Is it me or is John Lewis's refund process fucking stupid

[HoneyDragon]

Faulty item.

Went through relevant people to confirm faulty was told I could return it via Waitrose and get a refund, as they weren't currently able to replace it in the time I'd need it by.

Went to return it. Waitrose had to call JL to get returns order. JL said no. Spoke to JL explained it was set up their end. Got left on hold on the store on the stores ohone for over 20m before JL said apologised and said they'd made a cock up with the turns number on the system and issued a new one. Return item with as the requested original proof of purchase.

Told refunds take up to 14 days once it was all processed!

Baring in mind theyve already buffered the process up and I expressed my concern they said best to call and check item received.

I did on Monday they said not received but they'd check and to call Wednesday.

On Tuesday I had a email stating they could CONFIRM I HAD RETURNED THE ITEM on the 20th of April but that as of the 25th they'd still to acknowledged it as received to issue the refund.

I've just called this morning and they've said it's still not returned. Even though their email confirms they no it has been returned by their courier to the warehouse.

So the item is there. They no it's there but they expect customers to wait fourteen days for them to acknowledge it's there then go and ask accounts to issue a refund.

What happened to them being customer service focussed?

Am I really unreasonable to think if they acknowledge in writing they know the item is returned they should be able to refund it?

And I know, first world problem but it's nearly £200 and I need the cash to replace it.

I don't know why you would think that. If you have a gift card, it can't be topped up remotely. When they are bought they are credited at a till in store. I'd never even considered a credit would be put back onto a gift card. It doesn't make sense.

They still do paper vouchers- they are sent out 4 x a year as rewards for points if you have one of their credit cards.

I think the plastic cards were to cut down on fraud, not to facilitate credit being put back on them.

I'm upset after being put on hold for twenty minutes. Being told the item would be refunded once the item was taken to Waitrose by one person and then being told 14 days by another after it had left Waitrose.

And up until now 14 days to issue a refund from their receipt of item hadn't been my experience with other online retailers. So in comparison I do think JL aren't fantastic, even if it's considered standard practise.

Well I still maintain they are crap, because they did not communicate and left me to do the chasing. If i had not they would have kept my return and not refunded.

Can I be fed up now? Still no automated email /contact from JL confirming they've acknowledged receipt. They said this was standard practise.

Called JL on Friday they scanned the item. And they will process the refund within the next five working days. Once processed it's up to five days to reach my account.

Tbh that you left it with Waitrose should have been enough for the refund to be processed then and there. It isnt your responsibility what happens to it between W and JL. Thats not the concern of the customer.

I thought that too. They disagree. It my responsibility until they've scanned it as received or decided themselves it's lost. And who lost it.

Right. It's two weeks now, other than my calling still no email and no refund and they acknowledged receipt of the item.

Am I allowed to criticise their returns process now?

We've had more problems returning stuff through JL than any other store.

That's dreadful! Phone them up today and get angry.

After my experience I will never return to Waitrose again. I ordered some dresses. (dd is getting married so trying to find something to wear, the order was over £500). It came in two packages. I took them both back to Waitrose and got the receipt. I got an email saying one parcel had been received and a refund issued very quickly. The other parcel there was no word at all!! I too waited 2 weeks. I phoned them up and was told it can take 21 days . Anyway by coincidence about 15 mins later I get an email saying they have got my parcel in the warehouse and my refund happened about 3 days later.

Too much angst and hassle as far as I'm concerned, compared to other shops.

Yup. All I've heard after the first cock op is "it takes 14 days" am expecting to hear 21 days or some such bollocks when I call later

On the phone now. According to them the refund was issued today and can take another 14 days

They honestly don't give a shit. I've asked them to listen to the call from last week saying the refund was issued and they've said they don't care they are still within their t&c as far as they are concerned.

They're loss though.

I feel for you. I had exactly the same. Returned an item that was over £300 and they "forgot" to issue the refund. Chased them for three weeks until they issued it......with a 14 day wait.

The worst bit......they actually collected the return from my house, so how in the world did they forget about it?

They couldn't have cared less, though I ended up getting compensation of an extra tenner to reimburse the phone calls. Arses!

Fuck 'em

They're suffering financially at present and it's not hard to see why. I've noticed a decline over the last two years in their service and supply in store it's obviously across the whole company. They'll go the way of Woolworths at this rate.

I don't no even need to read your opening post to answer this one.

Their process is not fucking stupid, it's fucking daylight robbery!!!

I have actually lost count of the amount of totally defective furniture I've ordered off them only to be treated by JL like a blood-sucking leech, wait more than a week for collection then longer again for refunds.

The quality of their own goods and customer services has plummeted exponentially over the last 5 years.

Shocking.

Actually it seems it's not just them.

I made a very large order with Boden, I sent most of it back last week. I got an email on Wednesday saying "Oder no. XXXX has been refunded". So you assume I would have the money. I looked at bank account today and it hasn't been refunded at all. I have reread the email and down at the bottom it says "it may take up to 5 working days to appear on your statement"

How come they can take money out straight away but when refunding it takes "5 working days"

Its all to do with cash flow imo. If they are holding on to peoples' money, that's good for their business.

Its going to put a lot of people off internet shopping, it never used to be this long to get refunded

See, I don't have issue with the five working days as long as the return is processed in due time.

Two weeks of possession of the item and not even processing the refund Is bloody poor.

I've had a similar issue. I think John Lewis has gone down hill. Just looking at the review dates and the common theme seems to be that the reviews have been bad since their new MD took over in Jan 2017. She's obviously been cost cutting or something with customer services. I'm still waiting for a refund. I'll give it another few days and If I don't hear anything by Wednesday, I'm going to my credit card company!

I'm actually really disappointed because I used to be the one that used to push everyone to push to buy from John Lewis over the last few years because of their customer service. Sadly it's not as good as how it used to be a few years ago. :(