& Other Stories — Local services in London

While visiting London, I stopped into this store since I really like the brand. I bought a handbag and swim suit. Swiped my credit card, and the cashier said I was good to go and to have a nice day. When I got back to my hotel, I realized she didn’t give me a receipt which was odd but I didn’t think much of it. Two days later (today) I went back to return the bag and mentioned how I never got a receipt. The cashier searched for the transaction and told me it had been cancelled by the bank so they were unable to give me a refund because I didn’t technically pay for the items. I asked what to do in such an unusual situation and she flat out said “Well you are trying to get a refund for a purchase you KNOW you didn’t make.” She flat out accused me of trying to commit fraud! I said to her, “Do you really think I would come back to the exact same store if I was trying to do this?” She then proceeded to say that they were keeping the bag anyways with a smirk on her face. It honestly left such a bad taste in my mouth since it was the original clerk’s error and I actually came back to the store to try to get to the bottom of it. So unprofessional. I will not be visiting this specific store on my next trip to London. I’d recommend shopping at the one in Oxford Circus instead. It is also insane that the dressing rooms are on the third floor where it was...

Horrible customer service. My daughter in the U.S. sent me a birthday present from And Other Stories, but I learned when I went to exchange for another size that you can't do that for online purchases! What a terrible policy, but not the fault of this particular store.

However, to compound matters, the clueless salespeople told me I had to do my mail-in return at a post office. I specifically asked if I could go to a Doddle package place and they said no, it had to be a post office. So I went to the post office, where the woman behind the counter explained that the return label included in my package could NOT be processed at a post office.

So I returned home and called And Other Stories customer service. The very nice woman on the phone informed me that I did, in fact, have to go to a Doddle to mail in my return. So basically the people at the store act like they know what they're talking about when in fact they have no clue. What a waste of time. And going back to the bad policy...I'll not shop at And Other Stories again since there are plenty of other stores out there that either a) accept returns in store for online purchases and/or b) don't CHARGE for shipping...

Update:

I wanted to exchange a top I bought at the shop. Approached two sales people, asking where I could find the right size-- the store was empty and still they were not kind or didn't seem too keen to help me find it. Until finally, a third employee at the cashier did offer to help and found the right size. I don't know why the managers don't train the staff a little better so they can give a good level of service. I had three very odd instances with this shop:

1. get charged a higher price for 2 items Vs price tag
2. ask the sales person to double check prices because of my first experience. She refuses and I do it myself and ta-da higher price again
3. cashier person tells me to try my card again. I get double charged on my credit card the same amount

Something really weird and dodgy...