John Lewis Complaint - advice sought!!!

JayneM_3

Hi there,

I'm a new poster and I'm looking for a bit of advice from anyone who might be a little more in the know than me.

In December I purchased an item from John Lewis online for approx £50 - it was a christmas present. I entered my debit card details correctly, the order was accepted and the item duly received.

Fast forward 4 months to April and I get a telephone call out of the blue from John Lewis saying that they failed to debit my account in December. They admitted they didn't know why, and that they suspected it was due to a 'system error' on their part. Anyway, they had recognised their ommission, and had made an attempt to claim the funds in April and the reason they were calling me is that the claim had been rejected by the bank. I explained that the reason the claim had been rejected was that I had received an up-issued debit card since December, so although my details as entered in December were correct, they were now out of date.

I told them that I was not willing to provide my updated details and that I was very surprised that they expected me to pay for the item some 4 months after they had failed to take payment through no fault of mine. I hadn't realised that the payment had not been debited until I received the phonecall. To ask me to find £50 that I have not budgeted and thought I had already paid is unfair in my opinion. The guy i spoke to put me on hold to speak to his manager, but wen he returned he confirmed that I would be expected to pay, so I asked him to write to me, thinking that would give me time to consider my options.

I recieved the following email:
[SIZE=+0]"I am emailing you to give you an update on your order that you placed with us on the 18th of December 2007.
We have yet to bill you for this order. Due to an internal error we did not request payment for this order until the 8th of April 2008. Despite this error on our side the £49 for this order is yet to be paid in full.
I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause."
[/SIZE]
I have let this drift until now, but I am conscious that I need to get this resolved, so I intend to write to John Lewis with a formal compaint, asking them to waive the charge.

Do I have any specific rights that mean I should not have to pay this charge 5 months on, or do I have to rely on a goodwill gesture from John Lewis?

Opinions very much appreciated...

Best regards
Jayne

Mark7799

Why do you think you should not have to pay it? You've had the item therefore you pay for it. It would be no different if you had sent a cheque which they didn't bank for 5 months.

alijolly

Pay for it! You bought an item which I assume was satisfactory why should you not have to pay for it? It is inconvenient that they had an error which meant the payment didn't go through, but had you not changed your card details in the meantime they would have, correctly, just claimed the money. You say you hadn't budgeted for the item but you must have done when you initially bought it. Just as it is not your fault JL have taken so long to claim the money, it is not JLs fault that you have now spent the money you originally budgeted for this item.

vikingaero

If your employer forgets to pay you overtime from Christmas and you notice now would you let them off?

You bought something, there was an error in debiting the amount, but now you don't want to pay, so why not get the present back and return it to John Lewis?

Noctu

I had a similar experience, except it was in a Spar shop, and they debited my card a month later.
From speaking to the police about it (I saw multiple transactions come through on my card on the same day and thought it was fraud!), the legal stance is that you owe it, you need to pay for it, and they can request money whenever they want (I assume within reason!)

sarahlouise210

..........but they were asking for updated debit card details ( new expiry date etc) over the phone. Even the email address could be a scam - I would pay it .. but only once John Lewis had actually requested the money IN WRITING as requested

Rex_Mundi

You've got no right not to pay. They made a mistake (actually in your favour.........you've kept hold of your money for an extra 5 months).Once they realised their mistake, they asked for payment. They are acting fairly, and within the law.

If you refuse to pay, they have every right to take you to Small Claims court. They will win this easily (you have no case whatsoever). You will then end up with a CCJ and black mark on your credit record.

uktim29

JayneM wrote: »

I have let this drift until now, but I am conscious that I need to get this resolved, so I intend to write to John Lewis with a formal compaint, asking them to waive the charge.

Why do you think they would do this?

Do you really think a company wants repeat business from customers who don't like paying?

This is a classic case of giving someone an inch and they take a mile.

geri1965_2

Just pay up - John Lewis are a reputable company who bend over backwards to keep their customers happy and their customer service is second to none.

If you don't want to give them your bank details over the phone why can't you just send them a cheque?

seashore321

If you are afraidit is a scam then fair enough. You have the goods and although it was their mistake you should pay for them.

If it was me I would have turned it to my advantage and said that I was slightly worried that they needed my new details as you hear of 'sooo' many scams. Have had sleepless nights etc. Realise you need to pay for it etc etc.
How you value their USUALLY faultless service and feel a little let down by this failure. Maybe this has left you a little out of pocket for phone calls etc and maybe 10% off or voucher for future purposes would ease your pain! As you buy a lot from them.
Naughty I know but you have had five months interest free credit, so treat them fairly but a little discount might be applicable if you are really nice!

JayneM_3

OK, I hold my hands up, I am obviously in the minority. I understand the points you are making, and it seems that legally I don't have a leg to stand on, so I shall call them and pay up today.

When I was a student I used to work in Customer Relations for an Insurance company, and many of the complaints we received were down to us making claims for payments months after we were supposed to, and we often waived them to preserve goodwill, so I just presumed this was normal practice.

I am not a consumer who dislikes paying by the way, I have given John Lewis plenty of business in the past, and really feel that they as a large company are better able to absorb the impact of their mistake than I as an individual am.

Nevertheless, I am happy with the product, and realise that the burden of spotting this error earlier on was probably on me just as much as the company.

Thank you for your responses