Debenhams Direct online shopping disaster
02-September-2010
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Debenhams Direct online shopping disaster

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This is my experience of shopping through the website of this major uk (high street and online) department store.  I feel that I have been treated badly so please consider this review and do a little research before parting with your hard earned cash.

I ordered a dress from Debenhams Direct and the money flew out of my Visa account in seconds.  I was promised a 4 to 5 day delivery so after day 6 with no sign of the goods I started chasing.  As there was no contact number, I decided I'd email them.

Debenhams Direct Online Shopping - Buying a dress!

11 days later I am still e-mailing them and I get various responses.  These range from 'thank you for your e-mail which we will respond to in 4 days', to 'the courier company has lost your dress', 'the courier company reported your dress damaged', 'we have no idea where your dress is', 'we have ordered you a replacement', 'your dress is in transit', 'we are an internet service so we cannot call you', 'thank you for your e-mail we will respond in 4 days'.

The best one was 4 days ago when they supplied a telephone number that guess what... did not work!  Eventually started e-mailing them a couple of times a day in bold text, asking for a refund as I had to find an alternative dress.  I printed all the e-mails out and sent them to Debenhams Managing Director (1 Welbeck Street, London) suggesting they reimburse me my hourly rate for the time I have wasted on this order including finding another dress.

Telephoned their head office on 0207 408 4444 by going through directory enquiries.  They ignored my question whether Debenhams Direct is outsourced to people who cannot speak English and therefore are incapable of making a phone call in the interests of customer service. After some fairly blunt talk on my part, they contacted Debenhams Direct and organised a refund (18 days after placing the order) and only because I was not about to take no for an answer.

How stressful?  My advice is to avoid Debenhams Direct, it is the worst online shopping service I have encountered.  Not once did they think to contact me and tell me there was a delay.  They seem to think it is OK to leave a customer dangling with no information for 17 days plus... just madness.  Don't they have processes in place to deal with lost/damaged goods and contacting their customers?  It's not rocket science!


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I am still trying to get a refund for a jacket that I purchased online through Debenhams Direct. I have had a horrible time with their customer services, who have stone walled me and I cannot get any information about my returned item. I am almost tempted to give up on the refund because I find the rudeness of the customer service is making me feel ill. Absolutely disgusting service and no redress, a bunch of on-line, retail cowboys! Avoid!
*sally2  02-Sep-2010 16:27

 
my friend and I visited the resturant and ladies toilets on the 31st aug 2010,i was appalled at the food we recieved and the crockery was dirty,i can apreciate that they have a high turnover but the straw that broke the camels back was that the ladies toilets were dirty,no toilet paper and two toilets were available when the other six were out of order,i can honestly say that I will not be spending my money to eat again,let alone use the public toilets........ipswich.......
*tlc ipswich  31-Aug-2010 20:36

 
went into debenhams 26 aug 2010 wanted to buy a toaster kenwood one on display no box cant sell that one sales assistant said because its exdisplay I can order the same one for you online instore ok I said paid for it went home three days later toaster turns up at home free delivery new thing instore opend to find wrong toaster not only that but the product hed been out in the field because the security tag was removed plus a sale sticker redused to £20 rang up online debenhams told me it was an discontinued prod exdisplay take it back to store for refund went to store told yuo have to send this back to online were not allowed to take electricals back spoke to the manager (brilliant guy refunded) told me I had been given all wrong info by online sales dept and this prod should never have been sold under its condition I once thought debenhams was great and trustworthy not any more (BEWARE WHAT YOUR BUYING ASK LOADS OF QUESTIONS BEFORE BUYING)
*RON  26-Aug-2010 21:29

 
Wish I had read all the coments before I ordered !!!!!
*CE  25-Aug-2010 14:04

 
Spend my wedding vouchers in Debenhams A item that needs delivering been trying to check to no avail because even though I have all the paper work my husband signed .(who is now away on business ) cannot be told the delivery time even though they have my home address and telephone number and I have quoted all the order details .!!! wont be shopping at debenhams again
*CE  25-Aug-2010 14:01

 
PLEASE BE ADVISED DEBENHAMS CARD QUERIES ARE DEALT WITH BY SANTANDER NOT DEBENHAMS- THEY ARE 2 DIFFERENT COMPANIES!! Also delivery is an estimated time of 3-5 working day and you would not be contacted if there is a problem with delivery of an order unless they are made aware by the courier service they use!..... come on people this is common sense!
*gd  19-Aug-2010 17:20

 
I called into a Debenhams Department store this afternoon; I wanted to buy a pair of Mens boots for winter. They didn't have my size and was marched over to a computer to check stock. Again, not showing in my size in any store. Another assistant escorted me to another computer with a different web site (not sure which?) but amazingly my article could be ordered in my size and colour. I asked how long the delivery would be? As I was moving abroad in 14 days, the reply was between 3-4 working days.
Now I am worried after reading all these articles I will be leaving the country without my purchase. They seem to want to take my money rather quickly and yet when I try to look up Item and Size, it keeps saying 'out of stock'
Come on Debenhams.......I was a Debenhams Gold Card Holder for 10 years, I've given you plenty of my money over the years, how about giving something in return, like offering good customer service.
*SPJ  18-Aug-2010 18:27

 
I had the same problem, and I agree they are the worst company I have ever had the misfortune to have ordered from. I never recieved my order but the money was taken, I also sent the 12 emails it took to get my money back to the head office. This happened to me 16 months ago so It would appear they are still not bothered with customer service.I have never entered a Debenhams store or gone on line with them since, and I never will. Lesson learnt !!
*Jen  11-Aug-2010 22:48

 
I ordered two tops to be delivered to my debenhams store as I was in the area and could collect - one of the tops was not suitable so I rang customer services who told me that the only way to return it, is by taking it back to the store! They could not collect it and I could not post it back to them?!?
This is totally and utterly a lack of customer service - you cannot get the store number - it has to be the 08.. numbers, nobody is interested as they have had your money.
I will never use their internet shopping service again - I advised them to tell customers to try on goods delivered to the store in their changing rooms, so you could then return them there and then.
I am at a loss as to their complete lack of service
*Karen  04-Aug-2010 17:42

 
I have just cut up my Debenhams card and will not shop there again as have been totally harassed by Santander because I was on holiday and did not send a £4.50 min. payment! There have been daily calls to my house from people who mostly cannot say my name or speak english properly and who demand I give them my address - I asked for my account details and they refused so I refused to talk to them. For two years my payments have been on time and in full, so why would they harass a customer of good standing? Santander you are run by idiots & bye bye Debenhams!!
*Mrs R of Edinburgh  02-Aug-2010 08:22

 
I bought a kettle from debenhams and paid for it with my debit card the assistant advised me to have a store card to save money this was may 2010 I have never used the card but I have been haveing threttening letters ever since and am beening charged for late payments I have been told by the store card company that they do this all the time . but they are not willing to sort this out I advise any customers not to have a store card from debenhams
*s williams  26-Jul-2010 18:39

 
Sorry In my letter I omitted the word NOT before the word "QUOTED"
*Burch  20-Jul-2010 11:23


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