Vent: Delivery Firms

custardy

isplumm wrote: »

Don't blame the delivery company - blame the supplier who decided to use a delivery company 1 hour from the OP address .... although this must be a small courier company or the OP lives in the wild somewhere, cause most delivery companies have bases in most towns ....

Mark

depends how big the town is
most of the couriers here are on the other side of the city to me,so at best its 14 miles each way.
some are as far as livingstone so its an easy 50 mile round trip

missile

isplumm wrote: »

suggest you complain to your supplier ....

Mark

I did that and did not even get the courtesy of a reply.

When >>> couriers online tracking told me a parcel would be delivered on a day, I waited and no show. I contacted them next day, to be told it would be delivered the day after and I went out. On My return I find a card "you were out .... " as this was second attempt they require you to arrange collection from their depot. The nearest >>> depot is Dundee. They class Aberdeen as a remote area and only deliver every other day :mad:

C_Mababejive

Delivery drivers just do as they are told.

Heres a suggestion if its possible. At your front door or adjacent to it,fit some kind of secure box with a lock and then they can be advised to leave parcels in the box and secure it,assuming a sig isnt required.

biscit

olly300 wrote: »

Then decide to buy from companies that:
1. Deliver on a Saturday, OR

2. Allow you to use your work address to receive deliveries.

Alternatively be nice to your neighbours particularly your retired ones.

Easier said than done. Often you don't know which courier company your supplier has used. Often there is no choice, and you only find out which courier is being used on dispatch, or even worse when the card lands on your doormat.

I did say I mainly appreciated the comment, because it does help to have the reality of buisness interjected into a conversation. I have been to courier companies that open into the evening for collection. It's not an unusual or unreasonable expectation when your offices are few and far between.

Thing is, you make his requirements seem like an unreasonable request. It's quite usual for a household not to have anyone in all day to accept parcells. Having a delivery service that fits in with that should be normal, not a premium extra you have to look out for.

Delivery companies seem to be back to front. In any other line of business the company would be researching and trying to fit in with the customers' wants and needs. With couriers the customer has to fit in with the courier. Actually part of the problem is that the customer is usually not the recipient, they are the agent of the supplier.

DHL had an innovative scheme at one point, local delivery agents working from home, who would take a consignment and be able to arrange a delivery or collection between them and the recipient. Worked well for me.

custardy

biscit wrote: »

Easier said than done. Often you don't know which courier company your supplier has used. Often there is no choice, and you only find out which courier is being used on dispatch, or even worse when the card lands on your doormat.

I did say I mainly appreciated the comment, because it does help to have the reality of buisness interjected into a conversation. I have been to courier companies that open into the evening for collection. It's not an unusual or unreasonable expectation when your offices are few and far between.

Thing is, you make his requirements seem like an unreasonable request. It's quite usual for a household not to have anyone in all day to accept parcells. Having a delivery service that fits in with that should be normal, not a premium extra you have to look out for.

Delivery companies seem to be back to front. In any other line of business the company would be researching and trying to fit in with the customers' wants and needs. With couriers the customer has to fit in with the courier. Actually part of the problem is that the customer is usually not the recipient, they are the agent of the supplier.

DHL had an innovative scheme at one point, local delivery agents working from home, who would take a consignment and be able to arrange a delivery or collection between them and the recipient. Worked well for me.

the DHL at home service has its problems/benifits like any service
myhermes uses a similar set up with drivers working from home,plenty of posts on their service!!
you make many assumptions which many do.you assume what suits you suits everyone
see it all the itme with delivery posts.just because you work your hours doesnt mean it fits with others.

biscit

I don't make any assumptions. Generalisations, sure, not assumptions. I don't assume what suits me suits everyone, but I do know that my core needs are common with a majority of people. That's not the same as saying my needs are identical as everyones. Subtle but very important difference.

Different people do have different needs, but nothing I said contradicts this in any way. However my point stands, households where everyone is busy 8-5:30 while not universal, are far from unusual, and I would suggest normal.

dacouch

Respect www.bitterwallet.com

Forris

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Delivery drivers just do as they are told.

Heres a suggestion if its possible. At your front door or adjacent to it,fit some kind of secure box with a lock and then they can be advised to leave parcels in the box and secure it,assuming a sig isnt required.

These 'parcel safes' are becoming more more popular, but their size is a problem. Whenever I have delivered to a property that has one, the parcel has always been too big!

Custardy - [EMAIL="DHL@Home"]DHL@Home[/EMAIL] does indeed offer evening/weekend deliveries, as do a few other smaller companies. The issue with these is that they pay the drivers so poorly that it is difficult to retain staff. But if they pay more, the delivery cost goes up and the customer shops elsewhere.

Dacouch - it has always confused me why couriers have this reputation. Most major players use, in part, self-employed contractors that are only paid for the parcels that they actually deliver. And even if the driver is a company employee, bringing a parcel back just means one more parcel to deliver the next day.

Parcelforce may have historically had a bad reputation, but their Quality of Service is one of the best in the business (1st Time Delivery is currently around 97% nationally) and they seem to be one of the most flexible, with decent opening hours for the depots, good re-delivery options (including delivery to local Post Offices) and a 'leave with neighbour' policy as standard. Some senders do ask that the parcel is not left with a neighbour or PO but these are very few.

eamon

The problem lies with the retailers. Most will only deliver to the billing address on the credit/debit card. Something to do with fraud I believe.

Forris

eamon wrote: »

The problem lies with the retailers. Most will only deliver to the billing address on the credit/debit card. Something to do with fraud I believe.

While many retailers only allow you to set the initial shipping address as the cc billing address, the main problems lie in the contract between the retailer and the carrier. Some carriers charge the retailer for any delivery attempt after the first (I have heard as high as £5), which could explain the tendency for them to make it so difficult to collect your parcel, and the reluctance to leave with a neighbour.