Premier retailer Himesh Amin invested £12,500 in a shop upgrade, primarily to increase his chilled offering. As Palmer & Harvey is the leader in chilled delivery to the indies, he set up an account.

Bank holidays are always busy in Hastings Old Town, but Easter came and went without supplies. He says when he rang to ask why he was told: ‘never again… no access’.

He tried to complain higher up, but also encountered ‘no access’ as far as his rep was concerned. “He never gets back to me.”

Hastings Old Town does have some access problems, although other lorries get through, including brewers’ vehicles. “And the massive dustcarts get through,” says Himesh.

I contacted P&H and the whole thing got cleared up pretty quickly.

The company commented: “We are grateful to Convenience Store for bringing this matter to our attention. Customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance to Palmer & Harvey and it seems there were a number of missed communications as a key staff member was on holiday, which resulted in the retailer having an unsatisfactory experience. There were also access issues for our delivery driver. We have now been in touch with the retailer and have addressed all of the issues to his satisfaction by arranging an earlier delivery, which will allow the retailer to continue to be supplied by Palmer & Harvey.”

Indeed, Himesh is now very pleased. He got his deliveries in time for the May Day Jack in the Green celebrations - a major event in Hastings Old Town calendar.

Topics