Dear Editor,
I am a regular customer at the Bounty Supermarket branch on Regent Street. For the past few months I have noted a degradation in the parking service offered to customers. What used to be a pleasurable service a year or so ago has now become an act of trial and tribulation which often ends in failure in getting a park spot and a nightmare to turn around in very busy traffic.
A once spacious parking lot is now cut in half. Customers were not even afforded an explanation for this act which is quite mysterious since the half now closed off is still empty. On Saturdays, there is rarely any parking space for customers. With so many customers in need of parking and so few parking slots, there is often a confrontation between the hassled parking attendants and the customers. This has resulted in these attendants oftentimes locking the bar and leaving drivers, who turned into the park, stranded and left with the arduous task of reversing into the bustling traffic. At other times the attendants become downright rude and many times walk away leaving a customer very frustrated. To add further insult to injury, a legitimate customer is denied entry to the parking lot while freight trucks are seen openly offloading their cargo in the park and shuttling into the nearby Bourda Market.
The final straw happened last Saturday, May 29th, when in the midst of the busiest shopping day of the week, the management of Bounty Supermarket saw it fit to decide that that was the day they were going to backfill the parking lot. So there were us jubilant customers turning into a fairly empty parking only to be told that we were not allowed to enter the park since there was a backfilling exercise going to be undertaken. Really Bounty Management? On a Saturday, the busiest shopping day of the week? Could you not find another day to do this backfill?
In hindsight, the action of Bounty Supermarket last Saturday was simply the culmination of actions in the recent past which showed how disconnected management is with the satisfaction of their customers.
Hopefully, if Bounty Supermarket does have the welfare of its customers at heart, they will have a review of the parking service they offer to their customers. Here are a few issues customers face when they try to access the parking lot:-
1) The entrance into the parking lot is off of a very busy road. Taking this into consideration, a customer who has turned into the lot should never be forced to reverse into that busy traffic. It is wrong by law and exposes the customer to risk of an accident.
2) The parking attendants can do a better job of parking the cars to maximise parking space.
3) Saturday is the busiest shopping day. Cargo trucks with goods for Bourda market should not be allowed to park in the lot on this day.
Looking forward to improved customer service.
Yours faithfully,
M. Abraham
