What is going on with John Lewis’ customer service?

[toastofthetown]

I ordered an item for delivery from JL at the start of December. A few days later I had a notification, that the parcel had been delevered (late) to my post box. It turns out that Hermes got their number wrong and instead of delivering to 17, delivered to number 7.

I wrote an email to their customer services and notified them of this. This was on 5th December. I haven’t heard from them since. Their live chat and phone lines are overwhelmed, so impossible to get through to someone. My tweet remains unanswered, although they are now replying to newer tweets than mine.

I just don’t know what to do. John Lewis pride themselves on customer service but at this point I don’t know if I’ll ever hear back from them. I know it’s a busy time of year for them but two weeks to reply to an email is taking this piss a little. Has anyone else had problems like this with them this Christmas?

I haven't shopped with them this Christmas. They've outsourced their customer services, presumably to save money. Lots of complaints on MN about the poor service now it seems.

Sadly it's gone to shit

I've had so much hassle with them.... if it comes to having to contact customer services you may as well give up and save yourself hours and hours of stress.

I didn't mind paying a bit extra because they used to be so good with customer service etc. but now what's the point in paying extra when the service is as bad as it gets?

They've outsourced their customer service.

The difference has been shocking. Had two problems with orders in the past two weeks and had to get Paypal involved in the end as John Lewis kept fobbing me off. Incredibly short sighted on their behalf.

I think there’s a lot of these problems with various companies at the moment. Ds has just had exactly the same situation with Currys- he has finally got his refund 3 weeks later after many hours on phone and email.
It’s putting me off ordering online tbh. If I can’t buy it in the shop I’m doing click and collect.

The last two times I’ve ordered with them I’ve had huge issues so I won’t order for them again. It’s not worth the hassle.

From the article: "Sacked staff at the Sitel Plymouth site, some of whom have worked on the John Lewis contract for two years, are furious after being asked to train workers in the Philippines on how to take over their roles."

Wow. It's the ultimate insult, letting someone go from their job but making them train someone else to do it before they leave. We occasionally see people on these boards saying similar things and it's disgusting. In fact I think it should be made illegal.

Very poor all around from John Lewis then! Normally I do click and collect, but my partner was working from home so delivery seemed the easier option...

I keep checking their customer service twitter. Seeing they are replying to tweets congratulating their customer service levels, when goodness knows how many complaints are ignored is the icing on the cake.

has been an ongoing theme for a long time in the Guardian consumer section, and with the news they're moving roles to Asian it's only going to get worse

I think there’s a lot of these problems with various companies at the moment.

Yep. Try calling Ikea for an online order issue. Minimum 30 minute wait. Chased and chased them for refund, complained on Twitter - no response. I had to get Paypal involved with them, too. They finally responded at that point - to dispute the refund! Luckily Paypal refunded immediately. Definitely recommend paying with Paypal where you can.

Send them a Twitter PM rather than a tweet. They’ll reply in about 48 hours.

Send them a Twitter PM rather than a tweet. They’ll reply in about 48 hours.

I sent John Lewis and Ikea Twitter PMs. JL never responded and Ikea replied a week or so later after Paypal had already forced a refund.

Clearly I spoke to soon. I have just had an email! I've been passed over to another team who should be in touch witht in 48 hours. Can't say I'm optimistic but what's another two days of waiting

I second paying with PayPal whenever possible. They were brilliant when I had ordered something from a company that went into liquidation two days after taking my money!!