Until earlier today I, like the previous reviewer, would have given Suma Wholefoods a 5 star rating. Unfortunately, however, after a very unpleasant experience this morning I must award only 1 star, and that is only because there is no facility to give a zero rating.
Although I admire the ethos of a workers' co-operative and Suma's policy of equal pay my experience today has made me wonder what the situation is regarding individual responsibility in an organisation which presumably has a policy of collective responsibility. Also, I must question whether the policy of work rotation, which I understand is practised at Suma, can result in individuals being employed in situations for which they have neither the appropriate skills nor attitude.
Having been employed all my working life (the last 25 years of which I both ran my own business and served as director of a small company) in very customer service orientated sectors I know that the old adage "the customer is always right" is not always correct. In conversing with a customer, however, whether in a face to face situation or via telephone, it is common courtesy to allow the customer to speak without being constantly interrupted and admonished. This morning I was the customer on one end of the phoneline and I was constantly interrupted and admonished by the Suma co-operative worker at the other end. Even worse, when I complained that I was not being allowed the courtesy of finishing what I wanted to say and asked for the opportunity to do so and that I would I would then listen to the worker's response without interruption, I was threatened that my account would be closed.
This is the background leading to the events of this morning:
I am a vegan and in November 2014 I opened an account online with Suma Wholesale after reading a favourable article in the Vegan Life magazine, to which I am a regular subscriber.
The email confirming my account advised: "Free delivery is from £ 250 ex vat. For orders less than this, carriage charges apply".
Consequently, on 13th November 2014 I placed an order totalling £263.43 exc. VAT. This order was delivered on 20th November 2014, albeit that, due to stock shortages of which I had not been advised, the invoice total was only £227.45 exc. VAT. Also, one item was missing from the delivery. That was sorted out both with the delivery driver and by email, and as this item was neither chilled nor frozen and relatively light it was despatched to me by post.
On 24th February 2015 I placed another order which totalled £258.31 exc. VAT. The order was delivered on 27th February 2015, but due to stock shortages once again the invoice total was only £221.53 exc. VAT. Also, one item had been picked incorrectly. This was sorted out both with the delivery driver, who took the incorrect item back, and by email. On this occasion the error related to a frozen item and so a credit note was issued instead of a replacement being despatched.
My next order was placed on 7th May 2015 and totalled £276.90 exc. VAT. This order was delivered on 14th May 2015, but due to stock shortages yet again the invoice total was only £231.62 exc. VAT . For the third time in succession there was a picking error which, unfortunately, due to its identical packaging to the correct product I did not notice until after the delivery driver had left. This was sorted out by email and on this occasion, although the goods are neither chilled nor frozen, Suma chose to issue a credit note instead of despatching a replacement by post. It was arranged that the incorrect goods would be collected by their driver upon delivery of my next order, which should have been either today or tomorrow because I placed another order totalling £253.57 exc. VAT.
I have mentioned the above purchases because there is a pattern there which is pertinent to today's occurrences. All 4 of the orders I have placed with Suma Wholesale have met their "£250 ex vat" requirement for free delivery. All 3 of the orders which have been delivered to date, however, totalled less than £250.00 exc. VAT due to stock shortages. In fact the last 2 of these eventually totalled less than the invoiced amounts after credit notes were raised to rectify picking errors.
Despite the minor hiccups, prior to today I would still have awarded Suma a 5 star rating, because everybody I had dealt with in person (delivery drivers), by email & via telephone had given me exemplary service. Very professional, polite and efficient service. Unfortunately, however, it takes just one person to tarnish an organisation's image, and in my case I made contact with such a person this morning. My experience is outlined briefly below:
My most recent order was placed on 22nd August 2015 and I was advised by email: "Our next scheduled delivery to your area will be Thursday 27 Aug 15 to Friday 28 Aug 15 - our transport team will be able to give you a more accurate estimate of delivery time closer to the date". read more
