Marks and Spencer Arvostelua 1 876

I wanted to share a recent experience in the hope it helps Marks & Spencer improve its systems.
I tried to purchase a hooded dressing gown, as it's so cold and mine needs replacing. I first attempted to call my local branch to check availability so I can decided whether to go to Epsom or Kingston. The phone rang unanswered for a long time, and as I was out already I had to leave without speaking to anyone. I then travelled to the Epsom store in person, where staff were helpful but did not have my size and suggested ordering online instead.
I loaded funds onto a prepaid card that I regularly use successfully in M&S stores, only to discover at checkout that this card is not accepted online. I did ring customer services and they said their systems do not process the prepaid card online. I asked if they could send the dressing gown to my nearest store, so I can go and pay for it and they said they are unable to do that. This meant I could not complete the purchase and would now need to physically travel again to find a branch that has the item in stock in order to use the balance. So Marks and Spencers is putting the onus on the customer rather than providing customer satisfaction.

The core problem is the lack of accurate, customer-visible, real-time in-store stock information for clothing. If I had been able to see which local store held my size, or if payment limitations were clearly stated upfront, this would have saved time, travel, and inconvenience.
In an era where inventory systems and AI-driven stock visibility are commonplace, I would encourage M&S to review:

1, Real-time branch stock transparency for apparel
2, Clearer communication of accepted payment types online vs in store
3, Better phone accessibility for local branches

I offer this feedback in the hope it supports improvements to what is otherwise a respected and trusted retailer.

On Saturday the 20th of December 2025 my wife and I went shopping at the Newbury Retail Park. We arrived at 14:03PM and shopped in 4 stores as listed below:
M&S 14.24PM £11.30
Boots 14.52PM £175.55
T K Maxx 16.25PM £135.16
Lidl 17.17PM £127.71
Spending a total of £449.72 on various items of Christmas Shopping.
We departed the Retail Park at 17:28PM
We were in the site for a total of 3 hours and 25 minutes according to the Civil Enforcement Parking Charge Notice issued on 25/12/2025 and as a result we were presented with a demand for £100 as a result of a parking violation, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.
We have used the Newbury Retail Park on numerous occasions over the last 3 years, and I can honestly say I have never noticed a sign stating parking is only allowed for 3 hours and staying longer would result in an extortionate demand with menaces for an entirely unreasonable amount of money. Even at the reduced rate we are being forced to pay £2.40/minute for parking which by any sensible standard is absurd. Not only that but we are also being threatened with Court action should we fail to pay and also told that the reduced rate is removed if we have the audacity to appeal.
The only sign I can recollect regarding parking is on at the exit stating No Return Within 2 Hours which I have always considered counter intuitive as one would expect shops to be happy for customers to return and spend money with them. I am sure there are some signs somewhere, but I imagine most customers, like me, have not seen them and do not expect to be subject to a prote3ction like racket that demands money with menaces for parking in a shopping centre for in excess of 3 hours. There are 14 or so shops on the site and we only visited 4 so I have to wonder how many other people are being extorted by the owners of Newbury Retail Park.
I also think the store owners and operators should insist that parking is free and if not, they should decline to rent premises on the park. If this is not achieved by the shop operators the good people of Newbury should boycott the retail park until the owners amend the policy.
I think a social media campaign is called for.

I thought that M&S had stopped using the Evri delivery service due to the huge number of complaints, however, I was wrong and learnt that Evri would be delivering my item today much to my disappointment!! Item was apparently left in my porch...I DO NOT HAVE A PORCH. Parcel was shown being held up against my back gate showing the house number before the parcel was thrown over the gate onto the garden path JUST A FEW FEET FROM THE BACK DOOR!!! Courier didn't bother to knock on the front or back door hence I WON'T BE BOTHERING TO BUY FROM M&S AGAIN!!!

On 01.01.2026 I paid £69.00 for a pair of ladies ankle boots for my wife. They were required asap so I paid an extra £5.95 for next day delivery The next day arrived but no boots. I called M&S and eventually was told the delay was due to the courier, guess who? EVRI! So after pressuring M&S I managed to get my £5.95 back for a failed delivery and an M&S voucher for compensation! However, still no refund of the £5.95 and no M&S voucher and 6 days later NO BOOTS!! I wanted these as a gift for my wife who suffers with dementia and we wanted to get some walking in before the bad weather came along. Today I am advised that my order has still not been processed and the boots have not been shipped. Eventually the female I was speaking to said that the boots will arrive tomorrow! When will I get the refund and compensation voucher? An utter disgrace M&S. Your customers deserve better!
07.01.26. An update. Believe it or not, this morning I have received an update from M &S telling me that my order is running late and may not be delivered today! Apparently my order has still not left the warehouse because it has not been collected by the courier. Are you for real M&S?
20.01.26. Now a further addition to my review. I have just received an email from M&S refusing to publish my review because I didn’t include any mention about their Customer Service. M&S, you should count yourselves very fortunate that I did not include this information because your Customer Service was totally unacceptable.

Really gutted, I bought a beautiful set of red Christmas PJs from M&S with a gift card as they were £32 it wouldn’t be something I’d normally treat myself to.

That’s a high price tag so I expected the quality to be the same.
Size 8 fit me like a glove, really comfortable and beautiful design.
Took them out of the first wash (on a low delicate setting at 30, as described on the label) and they are completely ruined, shrunk a ridiculous amount that they now barely fit around my waist and the legs are 3/4 lengths now when they previously sat touching my foot.

I’m so disappointed and now have a product I can’t use after one wash?!

We used to shop the Jaeger brand before M&S bought it. To be brutally honest it’s now ruined and nothing close to what it was in terms of quality and style. M&S stick it in the middle of the clothes section and you’re expecting premium design and materials as it used to be but no it’s awful and if not worse that some of the other M&S clothes on display.

I love your candle that lights while the candle burns , but when it's 🚏 burning so does that sparkle it's a lot of money to pay for a candle that the sparkles stopped when the candles stopped is there any way it can work with any other candle , well disappointed with this item , as I brought as a present .

I purchased some bootcut jeans from M&S about 3 years ago. They were of very good quality then. I returned to get new ones and found the exact sets. The quality is even better but £1 more which isn’t bad. They are true to size and great during this winter season. Happy customer.

Purchased battered haddock fillets.(.In a light crispy batter) Batter was like concrete and the fish was pink definitely not haddock 😔Won't be buying again ....

I placed an order for a large rug yesterday expecting to be at an empty property when it was due to be delivered. My circumstances changed when tradesmen changed their schedule. At 9.30am I called M&S to change the delivery date less than 24 hours after the order had been placed. The order has not been filled and no action has been taken by M&S. They offered to leave the rug outside or to approach neighbours asking them to take the item on my behalf by annotating the order. They have yet to allocate the delivery company who will make the delivery but will not defer the delivery by four days or cancel the order. This they say is company policy.

I have not authorised the delivery of my order to someone else or, for to be left outside and will not accept liability for the goods should they attempt delivery when they have been advised that I cannot accept delivery on the date specified.

I shall update my review after the delivery date. Company policy appears to be making life as inconvenient as possible for their customers!

Telford Store: Been going here for over 10 years every Friday. The food hall ladies are all amazing and can’t do enough. Sadly I can’t say the same for Christmas food order. I ordered months in advance, stood in a line for about 30 minutes on Christmas Eve to be presented with a box of food that looked like someone had dropped it multiple times and that was out of date either Xmas day or Boxing Day. The £89 turkey was grey and had clearly been dropped. The salmon had been taken out of the packet and the knife it came with was missing. The veg was out of date boxing day and already looking grey and the deserts were too. In fact out of a £240 order I kept the ham and the salmon. They refused to help me saying I won’t get any replacements. So I went into the food hall and got all the veg in fact exactly the same, the desserts, and replaced the salmon with one that didn’t look like someone had been playing football with it. So this leaves me wondering if I’d pre ordered paid a premium for stuff I could have just got off the shelf- or was I being fobbed off with the food that expired on Boxing Day that they couldn’t sell after Christmas Eve - paying top dollar for the food that should have been reduced? Luckily I managed to get a wonderful turkey crown from the butchers ( a no show collection) and it was perfect. Goes to show really. Disappointed in the sub standard service from Marks - you should be ashamed guys - I thought I was paying a premium for quality, when in fact I was being ripped off.

It's a shame that Marks & Spencer has changed so much... not just customer service and I don't mean the staff as it's not their fault.. it's whoever is implementing policies etc... I won't go into my bad experience that I had with their head office. I am here to say that the food quality is really dropping in Pizzas and Italian ranges... something happened this past year and it's now truly awful. I know I am not alone as so many people said to me have you tasted M&S Italian range lately? and in the past it was always so good. I could honestly say M&S had the nicest Spaghetti Bolognese but not now as something happened around autumn and it's truly awful. I do understand ingredients and other factors can implement costs etc... It's worth your while listening to customer feedback or even having focus groups testing your products as I imagine eventually you will lose a lot of custom.

Christmas food from M&S really poor this year. I spent a lot of money & most ended up in the bin…
Large Yule chocolate log so dry & tasteless
Rudolf randeer cup cakes the same, my 5yr old choc loving grandson wouldn’t eat them. Party food vile ! Pork belly squares pure fat. Veggie spring rolls disgusting . Pecorino & chorizo tortillas awful greasy.

Do not buy hampers from Marks & Spencer. I found in my M&S hamper shortbread biscuits that had expired even before Christmas - best before 10/12/25. Telephoned customer services and they said hampers only to last 2 weeks and that is their policy. We had spent £1,500 on hampers. They simply do not care.

I had a difficutl experience with flowers bought for friends but uitimately M&S dealt with my complaint really well. I could not get hold of anyone at M&S to complain at first and the call centre in SA has imited powers, and informaiton and don't really have 'skin in the game' to use a phrase about loyalty to the brand. It is awful actulally. The people are nice but not very effective. I bought flowers for everyone I buy for at Christmas- about 15 people- amounting to £1000. It was to make life easier for me to buy in one place from a reliable company I love. I have been so stressed and distraught. I became a widow in August when my beloved husband died suddenly. I wanted to especially thank two people who loved him and me and really helped when he died. The biggest and most expensive bunch available was a £150 bunch of roses and willow with other flowers intermingled. The messy bunch that arrived had colours that were insipid and it was floppy with so called vintage roses that looked past their prime upon arrival. The darker dusty pink that was advertised and which would have lifted the colours overall, were not in the bunch at all. I am so upset. I also sent a bunch of mixed roses and chocolate and vintage champagne to a cousin and got a note on Christmas Eve saying that there had been "a problem - which I would not want at this time of year", but M&S did not say what the problem was. They sent me a £10 voucher to spend with them to make up for it. They said nothing about reimbursing the cost of that gift which was £100. No idea what happened to it. The cousin lost my husband, her cousin this year and also lost her own father earlier in the year.Eventually a really helpful persson in the Executive Team connected to the Chairman's Office helped and reimmbursed me for two lots of flowers. Once I sent the photograpsh she had to agree that the expensive bunch were really really bad - not in bud, photgraphed on the day of delivery, insipid, wilted, floppy and with dusky rose pink flowers completely missing.

I purchased the they're 'British Outdoor Bred Slow Cooked Porchetta' for Christmas day.
Very disappointed all round, the box says 1.4Kg, it wasn't. A third of the rolled belly was heavy fat, which is the cheapest meat for a rolled joint.
The ingredients of 'enhanced beautifully with roast garlic, fennel, lemon and herbs' was a dismal amount and in fact you could not even smell any Garlic.
Poor Quality all round for £35
Like everything else now at M&S, the quality has plummeted and yet they sell it on quality for an increased price.
On another food product, they're bread is under cooked and so is heavy and doughy, you have to remove the stuff and I have told them so many times.

I received a bunch of flowers from you for my birthday from a friend the condition is disgusting I've seen better from supermarkets my friend was very upset and I told her to get her money back

I placed a Christmas food order in November. Recently, I lost a friend unexpectedly, and I have to attend her funeral. I called Marks and Spencer's line asking to change the collection slot by only few hour.
There response were shocking no. Even for emergancy situation like this. I am certainly will nere use them again. I can not belive there lack of compassion and poor customer service. I have no word.

How sad to see this great British retailer go the way it has. The great Chairmen like Raynor or Greenbury wouldn't see the current Chairman Archie Norman fit to shine their shoes. (Norman ex Top Shop, where is that business now!)
They dont even bother to respond to complaints on here or when I contacted them about a food product issue. Complete disgrace of a business that was once great.

Extremely disappointed to discover the two Christmas food hampers ordered from the Christmas Food Gift section on their website, have arrived today, 7 days before Christmas, containing short-dated items that will be out of date before Christmas day. In fact they'll be out of date before I've even gifted them.

Customer services say that the small print on the site says they can be short dated to as little as 2 days, and there is nothing they're willing to do.

But it's just stupid. A Christmas gift hamper that's only guaranteed to be suitable as a Christmas gift if you order it on Christmas eve, which you can't because that's well past their last order date.

They say this is our error. So no refund, or return allowed, despite one of the happers having a torn gift box (packed that way, not delivery damage).

I feel like I've been mugged. They've missold the item as something it could never be. They've conned me.

I've been 'allowed' to escalate it as a complaint but have to wait for the complaints department to grace me with a call - I was not allowed to be transferred. So I'm killing time by writing this review - wondering if I need to bin these and find new gifts, which I can't do until I know what's happening.

If I don't get a satisfactory response I'll have no choice but to do a charge back, but what a pointless waste of everyone's time and money. Shameful, intentional misselling. Christmas gift hamper, my arse!