Marks and Spencer have fallen, part III; we’re gonna need a bigger boat

[MrsSnippyPants]

Fresh thread in case part 2 fills up overnight.
I am yet to receive a reply to my third email, have been furiously tweeting, and as am now pursuing the options available to me as a shareholder.
Still crossing fingers for John Lewis!

So many high street shops are closing thy ese says dye to poor turnover. Someone hasn’t thought it through!

Does a leopard change it's spots? The M&S senior lawyer & board member was previously in charge of this
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3743307-CPS-official-unofficial-policy-on-rape-conviction-rate

A few thoughts from me:

@YourOpinionIsNoted - you are spot on. They've got an algorithm thats says 'already wrote to that email address, take no further action'.

On the hamper and gluten questions - try your local garden centre. There are some very innovative retailers in that market segment. Some might also do online or delivery services. Try this one. There is actually a GF hamper. www.notcutts.co.uk/

I'm an 'expat' - only been here 22 years. . I've always thought that M&S food was poor value for money. And the focus is prepared food, not ingredients for cooking.

One door closes, another door opens. There are so many other retailers and etailers out there competing for our busines.

It was the mention of Stuart Rose at Ocado that intrigued me.

Stuart Rose ran M&S until about 2011. He became chair of Ocado in 2013, who a year or so ago, famously lobbied a billboard company to remove Posie's Woman = Adult Human Female poster and then bragged about it. From the New Year Ocado will deliver for M&S instead of Waitrose.

There were some terrific Ocado threads last year. Essentially it seemed that Ocado assumed that nothing would come of alienating its core affluent middle class female customer base. Not dissimilar to the way M&S are behaving now. I wonder if Rose, having been through it before, is providing guidance on how to "tough it out".

Too late for me. M&S has become a shop I don't go into. In the way that I never visited McDonald's again after watching the film "Supersize Me", or indeed stopped shopping at Benetton after their provocative ads decades ago. (I was not particularly offended, I just did not like being manipulated into buying a sweater.) I may be uniquely stubborn, but I suspect not, whilst the memory of those kinky on-line reviews will stay with me for a long time.

The thing about boycotting Marks & Spencer's is that it is entirely genuine.

Women absolutely do not want to share lingerie changing rooms with men.

They won't do it.

There aren't enough durs in the world to convey my incredulity that they don't get this.

They won't do it.

Any suggestions for where to buy kids’ jeans and jogging trousers now that M&S and Next are out? I tend to find the waists too baggy on supermarket ones for my kids. Do JL do a “basics” type range for these? And have we clarified their changing room position yet?

I bought DD a pair of Zara jeans (from eBay so I don't know how they compare price wise) that seem to be quite slim fitting on the waist.

SirVixofVixhall

Thank you for putting up the GF Lebkucken site.
It is in German... I am doing my best. Hopefully I will also be ordering the gingerbread and some other tasty looking treats.

BTW Do you read German or is there a way to translate?

River island Is good for boys jeans and joggers with slim waists

@littlecabbage Again, uniqlo, or H&M who do really good basic jogging trousers and leggings.

I clicked on SirVix's link and it came up in English.

Also @Needmoresleep I think Stuart Rose is about to preside over a massive double whammy. M&S is so not a replacement for Waitrose on Ocado, I think that was a problem to start with. (Waitrose is for people who like cooking very much, M&S is for those who can't be arsed). But now, it's a double boycott...

Another thanks for the glutenfree lebkuchen link! ( it's in English for me)

H&M who do really good basic jogging trousers and leggings and jeans.

Great, thanks all.

I always bought my knickers from M&S no more that's gross how can't they not see we don't want a bloke trying them on and wanking in the next cubicle with the door unlocked. Those reviews even if they go through and remove I've seen them for myself now

I've been impressed by Milk & More - doorstep milk delivery. They're offering organic fruit boxes, a great range of juices, bakery and an interesting range of special Christmas items - most (but not all ) organic, no plastic wrappings and delivered before 7.00 am - you can order up to 9.00 pm the day before. Well worth taking a look and encouraging me to cook from scratch again.

@YourOpinionIsNoted - you are spot on. They've got an algorithm thats says 'already wrote to that email address, take no further action'.

Doesn’t this fall foul of GDPR rules about transparency around using algorithms in a transparent way? Surely if they’re sending follow-up emails to the inbox shredder folder, they need to tell you that’s what they are doing?

I used to buy a lot of food at M&S because it was convenient. I’m now doing an online shop for hard to get items, big shop every so often for household items and the farm shop (cheaper and better quality) for fresh food. I’m having to try alternatives and finding that I’m enjoying them and it’s cheaper. Rather than giving in I think the longer this goes on the less likely I am to ever shop there again.

I use Riverford box delivery for amazing organic veggies. Lots of different Box sizes and combinations available. My local team are fab, the loveliest people to deal with. I started after the Ocado debacle, and wouldn’t go back now, if Ocado paid me. I shall do the same with M&S, no surrender!

Speaking to a friend earlier who was in the M&S on Oxford St a few weeks ago. She was in the women’s clothing dept and watched a man, (dressed in typical male clothing) walk into the Women’s changing room.

littlecabbage la redoute do some things in a slim fit , and their regular cut is slimmer than next or M&S . Or DPAM, another French brand.

Thanks SirVix, will have a look.

Here is my reply to Next:

Thank you for your reply. I find it strange that you claim to be being “accommodating to as many customers as possible” whilst putting 52% of the population at risk of sexual offences (voyeurism, upskirting, flashing and assault), in order to appease a small percentage of customers who wish to enter the changing rooms of the opposite biological sex.

Tell me, how do you know whether a biological male genuinely believes the falsehood that he is a woman, or whether he is a pervert or paedophile? You cannot possibly know. The Equality Act 2010 exists to preserve single sex spaces for the safety and privacy of biological women. You are putting biological females at risk with this policy.

Did you know that the vast majority of self-titled “transwomen” still have a fully functioning penis, and that as a statistical group, “transwomen” commit sexual offences at the same rate as men?

Have you seen the huge numbers of reviews of women’s underwear by men (yes, they list their gender as male) on the M&S website, which are clearly written in the context of a sexual fetish? Even reviews of teenage training bras?

Next is either being extremely naive to think that this policy will not be exploited by autogynephiles, or there are men high up in Next management who are actively encouraging this.

Thank you for clarifying your position. You have lost my custom.

Good reply, cabbage. Let us know if you get anything back.

Were there staff around when he walked in SirVix?