No wedding list- ok- so how will you use 74 toasters???? (John Lewis Wedding List)

Member Name: Trishajs

Product:	John Lewis Wedding List
Date:	24/08/09 (98 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quality Goods & standard of Service you expect from John Lewis

Disadvantages: I cannot have one- no one has proposed

Wedding lists are a debatable subject- some love them, some hate them, and the others are indifferent. I personally am in the pro camp, I do not want to spend my hard earned money on an item that is going to at best, find itself stuck in a cupboard, perhaps only seeing the light of day when I visit or at worst being disposed of post haste. So when two friends of mine said they were not going to have a wedding list as it appeared materialistic- I persuaded them to have one and told them I thought John Lewis was probably the best choice. I had no experience of a John Lewis gift list- but their reputation is such, that I was confident in making that proposal.

So how has it gone ?

They visited their local John Lewis and it was quick and easy to set up a list. They were given scanners and told to go around the store scanning in anything they wanted on their list. The list was created at that point, but they were advised that they could at anytime add or remove items from the list online or in store. They have done this and it couldn't have been simpler. They were given small folded cards to hand or send to their guests - these contained areas to write their names, the wedding list number and a password for online access. Together with the date the list would be "open". It also listed all the John Lewis stores for those who preferred to shop in person.

The list prepared, they agreed a date for delivery to their home address and that was that. Simple.

The happy couple have a different password to the guests, this enables them to add or delete items from the list and to see what has been purchased, by whom and the accompanying message if they wish. My friends are trying not to do this, so they can enjoy the opening prezzies experience more when they return from honeymoon.

As a guest it is easy, I have purchased online and I just entered the password and clicked on Buy a Gift- I can see all the items available, sorting by price if I wish. Click and Buy and write your gift card message, pay and it is all done. It took all of 5 minutes- imagine how long trudging from shop to shop to shop would have taken me- and the stress! As the wedding is in another part of the country and I will have to be traveling by train, tube, train. taxi and car- I am very pleased not to be carrying my choice of gifts on the journey. No gift wrapping to worry about either. Let's face it I have enough to do, transport, hotel, a new outfit, hair appointments etc; etc. I also can relax knowing that I have definitely bought a gift they will be pleased to receive. I also know that the gifts will be excellent as John Lewis is known for quality.

Of course, as is my life, things never run smoothly- one of my soon to be legally bound friends rang me to say they had received an e mail from John Lewis- two of the items they had chosen and that I had bought were no longer available and therefore under the terms of the wedding list agreement they would be sending gift vouchers to the same value of those gift choices. They knew I would not be happy with this, hence the phone call.

I went to check my e mail inbox and I had received nothing, had my friends not told me I would have been none the wiser and that is, in my opinion, wrong.

I rang John Lewis and they did sort out the problem, promptly and well, I was credited for the gift vouchers and I could go online and make another choice.

So I do feel that a service that had been exemplary, was let down by this one issue. It would have been so easy for them to have e mailed me and given me a choice as to whether to let the vouchers stand or to make another selection.

Would I recommend John Lewis again- absolutely, but I would mention the "issue".

A wedding list review is not only about how the list itself operates, but also the store itself. Let's face it, a list system could be the best run in the world, but if the goods were rubbish, with poor after sales care- would you want your list there?- methinks not.

So if anyone from JLP is reading this- just sort out the substitution issue and you would get ten out of ten- for now you will have to settle for nine and a half!

Summary: Surely the first choice for a Gift List