- The Guardian Sat urday 31 Aug ust 2019
(^54) Money
Consumer champions
Miles Brignall & Rebecca Smithers
We kicked up a stink but
M&S won’t take action
I purchased a three-door Hastings
wardrobe from Marks & Spencer
for my adult son’s room. He and
his wife are staying with us for
several months and their baby
is due shortly. The wardrobe
arrived on Monday and the smell
was toxic. We all felt sick and had
red eyes. I even smelt it coming
up the driveway. I called M&S to
arrange collection which it said
could not be done for three weeks.
I explained the urgency due to the
baby and am still awaiting a call.
I said I would have to move it
outside but was told there would
be no refund. But we will now have
to do so as the smell has pervaded
the house. We had to wash all the
baby’s new clothes.
I have a very anxious heavily
pregnant daughter-in-law in
the house but when I expressed
my dissatisfaction to M&S it
advised me to go to the Furniture
Ombudsman. I’d be grateful if you
could assist me trying get them to
collect and return as a matter of
urgency. To add insult to injury
M&S has since refused to publish
the negative review I wrote.
HR, Helen’s Bay, Bangor, North Wales
This is not the fi rst time we have
had a complaint about an M&S
wardrobe causing a bit of a stink. We
can understand your concerns and
frustration at the retailer’s slowness
to respond, but it performed a
speedy U-turn once we got involved.
It says: “We pride ourselves on
the quality of our furniture and
never want our customers to be
disappointed. We’ve apologised
to HR and collected the wardrobe.
In addition to refunding it we have
also off ered a gesture of goodwill.
“On rare occasions furniture can
retain an odour for a short period
following the manufacturing
process, but we’d like to assure
customers it is safe and will go if
left in a well-ventilated room.”
Why are we a bor derline
case for Tesco deliveries?
I’m at my wit’s end trying to
persuade Tesco to deliver groceries
to my house – the vans pass the end
of my road but will not stop. This
Back on track? For years we were
on the ‘wrong side of the border’
PHOTOGRAPH: ALAMY
has gone on for over fi ve years (as
you’ll see from the correspondence ).
The company keeps saying my
postcode is not covered by deliveries
from its Perth store – I am apparently
on the “wrong” side of the border
- and that there is nothing they can
do. I need c ommon sense to prevail.
I currently place my orders with
Asda but, as a vegan, I would much
prefer to take advantage of Tesco’s
bigger and better range.
RA, Pitlochry, Perthshire
Good news – Tesco tells us that it is
adding your postcode to its system
for its next scheduled update on
Monday 30 September. So you will
be able to see the new slots from
1 October. It says: “It’s common
practice to expand our catchment
areas following feedback ... and
often add postcodes .” We hope it’s
worth the fi ve-year wait!And fi nally...
Following our recent item on
Whirlpool about a reader whose
supposedly “safe” dryer turned
out to be one at risk of bursting into
fl ames, we received this letter which
suggests it was not a “one-off ”:Like AK of Brighton I, too, checked
Whirlpool’s website to see if
my Hotpoint dryer (purchased
sometime around 2008) was safe
and got the response that it was
“not one of the aff ected models”.
This was in June 2016 when I
was letting out my house. I took a
screenshot of the response and gave
it to my tenants – a professional
couple with a baby – to reassure
them the dryer was safe.
I have been back in my house
for about a year so you can imagine
my horror when, on hearing the
latest announcement by Whirlpool,
I checked its website and this time
got the response that my dryerwas, in fact, aff ected. This was
earlier this month and I received
my replacement dryer yesterday
(all handled very effi ciently).
However, the thought of what
might have happened to my tenants
and their little girl in the two years
they lived in my house haunts me.
I plan to use my new dryer very
sparingly but you can rest assured
I will not leave it unattended when
I do. How can I trust this company?
BS, LondonWhirlpool apologised for the
distress and added that safety is its
top priority. It said it was “diffi cult
to determine the exact cause”
as to why your machine was not
identifi ed earlier as at risk.We welcome letters but cannot
answer individually. Email us at
consumer.champions@theguardian.
com or write to Consumer
Champions, Money, the Guardian,
90 York Way, London N1 9GU.
Please include a daytime phone
number. Submission and publication
subject to our terms and conditions
at gu.com/letters-termsCompiled this week by
Rebecca SmithersRELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws