A wardrobe I ordered from Marks & Spencer for my guest bedroom gave off a smell so pungent it made my eyes sore and the whole house smelled. We also noticed scratches on the paintwork, a backboard so flimsy it moved at the slightest touch and a hanging rail that was the wrong shape and wobbled.
Customer services staff explained that furniture in the warehouse was sprayed with something “to repel rodents” and problems like this arose “about six times a year”. I was told to leave all windows open and that the smell would dissipate “within a week”, but if I wanted a refund a pick-up would be arranged. The next day I asked for it to be removed urgently, but was told I would have to wait three weeks.
M&S no longer employs its own delivery team, but said it would request an earlier date and I would be contacted within two days. Nothing happened. Six days on, the room still smells horrible and is unusable. I have an M&S credit card. I buy most of my food there – not to mention undies. Half my furniture is M&S. But I just want to get rid of this stinking wardrobe. KG, Swansea
M&S added insult to injury by saying that if you moved the wardrobe to your garage and it got damaged, it wouldn’t offer a full refund. We got in touch with M&S, which escalated your complaint to executive level. It says it has apologised, adding: “The collection should have happened sooner. We’re investigating this and the issue she’s had with the wardrobe.” As well as a refund, it has offered a cheque or gift card for £100. You magnanimously say you hope some good comes from this, “not just for customers but for customer services who have to listen to moaning and aggression from disgruntled customers, yet have no authority to do much to remedy matters – not even a clear route of escalating the complaint”. Hear, hear.
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