Leisure Outlet – Be aware of returns procedures

I am not one to generally put pen to paper to complain about poor service, in fact normally the opposite I praise good service because few people seldom do, but I have decided to make fellow members aware of Leisure Outlets sales/returns policies as it has recently affected me and I consider them to be very poor.

I had seen their adverts in the Caravan Club magazine and saw that they did offer limited products for Club discount and this prompted me to visit their web site when looking to buy a Fiamma Sun View XL screen for my canopy. I had been let down elsewhere and was keen to get it before we went away again. I was impressed with their web site and although I could buy the item for slightly less I decided to buy from them and spent the princely sum of £79.20 including their charge for delivery of around £8.

I had checked by live chat to ensure my size screen was in stock and available for dispatch and ordered the item on 8^th August in plenty of time. Four days later I noticed that my order was still not saying it had been fulfilled or dispatched but the payment had been taken immediately so I chased them up.

I must say throughout I have found the staff very helpful when you telephone but have had poor experience of no replies to most emails I have sent.

The item was then delivered very quickly arriving on 12^th August. Unfortunately it was not the size ordered and paid for so another phone call the next day. Once again the staff were very helpful but to my disappointment I learned that the company policy meant they would not send me the right one I ordered until they had received back the one that I had been sent wrongly. They said the error had been with the ‘Picker’ in the warehouse. Because time was of the essence for me I was instructed to return the item by 24 hour post and they would refund the charge.

I did this at a cost of £16.95 and posted it on the morning of 14^th August and later that day sent them proof of posting charges and that the item had been packaged safely. I had hoped that my refund could then be processed but it would not be until they had actually received the item at their returns warehouse.

Unfortunately due to their opening hours, or Royal Mail, the item was not signed for until Monday 17^th August. I could not see anything online about my order now and it was only after a further telephone call the next day that someone went down to the warehouse and confirmed it had arrived and my correct order would now be fulfilled. Thankfully it arrived safely and was the correct size on 20^th August.

My refund of the postage costs have not been as swift and as I type I still have no refund on 27^th August. I have had yet another pleasant phone call and have had to send them the proof of postage receipt for a second time so they can check and ensure the refund is being put in place. I have been promised that I shall this time get an email to confirm it has been done and hopefully it will only take a few days to process it. I am awaiting this to happen but did explain to the customer services member that I would be sharing my poor experiences with the Caravan Club members on the forum.

I have explained to them on more than one occasion why I think the service is poor in such circumstances and it boils down to this. I order and pay immediately, they make a mistake and then I have to spend my time & money sending the item back before they will send me what I did order. They charged me delivery costs yet due to the errors it took twice as long to get what I ordered. Then I have not received my refund of the postage to return the item within a timely fashion and I do wonder if I shall ever get the money back, I live in hope.

My only other experiences like this to measure it by have been when a broken item arrived from Amazon. An email that day resulted in a phone call back, apology, replacement immediately dispatched and a returns label emailed so all I had to do was package the item and post it from a local collection point. The replacement was with me in a couple of days. Similarly with EBay, items not received, swift exchange of emails resulted in an immediate refund.

That is what I am comparing the services of Leisure Outlet against and I did expect a similar process, not having to return the item at my expense initially and wait for them to process it before they send my correct order. I could perhaps understand it if it was my fault or I changed my mind but in these circumstances I feel it is very poor service. I doubt I shall ever shop with them again; it costs me too much if things do not go correctly the first time, I dread to think what the 0845 phone call charges are going to be for me so I am definitely out of pocket on this one.

Regards, Roy