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Original poster

Singing the praises of John Lewis

43 replies

lou33 · 23/04/2003 17:35

Just have to say yet again how John Lewis are brilliant. We bought a portable tv in Dec 98 for dd as a Christmas present. Since then on 2 occasions the buttons have broken on it and needed replacing, which JL did , collecting and delivering it back to us too. The buttons have gone for a 3rd time, and JL have said they will just give us a brand new tv instead! The five year guarantee runs out in December this year, so I wasn't really expecting much. They have stopped selling this brand now though because they were getting too many returns apparently. So nice to get such good service for a change, they even called back when they said they would. In fact because they were so helpful we paid a bit extra to upgrade the tv to a combi, so we get another 5 year guarantee on top instead of the one year they were offering. So all in all a new tv/vcr for £65!!!!

OP posts:
Original poster
lou33 · 23/04/2003 17:36

sorry about the double post, clicked twice by mistake.

OP posts:
edgarcat · 23/04/2003 18:34

Message withdrawn

lisaj · 23/04/2003 19:52

Lou33 - I second your comments about John Lewis. It is definitely one of my favourite shops, as they give good service. We bought our tv there simply because of the free 5 year guarantee, and they came and tuned it in for us too. They also seem to have good baby changing facilities etc and I find them very child-friendly generally.

MrsS · 23/04/2003 20:10

The High Wycombe home furnishing and leisure store is fantastic. Just a shame they stopped doing the "never knowingly undersold" bit against internet prices. They used to match any internet price and then give you a couple of extra free years warranty.

Original poster
lou33 · 23/04/2003 20:23

MrsS we were lucky and got a great deal from them on a digital camera just before they closed the internet loophole. Saved about £80!!!!! But I do love them still, and try and get all my important stuff from them, just because they make everything so easy should there be a problem. Love their restaurant too.

OP posts:
Pimpernel · 23/04/2003 21:24

Yes - their customer service is superb. I rang their luggage department to ask if they stocked a popup travel cot. They didn't stock it, but rang me back three times to tell me that their baby department didn't stock it either, to give me the manufacturers number, and then to tell me that it was actually manufactured under licence by another company so I needed a different number - I was very impressed by their efforts. I was having a particularly bad IKEA experience at the time though, so maybe that's why JL seemed so good!

sis · 24/04/2003 12:37

Oooh, yes, definately the best shop in the world with REALLY helpful staff. Anytime I want something a bit odd that I cannot recall seeing in the high street, I can almost guarantee that JL will stock it.

Batters · 24/04/2003 13:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Flippa · 24/04/2003 13:39

Hmmm, we didn't have such a good experience with the Gift List dept. When our wedding list stuff arrived, some of it was missing, we had extras of some things and that all happened in January. We are still waiting for a number of items and we are now nearly in May!
Maybe its just the gift list dept that is poor as I have generally found the customer service in other departments to be very good. Don't like the way the restaurants are now all cafeteria style...

bells2 · 24/04/2003 13:45

Our experience of JL's wedding list service was also dreadful. Our china arrived after our first child did (and he was not conceived out of wedlock). We had loads of other delays and also wrong deliveries. However, since then my experience of a range of other stores has convinced me that they really are the best as far as service is concerned and I agree that their web site is fantastic.

Carriel · 22/05/2003 12:45

Hello John Lewis lovers
Just wanted to draw your attention to the 10% off offer that's running now (see top of Talk/homepage/newsletter) and see if anyone's used it (or the £10 of £20) and what their experience has been?
For those who have been on the site the J Lewis folks were asking for input on what else you'd like on there. I said I wanted white goods (fridges, cookers etc) and prams and car seats, plus all school uniforms....Perhaps a tad ambitious. Any other suggestions I can pass on?

BearintheBigBlueHous · 22/05/2003 14:01

Carriel, we used it to get £10 off a UV sun tent - excellent. Thanks for arranging it.
Bear

EJsMum · 22/05/2003 14:16

OH NOOOOOOOOO ! I have my wedding list at JL. They seemed quite capable at the Touchwood,Solihull store. We'll see how it pans out in July

Marina · 22/05/2003 15:24

EJsmum, since Bells' and my day they've gone on the internet, which I am sure will have sorted all the aggro our friends had about getting through on the phone for our lists. You can't beat the choice or the quality at JLP and their wedding list service is hugely popular. Don't worry!

Bron · 22/05/2003 15:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Demented · 22/05/2003 23:33

We used the £10 off to purchase one of those cheap mini digital cameras. So a big thankyou to Mumsnet.

Talking about white goods, I don't suppose JL would do a half-price Smeg fridge offer to Mumsnet members?

SueW · 23/05/2003 00:25

I had fun with JL and wedding lists.

It was my friend F's wedding. I went in to check what she had on the list and was told I couldn't just buy the item from the gift list department but had to go to the relevant department and buy it and bring it down. Hey????

I wouldn't have bothered but I was with my friend T who had phoned that morning to say she was in labour and would I mind spending some time walking around with her. With her first we went and walked round a lake - don't ask why, I get the collywobbles thinking about it now, how I would have got her and my then 15mo from the furthest point of the lake back to the car if it had suddenly got hairy!. This time we decided a trip to town was safer and lunch with her DH.

Anyway, T was walking up and down the china dept in JL and I turned to ask if she'd be all right to trail round the store with me. Assistant asked if T was ok and I said something like, 'Oh she's fine. She's in labour but it'll be a while yet'.

Service changed a bit thereafter. They couldn't get us out of there quick enough!

I look back now and think that we probably did seem mad but at the time it seemed exactly the right thing to do. We went and had lunch in Pierre Victoire. I think she had her son in the early hours of the following morning. She had a VBAC so walking round town can't have doen any harm!

Ghosty · 23/05/2003 08:43

Things must have changed since I did my wedding list 5 years ago ... it was a blimming nightmare ... If it hadn't been for the stuff that I wanted I would have gone somewhere else.
I did mine at the Oxford Street branch (before Blue Water days) and it took ages. Guests at our wedding had a nightmare if they lived away from London because you couldn't just go into your local branch and get what you wanted ... you had to phone Oxford Street to sort it out ... they were not linked to eachother then.
Also I seem to remember there being a problem if you wanted to buy your present and take it to the wedding yourself ... they seemed to prefer the delivery service.
Oh... we also had our delivery screwed up somehow ... missing items ... wrong items ...
We got married in July and finally got all our things in December.
Having said all that ... I do miss JL now ... any chance of them opening a store in NZ I wonder??? I used to love the fact the haberdashery department ....

Bron · 23/05/2003 09:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

codswallop · 27/05/2003 14:22

have just got 10 quid off a gas bbq for parents 40th wedding anniverary

Hoorah for \John Lewis and mumsnet

Tinker · 28/10/2003 15:29

John Lewis and their Never Knowingly Undersold thing - how easy is this really? Is there a catch? I am going to take the plunge and buy a new ashing machine. JL are dearer than Comet or Currys. Do I just tell them that they are and they will reduce the price, just like that?

Also, their 5 year warranty thing. Usual advice is don't go anywhere near an in-store warranty. Are JL the same or the exception?

Thanks

CountessDracula · 28/10/2003 15:46

from their website

We do not apply our Never Knowingly Undersold pricing slogan to our Internet and John Lewis Direct catalogue prices. The nature of such retailing makes straightforward comparisons with conventional shops difficult. We are unable to verify the availability and comparability of the goods and the standards of service and support that are offered by Internet and catalogue competitors.

But you can always be assured of the same dedication to competitive pricing and exceptional value you find in our department stores, where we are Never Knowingly Undersold.

John Lewis department stores pricing policy
We set very competitive prices for all John Lewis department stores.

Each branch routinely checks prices in local shops. If we find the same goods being sold at a lower price, we automatically reduce our local price to match.

If you find the same item you have just bought from us selling for less at another shop in the UK, we will refund the difference

suedonim · 28/10/2003 15:51

We once did the 'never knowingly undersold' thing with JLP and they paid up without a hassle. It was ages ago and I forget how they dealt with it - I think we just told them about it, they checked it out themselves and refunded us the money.

I'm not sure about their 5yr guarantee, tbh, I didn't realise they did them. We've a new dishwasher on order and they haven't tried to sell us a policy. A washing machine guarantee is something I do think is worth paying out for. I can manage a while without a tumbler/dishwasher/microwave etc but I need my washing machine to be able to exsist!

sis · 28/10/2003 15:58

Tinker, when I used the never knowingly undersold policy, I told JL where it was seen at a lower price and they checked it ( I think it goes to a separate dept for this) and refunded the difference in about a week.

don't know about their extended warranties - tend to prefer to put aside the money for repairs and replacements than hand it over to acompany who charges me on the basis that the machine won't go wrong in that time.

Tinker · 28/10/2003 16:07

Thanks girls - so, just be bold and tell them then.

sis- do you never take out any cover when you buy, not even a manufacturer's one? I didn't take out the in-store warranty when bought this last one but so much went wrong with the one I have now that I was pretty grateful for the manufacturer's one. Have no intention of getting Indesit again - am I being over-cautious in thinking about one?

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