John Lewis-Would you recommend them.

[Flyboy]

Ongoing form a different thread about televisions. There was a discussion about the service John Lewis Offers above that of other retailers, particularly Comet and Currys etc.

I said:

Just to put that into perspective. I bought an HP PC a couple of years ago. The first one I bought, the hard drive was working overtime the whole time it was switched on and it kept crashing. I had it seventy-two hours and John Lewis said just bring it in and we will swap it over. The next one, after three weeks, kept crashing as well, would not go into stand-by, would not recognise the HP monitor and would not make movies from the software provided. Again, John Lewis swapped it. Another three weeks later, the darned thing kept switching itself on at random. John Lewis said, "although it has gone past the initial twenty-eight days from original date of purchase, when we give an automatic replacement, as this one was only three weeks old, we will honor the twenty-eight day replacement." I have had relatively few problems with it since.

I bought a refurbished DVD and HDD recorder from there in the January sales. The DVD tray became locked after about five months and I took it back. They repaired it within seventy-two hours and called to tell me that it was repaired and as they have a delivery in my village the next day, would I like them to drop it off on the way.

Can't imagine Currys, Comet or PC World saying that.

The television set I bought form there was eight hundred and fifty pounds. It had been advertised at eight hundred and ninety-five pounds, three days after I called to confirm the price of eight hundred and fifty pounds, but as I had called them and asked about the cost, I was given the price I was quoted. I then, two weeks later, saw an identical television set in Comet for seventy pounds less and I was refunded the difference by John Lewis.

What's your experince of these places? Do you get frustrated with sales assitants reading off of cards from shelves, when you ask questions? Do you get irked when they say, "don't ask me, I only work 'ere?" Do you get cross when you try to return something that is faulty, to be told, "err....it's your fault?"

[Chris]

I would never buy anything in Dixons ... err Currys Digital ... without thinking very, very hard about the risks. I've had appalling service off them so many times in the past. Including a sales assistant who sold me a mobile phone that he knew had been returned to the store as non-working. He covered the fact by opening the box to 'check everything's in order', thereby ensuring I didn't notice the seal was already broken.

[haydnwalker]

I've never known sales assistants read from cards when I've asked questions, though I have had the "I haven't got a clue" response with no motivation to find the answer.

I'm always told its my fault when something's broken, unless it's from Argos in which case then never dispute it

---------- Post added at 13:58 ---------- Previous post was at 13:56 ----------

Originally Posted by Chris

Including a sales assistant who sold me a mobile phone that he knew had been returned to the store as non-working. He covered the fact by opening the box to 'check everything's in order', thereby ensuring I didn't notice the seal was already broken.

Don't blame you Chris. We got an LCD TV from there, as my cousins fiancee works there and I got discount, and we took it back saying it wasn't turning on, and they said "Well it must be your fault as they all work when we get them"

I just got the manager involved at that point who swapped the TV without question.

[dd11]

That's nice of John Lewis to do that, usually shops say contact the manufacturer.

I find it best to check out the item in the shop, then buy it elsewhere online really. It's usually cheaper & you get proper info about the product, with other buyers reviews etc.

I can't stand it when it takes ages to find an assistant to help you, an not keep passing you to someone else who has no idea.

[Doughnut]

Originally Posted by Chris

I would never buy anything in Dixons ... err Currys Digital ...
.

I think these shops are the pitts and the service is more shocking than a badly wired plug. The staff seem annoyed that you even want to buy something.

I think certain shops attract certain staff and Dixions attracts 1st class plebals.

[dd11]

Originally Posted by Doughnut

The staff seem annoyed that you even want to buy something.

Lol! so true!

[Flyboy]

Originally Posted by dd11

That's nice of John Lewis to do that, usually shops say contact the manufacturer.

I find it best to check out the item in the shop, then buy it elsewhere online really. It's usually cheaper & you get proper info about the product, with other buyers reviews etc.

I can't stand it when it takes ages to find an assistant to help you, an not keep passing you to someone else who has no idea.

Sorry to keep copying my posts from other threads, but this is relevant to your what annoys you:

Originally Posted by Flyboy

And that is why I am always prepared to pay a few extra quid to shop there. It saves me more money in the long run than it costs me in the short term. Whenever I go in at a busy period, they have a "floor walker" (today's equivalent of Captain Peacock from "are you being served" ) who asks what the customer is looking for, assigns an assistant, asking them to wait on a customer seating area (sofas, coffee and water cooler). The assistant then helps you make your purchase and doesn't bugger off when after they show you the shelf. They are fully trained in all aspects of their department (and in many others as well) and I have yet to fault to their knowledge on the products (as much as can be expected. EDIT: No.....more than can be expected).

Whilst shopping for four slice toaster last year, the assistant knew about every product and all the features, what they did and why. The assistant did not leave my side until I was satisfied I had all the information I needed. She even had four cardboard cut-outs of different sized bread slices (all marked with different makes of bread, Hovis, Kingsmill etc.), to demonstrate that the slots would take the bread (a particular issue with many makes of four slice toaster )

I used to go to places like Comet, Currys and Dixons. If I asked an assistant to tell me about a product, they would pick up the card from the shelf and read it to me. I mean, I could quite easily do that myself. If I asked why features were there, I would get replies such as, "how am I supposed to know." I bought a DVD player from Comet six years ago. I wanted to see how worked and what the quality of the picture was. They would not hook it up to a television set to demonstrate it to me. When I bought the refurbished DVD player from John Lewis, before even asking, they offered to demonstrate it to me and show the controls.

I won't shop anywhere else for these sorts of things.

[Scarlett]

95% of MP's said that their taxpayers recommended them so they can't be too bad...

[dd11]

Originally Posted by Flyboy

Sorry to keep copying my posts from other threads, but this is relevant to your what annoys you:

Now thats service!

If the product from John L is worth more expense to gain an assistant who knows (like you said) as much as can be expected and offers to demonstraight it to you, then i can see why you would shop there.

I'm just a bit of a tighty , personally my way of thinking is that all high street chains are literally just skipping away with your wallet.
(Although like you've said, your experience with J.L is that you actually get proper service).

[Osem]

I bought a wahsing machine form the John Lewis website and the service was excellent. Unlike some others mentioned here, I think they're a company you can trust however there is a price to pay for that as they're not the cheapest and the 'never knowingly undersold' promise has its limitations.

http://www.johnlewis.com/jl_assets/p...ember_2009.pdf

For many large electrical items I tend to use Costco who I've usually found to be much cheaper with very good customer service to boot. The main issues with Costco are: is their a Costco warehouse near you?, can you join? (the membership criteria aren't too harsh and it's only c. £25 pa - refundable at any time for any reason), do you know a member who can take you along with them? Do they stock exactly what you want?

Not that long ago I returned a Philips 28 inch fst TV to them when it went 'pop' (just short of the then current 3 year warranty supplied free as standard with all such purchases). I got a full refund there and then, no arguments! The warranty is now 5 years with, IIRC, a 90 day exchange policy and I'd thoroughly recommend them for a wide variety of purchases.

http://www.costco.co.uk/Membership_h..._condition.htm

[Damien]

I have mentioned before my horrible experiences with PC World/Dixon's/Curry's. Almost every high street digital chain. Awful customer services, I once was told I could not return a faulty router because it had been opened, some of the staff are clueless and worse still are unaware of their cluelessness and instead spout pseudo-technical crap. There adverts for PC world are (or used to be) very, very misleading. I.E The 'customers' would be impressed by the most mundane of specs in order to trick the view into thinking it matters. I.E [Generic Tech Guy walks in]: "Wow! 250gb? Sweet specs man".

Amazon are a company I have had nothing but pleasant experiences with though.

[Taf]

J.L. overcharges so can be a bit more lenient in the customer care side of things.

But shop elsewhere, get a decent warranty, and it'll probably cost you less.

The new J.L. store in Cardiff is only full when it rains....

[tweetiepooh]

Maybe because JL staff are all shareholders so benefit from good performance helps too. A non-contributory final salary pension and so on.

Look after your staff and they'll look after your customers or that's the theory.

[Stuart]

I haven't bought from John Lewis, but from what I have heard their service is uniformly excellent.

This is not something that can be said for Dixons/Currys et al. A few years back, I bought an Archos MP3 player from them. It died a couple of weeks after I bought it, so it went back. They repaired it, despite me requesting a replacement. This happened four more times over the next 12 months, and Dixons would only offer to repair it. 12 months and 1 day after I bought it (it had a 12 month warranty), it died again. So, I stripped it for parts (the HDD came in useful), went and bought an iPod elsewhere and haven't looked back since.

I think to some extent, you get the service you pay for (Dixons and PCworld being the exceptions, you just pay, you don't get good service). Yes, with the likes of John Lewis, you do pay a little more. However, you know that if there is a problem, you can go and talk to someone who may be able to replace any faulty goods there and then. If you are doing something wrong, they may also be able to tell you. Even if they don't replace the goods, you only have to wait for the repair and delivery of the goods.

Mail and Web order companies are usually cheaper, but can you go and see someone if the goods go wrong, and will you be given a replacement there and then? Even if the Mail order company gives good service (and some do), you still need to wait for the goods to be delivered to them (which may take two days), then some time while the goods are repaired (although in all likelihood, they won't wait for your goods to be repaired, they'll have a stock of refurbished and repaired items), then another couple of days for delivery to you.

[Maggy J]

I love John Lewis.The kitchen cupboards I bought from them lasted for 30 + years..

In fact everything I've every bought from them has been great and that includes their online service as well.

I just wish I had more money to spend with them.