Marks and Bastard Spencer have RUINED ds2's birthday

[Greensleeves]

ds2's birthday tomorrow, he's 7

it will be the first birthday dh has ever been away, so I have busted a gut to make it special for him

I ordered something off M&S online which he really, really wants and opted for the extra charge to have it delivered today, in time to be wrapped etc

They said the payment wouldn't go through, there was a problem with the card etc, I put it through over and over again

eventually dh phoned them, from Brazil, and gave all the details over the phone and double-checked with the woman that it had gone through and would still be delivered today, 18th August

so I rang up customer services today to ask if they had an approximate time as I have to take ds1 out to a party later

they said it hadn't gone through and was marked as not paid for

eventually after more schenanigans it turned out that it was because our visa debit card is a co-op bank card - they accept visa debit cards but not visa electron (which ours isn't) - apparently, this woman laughingly told me, the first four digits of the co-op cards are the same as electron cards, so they don't work! nobody asked dh whether it was a co-op card ffs

so the present isn't paid for and won't be arriving after all

I know it sounds trivial but I am SO upset, it has been a tough two weeks without dh here anyway and I really thought I had done a good job of making his birthday lovely

BASTARDS

Hope you manage to get it. Good luck

My dh has missed 2 out of ds's 4 birthdays so I know how you feel wanting to make it special. Something good to remember rather than dwelling on dad not being there.

tbh i am Amish on tuesdays and thursdays. i even have a parking space for the buggy and horses at work. i can't however use the computer when i get there so i content myself my making hand carved teapots

Yes, it's a terrible thing that's happened to your friend's baby. And I'm sure that they'd be delighted that you're using it online to have a go at someone's reaction to a company fucking up.

Not sure that I believe there is really a missing gift here - seems strange that so many people have offered help and requested what the gift is so that they can try and find it and yet no response from OP? Strange!

My DH has never been "home" for any of my DC birthdays, in-fact never around for any ones birthdays, Christmas etc etc!

M&S have let me down on numerous occasions their customer service is totally poop!

Little one is 7, he'll never notice, enjoy his day x

i bet there was no money to pay. :) yeah katc thought about it too.

Good luck Greensleeves, I would be cross and upset too. We all want the best for our children and we all want our children to have lovely, special birthdays. I don't believe anyone who claims this wouldn't phase them at all

What? Why would Greensleeves make it up?

Yes, strange that she has gone out to pick it up so he has something to open.

Next thing you know she'll be wrapping it.

M&S left me on Christmas Eve two years ago with no presents, none. I ordered them in November and was a told ten shades of stories about when they would arrive. I was even called a liar by the customer service chappie over the phone. Turns out they were delivered to another town.

Never used them since.

YANBU op to be angry. They should have emailed or called re the card. It's the taking it out of your hands that angers me. They don't care enough to tell you there is a problem.

why birthdays can't be nice without the present? thats not making the day special.

I too liked the "you're either lying, deluded or Amish"

Just to put some prospective on things, when I ordered (4 weeks before the day!) a gift for my DS and it still hadn't arrived, I printed off a picture of it, wrapped it up for him and told him what had happened and he understood. He received that many gifts from friends and family that he never noticed anyway and actually enjoyed having a belated present when it finally turned up!

I know this is England and everything, but aren't we allowed to become a tad irate when a premier shop such as M&S, which promotes itself as being reliable and of 'top' quality, lets one down?

We all know that there are more important things in life. But that doesn't excuse disappointing customer service.

Which is what this thread is about.

Perhaps the present involves Top Gear and Jeremy Clarkson and must therefore remain, literally, under wraps.

Greensleeves, I hope you get it.

so now because Greensleeves doesn't want to be lambasted for her choice of present she must be making it up????? Why would you think that Katc? Do you make up threads on AIBU?

Hope you get it, Greensleeves.

And I do think that your comment to Roomonthebroom was a bit ott, but then I hate the "Oh, get a grip, it is only a present, my friend had [terrible thing happened to them] on their birthday" kind of post.

The fact that something worse has happened to someone at some point in their life does not make the disappointment and upset easier for a 7 year old who will not get his present on his birthday.

Stop playing tragedy top trumps. Lots of people have had shitty things happen to them, doesn't mean to say that others should put up with bad customer service or at least have a good moan about it.

Shall I tell you what is most interesting about this thread?

ALL OF IT.

Hope you manage to get the pressie Greeny (ARE YOU BACK?!)

THJIS IS HOMOPHPOBIC
assuming negativity around arse fucking, OP be ashamed

only joking, OP YANBU, rant away!!!!

porcamiseria! You are soooooo right. pmsl!!

I'll read the rest of the thread in a mo but wanted to add my M&S cock up story. I ordered some desserts for a conference we were holding at work. I ordered them 5 weeks in advance, payment went through, got the email the morning of the conference to say they had been dispatched to the store, would be ready for collection at the specified time. Turned up, nothing there, no explanation. Left me totally up shit creek.

So I know exactly how crap they are and exactly why you're so pissed off. Hope you can sort something.

Notbothered- I take your point about presents, material things aren't the bee all and end all etc. But I'm genuinely interested, would you be ok with not having a present for your dc on their birthday, not because you had chosen not to give one but because the shop you had ordered it from had messed up. Would you really be able to just smile, shrug your shoulders and say 'oh well'?