Neil and Anna Whitley have finally got an apology from Countdown head office after a Countdown delivery van driver keyed and dented their car, and hurled foul language at them.
The couple had driven to Countdown in Wainuiomata on Tuesday August 17th. They shop on Tuesdays to get the 5 per cent pensioner discount.
Not surprisingly, it’s a popular time of week to shop, so the disability car parks are often full. As for other disabled people, this causes real problems for Neil as he has considerable difficulty walking.
So when the couple saw the disability parks were all taken up on this particular Tuesday, they decided to park in a loading bay. Neil explains there are two loading bays and only one is ever in use, so while they knew theoretically this wasn’t allowed, they decided to try their luck, “all the oldies do it” Neil claims.
The couple went into the store as usual, but when they came out they were horrified to see someone had keyed all along the side of their car.
They were asking who’d done it when according to Neil a Countdown courier driver shouted in their direction “I f***ing did, you shouldn't park there”.
Anna replied that there was nowhere else for them to park and that she’d left him plenty of space. Neil says the man strode over to Anna and got up close to her face and shouted “why don’t you just f*** off you silly old bitch”.
Anna was shocked and made a dash to get inside the car as she was worried what he might do next. Neil wanted to take the matter into his own hands and tried to chase the driver but the driver hurried inside the store.
Neil went to find the store’s duty manager to complain. He described her as being “lovely and very apologetic”, she gave Neil a bunch of flowers for his wife and suggested he contact head office.
Neil left the store only to find the driver had struck again. While Anna was sitting in the car, he’d smashed a plastic crate down on the vehicle, leaving dents on the body work.
The couple drove home and received a call from the duty manager who told them the store’s CCTV confirmed the incident had taken place. She added that it wasn’t the first time the driver had been known to cause a disturbance.
Neil then rang the police to report the incident. They said they’d pursue the investigation. Neil also informed AA insurance about what happened. Like the police, they were very helpful.
But Neil says he had a far less satisfying experience with Countdown head office. Neil wanted to know what they were going to do regarding the driver as he and his wife were worried about returning to the store.
Head office staff said they’d get back to them, but Neil claims there was no contact for weeks and later he had just one call in which again they said they’d get back to him.
Countdown failed to do so. What’s more, Neil says they refused to give the CCTV footage or the driver’s name to the police. A police spokesperson confirmed they’d “exhausted all lines of inquiry based on evidence available to us, and did not take the matter further”.
So Neil and Anna contacted Fair Go. We made contact with Countdown, and the very next day, after almost two months of waiting, Countdown head office sent an email to the couple apologising and offering them $200 in vouchers.
A Countdown spokesperson explained to Fair Go that the parking problems were caused by the building of a new car park, and said that until the new car park was finished, anyone needing “an accessible park is welcome to give our team in store a quick call ahead of time and they'll make sure there’s an accessible car park ready and waiting”.
The spokesperson also added that the company had been working with the courier firm contracted by Countdown to ensure satisfactory action was taken. Fair Go spoke to the courier company and a company manager said the driver in question would no longer be working in that line of business.
Neil and Anna were glad to get the apology and felt safer knowing the driver would no longer be delivering at their local store. They still felt that Countdown should have helped them by providing the evidence to the Police and to their insurance company.
But at least they feel there’s been some accountability. They thanked Fair Go saying “it would never have happened without you”.
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