M&S and me.......... :/

Don't blame you!

DH and I spent 30 minutes looking for the children's underwear department in a very large M&S, in the end we asked an assistant who sent us off in totally the wrong direction. How come the assistants don't know the layout of their own store ?
I think that M&S is not the great store it used to be and your experience of food orders is only too common now.
DH went to collect turkey on Christmas eve, ordered weeks in advance, and they had given it to someone else who didn't even have the receipt

My gripe with M&S is a trend I've noticed since the new law about plastic bags has been introduced.

The resulting 'transaction' with the assistant is now so perfunctory as to be almost non-existent. You take your chosen item to the till, its plonked on the counter in front of you having been sort of folded and once you have paid you are deemed served. You then have to do a sort of undignified scrabble to gather your purchases up and bag them in whatever you choose to use. Its not the fact I now use my own bag that annoys...its the way my goods are dismissed so lightly. A friend recently bought a pair of shoes and a cashmere cardigan that were brusquely stacked on top of each other and then just sort of left for her to scoop up.

By contrast John Lewis will still tissue wrap or bubble wrap delicate items and pass them gently to you. They have, I notice also introduced a paper carrier bag if you have a lot to cope with. The transaction is much more complete and you do not have the feeling that you have taken up too much of the assistant's time.
Plastic bags are a scourge......but stores should still remember there is such a thing as customer service and my purchases should be treated respectfully and not just shoved across the counter at me. Perhaps we customers could be allowed to hand over our bags for the staff to then, carefully , put our purchases into.

M&S here are full of charm and as helpful as could be! Sorry you have had such bad experiences.

Our recently opened big new M&S continues to please with happy friendly staff. The only hiccups seem to be a little delay and confusion with new staff learning the ropes in the cafe but that should gradually decrease.