Problem with Hermes Delivery Services

kittieme0w · 25 April 2009 at 2:01PM

Okay long story so sorry if you fall asleep reading this!

on April 8th, my grandmother ordered a nintendo wii and the wii fit game with balance board from Grattan catalogue. Was told it would be here by the 10th.
5 days later, nothing arrives, so we phone the catalogue and ask why it isn't here yet. They look into it and say that both items are coming directly from the supplier so they will have to contact the delivery company and see how much longer it is going to be before it arrives.
Woman at catalogue gets back to us and informs us that the parcel is missing and they have no idea what has happened to it, but they would re order the items which should be with us by the 24th at the very latest. We say okay fair enough, but inform her that there will be no one home on the morning of the 23rd so she says okay will put a note on the system so they know not to deliver on that morning.
Come home Thursday 23rd at lunchtime - lo and behold - a calling card been pushed through the door. All it says is Hermes and theres a mobile number scrawled across it.
Phoned the mobile number straight away incase the delivery truck is still in the area and can redeliver it the same day, but the girl on the phone just mumbles itll be with u tomorrow not in area.
/the next day (24th) wait in all day, nothing comes so phone the mobile number on the calling card again and ask where is my parcel? First of all she mumbles that she gave it to another delivery girl who delivers to my area, then she flat out denies that she ever tried to deliver it in the first place!!!! I say to her "so the calling card just appeared on it's own by magic did it?" and she goes oh whatever and hung up on me.
So then we proceed to phone the catalogue, and they put us on hold for an hour whilst the phone through to the delivery company. When catalogue adviser finally gets back to me, they say that the depot is saying that when an item cannot be redelivered; it is put into a special numbered cage at the depot so that they know where it is when it is time for it to get redelivered. They have checked all of the cages that it could have possibly been in and it is nowhere to be seen. Next they check the weekend delivery trucks and nothing there either. they then contact the girl on the mobile no from the calling card and she flat out denies ever even trying to deliver stuff in the first place and calls us liars. So now they have launched an investigation seeing as how its the second one to go missing.
It all sounds very very fishy to me!?!
catalogue have ordered the items for the third time now and they should be with us a wk on monday. If they ever actually get here.
I have one very upset wii-less little boy in my house now. :mad:
Tried again today to contact the delivery company, catalogue had asked for us to phone again today and let them know if we had recieved parcel or not. I tell them I have not, they put a note onto the file again. I ask them for a phone number for the delivery company and they say they havent got one. So I try 118 and they give me a load of numbers that don't even work, Tried google and found a website but no phone number on there.

Grattan have given my grandmother £10 compensation but it's not good enough really. I know it;s the delivery company's fault though and not Grattan themselves, so was wondering how I would go about claiming against them and putting in a complaint. Also, does anyone have a number for Hermes???? I want to contact them directly to see if I can get a bit more luck with them and maybe sort this huge mess out. I would be really greatful if somone could give me some advice please!!!!
Thanks in advance

weegie.geek · 25 April 2009 at 2:44PM

You're Grattan's customer. Grattan are the courier's customer. You don't need any contact with the courier other than to sign for the goods and accept them.

The responsibility is for Grattan to get the good to you, and to chase up the courier if the goods don't get delivered.

Don't bother phoning Hermes, get back onto Grattan and demand that the items be delivered. Clearly there's something dodgy going on at the local Hermes depot, so they might want to send it out using a different courier, or just refund you and let you buy it elsewhere.

kittieme0w · 25 April 2009 at 10:33PM

thanks.
I have kept on at Grattan, been phoning them each day to try and find out if any progress has been made. They keep saying that it is the depot's fault hence why Grattan themselves gave £10 compensation - the woman we spoke to at Grattan said that she thought we would have gotten more, but her manager said no that was all because the fault is infact with the courier company and not them and because eventhough the order was place via Grattan, those good in particular come directly from the supplier who use Hermes.
I got quite confused as keep being told different things!
Oh well will give it until next Friday and if my items haven't turned up; I shall go elsewhere - as you can imagine we're pretty cheesed off with it all by now!!!!
Fingers crossed eh

Thanks again for the advice hun

hislan · 27 April 2009 at 1:03PM

Here's what happens with delivery of Wii's from Grattan:
1. Grattan buys them from Nintendo
2. Grattan stores them in secure 'cages' in the warehouse (to stop 'sticky fingered' personnel making them disappear
3. Grattan employs Hermes (formerly known as Parcelnet - try googling their contact details) to deliver them to the customer
4. Hermes takes the Wii from the warehouse to a local despatch depot - then a local Hermes courier collects the item from the depot to deliver to the customer. The number you had on your card through the door was the mobile number of the local courier.
5. If the courier can't deliver they will (in the case of high-value items like a Wii) return it to a secure holding area (probably in their local depot) to then collect and redeliver on another occasion (for lower value items they probably hold onto them overnight)

It sounds like it's Hermes 'fault' for the non-delivery but Grattan are giving you a 'good faith' compensation while they work out what happened!

It also sounds like the wii has either innocently gone awol, or you may have a 'dodgy' Hermes delivery person???? It may be possible to talk to Grattan Customer services and ask them if they have any other Hermes couriers your area (to have delivery made by them?)

I would continue to talk to Grattan only, as your contract is with them and they have the facility to folow through enquiries with Hermes!

Good luck!

auntybel · 29 April 2009 at 10:23PM

For an item of this value a signature would have been needed the courier would not have been able to leave it without one. If it has gone missing Grattan would have spoken to Hermes and they will be very aware of the situation and they will know at exactly which point in the delivery prosess it disappeared (that is why parcels have barcodes on). Unfortunatley there are dishonest people in this world and when the culprit is found the company will deal with them as they see fit. keep talking to Grattan and even asking them to deliver using a different courier service maybe an idea in this case.

haughmillkennels · 26 June 2009 at 11:54AM

after a bit of detective work I got hold of a number for Hermes customer services.
I had to register with them, as if I wanted to use their services!
Then I went to contact and it has the elusive contact number

HERE IT IS:

0871 246 1583

The girl I got was really helpful and I only had to wait about 10 seconds to speak to a human.
You do need your tracking number, which you will get from the original purchase company.
Hope this helps people

hayley11 · 26 June 2009 at 12:13PM

All i'd say is keep on at Gratton, your contract is with them so they are responsible for getting it sorted for you. Next time they say it's the couriers fault, not theirs, tell them you don't care, your contract isn't with the courier.

It does sound a bit dodgy to me, two wii's going missing at the same depot...hmm.

When you do get the wii, I would make an official complaint in writing to Gratton and complain about the service you received from Hermes, put the girls mobile number down so they know who you are talking about, her attitute is disgraceful.

Good luck, hope it gets delivered soon

Halloway · 26 June 2009 at 12:50PM

Well you know Hermes was the Winged Messenger. He may simply have found the Wiis too heavy to carry.

FrFrancis · 29 July 2009 at 12:00PM

If you want a hit and miss affair go Hermes if not play safe and go elsewhere. I am awaiting a claims form from them for compo.:money: Wish you well Fr Francis

BillTrac · 29 July 2009 at 10:58PM

I ordered a handbag for the OH last week.

Received an email with a link to the tracking of the ppurchase.

Orderd Monday - Hermes delivered 0730 Thursday, so not completely bad

FrAnthony · 4 August 2009 at 9:41AM

We were asked to deliver a cassock for a ceremony of bells in a lovely Village in Devon. We took it to the Post Office who advised £16.50 for just over a kilo. So we decided on a Courier Service. Our Choice of Hermes was where our worst nightmare began. All packed up and ready agent arrived rude, unshaven with child in the van . The type that bangs on the door and rings the bell at the same time "Oh No I can,t take that you need special labels". No one told him that his insurance on the van was invalid on carrying a passenger. Hermes promised his wife would arrive next day by 2 PM by 4 PM he arrived back. I took his registration number which did not please him. Hermes had by now changed the address to a different town .village ,area. Finally package arrived 2nd of August. Ordered on the 21 of July. Promised 3 to 5 days. No apology ,No Phone call. The folk in Devon were magic about it Great British Spirit but Hermes once is enough for my dicky ticker with your company. Fr Anthony

Problem with Hermes Delivery Services

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