Frustrated customer argues with Debenhams worker over €490 coffee machine

'Let me get this straight. I pay almost €500 upfront for a machine you have in stock, but you won’t give it to me because it’s not the one I ordered?'

Ronan Guilfoyle wants to tell us about an experience he had with Debenhams "that shows the lengths companies will go to avoid giving you a personalised service, the insanity of the 'systems' they put in place, and their abysmal customer service".

He wanted to buy a Sage espresso machine, which Debenhams sells, and he tried to find a phone number for their Blackrock, Co Dublin store to see if they had it in stock. “The only number online was a central one, clearly based in the UK, and when I rang I was put through to someone who “couldn’t” give me the Blackrock number, but could see if they had the machine in stock. According to him, they hadn’t got one, but I could order it and have it delivered to the shop and pick it up there.”

So far so good, he says. He bought the machine from their site and chose the “delivered in four days” option. The machine costs €490. “This was on a Monday. By Saturday there was no word, but as we were passing Debenhams we dropped in to see if it had come in. The guy in the section checked it, and it hadn’t – but it turned out they had it right there in the store, not 50 feet from where we were standing. It had not been out of stock after all. So I asked if I could take one of those, since I’d paid for it and it was there.”

Mr Guilfoyle recalls the conversation he had with the shop assistant.

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Me: “Well, can I just take one those, then?”

Shop worker: “No.”

Me: “Why not?”

Shop worker: “Because that’s not the one you ordered.”

Me: “Isn’t it the same model?”

Shop worker: “Yes, but it’s not your one.”

Me: “But I’ve bought it from Debenhams, paid for it, and it’s sitting there in front of me. Why can’t you just give me that one?”

Shop worker: “Because that’s not the one you ordered.”

Me: “Will mine be customised in some way, or be different in any way?”

Shop worker: “No, but I can’t give you one from the shop because it’s not the one you ordered.”

Me: “So, let me get this straight. I call your call centre, who won’t give me the local number, and give me wrong information about your stock. I then pay almost €500 upfront for a machine, that it turns out you do have in stock, but you won’t give it to me, because it’s not the one I ordered, despite the fact that it’s the same model and it’s sitting on the shelf in front of both of us?”

Debenhams staff started to gather, and our reader “was getting annoyed at the stupidity of the whole thing by this stage”.

Another worker intervened to tell him that he hadn’t in fact ordered this machine from them, “I had ordered it from Debenhams.ie and they were Debenhams Blackrock. I was also told that the delivery time was not four days (as advertised on their website), but three to five working days and today (Saturday), wasn’t a working day. ‘Despite the fact that the shop is open and you’re all working?’ I asked. It became obvious that we weren’t going to get anywhere, there was never an apology for the clear ludicrousness of the situation, what I felt to be a “that’s the way it is, now stop annoying us” attitude from the staff. As we left one of the staff shouted a sarcastic “have a nice day!” after us.”

He says that he now plans to return the machine to Debenhams and will be getting his money back “and I will never spend a cent in there ever again. But the story does represent the dire systems that are put in place which dehumanise all interactions with large retailers.”

Despite making contact with Debenhams for comment, we had received no response at time of going to press.