Home delivery network - I just want my parcel!

Blondetotty

Hey my amazon delivery turned up! According to website it was out for delivery on Thursday and Friday but got home, no parcel and no card. Checked website again Sat a.m and sure enough 'out for delivery' yet again. Was about ready to give the driver a piece of my mind when he turned up and as he got out of the van at 11am I got a "Hey Sexy" called out. Was gobsmacked until I turned around and realised it was an old work colleague (and fling!) from 15 years ago (he's still looking fine btw :rotfl:)
Apparently, he realised on Friday the parcel was for me, decided to not leave a card so I wouldn't have to trek 20 miles to the depot and brought it out on Saturday as he figured I'd be at home and not working.

Was about to invite him in for 'coffee' until he mentioned the wife and kids

trrk

I've also had nothing but problems with HDN. I'm really fed up with phoning their 0871 number, having to listen to lots of crap before actually speaking to someone (to arrange delivery to a different address) and then being told different things by different staff members eg for one delivery I was told they couldn't deliver it to a different address. I phoned again and was told they could but not to my work address (which is a university) and then another time they did agree to deliver it. It would be helpful if you could arrange delivery to a different address online (like Royal Mail allows) but this doesn't seem possible.

I found the number for my local depot on 'say no to 0870' and started phoning there instead. However for my most recent delivery the depot staff said they would no longer take calls about deliveries and were very very rude.

I'm now at the point when I've stopped ordering from companies that use HDN, especially if they insist on sending to my billing address rather than my work address.

HDNLMAN

forris wrote: »

how are the drivers supposed to know you want it left with a neighbour? Some people don't like parcels left with neighbours and hdnl would be liable if there's any problems after doing this. Bhs may have even given them instructions to only deliver to your address.

maybe they could ask? Just knock on a neighbours' door and ask if they would mind taking a parcel in for next door.

hdnl delivery policy is to try neighbours. However that really means 2 neighbours. Ive delivered 183 parcels today and had around 15 neighbours refuse to take parcels in thats time wasted for the delivery driver. Most excuses for not taking parcels in are , " this happens all the time , im fed up with it, or they never come to get their parcels".

so hdnl attempted delivery within the quoted time that you were aware of. You're the one that agreed to a timeslot that covers times the school is closed yet it's somehow hdnl's fault?

if you have a parcel for a business address, it should be common sense to deliver it within business hours.

hdnl does deliver to businesses. However due to the vast route size its impossible to deliver high large amounts of parcels and go backwards and forwards delivering to businesses. A business has to be treated like a home delivery. Hdnl did operate a business only delivery system but it was not cost effective.

i'm sure lots of hdnl vans cover the same area. You can't possibly know that your parcel was inside it.

if they have lots of vans covering the same area then they need to look at their route-planning, because its not very efficient!

hdnl uses 1 van per route unless that route has an overflow of parcels in which case a relief driver may be assisting.

the route would be planned by computer, it wouldn't know which deliveries are to a school. Even if it did, to make a special exception could require a significant detour. Why did you ask them to deliver to an address that is closed after 4pm when you knew that the delivery could be up to 7pm?

even if it is planned by computer, it should take into account that the parcel has been redirected to a business address. This is a major weakness in hdnl's business model. As i understand it, they are set up to deliver to residential addresses (hence the name) and not businesses.

planned by a computer lol ! The day to day route planning is done by the driver! As youve said they are geared up for home delivery that may be the reason they dropped the old name of business express? They recently trialed route planning by computer and what ive heard was that it totally failed.

nice of them to keep paying drivers to try and deliver to addresses that you've given that don't have people there so sign for without charging you any extra.

if they got the delivery right first time then they would not have to keep taking parcels out unnecessarily.

a large proportion of the drivers are self imployed if they dont deliver the parcel they dont get paid.

The real answers. In green !!!

Kavanne

Hi HDNL man, thanks for replying!! Always good to get the inside story.

Forris

HDNLMAN - I don't disagree with anything that you've said, but was is apparent is that, in order to undercut their competitors, HDNL are overloading their drivers, leading to poor service and parcels left without signatures (I've come across 2 myself this week on my route). It also sounds as though they are cutting costs in their Customer Service as well.

The level of deliveries that you are doing is only possible on an urban route unless you are working too many hours and/or cutting a lot of corners. The amount of complaints regarding 'doorstepped' parcels suggests that their are corners being cut. HDNL are also paying their self-employed drivers very poorly if you need to deliver this level of parcels to achieve your target earnings.

I am not having a go at you personally over this, but it does seem as though HDNL (and subsequently the retailer) is putting price before customer service.

Forris

Unfortunately, this is the way that many of the smaller courier companies are operating at the moment, and worst of all is that the retailers are falling for it. For many of the high-volume sellers, their prime motivation for using companies such as HDNL, Citylink and DPD is price. I have been in this business for 10 years and have seen companies like Amazon and Play move to the cheaper couriers only to return to the traditionally big players (UPS, DHL, Parcelforce) when enough customers complain about the level of customer service.

These 'smaller' companies are spending heavily on expansion and new technologies at the moment (which is not necessarily a bad thing).They will not be able to sustain their low prices and high spending for very long. The low entry price is a standard tactic to secure a contract, but then you have to make sure that the rest of your business is up to scratch so that, when it gets to contract renewal time, you can up the price without the retailer walking away. Any retailer that advertises its business on price, is not going to be loyal to a courier unless their price is low and/or their quality of service is excellent.

As I said earlier, the work-rate that HDNLMAN has stated is just not sustainable. I consider myself to be a very good delivery driver and my record is 24 stops per hour. This was in the run-up to last Christmas on a mainly-residential, high-density route using every trick in the book to keep up my drop-rate. Their is no way that this rate could be sustained for long without making yourself ill or your short-cuts catching up with you and your contract being terminated.

HDNLMAN - I hope that you are being paid well for the level of work that you are doing.

CashSaver_2

I'm currently having a big problem with HDNL out of Leamington. Ordered a Blu-ray DVD from play.com, which was dispatched by them on 1st December. The track and trace says this.

03/12/2009 10:25:00 LEAMINGTON VAN The parcel has been loaded on to the drivers van
03/12/2009 23:26:00 LEAMINGTON DEPOT The parcel is in the Depot
04/12/2009 11:17:00 LEAMINGTON VAN The parcel has been loaded on to the drivers van

The trail stops there.

There is always someone in at the delivery address. No delivery has been attempted and no card put through the door. I have spoken to HDNL on 3 occassions but they cannot tell me where the parcel is and never phone back when they have promised to.

I now have to spend hours trying to get through to the retailer to see if they can help.

Any suggestions HDNLMAN?

custardy

i wouldnt bother chasing the courier
they dont know where it is and the track shows its not been delivered
put the ball in play.coms court

mancbird

I've had a few parcels gone astray with HDN over the last few weeks. Luckily they have all turned up eventually, but not after an anxious few days One was a parcel from amazon with £90+ worth of items in which was delivered to a neighbour's house. Luckily I live in a tiny village where everyone knows everyone so my neighbour (who had moved in to his house the day before) was able to find out who I was and deliver it to me. Another parcel (containing £150+ worth of items from Cath Kidston) was delivered to an empty house (the one my new neghbour subsequently moved into) and was left there for a few days. It was only when the landlord went round to show some prospective tenants the property that the parcel was discovered and brought round to me.

I can understand leaving a parcel with a neighbour, especially in rural areas such as this, but where is the logic in leaving a parcel at a house that is obviously not being lived in?!?!?!? :mad:

Not really good enough IMO and if I was a retailer like amazon I would be seriously thinking about the contract with HDN.

djdymond

i want to know why they dont even put my package on the van according to their latest info! mine was due last wednesday and still nothing, and ive been in every day. all day since, being a stay at home mum!