Marks and Sparks shocking customer service

[taz29duffy]

Just that really. Always have been loyal for both food and basic clothing for 20+ years. Yes their fashion has deteriorated but I always rated their selection and customer services...until last week.

Placed an order for £250+ on Thursday. Realised that it automatically was showing as for delivery to my old address (moved 6 weeks ago), so checked on line and it advised to contact them within 30 mins and amendments could be made. I contacted them within 5 minutes and spoke with the most unhelpful and rude assistant I have ever encountered. 50 minutes on the phone and she was unable to assist me (probably because she was so inefficient that she missed the 30min amendment slot. She spoke down to me and talked over me. She placed me on hold multiple times, despite me saying that I would call back. I eventually terminated the call as I had to get children to bed and she immediately called me back and placed me on hold. I was given assurance that someone would contact me the following today to confirm if amendments had occurred. No one contacted me.

I emailed M+S to complain about the attitude I had encountered, received an automatic response to say someone would reply within 48 hours and guess what... 96 hours later and no reply.

I called M+S again this morning after I got a delivery notice from DHL to advise my parcel would be delivered today to....my old address. The man on the phone was at least pleasant and he contacted DHL directly and came back to say that he had arranged for the parcel to come to my new address. 15.30 comes and I get an email to say my parcel has been delivered and I have signed for it....I HAVE NOT RECEIVED IT AND HAVE NOT SGNED FOR IT.... at this point I am losing the will to live.

Phone M+S again and get another incompetent customer service agent (who was reasonably pleasant) who could not explain what had happened or why I had not been contacted, just kept saying "you placed your order as standard delivery so we have up to 5 days to deliver it" I am literally banging my head on a bring wall.

AIBU to swear never to cross the threshold of M+S again and warn all mumsnetters that this once British cornerstone of shopping has went to the wall and is now to be avoided???

Rant over!!!

[bodgeitandscarper]

They just aren't the store they used to be and seem sadly behind the times in all areas. I purchased a lamp online and when it arrived it was damaged and dirty and really poor quality.
I was told that I couldn't return it as they wouldn't be able to sell it, I told them that they sold it to me like that in the first place, I was furious!
They just seem to have lost the plot as far as customer service goes, I wasn't impressed with their plastic 'shop' items that they produced recently either. I used to always think you could get quality from M&S, but it seems that is no longer the case and hasn't been for a while.

[spinduffy]

No quality has went down too. I do all my food shopping there but as from today am boycotting it! Marks were always brilliant at returns and I always had found them efficient, but sadly that is no longer the case.

[user1497207191]

M&S has been going down the pan for years, if not decades. Their quality control is an absolute joke. I can understand different sizings on different items, but when you can take 2 identical items of clothing off the shelf, and find the dimensions are different by several inches, it's clear they don't have quality control. Or when you buy a size 10 and a size 12 of the same item to find which fits better, and find they're identically sized, the only difference being the tag. It's about time they started making their clothes in the uk again rather than the other side of the world. They used to stand for quality but that's long gone.

[Hoooo]

Very similar experience with john lewis a few years ago...
Never shopped there since...

[BuzzShitbagBobbly]

I did this recently too. It is silly they can't amend orders before they are even picked, let alone dispatched.

I just cancelled the whole order in the grace period and redid it.

No help to you now OP but useful if anyone else has the same issue.

[Sizeofalentil]

@hoooo I agree about John Lewis. Their customer service is appalling. I won't shop there any more after they refused to help with an appliance that broke down, despite us having insurance and it being under a year old

[Biancadelrioisback]

I've had a number of issues with them over the years too. I recently ordered 4 matching wine glasses and only got 3. When I was on the phone to them they kept saying they needed all 4 to refund the full order. It just didn't seem to go in!!
My MIL bought a mirror and it arrived broken too. They offered to send a replacement which also arrived broken (different place). Happen a third time and they just asked for a refund which they got...but they also had 3 huge broken mirrors to dispose of. MIL is disabled so just had them in the hallway until I could get up there with the big car to get them shifted

[Streamside]

I had exceptional customer service from them a while back and emailed them to say so. They replied thanking me and saying they would let the staff know.They then emailed me asking if I was pleased with the email they sent me and should the adviser get flowers or a voucher.Not the cafe staff who I complimented in the first place but the person who had replied to my email.

[Troilusworks]

Why are these threads always about M&S and JL. Never about Primark or Asda or Tesco. I don't believe you don't get shit service from them. Tesco always has shit stuff, it always looks grubby, and the food is awful but, no, no one complains about them.

Funny, no one ever complains about Sky either, despite some of the ridiculous guff on there. Only about the BBC.

Maybe certain organisations have people in PR departments who post regularly to give their rivals a bad name.

I've always found both M&S and JL customer service to be far superior to any of the organisations I've mentioned.

[smartcarnotsosmartdriver]

Not as up market but I did something similar with Argos a while back. Called them up and was very nice, explained that I knew it was entirely my fault and I would pay an additional delivery charge if required. The customer service assistant was completely unreasonable. Started having a go about why had I not checked the address. Then shushed me while I was in the middle of a sentence, more than once. I complained to Argos and have heard nothing to this day. I've never bought from them since.

[Oblomov19]

Every sympathy. I've had similar.

Now having it with BT. They keep closing my case. Even though they haven't resolved it!

[Potnoodledoo]

It might be an obvious question.But did you actually update your new address on the system.

[Moltenpink]

@Troilusworks I’ve had hideous customer service from JL too, their customer care line is an absolute shambles so I can see why so many threads name them. In store seems to be as helpful as ever though to be fair.

[Troilusworks]

I'm sure it happens Moltenpink but I've always had amazing service from JL. I don't get that these threads are always about the same companies. There's one at least every week, but not about the aggressive shark companies, like Primark, Asda or Tesco. Strikes me as weird.

[slipperywhensparticus]

Tescos have always given me great customer services primark too even sky!

The ones who were awful were BT I ended my broadband and phone with them they sent me a final bill I paid it then moved house two months pass I get an email telling me they were sending my bill to collections if I didn't pay turns out there was a final final bill they sent to my old address (despite having my new one) and when I rang to complain they were belligerent before the supervisor agreed that two final Bill's were uncalled for and agreed to wipe it as a courtesy

Sainsbury's detained a friend of mine accused her of shoplifting she was in hysterics because she had paid she had lost her receipt they told her off for being hysterical she apologised said she had lost her mum this was the last straw for her the reply would you like us to put a call out for her didn't go down well....they confirmed she had paid and banned her anyway because....well there was no reason really aß she stole nothing!

I bought a hot chocolate there was no chocolate in there just water I took it back I was told I must have drank it and replaced it I literally just left the counter I was told they didn't want to give me a refund because I was a scammer I pointed out I wanted a replacement because I was thirsty eventually I was given a replacement but told dont come on again I ain't serving you 🤷‍♀️

[WitsEnding]

Unfortunately the main local alternative is House of Fraser and their service is such that I'll never set foot in there again. Shame because I used to love their cafe and use it a lot.

[Troilusworks]

Oh well Sky were absolutely appalling for me. They couldn't sort out my Sky Q and kept telling me it was my problem. Then they sent round an engineer that was so useless he reversed the cables on the box so that it wouldn't record. That's how much he knew about it. My sister had a similar problem with having to get them back three times before it was sorted.

Everyone I know who's tried to get something sorted through Sky has had the same problem. They're very efficient when they're selling you something though.

But anyway I'm not talking about the services I'm talking about the programming. Some of the stuff they have as news is ridiculously biased but the complaints are always about the BBC.

[Bluntness100]

I'd also have just cancelled it and replaced it. Did you not have that option?

[readingismycardio]

Exact same situation with ASOS, except I don't live in the UK anymore and that was my old address. It really sucked. I had to wait almost a month for the cash and I couldn't find the article in my size either. So out of pocket for a month (£120) & no dress. Horrible. Never shopping there again

[spinduffy]

Yes I have updated my details on the system.

[MissConductUS]

In the US the older retailers are mostly in serious decline. Sears, which sent out the first mail order catalog over 100 years ago, has been in bankruptcy for a year and just keeps closing more stores. I stopped shopping there many years ago because the service was so bad.

The good news is that Amazon has changed the standard, at least here. While even they screw it up sometimes they are very customer focused and others are having to up their game to compete. The same thing is happening with groceries. The national chains are almost gone and better quality regional chains and the warehouse clubs like Costco are taking their place.

[DuckbilledSplatterPuff]

Always liked M and S, but it is difficult to get through to them. I had two issues with them in the last year, trying to cancel orders that didn't belong to us but kept being delivered here (nice bouquets actually) and trying to cancel an order that would arrive when I was away.. The staff were charming but the system wasn't set up to cope if your issue doesn't fall into a particular category It's a shame. I think it speaks to cost cutting.

[Troilusworks]

Yes Amazon are fantastic. Not surprising they can afford it as they have all that extra cash from not paying tax plus cutting back using unsafe working practices.

www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/31/amazon-accused-of-treating-uk-warehouse-staff-like-robots

Wonderful. Go Amazon

[HarebellsAndHollyberries]

I agree M&S customer service is presently disappointing and somewhat of a shambles.

You can request your complaint be escalated to the Executive Office or try calling the Chairman's office on 03330 148438.

It shouldn't be necessary but keep a diary of the times and dates of your calls and and request they listen back to the recordings.
To be honest even the executive staff don't always call back when they say they will. But they do seem to listen and eventually they will sort it out for you.

[TrickorWheat]

I have just had similar with Habitat. I ordered 5 different style cushions.

4 were in an awful state. So I emailed them with photos.

They emailed back saying do you want a refund or replacement?

I asked for a refund as they were now out of stock.

We got into email tennis.

Everytime I included my reference number & order number.

Me - I would like a refund please.

Habitat - What for?

Me - The cushions that I sent photos of.

Habitat - What photos, Send them again.

Etc etc.

I asked how they got through quality control & was told they can't check everything

4 out of 5 is poor. No apology at all for my wasted time.