Sellers beware of the Home Delivery Network

George666

I thought I would post this as a warning.
I have just waited in all day for a parcel that was promised to be delivered today.
Guess what no parcel and on ringing the home delivery network I was told they just never bothered to put my parcel on the van and that this happens all the time not to worry we will deliver it on monday between the hours of 7am and 7pm or I can travel 56 miles to the depot tomorrow and pick it up myself.
The seller I bought from I have only just started to use and as I had used this seller in the past few weeks and I thought they gave a great service so I did not bother to re-check their feedback or DSRs as I thought I could trust them it was a buy it now item so I just re-ordred from them.
When I First used them last about a couple of weeks ago and they had 4.9 in all catagories and 99.9% with over 90000 positive feedback and were a top rated seller and used DHL to deliver my item it was a perfect transaction.
Now when I checked them out today they are no longer a top rated seller and they only have a DSR of 4.5 in the delivery time catagory their other DSRs are still 4.9 their feedback has also dropped to 97.6 and all of their negatives are delivery related and this has happened to them in just a couple of weeks after starting to use the home delivery network to deliver their items.
The seller has been great and apologised about what has went on and also told me that they will be going back to DHL in the very near future.
I thought I would let you all know this because from a buyers point of view the advisor for the home delivery network really did not seem to care at all about what had happened even though she admitted straight away that they were at fault and that this happens all the time.
This type of service of course reflects poorly on the seller.
I must admit I had not recieved a poor service from the home delivery network before today, but it seems that when they do make mistakes they just don't care about it one bit and actually make the problem worse by not realising that most buyers actually pay for their own delivery so they are in fact speaking to a customer and by giving out stupid advise like why not pick up the item yourself when you paid for it to be delivered to you.
Rant over.:mad:

TurkishDelight

They are the most awful couriers.

I'm not usually of the mindset that you get what you pay for, but it does seem to hold true with them.

We had a parcel from a seller once and it came by them. Turned up late on a sunday night, an age after posting, battered, and when my fiance asked the courier (twice!) if it needed a signature it was shrugged off and not signed for.
We found out afterwards that the seller had actually paid more for a signature.

I'd assume it was just our local delivery blokes, but there are so many stories of incompetence from everywhere, that it's clear that they just don't do a good job.

George666

I thought I would mention this now before I get out my tin hat.
I do not in anyway blame the seller for this I am in fact feeling a bit sorry for them.
I have not left feedback for the seller yet and I probably will not leave them any feedback for this transaction I am at the moment tempted to leave them a positive and 5 stars out of pity but I will wait and see how I feel later before deciding what to do.
I may use them again but I will send them a message first to make sure they are not still using the home delivery network as a courier.

mcjordi

ive started to use dhl for my deliveries now and i thought they were bad but reading reviews on hdnl im pleased i didnt go for the cheapest option now.. ive had problems with them leaving expensive stuff outside and on one occassion had a £300 digital camera go missing.. i did get the money back..

soolin

I've had real issues with HDN and I think it is them that really gae me my dislike of courier companies.

The real reason I dislike them so much is that they pretended they tried to deliver something to me, admitted later they hadn't actually loaded it on the van and then still insisted i pay £10 to have a new attempted delivery. Unfortunately it means a company whose stuff i love online is no longer a company I can buy from as they are still using HDN.

harveybobbles

I've been using HDNL via Parcel2go and have only had 2 problems out of maybe 100.

Parcels get collected from me between 8.30-12.30. And get dropped off as and when.

A lot of buyers leave poor DSR's for dsispatch time, when usually thats down to the Courier.

George666

harveybobbles wrote: »

I've been using HDNL via Parcel2go and have only had 2 problems out of maybe 100.

Parcels get collected from me between 8.30-12.30. And get dropped off as and when.

A lot of buyers leave poor DSR's for dsispatch time, when usually thats down to the Courier.

Hi harvey you as a seller from your side of this may have only seen 2 problems out of 100 but do you know how many of your buyers have had problems with their deliveries and now will never buy from you again.
On ebay like all market places as retailers we all rely to a certain extent on repeat sales I know I do, and this delivery company could be costing you a lot of repeat sales and you would be totally unaware of this unless your buyers complained to you directly.
As soolin has said and soolin is also giving advise from the buyers point of view bad customer service even if it is not directly from the seller will make a buyer think twice before buying from from the same seller again, soolin now feels that she can now no longer buy from a seller that soolin used to trade with and also would love to trade with again.
This could cost you a lot in the long run and up untill now you might have just got lucky.
As I said in my original post I had never had any problems as a buyer from the home delivery network before yesterday, but when a problem did occur they just gave me as a buyer the brush off as though I did not exist because I did not directly pay their company anything.
They treat buyers as though they are not customers because it was not the buyer that actually gave their company the money so why should they care what they do to the buyer or say to the buyer.
This is the feeling I came off the phone with, and if I am being honest after what was said to me if I was not a seller myself the seller I was dealing with would now have another negative on his account and some bad DSRs to go with it.
This is why I started this thread as a warning to other sellers and this is the only thread I have ever felt the need so start so that people reading it especially new sellers looking to cut their running costs might read this and think what it could cost their business in the long run.
As a online seller you need to remember this at all times, you are only as good as the courier you use as it is always a retailers responsability to get the goods to their buyer and this is not only true for ebay it is also true for any online retailer who ever you are.

cyberbob

I have had huge problems with deliveries from them. The last one I had was meant to be here in 4 days, took 10 days after much hassle. Where we used to live they used to frequently leave items in wheely bins! if no one was in.!:eek:

I now avoid companies and ebay sellers that use them it's just nor worth the hassle.

Theres a thread on the Rant forum about them also

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/330981

George666

cyberbob wrote: »

I have had huge problems with deliveries from them. The last one I had was meant to be here in 4 days, took 10 days after much hassle. Where we used to live they used to frequently leave items in wheely bins! if no one was in.!:eek:

I now avoid companies and ebay sellers that use them it's just nor worth the hassle.

Theres a thread on the Rant forum about them also

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/330981

I think bob has made my point exactly when you get bad service even if it is not the sellers fault and it is totally down to the delivery company you will then in the future avoid problems by avoiding sellers or companies that use that delivery service.

theonlywayisup

Unfortunately for me Amazon and John Lewis use HDNL to deliver in my area! They are the worst deliver company in the world, but I now have the email of my depot supervisor (who is good) and I now badger him with emails when I know I have a delivery due. At least I do get the parcels on the scheduled day now, although I have a lot of damages with them.

I understand they have bought out DHL and in the new year will be called Yodel?

geri1965_2

I've had bad experiences with HDN - I paid for a named day delivery with M&S and waited in from 6am to 6pm one day, and they never turned up. I refuse to use any companies who use them now, although sometimes you don't know until after you've ordered.

Citylink were just as bad - paid £8 for express delivery with Amazon, they didn't turn up before 1pm as they were supposed to, then they lied and said they attempted delivery at 6pm.

Now if I can I'll have items delivered to my work, because for some reason they are more likely to arrive (I think they are less likely to lie about attempted delivery to an office as they know people will be there and their lies will be more obvious).