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?

Something has gone very wrong at John Lewis. The old chair is leaving and she’s been a total disaster. The incoming head is ex Tesco so let’s see how that works out.

For what it’s worth, I went into one of their main shops to spend £2,000 and the service was shocking. Lots of staff chatting and busy with paperwork at computer tills, yet no-one available to answer questions.

When I was referred twice to someone else to take my order, the woman couldn’t use her handheld device and said that without her reading glasses she couldn’t see the font. I mean, I can empathise with the older age eyesight problem but wear your glasses around your neck or keep on your person somehow!

No joke I had to order it from my phone as if I were at home. As far as they can see in their surveys etc., I never set foot in a shop that day. The only redeeming feature is that the item is great.

John Lewis needs an urgent reboot.

Next time just say you're returning it because it doesn't suit you. They're not going to make you try it on to confirm it.

I think it’s quite unusual to go the the trouble of returning an item in person, and then to prefer to cancel the return than to show somebody what the issue is. They probably didn’t realise you really meant it when you said you wanted the jumper back and the £60 didn’t matter to you after all.
Let it go, it’s just a misunderstanding.

But it had been worn and washed? Do you do that after you've worn and washed an item?

Why is it a silly thing to suggest? You told them you could only see it in natural daylight so they wanted to look at it in natural daylight. You instigated that suggestion yourself by telling them it was only visible in natural daylight.

Returning faulty goods is often an awful experience, suspicion is not unusual, being left to stand and wait, feeling like a criminal for just returning something that was faulty.
John Lewis has suffered from over promising on customer service, they often disappoint as a consequence, in this situation you tried to regain control of the narrative by taking back your jumper, it’s interesting that they didn’t allow you - they felt the need to prove they were right - they didn’t listen to you, you weren’t important, they needed to prove to you that you were wrong - but it doesn’t work like that - really quite awful customer service.
Online shopping is much less stressful.

You said yourself you couldn’t see it not ideal but she offered to go outside to look

being in retail yourself you should be more than aware how people take the piss and understand why she wanted to check rather than take your word for a patch she couldn’t see

My advice would be to always pause and sort the baby out. Babies cry for attention, and we are hard wired to get stressed at the sound. Leaving the baby crying while all this went on just winds up the baby, you, the staff, and anyone else nearby. Unless the transaction literally takes a second, just stop and pull the baby up / quick feed / say "I'll be back in five minutes when I've changed the baby." If you'd sorted the baby out, you would have had the stamina to manage the conversation with staff.

I don't know why you are objecting to "outside" either, they were trying to help even if it took longer than you might hope and it can't be more than a few hundred metres walk. Bluewater and White City aren't very far at all and they are both big malls. The staff didn't even demand that you went with them. You could have left the jumper, sat happily in the baby room and gone back to find out the outcome calmly, instead of getting irate and pompous about what you spend.

Did you try rinsing the jumper in case it is detergent residue BTW? I got a new washing machine that didn't rinse properly and eventually had to go back.

4 staff to try to decide about a refund is crazy.....although it does show that they were trying to sort things out for you

As the fault could only be seen in natural light, I think you're unreasonable NOT to accept that the jumper needs to be seen in natural light, however much of a hassle that is for you and baby

"Sweetheart" is patronising and unnecessary as it calling anyone over 21 a girl

Do you think it’s in the Zara staff training manual 🤣

My friend was taking a dress off in the changing room when the security tag became stuck. The. Zara staff made her walk to the front of the store (mercifully her face was covered with the dress but basically showing her underwear to all and sundry), go to the till (with a big queue as always at Zara) and limbo onto the security tag remover on the till.

Now that is humiliation....

I think you've made this whole thing into a drama tbh. Only your Mum could see it in natural light, you couldn't see it yourself and you went out wearing it. But you expect that the shop workers could see it even though you couldn't. They were trying to help, wanting to see the issue in natural light like you've told them it's visible in natural light. Commenting on being called sweetheart. I dont know, it's certainly not something most people would take to MN for, it's drama over nothing.

They should have given the jumper back to her when she asked. They didn’t listen - this isn’t about people taking the piss, this is about poor customer service - they didn’t listen. They should have said we are happy to go outside to have a look in different lighting but if you’d prefer to have your jumper back, thats fine too.

Irritated it took to long but humiliated, nah not seeing the humiliation.

I am basically being told I’m making things up

Thats not what happened. The return was queried and as the fault could only be detected in natural light, they wanted to see it I in natural light. It is not their fault your 12 week old crying baby was stressing you out.

It wasn’t a silly thing to suggest though was it

You told them you could see it in natural light, so they wanted you to show them

Sounds like they were trying to help you and you were completely over the top

OP I wonder whether you maybe felt a bit of a certain kind of condescension that some young women apply to mothers? Quite confusing until you learn to recognize it.

But I would mostly chalk it up to faffiness on their part and sleep deprivation on yours. And I hope your mother doesn't critique your clothes too often....

I don't understand what's relevant about the car park. Just because you had arrived by driving in to the shopping centre and not from the outside doesn't mean you're not able to go outside.

Why didn't you just feed your baby while you were waiting. You could have let them get on with their faffing about while you sorted out the baby.

Just feed the baby while she was waiting...

Where exactly? By standing by the till?

Maybe OP is BF and doesn't want to sit in the middle of JL feeding?

I’m also struggling to see how they humilated you. You asked for a return based on a fault no one could see. You yourself admitted it wasn’t visible, unless in natural light, so they wanted to look at it in natural light. I am struggling to see what is unreasonable about this. They can’t just take your word for it. They also put a lot of time and resource into trying to solve it for you. As you were presenting them with a fault no one could see.

the issue seems to be you felt embarassed as so many staff members involved and customers watching. But this doesn’t mean the staff did wrong or humilated you. And the whole I spend so much and 60 quid is nothing to me thing is not really lovely to be honest.

Yes, just standing there. I never bottle fed so I don't know how much hassle that would have been if a bottle needed making up but if bf then yes. Would have solved the problem of the baby crying and passed the time while they faffed about getting third opinions.

She had put it through the wash and the labels had presumably been removed.

Having your baby with you had nothing to do with it, it's not the shops fault you choose to take a baby with you. Of course they want to inspect it, they can't resell it as it's been used

@Savoury
"Something has gone very wrong at John Lewis. The old chair is leaving and she’s been a total disaster. The incoming head is ex Tesco so let’s see how that works out."
Well, the outgoing chair, Sharon White, had no retail experience, so not sure why she got the job. She also had 2 years of on/off lockdowns, and although I am sure many people continued to use John Lewis on-line, it must have contributed to their overall losses during those years.
That said, I expect all staff to behave in a professional manner, etc

I’ve always found JL to be crap in terms of customer service.

Never understood the love people have for it. My experience has been what some other people (and the OP) have mentioned on here - staff faffing about anything they are asked, slow to resolve anything and multiple people getting involved, often chatting or having discussions about covering breaks in front of customers.

I agree with what someone said up thread about they have over promised on customer service (and actually aren’t doing the minimum because everything is such a performance). I find it’s the same in Waitrose if I go in there and dread having to ask a member of staff anything or interact with anyone due to the immense amount of faffing and slow response.

I’m sorry for the staff if it’s rubbish to work there and poor training/ poor management support. As a customer, I find it a poor experience.

As you used to work in retail yourself op, you'll know that asking if they know just how much money you spend in there isn't going to make a bit of difference. It's not a great thing to say.

I think they were trying to be helpful, trying to find the fault but you were probably were standing there quite a while which is stressful with a crying baby.
I'm not sure it warrants an email to head office, that's taking up more headspace.