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.

The thing is, I'm NOT going to bother complaining. I'm just going to go there less. And this is exactly how shoppers vote - with their feet.

It's not like the decisionmakers at John Lewis don't ALREADY KNOW that there are reasons for keeping dogs out. The same reasons which were there when they had a policy of keeping dogs out. They just reckoned they would get more business from the dog-owners than they would lose from the dog-dodgers. And for all I know, they're correct about this.

Similarly, I'm not going to complain that cutting the cleaners' budget has led to the loos being dirty and smelly. Or that cutting the maintenance budget has led to stuff being out of order. Or that cutting staff budgets and training has led to poorer service. It was very, very obvious from the start what those choices were going to lead to, but they took the decisions anyway. And they surely know the consequences already, if they're bothering to monitor the situation in any way.

There is no way they can NOT know these things. Is it really my job to tell them that some customers don't like dogs instore? Or that customers don't like smelly loos and poor service? Well, who'd have thought?!

Or they could try training their personal shoppers not to tell lies about customers being able to exceed the return period in order to increase their sales. Just a thought.

I used to love going to JL and would think of it as a warm hug of a shopping trip. Now when I go, half the items don't have prices on, theres never the thing I want in stock. it feels a bit unloved somehow. I recently went to the curtain section in Oxford Circus. There was no one there and none of the curtains I wanted were in stock. Was told to buy it all online.

We do still buy our major appliances etc from there. But going is no longer as enjoyable.
I used to work in retail, i keep thinking I will send them my detailed feedback, but never have the time, and it doesn't feel like they would listen anyway.

Reading this thread led to me going in at lunchtime today. Half the lights abruptly turned off and the staff shrugged and said ‘it happens’ (they came back on 5 minutes later). The item I went in to get turned out to be 2/3 the price online. I left empty handed.

Exactly. I am not going to complain to them about their soup . I have discussed it with the staff there and many of them remember it and were telling us how everything used to be made fresh in house which is why they bunged all the leftovers into a soup. A lot got contracted out to save money but it just took away the uniqueness and made everything pretty bland. I used to enjoy a particular carrot cake there with a hot chocolate with my mum at wellyn garden store . Fond memories. I don’t think JL would give two hoots if I said you need to bring these things back. I don’t think the management care about nostalgia, only the bottom line which is ironically lower as people no longer go because it doesn’t have the elements anymore about what it special.

@Drfosters of course they care about the bottom line, it's an employee owned business. No profit = no staff. Why do people struggle to understand that??

Also - it's not bad cleaners that make the toilets disgusting. Sometimes it is people - customers - literally shitting on the floor / dropping used tampons on the floor / smearing shit up the walls / leaving shitty nappies around. I've seen it for myself as a customer (shop in a London store very regularly). No wonder the staff struggle to maintain standards.

So rather than trying to save their ailing business you think they thought I know, let’s hire a minority on a 5 year term, to really fuck things up in that period so we can then bring in a white man to save the day and show these fuckers that white men really ARE better than everyone else. And let’s just keep our fingers crossed we don’t go bankrupt in the meantime.

What rubbish. She was just a poor hire who they hoped would sort out their ailing business but she has just driven them further downwards with a lot of poor decisions. She has zero retail experience and does not seem to understand JLs USP and customer base. If Jason Tarry does save the day it’ll be because he has some retail experience. Whether or not he understands JL’s USP and customer base, remains to be seen.

To save their bottom line they have focused on cost cutting. It is well documented. All the things I have said are expensive. It is cheaper to outsource the catering than to have in house . I have working finance my whole life. I have sat in meeting with just sheets of numbers just looking at the numbers without thinking of context. . There is no way anyone in the finance department when being given a diktat to cut cost by 20% make any connection between the cost of a lunch and customers losing their affection for the company.

I used to love John Lewis too. I ordered just shy of 1k worth of clothing, shoes and bags online from them, I was working 7 days a week so I had to order multiple items to try out and pick from with the view of keeping one full outfit. I am not a baller but I really wanted to get a nice outfit for a wedding.

I got a pair of lk Bennett shoes worth £300 with the shoebox held together with an elastic band. When I took the band off it was in two separate pieces! I couldn't believe how they were packaged considering the value of the item. A dress (£225) missing the blue slip so it was see through and unwearable. I returned the entire lot as I didn't trust any of the order not to have some kind of damage. I was also in a panic that they'd refuse my return as the slip dress was missing and the branded shoebox was destroyed. Anyway I ended up buying direct from the named stores and using my blue light discount codes I saved a lot of money. I can't bring myself to order from John Lewis.

@Benjina yes, well said ! It's not my job to tell them how to run a decent busines, they should know.

I go to the oxford circus one semi regularly because it's convenient for some things but I'm always in and out as quickly as possible, something about it makes my skin crawl. Chaotic displays and I get the impression the staff hate it there even when they're being polite which is far from a given.

i never go in the JL shops now as we live near Waitrose so I can either get a C&C or delivery, the online offering is no different to other places like Amazon, M&S, Next, etc. I have never had a problem with an online JL return and I have returned plenty because of ordering different sizes and styles. It is one of the few places that offer free returns for shoes, many shoe shops don't so I try to buy shoes from there as they have many brands.

@Drfosters it's not cost cutting for the sake of it. It's cost cutting because otherwise 80,000 + people would be unemployed if the business folded.

Do we know this for sure or is it conjecture?

So complain to them!!! That's how things will change

Like people did about their policy over changing rooms? remind me how that worked out.

I was disappointed by the lack of curtains on display too, and so was another lady I met there, so I emailed them. The staff on the shop floor don’t have any control over what’s on display, so not much point telling them. I figured that if you log complaints no-one can ignore them.

Also I love wandering around there at the weekend and I don’t want them to close down. So many of my favourite shops have gone that I don’t want to lose another! Habitat, Paperchase, Fenwicks… use it or lose it.

I don’t particularly care about loos, can’t imagine people are clamouring for the opportunity to clean them either. The loos in Liberty were pretty stinky the other day, and as pps have said, customers seem to be most of the problem anyway.

@wheresthebigcarrot exactly that is my point. The finance people have to make objective decisions on cutting costs . They don’t have time or the experience to understand that whilst, on paper, it looks fine to cut the costs of the food, the haberdashery department , reduce the cleaners, ultimately it drives people away and the revenue falls. My daughter needed some zips for textiles at school and the first place I thought of was JL. We went in and it ended up being a tiny, windowless room in the basement corner . Was utterly depressing. I therefore don’t feel as good about the store anymore and so don’t go. They may have cut costs but have lost all the money I could have spent there

The personal stylists have targets, thats why they told the op they can return stuff outwith the 30 days, it won't be them at the till having to either refuse the irate customer or return it and get reminded about the returns policy by a manager. So its win win for the stylist. Who will be paid more than the person doing the hard graft at the till.

John lewis heyday has gone. Customers won't see if again.
But spare a thought for the badly paid staff too. Some of them don't want dogs in store or men in fitting rooms but they have no choice.
And they aren't partners, no matter what JL says, the staff have no more say in how its tun than you and I.
My friend has worked there for years. The stuff she tells me on how its run would shock you.

The long term staff where my friend works still get paid double on sundays and she said they get 6 months off on full pay when they reach 20 years service. I think it was a good employer back in the day, but not now, newer staff dont get any benefits, my friend is there about 8 years and gets nothing she said.

I don't think it's just John Lewis per se- it's the public too - I'm in Waitrose cafe having a coffee at the moment- lots of really rude people too- nearly all over 60- barking at the staff and leaving stuff everywhere- it's not just a younger people thing- it's across the board. I've just come back from Mallorca and could have eaten my dinner off the floor in every loo I went to in both independent and el Corte ingles

Oh and a very rude woman with a face like sour piss in her early 70s reading the Mail - has just had a go at my husband saying she really doesn't want to listen to his phone call (work)? (And about 3 minutes) Guess we know how she is voting.

I actually think it's quite rude to take work calls/meetings in cafes. But she was pretty rude too.

You all need to go over to the John Lewis store in Welwyn Garden City. It's set in a fabulous listed building from 1939 and has a very quirky internal layout with lots of little "rooms". Staff are friendly and efficient. The cafe has the usual menu but has a lovely balcony where you can sit and look at the landscaped gardens of the Garden City.
Hopefully this one doesn't get shut down and I am happy to know it is the local one for Jason Tarry, the new CEO

I vote Labour and I don't want to listen to your husband's work meeting.

Genuinely interested in this. In what way are they targets please?