LAURA ASHLEY - FEEL LIKE IVE BEEN ROBBED

[sabas]

I just wanted to advise anyone who wasn't aware of Laura Ashley's ridiculous policy on the expiry of refund cards.Any refund card provided by Laura Ashley expires 28 days after it is issued and they DO NOT inform customers of this in the store that I shopped at.

Bacically i bough wallpaper to the value of £50 for my son's bedroom. When the painter saw the paper he recommended that I return it as he said it was basically rubbish as it was so thin. By this time more than 28 days had elapsed so I couldnt get a refund but was offered a refund card. It was not mentioned by the assistant that this card expired in 28 days. The card does state this i have now discovered but it is in teeny writing at the back.

I went to use the card today at another store and the manager there was so rude and basically told me that it was tough. there so called customer relations team were no help either, telling me ive lost my money and its not their problem and when I asked if I could at least get my goods back I was told "no".

I wouldnt be bothered if the card was years old but to my knowledge no other shops have such a unfair policy on refund cards/credit notes and I wasn't told about it.

I have basically lost my monry and the goods, something that I can ill afford. I am raging at the unfairness of it! Would it really kill them to let me use the cards, and apparently if i go and give them the cards and walk out with my original goods it is theft!!

[TapselteerieO]

That is the worst customer service I have heard in a while, can you take it to trading standards or similar, speak to cab? It is incredibly unfair.

[daenerysstormborn]

that's bad. i took some pj's back to gap i bought for dh at christmas. they couldn't refund but gave me a credit note which they said didn't have an expiry date.

[Ineedacleaneriamalazyslattern]

Well after reading that I'll be looking somewhere else for new cushions that is utterly ridiculous. The irony of them saying you handing over the card and leaving with goods is theft. What exactly would you call keeping £50 of your money. on your behalf I would be fighting this all the way.

[MrsCampbellBlack]

Laura Ashley has gone very downhill since they re-located onto retail parks. I find the staff unhelpful and more focused on answering the phone than helping customers stood in front of them.

If you're on twitter and they are then tweet them - often get results that way as very direct way of making contact.

Oh I think refund/gift cards are a massive con - niece when to use her gift card in la senza today and they wouldn't take it as now they've gone into receivership they won't honour them apparently - outraegous.

[TunipTheVegemal]

That's so stupid of them, don't they see how it damages their image?
It makes them seem like a fly-by-night, out-for-what-they-can-get outfit that has to rely on fleecing the customer to make a profit, instead of a trustworthy high quality traditional John Lewis-type brand.
You would think their reputation as a quality name was one of their major assets, how idiotic to piss it away like that.

[JojoLapin]

Good for you OP to be vocal about it, it is shameful. All these brands closely monitor forums such as this one... Perhaps it will be a way for them to realise that not looking after their customer properly at store level will be talked about.
Turnip, John Lewis' customer service can be v touch and go and is IMO over-hyped.

[PinotMN]

That is awful! Christ! I would have walked out with my goods but as you haven't, fight this all the way.

the thieving bastards!

[cyb]

yy to Twitter

Name and Shame

I don't think the 28 days rule is unfair , as it's not a gift card, but they should make it known to you at the time

[mrs2cats]

That's terrible customer service.
First of all, I can't believe that a refund card has an expiry date - that's ridiculous! But I do believe that most decent companies would issue another one and confirm the expiry date. You'd expect something along the lines of.. we're sorry you weren't informed etc etc... here's a replacement. Do please note that, in accordance with our policy, blah blah blah ... no further exchange will be possible.
Just makes me think that Laura Ashley is in trouble.

[Oomingmak]

Did they refund willingly? How did the whole transaction go? Perhaps the sales lady was flustered? I dunno. Were you sweetness and light?

When I had terrible service from Next I emailed the MD, the ball certainly rolled then! Twitter is also good.

[dreamingofsun]

call your local trading standards office and see what they say. you can get their number googling. i've always found them very helpful and knowledeable

[catsareevil]

Thats awful. It does make it seem as if Laura Ashley arent expecting to be in business longer than the next month.

I agree with the previous post about quality. I used to quite like Laura Ashley, but wouldnt bother now.

[gastrognome]

That is appalling. I would take it as high as possible to complain.

My mum experienced some pretty shoddy customer service from Laura Ashley last year when trying to buy a dress online. Their delivery policies are a complete farce and when my mum called them to cancel after they applied some incorrect shipping charges, they led her a merry dance! I think it took about four phone calls and several emails before things were sorted out.

[dreamingofsun]

find our your rights first from trading standards, and what wording you should use and then I agree, take it as high as needed at laura ashley and complain.

when you make a contract with someone the conditions of that have to be clear at the time (before paying). For example, if this card was given to you when you first purchased it would be part of your contract and if there was small print on the back of the card, the casheer would have to either tell you the info or you would need to be given the chance to read it somehow before handing over money (eg given card before paying and told conditions are on the back, or by a poster in shop somewhere). I think this is a variation of the contract, so that complicates things and i've forgotten my legal lessons. Basically, before you and laura ashley agree on things you have to be given the chance to understand what you are agreeing to - and having things in really small print is a grey area i think. hence you need guidance from trading standards who you can then quote to give your argument more clout - morrisons got their act together very quickly when i did this after the check-out supervisor refused to budge and they asked me to complain to a more senior manager at the branch in future rather than head office

[sabas]

so after my fb post, i got a call this afternoon from laura ashley "to try & resolve my complaint". Funny that, they weren't interested before

the girl i spoke to said that they had followed all the correct procedures but that "as a gesture of goodwill" they would sent me out a new refund card reinstating the original value but it would also have a 28 day validity period.

I did tell her that i had no desire to go into one of their stores ever again & that I wanted a refund, but she said that the refund card was all they were going to offer & that they didnt even have to do that.

I was in work when she phoned, trying to get packed up to go home to my baby after a hard day so i just agreed to let her send me a stupid new card. Plus i didnt really want to argue the toss about how crap their policy is infront of the whole office .

I suppose I am not out of pocket any longer but it does still anger me how utterly crap this company is. I think i will email their chief exec again if I dont get a response to my email to her. I will also update my post on FB ater I get my card as I think it is so poor that they only bothered about my complaint when it was made public - they obviously aren't interested in customer care at all.

thanks again for all the comments & help :)

[IamAnnaBanana]

Laura Ashley seems to have forgotten it is a High Street shop. Lots of High Street shops are struggling and failing because customers have stopped spending their money there for various reasons; poor quality, bad service, too expensive.

To me, your experience has told me all I need to know about the shop.

Their customer service seems dismal and for them to call you and quote "gestures of goodwill" and saying "they didn't need to do that" tells me all I need to know. You've had to fight for this and you were not told the conditions of your refund card at the initial time. The refund card expiry date is a lot of rubbish - why should they put such a short expiry date on it? They have shoddy and dishonest practices as far as I can see.

Goodbye Laura Ashley. You'll get your comeuppance.

I think you should email the chief exec and link this thread to her. I'm sure she'll be interested.

[savoycabbage]

Well don't buy bedding with your refund money. Mine has gone all bobbly. It is such poor quality that I wish I had bought an Ikea duvet instead, and bought a pony or something with the difference!

[JanetPlanet]

I was thinking of buying a chair from Laura Ashley. Not anymore. Sometimes I wonder if there really is a recession on when businesses behave like this. Some companies deserve to go under for selling crap goods at inflated prices and having shite customer services.

[JanetPlanet]

I was thinking of buying a chair from Laura Ashley. Not anymore. Sometimes I wonder if there really is a recession on when businesses behave like this. Some companies deserve to go under for selling crap goods at inflated prices and having shite customer services.

[BettyBathroom]

That's appalling. Dh got a pair of work shoes in M&S - the leather peeled and split within a month, they said that was normal and not faulty - despite having a receipt they wouldn't give me a refund, only a credit note as a goodwill gesture. Stupid thing is we shopped in M&S all the time - but this experience has put me off and now I only go in there when I have no other choice.

[MortaIWombat]

I was going to buy this for ds in the sale.

Oh ho ho, not any more, Laura Ashley!

[QueenKong]

Send the CEO a little personal email explaining what poor customer service you received and how disappointed you are. Have done this several times with various companies and had real success. Her email address is on this very handy website (scroll down to the retail section and it's there.)

www.ceoemail.com/

[KandyBarr]

Why not take your case to one of the newspapers consumer complaints column - is it Brignall and something in the Guardian? The Telegraph has something similar, I think. There was a campaign on Twitter this week to boycott LA Fitness over their shoddy treatment of a woman, thanks to one of the consumer journalists.

If the wallpaper was too thin in the first place then it wasn't fit for purpose.

[MadAboutHotChoc]

My Mother ordered a large mirror from LA last autumn, she's still waiting for it to arrive despite endless calls to customer services. Worse is that the money for this was debited from her card when she ordered it. Having read this, I've advised her to push for a resolution on this - I have a feeling LA is going tits up....

[MackerelOfFact]

Wow. They're right that they don't have to give you credit or a refund if the product isn't faulty, but the difference here is they've already taken your goods! You paid for the wallpaper, so it should ne yours until they exchange it for something you are happy with. If you're not happy with the 28 day expiry on the gift card, you are entitled to your goods, surely? Otherwise it's technically theft.