John Lewis - surprised at such bad customer service

My friend had bought an almost identical Panasonic TV as mine from JL, it broke 4 years into the warranty so they asked JL to repair it, they said it could not be repaired and they would only give them a replacement valued at the third of the price as the warranty was not to replace goods at full cost! Needless to say after much arguing and waving the warranty in their faces which said nothing of the sort they are replacing it. What has happened to them recently??

Elvisia wrote: »

My friend had bought an almost identical Panasonic TV as mine from JL, it broke 4 years into the warranty so they asked JL to repair it, they said it could not be repaired and they would only give them a replacement valued at the third of the price as the warranty was not to replace goods at full cost! Needless to say after much arguing and waving the warranty in their faces which said nothing of the sort they are replacing it. What has happened to them recently??

Doesn't the warranty say something along the lines of "alternative settlement?" AFAIK the warranty never EVER specified a full value replacement, and they tended to do a spec for spec replacement -- i.e you bought a 42" 1080p, 100hz freeview plasma set, so that's the replacement, rather than, say, a 65" 1080p, 800hz freeview HD, 3D, smart, LED simply because they cost the same amount.

But well done them for going far over and above your friend's rights and the contract, I hope he enjoys having to pursue legal action with currys next time. :rotfl: some people.

What the legal position here? At best they have muddled them up at worst they have attempted a deliberate deception. Took them back to another store and got the usual 'I can't speak for the staff in OS store, sir' and a load of other baloney.

What did you expect them to say, really? I used to get a bit snarky whenever somebody expected me to by psychic and know what somebody in another shop was thinking, because we're not a hive mind. The person could have gone out the back, got distracted and picked up the wrong box. They might have been running a degenerated shoe racket. They might have licked the shoes into disrepair out back. Who can say? How could the other branch know what a person they had never met were doing at any time that day?

They exchanged them, but even that seemed too much effort

That there is your legal right. They messed up, they fixed it, and still you want more. By all means try to get the police involved or whatever, but you can't prove deception, and there is no reason for the person to have tried to deceive you, unless they're a rare breed of person who goes home at night gleefully rubbing their hands at the thought of somebody having scuffed shoes when they expected them to be pristine. Oh the larks they will have.

markbrett64 wrote: »

Are you here trying to help people or just get a rise out them? I asked a question, it didn't need you to be either smug or sarcastic. I thought this was a forum where people could ask for sensible advice.

I do admit, I'm a snarky !!!!!!! at times. Usually when the posts I see are somewhat perplexing. You seem under the impression that a crime has been committed... it's a conclusion that I would never have leapt to. If JL hadn't replaced the shoes (well I assume they did, more on that later) and denied all knowledge of shoes existing, then perhaps, but not as it stands.

What they could have done is simple, they could have 'phoned the other store. I wasn't expecting them to be psychic. What I do expect is that they recruit people who know what they're doing... clearly that has failed on a number of occasions... present company not excluded.

The majority of the staff are really good, but everybody makes mistakes. I take it that in your working life you have never made a mistake?

But no, I was awesome. Yet I've never been a people person. I was the guy who was wheeled out to fix mistakes, and display a technical knowledge far above what anybody else on my department possessed. My only failing was that I couldn't feign sincerity for other people's mistakes.

If you'd brought the shoes to me, my response would have been, "Okay, so you've been given the wrong shoes, not sure how that happened... do you want an exchange or a refund? It's up to you."

I'm practical like that.

And for all your really clever repartee... you missed the key point. They brought out a pair of shoes, I tried and agreed to buy and then without them 'going out the back and getting confused' they produced a different box with different shoes. So no, they didn't fix it.

But surely one of the key points was:

They exchanged them, but even that seemed too much effort.

An exchange...you did have an exchange, did you not? If that is the case, then that is a remedy, a fix, if you will.

As for ringing the branch, what would that have really achieved. Assuming they got through to the right phone, the same person was working that day, was free, that you remembered their name, and they remembered the situation, would you have really achieved anything?

What I am doing is providing some perspective. A mistake was made. You got your shoes exchanged. What more to you actually expect?

But in all seriousness (I can be serious sometimes...) if nobody went out back, and they went directly to the main till point (Where there is likely a shelf/worktop behind the tills where stock is put) the assistant probably put down the box of shoes, not realising that somebody had also recently returned some of the very same shoes.

See, stock that is returned, and stock that needs to be charged, due to a lack of space, ends up on the same shelf, and very few people have the common courtesy to label anything.

All it took was for the person who charged the shoes to go "oh, these (brand name) ones?" and scan them.

The shoe department in my branch had tonnes of returns due to the open returns policy, and most were terribly worn, but never checked because tbh, it isn't worth the anger of the customers who decide that examining a returned item is an accusation of some sort.

So yeah, you were probably given a returned pair by mistake, and your brand new pair was reduced as "used" and sold on, because there were two identical boxes on the till bank.

If you were served on a stand-alone till though...no clue.

bubblegumcola wrote: »

The ex JL partner has got some of their facts wrong. The contact centres in Didsbury and Hamilton ARE definitely John Lewis partners. To say they don't care about their customers is just not true. They have the same benefits as any other partner in the business such as the bonus and so have a vested interest to ensure customers receive the best possible service. They have ALL also been in John Lewis branches, visited service buildings, have the same training programme, wear business dress and often do secondments in the branch.

Whelp, if you're right, my mistake. Is it the insurance guys that aren't? That'd explain why they answered the phone once as tesco...that was awkward.

Alas, the training for working in the call centres should be six months in a branch dealing with the mistakes the call centres make, then they'd know why their names are cursed in branches.

frustratedexjlemployee wrote: »

Doesn't the warranty say something along the lines of "alternative settlement?" AFAIK the warranty never EVER specified a full value replacement, and they tended to do a spec for spec replacement -- i.e you bought a 42" 1080p, 100hz freeview plasma set, so that's the replacement, rather than, say, a 65" 1080p, 800hz freeview HD, 3D, smart, LED simply because they cost the same amount.

But well done them for going far over and above your friend's rights and the contract, I hope he enjoys having to pursue legal action with currys next time. :rotfl: some people.



What did you expect them to say, really? I used to get a bit snarky whenever somebody expected me to by psychic and know what somebody in another shop was thinking, because we're not a hive mind. The person could have gone out the back, got distracted and picked up the wrong box. They might have been running a degenerated shoe racket. They might have licked the shoes into disrepair out back. Who can say? How could the other branch know what a person they had never met were doing at any time that day?



That there is your legal right. They messed up, they fixed it, and still you want more. By all means try to get the police involved or whatever, but you can't prove deception, and there is no reason for the person to have tried to deceive you, unless they're a rare breed of person who goes home at night gleefully rubbing their hands at the thought of somebody having scuffed shoes when they expected them to be pristine. Oh the larks they will have.

I think you are missing the point here. It is about shoddy customer service, something, as a long time customer of John Lewis, I am certainly seeing more and more when I buy from them.

The gentleman with the shoes was put through a fair amount of inconvenience because an employee at John Lewis could not even do a simple thing such as give him what he asked for. As a result he had to make a return journey to the store and barely got an apology. Next time he will probably take his custom elsewhere. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to know that losing customers through incompetence is not good for any retailer in the middle of a recession.

I recently tried to order something costing hundreds of pounds from them. A really stroppy online assistant told me it could not be delivered for 28 days. I went elsewhere and got it delivered in 3 days from ordering and saved myself some money into the bargain! I have had more than one item in the past delivered to me damaged/used/in a poor condition.

You can try and defend John Lewis all you like but the bottom line is that this is a thread with a fair amount of disgruntled customers who are saying that john Lewis is taking its eye off the ball. It is certainly being let down by the mail order side of the company, I have experienced appalling customer service from their online staff and as a result have stopped buying as much from them. As practically my entire house is furnished by John Lewis not to mention my relatively new kitchen units and appliances were bought from them, it has to be bad for me to go elsewhere!

flora48 wrote: »

Well if I had gone to the trouble of going to Oxford St to buy shoes and having tried them only to find a pair or worn ones in the box when I got home I would be very displeased. That smacks to me as someone trying to pull a fast one. Surely the sales assistant is trained to check what they are selling.

My laptop has turned up, has been repaired but I have to wait another week for it to be delivered to me. Then I have been given a 7 hour delivery slot. This is appalling customer service. Might as well go to Currys down the road next time.

I agree. ex employee however seems to think it is unreasonable for a customer to be upset about such service.