John Lewis - Refusing to honour order after written assurances

Coff33Break

Hi all,

I’d really appreciate some advice regarding an ongoing dispute with John Lewis that’s now been going on for nearly five weeks.

I ordered a TV during a 15% off promotion. The checkout confirmed a total price including fitting and I received a confirmation message on-screen, it wasn't until much later that I realised I had not received an email. Relying on that, I sold my old TV and bought a wall mount.

However, it later turned out that, due to what John Lewis later called a “system wide payment failure”, no order ID was generated and no payment was taken but they acknowledged fault was on them. I wasn’t notified of this at the time so I got in contact with them to honour the original sale.

Over the following days, I received 5 written assurances from different John Lewis customer service agents, all confirming that my “original intent” would be honoured.

Later, another agent even confirmed I should purchase it again and they'd refund the difference in John Lewis vouchers, which I declined as I didnt want a lot of e-vouchers and just wanted the price I assumed I had paid.

But a few days later, John Lewis changed its position entirely, now saying the promises were merely “miscommunications,” then later claiming it was a “pricing error”, and now most recently saying they can’t honour the price due to no order ID, even though the lack of an ID was admitted from day one as a system fault their end.

I’ve also gathered clear evidence that dozens of other customers purchased and received the same TV at the same price (some even had failed orders later honoured) through a HotUKDeals thread from that same date.

John Lewis has since:

• Admitted there was a system-wide payment fault that day.

• Admitted the customer service promises were misleading, except when it favours their stance.

• Refused any goodwill compensation or remedy, despite acknowledging the poor service.

• Changed its reasoning several times, from system fault to pricing error to no order ID. Everytime I pointed them towards assurances or other facts they changed stance again.

• Now told me the case is closed and cannot be escalated further, even though I am satill recieveing custome service emails saying it is still being considered.

I’ve exchanged over 30 emails, spoken to 15+ staff, and been promised resolution five times. I’ve had no TV for five weeks, I’m out of pocket, and the inconsistency in their responses has been appalling, which they've admitted to.

At this point I’m unsure whether to proceed to small claims court for misrepresentation and breach of duty (reliance on written promises, loss caused by their fault), or if there’s another escalation route I should consider first (executive office, legal letter, etc) or if I should just move on.

I didn't see the pricing as an error as it was still a lot and they honoured everyone that seemed to order on HotUkdeals, including someone who had a failed order like mine so I assume there were a lot of successful orders. I have written ancknowledgement from multiple staff saying they will honour it yet I have been now told to ignore all that as they were wrong.

Questions:

1. Given that other customers received the same TV at the same price, can JL still legally rely on a “pricing error” defence?

2. Does their repeated written assurance to “honour my intent” create a binding obligation under misrepresentation or promissory estoppel? 

3. Would it be worth sending a final letter to their executive office, or should I move directly to small claims or just cut my losses and move on.

Any advice on how to proceed would be massively appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

user1977

Was there ever a contract? Doesn't sound like it from what you've said.

phillw

Have you contacted them at
https://x.com/JohnLewisRetail

Coff33Break

user1977 said:

Was there ever a contract? Doesn't sound like it from what you've said.

This is where I'm not sure. I took the confirmation page at face value and thought nothing of it. It was only until the TV didnt get delivery confirmation I started delving deeper.

When speaking to customer service, 5 different people promised to honour the price and intent, so I'm not sure if that equates to a contract too?

Where it gets confusing is I spoke to someone on the phone and they told me when a customer service rep had told me it can't be honoured, they're correct but when they told me it can be honoured, theyre wrong, however at points it was the same person saying yes and no. 

Okell

@screech_78 might be able to help you.

They've helped out people with JL customer service problems before

user1977

From their terms:

"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"

So even if you had an email confirmation, there's no contract until they despatch the item.

Grumpy_chap

It sounds like there was never a contract (offer and acceptance) so anything has to rely on goodwill.
Is the option to pay the current price and have the difference in JL vouchers still available?

Coff33Break

"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 --

So even if you had an email confirmation, there's no contract until they despatch the item.

Thank you, good to know. I wonder what happens if they don't message to cancel and confirm a system error caused the malfunction.

I'm guessing then verbal promises from their staff in writing do not mean anything then too? 

So many loop holes it seems.

Thanks for your help.

Coff33Break

Grumpy_chap said:

It sounds like there was never a contract (offer and acceptance) so anything has to rely on goodwill.
Is the option to pay the current price and have the difference in JL vouchers still available?

No that option has been removed too, ironically by the same person who offered it.

MyRealNameToo

Coff33Break said:

Hi all,

I’d really appreciate some advice regarding an ongoing dispute with John Lewis that’s now been going on for nearly five weeks.

I ordered a TV during a 15% off promotion. The checkout confirmed a total price including fitting and I received a confirmation message on-screen, it wasn't until much later that I realised I had not received an email. Relying on that, I sold my old TV and bought a wall mount.

However, it later turned out that, due to what John Lewis later called a “system wide payment failure”, no order ID was generated and no payment was taken but they acknowledged fault was on them. I wasn’t notified of this at the time so I got in contact with them to honour the original sale.

Over the following days, I received 5 written assurances from different John Lewis customer service agents, all confirming that my “original intent” would be honoured.

Later, another agent even confirmed I should purchase it again and they'd refund the difference in John Lewis vouchers, which I declined as I didnt want a lot of e-vouchers and just wanted the price I assumed I had paid.

But a few days later, John Lewis changed its position entirely, now saying the promises were merely “miscommunications,” then later claiming it was a “pricing error”, and now most recently saying they can’t honour the price due to no order ID, even though the lack of an ID was admitted from day one as a system fault their end.

I’ve also gathered clear evidence that dozens of other customers purchased and received the same TV at the same price (some even had failed orders later honoured) through a HotUKDeals thread from that same date.

John Lewis has since:

• Admitted there was a system-wide payment fault that day.

• Admitted the customer service promises were misleading, except when it favours their stance.

• Refused any goodwill compensation or remedy, despite acknowledging the poor service.

• Changed its reasoning several times, from system fault to pricing error to no order ID. Everytime I pointed them towards assurances or other facts they changed stance again.

• Now told me the case is closed and cannot be escalated further, even though I am satill recieveing custome service emails saying it is still being considered.

I’ve exchanged over 30 emails, spoken to 15+ staff, and been promised resolution five times. I’ve had no TV for five weeks, I’m out of pocket, and the inconsistency in their responses has been appalling, which they've admitted to.

At this point I’m unsure whether to proceed to small claims court for misrepresentation and breach of duty (reliance on written promises, loss caused by their fault), or if there’s another escalation route I should consider first (executive office, legal letter, etc) or if I should just move on.

I didn't see the pricing as an error as it was still a lot and they honoured everyone that seemed to order on HotUkdeals, including someone who had a failed order like mine so I assume there were a lot of successful orders. I have written ancknowledgement from multiple staff saying they will honour it yet I have been now told to ignore all that as they were wrong.

Questions:

1. Given that other customers received the same TV at the same price, can JL still legally rely on a “pricing error” defence?

2. Does their repeated written assurance to “honour my intent” create a binding obligation under misrepresentation or promissory estoppel? 

3. Would it be worth sending a final letter to their executive office, or should I move directly to small claims or just cut my losses and move on.

Any advice on how to proceed would be massively appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

1. yes, ultimately you never entered into a contract because JL's terms say the contract was only bound when the goods were dispatched

2. you could only really potentially claim for any losses you sustained directly because of the wrong information their staff gave. From what you say you haven't lost anything other than a few weeks without a TV which isnt an actual financial loss

3. C 

If you get your kicks out of fighting with companies, which some people do, then by all means write to the CEO or whoever. With JL it just gets passed to a different complaints team who in my experience are worse than the standard guys but the only advantage is that they own the case so you dont have to repeat stuff each time

You could go to court, you have no grounds and if they defend they will win, but you could gamble on it not being worth their while to go to court and so they settle to get you to go away. Obviously if they do call your bluff you end up more out of pocket. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Nothing to do with consumer rights but I don’t understand how big companies fail so spectacularly with these kinds of issues.

Either they tell the customer no as a contract wasn’t formed or they tell the customer they will do xyz and do it. 

Time spent dealing with OP’s communications not only wastes OP’s time but is costing JL money to pay the staff. 

Crazy stuff.