To think House of Fraser’s refund policy is another nail in their coffin

[Bearbehind]

I bought several expensive and heavy items online with the intention of choosing 1 and taking the others back to my local store for a refund

Turns out you can only exchange or get a credit note in store

If you want your money back you have to post it back at your own cost

Given the weight and value, I’m nearly £30 down for the pleasure.

Surely they can’t afford to piss customers off by refusing to refund in store - what difference does it make to them?

Very expensive lesson learned!

I will never buy from them again

Anyone know if it works like this in all shops? I really would rather direct my spending towards companies that treat their staff decently, and their customers pleasantly

It's not about treating staff poorly - it's more about logging transactions under people's names so any problems can be traced back to the source, if that makes sense. If I process a refund and make a mistake, my manager can then trace it back to me so only I get blamed, not someone else. But it also works positively - if a customer wants to say I provided a great experience, the till will show it was me who served them, and not someone else.

It's just how it works. Refunds impact sales figures. If a customer come in with ten items they bought online and they don't want any of them, someone is going to have to deal with that person. It's just pot luck whether it's you or someone else.

But yes, big online refunds are frustrating - firstly because the store never sees the benefit/money in the first place, and secondly because, as above, your figures are hit by refunds. They can totally destroy your KPI's for the week (especially frustrating at 5pm on a Saturday!) and they can even stop staff achieving a bonus that week/month if a large return then means you don't reach your target.

from my experience of retail the only stores that have this policy is stores that customer assistants are on commission.

We are not on commission and we have that policy. Refunds come out of my sales figures. The fact that I have to offer add-ons doesn't mean I earn commission - that's retail. We're judged on how many multiple-item sales we make, but we don't make more money out of them.

The bit I'm scratching my head about @Bearbehind is how you just assumed and expected that House of Fraser would have the same policy as everyone else.

Why? It isn't in Government regulations that all companies with bricks, should also honour clicks returns?

As the saying goes, caveat emptor - you are the buyer, it's your job to understand how your interaction with that retailer will work.

Just going online and ordering a bunch of coats, then throwing up your hands and expecting the physical store to handle them...it's not on.

Now I agree that high street stores who want to survive, should look at making the "bricks and clicks" bit more unified, otherwise what is the point etc?

However the assumption part, is what is garnering you little sympathy from me OP I'm afraid. Hopefully a lesson learned here.

YABU.

Not DistanceSeling Regs these days Customer Contracts Regs and they are a little different

www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/distance-selling-regulations

www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-contracts-regulations

As the saying goes, caveat emptor - you are the buyer, it's your job to understand how your interaction with that retailer will work.

Some retailers lend their brand to what are in fact 3rd parties with their own "way of doing things". Only it's not immediately (if at all) apparent that is what is happening.

I went into a W.H. Smith once. It had the sign, the promotional materials, even the staff uniform. Took my goods, went to pay with my W.H.Smith loyalty card to be told "we don't take that - we're a franchise".

Ditto a Costa once, when it came to getting points on my card.

I ordered something from them last Christmas, intended as a present, the box was all dinted. Took it back into store to be told they couldn't refund. So I had collected the item from them at my own expense, item was damaged and then they wanted me to post it back at my own expense too. I kept the item for myself and haven't stepped foot in the store again.

The bit I'm scratching my head about @Bearbehind is how you just assumed and expected that House of Fraser would have the same policy as everyone else.

I think the point is that she expected HoF to have the same policy as it always used to.

That was pay for delivery under £50 and free returns. Items can also be returned instore.

That has all changed apparently since Sports Direct took over.

The bit I'm scratching my head about @Bearbehind is how you just assumed and expected that House of Fraser would have the same policy as everyone else.

Scratch away!

I buy a lot on line and have never encountered this before.

No one has mentioned any other retailer with a high st presence that does this, other than Mike Ashley’s businesses

With the benefit of hindsight it actually makes sense that a company which is on the rocks is there for a reason - this appears to be one of those reasons

Having said that, you’d have thought that they make simple changes like this in order to try and stay in the game

Okay you order expensive items just to chose one and then return the others for a full refund?

This is why the high street is buckling and thankfully businesses have caught onto this and are putting a stop to it. Read their policies in future op. It's bad taste and rude.
YABVU

Okay you order expensive items just to chose one and then return the others for a full refund?hmm

What is wrong with that?

Why is it ‘bad taste and rude’? 🤔

The stores don’t stock all the sizes and colours - what else are you supposed to do?

However the assumption part, is what is garnering you little sympathy from me OP I'm afraid.

I wasn’t looking for sympathy - I was pointing out that if HOF can’t offer the customer service it’s competitor’s do it is hardly surprising they are struggling

Hopefully a lesson learned here.

I did say that it had been in my OP 🤔

The stores don’t stock all the sizes and colours - what else are you supposed to do?

Just to say, you can ring and ask stores to get things in for you if you want. There's no need to buy online and return in store.

@adaline I stand corrected but from my experience working at M&S and working in small high end stores it was only at the high end stores there was pressure to offer add ons and that we had personal sales figures. So in answer to the question **in my experience m & s don't relate refunds to particular staff or track sales figures, neither do sea salt or the big supermarkets (obviously), neither does argos.

If you had time to go back to the store to return shoulda just got your lazy self down there in the first place to try on your several heavy items.

Just to say, you can ring and ask stores to get things in for you if you want. There's no need to buy online and return in store.

No - you generally can’t.

Stores usually only order things in if you pay in advance by ordering online and click and clooecting

And offering add ons customers don't want is not retail its crap yes responding to customers and helping them is retail. Trying to push stuff they don't want is not retail. And if you read the many many threads on here about how customers actively avoid stores that do possibly not a good idea.

If you had time to go back to the store to return shoulda just got your lazy self down there in the first place to try on your several heavy items.

There are some incredibly rude people on this thread

What part of ‘the store don’t stock the sizes or colours’ makes me ‘lazy’ for not going there in the first place.

No - you generally can’t.

Well, you can where I work. I have customers ringing me most days to ask if we have something in stock, and if not, can we get it in from the warehouse for them. It doesn't cost us anything extra as we get daily deliveries anyway.

I constantly have a cupboard full of items "on hold" for customers who are coming a fair distance and who want to make sure we have what they want before making the trip to town.

And offering add ons customers don't want is not retail its crap yes responding to customers and helping them is retail. Trying to push stuff they don't want is not retail. And if you read the many many threads on here about how customers actively avoid stores that do possibly not a good idea.

You do know the staff have no choice?

If I'm mystery shopped and I haven't offered my customer an additional item, I fail. It doesn't matter how good the rest of the experience was, failure to offer an additional item means you score zero.

Tbf lots of places you can't ring some stores you can some you can't so saying generally you can is not true.

That has it's downsides I’m sure too adaline as the customers have made no commitment so can just choose not to come in for them, hence the full cupboard.

You didn’t mention which retailer that is but it’s not been my experience with the big names.

I experienced the same issue in HoF earlier this year. Had to post back at my own cost in the end. They do (or did) have the infrastructure to deal with returns as the women in the shop told me the policy has changed since sports direct boss took over. I won't shop there now because of this.

There isn't even a telephone number to contact HOF full stop.

That has it's downsides I’m sure too adaline as the customers have made no commitment so can just choose not to come in for them, hence the full cupboard.

It doesn't matter if they don't come in - it just gets put out for general sale if they change their ind or don't want it.

I don't really feel comfortable naming where I work because there aren't that many stores and I don't want to be identified! Let's just say it's not a big department store or supermarket, though. There are about 50 stores across the country.

@adaline I know retail can be crap but you are speaking as if how your company does it is the only way and its not. I know you have no choice I was just talking about my experience as you are about yours, different but true both valid. But let's not blame the customer in all of this they it's definitely not their problem or fault.