Debenhams Wedding Service (Debenhams)

Member Name: caralyn

Product:	Debenhams
Date:	03/09/02 (797 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: huge range of products, flexible delivery, super-simple for guests

Disadvantages: unavailability of products, useless helpline, wrong deliveries

*****UPDATE *****

Well, the problems continued! I have been married 2months and still not had my last 2 gifts. Debenahms keep pressing me to accept vouchers instead, but I won't, I don't see why they should pass the buck to me. A delivery DID arrive, but was wrong, and we think they probably just put some stuff in a box and hoped we'd accept it. We are keeping it "hostage" until we get the correct gifts!
The helpline is just as useless as ever, and no-one ever phones back when they promise to. As I write, it is a Tuesday. 10 days ago I spoke to someone and they promised to call me back within 5 days. No such luck. I have sent 2 complaint letters, one to the store, one to the head office, and we'll see what happens.

Rating now = 1/5 (they get a point for the funky scanner and the online updates, and that's about it)

*****UPDATE ENDS*****


Experiences as a wedding guest:

My first experience of Debenhams wedding service was last year, when some friends of mine told me their Debenhams wedding number, and mentioned it could all be sorted online. Working full time and having web access but not allowed personal phone calls at work, and working a long way from the nearest store, this was ideal!
Logging on to www.debenhams.com, the link to wedding services is clear, and from their there is a specific site for wedding guests.
I really liked the fact that you don’t need to know the wedding number, or even the surnames of the couple. You can either input the names, number, or simply the wedding date (if you’re feeling rather clueless!).
Once the list appears, it is split into columns of item, quantity required, and price. Another great feature is that ticks appear alongside the couple’s favourite items, so you can be sure you are buying something they really want.
Ordering is simple: just tick the relevant box, state how many of the item you wish to purchase, dec
ide if Debenhams can substitute the gift if it’s out of stock, and whether you want it gift wrapped (a small extra charge), any message you want to add, and proceed to checkout. The checkout is pretty standard: name, address, card number, email etc.
Once you have ordered, you receive a confirmation email, and that’s it!

It is also possible to order over the phone, access the lists via touch screens instore, or simply look at the list and go in to buy the item personally. Problem free, many ways to order, and it saves time and hassle or transporting gifts on the day. Perfect!


Experiences as a bride-to-be:

We have always thought that Debenhams represented good quality, if not always the best value, so when we were asked to register for a wedding list at a wedding fair a year before the wedding, we thought “why not?”. After all, if we didn’t want to
actually use it, we didn’t have to, it was only giving basic details. About 6 months before the wedding we decided that we would use the service, and I popped into my local store (Coventry) to ask about it. They had all my details on computer from before, we had been allocated a wedding number already, and no need to re-register. First point to Debenhams – good customer relationship management there! This meant that even though we hadn’t selected our gifts, we could include the list number with our invitation to save the endless “what gift do you want” questions.

3 months before the date, we were asked to go in and choose our list. We were told 3 months since it was long enough for guests to have time to choose, and near enough the date that our choices would not go out of stock or be discontinued. (More on this later!)
Choosing was great fun – we were given a barcode scanner and the run of the store! It took us the best part of 2 hours, but with the scanner we had also been given vouchers for free coffees
, and a 20% off coupon for the coffee shop valid every visit until the wedding. Again, nice touch, and the coffees were certainly welcome that day! (Second brownie point to Debs there)
Also in the pack were vouchers for free makeovers and information cards to send to guests (although I didn’t use these since I thought it came across as a bit money-grabbing), and a note saying that we would receive 5% of the total value bought as “cashback” vouchers. Another nice touch.
On returning to the wedding service department, we were handed printed lists showing items and costs, (and a rather scarily large total list value), and told that we would be able to update our list online. We confirmed 2 delivery dates, one before the wedding, one afterwards, and (Brownie point number 4) you can specify ANY delivery time! I asked for after 7pm and lo and behold, the pre-wedding delivery arrived at about 9.1
5pm. Well done Debenhams, flexible delivery times really are key these days!
A few days later I logged on to check, and there it was! I marked a few items as “favourites”, checked the quantities of things, and settled back to see what would be bought.

And then the problems started!

The first few gifts bought appeared on our list as “sold”. Fine, no problem. Then a few started appearing as “requested”. When I checked what that meant, I was told that the items weren’t in stock and they were trying to order them. A couple did then go to “sold” status, but as I write this, 4 days before the wedding, many items ordered weeks ago are still “requested”.
I have 2 major gripes with this:
First, we were told to make our list at a certain time to avoid this situation. It doesn’t seem to have helped since we have more “requested” than “sold” items and although I can see what is happening through the list site online, guests will think tha
t we have received their gift already.
Secondly, and probably more annoyingly, in the case of some items of which we have requested more than one, when a guest has ordered online it has come up as “requested” but another guest has been able to go into the store and collect the exact same item! Grrr!
If I were talking solely about seasonal items, I would be slightly more inclined to understand, but the item in this case is pillows!!!

A second problem is their “wedding customer service” phone line. Now, this is relating to the Coventry store, so it may be different at other stores, but I found it is totally geared towards sales and profits rather than customer service.
Example:
“Thank you for calling the wedding service. Please press 1 to buy from a list, or 2 to speak to a customer service advisor about your list”. (I pressed 2).
“ Thank you. Unfortun
ately we have no advisors available at present. However, if you would like to buy from a list, please press 1”. Aaaargh!!!! No option to hold, and when I did once manage to leave a message, no-one called me back. I do have a feeling that even though I called a Coventry number, it was a central system I was put through to, so I suspect this may be a national problem.

So, to sum up. For guests, the service is great. For couples who may not be too interested in what arrives and when, it’s great. BUT, the mass (and contradictory) unavailability and useless “helpline” let it down badly. On the plus side, the list choosing process is great and the delivery flexibility can’t be faulted. If they could sort out the hiccups, they’d get 5 stars.
(I will update after the second delivery in October!)

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