John Lewis or Cole Brothers? (John Lewis)

Member Name: Gillybean129

Product:	John Lewis
Date:	05/09/08 (89 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great quality

Disadvantages: Snooty assistants - sometimes

John Lewis has always been a favourite with me, I think because of the excellent customer service, but I'll come to that later.

John Lewis used to be Cole Brothers here in Shefield and many people still refer to it as that, it depends what generation you're from. The corner it used to be located on before it moved to Barkers Pool was known as Coles corner, indeed Richard Hawley wrote a song about it!

I love the warm feeling I get when I go into the store. I know that whatever they sell will always have a good reputation. For example their electricals are always good brands ie Bosch AEG etc , often they will beat the price of their competititors and their logo is 'never knowlingly undersold' and they do abide by it. I have even got them to price match before now for me.

What I like about JL is the customer service. They are always polite (though sometimes can be snooty depending upon how you're dressed!).

I can always buy with confidence as I know if ever I have any problems there will be no quibble and they'll refund or replace. I can back this up by telling you about when we decorated our lounge.

We hung some Sanderson wallpaper which was all the same batch and later noticed the colours didn't look right, so I went into the store and mentioned this to the assistant to remove this batch in case anyone else were to have this problem. I was willing to live with this but the manager of the decorating department asked if she could come and take a look. She came out and immediately saw our problem (and some more which we hadn't noticed but she did) and insisted that they pay for the whole room to be redecorated - at their expense! All we had to do was choose any wallpaper in the store and they would pay. I was like a kid in a sweet shop! We chose some lovely Harlequin paper and they paid for our decorater to strip and re do the room. Now you can't say fairer than that can you?

I can think of other occasions where I have taken back small appliances for example a hairdryer and they swapped it straight away. There is never any problem and I love them for this.

Another reason I like them is they always deliver for free and every day in my area, they'll also tell you on the day roughly what time it will be then the van driver calls you to check as he's on his way.

I would always buy a TV from there as there is a 5 year guarantee with them all and it's just peace of mind really, none of this buy our insurance like at Currys!

The store is lovely ar Christmas and I could spend a fortune on their decorations. My favourite department is the lighting and I love to browse through there. I also like the homeware and fabrics and gifts sections, the only thing I'm not keen on is the clothes which are a bit old-fashioned. I like the bedding and I don't mind spending a bit more on their stuff as I know it'll last me years and it's always great quality, more an investment really.
I like the cosmetics, though I'm still a bit scared by the make up counter girls cos they're a bit haughty!

I always park in their car park, because it's the cheapest in the city and if I had to moan it would be to all of those people who deliberately take up 2 parking slots for your 4 x 4's you know who you are and you should be made to pay twice for having such monsters!

All in all it's my favourite store and I can't wait for the new flagship store to open in 2010 or is it 2011 now?

Bring it on!

Summary: Great value for great quality stuff.