Raw Deal: Christina didn’t want any more wine from Marks and Spencer

COMPUTERS are great things…until they go wrong.

When they do go wrong, however, you’d expect someone to be able to fix the problem, wouldn’t you?

That doesn’t always happen.

Christina Krajewska, of Arbirlot in Angus, was a member of Marks & Spencer’s wine club. But late last year she decided to leave, which seemed to be – according to the website – a simple procedure. It says: “Cancel any time. We offer flexibility to amend your subscription whenever you like”.

Christina might have a bone to pick with that description.

It costs £75 per quarter to be in the “classic” section of the M&S wine club. For that you get a case of 12 bottles (reduced from a normal price of £100) delivered every three months.

Christina had no quibble with the quality of the wine, or the price. She merely decided it wasn’t for her any more.

She tried to cancel online, but that didn’t work.

So she phoned the helpdesk on November 25 and was assured that, yes, of course she could terminate her membership…it was just that there was a technical problem.

The problem was to be passed on to a manager.

Christina phoned again on January 21, advising that the “technical problem” on the website still hadn’t been fixed.

By this point, Christina reckoned that no matter what technical difficulties the website was having, she just wanted her membership terminated. Could the helpdesk do this, please?

Yes, said the M&S helpdesk, helpfully, an email would be sent to her when this was achieved.

No email arrived.

So on February 4, just a few weeks from when the next consignment of wine was scheduled to arrive, she phoned again, demanding that her membership be brought to an end.

Yes, of course, came the reply. We’ll do that right away! And a confirmation email will be sent.

No email arrived.

But there must have been something done, because no wine arrived either.

Job done? Sadly, no.

On February 20, M&S deducted £75 from Christina’s account.

Understandably, Christina wasn’t very happy about this.

After another bout of phone calls to the ”help” desk and more broken promises, she was asked to visit her local Marks & Spencer, in Dundee, to receive a refund.

The managers there were very sympathetic and very nice, but even they had great difficulty when they contacted their own helpdesk.

Christina was asked to supply a bank statement – to prove to Marks & Spencer that Marks & Spencer had taken money from her account!

By this point, more than a little bemused by the treatment she had received, Christina copied Raw Deal in on her latest email to the helpdesk.

We read the sorry tale and also got in touch with Marks & Spencer (not the helpdesk, though).

This prompted action.

Their PR manager quickly got in touch to say everything was resolved, she had spoken to the customer services team and Christina had been refunded and also sent a voucher as a good-will gesture.

Do you have a problem?

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