I have just had an e-mail from M & S saying that they are stopping deliveries to France and Monaco.
I am a shareholder in M & S and have called their customer services and have also e-mailed to express my great fury
I am the customer and it should be up to me to choose where I want to shop.
I will be contacting the CEO to say just how cross I am.
What does everyone else feel about being forced to shop. Ia their Paris store?
Funny you thought about Stuart Rose, so did I. I don’t think that we would have been cut off without a thought either.
I will keep everyone posted.
I think your reply to what amounts to a string of platitudes is absolutely excellent. Spot on re John Lewis and Amazon, plus the comment about the ethos of French customer 'service'. I can't help feeling the French site falls between two stools - no longer serving the many loyal and long-standing devotees of M & S but not really tapping into the French psyche. Will be interested to know what reply you get now. Also wonder if Stuart Rose was still in place you might have got a more 'personal' reply? Oh and love the thought of food stores - oh for an M & S chicken pie - but living in la Creuse - think that's definitely pie in the sky!
Here is the reply I received from theChairman's Office at M & S. Not exactly the listening store.
Dear Ms Williamson
Thank you for emailing Marc Bolland about our French website. As a member of our Executive Office, I’m replying on Marc’s behalf.
I’m very sorry you’re disappointed by our website, especially as you are now unable to order from marksandspencer.com for delivery to France. I appreciate our decision seemed to come out of the blue, and I would like to explain why we made it.
We designed marksandspencer.fr using customer feedback to make shopping online with us easier. For example, as it is tailored to our customers in France we are able to offer quicker standard deliveries than those on marksandspencer.com and at a lower price. As you will know, it’s also priced in euros and viewable in French.
Having said that, I realise you’re unhappy with its current range of products. We agree that offering a broad range is important, and our French site currently offers over 10,000 high-quality and stylish M&S products across Womenswear, Lingerie, Menswear, Kidswear and Homeware. However, I can assure you we are keen to increase our product range wherever possible, and we will certainly use our customers’ comments to help us.
I’m also concerned other customers have mentioned problems with a number of features of the new site, including the language used and the clarity of our free delivery offer. This is particularly disappointing because we have worked hard to make the information on our website clear and easy to follow. It’s difficult for me to comment on these issues specifically; however, I can assure you we will make changes where we feel the information on our website is in any way confusing.
While we are no longer accepting orders for delivery to France on marksandspencer.com, we are committed to ensuring our new site provides an excellent service. I’ve shared your comments with its management team, and we will certainly bear them in mind when we come to review how we can improve.
Finally, I’m sorry you keep receiving emails regarding marksandspencer.com, as I appreciate this has made matters worse. I have edited our records this afternoon to ensure you won’t receive any further emails about this site.
I hope you will feel confident to use our new service soon and thank you again for emailing Marc.
Kind regards
George Mason
Executive Office
Your M&S Customer Service
( Tel: 020 7935 4422
* E-mail: chairman@marksandspencer.com
: Website: www.marksandspencer.com
Address: Executive Office
Chester Business Park,
Wrexham Road
Chester, CH4 9GA
and here is my reply:
Dear Mr Mason,
Thank you for your reply.
You say that you have designed your French website using customer feedback, but no-one consulted me or any of the other people I have spoken to!!
Many of the older people who use the UK site of M & S use their UK pension to pay for goods, we do not want to pay in euros. It is nearly always more expensive, and, as you have said, you do not have the range of goods offered by the UK site. I notice that you are opening more stores in Paris, but that is of absolutely no use to me. Also, your target market appears to be mainly the younger generation. As I said in my previous e-mail, I have been a customer of Marks and Spencer for more years than I care to remember, and as an older customer I feel that I have been given a kick in the teeth and told that my custom is no longer valued.
As a share-holder, I feel that you are not following the ethos of Marks and Spencer, which has served it well for many years and you can tell Mr Bolland, that I will be raising this matter at the next AGM.
I am not a stick in the mud, I was a director of our own company so have had to keep up with the times. I also know that it is much more financially viable to retain existing customers than to expand your customer base.
You also say that you have worked hard to make the website easy to follow. I can tell you that most of the problems encountered by the people I mentioned are British but fluent French speakers.
It seems to me that you are already well immersed in French customer service; we will give you what we think you want, when we want and costing more and don’t complain!
I can tell you is that the most likely beneficiary of your new policy is John Lewis.
What would be appreciated is the opening of food stores in the larger cities in metropolitan France. We live equidistant between Dijon and Lyon and I would like to know what plans you have for opening food stores in these cities. That is one and a half hours journey to either city. Although there are not as many ex-pats living in Burgundy as in the south-west, we have already discussed this and we would take turns to make the journey for our friends.
I am sorry, but nothing you have said makes me feel any more confident in using the French M& S and I think you should take a long hard look at the number of ex-pats here in France who buy from Amazon. co.uk, who continue to give excellent pricing, delivery and service.
Yours sincerely.
Jane Williamson
It worked for old Wally of Walmart fame! Maybe we should get some tattoos and dress up as idiots and join the Walmartians.
To add insult to injury, Marks and Spencer UK keep sending me e-mails for their latest offers!!
This just shows that whoever they have in charge of their IT systems is a total failure.
Sadly so!
Got it one Brian and never mind the customer!
Also, the present CEO is a man with vision of grandeur who made Morrisons successful enough to compete with the big boys like Tesco, now he is 'modernising' M&S and will clearly leave the 'traditional' customers cold. It is all a big game now, what is the old rag trade saying: never mind the quality, feel the width.
I know this discussion is probably running its course ... but I wish I knew why M & S always shoot themselves in the foot. All that effort to re-establish in France but then they just go backwards - about two years ago, I ordered a duvet and pillows on UK site (pre French site), easy peasy and good value. Now this. I have had similar experience to the person who found their goods came quicker from UK, with Amazon. I don't want to use delivery service as they have proved a let-down, irrespective of extra charges. The other problem I used to have was that I still had an M&S card but whenever my son used it for small amounts (to buy I-tunes) I got a call from a continent far removed from UK or France. Usually when cooking dinner. Also, even if I shopped there when back in UK, because the address on it was French, no points ever added. So I got rid of their card eventually. I'm all for supporting my local sheriff - but have been Christmas shopping in the past couple of days and so depressed by all the so-called French stuff that is shipped in by the container load. No prizes from where. So cleft sticks spring to mind ... it seems here that you pay over the odds for 'quality' or peanuts for c***p. Bon noel!
I have had a reply from customer services at M & S who seem to think that is ok. We can still use the UK site to send goods and gifts within the UK. So, we live in France!
She goes on To say that she understands my frustration and she has passed my comments on to managers so they are aware of the issues I have raised.
Here is the e-mail of the CEO, so you can all let him know of your feelings and any problems you have had with the Paris store.
marc.bolland@marks-and-spencer.com
I have also filled in the customer satisfaction questionnaire they asked me to complete />
It dealt totally with the UK !
Perhaps if we all say what we feel at having the ordering facility from UK removed without any prior warning and let them know that they are replacing apples with pears, they might think again.
The main thing for us - clothes for the OH, he is 6'8" and you really cannot get his length here
I'm an incurable fan of M & S but have had so many probs with them while in France - 8 years - wanted to order Christmas cards and got into a familiar impasse of needing new password, so ask for this, then my email address not recognised, advice to ring them ... Well, other problems at the mo (elderly parent in French healthcare for 6 weeks). So, bought my cards today from Coutura, not quite as slick design, but less stressful. (I ordered EP's cards from Amazon - order total @ £17, delivery total £47 - ???)
Hi Tracy - I got caught out on exactly the same loophole! Thank goodness I got a UK order in at the weekend. Previously I have ordered from both the French and UK sites on the same day (yes the ranges on offer are significantly different) and yet the UK order arrived first. The French order seemed to have been sent from the same UK depot in any case but went travelling to Paris first before being dispatched to moi! Am disappointed to hear this news - unless the French site ups its game, I can't see me spending much with them in the future.
Urr, hate to say it but - yes! I'm very particular about Customer Service as the last time I spent any time in the UK it was between seasons and I was shackled to a desk in the Customer Services Department for Virgin Holidays for whom I was an overseas manager. Quite an eyeopener both for me and the regular staff - do you know what some people will complain about it - anyway I digress but CS was a very important dept for Virgin as you can imagine and I do tend to measure everyone by their standards - not many meet it!
Usual French customer service then Tracy.
The CEO is way above being interested in speaking personally to me. I have his e mail address though. I would love them to open one of their food stores in Lyon or Dijon, although we are one and a half hours from both cities. Macon perhaps?
Only very few and I was left them by my father when he died in 1961 . I only actually received them about three years ago when my mother died aged 96. RBS shares too. Almost all worthless now.
Thank you very much, I only had a recent order. Love the multipacks, plain white, black. No mention was made of discontinuing deliveries to France at that time.
Beware though, I ordered some clothes, specifically over 35€ to have free delivery. I bought 2 jumpers on a special price for buying 2 instead 1 which meant I didn't qualify for free delivery. You're only allowed one promo apparently or that's what Customer Services told me when I wrote to them. Not impressed.