John Lewis/Evri delivery AIBU

[TC176]

I ordered a Dyptique Sapin candle costing £67 from John Lewis online as a surprise gift for my cousin who lives in a rural hamlet in North Devon. I live in West Sussex. The parcel was delivered by Evri today. My cousin opened it and the candle had been removed and replaced with a box addressed to someone else. That box contained 3 plastic bottles of liquid which would probably have weighed about the same as the candle. Whoever made the substitution would have seen the ‘fragile’ sticker on the parcel and that it came from John Lewis so would know it probably contained an expensive item. Phoned John Lewis customer service, which is a feat in itself, and got through to someone who just reads through the script. I do not want your constant apologies, just give me my money back. The upshot is that my cousin has to schlep to a Waitrose 3/4 hr drive away to return the parcel while I have to wait 14 days to get a refund of my £67. I have photos of the two parcels delivered to my cousin. I am furious that we have had to jump through hoops to return the substituted items, extremely disappointed that the nice surprise I planned for my cousin has been ruined and angry that I have to wait 14 days for a refund. I guess my AIBU is - is John Lewis completely broken these days? If Dame Sharon White is on here, perhaps she could intervene and organise the return of my £67 which I can ill afford to lose.

Do you think that it was Evri who swapped out the candle?

I recently had a parcel go missing with Evri. They claimed they tried to deliver the parcel on three consecutive days, but my cameras don't show any delivery attempt. Then they claimed that they couldn't find my house as the area was too remote....I live in the middle of a very normal, street full of semi-detached houses with my door number very clearly labelled.
Parcel was expensive so I think it's been nicked by the driver.

We ordered a car seat (in stock, delivery within 10 days) for our toddler 4 weeks before the birth of our second.
I chased when we did not receive any updates 10 days later, and all they would do was "send emails to get an update" (don't have they have phones?). In the end they admitted that they had no idea when it would be delivered, and the supplier was not responding...
I cancelled the order and got the seat somewhere else, but they still delivered it 2 weeks after the birth and we had to return it ourselves to the store as it's the only option we were given, then wait ages for the refund.

So yeah, pretty rubbish in my experience.

But they were brilliant with in store purchase, and when our pushchair broke they provided is with a replacement whilst it was being fixed, so maybe they should stick to that!

Good luck in getting your refund in 14 days. JL really has gone down the pan on deliveries and returns. I have had so many issues lately with items I have ordered and paid for being suddenly unavailable or "damaged" and therefore not sent. Advertised delivery dates have become meaningless. I am currently waiting for a refund for something that I returned via a Waitrose drop-off two weeks ago that has not yet made it to the returns centre and therefore has not activated my money back.

I don’t think it was the driver. John Lewis only uses brown recyclable tape on their parcels. That had been cut and replaced with double width sellotape so it was someone working in a depot somewhere I guess. JL staff get 25% off purchases don’t they so I doubt it would have been a member of their staff. Thanks for replying. I’m sorry about your parcel being stolen. It’s a horrible feeling isn’t it. I’ll never buy anything from John Lewis again.

John Lewis customer service is terrible

This happens a lot, you see things like playstations replaced with bricks, shoes replaced with worn out shoes and much more.
If you don't receive your purchased item within the timescale/date you were told by the seller or within 30 days, you are entitled to a refund or replacement without undue delay.