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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to start yet another whingeing thread about Marks & Spencer?

46 replies

bibbitybobbityyhat · 01/10/2016 20:35

I am just terminally unimpressed with this bloody chain! But I don't seem to know how to function without them. I suppose I feel it should all be good, given my mother's devotion, years of knowing M&S as the holy grail as a child, and being seduced by their advertising.

I have started several threads about them over the years ... perhaps I just feel no other shop I use fails to live up to my expectations so badly..

So latest complaint: I bought some stuff online on Wednesday (bras, knickers for dd, jeggings if you want to know) - I was going to click and collect but couldn't select a date before Saturday. So I opted for standard home delivery, assuming I would get them by Saturday or at a stretch Monday and that would save me the inconvenience of going to the store. Today I tracked my order - and it hasn't even been dispatched yet! I ordered on Wednesday!! that's pretty crap isn't it, in this day and age?

Hmph.

OP posts:

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 01/10/2016 21:47

Agree re sizes. I often find it really difficult to get tights in store - all I want is plain black opaques, size small, or Illusion nudes size small. I've often had to visit our local (huge) store two or three times in a week to actually find them in stock.

emma6776 · 01/10/2016 21:52

I have the rage that although my Sparks card works fine instore it doesn't work online. So I activate the offers and click on the 'shop now' link but once the stuff's in my basket it doesn't get discounted. I've been into three different store and had it checked on their iPads and all staff agree it's a mystery.
Fecking annoying as I really want to use the coat offer but the selection in my local store is shite. Have emailed customer services and they can't solve the problem either,.

RJnomore1 · 01/10/2016 21:57

It was grey clara. It looked quite fat abd sleek and not tatty at all. Mind you if I was living in m and s food hall I probably would too.

It was quite big as well.

KC225 · 02/10/2016 01:37

RJnomore that fat (not tatty) rat running around the M&S Food Hall sounds a lot like an ex. Did it winked as you passed and tried to check out your arse?

Seqkat · 02/10/2016 01:44

I'd like to join the whinging! I bought some of the nice (expensive) tights from m&s the other week as a special new-job treat for myself after seeing them recommended here a couple of times. Washed them once and they've gone all scratchy and strange at the top. I feel very sad about this (while maintaining a grip on the fact that this is a rather tiny issue really), and I can't help but blame m&s. They let me down. Again.

FeelingSmurfy · 02/10/2016 02:32

I ordered about 2 weeks ago, when the 20% offer was on (so I expect they had extra orders) I ordered on a Thursday, it was dispatched Tuesday and with me Wednesday.

My email stated that delivery would be the following Thursday at the latest, so 7 days (5 working days). Your email should have a date on it too

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 02/10/2016 02:38

I don't get why their food side of things can be so awesome and yet the clothes etc are crap. It's like the two divisions don't talk to each other.

Oh well, we haven't had M&S in Canada for years now. It's one of the things I miss about London [sob]

BIWI · 02/10/2016 08:08

I actually don't think their food is that great now. It's a lot less creative/imaginative/unusual than it used to be, and all the other supermarkets have really caught them up.

fairislecable · 02/10/2016 08:33

I wanted to buy new duvets and went to the huge new store nearby . The displays were lovely lots to see , however it was not possible to feel the quality, lightness or stiffness.

Each box was labelled that due to hygiene reasons once removed from the box it could not be returned. The floor manager said they were not allowed to carry samples and they were unable to say what duvets were used on the display beds.

I am going to buy from Dunelm Mills.

agedknees · 02/10/2016 08:46

It's not just any old rat.....
It's a M and S rat.

RachelRagged · 02/10/2016 09:05

bibbitybobbityhat

Where is the large M&S half hours drive from Bromley please .

RachelRagged · 02/10/2016 09:06

agedknees

Biscetti · 02/10/2016 09:09

Where is the large M&S half hours drive from Bromley please.

Merton Abbey?
Kingston?

Both huge. MA probs closer and definitely bigger than Kingston.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 02/10/2016 10:28

I can't get excited about much of their food tbh. I like a cheese and leek tart that they do, but they hardly ever have it in stock. Carrot salad. Custard tarts. That's about all I ever buy from there.

I usually really like their black opaques BUT they seem to have changed the toes and I'm getting holes in them really quickly now. :(

I absolutely love the shape of this. It's like my dream dress. Bloody horrible polyester though. WHY can't they do it in a cotton/silk/wool mix? I'd happily pay three or four times as much for such a thing.

EdithWeston · 02/10/2016 10:40

I agree about the never having anything in stock.

It's because, as sales assistant told me "more of our transactions are online now". Incidentally, John Lewis is just the same.

They haven't grasped the idea that people visit shops because they want to buy stuff

And although they might have a captive audience for some things (specific school uniform for JL) or things you would always expect to order (larger household stuff), they're missing out on sales.

Because not all the 'sorry not in stock, but you can order it online' lost in-store purchases actually turn into an online transaction. It was maybe needed that day, or it's not convenient to come back to Town X again next week to collect, and you just can't face another delivery debacle.

So you end up looking in other shops. And maybe finding what you were after. And then when you need to shop again, where is your first port of call? I've become a huge fan of both Primark and TKMaxx because they have better stock levels. Yes, even the latter, because you know it'll be rapidly changing for clothes but is brilliant for so much other stuff.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 02/10/2016 10:46

I bought some vanilla slices for a tea party last weekend. The pastry was virtually impossible to cut through. The food isn't as good as it used to be, certainly in the smaller shops that don't have the range available.

The fabrics are awful and have been for ages. Why they think that people want polyester and pleather rather than wool, silk, cotton I don't know. The patterns are garish and the colours awful. Jeggings and plain t shirts are all it's possible to buy these days in clothing. Homewear is OK but buying a new sofa is not an everyday thing.

Tallulahoola · 02/10/2016 10:50

The main thing I want in there is black opaque tights in a size small. They never have them. Ever. It drives me mad. If they're always sold out surely it means it's a popular product so they should produce some more?

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 02/10/2016 10:51

Tallula - I think you and I are maybe fighting over the last couple of pairs every month!

Tallulahoola · 02/10/2016 10:55

Cross post Remus glad to know it's not just me!

Floisme · 02/10/2016 11:03

I think they've been a lot better lately. I've recently bought 2 jackets and a brilliantly slouchy jumper and my local branch has finally started stocking Autograph. I'm hoping it means Belinda Earl is getting into her stride.

AntheaBelveden · 02/10/2016 11:09

Our local one never has anything in a size 8 or 10. I was moaning to DH about it and he pointed out that our city is, allegedly, the 'fattest city in England' and maybe they don't stock smaller sizes because of that!

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