MSE News: Yodel again voted among the worst delivery firms, despite improvement

boo_star wrote: »

That's exactly what people are doing, Martin. They're "moneysaving" just like you tell them to.

You can't have it both ways. Either you pay a reasonable fee for delivery or you get a bargain and get a bargain basement delivery company.

So what are we supposed to be going for?

I guess for most of us it's a case of balancing cost against service.

Moneysaving, as preached by Martin, isn't about getting poor quality for a cheap price. It's about getting the same or the equivalent for a cheaper price.

I agree that often the cheapest will be cheapest because they've cut corners to cut the price. But that doesn't mean to say that a more expensive alternative won't have cut the same corners. I'd rather pay a lower price for a shoddy delivery company than a higher price for the same service!

You can't have it both ways. Either you pay a reasonable fee for delivery or you get a bargain and get a bargain basement delivery company.

I paid 7.95 per item X 6, a total of £47.70 hardly a bargain price for delivery of suitcases weighing just 2.4 kg each. Bulky items but not heavy items.

They have all been sent through Yodel. The retailer advised that they had been dispatched on 15th December. At first the tracking numbers rejected, so I contacted the retailer and obtained the correct tracking numbers for all six cases. and checked on a regular basis to track my deliveries. Yesterday morning it was showing as at Warrington Service Centre at 1.52. Realising that they would be out for delivery the same day, I cancelled my arrangements for the day to wait in for the cases. At 9.41 the parcels were showing out for delivery. Everything was on hold until these parcels arrived and then I would be able to nip out and get a bit of food shopping. My other arrangements could not be so easily re-arranged.
around 15.00, still no sign of the parcels, so frantically trying to find a geographical number to ring. the only numbers available are non-geographical, premium rate (virgin media) numbers. Eventually found a way round these numbers and spoke to Liverpool call centre who advised that they were out for delivery yesterday, which could be any time up to 21.00.
Explained that I had to leave the house for 5-10 mins and was worried that having waited all day they would try to deliver during the very short time that I was not in. I appreciated there was nothing they could do as Yodel, being so technologically advanced, have no means of communicating with their drivers. My neighbour normally takes in parcels if I am not there but they were not in either. I spoke to another neighbour and resolved the problem evetually by leaving a note on my door telling them where to leave the cases. I am reluctant to do this normally, as it is an advertisement that the house is empty.
When I returned they hadn't been. the neighbour said he had been keeping a look out for them too.
I just happened to look back on the Yodel tracking around 6pm and found that the parcels, all 6 of them had been returned to the delivery centre at 17.20. I was livid. If they deliver up until 21.00, why had they been returned at 17.20. I rang and spoke to Mike at Liverpool. His response was that they only deliver largere items like these during normal business hours and the driver must have been, 'out of time' or 'had a breakdown' and that they would try again tomorrow. I explained that I couldn't wait in for days on end, waiting for them to deliver, only to find out that they've taken them back to the depot. Mike said that they cannot specify a morning or afternoon and that it would be an all day delivery slot when they sent them out again. Given that I had already sat in waiting all day on 17th, I feel it is unreasonable to expect me to sit in all day again on 18th. I have paid £47.70 delivery charges and already lost a days liberty too. I explained that I hadn't been able to get out for food because I had been waiting for them delivering the cases. to which, he replied, "well the shops are still open!" How rude does that come across.
I asked to speak to a manager. Surprisingly, there was no-one available. Mike said he would arrange a call-back, usually within 4 hours, but currently up to 48 hours. I also took the name and address of the Chief Executive of Yodel as i am so annoyed.

This morning when I tried to track my parcels, this is what is record against them:

Description Location Date Time
Delivery tried, awaiting instruction Warrington service centre 17th Dec 2014 21:55
Scanned as part of secure process Warrington service centre 17th Dec 2014 19:41
Delivery not attempted Warrington service centre 17th Dec 2014 17:20
Parcel out for delivery Warrington service centre 17th Dec 2014 09:41
Parcel received at service centre Warrington service centre 17th Dec 2014 01:52
Despatched from service centre Hatfield terminal 16th Dec 2014 18:09
Parcel received at service centre Hatfield terminal 16th Dec 2014 18:06








Two extra entries have been logged against my parcels, presumably to cover up their incompetence, maybe even to avoid having to refund the delivery charges, or to cover up their incompetence when I write to !!!!!! Stead, as it now appears they 'supposedly' attempted delivery last night at 21.55, nearly four and a half hours after they were return to the depot AND after they had stopped deliveries for the day. Given that both myself and my husband were at home all night, we can categorically state that this did NOT happen and the records have been falsified.

I rang again this morning and spoke to Diane and expressed my disappointment, disbelief and anger at their actions. I have asked for the false entries to be removed. I won't hold my breath. i asked that they send them out today and, if I am not available, that they leave them with a neighbour. My daughter also advised me this morning that she is expecting another parcel, also being handled by Yodel. It is now 10.22 and my Yodel tracking is still showing, delivery tried, awaiting instructions. Looks like I won't be getting them today either unless my husband collects them from Warrington.

So angry!!!!!

11.00am 18th December, still showing awaiting instructions. Chased through customer services, Alexis unable to handle query as his system had crashed. Alexis transferred me to Denise at Liverpool, who advised that the parcels are out for delivery again today. She confirmed that no attempt was made to deliver them on 17th December as the driver was ‘ran out of time.’ So volunteering to collect them is out of the question too. Sat in, waiting again!

APC are the worst.

They say they try to deliver when they don't, they say they leave cards when they don't, you arrange delivery with them and they don't turn up, you speak to customer escalations who ensure you they have contacted the local depot who will contact you shortly, who don't.

Hopeless.

Yodel in my area are awful but they have a local company who do some of their deliveries and are really good and helpful.