John Lewis - personalised tins of Quality Street problem

[EastMids2]

DD queued for 1.5 hrs in John Lewis (London) to order 2 x personalised tins of Quality Street. Both Christmas presents. Apparently you tick your choice of favourite chocolates on a form, it goes off back stage to be picked and packaged etc and then presented to you in a "Quality Street" tin but re-named with whatever surname you want as the "street name" . They looked great. However when she got home (100 miles from London) she checked the contents and one of the tins was missing two of her chosen chocolates. Huge disappointment - obviously having a person's favourites is the whole point of the personalised tin!

She immediately contacted John Lewis and their response was to apologise and say go back to shop with receipt. DD was on a day trip to London and it's not possible or practical to return. JL state "we are unable to offer a resolution unless you return to the shop".

There are 2 large John Lewis stores within 30 mins of DD's home. She went to the London as part of a girls weekend and they all did the Quality Street thing as a fun treat.

Can anyone offer advice or suggest how DD can get this sorted, please?

Could they not sort it at another John Lewis? I saw them doing this in Manchester last week x

Imo you can’t complain if you’re silly enough to queue for 1.5hrs for a box of chocolates then not even check you’ve got the right one before you go home

Hi Red - yes that's the whole point! DD could go to John Lewis in Bristol (a participating store for this particular promotion for certain stores) BUT they are saying it has to be returned to Oxford Street.

How can we get John Lewis to accept this sensible option to rectify their mistake?

Can't you just buy a box and tip the favourites in

JL is on Twitter...

It's a shame they didn't offer her a ten pound Waitrose voucher as she'd probably be able to buy enough boxes of quality st to get enough of the missing flavours.

Queuing for 1.5 hours, contacting John Lewis, posting on MN is extreme for the sake of some chocolate.

I’ve been very disappointed with JL service this year.

I bought a new washing machine from them recently and forgot to add my My John Lewis card to the order. They insisted the only way they could add it was if I cancelled the order (and the delivery) and did it all over again.

Ridiculous.

Well Tea/Turnip, you or I as experienced adults may not queue but a group of young girls on a day out to London may see things differently and if they all stood and checked the contents of each tin purchased then the queues would be even longer! Imagine if every customer did this. JL has a good reputation too.

Might be worth your DD tweeting (politely) saying there was a mix-up and can she exchange at her nearest participating store...? Customer service teams are sometimes more supportive/ responsive when the conversation is public.

Bit of a FWP i think

OK not going to argue with those not getting why DD is disappointed and will probably go buy a box with a few favourites in (missing the point of a tin FULL of most favourites) - just not happy with John Lewis being unwilling to sort their mistake locally. It would not be difficult.

LEMtheoriginal, sorry but what's a FWP?

Why don’t you just go to the local shop and ask them to sort it?

1. Go out to the local Spar and buy another box of Quality Street for a fiver.

1. Pick out the favoured chocolates from that box and chuck them in the personalised box.

1. Gift the remainder of the unpersonalised box to your least favourite relative at Christmas.

FWP is First World Problem

Dafspunk - do you think the Bristol store would do that? I'd like to think so, and not come over all jobs-worth and say it has to be from purchased store. Worth a try I guess, thanks.

Ah, First World Problem. No of course it isn't. Simply here as the parent of a disappointed DD re the service of a prominent retailer, wanting to see if anyone had any thoughts. It will get sorted one way or another and her Christmas gifts much appreciated I am sure. Let's all lighten up a bit

I'd just go to Bristol and explain. I'd probably have done that in the first place rather than contact them actually!

It's a minor setback, she doesn't need backup to get it sorted! She just needs to go to her nearest JL where they can chuck a load of the missing flavour into her tin.

Yes - it’s a pretty straightforward thing to rectify so I can’t think why they wouldn’t.

John Lewis has terrible customer service imo, despite their great reputation for it. Have had loads of problems with them this year. They’re all fur coat and no knickers.

If she bought something and there’s something wrong with it she has a right to a refund. At any store. JL ABU. So are the posters saying FWP, I’ve seen much worse on MN.

I agree that I don’t expect value or good service from JL at the moment. We have bought a couple of things there in the last few years and the quality has been less good than Ikea even though they cost 3 times what the Ikea equivalents were.

I recently needed a new range cooker and although JL stocked the Bertazzoni model I decided on I chose to buy it from an online retailer even though it cost about £45 more ( including installation and removal of the old cooker). I just didn’t have any faith in JL to deliver it promptly, install it professionally or provide good aftercare. The staff just don’t seem to give a toss anymore.

They have just lost all helpfulness, sense and decency.