Girl thought Santa didn't love her after gift mix-up (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Girl thought Santa didn't love her after John Lewis gift mix-up

11:20am Friday 4th January 2013 in News By Amy Dyduch

Bluebelle Hills with the glasses

A four-year-old girl asked her mother why Santa did not love her anymore when a boxed toy pram she opened on Christmas Day contained glass tumblers instead.

Councillor Virginia Morris, who is also a ward councillor for East Sheen, bought the pram from John Lewis in Kingston for her daughter Bluebelle Hills to push her toy doll around in.

On Christmas morning, she let her daughter, helped by one-year-old son Albion Hills, open the present, but was shocked to find there were glasses inside instead of the pram.

She said: “As a child of four, Bluebelle has been waiting for Father Christmas for weeks and for him not to turn up has upset her. This is because a child is always told that if they are bad then he will not come.

“Bluebelle has been very good. John Lewis has in effect made her think that Father Christmas does not love her.”

She said the pram was her daughter’s main present and she let her open it at 8.30am so she could take her doll to church that day.

she said: “My four-year-old daughter had no Christmas present and she thinks Father Christmas doesn’t love her any more. I was very angry and disappointed because you work hard for Christmas only to find out you have been let down.”

John Lewis told the mother of two it had reserved her pram and she could swap it for the glasses if she came to the store.

She thought John Lewis was unsympathetic to the situation and the fact her daughter was left very upset.

She said: “My husband and I feel that John Lewis has dealt with the loss of her present as a tick box exercise to satisfy their procedures and to their advantage, and not taken into consideration that this is a four-year-old child who has lost out on a very important part of Christmas as a result of this error.”

After Coun Morris’s complaint, John Lewis delivered the new pram to her home and collected the glasses.

Jenny Tomley, managing director of John Lewis Kingston, said: “We never like to hear customers are unhappy with service they receive from us, especially when people are affected at such an important time of the year.

“Although mistakes do sometimes happen, we have apologised to Mrs Morris that we didn’t do enough to rectify the error we made in this case.

“As well as putting right our mistake by delivering the correct pram, we are pleased Mrs Morris has accepted our offer of vouchers for her daughter to spend in our toy department, as well as a meal for her family at our Place to Eat restaurant.

“We hope this goes some way to making up for the disappointment she experienced.”