Frequently Asked Questions

What Are Your Opening Hours?

Our office is open from Monday to Thursday 09:00 to 17:00, and Friday 09:00 to 16:30, excluding Bank Holidays. 

How Can I Pay?

Our website provides an easy checkout system allowing you to pay by most major credit and debit cards 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. Creating an account allows us to capture the information necessary to process your order, such as address, contact number and email details. During normal business hours, you can also pay by card over the phone. Simply call 01787 466877 and our friendly and helpful staff will process your order with your card details. We accept all major credit and debit cards, PayPal and ApplePay via our website. 

For high value orders of equipment (and by agreement with us), we can accept payment by BACS (bank transfer). This allows large organisations to process their order without a payment card. Payments should be made to: Sort Code 40-18-51 Account 41268376 Account Name - A1 Coffee Ltd. International payments can be made to IBAN – GB27MIDL40185141268376 or SWIFT – MIDLGB22. Please only make payments after your order has been agreed with us. 

Please note that high value orders may sometimes need to be delivered to the registered card address rather than another address you have specified. If this differs from the delivery address required, please call us to discuss first. This is done to help reduce the risk of fraud, protecting both us and our customers and helping to keep our prices low as a result.


Where Do You Deliver?

All of our deliveries are made by courier. The shopping cart on this website can process orders for delivery to the UK.

The rates for deliveries to Scotland are based on postcodes as we use a national courier for all deliveries (the map above is only approximate). You will be asked to confirm your postcode at the checkout. All Scottish postcodes are classed as lowlands by our couriers except the following: AB37-38, AB40-56, FK19-21, HS1-9, KA26-28, KW15-17, IV1-37, IV40-56, IV63, PA20-49, PA60-78, PH15-50, ZE1-3. These are charged at the 'Highlands & Islands' rate detailed below.

We can sometimes deliver to customers on our own vans if they are on an existing route in our local area. If you are a business placing an order near Sudbury, Colchester, Ipswich or Clacton, it may be possible for us to deliver you goods ourselves, in which case we could also offer cash on collection as a method of payment. However, please check with us first as there are different routes operated daily. 


Can You Send Me Coffee Samples?

Whilst we pride ourselves on customer service, this means we also provide the best possible prices to our customers. 

We don’t provide samples of our products as we usually receive goods from manufacturers in sealed boxes, and therefore ship them out in sealed boxes. However, we also offer many of our products in the smallest unit size possible (eg, coffee beans in 1kg bags, disposable cups in packs of 100, etc), allowing you to purchase a small quantity of a range of products to evaluate or compare, without having to commit to a large quantity. We also have no minimum order value.

In our experience, companies who freely give away samples often have higher product prices as a result. We also try to stock household name brands where possible so that our customers are already familiar with most items before they purchase. We are also happy to provide further detailed information about any given product on request, and we endeavour to include all useful information about our product range on the relevant product pages of our website. 


When Will I Get My Goods?

If an order is received before around 3pm, it will usually be delivered the following business day by courier before 4pm where the delivery address is in England, Wales or the Scottish Lowlands.

For the Scottish Highlands & Islands, please add between two and five business days to the above.

Please also bear in mind that we are coffee distributors and not couriers. We pride ourselves on our service, and while that means that we despatch within 24 hours on a next business day service, the deliveries themselves are obviously outside of our control and are subject to variations in weather conditions, localised traffic issues or other factors that could disrupt the service they provide to you. We're therefore not responsible for any such delay or consequential loss, but we will of course track your order and do everything in our power to both keep you informed and liaise with the courier to help get your consignment delivered on time. We do work closely with our courier partners to ensure the best possible is given to our customers, and we provide them with feedback if we feel any improvements need to be made.

We use a national courier service for our deliveries, and therefore deliveries are not made on Saturday or Sundays. All deliveries require a signature, so please ensure the delivery address is one where a delivery can be accepted. We are unable to leave goods outside unattended premises. If you have a query concerning your order, please do not hesitate to contact us. For further information, please refer to our delivery information page.

 

 

What are the BBE dates on your milk products?

All of our milk products will have a minimum of 30 days before the BBE date at the point of dispatch. Milk products will naturally have a shorter shelf life than some other products, however, please note that the dates on these products is a BBE (best before) rather than a use-by date. BBE dates are about quality and not safety. After the best before date listed on a product, it will be safe to consume but may not be at its best. Best before dates appear on a wide range of foods and should not be confused with a use-by or expiry date, which appears more on fresh foods and perishables.

If you need to know the BBE date on a product before ordering, email help@a1coffee.co.uk and we will be happy to check the current stock for you.

 

Why Shop With A1 Coffee?

  • Easy and secure online ordering
  • Fast and dependable delivery service
  • Place your orders online or by phone
  • Low prices
  • Massive range of products
  • Authorised suppliers of many top brands
  • Established over 20 years

 

Website Product Images

Please note that products and their packaging may vary slightly from the images on this website. Images of products and their packaging on this website are for illustrative purposes only.