A small grumble

Is the UK going to the dogs ... well if what happened to me about my friend the other day is anything to go by then I would have to say yes.

My friend bought a small £12 umbrella from a well known and popular high street store in London just before Christmas, and paid using her credit card.

A few days later after using it a few times she threw the receipt away and a few days after that one of the struts collapsed in on itself and making the brolly almost useless.

Without a receipt, but with her credit card statement showing clearly the purchase, she went to tackle the store and request a replacement umbrella.

When she was there the first store clerk said that they do not stock those specific umbrellas anymore, so a replacement would have to be made using a different one, but then without a receipt he could not ring the exchange through the till.

Then another assistant came to his aid and said that they would not only check the back stock room for any leftover umbrellas of that type but also call over the store manager who should be able to assist further.

The store manager was also unable to find the 'unidentified' umbrella on their computer system but offered a compromise that if my friend leave her partly damaged umbrella there they would contact head office, where in turn they would have one of their clerk undertake a complete till check of all umbrella sales from all their UK based stores in the week prior to the purchase to try and identify the one puzzling sale.

Once the sale had been identified they would then check to see what code the old umbrella has been purchased for and then be in a position to offer an exchange for a similar umbrella of equal of less value.

So - 2 store workers at 30 minutes each, 1 store manager at 15 minutes, 1 customer services contact at head office at 15 minutes, 1 head of credit card purchases at 15 minutes and 1 poor verification clerk at untold hours - and all to enable one slightly damaged £12 umbrella to be replaced with an almost but not completely identical umbrella of the same brand and colouring.

So I say again  ... is the UK going to the dogs when even a competent store manager of a prestigious London based UK store is unable to make a simple exchange in a like for like umbrella swap when they can clearly see a proof of purchase?

I think so!!!