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Waterstone's has stopped taking prepayments for customer orders in stores supplied by its new distribution facility, the "hub". Staff were told to stop taking any payments from 11th June because delivery dates on the books could not be guaranteed. Waterstone's said the decision had been made to help provide "the best in customer service".
An email, seen by The Bookseller, sent on 10th June to managers of those branches supplied by the hub stated: "As you will be aware, the ongoing issues at the hub are adversely affecting the delivery time of customer orders. Therefore, as a result of your feedback, we have decided to stop taking prepayments for all customer orders from Thursday 11th June until these issues are resolved."
The email continued: "When taking an order, please inform the customer that due to the extended delivery time a prepayment is not required. Please assure them that we are doing everything we can to resolve the issues and we have made this decision to prevent further customer dissatisfaction."
A Waterstone's spokesperson said: "To ensure that we provide the best in customer service, Waterstone's has temporarily stopped taking prepayments for customer orders." The retailer declined to comment further.
Originally mooted for launch in the first quarter of 2008, the implementation of the hub has been subject to a series of delays, with Waterstone's m.d. Gerry Johnson saying that he wanted to "de-risk" the move. In April, Johnson admitted that there had been problems with the hub, but added that these had been "successfully identified and fixed". In May, the retailer said that the new hub, a 150,000 sq ft site based at Burton upon Trent, would be fully operational in June. It has been increasing the number of stores supplied by the hub in recent weeks.
Waterstone's has been stung before when it has tried to change its supply chain. In the past, it had a fraught spell using W H Smith's Swindon warehouse and a partnership with Bertrams to scale out Christmas stock ended badly. Publishers' reactions to the hub's implementation have generally been favourable, with the proviso that it needs to work properly. Three hundred full-time staff will ultimately be hired by Unipart, the company contracted by Waterstone's to run the hub.