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Marks and Spencer food return policy,question

(34 Posts)
infoman Tue 15-Sep-20 17:27:02

Bought a can of fish in error,
and tried to exchange it for some thing different.
Customer service desk said tha M and S do not take any food items back.
If this is their policy,fair enough,
but is that normal for M and S.

glammanana Sun 04-Oct-20 17:46:29

My big fat cat Oliver would make short work of it no problem,seriously why not donate to a local foodbank easily done no drama.

Callistemon Sun 04-Oct-20 17:00:24

toscalily ?? or one of these ?

toscalily Sun 04-Oct-20 16:43:56

So much fuss over a tin of fish? Find a hungry cat.

NotAGran55 Sun 04-Oct-20 16:35:54

infoman

Just an update,took some canned items back to Sainsburys and was given a £3.50p shopping voucher.
As regards to M and S,
I sent off a e-mail to M and S customer services saying I wanted to return a tinned item to its local store and was refused.
M and S have now sent me a £5.00p voucher,and I would still like to find a home for the tin can of fish I am unable to eat.

Donate it to your local Foodbank .

infoman Sun 04-Oct-20 16:25:23

Just an update,took some canned items back to Sainsburys and was given a £3.50p shopping voucher.
As regards to M and S,
I sent off a e-mail to M and S customer services saying I wanted to return a tinned item to its local store and was refused.
M and S have now sent me a £5.00p voucher,and I would still like to find a home for the tin can of fish I am unable to eat.

Oopsadaisy4 Thu 17-Sep-20 07:46:07

riverwalk pre Covid I ordered 5 kilos of carrots by mistake, I wanted just 5, the driver took the others back and they refunded me.

Riverwalk Thu 17-Sep-20 07:26:25

Oopsadaisy4

On home deliveries the Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda drivers will take back anything you decide not to keep, especially if it’s a substitute, they will refund you.
Whether or not it goes back into the supermarket for resale is another matter and I don’t know about that.

Declining to accept substitutes is one thing because the driver just removes it from the bag - that's different from taking it home and then returning it.

Infoman which supermarkets have taken back your food purchases? (none faulty ones of course)

Oopsadaisy4 Thu 17-Sep-20 07:12:06

On home deliveries the Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda drivers will take back anything you decide not to keep, especially if it’s a substitute, they will refund you.
Whether or not it goes back into the supermarket for resale is another matter and I don’t know about that.

MawB2 Thu 17-Sep-20 05:11:07

When D did her Management Training at M&S after graduating, the policy was still that you could return anything and complaints were always upheld. D said she remembered after Christmas a woman returning the packaging of an expensive creamy fish dish which D could see was clearly past its “best by” of early December. The customer was furious, claiming it was curdled and had “ruined her dinner party”. D explained politely about the date and the woman got very angry, saying of course she had kept it in the freezer so it shouldn’t have gone off. She threatened a letter to Head Office too.
The packaging clearly said Unsuitable for freezing but D’s manager said to give her the refund, plus a replacement for good customer relations telling her that a letter of complaint to Head Office would cost at least £125 to process, so give her the refund and a verbal apology.
People often abused M&S’s refund policy in the past.

Infoman I am very surprised you claim other supermarkets would accept a food item.

infoman Thu 17-Sep-20 02:56:25

Thanks everyone for all your replys,
if its M and S policy so be it.
Athough having said that,other large supermarkets will take items back,even without a receipt.

Georgesgran Wed 16-Sep-20 13:23:42

Bit different but still M&S - when DD2 worked there years ago on food checkout - they had to pull back the cardboard sleeve on those mini roast, to check the content. Some ‘people’ would put the beef roast in the chicken sleeve to try and (steal) save a couple of £s. I couldn’t believe it!

Callistemon Wed 16-Sep-20 11:15:05

Or find a cat to feed it to!

Or a seagull - like another poster did.
That was a most enjoyable thread.

MawB2 Wed 16-Sep-20 08:51:19

It’s a bit like prescriptions - once we got about a year’s supply of paracetamol (if you use a box a week) along with Paw’s regular meds, apparently on his list but never “claimed”. When I offered to take them back to Boots I was told that they would be destroyed so “nudge nudge wink wink say no more guv.”
I might still have a box in the bathroom cupboard (over 3 years later)
More seriously the DDs took a big plastic box of his meds back to the surgery, some of them extremely expensive immunosuppressants etc after he died and again, even though sealed and unopened they would have been destroyed.

Ellianne Wed 16-Sep-20 08:40:50

Callistemon

Not just M&S!
Unless there is something wrong with the food item.

You could put it in the food bank.

Or find a cat to feed it to!

Jane10 Wed 16-Sep-20 08:37:54

Apparently not suziewoozie

suziewoozie Wed 16-Sep-20 07:19:51

And we all knew that Jane10

Jane10 Wed 16-Sep-20 07:14:36

Riverwalk and suziewoozie well thanks for snippy responses. I did read the OP. I also read about clothes being returned so commented on my experiences to show that the company was helpful. I also pointed out that a tin would be a different matter from perishable goods.

annep1 Tue 15-Sep-20 23:26:58

WWmark2 what a lucky mistake.?

Callistemon Tue 15-Sep-20 23:16:13

We got some free coffee that was someone else's.
It only happened once though.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 15-Sep-20 20:44:36

No food can be returned. Sainsburydelivered along with my shop a few bags of someone else’s. As we were isolating it was left in the porch and so I did not realise the error until after the delivery man had driven off.

I phoned sainsbury and was advised that no food can be accepted as returned, so please keep the shopping!!

That was a good week as there was stuff in the bags like chocolate and crisps and fresh lemonade - stuff I never buy. But yum yum it went down a treat.

suziewoozie Tue 15-Sep-20 20:05:37

You’re not being melodramatic at all - Safety is often about worst case scenarios

Callistemon Tue 15-Sep-20 19:25:02

Not just M&S!
Unless there is something wrong with the food item.

You could put it in the food bank.

crazyH Tue 15-Sep-20 19:02:04

I know I'm being a bit dramatic, but I've heard of toxins being injected into tins of food - so M&S were right to refuse to take back the tin of fish.

suziewoozie Tue 15-Sep-20 18:53:59

Well obvs the OP is not about about there being a problem with the food other than she bought it in error. Why can’t people read before they post?

Riverwalk Tue 15-Sep-20 18:51:41

The OP doesn't say there was a problem, only that he bought it in error, in which case quite rightly M&S wouldn't allow it to be returned.