v rude store manager in LK Bennett

[Whoneedssleepanyway]

I took a cardigan back to LK Bennett today as after one wash it had shrunk badly and some small holes had appeared on the seam near the neck.

As soon as I showed it to the manager she became very hostile and said they are very careful about the stock they display and would not have sold something in that condition and then started questioning me very agressively as to how I had washed it, the instructions said hand wash 30 degrees, I had washed this cooler than 30 degrees. She basically then said very patronisingly please take me through the steps as to how you washed this and then found the holes as I want to understand how this happened, I said "I washed it, laid it to dry on the airer, went to get it to iron it once it was dry and saw it had shrunk and noticed little holes", she then said "so it sounds like it got caught on something", at this point I did say to her "you seem to be implying that I have done something wrong to the cardigan", she refused point blank to give me a refund or credit note, at which point I quoted legal rights to her as a consumer, she then said it was her right as a company to send the cardigan to a technical expert to have it tested to see if it had been washed properly, I said really and then she just said "fine have your money back". I am so cross that she basically made out I was lying to her and treated me like I was trying it on in front of other people in the store. I am not really sure what the purpose of this thread is but am just really annoyed and needed to let off steam.

I wasn't saying that is the company's attitude..just my own personal opinion - no need to get aggressive. Your discussion is valid, but when I look at some stores and see how hard they work I feel sad that the entire company is tainted due to other stores failings. Some people wake up every morning and want nothing more than to make their customers happy so I disagree with tarring everyone with the same brush.

I totally agree about sales assistant snooty attitude and poor customer service, i've been victim to it in a number of stores but I'm smart enough to realize that they have pressure coming from management to be pushy, that they can't afford half the products in the store anyways and they are no reason for me to boycott the company they work for. If I'm really peeved I would send a complaint - you would be surprised how much this holds weight. Next time you ladies have a negative experience anywhere, get the name of the person who upset you and write an email to the branch or speak to the manager directly about it.

Perhaps it took me working in retail to realize this.. maybe it's hard for the rest of you to see my point. There is no perfect company where everyone has a standardized perfect service 100% of the time - this is even more true in retail with such a high turnover of staff.

I wouldn't want to excuse LKB for any of the horror stories of poor customer service on this thread. Sounds appalling.

Just to say, though, in fairness, that not all their staff are bad/ have a poor attitude.

I regularly go into the Richmond and Bloomsbury stores - often in my mature student uniform of jeans, etc - and have never had anything other than helpful and friendly service - even when, as often, I've looked at length but decided not to buy in the end.

Haven't had occasion to take anything back except for refunds when I've changed my mind/ item doesn't coordinate, etc so haven't tested how they deal with complaints of faults.

I worked in retail for years electricblueberry and I stand by my previous post...which I don't think was aggressive, but then, I'm not really seeing aggression in any of the other posts either.

Boycotting them won't hurt them, they're going from strength to strength reads like screw you, little people, you're irrelevant and we're too big to give a shit.

This is how it reads to me too. I'm one of the little people who will take my money else where. Its the little people who are spending their money that keeps these companies going. As for making a complaint, why bother, when I can walk into a different store where staff are friendly and helpful, and just spend my money there instead

What was the outcome of the broken heel on your shoes surely you didn't just leave it at being escorted from the premises

Thanks for the heads up. If I've had to return something, I would expect an apology, not an inquisition.