Next Unlimited now includes delivery only

[SeasonsBleatings]

To be aware if you have an existing pre-paid 12 month subscription as I do - from January all returns are chargeable at £2.50 each. I don't recall seeing anything advising of this.

Thank you for posting that, @Shadesofscarlett.

Be careful paying with Klarna. I had a right nightmare recently as next didn’t update my return on Klarna. I’ll never pay via that method with Next again. Now I’m going to be paying for returns I doubt I’ll even shop with them.

As for the price changes, during the trail period of the price going up to £26, customers said they would rather pay £22.50 and then pay for returns rather than paying £26 for everything, this is why we have changed this.

As if their customers said that! It's quite insulting that they have told you that when it can't possibly be the case.

Maybe a small percentage said it but I can't believe they asked their customers that and most of them said they would rather pay £22.50 and pay for their returns. In fact, I don't believe it at all.

They've made a right mess of this. Gerald Ratner and his jewellery stores comes to mind.

They've now told me to ignore any stated collection charges as I subscribed before the change. I'm not doing that as I already know that will involve a load of faff to sort any refunds out.

Wonder who they asked about this - cos it clearly was not one of us!

I didn't get an email that's fo shizzle.

I have cancelled auto renew though. They shut down our nearest store. When they bought Joules I thought MAYBE we can take returns there in the future. Woke up to the news that they've closed the Joules store too.

So I can't return in store. And so I can't shop at Next anymore.

We have M&S though and the buyers from Next moved to M&S (according to LinkedIn!) - hence why their kids and womens clothes are quite good at the moment. So I guess I'll be shopping with them in store from now on 😊

Next turned into a modge podge of random brands anyway. The sizing is inconsistent and a lot of their own brand stuff is getting a little ugly.

Shame though. I used to love them!

Small update here. Response to my complaint confirms I renewed Unlimited before 25th Jan and the returns are free.
Say they have put a note on my account to confirm this.
But I am not confident that I won't have to chase them now to refund incorrectly applied charges over the next 11 months if I use their returns service.

Thanks for posting this, Internetwanderer. I’m still waiting to hear back after I asked for my complaint to be escalated.

I’m still shocked (or maybe I shouldn’t be) at how a large company has screwed this up so badly.

Thing is, free delivery and returns means I was essentially a bit lazy and defaulted to buying stuff from Next because I had that service, rather than shopping around. So all kids' basics, underwear, sunglasses, plus if I saw something on e.g. Monsoon I'd get it from Next because I had free delivery.

I'm not subscribing if returns aren't free, so for all of that stuff I no longer have any incentive to even look at Next when shopping around, and more likely to order more in one go from e.g. John Lewis or M&S where spending more gets you free delivery.

Same @HyggeTygge that's exactly what I do! (Used to do!)

I agree completely with this. All that I will be buying in Next going forward will be school uniform and as that’s only once a year, get it delivered to a store and make the journey there to collect it.

Yes I agree with this. The ease of free returns was one of the reasons I used Next over other retailers, so I won’t be bothering now. I’m going to clear my balance today and close my account.
I haven’t been impressed since they introduced all the third party brands anyway, and their sales get worse every year.

Exactly this. I don’t buy that much of their own brand stuff, only a few bits for DD. Nearly everything I buy is available elsewhere, but without Next’s ‘free’ (that I’ve subscribed to and paid for in advance) delivery and returns.

If I can get the same stuff on the John Lewis website (which 99% of the time I can) and get it delivered for free to the local Waitrose the next day, that’s what I’ll be doing instead of buying it via Next.

Utter muppets 🤦‍♀️ Completely shooting themselves in the door because they don’t understand their own USP.

Because John Lewis returns dropped off at Waitrose are free….

Well either the customers who said that are pretty poor customers who only order a couple of times a year, or they’re innumerate. A bit silly to listen to those who aren’t your best customers!

I requested a courier on three occasions and they never turned up had to do the QR code and take to the post office. It said I'd be charged but can't work out if it has.

Doesn't look like I've been charged for the post office return my renewal was some time ago

I took my subscription out in Aug 2022 (for the 1st time) and these were the detailed terms and conditions attached to my email. So note the free returns for fashion items and then the pro-rata refund if the"offer" is discontinued. So it looks to me as if they are now charging for refunds (ie discontinuing that part of the offer) then part of the subscription should be refundable.

"To subscribe to nextunlimited, you must have a valid e-mail address registered to your account.

Subject to the exceptions listed below, the nextunlimited service includes orders for home delivery, 2 person delivery items, deliveries to Hermes Parcel Shops and courier collection of any fashion item. Due to their bespoke nature, most personalised items will be delivered within 7 days.

Delivery times cannot be guaranteed under the service.

The service costs £20 for 12 months’ subscription.

If you have a nextpay account you will be contacted before your 12 month subscription is automatically renewed. Please note, in order for your subscription to be renewed your account must have sufficient credit to cover the renewal cost. For customers without a nextpay account, we will contact you before your subscription is due to expire.

Interest will be charged on the subscription if you do not pay off your balance in full before the next statement from the statement date following the date on which the subscription is added to your account.

The service will be immediately activated upon sign up.

Any fashion items returned via courier will be free of charge. A collection charge will apply for 2 person items collected from your home, see next.co.uk/terms for details.

nextunlimited orders can be placed over the telephone, or online once you have logged into your account at next.co.uk/myaccount.

At the time of your purchase the charge will be added to your total at checkout.

The charge for the nextunlimited service will not be included for the purposes of any other offer or incentive.

Next reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions and/or discontinue the offer at any time. If Next discontinues the offer, you will be refunded pro rata for the remaining months of your subscription.

Full terms and conditions can be viewed at next.co.uk/terms.

The nextunlimited Service does not include:

Orders placed for Precise Home delivery, including 2 person items.

Orders for the following: The Next Directory, samples and swatches, sample paint pots, Next Flowers, Next Wine, items ordered from the Gift List, Gift Cards, e-Gift cards, Art 2 Order, photos processing, gift experiences, Garden Plants, Wall Stickers, Next House Signs and Gifts, Made2Order, fitted bedrooms by Hammonds Space and Domestic Appliances.

Collections of 2 person items and domestic appliances.

The service is for personal use only and is not available for customers who purchase goods for business, re-sale or wholesale purposes."

I didn't know I could return John Lewis stuff to Waitrose! Thank you

Thank you so much for starting this thread and letting everyone know! I am another customer completely in the dark about these changes. I love(d) a sales browse as random stuff gets added quite often. however, completely agree about inconsistent sizing or poor photos and therefore, I returned a fair amount which was great, given it being included in the unlimited. I will be another now no longer using my account, the incentive has now gone. I find it really underhand how sneaky this has been handled.

I’ve still not had an update. I really think Next have handled this so badly.
I’ve asked them to tell me when they informed me of the changes. Each time I also ask for a gesture of goodwill as they are wasting my time. We need to keep asking questions and inform them we won’t be shopping with them.
Anyone that hasn’t already, please turn off your auto renew. That will show them how we all feel.

I ended up sending a message through Twitter. They’ve confirmed that as I am an existing Unlimited customer, returns will be free until the end of the 12 months. I’m not looking forward to having to chase and battle on the phone when I want to do a return, considering my account is showing that I have to pay for returns.

@Pearl97 - I’d be very interested to hear what they say about when they let customers know about the changes.

They’ve also confirmed to me this evening - after 3 emails - that I won’t be charged until renewal and to ignore the message showing on the website. I have a return to do next week so I’ll see if charges are applied.

I'm doing a return this week. Will see what happens.

Has anyone actually been charged for a return yet? I don’t think it will apply to customers who subscribed before jan. I might do an order and return and see 😂

I had something picked up last week in fact and there has been no charge yet