We were warned to buy uniform early as Monkhouse are the only official supplier for our new school and the uniform can sell out. As the nearest shop that stocks the uniform is a bit out of the way, we bought it all online in May a couple of sizes larger than her current uniform, on the advice of staff at another Monkhouse store (also local but wierdly does not stock for our school), and my daughter was very excited.Since then, my daughter had a larger growth spurt than anticipated so although we'd bought skirts a couple of sizes up she still grew out of them. Everything else was ok. I took the skirts back to the only local store that stocks them (having tried to avoid a trip there by ordering online given that it is not easy to get to) and having already paid £5 postage the first time around. I was told that they had to be sent back and I would need to reorder (another £5 postage). The shop sent them back for me, having used the original order number which clearly showed my original order date. I received the second batch of skirts and all seemed ok. However, without warning this morning I received the original skirts in the post with a blunt note saying that the return was outside of the return window and I couldn't return or even exchange them. I contacted Monkouse by telephone hoping for a little understanding, and was informed that I was 4 days too early with my original order to benefit from extended returns. Had I ordered 4 days later there would be no issue. Supervisor Anna "understood my frustration" but was completely unwilling to budge on offering an exhange, despite me explaining that my daughter has a diagnosed growth delay and therefore it is more difficult to estimate growth spurts and that we had bought early in good faith, knowing we could not get the same skirts from other suppliers and being warned that Monkhouse often sell out.4 days. Seriously, that rigid - not even willing to exchange. In vain did I point out that if they exchanged they would lose no money but currently I have 2 skirts at around £25 that we cannot use. We have spent a couple of hundred pounds at Monkhouse.Archaic policy, and appearance of a lack of empathy for customers with "I'm afraid" and "unfortunately" but an unwillingless to compromise. I would have accepted an exchange and no one would really have lost out. Not once did any staff in-store communicate that we should wait 4 days to order for the extended returns, or that we had missed the window.It goes without saying that the skirts were unworn and with the tags still on.Cheers.I see from the reply that there is still no willingness to exchange even though they could easily sell the skirts on and I'm £24 down. I will be feeding back to the school and other parents that I don't recommend this company.
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At Monkhouse, we believe every child deserves the chance to shine.
As a family-run business with over 80 years of experience, we've provided top-quality schoolwear to communities since our founding by Frank Monkhouse in Cheadle Hulme. From a single store, we've grown to 24 high-street locations and 13 campus stores across England and Wales, with further capability to partner with schools across the 4 corners of the UK & NI.
We pride ourselves on offering affordable, high-quality products, including eco-friendly garments made from recycled plastic bottles. With our 24/7 online service, getting the schoolwear you need is always easy and convenient.See more
