The 26-piece M&S dinner set that came in 29 boxes!
IT’S reasonable for a shop to wrap up china carefully to avoid breakages.
But Marks & Spencer surely took that too far when they packaged Lynn Aconley’s 26- piece dinner set i nto 29 cardboard boxes.
The 61- year- old grandmother was ‘completely staggered’ when she went to pick up her order and struggled to fit it all in her car. She said it took her more than an hour to unpack the boxes and that she was left with a ‘mountain of rubbish’ in her living room.
Mrs Aconley said: ‘I just couldn’t believe the amount of waste left in my house. I was surrounded by cardboard and plastic.
‘I completely understand that customer orders have to be protected, but the excess of it was simply unbelievable.’
She added: ‘Not only was there an excessive amount of boxes, but t hey were ridiculously sized for such small items. They were huge.’
Mrs Aconley, a retired teacher from Rainhill, Merseyside, customised her order rather than buying M&S’s standard 12-piece £79 Manhattan set, which she felt would not include everything she needed.
It turned out staff were told to pack each item in its own box as if they were being sold separately. Three further boxes were used to store some of the smaller ones.
An M&S spokesman said: ‘Our aim is to keep packaging at a minimum whilst ensuring it protects the items inside. Since 2009, we have reduced delivery packaging by 60 per cent.’ In November, Tesco sent a 24-piece dinner set to Joanne and Billy Murphy in 48 boxes – yet five items still ended up broken.