Selfridges accused of failing to deliver luxury bag due to ‘risk’

This article titled “Selfridges accused of failing to deliver luxury bag due to ‘risk'” was written by Kevin Rawlinson, for theguardian.com on Thursday 5th June 2014 00.34 UTC

Selfridges refused to deliver a £450 Mulberry bag to an address in south London because it was too risky, it has been claimed.

Layla Daswani, who lives in Oval, near Brixton, in London, said the upmarket Oxford Street store took her money, but then refused to carry out the delivery, telling her it was because of where she lived.

“At first, they said it was because I had entered the wrong CV2 number, but I told them it couldn’t be. They put me on hold, then came back and said it was because I lived in a risky area,” she said on Wednesday.

“I told them it didn’t make sense because, if I came into the shop, they wouldn’t ask where I lived. I am not sure if it is snobbery but it is discrimination,” she added.

Daswani, 22, who comes from Hove in East Sussex and now works in finance in London, ordered the bag as a present for a friend on Monday and was expecting delivery the next day. But she received an email on Tuesday morning saying the delivery would not go ahead.

She said that, when she called to sort the situation, it even transpired that the operator on the other end of the line lived nearby. “I said ‘it doesn’t make any sense, they’re happy for you to travel back there every night, but not to deliver’,” she said.

She added that a senior manager at Selfridges later insisted his colleague was incorrect to say that the refusal to deliver was because her address was in a risky area. And she said she was offered a discount and a rearranged delivery.

But, she said: “I was trying to get across that, no matter whether you live in a council flat or a mansion, if people are giving their hard-earned money, it shouldn’t matter.”

A spokesman for Selfridges told the Daily Mail: “We deliver everywhere within the UK and in over 60 countries around the world from China and Australia to South Korea and Vietnam.

“When there is disparity between delivery and billing addresses or the submission of incorrect transaction details, we are unable to proceed with the order and the customer is alerted there is an issue, which was the case on this occasion.

“Although there was never a question of not being able to deliver the order to Brixton, the initial telephone communication to the customer was open to misinterpretation, for which we apologise as the intention was not to offend.

“The matter was resolved quickly and the bag was delivered Wednesday morning.”

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