More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A mum says she felt sick after finding dirty used tissues and nappy sacks stuffed inside the pockets of the new coat she bought online.
Anna Busby, from Gillingham, ordered the £60 jacket from JD Sports and immediately raised her concerns with the retail giant when it arrived on Monday.
The mum-of-two purchased the grey Ellesse puffer jacket which is normally priced at £85 and is currently in the shop's clearance sale.
She said: "I put it on and was looking in the mirror and found something in the pocket. I thought it was tissue paper like they do sometimes to pad it out.
"But it was dirty dried up tissues in one pocket and in the other pocket you've got a wad of nappy sacks.
"It just made me feel sick. Especially because of the nappy sacks, you just didn't know what you were going to find in there.
"Someone must have gone for a dog walk and sent it back.
"What if it was some crack head and their needle was in it?"
The 35-year-old says she's requested to speak to managers to raise her concerns and would like them to explain how it will be prevented from happening to other shoppers.
Anna fears items are not being checked properly and put into quarantine when they are returned but also feels JD has not taken her worries seriously enough after raising her complaint on Monday.
But after waiting all day Tuesday to receive a call back and still not hearing back on Wednesday, the mum has grown frustrated by the lack of concern shown by the company.
"If it was my business I would be sorting it straight away," Anna added. "If they'd have sorted it out there and then I wouldn't have thought about it.
"I rang them as I'd had no missed calls and was available all the time and they said they'd tried calling me. I checked the settings and there was no issue with my phone blocking calls and I asked for a direct number.
"Someone should be so much hotter on it. It’s disgusting without Covid but obviously even more so with it going on."
The company has now promised to launch a full investigation.
Anna says when she phoned customer services she spoke with a "lovely lady" who said they would "see what we can do".
She said she was offered a £10 voucher, 10% discount and free returns which she rejected and was then offered a £20 voucher.
"It's not about the voucher, it's not about the compensation," says Anna. "I don't want to buy anything from them as I don't know where it's been. I just wanted my refund processed.
"It's put me at risk and other people. It's not acceptable and they should be doing more to stop it happening.
"I understand mistakes happen but this current climate it can't. But how often has this happened and JD just saying 'we'll give you 10% off'?
"I hope this makes them step up their processes."
Anna described the situation as "absolutely ridiculous" and not just because of the Covid situation.
"I suffer with asthma and so I'm being really careful with germs. It's raised a lot of anxiety really.
"I put it in a bag and don't want it in the house – it's got someone's germs on it.
"I didn't send it straight back as I wanted to speak to someone more in charge to say to them to sort their stuff out."
The company said it had tried contacting Anna but was unable to get through due to incorrect contact details on her account.
But Anna said she'd had passed on the phone number through customer services when she called to chase up having not heard.
She also said she checked her account which had the correct phone number and her email address.
After the story appeared on KentOnline, JD Sports contacted Anna the next working day to arrange collection and process a refund.
A spokesman for JD Sports said: “We have apologised directly to the customer and provided a full refund, as she requested.
"All of our orders are fully checked before dispatch for safety and hygiene reasons, however we are investigating this fully to ensure such an issue does not happen again.”
Head to our business page for all of the latest news about businesses in Kent
