AIBU to think Marks and Spencer deserve to go under

[Carulli]

I'm so disappointed, I grew up shopping at M&S snd as young adult still bought most of my clothes there. However for at least 10 years they don't seem to have anything to offer me (I'm in my 40's) apart from food.

Their Sparks card is a bad joke, I've got over 57,000 points from regular food purchases but to obtain any benefits I'm expected to log in and pick deals I'm interested in. Who's got time to do that before they go and buy a sandwich? I know Boots ask you check offers too but they also generously accumulate money on your card with every purchase which you can use to buy products. Sparks offers nothing at all, they get all the valuable data but customers get nothing of any use.
I foolishly bought school uniform for my 3 kids because it was a 20% off deal. Instead of delivering it in one or two large boxes they posted it to me with most of the items in individual bags which took up loads of space, I received 16 parcels in total! Having tried on the uniform and finding it far too large for my normal size kids I decided to return it and was amazed to find that in order to return it to the local Collect store I was expected to tear off a printed piece of paper and attach it on to each individual parcel! All the other retailers that I shop online with have sticky labels which are so easy to attach.
I rang customer services and asked if they could collect the parcels so that I don't have to use sticky tape to attach 16 labels on and they refused and were particularly unhelpful.
There was still a part of me that felt some loyalty to them and I wanted to call head office to let them know how frustrating it is to shop with them now. Well I found it impossible to contact them, there was a number online which kept me on hold for 8 mins before I gave up.
Any loyalty or wishes for them to get their act together so that I could shop with them again evaporated. I feel so sorry for their shop floor staff who will continue to lose their jobs as stores close through no fault of their own. Incompetent management teams for at least the last decade continue to treat their customer like idiots. The only way to have any contact with M&S is though the call centre and those staff appear to have no way of escalating customer concerns, certainly I was given very short shrift. If the Senior managers really want to turn the business around they need to stop tinkering and actually connect with real customers and lots of them. They need to know why so few people are buying their products now and actually ask them why themselves, maybe call 10 customers each once per week picked at random from their Sparks database.
I'm not sure why I'm offering them suggestions, I just don't care any more which makes me sad.

I like MandS. I had an order from there a while ago and when I opened it at home, half the items were missing. Annoying, but I was able to resolve it that night (way past 5pm) on line chat and later on the woman in store was so helpful. I honestly believe 99% of other clothes shops would have not been nearly as helpful and I would have been out of pocket.

ours shut down it was pretty quiet but its still sad to see it go

they just wont listen to the everyday person about style

I love M and S. I'm so sad at all these stores closing down. Don't let m and s be another empty store in high streets.

I don't want them to go under but I do think their clothes are a bit dowdy, including some of the baby/kids clothes!

Why not just take all the parcels back to a store?!

I rarely shop at M&S. I still consider it as somewhere my granny went to. Although, in my late 30's I'm probably in their target demographic. I just feel like they're trying to appeal to the fast fashion side and missing the mark, but then also giving up on those who want to buy classic staple pieces at a reasonable price. I feel the same way about Next. They're stuff is just hideous at the moment and if it wasn't for their petite range of jeans I wouldn't give them the time of day.

I do think they need to sort out their business model stop trying to appeal to everyone. It's a difficult time for the high street though because it just cannot cope with online shopping. I had an occasion recently I had to get a dress for. As a short size 16 it's not always easy. I spent an entire day on my local high street and couldn't find one single remotely suitable dress, nevermind in my size or one I liked. The shops just don't have the range and try to cram too much different tat in. I went online and found about 10 dresses I liked in my size on new look's website alone. The internet is always going to win. Which is a shame for people who rely on these shops for their livelihood.

They are twins, I don't think I mentioned that in my post.

I didn't say I wish M&S to go under, far from it, I said I think they deserve to and that I was sorry for all the staff who would lose their jobs. I was sad and a bit shocked to feel that way and agree M&S was an institution. I've shopped there for more than four decades but there's only so long I'm prepared to be treated with disdain and contempt.

My 'local' M&S store that sells clothes is 32 miles away and costs a minimum of £4 to park so that's not really an option on a regular basis. I can pick up parcels from a nearby M&S Food but can't return them there which unhelpful.

I've had to order sticky tape and large extra strong bin bags just so that I can return a large M&S order. I think that's ridiculous and far too much to ask a precious and dwindling customer base.

Due to my location I rarely shop in-store and often order online from various companies. Not once have I had to buy provisions to return their products. Better, more considerate companies pack sensibly and have sticky labels on their order details that you simply peel off and then stick onto their parcels for return.

M&S if you're listening, think on!

Yabu. They're worth it for their pomegranate molasses ham and Pure Rose Balm alone.

In answer to those that posted saying I could simply send the clothes back in fewer bags, that won't work. Perhaps M&S ran out of larger bags and boxes but the ones I have been sent are tiny and only just fit one item in. That's why they sent each item in it's own bag. They look like they were designed to send socks not clothes with hangers.

To attach labels onto 16 bags will mean using 64 pieces of sticky tape, why should I???

My child is tiny and their clothing was even smaller!! I am so annoyed because I measured using their sizing guide too!!

Pain in the arse that you can't take it back into the store or even exchange so now I have lost 20% discount, due to their incompetent sizing guide.

Well if the UK has had enough of M & S please send it to Australia. Can we have the food hall first please, as pretty much every Pom I know already orders their knickers from M & S online. I reckon their would be riots if the food hall ever came to Perth, its the one thing every immigrant from the UK misses!. And if you reckon M&S is shit, you really don't want to see what we've got here!

Seems like M&S's entire customer base is on this thread.

If you shop there op why didn't you just return the items to the store for a refund. No need to mess around with invoices and parcels.

Sorry op should have read rest of thread before posting. I think they save the boxes for mail deliveries and bags for store.

the op has already said that her local shop is miles and miles away.

YANBU as it's bloody awful these days...but for the sake of the staff I hope they sort it out.

i have never had anything less than great customer service. my issue is poor stock levels. went in a few weeks ago and they did not have 1 pair 14 short jeans or trousers in any style.
i need a suit for an interview. So i have ordered 3 jackets and 6 skirts/trousers click and collect. i am just going to take them into the changing room, try them on then straight back to customer services with what i dont need.

Yabu.

People's livelihood depends on them, and although their clothes may not be up to the standard, their food is the best we have. It beats Waitrose any day.

There are still things I buy- food, bras, children’s clothes and shoes but I haven’t found any clothes in there for years despite trying. I ordered a dress this summer which was the most unflattering thing I think I’ve ever put on and it looked nothing like the picture.

I emailed customer services to ask why they stopped a lot of the baby outfits at 18m as it would have loved some of them for my toddler. They basically replied saying I was an anomaly and their data shows people want to move into older styles for their toddlers. That’s fine but it generally means Boden and JoJo are getting most of my money whereas a year ago my baby had a lot of M&S.

My current sparks offers are a waste of time. I have

20% of custard if you buy a pudding
10% off dessert sauce
Save £1 when buying £5 of cheese
20% off fresh dips

It’s not a selection that would make me want to rush into store. Give me a 20% off code or a £20 off x spend and I might. Instead of giving me 20% off custard, say I can have it for free with a pudding etc.

Er just to totally contradict what I just said. M&S now seem to do some of the baby outfits in 2-3 so they have listened (if not to me then others). This thread has now worked to make me add things to a shopping basket!

Businesses that don’t adapt to their customer needs will face failure, whether a British institution or not.

The clothes are awful, I don’t even think to look in there now when I want to buy something new, I only ever buy food in M&S occasionally now.

You say your nearest store is 32 miles away. Well you just have to do what happened in my childhood - travelling a few times a year for a 'big shop'. My town had not many shops back then. We would travel either to a specific city (an hour by train) or a different city (hour car journey). It was C & A or BHS back then that we generally went for. Just have a family day out for shopping.

YANBU hate the place stopped shopping there years ago. Crap food crap clothes.

I can pick up parcels from a nearby M&S Food but can't return them there which unhelpful.

My local M&S food returns parcels.
You package them up the same as if you were posing them.
Not sure why yours doesn't.

Just to add, it is a stand alone food store. Not a clothes store for miles here.