Marks and Sparks shocking customer service

[taz29duffy]

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!!!

My favourite was BT. After a few days of no broadband or phone not working, it was confirmed remotely that the fault was ouside my property. I live in an apartment block and BT wouldn't raise the fault with Openreach. Saying I should do that and be charged £90. I declined as they rented the Openreach network, not me.
The agent in India said that in these cases, he recommends that I get a technically-minded friend and we check the lines outside and try to fix them. I clarified that he is advising people to open junction boxes and have a go. Might that be why my line isn't working? I left BT that day. My family had been with them using that number for 40+ years.

Pumpinking, usually the email gives you a link you can go to to change it that if that day is not suitable?

Possibly it was your mistake?

Havent you heard customers are always right.

I was told my m and s clothes order had been damaged and a new one would be sent to the pick up in m and s foodhall store.
I went along and picked up my items a few days later thinking one thing in one bag and two in another only to find it was my items in one bag and the so called damaged ones in the other ( not damaged at all) so I had another journey taking back them back!
The assistant was grateful for my honesty and not sure what had gone wrong but I'm sure other people would have just kept the extra clothes as I only paid for one lot!
Makes you wonder how often things like this go on them they put the extra cost on to the customer I bet! Returning items takes 10 days ; why so long for a refund?

I'm sorry you had a bad experience op but I find customer service pretty bad in most places these days to be honest and I hate ringing anyone up as it's always a good twenty minute phone call mostly listening to dreadful music. When you do get through they put you on hold again or just read off a script and not very helpful. (Phoenix life insurance company take note! Dreadful place to deal with. )
It's disheartening all round and getting worse .

Yes the training of customer services is weak. You get the ‘I am sorry this has happened’ and when you ask why this has happened they can’t even give a basic explanation. It’s very evident that M+S customer services is based internationally and there is no real familiarity with the brand. There also is difficulty with the customer service people I have spoken to understanding my accent and despite repeating things slowly and carefully, I still think lots is getting lost in translation (I don’t have a particularly strong accent)

They canceled my wedding cake a week before my wedding without notifying me.

Then wouldn't replace it. The man on the phone was awful, so rude and just a massive twat. Waitrose managed to do a rush order for us and sorted us a replacement. They couldn't do enough for us. I'd always go to Waitrose over M+S now.

So the email to the CEO office seems to have worked. A lovely lady called me this am and had reviewed my calls and webchats and agreed that there were significant issues. She will send my order out and it should arrive (to my correct address) tomorrow. Customer services has intend been outsourced to Cape Town and there has been teething problems, particularly in relation to more complex issues. The woman was lovely, apologetic and extremely mannerly. Fingers crossed that my order arrives tomorrow and this fiasco is over! I will keep you all updated!

That's great that it's getting sorted, it should never have had to escalate to that level though. Fingers crossed it arrives safely tomorrow!