legalbeagle

TarahC - we would love a cat but my husband is very allergic. Are there any types of cat that cause less allergies or are we doomed?!

Don't worry Annaj, I never tell off our staff who are on the whole hard working and loyal! We just feedback all comments, good and bad, to the staff as a group, and we discuss how to deal with whatever has come up. Luckily we always have lots of positives to tell them as well as points to work on. Glad to hear you will give us another go, and please do tell me how it goes.

Annaj - I am so sorry to hear that this is your experience of G&B. One of the hardest things about running a small business is that no matter how fabulous your products or brilliant your concept, you are only ever as good as your worst member of staff. I will raise this incident with the management and staff at our next meeting, as it does infuriate me to hear that customers are left feeling like this about the shop. Perhaps the member of staff was having a bad day, but if he's after your hard earned cash, that is just no excuse. We do spend a lot of time training our staff, and I would like to think that if you came into the shop again you would be able to have a sensible and informative discussion that enabled you to buy something you like at a price you are happy with. Please do give us another try. When you go in, take as much time as you want looking around, and if you want help with chosing wine then do ask, and do mention your budget. I know we have expensive wines in the shop but we also have in excess of 20 bottles for ?10 or under, so you should be able to find a good range to suit all budgets and taste. If you don't have a good experience please get in touch with me straight away and I will personally take you to the shop and ensure that you come away happy. If we can't get that right then we don't deserve your support!

TM I know what you mean only too well. But you've got to have a dream to have a dream come true!

Thanks Ted Max - maybe I can tempt you to try one of the less expensive bottles? We love them just as much and they are very popular at the moment. (We also have some very delicious cider in at the mo for those who are interested - you get lots more drink for your money and its really refreshing it hot weather!)

Ted Max - I think you may be teasing me, but just to be clear, only the name of the wine and the price will go on the fridge door. ;-)

Keef - I looked into the pricing issue on the fridges. We can't put the price labels in the fridges as the ones we use go soggy and fall off! We are currently getting some new fridges and reorganisng them and when that's done we will be writing prices on the glass on the fridge door. I hope that makes the pricing clearer and that you'll be tempted to come back in soon!

Jeremy - I would agree that we are probably perceived as being high end, but we do have some delicious wines at the price you have mentioned, and perhaps they will be something a bit different for you to try? We are also trying to improve that range especially given the current economic climate. (Now all we need is for the chancellor to stop increasing tax on wine and allowing supermarkets to use alcohol as a loss leader........but perhaps that's a discussion for another time!)

Hush Little Baby - unknown

Mick mac - I'm sorry we haven't won you over, but your comments are thought provoking and I'm sure we can improve. If you are a fan of french wine then we do have some lovely bottles, but it sounds like I have to concede defeat with you, even though i hate to do so. Nylonmeals - we are working on our window and blackboard displays so hopefully promotions will be clearer. As ever the Forum is an invaluable source of feedback for us so thank you all for your input. If anyone has any specific comments/complaints/queries in the future you can always PM me.

One other point - Keef you might well be right, the wine in the fridge might not have price tags. That is because the wine is also on the shelves, but we chill a few bottles in case people want to take them home cold. But of course if you haven't noticed they are on the shelves and went straight to the fridge for something chilled you wouldn't know that. Apologies for that, and I'll look into whether or not the fridges are priced and if not what we can do about it.

Thanks for the feedback, i'll try to answer all of the points: We do have price labels but maybe they weren't as prominent in the past as they are now. I hope that they are now clear and if not, let me know! We have set the shop out in the hope that it is easy to find something you like whether or not you know lots about wine. The shop is divided into sections called things like "spicy" and "fruity". The idea is that all you need to do is think about the kind of flavours you like and then go to that section, without worrying about whether or not you have heard of the producer. If you don't know what flavours you like, or want a recommendation to go with food or a party or whatever then please do ask the staff, and please do mention your budget. The most common request we get is for wine that is within a particular budget. We have no time for snobbery, and anyone who makes you feel like you can't set yourself a limit in what you want to spend doesn't deserve your hard earned cash. We do have wine below ?10, but we don't usually have wine below ?5. That is purely because we deal with very small producers, and it isn't cost effective for them to export their wines, which they make in very small quantities, at that price point. We do try to be competitive and our margins are lower than many other wine retailers we know, but it is very difficult for us to make money on these types of wines much below ?6-7. What we do believe is that the wines we stock are good value for money. We have been offered a number of truly delicious wines for the shop that we have turned down because although we love them, we can't honestly say they are worth the price being asked. For wines that are very expensive, we make very little margin at all. Inevitably we don't have the buying power of other big name off licences, but we do try to offer different discounts and special offers where we can. If anyone who has previously avoided us is tempted to come in this weekend and isn't happy with the service or doesn't like the wine, then please let me know. We are always looking for ways to improve. Thanks for all the feedback!

Bob - I was once told by a vet that cats bring dead things back to the house because they are providing food for their family. The theory then goes that if you feed the cat at the same time that the family is eating, so that the cat sees its family has had food, it is less likely to feel the need to bring stuff back for them to eat. I have never tested this theory, and frankly it sounds a bit psycho-babble to me, but that's what I was told!

There's no arguing with that!

Thanks Lenk - I think we do sometimes confuse people because its not that common to find a cafe that does takeaway alcohol, more often it's one or the other. Perhaps we can make our "off licence" part more obvious on the blackboards outside?

For those of you who have mentioned Nicholas as a place to buy something special, I would be interested to hear why you prefer them to Green & Blue. I ask only because it is always interesting to get feedback to see what we can do to improve our service. I am certainly not knocking Nicholas, who do a great job, but was more wondering just out of interest - we may well learn something that helps us run a better shop! I'm not asking the same question of Bossman just because we don't really try and compete with them as they do more beer etc than we can. Any thoughts or comments gratefully received though if this takes the subject off topic i don't want to make Admin cross, so feel free to PM me if necessary!

Great shame - commentator do you know them? If so it is worth passing on to them that business rates and very frequently incorrectly applied in this borough, and they can appeal to have them reviewed. If the rates are reduced they will also receive a lump sum to cover any previous overpayment. It does take a very long time though - which they may not have.

Mrs Murray is well up for it!

Sooooo lucky with the net

Double fault!!

Uh Oh......

I saw the snatcher running away from the post office, turning left at Barclays Bank. I didn't hear or see any violence, so I think it might just have been a snatch and run. I wasn't in the post office, so I don't know for sure, but when the two police cars turned up a few minutes later they didn't call an ambulance.

Also, whereabouts on Court Lane? It is very long. If you want to be near the village and the schools (sounds like you do) then some bits of Court Lane would be quite a walk away.

It is an offence to leave the scene of an accident without swapping insurance details. One tactic could be to call the company back, tell them that they must know where their drivers are and so must be able to identify this driver. Plus the van will have paint from your car on it and so will be easy to identify. Tell them that you are giving them the option of sorting this out in a civilised way so that insurance companies can pay up, otherwise you'll call the police and report their driver, who has committed a criminal offence, as will the company if they lie to the police and pretend they aren't able to identify who it was.

Pork