Help! M&S won’t refund, on live chat

[ComputerIsSayingNo]

On live chat, did a big order for M&S for DH’s birthday. Present and clothes to wear. Ordered on the 9th and paid extra for next day delivery. This was presented as the 11th as the 10th was a Sunday. Didn’t arrive yesterday and checked today to see they have put delivery as the 19th. I wouldn’t have selected this date and don’t know where the error is.

Asked for them to send for tomorrow, said no. Asked to cancel and refund my order so I can reorder for tomorrow, said I am not allowed to cancel the order or ask for a refund. Even though it hasn’t been dispatched and won’t be a for a week!

i have siad distance selling allows me to cancel according to government but they are still saying I am only allowed to cancel 30mins after the order.

“That’s really specific the law says 30mins to cancel”.

Oh this is so much fun to listen too

Evan, you’re saying the law says I can cancel and M&S are saying I can’t, are you happy to say that Evan?

I understand why it’s incredibly frustrating for you but if the order has been picked and is being processed, how would they intercept it?

They can’t give you a refund and let it continue on its way because then it would still reach you and you won’t have paid.

I wonder if you’ve paid for ‘named day’ delivery and hit the one below on the calendar, given that it’s exactly a week on. (I wonder this because I just did the same thing and now have theatre tickets for the wrong evening.)

Order hasn’t been picked or processed they said as it is a week away. They said M&S policy trumps U.K. law, but he wasn’t willing to say that on the phone, and it doesn’t matter about the environmental impact or that I will be out of pocket. They can’t cancel an order when an error has been made.

It wasn't a personalised thing, was it? Initials on a dressing gown or something like that? I know there are different rules for that sort of thing, and I've had similar recently when ordering from M&S (next day delivery offered, but took over a week because it had to be personalised, couldn't be cancelled).

@Mazuslongtoenail i appreciate the error might have been with me, but the date I was sure I selected was a Monday and this date is a Tuesday.
I really didn’t expect this from M&S being unable to cancel something not yet parcelled. Last order I ordered something and it wasn’t in stock and didn’t arrive and they didn’t even tell me it was out of stock and it was left me me to notice it was missing and chase and ask for a refund.

@DuckBushCityLimit nope nothing personalised

It's annoying, but you acknowledge you probably made a mistake when you ordered and didn't check the confirmation, so they don't owe you any special favours. Don't accept the order when it arrives and you'll get refunded, that's all you can do and it isn't a bad outcome.

They're not going to be more sympathetic or be able to create a way to cancel the order because you have a husband who enjoys baiting their managers.

This should help you:
https://www.gov.uk/online-and-distance-selling-for-businesses

Oh, and a company like M&S can't say that their rules trump those of national and international law - such as the Consumer Protection laws in the UK:

https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights

I’m pretty sure the right to cancel is covered by your ability to return and then setting out their cancellation basis.

I’ve also just had a pain in the backside time with them as paid for specified day delivery and it was eventually delivered 3 days late. I had contacted to say no use then and can you please just cancel but was told not possible.

As an aside I’ve never managed to download a returns label successfully from M&S just the QR ( which then means can’t do RM pick up?). If anyone can say how to get that to work I’d be very grateful!

I appreciate the error was mine in not checking the email confirmation, and possibly selecting the wrong date, which is hard to do in a calendar as I selected a Monday not the following Tuesday.
Even if it was entirely my fault the fact that here all delivery drivers dump your parcel and run, half the time they don’t even ring the doorbell (have video doorbell) so I can’t refuse the order. The issue it having to pay to resend everything tomorrow on credit card for a birthday, and having to wait until after Christmas for a refund and there’s always the chance something goes missing being returned, and the environmental impact of the plastic packaging they send etc. I appreciate i m not asking for special treatment and other companies seem to be able to cancel things if not dispatched, why can’t M&S?

@Reepycheepy yup last time I returned something it wouldn’t scan the phone code, no option to manually input and then you just leave it in an unsecured open bin that any customer can just easily take something from and poof your order has vanished.

I’m assuming your husband now knows this is for his birthday?

Id just suck it up and accept the late delivery.

i get its frustrating, but sometimes you have to pick your battles and some things aren’t worth the stress.

on the positive, your husband will have an extra long birthday.

I appreciate customer service job are terrible and shit, like this one I was very polite. I always let them take their time to get a break, always thank them if the outcome wasn’t my way, try and drag out the conversation at the end thanking them and wishing them a good rest of shift and I never close the conversation I leave it for them to close so they get a minute before the next auto one. Surprisingly Amazon seems to be the best at helping, or come across well when something can’t be fixed.

@RaspberryBeret1999 luckily all he knows is that the order was for his birthday, they never actually mentioned the order contents on the phone. If he read the email over my shoulder he was nice enough to not say 😂

It's an absolute nerve. Always to suit M&S not the customer. If you paid for next day delivery and they can't deliver you should get a refund. Report them to Trading Standards. It's cheeky.

I had a damaged birthday present delivered by M&S. One of my kids was a student nurse so didn't have lots of money. I didn't want to tell them the item arrived smashed. CS said they couldn't do anything, buyer had to contact them, I said that wasn't on they'd just finished a long shift and I was not prepared to tell them M&S had messed it up. We went up hill and down dale for ages, in the end they sent me a replacement, never had to tell my DD what happened. They can be very inflexible. Good luck.

Ask them to refund the delivery amount you paid, then refuse the parcel or return it.

At this time of year, the highest priority for me is always avoiding hassle. If you want the stuff, why not just wait the few extra days? Your DH is an adult and surely isn't fixated on the exact date of his birthday. Whoever made the mistake, the easiest way to get the goods you want is to wait for them to turn up.

You can just go to a till. No need to use a bin.