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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Marks and Spencer - AIBU

86 replies

potter5 · 15/01/2020 07:28

Bought cardigan half price in the M&S sale. Purchased online. They delivered the wrong colour. No longer available in the colour I wanted. M&S sent me email requesting feedback for my purchase. Obviously I wasn't happy and scored 1 star (would have been no stars if I could). Received email today advising they cannot publish my review as the 'moderator' did not feel they could publish my review in which I mentioned 'poor' service. Am I unreasonable to think that they should have published my opinion and only publish the 'good' reviews?

OP posts:
Finfintytint · 15/01/2020 07:30

Tweet your review instead.

thejollyroger · 15/01/2020 07:30

That’s ridiculous.

isabellerossignol · 15/01/2020 07:31

The review is for the item of clothing, not the customer service. If you'd given it 1 star because the sleeves were different lengths they would presumably have published it. Your issue was about receiving the wrong item, not the quality or fit of the cardigan.

LEELULUMPKIN · 15/01/2020 07:31

YANBU I have always wondered this. All feedback should be published, providing, obviously it has no profanity or slander.

Absolutely no point in asking for it otherwise.

isabellerossignol · 15/01/2020 07:34

If I look at reviews for a cardigan, what I'm needing to know is if the colour matches what is described, or if it shrank in the wash.

A review saying that it took ten days to arrive and was the wrong item doesn't tell me anything.

It's like on Trip Advisor when people give a hotel a 1 star review because their flight was delayed. Completely irrelevant to the hotel in question.

I think there is definitely an argument for having a separate review of customer service though.

QuixoticQuokka · 15/01/2020 07:35

YABU, the reviews are about the item, for others looking to buy one. Did you like it despite the wrong colour? Fit, quality, style and so on. Complain about the poor service separately.

QuillBill · 15/01/2020 07:38

I think yabu. Reviews are for the item for online shops and for the seller on eBay.

I once saw an eBay review that said the album want as good as the groups debut album.

Frenchw1fe · 15/01/2020 07:40

Doesn't surprise me with M&S.

I would advise complaining on Twitter.
They pay lip service to customer feedback imo.
I returned a pack of tea bags to my store as many were not sealed and I literally had mostly loose tea. The woman COUNTED the bags and said some were missing. I offered her my carrier bag of loose tea and told her she was welcome to examine my bin at home.
After ringing customer services to complain i was told somebody from the store would ring to alologise. They never did.

Lordfrontpaw · 15/01/2020 07:42

They won’t show that review?

Original poster
potter5 · 15/01/2020 07:43

I didn't like the colour of the one they sent. They made an error. I realise errors are made by humans but I stated it was the wrong colour sent in my review. It definitely didn't match the colour on the website. It was green and I ordered mustard.

OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 15/01/2020 07:44

The service is relevant in online shopping. If there were 20 reviews citing wrong deliveries it would influence whether or not you bothered, wouldn't it?

It should be an option

isabellerossignol · 15/01/2020 07:44

But that's a customer service error, not a review of the item. They're asking for a review of the cardigan. Which obviously you can't actually give, as you didn't receive the one you ordered.

Plumbus · 15/01/2020 07:45

Checked the M&S website:

Seems the scores are based on:
Fit
Quality
Value
Style
Material

So if you put 1 star for all of those and justified it through 'wrong colour received', I'd understand why they'd not publish. It's a review of the item, not the service.

SoupDragon · 15/01/2020 07:55

I agree with the others who have said your review was about the service, not the product, and therefore not appropriate.

Bluerussian · 15/01/2020 07:55

Could you not return the item? I buy from Marks online at times and if I am unhappy about anything I send it back, costs nothing as they supply label. Then I get a refund. Seems fair enough to me.

RedskyAtnight · 15/01/2020 08:05

You need to put the review on another site like trustpilot where they are interested in finding out about customer service. Or emailing the M&S feedback address.

Your review is not about the cardigan, and it's correct that it shouldn't be shown as such.

I actually find the M&S site has plenty of negative reviews (things like poor material, went bobbly after 2 washes, seams came unsewn etc.), so I don't think it's a question of them cherry picking the best ones!

Inherdefence · 15/01/2020 08:09

I sort of agree with the others. I look at reviews to find out about the item so a review saying you didn’t get the item would not be helpful to me. That being said, I can see there is a need for a space to review service/delivery times etc. I occasionally buy from Desigual and while the clothes are usually great the delivery times are ridiculously slow. The website says 1-4 working days but it’s normally nearer to 2 weeks.

TileFloors · 15/01/2020 08:11

YABU. I’m fed up of reading online reviews on places like Amazon where someone gives 1 star because the item got lost in the post, or the wrong item was sent. I’m looking for reviews of the item itself, not whines about customer service. No organisation exists that never makes the odd mistake with customer service. You can review customer service on places like Trustpilot or even google reviews.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 15/01/2020 08:12

If companies only publish reviews that cast them in a positive light, it will get to the point where any review is worthless.

I agree that the review from the OP doesn’t fit the criteria for a review, but it does indicate that the customer service was poor and people would be interested in that. It might be relevant to some people that delivery was late and incorrect, because it would influence their decision to buy.

Chemenger · 15/01/2020 08:16

I agree with the PPs, if I’m reading reviews of a cardigan I want to know that the sleeves are oddly short or the buttons fall off, not that you personally don’t happen to like green. Your review was not useful to other people, I understand why they rejected it. Why didn’t you just return it?

Lucked · 15/01/2020 08:19

Marks and Spencer’s definitely publish one star reviews, I put one up recently for a piece of school uniform. I buy/review lots of stuff and regardless of the star rating they are accepted.

JinglingHellsBells · 15/01/2020 08:32

YABU

You commented on what was a picking/ packing error not the quality of the item.

It's the same as if they had sent you the wrong size in error. You'd surely not review the item on that basis?

bridgetreilly · 15/01/2020 08:36

Of course the customer service is relevant. If I'm thinking of buying something online, I don't just want to know whether the colour of the cardigan is nice, I want to know whether I'm buying from a reliable company who use a good shipping service and make returns straightforward. I want to see those reviews too.

CatkinToadflax · 15/01/2020 08:43

I had an email from M&S a couple of years ago, refusing to publish my review....but I hadn’t even written one. Bizarre.

I looked at a pair of their jeans online recently - described as ‘teal’. The picture didn’t look at all teal, more very bright blue, but I wondered if the lighting in the photo had distorted the colour. However multiple reviews all stated that they were definitely not teal and shouldn’t be described as such. This was useful as I knew not to buy them!

BorneoBabe · 15/01/2020 08:45

I had the exact same thing with Asda. I tried to complain about the service, not the item and they refused to publish it. It was polite and factual, no ranting or anything.

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