Sue

The poor customer service is very unlikely to be due to staff cuts. My poor experiences go back decades, and my understanding was that JL had actually made great efforts to attempt to improve their customer service. I have no idea why a department store should be on TripAdvisor, but when I googled it came up with reviews like the attached screenshots from several years ago. I have had poor service both prior to buying things (hence my purchase from AO instead of JL, despite doing massive research beforehand) , during buying things (sent from JL in Oxford Street to a Waitrose in Canary Wharf to collect a laptop which was supposed to be collected from JL in Oxford Street, which was very inconvenient) and after buying things ( including problems with said laptop, which JL initially washed their hands of because I had "bought it in Waitrose"). I could go on. And on. And on. At great length 🤬🤣 Even greater length than usual 🤣 And this one:

I could write a book on the problems I've had with John Lewis over the years! I keep saying I will never use them again, but unfortunately sometimes circumstances dictate that I do. I did once get some monetary compensation, but it in no way made up for all the preceding hassle and inconvenience. Good luck with the mattress! Hope you find what you want and it all goes smoothly!

Hopefully their customer service has improved then, as I've had several bad experiences over the years (despite their good reputation!) including fairly recently with a fridge freezer, which after two visits in person to Oxford Street I ended up buying from AO. Their TrustPilot ratings are interesting (I just looked them up). I know many people tend to only post when they've received poor service, but even so .... 27% one star ratings is not good.

Many people have artificial trees, some people have real trees in pots which they keep from year to year, and some people don't have a tree at all, so the fact that there are fewer trees on the streets than houses doesn't necessarily mean that "the majority of people dispose of theirs responsibly"! Does the council not publicise their requirements anywhere other than on their website? I never have a cut tree, but if I did have, I would assume that the council collected them, particularly seeing other trees on the pavement. So I don't think it's necessarily the case that people are being selfish or unneighbourly, though as with anything, some might be. They just may not know that if they don't have a brown garden waste bin, they have to contact the council to arrange collection.

I didn't mean you were joking. I mean whoever told your wife that may have been joking! Possibly with a straight face. It would be highly unlikely that just one building in the whole area would run out of gas, surely? Unless they have a system like caravans and someone forgot to change the bottles 😀

I don't have any mattress suggestions, but you could try a mattress topper on top of the mattress? Also ask in a reputable place that sells mattresses?

What is also happening - I don't know about Sainsbury's as I no longer shop there, but certainly in other supermarkets and with some manufacturers - is that products remain the same price but the quality or quantity is reduced. Just one example: I buy Waitrose Essential tissues, only because they have plain boxes with no branding once they are in use, and I like the colours (blue for the large ones and mauve for the smaller ones). The tissues in the mauve box have recently become so thin that they disintegrate virtually immediately you use them. Same with Cushelle quilted toilet rolls. Well, they don't disintegrate, which would be revolting, but they have also got so thin that it's hardly worth buying the quilted ones. And as for PG Tips ...... 🤬

I remember all those glowing recommendations, but I haven't seen any mention of them anywhere lately. Are they still going?

Very interesting point, Ianr!

Not in mine either if I knew they were there 🤣

As you haven't quoted my post, it is rather hard to respond, as I can't see what I said without having to keep changing page. Perhaps you could edit your post to quote mine? Thanks x I'm pretty sure I didn't contravene any forum rules, btw. But if I did, I'm sure I will get my hand slapped by admin, in which case I will of course apologise 😀

How can a supermarket "run out of gas"? Was that a joke? The Metro article is referring to the central gas supply, surely? Which hasn't actually run out yet. I said "local" press. And the reason would be that the bad publicity might push Sainsbury's head office to improve what sound like presently appalling conditions for their DKH staff to work in. Yes of course there are terrible things happening all over the world. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to change things which we might be able to have an immediate impact on locally.

I really don't want to get involved in this tedious discussion, but I do feel obliged to point out that the data you have given in no way supports your statement that the council is "setting traps to generate revenue from PCNs"! All it shows is an increase in the number of PCNs issued year on year It doesn't even give an indication of whether these are related to an increase in traffic volume, though even if they weren't your statement would still not follow from the data. Maybe you should do a course in logic? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy

If everybody boycotted the DKH Sainsbury's, no doubt the heating would quickly be either turned up or fixed 🤬 Any journalists on here who would like to publicise it in the local press?

Sadly not any more, see my edit above. May now be 2am for some houses 😭

It's back on now, earlier than forecast, hooray for the electricity workers out in the cold and dark! ETA: Spoke too soon, some houses in the same area have lost power again or for the first time, apparently there is a larger underlying fault. It seems quite random which houses are affected each time.

Just heard 250 houses. Substation fault in Lacon Road. Hopefully may be fixed tonight 😭

Some houses in Ulverscroft Road and I gather Whateley and Fellbrigg have a power cut. Any other roads?

Probably, in the freezer 🤣

To read that, I have to sign up to get some kind of communications from the Telegraph 🤬

This doesn't surprise me in the least, having once had a discussion with someone at their HQ. But Sainsbury's in general are awful, in my opinion. I only go to the DKH Sainsbury's now if I have to pick up something from Argos, and I never use them for deliveries. In the olden days, aka my childhood, Sainsbury's had such a good reputation, too, albeit before they became supermarkets. How things change. ETA: Come to think of it, I do also go there to take my plastic recycling once I have a big bag of it, and I did get passport photos there, so it's not all bad 😂

Oh crikey, blast from the past!

My partner told me the other day that he had seen some in Southwark Park, and he had never seen any there before. I've only ever seen them near water, eg by the stream on the walk between Merton and Carshalton. Hoping I might get some in the garden now, it would make a nice change from sparrows, great tits and the robin, lovely as they are 😀

Thanks, I'll call them. I don't think the letters would be sent out from the shop, so it's more likely that the info line would know.

There was some discussion about that on here when White Stuff closed, but I can't see how to link to it. If you do a search on Oliver Bonas the posts will come up. One said Oliver Bonas was closing as well, and another one said it might now take over the White Stuff site. But that was quite a while ago, so who knows.