citylink

sneezyboots

Does anyone else get fed up of citylink or is it just me, and how do you other working people out there manage deliveries?

Myself and OH leave together for work at 7.00 and get back at 5.00. Had a missed delivery card waiting for me when i got home today. Says on the card to ring the number on the card for redelivery, collection or if you have questions. Rang the number, had an automated response, all options were automated (press 1 for delivery on wenesday etc etc).

I want it either delivered on monday 15th (half term-week off) or sent to my mum's on monday (her only day of the week off). No options for either of those.

So went on main citylink website, called the number on there. On hold for over 10 mins. After over 30mins spent trying to sort out the stupid parcel i have sent them an email telling them to either deliver before 7.00, deliver to mum's address on monday or deliver to me next monday!

:mad: Rant over

smcaul

I can understand your rant, in part, but City link is a parcel delivery company, not a people chasing company. Just like any parcel courier or the royal mail for that fact they deliver to addresses not people.

Could you not have had the item delivered elsewhere to start with? With parcel depots handling 1000's of parcels a day, trying to get one of those rerouted or delivered within specific time-scales is just impossible - unless they charge significantly more for the service.

If it had been a failed delivery or the driver/depot were messing you about I would have some sympathy, but to be honest this looks like it could have been avoided by yourself by choosing a different delivery address or timing the purchase better.

trickytrolleys

I worked for citylink for many years and they are a good company, as the recipient of the parcel it is not up to you or them to decide when/where it is delivered, the people paying for it decide that and citylink will do as they say because it is their parcel they are delivering, it is up to YOU to arrange with the company sending it to you to arrange adequate instructions.

They are also not a storage company so next time instead of shooting the messenger perhaps you should arrange things according to your requirements instead of moaning that a company (who have done EXACTLY what they are paid to do) were not psychic enough to know your working hours, mums address blah blah blah blah! :cool:

custardy

its all about costs
look on here as to what people are paying
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=29617675#post29617675
couriers run tight margins which make it a one size fits all over a bespoke service

sneezyboots

the rant was not about them not doing their job. the actual people carrying out the deliveries have always been most pleasant in the past. It was about the fact they say to ring a number for queries which is completely automated and the alternative number for them found was on hold for soooo long. All i wanted to do was speak to someone.

I was also wondering how other people that work manage deliveies. Like i said myself and OH are out from 7.00 til 5.00. His parents work even longer hours and my mum works every day but monday and they won't let you specify the day on purchase. And i can't get it delivered to my place of work because it may come before they open or after they close.

With any other company they put a missed delivery card in and i go and collect it as it is kept in the town i live in (like i did yesterday with a different parcel). Citylink are the only delivery company that requires me to make a 2 hour round trip to the nearest city to collect stuff.

Forris

sneezyboots wrote: »

the rant was not about them not doing their job. the actual people carrying out the deliveries have always been most pleasant in the past. It was about the fact they say to ring a number for queries which is completely automated and the alternative number for them found was on hold for soooo long. All i wanted to do was speak to someone.

I was also wondering how other people that work manage deliveies. Like i said myself and OH are out from 7.00 til 5.00. His parents work even longer hours and my mum works every day but monday and they won't let you specify the day on purchase. And i can't get it delivered to my place of work because it may come before they open or after they close.

With any other company they put a missed delivery card in and i go and collect it as it is kept in the town i live in (like i did yesterday with a different parcel). Citylink are the only delivery company that requires me to make a 2 hour round trip to the nearest city to collect stuff.

The only company that I am aware of that will not try to deliver to a business address within normal business hours is HDNL. All other couriers will use some commonsense and attempt the delivery when the company is likely to be open.

The other thing that I find with Citylink is that their default position is not to try to leave the parcel with a neighbour, whereas most couriers will do this as a matter of course.

With regard to the contact problems, I agree that their system is very restrictive. They are not set up to handle a large volume of phone calls, so you would have thought that their automated systems would be more flexible. If you know that having your items delivered by Citylink causes you problems then you should try to avoid those retailers that use them as their courier (making sure you inform the retailer that this is your reason for shopping elsewhere).

Any decent online retailer will email you when the item has been posted and provide a copy of the tracking number. This will give you a good idea of when the parcel will be arriving. It is a simple matter to leave a note taped to your door to ask the driver to try to leave your parcels with a neighbour, or if you can get to know the driver a bit and you work fairly close to your home, you could even get them to deliver it to your workplace anyway (although it would need to be a really good driver to go to those lengths).

Ivory_Tinkler

sneezyboots wrote: »

the rant was not about them not doing their job. the actual people carrying out the deliveries have always been most pleasant in the past. It was about the fact they say to ring a number for queries which is completely automated and the alternative number for them found was on hold for soooo long. All i wanted to do was speak to someone.

I was also wondering how other people that work manage deliveies. Like i said myself and OH are out from 7.00 til 5.00. His parents work even longer hours and my mum works every day but monday and they won't let you specify the day on purchase. And i can't get it delivered to my place of work because it may come before they open or after they close.

With any other company they put a missed delivery card in and i go and collect it as it is kept in the town i live in (like i did yesterday with a different parcel). Citylink are the only delivery company that requires me to make a 2 hour round trip to the nearest city to collect stuff.

That's because if a company wants a delivery on a specific day or at a specific time they have to pay the courier more and it just isn't cost effective. Of course, the charge could be passed onto the customer but if it was, for example, a Saturday delivery this could be £10-£15 extra!

Liz3yy

I too hate Citylink, I ordered something from Ebay and the seller sent it using Citylink which I didn't realise until I found a card on the doormat this morning. I didn't hear the doorbell and there was no time on the card so I've no idea what time the driver came.

They claim to attempt delivery again on Monday but I'll be at work! if they can't deliver to me within 5 days it'll go back to the seller but the depot is over 90 minutes away!

What's wrong with people using Royal Mail?!

Sooler

custardy wrote: »

its all about costs

they waste their time and money attempting delivery when if they had a better system they would be able to know not to bother - our City Link depot is 50 miles away - if they waste their time twice we just let the parcel get returned for a full refund. It's the company that only uses couriers loss, smart companies would offer their customers the choice of Royal Mail.

trickytrolleys

they wont get a refund because the consignee was out, they attempted delivery and thats all they have to do, they also cant locate a branch at the end of every street.

We didnt have an automated system when I worked there, you called a local number and spoke to the office - try looking up the direct line on say no to 0870, that may help

custardy

Sooler wrote: »

they waste their time and money attempting delivery when if they had a better system they would be able to know not to bother - our City Link depot is 50 miles away - if they waste their time twice we just let the parcel get returned for a full refund. It's the company that only uses couriers loss, smart companies would offer their customers the choice of Royal Mail.

your choice,others prefer different companies
different choices require different collections/systems
on a multidrop delivery you hit an area and deliver around that sector
sorting for specific day/times isnt as cost effective as you think
if the parcel gets returned then the courier still gets paid,its the retailer who loses out