Blimey! John Lewis , what happened?

[eggplant16]

I had to return an item today. I was one day over the 30 days, a telling off from the assistant who said " On this occasion I'll allow it".
The cafe! 6 people doing nothing, chatting, one poor woman collecting trays and washing up. I ordered 2 things, they were wrong. The tray was wet, the knife was dirty.
I have every sympathy for people on their feet all day btw.

Unbelievable. Whats wrong with people.

Every time we buy something on line rather than in store is the reason why JL and other such shops are dying . We can’t have everything

This is why they need cleaners present all the time and the presence of a cleaner would also ensure people used the toilets correctly.

I had very poor service when I was trying to buy something in tech dept before Xmas. Staff member directed me somewhere completely irrelevant to my query. Asked a different one and got directed somewhere else but still completely irrelevant. All in same dept so really staff member should have taken me and sold me the item (I work in retail and that’s what I would expect my team to do). They weren’t particularly busy, just couldn’t be bothered with me. I had no choice but to order the item online instead.
Went in yesterday and toilets were a bit yuck too.

The one near us is excellent. Lovely staff at all ages. Great range of clothes. Good prices (anyday pans better and cheaper than ikea).

those shops must cost a fortune to run. We need to use them or lose them

So you were a day late returning something and they did it anyway? I don't see the issue. Yeah the cafe and toilets aren't great but most people can't seem to aim their wee or poo correctly in public toilets. I wonder if they do that in their own homes? Doubt it

You seem like you could do with a change of scenery, job - wise.
Btw, I have zero sympathy for the "service staff".
Full stop.

Agree, I only seem to have poor experiences in John Lewis now.

I keep trying though! I have a John Lewis credit card, so get occasional JL vouchers as “cash back”
I always used to save them to buy birthday and Christmas presents.

Last time I tried to use some online, the website wouldn’t accept two of them. But to use them online you have to scratch off the silver “void” section, so they can’t be used again.
Customer services didn’t want to know and I was £35 out of pocket. So I haven’t tried using any online since.

So since then I have tried to spend them in the actual shops, but they never have anything in stock. The electrical department looks particularly empty, just piles of battered boxes at a discount and hardly any products to try out, and no staff to help you.

I gave up, ordered the item I wanted from Amazon and grudgingly spent the vouchers on a supermarket shop in Waitrose.

Thinking of getting a different credit card tbh, it shouldn’t be this hard to spend some vouchers!

👏

Will people stop calling me entitled. I am not.I took something back a day late The PS had told me they would cut me some slack.

The asistant was , shall we say " curt". The cafe was pretty poor.

JL and Waitrose used to be a cut above, something special, a treat.

Never mind, I probably won't go back.

Not John Lewis but the toilet in our Marks and Spencer smells like the zoo.

@yumyumyumy There's absolutely zero excuse for toilets not being great. Presumably toilet cleaners are employed? And staff check every hour as in most establishments?

Fair enough, but good luck getting any kind of latitude with late returned goods with any other high street retailer.

Oh I was in the Stratford John Lewis not long ago and the cafe was nice and clean and the staff were very helpful. Even carried my items for me as I had hands full with baby and pram.

But it was a week day!

This, in spades. It’s such a shame.

I bought a £65 skirt online and when it arrived it was a top. 😂 In clear polythene wrap, label on the outside said skirt but was very clearly a top, with sleeves etc. A human with a brain had clearly not looked at it.

Fine, mistakes happen.

I was passing a Waitrose so took it back and was advised to wait for refund. Waited over two weeks and had to get really, really angry including post on X to get my money back.

Not fine. Take £65 of my money, fuck up order, don’t return money straight away. Make it hard to speak to a human who can sort it.

Conversely, I wanted a jacket with a discontinued lining from Next the other week and the customer service both over the phone and in store was exceptional.

Actually like customer service from 10 years ago! Go Next. Will use them a lot more now.

My local JL store is still lovely but I won’t buy anything that needs delivering - their delivery service is dire and customer service for it takes the attitude that there is nothing they can do.

I worked in a large retail department store up until recently.

I have to say it is very hard graft. Much harder than any office job I have ever had, for triple the money. The customers were a nightmare. If you think a staff member is demotivated, it wont only be about the pay, it will also be because of a great many entitled customers. Most are lovely, but an increasing amount are just awful.

During my time there I saw people just come in, take what they want, and just walk out. Even when confronted, they just brazenly left with an armful of gear.

I also witnessed customers day in and day out, taking the absolute piss. They regularly buy something, wear it, and bring it back. This increases in wedding guest, and Christmas party season. Then we have the people who buy something, and then bring it back months later.

My absolute favourite was a woman who brought in 10 boxes of Monopoly and other board games, some open, with no receipt, and then went mad (call the manager, wanted my name to report me) when I wouldn’t refund her for all these things that she didn’t need, and her kid wouldn’t use. Her sense of entitlement was astounding. This happens a lot. People get presents bought for them that they don’t want, and they come to a shop and say they were definitely bought here, I want a refund, with no receipt.

So, YABU. You had a month.

I am going to stick up for JL here!

Good online and instore experience. Staff are friendly and on a recent visit pointed my husband in the direction of an item that had been reduced a couple of minutes before, saving him a chunk of money.

I was also in a JL store in Scotland recently. Lovely staff and store.

I have bought a lot of things from JL over the years and never had any complaints. The one time something stopped working a couple of weeks before the end of the guarantee period they gave me a full refund.

I don't know how other people behave. Apparently they lie and abuse staff. I have never done this in my life.

I wasn't asking for a YABU.

As I said, forget it, won't be going back.

I think this is the problem. Not enough people will actually pay more - hence the pivot to the cheap Anyday brand.

Peter Jones toilets have been rank for years, even with open windows along one wall - perhaps its the plumbing. The automatic Dyson dryers are always disgusting.
I have in the past spoken to a Partner of this, to be assured how sorry they were and would send in one of their (listless) cleaners. I don’t bother now, pointless.

We were astonished to see a woman walking through the china and glass department, from the Sloane Square entrance, with a large dog - there was
a customer with a tiny dog on a loooong lead standing next to a display of glass. Imagine the mayhem which could ensue from that encounter, or the dog cocking
its leg, shaking, hair flying, rubbing along furniture or fabrics, at childs face level, baffling.

Just to.add, my friend had a Christmas job at JL. Never again, she says. The customers were often so rude.

Have you ever bought anything from Amazon?

Well, that’s what happened to John Lewis.

Agree with this. When I was a student I did various customer service jobs. I worked in shops, restaurants, a call centre, pulled pints etc and one thing you soon work out very early on is that not only is the customer frequently wrong, they are often entitled rude piss takers to boot. There is a certain type of person who think anybody working in a customer facing role is fair game to be the recipient of appalling abuse because 'that is their job'. Not only should they just take verbal abuse they should just smile and bend over backwards to accommodate the absurd demands of someone who is more often then not on some power trip and trying to grift themselves to a freebie by being utterly obnoxious and creating a scene. As alluded to above it seems to be getting worse, I have found myself stepping in to defend retail assistants or waiters on occasion when some weapons grade arse is abusing some poor person because they think they are entitled to.

Well said and bravely, AAC,

”A fish rots from the head down”