The 'why you should never buy anything from LK Bennett ever again' thread.

(31 Posts)
spicemonster Fri 28-Aug-09 22:04:42

Poor Michkat bought a dress from there for a wedding, didn't take it out of its wrapping or bag because she found a cheaper one and when she tried to take it back, they found a load of make up stains on the inside and now won't give her a refund.angry

This is the thread to highlight their appalling customer service, tell them you'll be boycotting them in future, and maybe get them to realise that if you treat the people who pay your bills like crap, eventually they'll cotton on and walk away.

Here's a random selection of tales of woe from the net:
Story one: Bought a pair of boots in the lk.bennett sale. not at all happy with them, actually thought there was a fault with the making of them. Worn them about 6-8 times, and felt they leaked, and the bottom of the sole was damp. I was not wading around in streams!Took them back, the manager agreed and saw there did seem to be problem, so she said she would have to send them to customer services. I left about 5 messages with C.S. with no response. Sent e-mails etc. Then yesterday i recieved a letter saying that there was no problem with them, and due to our findings we will not refund or exchange

Story two: LK Bennett operates a non-refund policy. I bought shoes for £99, should be quite good quality for that money, but no - the sole came off in two days. LK Bennett said that "they found no manufacturing fault" and won't give me exchange or refund.

Story three: If you buy a faulty bag/shoes from LK Bennett, they will refuse to refund you - even if you have a receipt and the fault is obvious!

BEWARE - given you are spending £200+ for a bag, think twice about spending the money at this shop. The sales staff who are very pleasant when you are buying, are extremely unpleasant if there is anything wrong with the goods!

They insist on sending away the goods for "tests" - the risk for further damage is entirely your own! This can take longer than you owned the bag! They often still refuse to pay the refund.

Story four: My husband bought me a dress for Christmas from the Regent Street store. When I attempted to return it for a refund I was refused as it was outside their 7 day returns policy. I was told it 'might' be possible to arrange a 'good will' exhange but none of their clothes fit me. They do not cater for large sizes. The staff were more concerned with fobbing me off by sending me to the Brooke Street shop with the promise the held more stock and larger sizes. They lied.

Story five: I bought a pair of sandals from them and wore them once. They gave me a bloody wound, and left me wearing flip flops for a week.

When I took them back they sent them to their "Quality control" team who said there was nothing wrong with them. (You can clearly see and feel something hard trapped under the stitching on the side I got injured.

In my opinion LK Bennetts are a cowboy operation that have no commitment to customer care. Their attitude appears to be that if you are mug enough to buy something from one of their stores then tough!! I would never buy anything from them again.

Lots more here

LK Bennett - you are operating in an environment where retail is struggling and customer goodwill is hugely valuable. And you have none. Phoenix and Sirius - do you think Margaret McDonald setting the right tone at the top? Because it sure doesn't look like it from here.

missmelly Sat 29-Aug-09 10:11:33

I dont think i've ever stepped foot in an LK Bennet shop.
Good luck to them if this is the way they treat customers

Think they are blooody brilliant - I always buy shoes, especially for special occasions there, and have never had any trouble.

Likewise with handbags they have always been good qulaity.

Littledawley Sat 29-Aug-09 10:25:56

I have to say that I've bought from them for years and have never had a problem either with quality or returning things.

traceybath Sat 29-Aug-09 14:24:12

Karen Millen the same in terms of sending stuff off for tests.

One reason i like boden so much is their fab customer service.

SpawnChorus Sat 29-Aug-09 14:27:12

Agree Re: Karen Millen. I've been boycotting them for about 7 years now as they treated me like shit when I tried to return an unworn pair of trousers.

I will also now avoid LK Bennett

Corporalcornsillk Sat 29-Aug-09 14:38:16

Didn't know that about Karen Millen - I like their stuff but will avoid now. I had been eyeing up a dress in LKB but will certainly not risk it now. I return tons of stuff to Boden/White company and always get refunded. That's why I spend too much cash with them!

mondaymonday Sat 29-Aug-09 14:43:45

I had a bad experience with an LK Bennett dress (nothing to do with their service though)

I bought it off ebay, tried it on and it didn't fit, so managed to sell it on ebay. Anyway, between selling it and packing it, managed to get a drop of water on it by mistake. Well, when it dried, it left a horrible stain. Had it drycleaned but it wouldn't come out (it was water! - now I know it was dry-clean only, but how could you wear a dress and never, ever, get water or something on it my mistake). After 3 drycleans, stain still wouldn't come out. Had to offer refund and am now stuck with stained dress (the original price was £180, thank god I hadn't paid this!)

rupertsabear Sat 29-Aug-09 14:51:29

I agree about Boden - I wrote to them to say my son's shoes had fallen to pieces, and they refunded my credit card the same day that I sent the email. The shoes were about 3 or 4 months old. It's a really good reason to shop somewhere imo.

I buy all DHs shirts from Boden now as they always give me a percentage refund when I moan and tell them that he has worn another hole in the bloody elbow (he is a cash broker so elbow on desk with phone to ear everyday) even if it is a year later!

pofacedandproud Sat 29-Aug-09 16:44:47

am liking Boden more and more. Have just one pair of LK Bennet shoes, the only posh shoes i have, and they are agonising to wear, and slip off the heel all the time. Won't buy there again.

purplepeony Sat 29-Aug-09 16:53:14

If you had shoes that fell apart in 2 days- assume you weren't scaling Everest and just normal light, dressy wear- you might want to contact Trading Standards/office Fair Trading or some other similar consumer body to complain.

There are more official routes to go down, apart from dealing with the shop itself.

It does seem unusual that you have had so many things that have been faulty from them. And you ought to contact Head Office, not just deal with the shops.

purplepeony Sat 29-Aug-09 16:57:46

I think Michkat's experience is sad but what was the shop to do?
Surely no-one would knowingly buy a dress marked with make up? But if you did, by overlooking it, then it would be VERY hard to prove it was shop-soiled and not soiled by you.
I don't think the shop were in the wrong, I think it was just very unfortunate that the person bought a stained dress in the first place- such make up stains are usually obvious.

prettybird Sat 29-Aug-09 17:31:18

From what Michkat says, the "stains" were on the inside, on the lining. I for one wouldn't have checked something like that.

There have been occasions when I have tried something on in a shop, gone off and looked in other shops and then gone back, just picked up the item in the size that I had previously tried on and then bought it.

I don't have an exe to grind against LK Bennet - in fact, they are my favourite shoe shop as their shoes do fit my (awkward) feet - but I do believe that Michkat has been treated shoddily here

EleanoraBuntingCupcake Sat 29-Aug-09 17:33:49

my reason for not buying at lk bennet is that it is overpriced and their clothes are frumpy.

TheCrackFox Sat 29-Aug-09 17:43:13

It is all a bit Charlotte from Sex and the City for me.

EleanoraBuntingCupcake Sat 29-Aug-09 18:20:08

yes but how many of the clientele have charlottes figure? = frumpy

BonsoirAnna Sat 29-Aug-09 18:22:08

I agree Eleonora - LK Bennett is a horrible shop wink

expatinscotland Sat 29-Aug-09 18:25:11

They're stuff is outrageously overpriced.

expatinscotland Sat 29-Aug-09 18:26:14

Sorry, their - just had to pull wee man away from the broadband cable.

spicemonster Sat 29-Aug-09 18:55:32

purplepeony - I'd agree with you if michkat's experience was unusual but it seems to me that they have a really shoddy returns policy. The dress was still wrapped up so there's no way she could have worn it.

And in any case, what happened to 'the customer is always right'?

LK Bennett are behaving in a typical private equity backed way - it's all about short term gain and to hell if there is bugger all customer loyaltay in the long run.

I think it sucks and I'm mystified as to why some of you think it's okay for them to treat their customers like this.

Incidentally, I have bought loads of things from them over the years but I won't aany more - apart from the fact that I don't think they deserve it, I'd be too worried that something might go wrong or I'd change my mind

MrsSeanBean Sat 29-Aug-09 19:19:36

I have no experience of LK Bennett, other than a 2nd hand jacket I once bought on ebay for an interview. It had gone a bit bobbly I suppose, but what can you expect for £5.99? Anyway, I digress.

I can, on the other hand, vouch for White Stuff.

They recently sent me a gift voucher when I had a washing disaster with one of their items. Not strictly their fault either. But I feel a company as large as they are can well afford a token goodwill gesture, and indeed should be doing so. I am far more likely to spend in there again now, both because of the voucer and the fact that my opinion of them, in terms of customer service and decency, has increased 100%.

EleanoraBuntingCupcake Sat 29-Aug-09 19:59:41

lk bennet is for the hobbs demographic when they are ovulating.

bristols Sat 29-Aug-09 20:05:57

I've bought things from LK Bennett on line and returned them (unworn) with no problems.

Having said that, this story is not good.

purplepeony Sat 29-Aug-09 20:51:35

I think the problem with this thread is that one person and one other person are reporting problems with a couple of stores.

It could be that you both got grumpy assistants and just had bad experiences.

In each case, I would have written to head office, not taken one shop's word for "no refunds".

I still stand by the point that if you take soemthing back to any shop and it is soiled- even with tags attached- they wll think you are to blame, as they cannot prove you bought it in such a state and neither can the customer.

There are also other channels you can go through if you are unhappy with the standard of goods.

"Private equity"- well, all stores are privately owned and no one more held to account for their sale performance than M&S shareholders!

I don't buy LK B as I don't like 99% of it, it's far too dressy for my lifestyle, adn it's ridiculously over priced.

spicemonster Sun 30-Aug-09 12:42:29

well there are lots of different stories, all of which seem to have the same characteristics - a general disinclination to give refunds and a bizarre insistence on testing items which are clearly faulty.

Personally I think that's unacceptable from a retailer but it's the 'British way' to put up with poor service and being treated like a criminal it seems ...

noddyholder Sun 30-Aug-09 13:46:29

Horrible hooray shop that hasn't changed it stock since the 80s

Wizzska Sun 30-Aug-09 18:14:45

EleanorBunting - can I quote you on that?grin I think you sum it up beautifully.

I'm not a big fan of them, the stuff is too expensive. If I want to spend that kind of money on something, I'd rather go to Liberty and get something more unusual.

messalina Tue 01-Sep-09 19:43:44

I love LK Bennett though I only buy their shoes, not their clothes, and only in the sale. Most of their shoes need to be taken to the cobblers to be fitted with a waterproof sole. That could have been the problem with the boots the OP bought. I do wish LK Bennett would just put the silly soles on themselves but I think they want the customer to know that their soles are genuine leather etc. I've found the vast majority of the shoes I have bought there to be very comfortable. There was only one exception and to be honest they were not that great in the shop so they probably were not right for my feet.

MrsMerryHenry Tue 01-Sep-09 21:16:53

PMSL at Eleonora "lk bennet is for the hobbs demographic when they are ovulating. "

I've never bought from LK, but I thought a no refund policy was against the law, so am surprised they would try to operate that way. You should def write to their head office, and also check with Trading Standards if you're that unhappy with them - they'll be able to put the squeeze on any dodgy trading practices.

cazzybabs Tue 01-Sep-09 21:51:42

Oh i was thinking about a dress from their but I won' I have just had very bad experience with a (smaller) online retailer that was recommended on here and am still hoping I see my money back at the end of I shall stick to larger shops with good costurmer service

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