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Original poster

Marks and Sparks shocking customer service

108 replies

taz29duffy · 14/10/2019 16:35

Just that really. Always have been loyal for both food and basic clothing for 20+ years. Yes their fashion has deteriorated but I always rated their selection and customer services...until last week.

Placed an order for £250+ on Thursday. Realised that it automatically was showing as for delivery to my old address (moved 6 weeks ago), so checked on line and it advised to contact them within 30 mins and amendments could be made. I contacted them within 5 minutes and spoke with the most unhelpful and rude assistant I have ever encountered. 50 minutes on the phone and she was unable to assist me (probably because she was so inefficient that she missed the 30min amendment slot. She spoke down to me and talked over me. She placed me on hold multiple times, despite me saying that I would call back. I eventually terminated the call as I had to get children to bed and she immediately called me back and placed me on hold. I was given assurance that someone would contact me the following today to confirm if amendments had occurred. No one contacted me.

I emailed M+S to complain about the attitude I had encountered, received an automatic response to say someone would reply within 48 hours and guess what... 96 hours later and no reply.

I called M+S again this morning after I got a delivery notice from DHL to advise my parcel would be delivered today to....my old address. The man on the phone was at least pleasant and he contacted DHL directly and came back to say that he had arranged for the parcel to come to my new address. 15.30 comes and I get an email to say my parcel has been delivered and I have signed for it....I HAVE NOT RECEIVED IT AND HAVE NOT SGNED FOR IT.... at this point I am losing the will to live.

Phone M+S again and get another incompetent customer service agent (who was reasonably pleasant) who could not explain what had happened or why I had not been contacted, just kept saying "you placed your order as standard delivery so we have up to 5 days to deliver it" I am literally banging my head on a bring wall.

AIBU to swear never to cross the threshold of M+S again and warn all mumsnetters that this once British cornerstone of shopping has went to the wall and is now to be avoided???

Rant over!!!

OP posts:
midsomermurderess · 15/10/2019 10:09

I purchased... no my dear, you bought.

bodgeitandscarper · 15/10/2019 10:35

I purchased...no my dear, you bought.

Defntion of purchased = to acquire by paying for it; to buy. And how bloody patronising can you get! My dear indeed!

LilyPinkNoah · 15/10/2019 10:46

Possibly it was your mistake?

PumpkinKing · 15/10/2019 11:04

@simplekindoflife Next sell F&F through their website now. Not the full range though.

bodgeitandscarper · 15/10/2019 11:06

Even if it was OP's mistake, she contacted them well within the 30 minutes to make amendments, and they still didn't amend the address; so the company at fault I would say.

Cornflakesncake · 15/10/2019 11:35

And god forbid anybody should make a mistake; its easily done. The company should be competent at rectifying the issue.

Ariadnepersephonecloud · 15/10/2019 11:46

Here's a moan about Tesco then... The staff in the Tesco near me and the other Tesco I visit frequently have the vocbularly of pirates. Honestly when they're talking to each other (not quietly) they are constantly swearing! It bizarre. I can only assume this is the affect working for Tesco has on people!

DGRossetti · 15/10/2019 12:01

The Internet has given customers unrealistic expectations of deliveries and what is humanly possible.

The flip side is the internet has given retailers the most incredible tool to individually manage customer service ... if they wanted. And which companies like Amazon excel at.

We gave up on real stores years ago, except for very niche hobbyist suppliers.

spinduffy · 15/10/2019 13:17

So I have received a message from Yodel to say my parcel had been delivered at 13.03

spinduffy · 15/10/2019 13:19

It has not been delivered. I am at my wits end. When I moved house my I updated my contact details to new address. I’ve no idea why order has gone to old address as my sparks post and other m&s orders have all come to my new address effortlessly.

Cocobean30 · 15/10/2019 13:28

It’s because their customer service is outsourced to capita. Capita staff are poorly trained and supported.

spinduffy · 15/10/2019 13:52

The number for the chairman's office does not work. I have emailed the CEO.... no reply as yet. I am beyond furious and wasting so much time. Also my sparks 20% vouchers arrived today... strange how they can get to the correct address!!!!

simplekindoflife · 15/10/2019 14:30

@PumpkinKing thank you! Smile

lilypoppet · 15/10/2019 15:42

Companies use all kinds of systems and it is difficult and complicated to change addresses sometimes. Customers believe these things happen by magic, because they can just push buttons on their phones and low and behold! Believe me, it does not happen by magic. I use about seven different systems to help customers and have to click through each one. Sometimes a helpful IT person "tweaks" the system and suddenly everything is different. It is not easy to deal with a frustrated customer on the phone and while they will tell Mumsnet everything the company got wrong, they won't tell you how rude and boreish their behaviour was towards the person on the phone trying to sort it out for them. A little tip: delete any old address you don't want your stuff to go to.

AutumnCrow · 15/10/2019 16:53

@lilypoppet, I've never been rude to anyone on the phone. Plenty of 'customer service' people have though been, frankly, crap. I can imagine some customers becoming a tad irate as a results.

Examples:

BT: Can I speak to your husband?
Me: I'm the customer.
BT: But I've been told to speak to a Dr Autumn.
Me: That's me.
BT: Are you sure?

John Lewis: Well yes I accept that the website description is wrong, and you can't use your expensive range cooker, but you should have realised that when you ordered it.

B&Q: Yeah, sorry your patio slabs arrived broken, but to be honest there's nothing I can do about that.

lilypoppet · 15/10/2019 17:00

These are all call-centre people you are talking about, not the people who work in the store, and I can assure you they will be being paid a lot less than you as a doctor.
Perhaps you enjoy belittling people who are not as well educated as you and who may only have been in the job for one day, and are struggling to cope with a confusing array of problems and systems, but I recommend you try it for a week and see if your opinion changes.

AutumnCrow · 15/10/2019 17:18

@lilypoppet, the OP and her/his original post is about online customer service. As lots of people have said, service in stores tends to be better (or indeed excellent).

The outsourcing of online customer service to firms like Capita has been unfortunate.

spinduffy · 15/10/2019 18:10

It’s been hard not to becoming irate as no one seems to understand the issue. There is undoubtedly a language barrier and no matter how simply I explain the situation it’s not really being understood.

I’m pretty sure M&S have now delivered my order twice to my old address. I have no contact details for whoever lives there and Also can’t drive as I’ve a fractured ankle, so have no way of finding out.

lilypoppet · 15/10/2019 18:38

Spinduffy, the reason your Sparks card and other orders went to your current address is because they are stored on a different system. The number of customers, bored with being asked, just say 'l'm on the system' but we can't see those details.because we are dealing with a multi-layered system.

spinduffy · 15/10/2019 18:51

But my address in my m&s account is my current one. I updated everything when we moved. I’ve no idea why it defaulted to old address. I’ve had a delivery from M&S to my new address so it’s not like this is the first time I’ve ordered to this address

Rosie2000 · 15/10/2019 18:56

Had similar op with M&S - still waiting for a more senior advisor to call me back to sort out compensation ...for over a year! I have stopped shopping with them.

Cocobean30 · 15/10/2019 20:19

Just tell them you want to speak to a manger and it will be resolved. Insist it is escalated politely. The issue isn’t that complicated so I find it hard to believe that no one you spoke to understood the issue. They can attempt to collect the order from the old address and send a new order to you. There are many competent people working there

spinduffy · 15/10/2019 21:05

I’ve called a couple of times but they refuse to put me through to a manager without first going over the issue to date. Then they say they can deal with it and the saga continues. All phone calls are long and involved long periods on hold and my phone bill is through the roof. I’ve tweeted this post to them and sent a message on Facebook, an email to the CEO and still can’t talk to someone who can resolve the case

tobee · 15/10/2019 21:06

One thing I've found recently that is crap about M&S is if you order a delivery, you can pay a few pence extra to choose a delivery date. But a couple of times the parcel has come a day or two before! What's the point of that? I want the stuff delivered on the day I've chosen because I know I'm going to be in!

PumpkinKing · 15/10/2019 21:41

Tobee, that happened to me last time I ordered from M&S. Chose a specific day then got an email two days beforehand saying "your parcel will be delivered today." Luckily I was in that afternoon when it arrived, but I had chosen a particular day for a reason. As you said, seems pointless!