Zero customer service

As I couldn't leave a zero rating I have had to unfortunately leave a 1 star. A zero rating is more appropriate for the zero customer service I have received from John Lewis .
I can totally understand why John Lewis only has a low overall score of good reviews , the majority being bad !
I am currently in the unfortunate position of dealing with their uncaring and unprofessional approach to customer service . Their Facebook page is a joke , acknowledging comments as if they are going to deal with complaints in a professional and caring way , instead this is just a smoke screen for the company they really are, it looks like they are sympathetically going to deal with the problem , but all they want is the problem off their Facebook wall . We have brought many expensive electrical items and items of technology over the years , we had an issue with a microwave that has been repaired twice in a very short time , the first time we had to drive many miles to the repair centre and drop it off and collect weeks later when it was finally fixed , and the 2nd time although well still in warranty ( and still is ) was going to be charged £40 to collect it to repair it , luckily our persistence paid off and it was collected free of charge ( as it should be as the store we collected from do not accept them back for repair ) and we are hoping it doesn't fail again when just out of warranty . However this is not our only run in with John Lewis and their guarantees . When you buy an expensive camera ( well , to us spending over £300 on our camera is a lot of money) and you pay extra for an extended 1 year warranty ( 2 years plus another 1 year) you expect if you have a problem that John Lewis will help you , think again , they will fob you off hoping you will go away and forget about it and just expect you to swallow the rubbish they tell you . It started 4 weeks ago , we noticed whilst putting our Panasonic LUMIX camera on to charge before a weekend away that the rubberised non slip covering to the case is peeling off , the camera is just over 2 years old , very well looked after and always kept in a protective padded camera bag , I never expose my camera to dusty atmospheres , do not take on the beach or wipe over with any form of cleaner , my camera is in perfect condition , well apart from this worrying fault of the silicone type rubberised coating peeling off . It started as a small patch and just over a weekend of limited use , putting in and taking out of the camera bag it crept further across , each time leaving little flakes stuck to the camera or loose in the bag , it is now well advanced and these particles are at risk of entering the large motorised zoom on my camera or behind the delicate and flimsy lens shutter door . Luckily on the way for our weekend we passed Bluewater and decided to call in to John Lewis to show them what was happening , expecting they would also think this was a problem , along with the marks we noticed were also appearing behind the back screen . They have a Technical Support area at Bluewater we found and although the assistant was extremely sympathetic and was horrified to see what had happened , they expressed their concern that the camera should not be exposed to contaminants that may damage the camera by entering it , eg. grit, dust etc and the minute particles that are constantly peeling and flaking off the camera whilst the case is deteriorating will be loose in the camera case , commented it's only a matter of time before the camera fails , the large motorised zoom could trap particles in it and seize whilst partially or fully extended, but on speaking to another department was told it was purely cosmetic , the assistant disagreed but advised us to take it further . Apparently the extended warranty is not even with John Lewis and they say it is purely cosmetic and does not in any way affect the working of the camera or put it at any risk , therefore the extended warranty we purchased in good faith is useless ! Unless I dropped the camera , as accidental damage is covered , so if I was clumsy or didn't look after my camera as well as I do and dropped and smashed it , it would be covered for repair or replacement , surely this is encouraging people to purposely damage it , dishonesty, being honest doesn't pay obviously. In the next few weeks there was numerous emails back and forth to John Lewis who refused to budge on their decision and refuse to help me .We took a visit into our local Waitrose who agreed to send the camera in to the repairer for me as they felt it needed to be looked at , as John Lewis were basing their decision on something they hadn't even seen . Since then I have had many many emails back and forth everyday from John Lewis , they totally deny there is a problem still , at one time I was told the covering will all eventually shed off anyway so it will no longer be a problem ( isn't that then a worry as it shouldn't be doing that at all ) I replied that surely then it will have no non slip coating and will be less likely to be able to grip the camera especially as the front hand grip is pretty useless , still they say it isn't a problem and purely cosmetic, sometimes they are contradicting themselves. They then asked me for in excess of £80 to cover repairs and a replacement casing to replace the case that is deteriorating rapidly , although they say it isn't a problem they do agree to change it for a fee , it has now been reduced slightly as good will , what ? I don't think so , I shouldn't be paying any of it ! The guarantee is worthless and I paid extra for it , plus they still have my camera and will no doubt hold me ransom for it . My contract was with John Lewis , I brought it from John Lewis and it is John Lewis who should sort this out , the camera is obviously suffering a design fault . The design of the camera ie. the non slip coating was only introduced for 1 model which is the model I have , and this model also lost the substantial front hand grip and was replaced by a pretty useless bar because the rubberised non slip coating is obviously meant to aid the grip you have lost . But in 2 years , 2 more models in the series has been introduced , both of which no longer carry the rubberised non slip coating ( I wonder why ?) and the larger and more useful front hand grip was reintroduced . Obviously there is a problem but John Lewis are refusing to offer any help . I am only annoyed that a week before the problem with my camera appeared , we purchased another television with John Lewis , no doubt this is equally as useless guarantee and I only wish we had of purchased elsewhere, because I can assure you John Lewis will never get our custom ever again , nor will I ever recommend them to anyone . We were good customers for many many years , but John Lewis just do not care about their customers anymore and since I have had this problem I am becoming more and more aware of many other equally disgusted customers. I even had one reply from John Lewis concerning somebody else's complaint , it was actually attached to my email , very unprofessional and very worrying as it could have contained their address too , luckily it didn't , I expressed my alarm at this and it was just brushed off as human error ! How unprofessional ! Wouldn't you check your email before sending it out when you are dealing with many different customers details . It makes me wonder the competency of who you actually are dealing with when you speak or email customer services and whether they just send out standard responses , and whether they even actually know that they are doing .