Uh-oh! Technical difficulties at Fortnum & Mason and at Sainsbury’s mean customers may not receive
their Christmas shopping in time. Delays at luxury hamper firm
Fortnum & Mason are being blamed on “a
combination of a new computer system and a tripling of trade over
December”, while at Sainsbury’s, an IT
failure meant Sainsbury’s customers were unable to secure a time
slot for food deliveries before Christmas Day. The Telegraph has
more on both stories.
More woes for retailers as delivery firms struggle to cope with
Christmas parcels, causing chaos with online retailers including
Amazon, Marks & Spencer, Littlewoods and
Party Pieces. The Financial Times reports that delivery firms
have been “unprepared for the sharp rise in demand”
for online orders. According to the article, disgruntled
customers have started a petition calling on Amazon to stop using
Yodel for its deliveries due to late-running and missed
deliveries.
Embattled retail chain Blacks Leisure is likely
to fall into administration as no buyer has come forward for the
business. The retailer put itself up for sale earlier this month.
The Guardian writes that Blacks “signalled
a so-called pre-pack deal was on the cards” and warned that
shareholders “will be left with nothing”.
Christopher Bee, the managing director of Jersey postal operator
HubEurope, has made the pages of the Guardian today by launching an electronic
petition on the UK government’s website to challenge the decision
to scrap LVCR from April 2012.
A ban on credit-card surcharges is to come into force in 2012,
two years earlier than proposed, writes the Telegraph. The law will force retailers and
other operators from charging consumers excessive amounts to
process a payment by credit card. The move is part of amendments
to the EU Consumer Rights Directive and is backed by consumer
organisation Which? which issued a “super complaint”
to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
Share