Name: John Lewis
Rating: 2.66

“poor and non responsive customer service, spent 4 evenings on the phone, never again, :(”

Posted 9 years ago

“I bought two ceiling pendant lights online from John Lewis. I like them a lot. However one was seen to be damaged when unpacked. Resulting in a repeat visit by the electrician/fitter and slightly more time/cost for me. The return of the damaged item and sending a new one was done quickly and without fuss. So far so good. John Lewis then asked me to "review the product". I gave an honest opinion which was that I liked the lamps but over the years I have had several items from various retailers and agents which have been "damaged in transit". These have always involved a Royal Mail carrier. I simply suggested that John Lewis review their policy of using Royal Mail when they cannot deliver themselves. A quick search online will verify that I am not the only one to have formed a certain negative opinion of Royal Mail as carriers. The review (which I emphasise that they had asked for) was rejected "Unfortunately your review did not meet our guidelines for posting on johnlewis.com". That is, I assume, it contained some negative comments. Presumably there are reasons why John Lewis will not allow criticism of a carrier who damages goods. I will let you come to your own conclusions about that. John Lewis - please don't ask me for reviews if you don't want an honest opinion.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Have purchased may electrical items from John Lewis but a Zanussi Fridge purchased less than 6 months ago had developed a fault and was leaking and the seal was not working as it should. Contacted John Lewis to get this resolved in mid August and still no resolve. They first of all failed to even action an engineers visit and then the dodgy company they assigned to come out and inspect the fridge did not even bother coming out and later claimed that they had come but no one was in, even though i had taken the afternoon off work to ensure I could be there for when the engineer came. After 6 calls and hours on the phone there is still no resolve. They claimed to put me through to a manager who advised that he would look into it but could not escalate the complaint, even though their calls are recorded. Poor customer service when you need it, hence save your money and go to other suppliers who will supply you the same product cheaper and you have no expectation of customer service. John Lewis you have lost my custom and that of my family and friends.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I honestly wouldn't wish what johnlewis.com is making me experience even to my worst enemy! I bought a phone on their website which I collected from their supplier's depot and the box was empty! This was on August, 13 and still nothing received nor refund or another phone sent back where clearly the Delivery Courier signed and stated a file confirming the box was empty. Letters with facts explained, emails, at least 20 calls to Customer Service already and NOTHING in return. Customer service agents that keep promising calls back for you which simply don't happen. Wouldn't have expected from John Lewis. I feel really cheated on and let down by the whole situation. Unbelievably indecent and ridicoulously useless service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Zero customer service. I received an email from JL over a month after placing my order saying my item had been returned. I never received the item and am still waiting on a reply to my email that I sent weeks ago. My address was correct, the item plus postage has been paid for and it was in stock when I placed my order. I have no idea what's happened... This is NOT how an online company should operate. Never NEVER shopping here again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“What a rubbish service I received from JL. Ordered a Bosch dishwasher which failed to arrive. I'm sorry to be rude but I found the customer section quite dim. I've made 4 calls to customer service and spent an hour on the phone with promises to ring back but they never do. So much for being a quality store. Please reply John lewis”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Bought a Mulberry Scarf. Cost over £165.00. After two weeks of wear, everything the scarf touched would cause a hair line or snag. Then the label stitching came apart so the label come off. Returned it to the JL BLUEWATER store and had it exchanged for another Mulberry scarf. Within a week the same thing happened so returned it to the BLUEWATER store. The lady asked if I wanted an exchange, I said yes, and off she went and brought me the previous scarf I had returned the week before! I was shocked. And I told her that was the one I returned . Disgusting John Lewis! Selling damaged returns to customers. I put a similar review in the JL website and surprise surprise they removed it.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Really poor customer service. I bought a Samsung TV and you could just about hear dialog with the volume at 70. I then checked reviews and seen that loads of other people had the same issue and you needed to buy a soundbar @ £300 to boost the sound. I bought this and now all is well . Then I rechecked the john Lewis website and they have lots of deals with Samsung TV + soundbar as a package. So I emailed customer services asking if they were aware of the volume issue and they basically replied I can't get a retrospective discount (that I never asked for) and that if the TV is broken I call a maintenance department! Very rude and very poor service. Would not recommend this company to anyone”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Very pleased with the customer service I received from John Lewis Customer assistants in buying a laptop. They knew exactly what they were doing, very helpful in busy circumstances and very attentive. #Happycustomer Thank you!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“What a disgrace this company is On sunday my disabled vulnerable son purchased a ps4 online using barclays debit card , he had saved for months , Sunday placed order for £344 they took the money and the order was shipped , Then the horror started looked at his bank account they took the money again , having spent over £60 in phone calls to them and barclays , both companies blamed each other , Customer services useless , having no money , and he thought of suicide. John Lewis answer come and collect the ps4 give a refund of £344 so he pay the phone and bank charges they run up , and yes they kept the other £344”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I bought a smart TV from John Lewis and wish i should not have bought from them in the first place. Within less than a year , as repair after repairs with my Sony TV and 4 engineers sent by John Lewis and they are still sending the engineers. I am sure that would have costed them more than what i paid for my TV in the first place. Every time after the engineer visits they say it is irreparable TV and update John Lewis who will get back to you in a week, but guess what they never called me to give me any updates, after a week i have to call them every-time and ask for an update they say they will send another engineer. I felt more of a buying choice from John Lewis is an experience of distress after buying from them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I ordered online this product. after few days i got the email that it has been delivered although I didn't received it. Then I was keep calling to John Lewis customer service but they were telling me it has been delivered and we will not give you the product or refund straight away on my very first call without any investigation…………….Something wrong in the online delivery department or something wrong going on in delivery company……………I did police complaint as well as per john lewis staff suggestion. Police is also looking into the matter but delivery company "Hermes" is also not providing delivery driver's detail and because of that investigation taking very long time………….. This was my first and the worst online shopping experience…………and it was my first shopping experience with JL. I advice others to do not order online with this company…very bad service…..if your item is not delivered then you have to go to police to short the problem out……….because we don't have any proof to prove that item is not delivered, apart from experience and your words which none will trust.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Dreadful customer service. John Lewis should be ashamed of themselves. I ordered a built in double oven and was sent an under counter cooker in error. I appreciate that sometimes mistakes can be made and am willing to accommodate this, however I am genuinely shocked at the appalling service I've had in attempting to return the cooker. It is now 4 weeks!!! Since the error was made by John Lewis and I have still not had the cooker collected. After several phone calls to customer services, I'm told this has been treated as a priority, (since I have not been able to cook!! ) being left for weeks without a cooker IS NOT "priority" I've had NO apology for their error or the inconvenience this has caused me. I will not buy from John Lewis again and will certainly suggest that anyone should avoid dealing with them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Discusted with John Lewis. I Ordered a double mattress for my parents, paid extra for fast delivery. John lewis cancelled the order the next day because of an issue with there system. Called me yo say we would need to re order so i did. I was promissed selivery was arranged as m farther has a sine tumor and needed the mattress. Then the day after i was called again by a different person to say the order had been cancelled again. I told them what i had been told they said they would ring me back but never did the mattress was not deliverd so we made a purchase with a more reliable compay. I will never make a pur hase with them again”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Appalling customer service I was trying to order a John Lewis guest bed in white, initially through the High Wycombe store. They said that it was out of stock but they would contact me when it came back into stock. I then proceeded to order one online in a different colour which had a three week lead time. Two weeks later, I got a call from the store that they now had the bed in white and would I still like to order it? I explained that I had placed an order online but they said it would be no problem to cancel that order if I wanted the white bed. However, I would have to cancel it myself, as John Lewis online was a separate part of their business. In the meantime they gave me an order number for the white bed in store and promised to hold on to it for me. This is where the nightmare started. I called the online team and they said that even though there was still a week to go before the delivery, it was too late to cancel it and I would have to refuse the delivery when it arrived. I would then need to call them to process a refund. Of course this meant that I needed to take the morning of the delivery off work to do that. After I had refused their delivery I called them but they said that they would call me back later that day. They needed to confirm that I had indeed refused the delivery once their delivery van reached their warehouse. After three days they still had not called back and also not refunded any money so I called again and they were very unapologetic but did confirm that they would refund the money. I then called the store (as of course the online part and the offline John Lewis don't talk to each other) and arranged for the white bed to be delivered the following week. Again, I had to take time off work to receive the delivery. The evening before the delivery I received a call from the store saying that the bed was now out of stock and they would not deliver the following day. They were extremely unapologetic, again pointing out that it was really my fault for getting involved with two 'different' companies (John Lewis online and the local store) and said they would contact me when it would be back in stock. Too late to cancel my leave, I had lost more time, and as I had paid the store already, was £399 out of pocket. At that point I decided it was time to send an e-mail to the Head of Customer service at John Lewis as I thought that this artificial separation between online and offline made it impossible to ever achieve a good outcome for a customer. I got a call back a few days later from a very friendly customer service agent. She promised to investigate and get back to me within three days. She called back after four and said she could now confirm that the bed was definitely out of stock but as I had had a bad experience she could offer me £100 off a more expensive bed. As the more expensive bed was over £600 I declined and asked her to refund the £399 I had paid the store for a delivery that was never made. She said that she had no record of that transaction but she would contact the store and then contact me again to process the refund. After another three days she called me and said that she had good news, the white guest bed was back in stock and would I want to order one. I made it clear that after this appalling experience it would be very unlikely that I would order ever again at John Lewis and could she please just refund the money which eventually came back onto the card a few days later. I leave it up to other customers to judge whether they want to order at John Lewis but having been a loyal customer for many years with a partnership card and having bought most Christmas presents for the kids and furniture for the house from them, I found the treatment I received shocking. They were still clearly trying to make money out of a situation that had cost me lots of time, nerves and money by trying to up-sell me to a considerably more expensive bed. Escalating the situation to their Head of Customer Service did not really help either. I have to conclude that the company has decided to abandon their customers. The question is, will their customers eventually abandon them?”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“This morning I visited the Cardiff store broke down at the barrier with my one week old Mercedes the security team were so so helpful arranging for backup and staying with me through out the ordeal thanks you X x”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I write this review with a heavy heart; being a loyal customer for many years, in part via John Lewis (JL) being a co-operative, and my family always seeing you as a staple store, I have been treated with the worst customer service possible. It has now put me as well as other family members off the JL/Peter Jones/Waitrose brands for life, and should be a warning for all; as when there is a serious problem JL can't and don't want to handle it. To be honest, I am alarmed at all the below reviews (TrustPilot)but it is all clearly indicative of something rotten within the current operational structure. Obiter, from the agents, is that a lot of them are not happy with being TUPE'd to Capita; I think this may well be a factor for the sub-standard customer service experienced by me, and other individuals. Could the main issue be that the agents concerned no longer care about the accountability or the brand of JL as they once did when they were partners, as it does not serve them anymore, other than hitting their individual KPI. It all started with a laundry bin, and ended with a MD, Andy Street, disregarding a child's health (allegedly as advocated and alluded to by the Customer Service Manager for JL online - a FM). Clearly, children, and their protection, are not a top-priority of JL. The above-mentioned item omitted a strong odour - it was akin to a stale urine, and a very potent one at that; it was that bad it permeated all our clothing and damp towels. On smelling this, I contacted JL customer service. My concern was that after I inspected the material within, there was no visible marks/staining. This led me to the reasonable belief that the odour was from vermin, such as a rat (which contrary to the JL customer service managers understanding of rats, but they do affect every part of the UK, and it is via their urine (and other animals) that Weils disease or the milder Leptospirosis are passed onto humans - unless JL have a patented rat repellent and a piece of technology which cleans rats urine). The main issue at this stage was the protection of my son, who has been diagnosed with several health issues (as well as being severely allergic to most broad-spectrum antibiotics, hence my heightened concern) as well as being only 5 years old. It is from here it became a crusade to get any support and advice..... In short this leads me to the belief, JL, is now about getting their money at the outset (short-term Win-Win) and foregoing any logical, practical and safe customer service thereafter, even if an issue could be considered an issue hazardous to health. It is when I contacted the JL customer service the fun really starts... On calling, I spoke to a lady, called Tanja. English was clearly not her first language, however, insults and defamation were definitely her raison d'être. Without going through it all, the lady subsequently informed me it was me who urinated in it. I warned her explicitly to stop defaming and insulting me, but she continued and started to shout at me. I made her aware that this was distressing to myself, and that her behaviour was inappropriate and confrontational. I had to put the phone down as my wife had to leave the room crying and clearly distressed on hearing this rant from your agent. This complete episode of abuse lasted circa 45 minutes. During the call, I asked to speak to a manager; Tanja informed me her manager, Joanne, would not speak to me, yet she never went to ask her and heard her laughing with a colleague. Anyhow, I called back and spoke to a lovely lady, who then went to ask Joanne, but she would not take the call, and instead asked one of her supervisors to call me. This chap took the call, and promised me he would extract the call. On retelling this tale about JL that night, I was contacted in the morning by my lawyer, who asked me to speak to a JL employee directly (rather than a Capita Agent) and asked them to extract the call, and for them to inform you of their findings. I spoke to a lovely partner the following morning, who explicitly said that all the calls are recorded, and that via the nature of this complaint, it would be escalated in the most urgent terms, and someone would be in contact by 14.00. Well that never happened... I then contacted JL again, and this time spoke to Aimee. She informed me that I would receive a call back from Tanja's manager at 20.00, and she would contact me the next day to see how it went. Well 20.00hrs passed, and at 21.00hrs I contacted JL again. Who said customer service and courtesy was a JL staple?? I was then put through to the Capita Call Centre in Bury, and here I spoke to two lovely managers, who could not be any more helpful, and even agreed the process seemed skewed; this was the first time I had a source of a sincere apology. They saw the booking for 20.00hrs on Joanne's diary, and explicitly stated that they could not understand why I had not been called back. Both of them explicitly stated that they actually found it highly unusual that the manager of the individual (yes, this Joanne) would be investigating the individual given the gravity of the situation. Hey-ho, this is the new JL. Again these two reiterated all calls are recorded and the person would be dealt with accordingly. It is worth noting here that the two Bury Managers tried to get through to Joanne in Sky Park for near enough 40 minutes, and they were unsure why she was not picking up given that her shift was from 18.00 - 00.00 hrs. They even emailed her to make this point. So the next day it was a surprise to hear that call was not recorded - it seemed to be contrary to what all colleagues (be it a JL partner or a Capita employee) understood the process to be. I was livid to say the least. Here I encountered the manager of the call centre for the first time. He knew I could not bring a defamation suit, as the recording did not exist, nor could he or Capita discipline the employee either. It is worth noting here though, when I contacted Capita Head Office, they are under the belief, that all their agents calls are recorded. So clearly there is some miscommunication, or is someone trying to hide something, namely, the explicit defamation. As a gesture of goodwill, he offered me £100, this was up from a derisory £50 for the whole episode of the bad customer service. I am thankful for this, and have donated this accordingly, because as I said earlier, I could never shop with this group again as if something goes wrong look at the debacle what ensues. The laundry bin was then picked up, and the delivery driver commented on the smell, and said it was revolting. It was then examined by JL, who then contacted me and informed me it was a manufacturing issue, as the strong smell was via a lacquer to preserve it. As a result of this, I then contacted JL to organise the compensation for the clothes and towels (for me, my son and wife - and the very reason I got this bin in the first place) which I had to throw out. However, after being promised several manager call-backs again, I never got any, this is despite that after speaking to FM, who ensured me that he would personally look at why there was no call-backs from managers during this case, clearly, nothing has changed. Therefore, JL, are a company of giving customers lip service, as opposed to learning from mistakes. All I wanted was a proper apology, and to be put back in the situation before this terrible mess, i.e. having unspoiled towels and clothing, is it too much to ask??? Well clearly it is, as according to Andy Street, MD, via FM! I should not be compensated as I should have washed them. Well no!!! Completely not reasonable! Nor was I afforded this advice at any avenue. Should I have exposed myself, my wife and our son to the potential harmful bacteria (as it could have been at that time as it was not clear what it was) (moreover, what degree should it have been washed at??) (if there was transfer, and my son can't have antibiotics are they willing to accept putting my son at risk - as his GP has confirmed today, if there was a transfer, even with the mild Leptospirosis, the choice would have needed approval from Leicester in our area as the only antibiotic available for him would have been a Carbapenem (as never had that before, and is literally the last line of defence in medicine) - using this needs to be documented with PHE; on informing why I needed the information he could not believe what he was hearing and was so gobsmacked at a company he thought was a leader in the market-place. Therefore, CAN YOU TELL ME WHY this was not taken seriously, and it should just be washed, especially relevant given that if it was rat pee we would be having a very different conversation. What a disgrace of a company, and when something goes wrong, and they accept that it was the suppliers fault, it is beyond belief they can't compensate me to how I was prior to this manufacturing defect (specific performance), not asking got anything else, but rather it would seem that JL wants to cause me undue anxiety and stress and damn the health proclivities of my son! IN SHORT, ITS NOT WORTH SHOPPING WITH A COMPANY WHO CANT RESPECT INDIVIDUALS OR PROTECT THEM FROM HARM!!! The care-free response is as follows (and shows support from the MD and chairman according to FM): Further to my letter of 28 July and our telephone conversations prior to this date I wish to reiterate that the odour from the basket you purchased from John Lewis was related to the lacquer used to preserve the item and did not pose any health risk. During our conversation I accepted the service you received from our online contact centre was not to the standard I would expect and as a token of my apology I offered a gesture of £100 which you accepted. Following receipt of my letter I understand you now wish to claim compensation for clothes you feel you had to destroy, it is regrettable that you did not discuss this with me in our telephone call last month. As I advised, John Lewis can not be held responsible for any decision you took in relation to the destroying of your clothes. l understand you have written to the Chairman, our Managing Director, and parties outside John Lewis, please be assured that the Customer Relations Department deal with all complaints on behalf of our Chairman, Managing Director. It is always disappointing when we are unable to reach a conclusion that is satisfactory for our customers but occasionally this is unavoidable. I am sorry that this has proved to be such an occasion and whilst I regret you may remain dissatisfied, I feel we have responded fairly and appropriately to your concerns. John Lewis will not correspond any further on this matter. THEREFORE IS IT REALLY WORTH SHOPPING WITH JL as customer safety is not a priority.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I wanted to buy an apple laptop from John Lewis as they offer two years warranty instead of the one offered by Apple, but it said sold out when I checked online so I perchased it from Apple.com. Then a colleague suggested I call John Lewis to check if they did have any and they said yes. I returned my new laptop to Apple and called John Lewis to order the laptop. I was told they didn't have any and couldn't tell me when they would be getting any more. I decided to call another branch to see if they could help me. They could and I ordered it over the phone. I was told it would arrive in two days time. Great! Not great. I called John Lewis on Saturday as no laptop had arrived after waiting in all day (on my birthday) and was told that the order had not been confirmed by the person I had spoken to two days before. I was told it would come on Wednesday. This was frustrating as I needed the laptop to look for new jobs as I had specifically booked this week off to do so. On Wednesday- no laptop. I was told it would come on Thursday. On Thursday- no laptop I'm told it will arrive on Friday. This is definitely the worst customer service I have ever received. The people I have spoken to also can't give an estimate of what time of day the laptop will arrive so I've spent most of my week off waiting in the house. I will never shop at John Lewis after this. Anywhere else has to be better than this level of incompetency.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Bought a tablet which was meant to be Android 4.4 and advertised as such. Twice they supplied me with tablets with Android 4.2 which isn't upgradable. They were effectively stuck on the old version. They compensated me £15 cash when I complained after the second failure, but it doesn't excuse them talking up specs on a device they're selling. Anyone non-techie might have been screwed by this.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Very Very Poor is the rating I would give the majority of John Lewis customers, Abusive, Aggressive, Racist, money hungry for "goodwill/compensation", never taking any ownership for their own mistakes, always the fault of somebody else if something doesn't go to plan! Those people make me sick, disgusting the way people behave, there are soo much more concerns in life rather it being the end of the world if your wardrobe didn't arrive! Get a grip on the more important things in life and have some decency and respect!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier, Own Driver
Average Delivery Time	Over A Month
On-time Delivery	Greater than 40%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 67%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.3 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult
Returns Process	Could Be Better

John Lewis Reviews