Smiths News Reviews 

Avoid them at all costs, if there's any other newspaper and magazine suppliers go for it. Even if the prices are more. They are THE worse company in the UK, the staff are rude and undertrained. They leach of small businesses like us by charging for magazines and papers and not sending them and then you are left chasing them for weeks to get your money back.

ALL of their staff are uneducated (apart from the drivers) and I mean this on a serious level. And to think their customer services couldn't get worse. They moved it to India! Where the staff are even more clueless and have the same I not give a f*** mentality as their staff in the UK, the only thing that's consistent with Smith News! Charged me for £300 delivery during the pandemic even though I was closed and had informed them way in advance. This was in April and I am still chasing them to get my money back. All their "managers" are again undertrained and have no real skill. They are full of fake promises like Shreeram, Arthur and Rohit. They can't even call the customer back. Every single staff member, and I mean this has a I don't give a F*** attitude they are not bothered about your problems, they don't want to resolve any issues. For example, when they charged me for delivery during the pandemic and I can hear the "advisor" Sonali relaxing in the park chatting and talking to her friends. Just yesterday when I was on the phone to Shreeram whilst I was complaining to him about the delivery charges during the pandemic and why nothing is being done, I can hear him sending and receiving messages on what's app and he is meant to be a MANAGER!!!

Any issues I have from here on I will be posting each issue on here along with the "customer service" advisors name to document how terrible this company is. Something needs to be done now, I've sent too many complaints and nothing is being done. LITERALLY!

Mr. Charotar

P.S. The drivers are TOP CLASS people no issues with them whatsoever.

Terrible. Probably one of the worst companies to work with - every single day they send far less papers than the delivery note. This is then charged and you need to go through a process to claim it back. The number of errors is, in my opinion, showing a fraudulent operation rather than pure negligence. AWFUL. Avoid.

what a W@nker of a company worst company that i have ever dealt with. I run a busy shop. since taking over the business the problems and troubles haven't ended with smiths news. they cant get anything correct. But that not the worst of things they have a complete monopoly over the newspaper supply chain and there isn't any other company who does deliveries to retailers and the government isn't doing anything about it.

For a company that provides newspapers to a variety of clients they really have their heads up their arses. Mags and newspapers are missing from the order every week WITHOUT FAIL and don't even think about trying to call them up to resolve it. Because in the best scenario they will offer to send them tomorrow and then refund you once *you* have corrected them to say funnily enough you can't sell a Saturday paper on a Sunday. In some scenarios they will literally blame you for not putting in the claim the night before even though you obviously can't put in a claim for a paper that arrives on the same day. They will also berate you about claims for other days and separate issues instead of resolving the situation you called in for in the first place. It's clear they need a complete restructuring of supply and/or telesales staff.

We are a new busines which is tough, even tougher when there is a pandemic and impossible when trying to do business with complete (inappropriate words) like Smith's. They are refusing to contact us, now looking for another supplier. We have lost so many customers because of their total incompetence. I would advise ANYONE to avoid doing business with them.

One of the worst providers for newspapers and magazines supply. They have no respect for the retailers. Some days they supply and some days they don't supply but they charge you and rip you off. They take advantage of monopoly in the market. They only support big chains like Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury. And make sure small retailers go bankrupt because of their irresponsible actions.
You never get in touch with your local depot only call centre who don't have any information.

Avoid at all cost... if you want bad customer service when you do have a problem. One of there drivers backed into my canopy over the door (snapped) none repairable! while delivering premier shop papers and drove off. looked backed at cctv. Contact their customer service team..... terrible, dont listen, repeating, dont know if they can do anything as am not a paying customer/ and i dont have a member number. Clearly we know whos at fault. Even the premier shop contact there customer service team, telling them about what happen. Wasnt bother we need to contact the depot and give you a call back Blah blah blah its GETTING NO WHERE!!

Absolute joke of a company. As a small shop we are continually out of pocket due to them losing our paper returns.
They have the monopoly in the newspaper market. The call centre staff are rude and unhelpful including the care line. We are now reducing the papers we sell due to lost returns.

Absolute joke of a company.. they have the monopoly in this market and they take advantage of it by given the worst possible customer service, always giving you random bits that you dont need and charge you for it.
Stay away from this company do not deal wih them!!!!! Shame on smiths news

I would have given no stars if I could. The deliverys are mostly on time but the biggest issue is the amount of papers missing and this is everyday. You can try n call there call centre mainly takes twenty mins of waiting on hold and then most staff are ok but if you get someone in Newcastle they are rude and have no answers for anything really abrupt and short. You can call up to cancel items that are unwanted but you will still receive them. You can request a call back but it never happens.so all in all a pointless operation.

Writing 2 reviews on this company as I find the stafff absolutely amazing at 9304 Gateshead. The service is truly amazing from every member of staff they can’t do enough for you. All your needs are dealt with and a personal touch is always given. A joy to call as I know my concern will be resolved. Thank you All.

No stars here please note
My second review I’ll post on SMITH NEWS HEAD OFFICE MANAGEMENT !!! And HEAD OFFICE CREDIT CONTROL MANAGER WHO you can never speak to but her poor staff have to relate her feedback to customers. I took after my brother business has he was going through chemo treatment for stage 4 cancer nothing was changing in the business the same name same accountant and same newspaper company that we have been with smith News since 1991!!!!!!
Due to bank details my name on account I was told that I would have to pay Smith news £1300 as I was NEW CUSTOMER WITH NO TRADING HISTORY????!!!!
Trading with you since 1991. Same accountant. Same business name nothing as changed on the free hold property but account name and account details ???
Please be warned any changes you are classed a new customer not sure how and £1300 is a joke !!! The accounts of trading are available since 1978 when my dad brought the business! Dealing the head office management is impossible.

Absolute joke of a company and they're wondering why newspaper sales are going down. Constant late deliveries all of a suden, not had credits for something for 2 weeks even after phoning them 3 times. This is a company that needs to be investigated by trading standards at the highest level. They are absolute filth and i want to work towards stopping selling papers in my shop as its not right a company like this can make a profit from all us hardworking shop keepers.

Don’t mind a couple of late deliveries over a year but having the papers late 90% of the time since January 2018 is beyond a joke now.
Theirs a newsagaent literally 30 seconds down the road who some how get their papers on time through smiths.
Maybe I should change my name to Dave and see if they put me on the same delivery van as down the road.

The deliveries from Smiths News used to be fairly reliable, with occasional hiccups. Over the years, the delivery time has steadily slipped, so not it is about 20-30 minutes later than a couple of years ago.
A couple of weeks ago, the deliveries were late. After a couple of days, I contacted Smiths News who asked for lots of details, which I provided, and then went silent, when I was asking when could the deliveries be expected, when would service be returned to normal, and what was the problem (so I could empathise).
So I escalated this to the MD, Jon Bunting. I received an apology for the unprofessionalism and promised me he would get back to me. A week later, and a couple more emails as prompting, and there is no response.
The failures of Smiths News have incurred me with a great deal of inconvenience; as I have had to make up to 3 trips out to find a newspaper; and costs - driving many miles to find a newsagent not supplied by Smiths News.
Yet another company I see delivering newspapers clearly has their papers unaffected, yet not even the MD seems to know what is going on in his company.
One to avoid if you can, and your papers from a different wholesaler.