OPINION: Your views 26 January 2018

I make a loss of £100 a day when Smiths News fails to deliver on time 

The service we have been getting from Smiths in the past 18 months has been terrible. If there is a problem, we make frequent calls but never get a call back.

I even call the line which says you will definitely get a call back within 48 hours, but nothing happens. We open at 6am but have been frequently getting our papers as late as 8.30am. On the last couple of Saturdays we haven’t had any until 11am. It is absolutely awful.

I have calculated that my store loses about £100 a day every time the papers are late. We have quite a few customers who come in to buy a newspaper who also buy other items, but if they come in and see the papers aren’t there they walk straight out.

Both the shop at the petrol station across the road and the Tesco a mile away get their papers from the Milton Keynes branch and they always have their papers on time. We have lost a lot of customers now who have stopped coming in.

Scott Jell, Molly’s Nisa, Lewsey Farm, Luton

A Smiths News spokeswoman said: “There is a new driver on Mr Jell’s round, so we apologise for missing this store’s RDT. We are reviewing this process to understand the impact and aim to resolve any issues in conjunction with the store owners.”

I’m going to lose a lot of customers because of News UK

I am having a terrible time with News UK. The way it treats its customers is disgusting. My shop is closed at weekends, but I have the Sunday papers delivered on Monday as some customers like to buy them. 

I arrived this morning and checked my delivery and found that only the Sunday papers were included. I called News UK to let them know and was told I would get my papers later that morning.

I am always told there are no drivers available to come out the same day but I think they should ensure they have drivers available. Mistakes do happen – I understand that – but if something goes wrong News UK needs to be able to rectify the mistake. 

If Smiths News has something missing on its delivery, it will come back to me the same day and sort the problem out. 

When I call up, I am often made to feel as if I’ve done something wrong. I get asked whether I’ve locked my tote box properly and if I have checked through everything before calling. 

It’s not acceptable. It feels like News UK is cutting corners and customer service is suffering. Even if I was told the papers would be delivered mid-morning it would create more work for me but at least I would get the papers to my customers. As it is, I have had to send out an apologetic email. But I will lose customers if it carries on. 

David Poluck, HV Kinglsey, London

A Smiths News spokeswoman said “We have reviewed this issue and Mr Poluck’s claim relates to not receiving the Sunday newspapers on the Monday as he is closed on Sunday. We can confirm that the papers were logged as being dispatched and delivered. We are investigating this particular case and are talking to the delivery driver to find out whare at happened and how to prevent it happening in future. We have apologised to Mr Poluck and we are currently working with him to find a solution.”