LAURA ASHLEY - FEEL LIKE IVE BEEN ROBBED

[sabas]

I just wanted to advise anyone who wasn't aware of Laura Ashley's ridiculous policy on the expiry of refund cards.Any refund card provided by Laura Ashley expires 28 days after it is issued and they DO NOT inform customers of this in the store that I shopped at.

Bacically i bough wallpaper to the value of £50 for my son's bedroom. When the painter saw the paper he recommended that I return it as he said it was basically rubbish as it was so thin. By this time more than 28 days had elapsed so I couldnt get a refund but was offered a refund card. It was not mentioned by the assistant that this card expired in 28 days. The card does state this i have now discovered but it is in teeny writing at the back.

I went to use the card today at another store and the manager there was so rude and basically told me that it was tough. there so called customer relations team were no help either, telling me ive lost my money and its not their problem and when I asked if I could at least get my goods back I was told "no".

I wouldnt be bothered if the card was years old but to my knowledge no other shops have such a unfair policy on refund cards/credit notes and I wasn't told about it.

I have basically lost my monry and the goods, something that I can ill afford. I am raging at the unfairness of it! Would it really kill them to let me use the cards, and apparently if i go and give them the cards and walk out with my original goods it is theft!!

dont think its theft as she willingly gave her wallpaper to them? I think the slightly iffy bit is that the 28 days was in small print on the back of the card and she wasn't made aware of this till after the arrangement was agreed. therefore i'm not sure that it could be enforced - but quite a while since i've done sale of goods act

IamAnnaBanana thats a great idea to send the CEO a link to this thread - genius. [wink} I think I will do that, I have alraedy sent her an email, but I will follow it up and post this link, she may be very interested.

I followed up my FB post with the outcome of the call with LA yesterday as they posted that my issue had been resolved. Although I will (apparently)receive my refund card soon and am not technically out of pocket. I am put off going in that shop again and certainly I am not satisfied by their idea of resolution as I didn't get my money back not any acknowledgement of the time ive spent on the phone and emailing.

Thanks for this thread. I have never shopped at LA, always found it too expensive, but I will certainly not even bother looking at their website any more. If they go under it'll be their own fault.

AwesomeWellies I got a bedspread like that for ds recently from tkmaxx for £20!

Oooh, thanks ggirl.
It's only 20 minutes to a tkmaxx on the bus!

If you are reading LA CEO I think this is really bad customer service and I won't be shopping with you again either!

I ordered a dress, they took my money, two weeks later still no dress. I phoned, they said it was out of stock, and that I had to provide evidence of my payment for a refund. They had my money for more than a month. Very, very poor.

My mate bought a bedspread from there last year for £100. Around the same time, I got one from m&s for £20. Hers fell apart after less than a month, and mine is still going strong now.

We bought a made to measure blind and pair of curtains from LA and would definitely not recommend them. The blind fell off the roller in the first week and as it was wider than average two pieces of fabric were joined in a really shoddy way, then after a month or so it frayed at the join and down the sides. The curtains were fine but we got nowhere with our complaint about the blind. Absolute waste of money!

Hey Ladies,

What was the verdict here?

I am Furious !!! I got to the counter. they said the card was expired and then threw it in the bin !!! What a Farce !!!! I made the girl retrieve it from the bin though. ;)

Am I able to fight this or am I going to spend more money in telephone calls than the £20 I had on my card? The worst bit is that I paid £20 out of my wallet to get the stuff i'd intended to buy with the card.

Iv just been on the phone with them and have asked where my £20 has gone and have asked for a letter stating exactly that.

Any advice please?

Kind regards
Alyhanny

Hello
What you need to do is email the CEO. See my email link. I had huge problems with a LA broken sofa a couple of months ago and was sick of sitting (many times!) being forced to listen to Enya at 10p a minute to eventually speak to someone who fobbed me off! I emailed the CEO and got a reply by her PA later that day. The broken sofa was fixed the following day (it had been delivered broken!) They rang me the following week to check that I was happy & offered me a £75 gift card. I asked for £100 and they agreed! So, go straight to the top. - I got this link & advice from MumsNet. Please let us know how you get on.www.ceoemail.com/

I am about to buy a sofa, admittedly in clearance, so very reasonable. What went wrong with your sofa? Presumably clearance sofas have no guarantee; it's great to have a link to the top though!
Customer service at Laura Ashley is dire though. I am still waiting for them to sort out my query. I sorted it out myself on Tuesday!

Just fuming with LA after finding out that my wedding gift card had expired, after 18 months its now 19 months...maybe like M&S they should also print that information on the cardboard sleeve holding card, as had read M&S was 24 months and had assumed the same.
Very unhelpful in shop but was also left reeling by the assistant asking when my baby was due (I am not pregnant!).

Hope you get somewhere. Their refund policy is ridiculous and I for one will never shop there again.

Oh zombie thread!

Thanks for the warning - I had no idea about this. Is it legal (in consumer rights terms) ?

QueenKong That is one of the most useful websites I've EVER seen!

Our decorator says LA wallpaper is shit, and has always been shit. We used some and it turned out ok, he was surprised.

I have their wallpaper against decorators advice and 1 year in is all marked and peeling. Poor quality.

Same with HMV, had gift vouchers, spend half on a CDs and the shop assistant replaced the rests of vouchers with gift card. Later when tried to use the card was told that the card is expired, and if I have had a gift vouchers I could use them forever, as they are as good as money and do not expire. Robbery

But don't M&S have a similar policy? I need to check but there is a 90 day expiry period on credits and refunds.

Credit notes at marks and spencer last a year.

Don't get me started on Laura Ashley.....we bought a sofa from them which was delivered with broken legs. It is a very long story, but they eventually sent someone out to repair it after we had emailed the CEO directly (Liilian Tan Lee at the time), and gave us a few measley gift vouchers. I have had a lamp from there before which nearly set on fire, various other quality issues and delivery problems...You would I think I would have learnt my lesson sooner. But I would never buy anything from them again.