Poor customer service and quite rude too …
Trying to explain to one of the four return counters at JL Brent Cross that I know that I knew the items I bought for my granddaughter were more than 30 days past , but that they were not fit for purpose because the sizing were completely wrong . My granddaughter is just over 2 and a half and average size for her age. I. bought two packs of those knickers for her aged 3-4 . I always size up as lately at JL all sizing seems to be very small . However I’m was taking these knickers to USA when I visited a few weeks ago. They were measured against knickers by granddaughter is wearing now from a shop called Target in her age range . The JL knickers were tiny compared to them and the measured pair went back into the clock lock packet . I also took a pack of age 4 upstairs to show how tiny they were from their own selection at JL Brent Cross . They were half the size the packs I had bought . I tried to explain that these knickers were wrongly sized and therefore not fit for purpose , they refuse to listen and just kept saying they don’t exchange or refund knickers .
These had not been worn obviously and on my one pair to measure against another pair had been removed from the packaging . The packs cost £12.99 each , twice the price of many other retailers for similar cotton patterned knickers for that age range .
I was told ‘don’t buy things to take abroad in future ‘when I explained that they were past 30 days because I bought them to take away to USA . And anyway , was still again after that surly comment that they won’t exchange underwear.
As a consequence of the rudeness and any interest in what ai was saying about not being fit for purpose , JL have lost a customer of over 50 years , I have a house with lots of rooms furnished from John Lewis in years gone by , when quality was much better and certainly customer service was .
Now both seem to be pretty none existent at John Lewis Brent Cross branch which is sad because the Oxford st branch and Chelsea are worlds apart in customer service . Both those mentioned branches have excellent customer service . However this had not saved JL as it’s not the first time I ve been spoken to rudely at JL Brent Cross . I will however give a shout out for Paul on the tech floor who helped me selecting a printer , which I didn’t buy there in the end , his knowledge and professionalism were world apart from others I spoke to there and sadly I did not go back to buy the printer after visiting the returns desk because of the bad attitudes in my opinion . I ordered online from somewhere else the same printer which I would have bought at JL of the attitude had been better than it was . You really need to listen up JL .
Ponder why your store was empty on a busy Friday afternoon on 5June 2026 hen the rest of Brent Cross was busy .
A sign a group of stores is struggling is when the customer services do little to listen ! ‘Not for for purpose ‘ is a definition held up by trading standards !!
Others shopping at any John Lewis beware that a floundering once household name and a bit of an l institution back in the day will not be helpful with issues with products .
Thankfully there are online competitions and other high street stores.
John Lewis buyers take note , opened shoes boxes , opened lingerie hanging on racks, opened anything n the JL stores should come under your 'can't return because the packaging has been opened' . Most of the children's wear has opened packets still visibly hanging on the stands with items carelessly stuffed back in said packets .
The choice is yours buyers .
5 June 2026
Unprompted review