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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

wibu or John Lewis staff?

70 replies

dolphinsandwhales · 21/09/2014 17:44

I bought a pair of wellies for dd a few months ago in John Lewis. She didn't need them at the time, but as children's feet grow quickly I bought size six and size seven at the same time, to save on wellie shopping in the future.

Dd is aged 2, the size 6 were fine and a few weeks ago she grew into size 7. A few days ago one foot got soaked as the wellies had a split on the seam. It was a small split, but the wellies were now useless. I took them back to John Lewis and showed them the split, which I thought made them faulty as I've never had this problem before and they were hardly worn, the bobbles on the tread were still there so obviously not very worn.

The member of staff was quite off with me, said it was wear and tear etc but grudgingly decided to search for the latest selling price to give me a refund. I explained that I wanted only a straight swap for another pair of own brand wellies in the same size. She refused this, as did her colleague who backed her up on this being the correct course of action, apparently I could be given a refund for the cheapest selling price of the wellies but not a swap as they didn't sell this design anymore. I said I'd accept any wellies the same size in a different design if they didn't have the one I'd bought before, I'm not precious on the exact design (the ones I'd bought were a special limited edition).

Eventually they agreed to give me a replacement pair that was more basic than the faulty pair, but by this point I regretted returning the faulty ones and wished I'd shopped elsewhere in the first place. Wibu? They made me feel like I was trying to hoodwink them, they even suggested I may have bought the wellies a year ago even though dd was with me and I showed them she was only just in size six shoes, so how would she have been wearing this size wellies a year ago?

OP posts:

Bakeoffcakes · 22/09/2014 08:47

The important point is that the wellies were own brand, they were hardly worn and the OP said you could tell that by looking at them. JL should have exchanged them as they weren't fit for purpose.

RobotLover68 · 22/09/2014 08:57

I think YANBU OP - however I would have taken proof of purchase

I recently had EXCELLENT customer service from Waitrose - I use the scanner thingy and it seemed as if every time I went in I would get a rescan, so much so I avoided going in there. When it happened yet again the assistant suggested I speak to the Manager, so I did. She was lovely, agreed that I'd had an abnormal amount of rescans and when I said I was not coming in due to time pressure in case of a rescan she was horrified and apologetic.

Then she gave me a £10 John Lewis voucher for the inconvenience. I haven't had a rescan since so I've started going back in there more often. I am surprised at the assistant's attitude and would definitely ring Customer Service.

SignYourNameInBrownAndFlame · 22/09/2014 08:59

The important point is that the wellies were own brand, they were hardly worn and the OP said you could tell that by looking at them

...and could have been bought from eBay for a fiver...

UptheChimney · 22/09/2014 09:04

The important point is that the wellies were own brand, they were hardly worn and the OP said you could tell that by looking at them

...and could have been bought from eBay for a fiver...

... or stolen.

Not saying you did, of course OP! But it's a known scam, and shop assistants are trained to counter it. Criminals make it harder for us all.

Bakeoffcakes · 22/09/2014 09:18

But if you bought them off ebay, or stole them what difference does it make? They were going to give her a refund anyway so why not just give her a replacement pair, for goods which were faulty?

HorraceTheOtter · 22/09/2014 09:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

taxi4ballet · 22/09/2014 09:37

As far as I know, the Sale of Goods Act mentions that goods should be fit for purpose and should last a reasonable amount of time.

So hardly-worn wellies which were bought a few months ago and turn out to have a split in them... they were not not fit for purpose and haven't lasted a reasonable amount of time.

YANBU

Bakeoffcakes · 22/09/2014 10:14

Agree with you Taxi.

WiseGuysHighRise · 22/09/2014 10:38

But the OP didn't get a refund did she? Or at least not a refund of what she paid? She was offered a refund of their last selling price so this may have only been a few quid back for hardly used wellies that were not fit for purpose.

OP offered them ways they could check for proof of purchase without the receipt. They were being fussy.

I must admit to being biased though - the last time I dealt with JL they were awful and I haven't shopped there since - I asked about an item's suitabbility before buying, they assured me it was suitable. It arrived and not only was is unsuitable, it was damaged! As it was a bulky item, I had to have it collected by them and I couldn't have my refund until they'd collected it. Which took 2 weeks - no urgency at all from them despite me saying I needed the refund quickly to buy the item I urgently required.

jacks365 · 22/09/2014 10:44

Yes the op is entitled to a refund under the sales of goods act however without proof of purchase the last known selling price is the amount that would be refunded. This was say £5 but what the op wanted was an exchange for a product selling for say £20. It wasn't reasonable to expect that exchange.

WiseGuysHighRise · 22/09/2014 10:49

jacks365
Yes the op is entitled to a refund under the sales of goods act however without proof of purchase

But the purchase was recorded via the loyalty card which the OP offered - the JL staff weren't interested.

I don't work for JL but I just can't believe that a huge, national organsiation lacks the capacity to cross reference their own loyalty card scheme?

jacks365 · 22/09/2014 10:54

The jl staff stated they needed the credit card there was no reason the op couldn't have gone back in with it or a statement or something. If the jl staff were following procedure they should have insisted on the credit card to process the return at all it does sound like they have already gone beyond what thay needed to.

jeee · 22/09/2014 10:56

I bought a double buggy from JL - and paid for the matching rain cover. I shoved the rain cover under the buggy, where it languished for about 2 months before I needed to use it. At which point I found out that they'd given me a raincover for the single buggy.

When I took the raincover back to JL (which meant a hundred mile round trip), they didn't want to let me exchange the cover (because it had sand caught in the wrapping). But it was absolutely clear that I'd bought the cover to go with a buggy that JL had sold me.

After a very loud discussion about who was to blame, JL reluctantly allowed me exchange the cover for the correct one - though I did have to make up the difference in price.

Frankly, I don't think JL are that wonderful on exchange.

If the OP could provide proof of purchase (which she could) albeit not a receipt, then I don't think an exchange was unreasonable.

popcornpaws · 22/09/2014 12:52

No proof of purchase would have got you the last selling price, regardless of how much you had paid where i work.

popcornpaws · 22/09/2014 12:57

Oh, i meant to add, and that would be on a gift card, not cash.

WiseGuysHighRise · 22/09/2014 13:11

Just thought, while I'm bashing JL for their shoddiness, I should give balance and give a thumbs up to Argos.

Previously if an item was available in both JL and Argos, I would have always gone to JL for the "peace of mind". With my experience of JL (above) I had already shifted from this. Even more so with my wonderful treatment from Argos recently.

Had bought my dad a watch reduced from 150 to 50. It was for his birthday at the end of last year. ABout 8 mths later my mum said did we think we could return it as one of the winder things had come off. yes, fine, where's the box and receipt that we gave you with the watch? Cue blank face from my mum. Went into argos with the reservation number and a vague bank statment which just said "Argos 50". Didn't have the card I paid on as it had expired and had been cut up. No way of linking the bank statement to the reservation number. Fully expected them to say no way. Nope, came up trumps. Not even any questions about whether he had been careful with the watch or anything.

So to me, it's fine if some companies want to be fussy. I'll go somewhere else which does actually take customer care seriously.

BomChickaMeowMeow · 22/09/2014 13:21

I bought some towels online from JL and three months later one had started to fray and unravel - so that shortly there would be no towel at all! It wasn't fixable and I rang them thinking it was a bit borderline, expecting to be fobbed off, but they looked up the order number and I got a free replacement within days- they didn't even want to see the faulty towel or ask for it to be returned.

If you are unhappy with the shop staff, OP, I suggest you email customer service and see what they can do.

PrimalLass · 22/09/2014 13:33

Frankly, I don't think JL are that wonderful on exchange.

The manager of the nursery department in the Edinburgh John Lewis was very patronising (was a few years ago). I had a shite buggy that squeaked really loudly with every wheel turn. Then the front wheel fell off when I tilted it back to go up a step. He said they could only replace it because of the wheel falling off, not the Chinese water torture squeaking (£300 buggy). They gave me the display model.

15 minutes into a walk that day the squeaking started again (on the new one). I phoned up and they couriered me a brand new one. So head office was great, but the store was rubbish.

Momagain1 · 22/09/2014 13:56

Refunds and returns are pretty standard. You may get lucky now and again, but for the most part, you need to take the unsatisfactory product in within a defined period (any thing from 30 days to never, but a year is pretty common. And you need proof of purchase, which is pretty universally either a receipt or bank records/the card used for purchase which can be linked to their accounting system via a reference number. This may even be a legal definition of "proof of purchase"

Meeting the time and documentation standard gets good results, even sometimes the excellent result of higher value replacement. Showing up with goods that could be up to a year old and no documentation, like it or not, looks dodgy. You were lucky that moaning and insisting wore them down, but the truth is, you failed to fulfill standard requirements.

Unless a store specifically says one of the benefits of joining the loyalty card scheme is that will provide a proof of purchase record, I wouldn't expect it to. I have never heard of a loyalty scheme providing records accessible on demand. I am not sure i would want my shopping history accessible in store, even if the store manager had to come round and put in a very secret upper management only code. It is bad enough that an impersonal computer sifts through the database and sends coupons and flyers when I suit their current marketing campaign, but the discounts or a free cup of coffee mollify me.

AlPacinosHooHaa · 22/09/2014 14:03

I was beyond angry. I spoke to a senior manager and ended up tearful, I felt so humiliated and patronised - who took my details and promised to contact me but never did.

I would follow that up if I were you to manager at customer services.

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