TO WANT MY MONEY OR MY GOODS - LAURA ASHLEY

[sabas]

Laura Ashley's ridiculous policy on the expiry of refund cards.Any refund card provided by Laura Ashley expires 28 days after it is issued and they DO NOT inform customers of this in the store that I shopped at.

Bacically i bough wallpaper to the value of £50 for my son's bedroom. When the painter saw the paper he recommended that I return it as he said it was basically rubbish as it was so thin. By this time more than 28 days had elapsed so I couldnt get a refund but was offered a refund card. It was not mentioned by the assistant that this card expired in 28 days. The card does state this i have now discovered but it is in teeny writing at the back.

I went to use the card today at another store and the manager there was so rude and basically told me that it was tough. there so called customer relations team were no help either, telling me ive lost my money and its not their problem and when I asked if I could at least get my goods back I was told "no".

I wouldnt be bothered if the card was years old but to my knowledge no other shops have such a unfair policy on refund cards/credit notes and I wasn't told about it.

I have basically lost my monry and the goods, something that I can ill afford. I am raging at the unfairness of it! Would it really kill them to let me use the cards, and apparently if i go and give them the cards and walk out with my original goods it is theft!!

YANBU, they are being a bit dishonest by not informing people of that at the time. I guess they like it that way though as there are probably lots of "expired" refund cards that never get spent!

YANBU! Sneaky refund policy. I've never heard of such a low time limit on them.

telling me ive lost my money and its not their problem and when I asked if I could at least get my goods back I was told "no".

I'd just boycott them in future if I were you then. I'd also think about posting it to FB to at least flag this sort of unhelpful, moneygrabbing policy to others.

I have to say I don't really like Laura Ashley anyway; the staff in our local one all live up their own arses

are they allowed to do that? Surely if you took it to small claims court or something, they'd be forced to hand over the items you paid for, at least?

disclaimer - I don't know anything about the law! I am just assuming.

You should talk to the CAB maybe?

I give up. Work it out yourselves.

In my defense, its not my taste either really but the wallpaper looked good on the web, but in reality the quality was rubbish. I found it so hard to find a decent paper for by boy's room without cartoon faces all over it, the LA looked okay.........

I hate being "done" like this especially by a big name retailler, their policy is shit

Good idea TIGGYD, will post all over their wall when i get home, the thieving scumbags!

That is really poor service. I would be livid.

You should do more than just boycott the store; you should also write a very strongly worded letter/email to the CEO, outlining your complaint clearly and without emotion. Request a full refund and layout a timescale in which this will be acceptable to you.

Lillian Tan is the Chief Executive. Her email address is: [email protected]. Hth

Yes I'd complain in writing.

You didn't return the wallpaper because you changed your mind but because it wasn't fit for purpose.

Shops don't have to refund if you change your mind - most do as a goodwill gesture.

You should have been given a refund in the first place.

If need be the painter could probably do a note on his headed paper confirming his advice.

I used to be one of those sales assistants...let's just say they aren't terribly nice to their employees either!

If you're going to take this further, then I would point out that it would improve the customer experience if things like this were pointed out at the till. That's what I'd be pissed about- it's an unusually grabby policy, and I would have made sure I was pointing it out to customers if this applied. Don't go in all guns blazing; they'll simply point out to you that the refund policy is clearly stated on the reverse of the receipt and on their website. You're only going to get any money back if they see it as a 'goodwill gesture'.

This would stop me shopping at Laura Ashley. Take note any LA people, mumsnet carries a lot if weight.

Your experience with Laura Ashley reminds me of many years ago when I was in a similar situation.

My decorator considered all their wallpaper to be 'rubbish'.

Sure enough it proved to be the case and when I complained they were totally dismissive.
I was so annoyed by their response to my complaints that I took them to the Small Claims Court.
It was very satisfying when they backed down and paid up in full before the court case.
Clearly their costumer relations policy has not improved.

....yea very grabby.

Bad experience with their store card so I boycott the store!

Hi Sabas,

I have posted on the wall too. Actually commented on your post. Hope it helps.

Yanbu

I found their sales staff v rude - and that is even when buying and not complaining - they seemed to have some sort of superiority complex - v jumped.up

Was planning to look at sofas there at the weekend, but this has put me off. DH will be relieved that it's one less shop to go to!

I posted on LA's Facebook page yesterday, thanks for commenting on my post BTSFTW - lets see if they bother responding to that post or just delete it!

I have also just emailed their chief exec Lillian Tan, I probably shouldve called TS first but didnt want to phone them while I was at work. I'll keep you posted :)

Laura Ashley seem to be screwing up quite a lot at the moment - we bought something on their website and ended up having to get Paypal to refund it because they didn't deliver for over a month and then only delivered part of the item, informing us they'd discontinued the rest of it!!! Their customer services were useless.

I'd pursue via your credit card company TBH!

Hi, I posted a review on your behalf onto Laura Ashleys Facebook Page:

"Useless, unprofessional, overpriced and fraudulent. Will never ever ever use. My friend returned something but was stitched up by your "28-day" policy. You then refused to give her money back, but you also refused to give her goods back. So she has neither her money nor her wallpaper to show for it.

Unfair and ludicrous. Will never go near you."

I have now received this comment on there:

Hello StealthPenguin, Im sorry to hear about your friends experience. If she would like to email the details to [email protected] we will look into this matter for her. Abbie - Laura Ashley Customer Relations.