John Lewis & Partners — Local services in London

Do not buy furniture from John Lewis! They do not honour they guarantee, they do not honour the delivery of beds to the bedroom, even in the pandemic and they are not carbon footprint conscious. On 19th Feb 2021 I bought the Padma bedroom furniture set, which a John Lewis own brand. The delivery drivers did not take the bed into our bedroom, alleging the box didn't pass through the stairs. Even with the pandemic, it's on John Lewis website that they should. My husband and I tried ourselves and we managed to do it. The drivers just gave an excuse to not to do their jobs. Some parts came broken/melted (leg ends for the chest of 5 drawers) and others did not fit into the bed (single slat caps). We couldn't sleep on the bed. On the same day I requested the parts but they let it pass 4 days to ask me for pictures of them (when they could have asked for them on the same day I requested them). After a week the pictures were sent, they said they could not provide the parts, despite being under 1 year guarantee! Their "dedicated and specialised" furniture customer service were even referring to only the slat caps on their emails, completely ignoring the leg ends. I had to tell them that they could take them out of the furniture they already had, as they can't think for themselves. They said they didn't have that bed in stock. I proved they did, but only the bed was in another colour. Their small little brains didn't realise the cour of the bed didn't matter, as the slat caps would be the same, and they kept repeating the bed was in another colour. I had to take a picture of the leg end in my hands and still they didn't believe the leg ends could be unscrewed! They offered us money to buy the parts ourselves on Amazon, when I asked which company sells them, they said I needed to search myself, as if I would find the exact parts! This was confirmed by their own delivery drivers, meaning their "dedicated and specialised furniture customer service team knows less than the delivery drivers! The furniture customer service staff closed my case (she said she'd keep it open, but I received a quiz from when they close cases, the only reason why I knew) and I had to appeal on their Head of Customer Services email! Having to email over and over again explaining the obvious drove me insane and my husband and I slep on the floor for THREE WEEKS! No one cared and instead of saving carbon footprint in asking someone from their warehouse to send us only the parts, they said the only solution was to send and extra WHOLE SET OF FURNITURE, who came in a huge truck and God knows how many miles they did just for us to give us the small parts we needed. Unbelievable! They don't have any conscience and they do not care about their customers or the environment. I asked them to give us some kind of compensation for having to teach them what to do, to having to spent so much time emailing them and explaining them what was wrong and even thinking of solutions to solve this on their behalf; a member of staff called Megan G said they were going to compensate us for our time and trouble but then they passed the case to a manager called Kate Lees, who closed the case saying I've been tude to them (of course I have, they would be too if they had been trough what I have been!), closed the case without even mentioning any compensation! The John Lewis' days we knew are over! They are already closing several shops and they'll end up just like Debenhams. Never again! Run far...

KITCHEN FITTING NIGHTMARE. We have recently had a new kitchen fitted by John Lewis. The first problem we encountered was in making payment. No one contacted us & made it easy. We had to go to the store initially to pay the deposit & again to pay the balance. It turned out that our project manager was not using the contact details that we had used with the designer & kept using an incorrect email address. We were told the project should last 1 week. It ended up lasting 17 weeks. On day 1 we were told our kitchen was being delivered to the wrong address. The fitters managed to resolve this. Our kitchen was planned & paid for with a certain type of plinth. After the fitting had already overrun by 3 weeks we were told that we could not have it because it would not fit the other units. The fitter on site contradicted this saying that it could be fitted. Another reason was then given that the supplier was firmly against supplying it as it may invalidate the warranty. The worktop that we ordered was supplied untreated & unfinished. It was promised that the manufacturer would visit & resolve all issues. The manufacturer pointed out that he could not resolve all issues because it would be impossible for him to apply the wax oil treatment required as the worktop would have to be sanded and the joints levelled & sealed & the sink sealed & the manufacturers are not contracted to do that. That is the fitters job. It was apparent therefore that neither the John Lewis fitters or project manager knew the correct procedure for fitting the worktop. After discussing each stage with the manufacturer, I had to relay this information to the project manager. The worktop had to be stripped out & a new pre treated, fully finished worktop had to be ordered. We had problems with missing knobs & hinges & a damaged door that had to be replaced. We had problems with the decorative finish to our walls which was not carried out as per the contract. We had problems with waste lying around outside of our property & not loaded properly for removal or removed in a timely manor. All of these issues took time to resolve, during which our downstairs area resembled a building site & storage area. As I said, this lasted for 17 weeks of stress & inconvenience. Thankfully, we now have a lovely kitchen. We have been in touch with a chief product officer in respect of some compensation. He has pointed out that John Lewis don't offer compensation but due to the exceptional circumstances of our case has offered the princely sum of £250 John Lewis vouchers. We have tried to put our case & have supplied an extensive timeline of events for him to review. This gave him a precise account of all of the issues & effort it took to get them resolved through a mountain of correspondence. However, he refused to budge on his less than generous offer. I would suggest that anyone expecting a seamless journey to a beautiful kitchen via John Lewis should beware. We encountered some good people working for them but it became apparent that they have a number of people who are not very good and a handful of trouble shooters that they call in when things go wrong. You should get a beautiful kitchen in the end but it may not be...

The elderly blonde lady at the 'Fresh Cosmetics' counter is one of the most miserable, snootiest people I have ever encountered - serving as a staff member in a store. Went to get a refund for some items from that brand, on the Jubilee Monday. Got looked at strangely and given the cold shoulder when I approached her requesting the refund. Furthermore, I had paid for the items a week ago with Apple Pay, which unfortunately generates a completely different card number on the receipt different to the card used to pay. I showed her my physical debit card and tried to convince her that this was the card linked to my apple pay account and the refund could be made to that. She wouldn't still believe me and looked at me like I was a liar and refused to do the refund on the basis of what I had said, insisting that the card numbers on the receipt (Apple Pay) and my physical card were totally different hence the cards were different. She was about to get her manager in to help when I - thankfully enough (!!) - happened to find the Apple Pay notification from my phone which had the date, time, correct amount of the exact same transaction the week before, proving my point that the physical card I had with me was the same card I'd paid with the week before (and was linked with my Apple Pay!!!). Thankfully the refund was given and I walked away, lesson learnt NEVER to return to THAT COUNTER and be treated that way by that miserable lady, who needs training in ED&I as well as Apple Pay/transactional technologies! With a miserable and condescending attitude like that, I bet she doesn't sell much or make much commission and the Fresh cosmetics counter will be removed from this store soon! Will undoubtedly be complaining to the Head Office about my experience!

If you come from an ethnic background or are not wearing a face-full or clown like makeup or are not dressed in your gant jacket - be ready to be treated condescendingly! Absolutely APPALLED and DISGUSTED that the marvellous and all-inclusive Waitrose/John Lewis ethos is ruined by some BAD EGGS like this

Update from a week before that which again proves my point above : The blonde lady with a bob, in the Elemis counter was just as condescending. I asked her colleague how long would the 15% jubilee discount offer on cosmetics would be valid, she asked this particular lady at Elemis - who treated me like scum for asking about a 'discount', she wouldn't even make eye contact with me as she only answered...