John Lewis Never Knowingly Undersold Question

nheather

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Before I go into bat, I'd appreciate your views.

I bought an iPad from a store on Saturday. This morning (less than 5 days later) John Lewis send me an email saying that the warranty on ipads has now been increased from 2 years to 3 years.

I checked out the 'Never Knowingly Undersold (NKU)' T&Cs and confirmed that I can still make a claim up to 28 days after purchase.

So I called JL and spoke to a very nice lady. She initially said that that NKU only works on price but I argued that the extra year warranty has a value and beside I could always return it for refund, buy another leaving JL with a used iPad (which surely they wouldn't want). She agreed and went to speak to her supervisor and was told that I still need to raise an online claim. She talked me through it and we quickly got to the part which said that I need to raise it directly with the store. Very helpfully she tried to put me through to the store but she was told that they were too busy and that she would have to put it through as an internal claim, which she did and gave me a reference number.

They haven't called back yet (they are meant to within 2 hours and that is nearly up). I reckon I will have to go to the store personally (it's not far so no biggie). What do you think, do I have a valid case and any advice on how I should tackle it.

Of course they might just say "no problem we have increased your warranty", but I fear that whilst they may be more than happy to do that the system may get in the way of them doing it.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Just ask them to email you with confirmation.
Otherwise, return and buy again...
 
I had a similar argument with Amazon last week. Placed an order for a second gen Echo and the colour I chose was out of stock but due in in a few days. In the meantime, they started their current offer and the price dropped by £15. I spotted this after my order had entered the packing process and so couldn't cancel it.

Contacted them and asked whether, as they hadn't shipped my order, they would honour the reduced price. They said initially that they had no mechanism to give a partial refund and I would have to leave the package in the Amazon locker until they collected it and then place a new order. When I pointed out that this was a waste of their courier's time, they eventually agreed to refund me in Amazon credit.

The refund eventually came through on my credit card so their statement that the computer system wouldn't allow them to refund was a load of shit.
 
I had a similar argument with Amazon last week. Placed an order for a second gen Echo and the colour I chose was out of stock but due in in a few days. In the meantime, they started their current offer and the price dropped by £15. I spotted this after my order had entered the packing process and so couldn't cancel it.

Contacted them and asked whether, as they hadn't shipped my order, they would honour the reduced price. They said initially that they had no mechanism to give a partial refund and I would have to leave the package in the Amazon locker until they collected it and then place a new order. When I pointed out that this was a waste of their courier's time, they eventually agreed to refund me in Amazon credit.

The refund eventually came through on my credit card so their statement that the computer system wouldn't allow them to refund was a load of sh*t.

That is strange as they refund the difference without any fuss, only thing they changed is that it works for up to 7 days since original order.
 
I've had them honour a 3rd year warranty via email when I've purchased online. However, she is correct in the fact that online are unlikely to be able to assist with an in store purchase. Best bet is to visit the store with your receipt, explain the situation and ask them just to put through an exchange without actually swapping any goods. They should be happy to do this for you.
 
Worrying over nothing, the JL store was excellent.

They got back to me and initially said “of course we will honour the 3 years - we have put a note against the record of purchase”.

When I said I was a little concerned that everything I had said 2 years, including the added care, they understood went back tonsee what could be done and came back quickly saying that if I come in with the paper work they will do a paperwork only refund and repurchase so that everything is in line.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Nigel, do you tend to ‘overthink things’, especially when it comes to purchases? I ask the question as I’m interested in the psychology of purchasing/selling and negotiation and the processes behind such.
 
"Never knowingly under-worried" :)
 
This morning (less than 5 days later) John Lewis send me an email saying that the warranty on ipads has now been increased from 2 years to 3 years.

Was this in relation to your purchase, or just a general mailshot?
 
All sorted. Thought it was going to be a mare because I paid with gift card balance but it was all very efficient.

I'm just a natural born worrier and plan for the worst - need to stop that because It's not good for my stress and anxiety levels.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
nice one, as if I can;t get my laptop repaired then I'm going to buy one from there as it comes with a 3 year warranty... :)
 
I find the JL mantra of "never knowingly undersold" to be a complete fallacy.

Say they are selling a TV for £2000. You tell them you've found it for £1500. They honour that price.

But... if you go back into the JL store the next day, the TV will still be £2000 even though they now know it can be had for £1500.

What they're doing is a price match, and they do it well.

But the ''never knowingly undersold' tagline is garbage.
 
This thread isn't about pricing, it's about obtaining newly improved warranty benefits. :)
 
Not any more apparently ;)
 
What they're doing is a price match, and they do it well.

I agree with your other points, the Never Knowingly Undersold is a blatant lie - as you say once they have notified then they continue to sell at the higher price - their slogan should be 'Often Knowingly Undersold".

But I don't agree that they price match well. The process is convoluted - anywhere else would agree to price-match and charge the reduced price. Not John Lewis - they still make you pay the full price and then will refund you the difference after about a week.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
and to slightly change the subject somewhat as I've been looking for laptops and doing comparisons of various ones, and it seems that a fair few specific models are only available in a couple of shops (i.e. HP ENVY x360 15-bp102na is only available from john lewis and amazon) - and there are loads more...

why is this..?

price fixing?
 
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Probably. Different retailers frequently have different model numbers for equivalent if not identical products.
 
The slogan has always been a big fib. But I do feel sorry for JL, the future doesn’t look too good for them.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I used to swear by JL. But due to the hassle I had buying a ZD9 off them I swore I'd never buy another big ticket item off them again. Their 'AV' staff were useless. They just shrugged their shoulders and said "It must be discontinued or something". It wasn't. It was during that odd time Sony didn't put them on shop floors because people were opting for it over the A1.
 
I used to swear by JL. But due to the hassle I had buying a ZD9 off them I swore I'd never buy another big ticket item off them again. Their 'AV' staff were useless. They just shrugged their shoulders and said "It must be discontinued or something". It wasn't. It was during that odd time Sony didn't put them on shop floors because people were opting for it over the A1.

Feel similar. I still lean towards them being a good retailer, most experiences have been good, but have had too many issues recently.

A recent example - my wife bought a wall clock on sale for £50 - had it delivered to store, collected and found it was damaged. Took it straight back and said we wanted a replacement but they refused saying that it was no longer in the on sale and all they could do was refund the £50 and then take payment of £75 for the new order.

They wouldn’t budge, so my wife went ahead and bought a new one for £75 and complained to customer service to get the £25 refunded.

Cheers,

Nigel
 

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