Humiliated by John Lewis staff

[FTMaz]

Hi
okay so I know this will seem very trivial to some but it is playing on my mind because I think I am a very reasonable and polite person and feel I was humiliated for absolutely no reason.

so I bought a jumper from a John Lewis store (Sweaty Beaty brand). The jumper was in the sale for £65. I wore it once and washed it according to the instructions. I put it on yesterday and my Mum commented that it had faded, the jumper is beige but I noticed it had a big white patch where the colour had seemingly ran out of it on the front. As I know John Lewis is known for their customer service I decided I would take it to the store to see if they would offer an exchange, I still had the receipt showing it had been purchased recently.

I went to the womenswear till but the queue was massive (I had my 12 week old baby with me) so I went to a till near the shoes. The girl serving must have been about 17/18. I explained to her what had happened and said I wasn’t sure if I could swap it but thought it was worth an ask. The girl was very polite but said she needed to check with a colleague, fine not a problem. She returned with a colleague who didn’t even acknowledge me. At this point there was a now a queue at the till. They both turned away from me and girl number 2 started whispering and inspecting the jumper. This probably went on for about 10 minutes. Girl number 1 then turned back to me and said something to the effect of I’m really sorry but I need to check with a manager…I assumed girl 2 was a manager but again I said okay. She then called someone on the phone. I continued to wait and at this point my baby started to cry, girl number 1 obviously feeling uncomfortable called again and apologised, again fine as not her fault that baby is crying or that manager is taking a long time. So eventually the manager turns up and calls me ‘sweetheart’ okay a term of endearment but I am a 34 year old professional so odd of her to do. Anyway…she inspects the jumper and says she can’t see the white patch, I said to her I couldn’t either until I went into natural light and my Mum pointed it out. At this point I am starting to feel agitated and embarrassed as there is a queue, my baby is crying and I am basically being told I’m making things up so I say ‘don’t worry about it for the sake of £60 I’ll just have the jumper back,’ she then says to go with her outside the store to natural light to show her the patch…seriously? I reply no it’s fine I’m not dragging my baby outside I’ll just have the jumper back. Again she insists I go outside with her and I again say it’s fine I’ll have the jumper back. She then turns to girl number 1 and says ‘you’ll come with me outside to look won’t you’ so they both then walk off and leave me at the till with my now screaming baby. Sometime later they return with ANOTHER member of staff, so now 4 people have looked at this bloody jumper! The manager says they all agree there is nothing wrong with it. Now I am quite frankly pissed off and humiliated and say ‘ I told you I would take the jumper back but instead I have been standing here whilst 4 people inspect it, I didn’t demand a refund I simply asked if it was possible to do anything such as an exchange.’ She replies there’s nothing wrong with it. So I say (probably wrongly so but I’d had enough) ‘if you go on my account you will see how much money I spend in this store, do you seriously think I would make things up to get back £60?’ She replies again there is nothing wrong with it.

for context I worked in retail for years both before starting university, during and after (the irony is I actually also worked in that John Lewis 😂) I get that it can sometimes be shit and people are rude but I was honestly lovely and feel I was humiliated and spoken to like an idiot.

However I am also overly tired from the sleepless nights….so AIBU to wait to complain to the store?

Apologies…it’s probably because I work in education and with sixth formers so I tend to say ‘girls’ rather than women. Unless you mean I should be using gender neutral pronouns…I find these too difficult to use when typing as people become confused with ‘them’ thinking reference to multiple people. I only do this is requested by the person themselves.

This reminds me of the time I stopped shopping in mother care for the farce of the behaviour.
I’d bought a breast pump for my newborn. I was in a mess with stitches and could barely stand.
The pump didn’t work properly, really really weak suction. Compared to a friends identical machine, it was just tickling.
Took it back and girl one said ‘it doesn’t look faulty’. It didn’t …
Girl two then came over and tried to prove it worked by plugging it in saying she could feel it (audience now growing, baby crying, stitches sore). Big disagreement over whether a breast pump should feel like more than a tickle on your hand.
manager over… in front of now large queue suggested I had no milk to pump. Pointed out I was doing just fine with the same model borrowed from friend that worked.
Asked for it back to escape the humiliation of the audience at this point.
More staff get involved. Discuss loudly if I have milk to pump.
I was though ungraciously told ‘you can exchange it for the same model only, don’t go trying to get a different one.’ (I didn’t want a different model).
it was awful. Screaming baby, held there for 15min or more with an audience as i leaked past my breast pads and my stitches screamed. Wouldn’t give the fucking thing back so i could escape.

Is the white patch visible to you OP? If 4 members of staff were unable to see it and you also didn't notice it, are you sure the problem isn't with your mums eyes? 🤔

JL returns have gone to shit I’m afraid. I tried to return a non stick pan for being faulty - I used it once and it immediately burned up and was impossible to wash.

It was designed for ‘all hob types’.

And I shit you not they would not replace it because ‘most people who buy an expensive pan have an induction hob, we think you using it on a gas hob has spoiled it’.

I went round in circles with them for weeks before giving up. Lesson learned about buying from them. 🤦‍♀️

Everyone is spectacularly missing the point and getting uppity about some imagined superiority complex that the OP does not have. John Lewis has always been know for its no quibble approach to refunds, see example from the poster above. They used to employ people who go way over and above say compared to Asda so yes, the OP does have a very good point about spending loads of money there, why do people get so offended by stuff like this.

OP I can see your perspective here and think that the customer service you received was extremely poor. You weren’t demanding a refund, just enquiring about it in the hope that there was a solution. You were clearly under a lot of stress with a crying baby, there was no need for them to over labour the idea of going outside.

If they couldn’t see the mark they could have just been honest about that and explain that there was no visible flaw and because you had already worn it, they wouldn’t be able to offer a refund. Instead they spent a long time trying to somehow prove you to be wrong/a liar which is completely unacceptable. I feel for you op, there was just no need for them to behave so passive aggressively with you!

You’re coming off a bit Sheila Birling to be honest. Huffing on about deserving good treatment because of the £££ you spend in JL. Given that it would likely take these workers 6 hours work to buy a £60 jumper and that they all sound as though they were trying their best to help, I reckon you should get over it.
Alternatively , make a complaint and maybe get them all sacked or put on a warning if that will make you feel better

You clearly missed the part where I said I wrongly spoke about how much money I spend in the store…although I do feel it is relevant it was unnecessary. I said it because they made me feel like I was begging for £60 in front of an audience. As I said if they’re saying they can’t see it fine (although first girl said she could but I wasn’t about to throw her under the bus in front of older more experienced colleagues) it was the way they went about it I was bothered about.

I lost all sympathy with the "do you know how much I spend here?" line. 15 years in retail has made me roll my eyes so hard I can see my brain whenever someone says that (I do get why you said it though!)

But to be honest they sound like a faffing bunch of idiots and I'd have refunded you long before it got to that point. But I was perhaps far too laid back a manager in my day!

Is it that easy to get four members of staff sacked or put on a warning? Would it not be worthwhile OP emailing, so that the members of staff could get more training.

Your post seems to detail an unlikely scenario, they'd be very few staff left if it was that easy.

I agree, it was snobby to say what I said, hence I said in my original post what I WRONGLY said. However I do think repeat customers are worth keeping…that’s just good business sense.

I think it’s a bit dramatic to say they will get sacked….literally would never happen.

I lost sympathy for myself when I said it 😂 hence I said it was a wrong thing to say.

Yep I would have refunded too…

I was almost at the point of asking what she was expecting to find, I was glad the whole queue was horrified but till woman didn't bat an eyelid. Biz-zare

Oh my God that is awful! Way worse than mine. I feel for you. I went to buy a breast pump after 3 days of having my son and even going out I was like dear God no so I can’t imagine how you must have felt x

No. I’d get into an argument over a £60 jumper. I don’t have any, tho.

How could they have known it was faulty if there was nothing to see though?

My point was that you could have returned the jumper, regardless of fault, had it been in pristine condition. Given that it wasn’t, I think you needed to prove there was an issue before you could get a refund.

Hey, you had a crying baby and just wanted to leave, I get it! It must've been stressful and embarrassing to have fucking Poirot and Co. inspecting your jumper instead of just giving you the benefit of the doubt and a voucher/credit note/refund/whatever.

I was always far too chill, especially when pissed off babies were involved "yes please give them a refund and a voucher for a cake, anything, just make the crying stop"

Maybe try dying the jumper a brand new colour?

As stated numerous times…the return of the jumper wasn’t that important to me. Even if it had resulted in a refund to exchange I still would have been left annoyed by the situation and how it was handled. Well done to you if your baby crying doesn’t cause you to feel even more stressed.

"The amount of money you might spend in that store doesn't matter whatsoever."

I disagree. From a customer service and repeat business point of view, it does matter.

If a customer has spent eg. £6000 in your shop over the years, and you refund £60 (even if you are not entirely sure the refund is warranted) you have still kept 99% of the revenue they have generated for you. Plus there is a very good chance they will come back and spend more.

If they are a one-off customer and you refund them the only money they ever spent, or will spend, in your shop, they have only cost you money in terms of their staff's time and attention.

Obviously if the item is obviously faulty, the shop should be issuing a refund regardless.

It all sounds awfully annoying. Maybe if you just said it was the wrong size, a gift unsuitable etc, they would've just swapped or refunded immediately. Equally, if there's nothing wrong with it in their eyes then they'd be happy to take it back surely? They can't have it both ways!

This thread needs photos.

They have a notice at customer service till saying it isn’t for refunds and exchanges and that it can be done at any other till

John Lewis service has gone down the pan. My Mum had a v expensive iron from them that lasted about 2 months. They wouldn't deal with an exchange.