John Lewis - Refusing to honour order after written assurances

Arctos

After an experience in the 1970s I remained wary of JL. We paid for a suite of bedroom furniture to be delivered. Items were on display. We waited for a few weeks as we had been told that delivery could not happen immediately. We then were told that the price had gone up [inflation] and that they would deliver a couple of weeks later as the items had just arrived at their depot. How green we were, then - we complained as we thought we had a contract. Their reply was to point to a tiny clause in the small print, not only allowing them to increase the price, but if we backed out we would lose a percentage which they determined to be a deposit.
We had a broadband package with them a few years ago. Usual clause about us not being able to pull out midway without penalty; however, they pulled out without penalty as they decided to cease broadband - of course what was sauce for the goose was not sauce for the gander - we got no payout!
Stringing along as Coff33Break noted above.
Moral of the story: caveat emptor aka be very careful when dealing with this business!

AmethystBCK80

I had a strikingly similar experience. During the John Lewis sales I ordered two expensive mattresses. I got through to pay, went onto my banking app and approved the purchase. The banking app said I could close. I was busy and thought I'd done everything. On the day I'd selected for my delivery nothing turned up. I rang John Lewis and there was no record of the transaction, and I couldn't find anything in my bank statement. So I accepted there would be nothing I could do. It was doubly annoying because we live in Sheffield and I made two trips to Manchester and Leeds to research and try out these mattresses. However a while later I went to in to Lloyds. They could see that no money left my account, however, on looking further they have a separate page where they can see card authorisations. I had authorised payment for that amount to John Lewis, on the date I said. I went to John Lewis customer servicer online with this new information. They said that because no money had left my account they couldn't (wouldn't) do anything. I feel that if there was a glitch on their side, there would be a reasonable shout for holding them contractually liable. I feel like I handed over the money but they didn't take it. I understand their terms and conditions might say differently, but legislation overrides the Ts and Cs of companies. I was then passed round 7 different customer service people all asking similar questions. One aspect of this is technical and legal - I can see there would be arguments. But the other side is just about being honourable and decent, when I had proof and wasn't trying anything on. I had taken hours of time to research and make the purchase. The difference between the sale price and the normal price was £1000. I'd always been a loyal supporter of John Lewis. Unfortunately that has now changed.

Alderbank

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82053558#Comment_82053558

The banking app said I could close. I was busy and thought I'd done everything.

The JLP app passed you temporarily to your banking app to approve the purchase. The banking app said you could close the banking app in order to complete the purchase, because the banking app has sent a token to the shop's site to say you had authorised a payment of £xxx.

If you had stayed around, the JLP app to which you would have been returned would be saying something like 'Your bank has agreed to this payment. Now please click 'Continue' or some such to complete the sale.

A case of more haste, less speed unfortunately.