Letters are currently being sent out by Smiths News advising that its policy of recharging magazines claims is to cease on Sunday April 18.
This is good news for news retailers, and follows the recent announcement from Smiths News that it was freezing its annual review into carriage charges until next year.
The single policy of recharging shortage claims, yet redelivering what was originally missing, often left retailers confused about what actually took place or why. This then led to the need for a frustrating call to be made to the wholesaler again to make a second claim, in order to gain their credit. This has arguably been the biggest cause of retailer service dissatisfaction for decades.
National President Stuart Reddish said: “I, and the News Operations Committee, are fully supporting this and recognise this change as a huge step forward in making the news category easier to manage.
“All members supplied by Smiths News will no doubt welcome the change and no longer having to check the status of debits and credits often across a number of invoices or having to explain this difference to the company’s customer services staff.
“I would encourage all Smiths News customers to look out for the trade letter and read it carefully. Any member experiencing problems should call NFRN Connect on 0800 121 6376 or email contactus@nfrn.org.uk.”
In the letter, Smiths News writes: “Acting on feedback from our customers we are changing how we manage claims for missing copies of magazines. Whilst we pack huge volumes with great accuracy every week, no process is perfect and 100% accuracy will not always be achieved.
“What we are committing to here is hopefully a simpler, less confusing process and better transparency on the actions we take following a claim to manage any errors made.”
The Smiths News letters can be read here.
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