Bhavin Patel first contacted me in September from Tylers Green Stores in North Weald, Essex, saying that his terminal wasn’t printing properly. I asked him if he wanted me to contact Camelot but he said no, he didn’t want to rock the boat. Then he continued to copy me in on emails to Camelot on the subject.
Camelot replaced his terminal to fix the first problem, but the replacement terminal was pretty grotty. Bhavin immediately wrote to complain (if he had left it too long Camelot may have held him responsible). It has now given him a good one, along with £10 compensation.
However, Camelot is refusing to refund the £16 which did not print off, saying he did not follow procedure. Bhavin says: “I fail to understand this and have therefore asked for written confirmation because, as far as I am concerned, I did follow procedure to the letter.”
Bhavin, like most of you, operates on low margins and feels that on principle he may have to resign if his appeal is refused.
A Camelot spokeswoman says: “It is worth pointing out that, when a ticket doesn’t print for whatever reason, there is a clear procedure that needs to happen – this includes attempting to reprint the ticket and, if that fails, calling the retailer hotline immediately. This procedure is in place so that we can cancel the ticket if need be, so that the retailer is not charged for the transaction.
“It’s also worth bearing in mind that one-off printing errors can happen for any number of reasons. Repeat issues like Mr Patel’s are rare but highlight the importance of following procedures.”
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