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Original poster

John Lewis’ PR is awful?

168 replies

HelenaHandcart0 · 25/02/2022 14:10

Just received this in an email from JL saying they are ditching the ‘never knowingly undersold’ promise. Sadly I feel this could be the beginning of the end for them (I hope not) but what an awful way to communicate it!

It said:

..’we will be retiring our Never Knowingly Undersold policy this summer. Established back in 1925 and a hallmark of trust for nearly a century, we recognise that this policy is no longer serving you in the way that we would like, as it doesn't allow us to match prices from online-only retailers’

AIBU in thinking their PR is awful in communicating it this way?

OP posts:
Abitofalark · 25/02/2022 16:21

" ...as it doesn't allow us to match prices from online-only retailers’ " How does the policy not 'allow' them? What they mean is they can't or won't match the prices of online retailers. Fair enough if that's the way it is but don't lie about it.

And the service and delivery are a disaster as others have said. I had a nightmare experience both times when getting two beds delivered.

BluerThanRobinsEggs · 25/02/2022 16:23

we recognise that this policy is no longer serving you in the way that we would like, as it doesn't allow us to match prices from online-only retailers

This is just bollocks though isn't it. JLP is the boss of JLP, if they wanted to match prices from online only retailers then who isn't "allowing" them? Only themselves Hmm

Cut me and I bleed green: raised on Waitrose as our corner shop, parents with a John Lewis account. First job there, wedding list there. They had something special, something different which seems to have been blanded out.

Livelifeinthebuslane · 25/02/2022 16:30

@ChicCroissant

its right at the bottom, it is on mine anyway

No, mine only has a privacy notice and a option to view the email online. No unsubscribe option.

Mine hasn't got unsubscribe either. And I don't seem to be able to unsubscribe from their fashion ones easily without logging in and finding something or other, which for some reason I've failed to do a couple of times.
Cuck00soup · 25/02/2022 16:31

The end of NKU isn't a surprise.

But trying to tell their intelligent customer base that it's doing them a favour shows they don't actually know their customers at all.

Perhaps they really do think people let their children cause so much wanton destruction.

Livelifeinthebuslane · 25/02/2022 16:32

And I do not understand what the £500m is going to be spent on. Tell us when it's something tangible.

ToastieCrumbs · 25/02/2022 16:32

I find it patronising and disingenuous.. and desperate. Ok so they have to ditch the price match but trying to spin it so poorly is just embarrassing.

I been really disappointed with JL the last few years.

If they’d said they are dropping the price match and raising prices by a few pounds in order to raise their up their standards of customer service then I would be overjoyed with that. I’d rather have reliability over rock bottom prices. I also don’t want shit quality. I want products and service I can rely on instead of every purchase feeling like a gamble.

ToastieCrumbs · 25/02/2022 16:34

The new Waitrose voucher system is infuriating too.

Blossomtoes · 25/02/2022 16:49

@RutlandVasey

JL mucked about with their Peterborough store for a year while they spent £££squillions on a super refurb, it opened fully for a few months in 2020 but now has remained permanently closed. Surely you’d open it up again to get some value out of those shiny new countertops and escalators?

Having shopped elsewhere in 2019 I now… shop elsewhere.

I strongly suspect the CFO is in charge at JL which is why they’re a) spending no money on the customer experience b) spending no money on the customer experience.

That made me so sad. My mum and I spent hours in the Peterborough JL, I found it really comforting to have a wander round after she died. I really miss it.
NeverDropYourMooncup · 25/02/2022 16:51

John Lewis - Always Cheaper Online.

That has a certain ring of truth about it, doesn't it?

DuaLeaper · 25/02/2022 16:52

To be fair to Waitrose and the great free newspaper hooha, I've been awarded some newspaper vouchers as the app recognised that I pick one up every single time I go in there. How long that'll go on for was a bit vague though.

woodhill · 25/02/2022 17:07

@ToastieCrumbs

The new Waitrose voucher system is infuriating too.
I've got nothing on the app
OakPine · 25/02/2022 17:24

They used to have a reputation for excellent customer service, and for selling good quality products at a fair price.

Now their customer service is absolutely appalling and they sell the same tat as everyone else.

They delivered a TV to me with the corner of the packaging smashed in, and the TV broken. They would not let me refuse the delivery and I had to PROVE that I had not done it, with countless photographs, and emails before they would refund. It took 4 weeks to get the refund.

I used to pretty much buy everything there except groceries. Haven't bought anything there for 2 years now.

ThunderSnowDrop · 25/02/2022 17:28

I'm not sure where they are heading tbh.

ThunderSnowDrop · 25/02/2022 17:29

Also what's with their odd card / "rewards" programme?

MinglingFlamingo · 25/02/2022 17:58

I have nothing against the customer service I was very satisfied with how a complaint was handled a couple of months ago

Zaccat1 · 25/02/2022 18:14

I don’t think they actually know who their ‘customer’ is and what their customers want. If they could get that right, surely they would stand a better chance of surviving.

WulyJmpr · 25/02/2022 18:39

I laughed out loud when I read this email. Their leadership needs to have a word

WulyJmpr · 25/02/2022 18:40

...with itself. Everything they're doing is just wrong wrong wrong. Closing flagship stores, creating value ranges, and now this. It's bonkers and is driving away core customers.

Cuck00soup · 25/02/2022 18:47

@WulyJmpr

I laughed out loud when I read this email. Their leadership needs to have a word

I think it might be the leadership that's the problem.

SickAndTiredAgain · 25/02/2022 18:59

I understand why they did it, but I agree with people saying it’s annoying to make out like they’re doing us a favour.

I felt similarly when sainsburys announced they weren’t doing the nectar double up promotion last year because (they said) customers didn’t want it and they wanted to do better things for us instead.. The double up promotion was basically free money to spend in sainsburys - I get why they didn’t want to do it, but don’t act like customers are saying “£40 extra to spend in the shop? No thanks” (£40 was the amount I’d have got if it had continued).

red321 · 25/02/2022 18:59

That made me so sad. My mum and I spent hours in the Peterborough JL, I found it really comforting to have a wander round after she died. I really miss it.

I feel that loss about the Watford store. Many happy memories with my mum. Not such a happy memory of my then toddler projectile-vomiting strawberrry milkshake in their coffee shop.

Even Oxford Street feels a ghost town. It took me and another customer 15 minutes to find someone to answer a query in the jeans department. They're selling £200 jeans, you'd think it's worth their while to have someone to look for sizes or whatever. It's like tumbleweed blowing.

NessieMcNessface · 25/02/2022 19:02

Their email was an insult to our intelligence certainly. I am disappointed that they weren’t honest about the situation and tried to pretend that this move was in our best interests. If they had said that in in order to survive the current economic climate they were no longer going to be able to implement their NKU policy I would have respected that but to imply the change is for our benefit is ridiculous. I have pretty much done all my shopping with JL over recent years because of the 28 day NKU policy but I think that will probably change now.

WulyJmpr · 25/02/2022 19:05

I can tell them exactly who their target customers were before they started alienating them. It's almost like their marketing department couldn't accept this and didn't actually like their customers!

I believe the current leadership does not have a fashion background. If they did then they may recall in the late 00s when M&S tried and failed to employ a similar strategy of value ranges. Cheap and nasty clothes no different to Primark thus alienating its core customers.

M&S fashion side of business is only just getting back on track today after correctly identifying their shoppers want quality, style, aspiration and don't mind paying more

Candleabra · 25/02/2022 19:07

I strongly suspect the CFO is in charge at JL which is why they’re a) spending no money on the customer experience b) spending no money on the customer experience.

Yep I agree. When the only thing that matters is the bottom line it’s the beginning of the end.

Orcadianrythyms · 25/02/2022 19:08

It's been really hard but I haven't spent a penny with them since November. Two delivery mistakes and the most shockingly bad customer service - enough was enough. I'm sure they don't care but the only power people have is to not give them your hard earned cash.