John Lewis

Randomstuff65

Hi
 looking for advice. I recently purchased a watch online from John Lewis using a one 4 all gift card. The watch cost £40. When the package arrived I opened it to find inside a watch box but no watch inside the box. 

I immediately contacted John Lewis customer service and was asked to provide pictures of the packaging which I did. I have since had several messages from different departments saying they are looking into it. The final email I received says they have checked all procedures and they are satisfied that all procedures were followed correctly and therefore will not be providing a replacement or refund. They suggested claiming for non delivery of item from card company but the gift card company will not refund as I have actually received a parcel so technically not a non delivery. 

I Have filed an official complaint with John Lewis saying that I think it’s their responsibility as the watch was clearly not in the box but am still waiting for a response. Does anyone have any advice. Thanks in advance

Mark_d

Was there any evidence that the packaging had been tampered with?  Were the security seals all intact on the watch box?

Randomstuff65

Hi. The envelope packaging was definitely not tampered with but the watch box was not sealed at all

Okell

Go back to JL and refer them to the law, specifically s29 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015

"29  Passing of risk

(1) A sales contract is to be treated as including the following provisions as terms.

(2) The goods remain at the trader's risk until they come into the physical possession of—

(a) the consumer, or

(b) a person identified by the consumer to take possession of the goods."

GDB2222

Clearly, although JL don't want to say this to your face, they think you did receive a watch,  and you are trying it on.  I don't think you are, but I only have your word for that. 

JL may well have footage of your parcel being wrapped up with a sealed watch box inside. You say that the packaging looked to be intact when you received it, so ... well, you can see where this is leading. 

Of course, @Okell is absolutely right that responsibility for delivering the goods remains with the trader, but you have said the package didn't look like it had been tampered with. JL asked for pictures of the packaging, to make sure someone hadn't opened the package and then repacked it in new packaging. So, if you sue them under the CRA, they may defend the action on the basis that they think you did receive the goods.

I say they may defend, because it's obviously far cheaper for them to send out a new £40 watch. However, companies tend to defend cases where they suspect fraud, as otherwise they become known as a soft touch, and the number of fraudulent cases increases.

So, you have exhausted the customer services route. The next step is court proceedings, with a bit of form filling and a £30-35 court fee. And, if JL defend, the judge may decide that, on the balance of probabilities, you did receive the watch. So, you could end up minus the watch and minus the court fee, too.



  

TELLIT01

There have been a massive number of reports of similar incidents in the past year or so, not specifically with John Lewis.  The problem is that the more publicity there is about this type of incident, the more you will get the chancers trying it on.  From a retailer point of view it must be impossible to separate the chancers from the genuine incidents.

I'm not suggesting the OP is one of the chancers, just trying to show it from the business perspective.

screech_78

There is a lot of fraud at the moment regarding deliveries, however I’m surprised they’ve refused to replace based on the value. Do you shop at JL a lot? If it’s your first purchase, they’ve probably based their decision on that. 

If the final decision has came from security investigations or the profit protection team, it’s unlikely to be changed, however they certainly wouldn’t defend a claim on a £40 item - there won’t be CCTV of the packing of this, that’s reserved for the distribution centre where high value electronics and apple products are sent from. 

My advice - send an email to the chairman or CEO (contact details can be found on Google). Remain polite and the team there will have a further look. Depending on the circumstances, you might get a favourable result. 

Randomstuff65

Thanks for your comment. I can assure you I am not a ‘chancer’ 
I have been emailing every other day for nearly two weeks and getting no where., it is very stressful. Although the value of the watch is not a lot, this was a gift card I used from someone and I feel bad that I don’t have anything to show for that gift. 

I feel John Lewis is a massive company and I get that there will always be people who try to scam companies but as a genuine person it’s very hard to accept that there’s nothing I can do and that the big company will defeat the small person. 

They asked me for photos of all the packaging which I provided but they are not willing or not able to do the same from a dispatch perspective. 

Randomstuff65

screech_78 said:

There is a lot of fraud at the moment regarding deliveries, however I’m surprised they’ve refused to replace based on the value. Do you shop at JL a lot? If it’s your first purchase, they’ve probably based their decision on that. 

If the final decision has came from security investigations or the profit protection team, it’s unlikely to be changed, however they certainly wouldn’t defend a claim on a £40 item - there won’t be CCTV of the packing of this, that’s reserved for the distribution centre where high value electronics and apple products are sent from. 

My advice - send an email to the chairman or CEO (contact details can be found on Google). Remain polite and the team there will have a further look. Depending on the circumstances, you might get a favourable result. 

Thanks for your comment. 

This was my first (and last) purchase from John Lewis. 

I will follow your advice and contact the CEO and keep my fingers crossed crossed 
thanks again 

Kim_13

Video opening anything of value in future. I didn’t think a company would resist over £40 when the pictures they asked for had been provided, but obviously I was wrong. Maybe because they know it was a gift card, they know you can’t do a chargeback to get your money. 

I had around £50 worth missing once (Boots) but it was replaced without issue. I don’t know if JL would have CCTV of the packaging area and how long they keep it for, but if JL don’t have this, they should be replacing. If they had it, it might be impossible to see a broken seal and would only help if the watch had been removed by someone actually in packing.

As there’s nothing to lose, you could raise it with the courier. If they refer you to JL, show that to JL. Don’t mention to the carrier that you’ve already tried the retailer, just say that they delivered a package to you which contained a watch box that had been opened - and the watch you ordered was missing.