John Lewis mistake

[Nonicknamesleft]

Asking on behalf of a sib who doesn't enjoy access to the delphic wisdom of mumsnet. Summary: cross with JL but don't want to do a Sheila Birling number on sales assistant. Also doesn't live near a branch (bought when staying elsewhere) so returning it a pain. What to do?

"Moral dilemma: after gloating about our new posh hoover we are now a bit miffed that one of the cleaning heads (turbo cleaner head) that we told came with it, ended up not being included. John Lewis customer service have told me that we were misinformed in the shop and we’d have to buy it extra. It’s 80 quid! Now, I’m tempted to up the game a bit and complain more forcefully. However, we are worried that the very nice woman who served us will get into trouble. I think that ship’s already sailed as they know what we bought and when, but gf is concerned they’ll track her down and do her.

What should we do? On one hand we’ve been mis-sold on a very high value item by a shop who is supposed to pride themselves on customer service. On the other hand we don’t want the Partner concerned to get into trouble. What should we do? Yours, concerned."

JL customer service emailed subsequently offering £20 off the part.

It’s not a moral dilemma at all. The item isn’t as described and the SA made an error. Nobody needs sacking and there’s no need to make it a drama that would suggest that someone does. Nobody needs to demand anything Sheila-style. Just go in, explain the situation and see what they can do.

^ and if you can’t go in, do it by phone and not email. Tone of voice is everything.

When you say that you don’t stay nearby, what do you mean? 50 miles? 500?

My parents had an issue with a similarly sized item and JL collected it by courier and refunded it once they had the item back.

you could return to Waitrose if it’s closer.

50 miles..

I’d call and suggest the courier idea. It’ll cost them less than £20 so everyone wins.

Not if you didn't have it delivered to Waitrose you can't (unless they've changed things recently)!

Really bloody annoying but not their fault on the geography. I think it's accept the £20 or take it back to the store for a refund.

I don't say this lightly... I had to take a small trolley's worth of faulty and incorrect wedding list items back. I was so cross because our guests had spent a lot of money collectively and the items had been delivered to my house but I had to find the time and money to take them back to an actual store.
And the reason I know it was a small trolley's worth... when I arrived there was no obvious way to get the amount of boxes I had back to the homeware dept but it was one of those stores with a Waitrose too, so I borrowed a small Waitrose trolley for the mission. One lovely staff member attempted to tell me I wasn't allowed to take the trolley into that area as I carefully negotiated my way through the glassware, but I managed to pull off the 'do I fucking look like I want to be doing this' look and she let me pass.

Very disappointing from their customer services but it does seem to be how they operate.

(Sorry for the digressive rant!)

I fear you're going to be sorely disappointed if you're expecting JL to have good customer service.

That used to be the case many years ago but unless something has changed over the last couple of years, their customer service in my experience is appalling.

They are usually happy to take money off or give a partial refund when they screw up but I'd be extremely surprised if they would give you an £80 item free.

Worth a try, obviously but I've found with every vacuum cleaner I've ever bought things like turbo cleaner heads are always extra to buy and are always expensive; you only ever get the basic tools free with the machine.

I don’t see how you can prove that it was missold, unless you were recording the conversation, or you had an itemised quotation which has not been fulfilled.

No advice but @MaggieFS I also have a very effective 'do I fucking look like I want to be doing this' look. It's extremely useful.

MaggieFS "but I managed to pull off the 'do I fucking look like I want to be doing this' look and she let me pass."

Teach me your ways.

very simple to resolve-
what are you asking for to resolve the issue?
How much work are you prepared to put in ?
Get your sibling to call or email with a full description of events , no need to worry about the member of staff , they will most likely never get to know . Be polite , not ranting and you will probably get what you are looking for. Also the shop will be unlikely to be able to source the part so will probably be a goodwill gesture of the value of the item for your sibling to purchase themselves.

It's a cross between looking witheringly and staring them out wide eyed with raised eyebrows.

Closely related to the look for children when they ask something ridiculous.

Basically it's a gentrified please fuck off look.

Sorry, that was @SheSaidHummingbird

MaggieFS Ah. I think my natural resting face is pretty much a "please fuck off" look, but will try raising my eyebrows for maximum effect.