John Lewis’ PR is awful?

[HelenaHandcart0]

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?

@HaveringWavering

On that subject: does the OP think that John Lewis should have asked her permission to drop ‘never knowingly undersold’? How else are they supposed to communicate bad news without sugar coating it? What should they have said? We know you won’t like it but tough luck cheapskates, it’s happening?

How about something like this:

“From this summer, we regret that we will no longer be able to stand by our famous promise to be “Never Knowingly Undersold”.

Established back in 1925, Never Knowingly Undersold has been a hallmark of trust for nearly a century. However we can’t match prices from online-only retailers. Rather than make you a promise we can no longer keep, we think that the best way to continue that tradition of trust is to focus instead on offering you the best possible customer service and value for money in our network of bricks-and-mortar stores.”

No, this doesn’t work at all.

The first paragraph says, ‘guess what, we’re reneging on a promise we made many years ago, boo hoo crocodile tears’.

The second paragraph says, ‘we’re explicitly telling you that we are more expensive than online retailers, in case you weren’t already aware. We already know that many of our customers prefer cheap prices to our shopping experience but we will continue to hope that they will shop in our stores instead because we’re nice’

I had a coffee and cake treat in January, first one for ages, none since though

What do you suggest then @Iamthewombat?

Also, I’m not sure that it’s a bad thing to be honest about offering people a nicer shopping experience at a slightly higher price? Same as you pay more to watch a film in a posher cinema?

To be honest I thought they stopped price matching (online) retailers years ago, so I'm not sure why they're drawing attention to the fact they're dropping the slogan.

Agree with pp, John Lewis (and to a lesser degree M and S) used to be the epitome of great customer service but both have changed now and are not any different to any other shops. In fact I had better customer service over done thing I was returning, in H and M than the most recent time in M and S.

@HaveringWavering

What do you suggest then *@Iamthewombat*?

Also, I’m not sure that it’s a bad thing to be honest about offering people a nicer shopping experience at a slightly higher price? Same as you pay more to watch a film in a posher cinema?

You’re quite affronted that I don’t like your attempt, aren’t you? Get over it. I think that John Lewis’s message was fine and did the job.

To be honest I thought they stopped price matching (online) retailers years ago, so I'm not sure why they're drawing attention to the fact they're dropping the slogan.

Yes, I knew that they had stopped online matches ages ago, I suppose that doing this now faces up to the fact that their promise already has too many caveats to be worth anything, and it also means that they will no longer need to match in store prices. Not that that is a massive issue as there are basically no stores left (I miss Debenhams!).

You’re quite affronted that I don’t like your attempt, aren’t you? Get over it. I think that John Lewis’s message was fine and did the job.

@Iamthewombat you’re being awfully aggressive for a Saturday morning thread about retail. Maybe go for a nice wander round the shops to chill out?

I would rather they stayed a store where you could be assured of ‘quality’ with good guarantees, than dumbing down to ‘anyday’.

@HaveringWavering

You’re quite affronted that I don’t like your attempt, aren’t you? Get over it. I think that John Lewis’s message was fine and did the job.

@Iamthewombat you’re being awfully aggressive for a Saturday morning thread about retail. Maybe go for a nice wander round the shops to chill out?

You are funny. As soon as a debate starts to go against you, you play the ‘you’re aggressive/why do you care so much?’ card. Predictable.

Maybe you should drop in on the thread about holding grudges.

Can someone explain to me like I'm 5 what does 'Never Knowingly Undersold' mean and also why is dropping it controversial?

It’s basically just price matching and I can’t speak for others but I don’t care about them dropping the promise, more that the email announcing it was a bit shit.
I think for some people it just shows that JL isn’t what it used to be

DH wanted to buy binoculars recently and it was the only store available that he could actually look through them to see if they were what he wanted, he didn't want to buy online as he wanted to compare different ones for size and weight, Jessops used to be a choice but that only seems online now, MK store had disappeared so only JL as we have no other shops that sell these near, I hope it carries on as we will miss it if it went.

Undersold= Another shop selling the same product more cheaply than John Lewis

Knowingly= doing this after they become aware of this fact

Never= they promised never to do this

So putting it all together it meant that John Lewis should always have been the cheapest and if someone found the same product at a lower price elsewhere JL would refund the difference and lower the price they’re selling at to match that competitor.

It was never a very catchy slogan!

But I started the thread more because the way they communicated the end of this promise than the fact it was ending.

Can someone explain to me like I'm 5 what does 'Never Knowingly Undersold' mean and also why is dropping it controversial?

It doesn’t make huge amounts of sense, but the idea is that a specific Hotpoint dishwasher will be no more expensive in JL than anywhere else, and if you find one cheaper elsewhere they will match the price.

The offer goes back to 1925 when that meant matching the price in a neighbouring department store, not Amazon.

In recent years they have continued the offer as long as the comparison price is found in a bricks and mortar store, but are now dropping that, probably because it’s a bit meaningless when so many people buy on-line.

This thread is criticising the email communication of the change in policy rather than the change in policy itself.

X post!

I too bought binoculars there recently and the man who served me was fabulous. He knew so much and was able to help me choose the perfect pair which I bought then and there without going online.
He represented the best of John Lewis.

That was the Bristol store. The guy was probably in his forties.

Thank you!!! I really didn't know what was going on

Yes we have always found the photographic section really good, DH is always heads there first when we visit JL which isn't that often as it is about 25 miles away, we just have a big Waitrose with a small JL section that sells mainly AnyDay in our town.

They are being honest and giving notice.

That's a good thing.

I got annoyed by the ‘we treat all our customers fairly’ line because they stopped doing that when they prioritised men over women and said that anyone could use the changing room they felt most comfortable in. This policy disadvantages women who feel uncomfortable (for whatever reason) sharing a changing room with a member of the opposite sex.
So ‘treating us all fairly’ is disingenuous guff.
I haven’t shopped in JL or Waitrose since and they’ve lost around £7,000 of business.

@WulyJmpr how much money did your mum spend? I spent £25,000 at JL (albeit most of it was online) in a period of twelve months and I’ve never received anything like this?

JL’s trustpilot score says it all. Had a rubbish experience with them and went onto trustpilot out of interest - when I saw they had a “Poor” rating I nearly fell over. I grew up buying JL, it’s a real shame.

I got the email and agree that it was tonally crap.

@MabelsApron

JL’s trustpilot score says it all. Had a rubbish experience with them and went onto trustpilot out of interest - when I saw they had a “Poor” rating I nearly fell over. I grew up buying JL, it’s a real shame.

I got the email and agree that it was tonally crap.

Interesting- I don’t really trust “trust pilot” as a good indication of how a company is actually trusted. It’s well known that people who have bad experiences always want to talk about them but people with good ones often stay quiet. A lot of complainers are also massively unrealistic and unreasonable, or just stupid.

@HaveringWavering Hm, that’s a good point. I do tend to use it more to check whether an online company is legit, so you could well be right on that!