“Horrendous! Nothing like what Debenhams used to be! Avoid and spend your hard
earned money with someone, who’ll appreciate it…
I recently purchased jumpers from Debenhams’ website, only to discover they were supplied by a third-party partner. Debenhams prides a standard return policy on these items, which is both misleading and dishonest.
You’ll find out why…
When the items arrived, they were awful—thin, crinkled, stretched, and nowhere near the quality shown in the photos.
The worst part is that Debenhams refuses to take any responsibility for the return or refund. Instead, they direct you to deal with their third-party partner—a company, which is nothing but a SCAM with terrible reviews and known for ignoring customers. This partner won’t get back to you, wont provide a return address, or offers ridiculous discounts if you’d like to order from them again!!! leaving everyone stuck with unusable products.
Shockingly, Debenhams is fully aware of this long ongoing issue. There are countless complaints online from other customers in the exact same position, and yet they do nothing to resolve it or improve their processes or take the scam company off their trade partners list!
To make matters worse, their customer service is dreadful. Messaging them is like talking to a brick wall—it takes days to get each response, and all they do is send scripted replies citing their terms and conditions, with no real effort to help or resolve the issue.
This isn’t the Debenhams we used to know—it’s now a company that shirks all responsibility, partners with questionable sellers, and leaves loyal customers stranded. I will never shop with them again, and I strongly urge others to avoid them. They clearly don’t care about their customers or their reputation anymore.
Next step / trading standards for Debenhams and their shady partner.”
“I ordered 5 items and have only received 3. I contacted customer service straight away to ask whether the missing 2 items were being sent separately.
They claimed it had all been sent in one parcel, and said they’d review their footage.
They have now contacted me to say that they believe all 5 items were packed.
This is impossible as I only received 3 items.
I am appalled at their response. Something like this has never happened to me before. It goes without saying, that I will NEVER order anything from them ever again, and I very strongly suggest that no one else does either.
Terrible experience.”
“A broken product was delivered on 12 December and the lack of any customer service means it has still not been picked up, 26 days later. Their returns process only uses bots who haven’t managed to respond to me in the 2 day time frame at any point. I want a refund!”
“I just cannot begin to write out the LONG DRAWN OUT, FRUSTRATING experience I am having with Debenhams over two watches which didn’t arrive for my 98 year old mother to give to her great grandsons at Christmas!
Their INCOMPETENCE is completely OFF the scale!!!”
“Dreadful customer service. I have had to chase refunds and each time I have to give the same details. I'm still waiting for my money back on items sent back on 9th December, far too long to wait. I will not be ordering again I can get treated so much better at plenty of other places.”
“Ordered a clarins gift set which had just been put into a plastic bag gor postage. No care taken at all in packaging and it arrived all battered and torn . Was supposed to be for a present I would not order again from debenhams.”
“APPALING!! NOT A NAME TO TRUST ANYMORE
Appalling! NOT NOT a name to trust NOT ANYMORE ordered well in time for their promised christmas delivery and guess what IT NEVER ARRIVED customer service impossible to contact whattsapp forbidden. messenger app no contact.Like many others its now christmas eve too late to buy replacement present totally spoilt christmas down to debenhams”
“I ordered items 3 weeks ago 3rd December , the last item was received 1 week ago but still one item missing, when I contacted them 30 dec to chase this up I was told it’s over 14 days and “they are unable to cater to my concern” and I have to pay for this item in full”
“2 occasions I've had my purchase cancelled by them, no explanation and once sent out the wrong size of clothing. They take £2 for cancellations or returns btw. Debenhams is not the same company it once was, go elsewhere.”
“I recently purchased a tool cabinet which comes in two part but only one part was delivered and they don’t seem to want to help me sort this out. As I chat to them they sent me a message saying that an agent would contact me which never happens. Do not buy from Debenhams”
“I ordered a Superser from their website. They immediately canceled my order, with a note that it was not in stock (not sure why have it available on the website) and then refunded me £2.99 less than I paid, as a return fee??
I did not return - they cancelled on me! Furthermore their fee is supposed to be £1.99.
That's a sly business move to be able to cancel someones order, and charge them a fee for the privilege!”
“I am ordering from Debenhams health care item , they send to wrong address and I found that they have shown out that customer service is unreal , is show out 403 forbidden, how come this thief company will alive in UK , please some one find me they contact for customer service”
“Boohoo bought Debenhams & kept the name because they knew Debenhams had a good name as a retailer. However, their reputation has taken a big nose dive as trading under the retailer of Boohoo is a disaster. Please please do not be fooled by Debenhams previous reputation they are not being operated with the same trust.
Please please avoid buying online
I am now going through the process of recovering my refund through the Small Claims Court. This is time consuming but I am tenacious & will pirsue this to tje end including all of the costs I incur in bringing this action. If you don't want to do this my advise is DO NOT BUY DEBENHAMS ONLINE.”
“Yet again (should have known better) that I needed to contact Debenhams customer service. I’ve had two broken items delivered which takes an age to sort out but alas this time a fault developed in a light, they kept referring to the previous resolved issue. Then offered refund or replacement then after choosing replacement and waiting they decided that they couldn’t replace and I needed to prove the fault. No problem! Asked them as per ‘Which’ guidelines to co firm they’d reimburse my costs once proven faulty and radio silence yet again … so far 19 days since first contact and zero resolution
Update 15/11 to address the reply… they only contacted me each time after I sent requests for updates 24-48 hours after the many days they ask you to wait every time they need to speak to their supplier. They’ve told me I need to prove the fault but have not confirmed they’ll cover these costs once proven faulty, they replied after that query to say they can’t get a part and I should just fix it locally but still no reference to covering costs and of course now I’ve asked again about covering costs I’m waiting yet again for many days to pass before I can ask again. The item was ordered November 18th 2023 and therefore is still under warranty but regardless I have basic customer rights to have the item repaired after 6 months and to have my costs reimbursed for an experts report so I can’t do anything without Debenhams communication answers and each delay adds more frustration. I e asked for this to be escalated as I’m getting nowhere . 6/12 and my last messages to Debenhams have been totally ghosted. Automatic replies from an AI and then never passed to an agent or replied to again. The light didn’t even last 11 months and so in what world is that the customers fault so and expensive purchase down the drain!”
“Received a wrong size. Return that with their own return code.
Now they are not refund me as they say the post is wrong !
The post office scanned the return code I had been sent from Debenhams.”
“Worst customer service ever. I will refuse to buy after the Experiance I had these last few days. The advertise one thing send U another then start informing Ur e mail. U can't call or anything so Ur stuck waiting for them to contact U. Only for them to repeat the same lines. Just to waste a few more days. Horrible horrible service. As pictures show. What they advertised and what they send U”
“Complete scam. Ordered online 3 weeks ago, under a 3-5 day delivery. still not received my order, or an update. have emailed to cancel my order and had no acknowledgement or refund. Is Phillip Green still involved in this company as that would explain the shoddy service and complete Rip Off”
“Ordered perfume for £102. Turned out to be like a fake and smell went. They said I could not have a refund. I told them about Consumer Rights Act 2015. Finally agreed a refund. After dealing with 12 different people via email, I got my refund after almost a month. Told them I want to lodge a formal complaint and they said I can complain to the email address.... mmm... they have no seniors to deal with it, no customer team and no complaints procedure. Stay away and go elsewhere. Wonder if all these 12 people are even real. Each one did not know what the status was, kept asking me for delivery receipt even though previous people had said the item had been received. Headache throughout and would never order anything again. I am still waiting for them to deal with the complaint. I will upload the thread of emails once I have redacted my personal information.”
