3,400 Customer Calls. 91% Resolved Instantly. How Thrumble AI Scaled Hartwell's Support Without Scaling the Team.
Hartwell and Sons Fine Foods used Thrumble AI to automate order inquiry calls, resolving 3,400 monthly contacts with 91% first-call resolution and saving £145K per year.
The challenge: 15-minute hold times at Christmas, showing up in Trustpilot reviews
Hartwell and Sons is a premium online food retailer based in Somerset, shipping artisan products across the UK. Their customer support team of three handled everything: order tracking, delivery issues, substitution queries, gift order amendments, and returns.
With 3,400+ calls per month and seasonal spikes around Christmas, Easter, and Valentine's Day that pushed volume up by 80%, the team was permanently stretched. Average hold times during peak periods exceeded 15 minutes. Customer complaints about phone access were showing up in Trustpilot reviews, directly impacting the brand's reputation.
Hiring seasonal temp staff was an option, but it took 3 weeks to train someone on Hartwell's product range, gifting options, and delivery network. By the time temps were useful, the peak was often over.
The solution: A warm Southern English voice that matches the Hartwell brand
Thrumble AI handles all front-line customer support calls. The AI answers in a warm, professional Southern English accent that matches Hartwell's premium brand positioning.
The AI resolves: order tracking and delivery status updates, substitution confirmations, delivery date amendments, gift message changes, and return/refund initiation.
For complex complaints or quality issues, the AI captures the details, logs a structured case, and transfers the caller to a team member with the full context already documented.
The results: The numbers speak for themselves
3,400 customer calls handled per month across all inquiry types.
91% resolved autonomously on the first call.
Average call duration: 1 minute 25 seconds, down from 5 minutes 40 seconds with human agents.
Zero hold times, even during the Christmas peak when call volume increased by 82%.
Trustpilot rating improved from 4.1 to 4.6 within 6 months, with multiple reviews specifically praising phone support.
The commercial impact: £145K saved. Repeat purchase rate up 15%.
£145,000 per year in support staffing costs saved, including the elimination of seasonal temp hiring.
The improvement in customer experience has contributed to a 15% increase in repeat purchase rate, worth an estimated £420,000 in additional annual revenue.
Deployed in 4 weeks.
3,400 calls. 91% resolved. Christmas peak handled without a single temp hire.
