PayPoint’s pledge to improve its working relationship with retailers has been met with scepticism by some in the convenience community.

Its new pledge promises to deliver a “first class service” and to “champion the importance of convenience retailers and the challenges they face”.

Saqib Ghafoor, who owns Nisa and Bargain Booze stores in Northumberland, said: “In the past, PayPoint has been one of the worst companies to work with. When I’ve needed help with an update or installation it’s taken over 24 hours to get anywhere, and a simple banking error took 48 hours to rectify. This pledge is a long time coming, although I am not sure what will come of it.”

Harry Goraya, owner of Rosherville Post Office in Kent, said: “PayPoint is making all the right noises with this pledge, but it already listens to retailers but doesn’t hear them. What retailers actually need is a pledge from PayPoint to pay its retailers more money. With costs and charges going up, retailers need more commission otherwise they continue to offer a service at a loss.”

Tim Watkin-Rees, business development director at PayPoint, told Convenience Store: “We have increased the frequency of our visits, broadened our operational and commercial support services and reintroduced an improved independent retailer forum.

“We are aware that last summer not all retailers were satisfied with PayPoint. We want to tell retailers that we are setting ourselves higher standards and enhancing our communication and actively innovating to provide an even better service.”