Approved food general discussion part deux

jaytin

My last order took 5 days from ordering to delivery, but there is no despatch e-mail with the alternate courier so it can be tricky to track parcels at all. Also sometimes if parcels are damaged they are returned to the AF warehouse for repacking, so maybe try e-mailing, although I do agree that you don't always get a fast reply.

pinkprincedss1980

We placed an order on Friday using the alternative courier so are hoping it arrives Weds or Thurs due to the bank holiday weekend. Last time we ordered with the alternative courier it didn't take that long to arrive but I can't remember now whether we had a weekend in the way or not or if that was the DHL parcel as we had 2 orders arrive within a couple of days of each other lol!!!!
Hope everyones havin a nice weekend xxxx

jonboy31

I finally got round to doing an order last week.

It arrived today with "packed by DHL" tape all over it.
Looks like DHL are still playing football with their customers parcels, the glass bottles have been smashed so there is glass and sticky syrup everywhere. It's a shame as the bottles were actually packed quite well with bubble wrap around them. I've send approved food an email and am waiting to see what the outcome will be


John

Edit. They will send me out another order. They replied quickly to my email. Good customer service.

hanstar

it must be annoying for approved foods that they are putting the extra effort into packing all the items so well but dhl are just throwing the boxes round. we had an order arrive last week that looked excellently packed but one end of the box was crushed resulting in badly dented unopenable tins and custard powder everywhere. i emailed af just to let them know and they gave me a refund for the items that were damaged. i know it wasnt their fault and i wasnt after a refund just thought i should let them know what dhl are up to with the boxes.

tired_mum

Dont know if its just me but i am still waiting for my order from the 24th AF managed to get the courier to call me and they said it would be here today by noon guess what no parcel am really getting cross now:mad: have left a message at AF so will wait to hear

Mistymaid

You must be getting really fed up by now. I know I actually felt sorry for A/F when my package went AWOL the other week because DHL were be no help to me and little or no better help to AF.

There was a bit of a funny ending to mine though:
It actually turned up on Saturday - now I'm not quite sure when because I don't have things delivered to the house, they just leave them in the trailer at the bottom of the field.
So I email AF to say, 'all sorted.'
About an hour later I got a phone call from the local haulier to apologise for still not being able to find my package ...???
Now since he's the only haulier here I'm slightly confused because I thought he'd brought it ... apparently not.
So my box of stuffs had been AWOL for 5 days and nobody has a clue where its been or how it got to my place ...

Hope you get yours sorted soon Tiredmum - these things can get pretty stressful.

tired_mum

I have to say Rachel at AF has been trying to sort this out its not their fault but the courier it just means that i have to buy stuff that was in my order at higher cost or i keep saying to the kids no we cant have that its on its way with my delivery:mad:

jaytin

Maybe AF should look for a different carrier if DHL is a problem for people. Personally I haven't had any problems with DHL or the alternate courier, all my parcels arrived safely although the packing wasn't always 100% sensible! (Heavy items on top of light ones!)
Would people rather pay more to a different carrier in the hope that parcels are taken better care of? I don't know if a different carrier would make that much difference, especially if parcels are going a very long way and take a few days.
Also it might help to bear in mind that no matter how well the box is packed, if the box itself has other boxes stacked on top of it and it has soft/light items at the top they will definitely get crushed. DHL must handle thousdands of parcels every day and a large quantity from AF, the chances of any given parcel NOT having other items stacked on it is pretty slim.
Stronger boxes would be an option but that is pointless if the top of the box is then cut and folded over to make it smaller, which often happens, as you will have lost some of the strength of the sides.
I would assume that DHL have no idea what is in the boxes when they are moving them around, I don't think they are deliberately squashing peoples cakes and crisps, it's just a casualty of getting their job done quickly.

tired_mum

Hi mine isnt DHL but the alternative courier goods still showing as not despatched could do with a tracking system as just seem to be waiting in all the time for this parcel

jaytin

tired mum it sounds as though your parcel has gotten lost, that happened to one of ours too, although it did turn up eventually after we were told another parcel would be packed for us, I know it was the original one that arrived though as the dates were on the packing slips.
I think you should maybe have chased it a bit sooner, although the bank holiday weekend won't have helped. Parcels have not taken two weeks for a while now, it would probably be quicker to pack and send you a replacement, although then you risk not getting all the items you wanted.