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Evening all,
I wondered if the knowledgeable folks of this forum would be kind enough to offer their perspective, and any guidance and reassurance, on the below matter.
I am a longstanding customer of Next, and have up until now thought that their level of service was generally quite good. I have spent thousands of pounds on clothes, furniture etc over the years.
I recently returned a new pair of trainers I had bought online, because they had started to make a clicking noise as I walked along, indicating a manufacturing/quality fault. I followed the proper process and opened the return on their online portal, marking the reason as faulty, but it would not let me add any further comments.
The courier collected them and I later received an email to say they had been received and refunded. All good, problem resolved. Or so I thought.
I later received the below email, accusing me of returning the trainers in a 'worn' condition and threatening me with 'civil proceedings' if I do not repay the refund they have already made, plus what seems to be a made up 'investigation' fee. Obviously, the trainers have been worn, because the fault only became apparent during use i.e. walking. However, they were returned in good condition.
Dear ****,
I am emailing you in relation to your Next online account , In particular regarding the recent returns on this account for which you have been credited.
The items you were credited for are:
Next Plc has the ability to track all items, the information that sits behind our systems updates every time an item moves within Next Plc, it also has the ability to accurately confirm if items have been received back into the business.
Following a review of this system in relation to the item listed above which total £1**.00 we have identified that they have not been received back into the business as they were sent to you.
In accordance with our Terms and Condition, an investigation charge of £35 has been added to the total amount owing.
I must advise you that unless the sum of £1**.00 is received within ten days of the date of this letter, civil proceedings will be issued against you by our Civil Recovery partner without further communication to you in order to recover the debt, this will also incur their costs and statutory interest.
I trust this will not be necessary, Please use the below details to make the payment via BACS.
Account Name: NEXT PLC
Bank Account Number: ****
Sort Code: ****
Reference: ****
Please provide confirmation of the requested payment, once it has been made, via email. Once we have received confirmation, we will liaise with our Finance Department to ensure the BACS payment has been received. We will then provide a final confirmation to yourself that the value has been received and the case closed.
We’re really sorry that we have not been able to provide an acceptable level of service for you, we have no alternative at this stage but to withdraw the ordering facility on your Next account.
Should you wish to continue shopping with us, you can purchase goods from our Retail stores. For details of your nearest Next store, visit www.next.co.uk/stores.
Kind Regards
****
I thought this was a scam initially, and contacted customer services. When I was told by a very apologetic call centre agent that it was in fact a legitimate email, I opened a complaint with them, and sent the below reply, copying in Next's complaints team:
Good evening ****,
There seems to have been a mistake here, as your email does not make any sense. I initially thought it could be a scam email and, given that you have not included a contact number in your email, I have just spoken to the complaints team, who were eventually able to find your email. I am copying them here at their request.
The trainers you mention below were returned to you as faulty, by selecting the faulty option on your online returns portal, because they had started making a clicking noise as I walked along, indicating a manufacturing fault in their soles.
I have previously had shoes where this has happened, but I ignored it, and the soles later started to come apart, at which point it was too late to return them. So, given that these are expensive trainers, I did not want to keep them and risk this.
Clearly, as is the case here, faulty items will often have been worn, because manufacturing faults do not always become apparent immediately. Nonetheless, the faulty trainers were returned in good condition.
Unfortunately, your online returns portal does not allow any comments to be added, so I was unable to explain this when opening the return.
Shortly after sending the item back via your Evri collection option, I received an email to say that the item had been received and refunded.
Therefore, the return was made, and the order refunded, in line with both your returns policy and my statutory consumer rights, and I am not sure what your concern is, nor your reasoning for threatening a longstanding customer in this manner.
I can therefore only assume that you are acting on incorrect information, and I hope that the above clarifies the situation.
I look forward to your comprehensive reply to this message, as soon as possible.
Regards,
[beagle_732]
@[complaints team] please see the email discussed below. I would be grateful if you could provide a complaint reference number as per our phone call, and an email address and phone number for a senior point of contact within your team.
I have not yet received a reply.
As far as I'm concerned at the moment, the damage is done and Next have lost a good customer.
But my concern now is: should I be concerned about this, and is there any further action I should take?
I should also note that I pay for their annual delivery pass, and recently renewed it, so I will likely have to report this to my card provider if Next will not refund this service.
Thanks in advance for your opinions.
I wondered if the knowledgeable folks of this forum would be kind enough to offer their perspective, and any guidance and reassurance, on the below matter.
I am a longstanding customer of Next, and have up until now thought that their level of service was generally quite good. I have spent thousands of pounds on clothes, furniture etc over the years.
I recently returned a new pair of trainers I had bought online, because they had started to make a clicking noise as I walked along, indicating a manufacturing/quality fault. I followed the proper process and opened the return on their online portal, marking the reason as faulty, but it would not let me add any further comments.
The courier collected them and I later received an email to say they had been received and refunded. All good, problem resolved. Or so I thought.
I later received the below email, accusing me of returning the trainers in a 'worn' condition and threatening me with 'civil proceedings' if I do not repay the refund they have already made, plus what seems to be a made up 'investigation' fee. Obviously, the trainers have been worn, because the fault only became apparent during use i.e. walking. However, they were returned in good condition.
Dear ****,
I am emailing you in relation to your Next online account , In particular regarding the recent returns on this account for which you have been credited.
The items you were credited for are:
| INV No |
Brand | Price (£) |
Description of item on Invoice |
Description of item sent back |
| **** | **** | 1**.00 | **** Trainers | Worn - **** Trainers returned worn. |
Following a review of this system in relation to the item listed above which total £1**.00 we have identified that they have not been received back into the business as they were sent to you.
In accordance with our Terms and Condition, an investigation charge of £35 has been added to the total amount owing.
I must advise you that unless the sum of £1**.00 is received within ten days of the date of this letter, civil proceedings will be issued against you by our Civil Recovery partner without further communication to you in order to recover the debt, this will also incur their costs and statutory interest.
I trust this will not be necessary, Please use the below details to make the payment via BACS.
Account Name: NEXT PLC
Bank Account Number: ****
Sort Code: ****
Reference: ****
Please provide confirmation of the requested payment, once it has been made, via email. Once we have received confirmation, we will liaise with our Finance Department to ensure the BACS payment has been received. We will then provide a final confirmation to yourself that the value has been received and the case closed.
We’re really sorry that we have not been able to provide an acceptable level of service for you, we have no alternative at this stage but to withdraw the ordering facility on your Next account.
Should you wish to continue shopping with us, you can purchase goods from our Retail stores. For details of your nearest Next store, visit www.next.co.uk/stores.
Kind Regards
****
| **** **** Online Fraud Investigator Next Online Loss Prevention Next PLC | Desford Road | Enderby | Leicester | LE19 4AT |
Good evening ****,
There seems to have been a mistake here, as your email does not make any sense. I initially thought it could be a scam email and, given that you have not included a contact number in your email, I have just spoken to the complaints team, who were eventually able to find your email. I am copying them here at their request.
The trainers you mention below were returned to you as faulty, by selecting the faulty option on your online returns portal, because they had started making a clicking noise as I walked along, indicating a manufacturing fault in their soles.
I have previously had shoes where this has happened, but I ignored it, and the soles later started to come apart, at which point it was too late to return them. So, given that these are expensive trainers, I did not want to keep them and risk this.
Clearly, as is the case here, faulty items will often have been worn, because manufacturing faults do not always become apparent immediately. Nonetheless, the faulty trainers were returned in good condition.
Unfortunately, your online returns portal does not allow any comments to be added, so I was unable to explain this when opening the return.
Shortly after sending the item back via your Evri collection option, I received an email to say that the item had been received and refunded.
Therefore, the return was made, and the order refunded, in line with both your returns policy and my statutory consumer rights, and I am not sure what your concern is, nor your reasoning for threatening a longstanding customer in this manner.
I can therefore only assume that you are acting on incorrect information, and I hope that the above clarifies the situation.
I look forward to your comprehensive reply to this message, as soon as possible.
Regards,
[beagle_732]
@[complaints team] please see the email discussed below. I would be grateful if you could provide a complaint reference number as per our phone call, and an email address and phone number for a senior point of contact within your team.
I have not yet received a reply.
As far as I'm concerned at the moment, the damage is done and Next have lost a good customer.
But my concern now is: should I be concerned about this, and is there any further action I should take?
I should also note that I pay for their annual delivery pass, and recently renewed it, so I will likely have to report this to my card provider if Next will not refund this service.
Thanks in advance for your opinions.
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