John Lewis in Trouble

Last night I was in the Oxford Street store, mainly to use the toilets but I also needed plain, nude nylon socks.
Couldn't find any and the staff I asked was actually working for a lingerie brand, so were all the staff on the shop floor.

All JL staff were either at the tills or by the fitting room. Went there only to be told "Oh, we don't have any of those. There's a shortage and has been for months. We do have navy or black, though. Otherwise try M&S or Primark."

This is such a basic item that I cannot understand how JL cannot have any on sale.
Will have to traipse to M&S later today, luckily there is one near my office.

Went to TK Maxx as well and, according to the test someone posted upthread, they are doing well. Could've bought black tights, knickers, baby body suits and a kettle. Didn't buy any of these but walked out with a potatoe peeler.

User19798 · Yesterday 15:36

I had an absolutely horrendous experience with a dishwasher fitter.

Blimey, that's absolutely awful, poor you! It's absolutely outrageous that they wouldn't accept your evidence and the word of the other man.

I pay for next day delivery and it always arrives the next day. I’ve never been let down.

Just seen in Liverpool that the proper sized carpet samples have gone to be replaced by tiny little squares on the wall and acres of Karndean instead. Assistant tried to tell me it’s as good as Amtico. Yes, but we bought the cheaper Amtico Spacia - and that’s gone. Just spotted it in a local flooring store along with proper carpet sample sizes, so they’ve just lost another customer.

Their online store is also absolutely rubbish, I always pay for next day and 9/10 times it doesn’t arrive. I’ve stopped bothering with them and use Selfridges for next day now, you can order at 9pm and it will be out for delivery at 7am.

That's interesting and explains the general attitude of staff on the shop floor. I do feel they regard customers as an inconvenience

Most of the staff in my local are great, both the people who do the shelves and the cashiers; there are a couple I have a chat with (altho now I come to think about it I haven't seen either of them for a while). It just feels a bit... lacklustre. And they seem to have a project going in the weekly giveaway magazine of 'how many utterly rank recipes can we cram in this week?'

I used to love JL, their customer service was fantastic.
At the start of lockdown i bought a laptop from them. It broke after a couple of months. I contacted customer service. They were off hand and not interested. They told me to take my lap top in to my nearest branch to arrange a repair. Two problems with that; my 2 nearest JL branches were now closed. Nearest branch was now an hour away. It was also in the middle of lockdown and all its restrictions. Not their problem apparently.
I was advised to try the manufacturer. I did and they were fantastic. Sent a courier and dealt with it politely and efficiently.
JL used to be like that. Sadly no longer.

Years ago, JL Oxford Street was open Saturday morning only, Saturday pm deemed optimum thieving time, closed until Tuesday morning,
Monday big clean and polish, windows changed stock replenished etc.,
higher standards, motivated, well trained, knowledgeable partners, fantastic sales, never knowingly undersold head and shoulders above the rest.

We haven’t been in a JL for 3 years now after being given the runaround over a
faulty cooker, this being one (the last) of many fights over the years, Customer Service not meeting our expectations.

This very day we have ordered white goods from AO, highly recommend, solid Northern values, will not behave as though they are doing you a massive favour.

We were fourth generation baton passed loyal JL shoppers, from gloves to beds
with everything in between, not any more.

Swings and roundabouts
I bought a washing machine before Christmas and it was £100 cheaper at JL on a £400 machine, you always have to shop around for white goods.

That's interesting and explains the general attitude of staff on the shop floor. I do feel they regard customers as an inconvenience.

DH went to try wellies on recently, with the intention of buying a decent pair at about £100.

JL had one pair of wellies on display (not even available in his totally normal size). When I asked about more, I was told they were available on their website.

So I ordered 9 pairs of wellies from JL online and returned 8 of them. They paid for the courier at both ends. Surely that's not a cost-effective business model.

I used to love Waitrose, absolutely my fave (also got their stuff from Ocado for years, I always joke that my DS was actually made of chocolate custard as I got almost daily deliveries of Waitrose chocolate custard throughout my pregnancy). I loved the feel of the shops, the products etc. Even when ready cash was a bit tight at times over the years I would go in for a treat.

I left the UK in early 2020 and for obvious reasons didn't travel back for quite a while. When I was there last year for work I was staying near a Waitrose, and when I saw it I had a real thrill of nostalgia and almost ran into it . It was SO disappointing: dirty, poorly stocked, untidy, confusing, smelled funny. Very much the opposite of what I remembered it being. That's sad.

No, you didn’t.

They care more for rewarding Evri than getting their customer what the customer ordered. I’m another lifelong fan - taken to George Henry Lee by other when I was getting married to open an account.wonderful service and when I had a baby the baby department rang up to see if I was ready for the next stage of car seat etc. all white goods from there, kitchen and carpets beds,cots . Last spring my microwave went ,I saw a white one ordered and paid. Evri lost it. John Lewis girl couldn’t explain and said no more white ones so made do with the silver. Nothing appeared despite phone calls over several weeks. Then the silver one came- horrid silver plastic but thought I would make do.following day the white one came so I wanted to return silver one. No not allowed as I had opened the silver one and plugged it in. Tried a letter to Dame Sharon . No joy. Said ok return it and resigned myself to the silver one and a box by the door for several weeks waiting collection. Within half an hour Evri turned up! They said JL would reward them for speedy returns. I need a new fridge freezer. Not from JL . Their own delivery men were always great,above and beyond what they were supposed to do.

Next time that happens, I am emailing Waitrose about it. I do feel JL and Waitrose do deserve their declining fortunes at the moment

I can tell you (personal experience) that the customer service won't be bothered and won't answer; and I was told that by a member of Waitrose staff.

She was right. They didn't care and they didn't answer. Only when I complained on Trustpilot did they bother to respond, and by that time I wasn't writing a third email about the issue.

Since the pandemic my local Waitrose is a bit of a mess. The cafe area was closed and the the tables removed, it's now a dumping ground for trolleys, so that's a couple of hundred square feet of retail space not being used. The roast chicken counter, which was very popular, was removed and replaced with sushi, and I've never actually seen a customer there. And they definitely seem to have supply issues; often shelves are empty.

That is where I had a great experience with AO. Bought a coffee machine during one of the lockdowns, which was £329. Colleague asked me about it a few days later, sent him the link and it had gone down to £259. Rang up AO, sent them the link and they immediately refunded me.

I did buy a very good hemp and wool mattress from JL. English made and not too expensive. Still firm and solid after several years. {Back pain means I need a firm mattress}

''Never knowingly undersold''

That used to be their catchphrase.

No longer, it seems.

Great shame.

YES!!!!
I took a cup without a lid there {Couldn't find my usual cup} and was roundly told off by a person young enough to be my son.
Duh, I know how not to spill a coffee, thanks..I don't need to be told off in Public.
Grrrrr.

I’ve just bought a new cooker. I looked in John Lewis first, the model I was interested in was, wait for it, £1100 more expensive in John Lewis than the exact same one in ao.com. I was shocked. I have found this to be the case with other things, their prices have risen a lot and are no longer competitive, although none as dramatic as the cooker price!

If you can’t buy the basics the store is in trouble. It’s my Tights knickers and toasters test

Very interesting. Me and DH popped into the Exeter shop soon after we moved into our new house wanting to buy a kettle - they had some on display but not the style we wanted as we wanted it to match the other things we have.

They had the toaster we already had in the style we wanted, but not the kettle. We left empty handed.

On another occasion we wanted a kitchen bin - actually we went in for something else but while there we saw the bins and decided one of the models on display was exactly what we wanted. The assistant couldn't work her hand set and couldn't tell us if it was in stock at the branch or not. She asked a colleague but they were "too busy" to help.

We ordered one online in the end.

I had an absolutely horrendous experience with a dishwasher fitter. I complained and had CCTV evidence of him waving his fist in my face and being very aggressive and threatening (there was a problem with the narrow road and the width of the wagon and I had SPECIFICALLY warned about this but they did not pass it on to him.
His crew mates even had to pull him away from me at one point, it was frightening. When I complained I was told they had 'investigated' and I was found to be have behaved unacceptably. Apparently I had accused the man of being a 'rapist' - I have literally no idea where this came from - and even thou his crew mate said he did not hear this and there was zero evidence, and significant evidence of his aggression, a witness to what caused the problem etc they took his side and barred me as a customer. Utterly weird.

I used to love JL - so much so, that when I moved up North, it was a family joke that I'd only done so because a John Lewis had recently opened nearby.

I still default to going there because its the easiest parking for the town centre, but despite browsing the whole store have not been inspired to buy much. The Anyday brand in particular feels like a complete misstep - cheaper but poor quality, when JL used to be about little luxuries.

We'll be going again at the weekend, hopefully they'll actually have baby sleepsuits and toddler shoes but I'm not holding my breath after their complete lack of stock last time.

I have stopped going into JL stores. There's usually bugger all to see. There's been a few large household items we've been interested in buying recently but the online stock checker has said none of them have been in stock in store in order to look at before ordering. Therefore we have chosen not to buy from JL.
Recently I wanted to buy a longchamps handbag and went to a large JL branch. There was virtually nothing to look at it. I went to Fenwick and they had loads to look at so I bought one from there instead.
Waitrose is overpriced. I am starting to get really fed up with the attitude of the employees in the two stores near me. The assistants at the checkout don't even make eye contact and sometimes have conversations with each other while serving. That kind of thing comes from how they are managed. Next time that happens, I am emailing Waitrose about it. I do feel JL and Waitrose do deserve their declining fortunes at the moment.