 

 He phoned JL who passed the details to an engineer.

The engineer asked for a photograph of te fault and immediately agreed  the tv was faulty.

my son was able to choose a replacement tv which was delivered  and the faulty one taken away, all without any charge or hassle. 

Murphybear

km1500 said:

people don't want customer service they want cheap prices then when something goes wrong they want customer service

sadly I think you have summed it up perfectly.   

i have been a big JL fan for years and, fortunately, have never needed customer services.