Vent - Mothercare delivery

Mk14:37

DW and I were at the Baby Show over the weekend and bought a pushchair and several other items for home delivery.

My wife received a message from the couriers this morning saying that they would be there between 9:30 am and 12:30 pm. They finally turned up at gone 1 pm, only to leave the goods at the door claiming that they are not allowed to enter people's houses.

I am absolutely livid at the thought that a delivery company - on behalf of Mothercare of all companies - could leave a heavily pregnant woman to struggle with a heavy delivery. Apparently, after some persuasion from DW, the courier did lift the pushchair inside the door but that still left my wife to push it inside the house in order to close the door.
:mad:

I realise that I'm not in a particularly objective frame of mind at the moment so would welcome some perspective here. Is there any truth in the suggestion that a courier can't enter a house or is it just his laze / desire to get done and get home?

967stuart

So they did put the item in the house and they where only half hour late ..... I wouldn't really worry about it.

Its not really mothercares fault, they no doubt (like most) use a third party delivery company.

Some do have rules about entering houses, as they could be attacked or be accused or attacks / damage to property etc ... so instead just hand over the item.

What more exactly would you have liked the guy to have done ? carried it into your house, unboxed it all, wore it in a bit for you ? lol (only kidding)

bosseyed

When we had stuff delivered from mothercare the delivery guys wouldn't carry it in claiming they weren't allowed and my heavily pregnant wife had to leave it outside for me to move when I came home.

Asda delivery drivers have also said they weren't allowed to enter peoples homes with deliveries but bless them when they saw how pregnant the wife was they did carry the shopping in for her.

So, shame to say, but I suspect theres an element of truth in your delivery guys statement about not being allowed in.

Blame culture and all that, I can see the threads on here now "Delivery guy carried my shopping in at my request and then scuffed the wallpaper, how can I sue him, his mum, their dog, the company and anyone who came within a 100ft radius of the house whilst this violation of my home was in progress......"

Esoog

We had some stuff delivered from Mothercare, came via UKMail and they were happy to carry it inside for my girlfriend (I took it upstairs later) so I suppose it comes down to the driver. I can understand why they don't want to go inside, when we had a new sky aerial the man went nuts when we said you couldn't get round the back of the house without major effort.

When he calmed down it turned out he'd previously carried his ladders etc through someones house and they had claimed all kinds of damage and he was being disciplined as a result.

Mk14:37

Bosseyed, I think that you're probably right here (and by gosh do I hate those sue-for-scuffed-wallpaper types) and thank you Esoog for your case in point. Though surely the risk to mother and baby should far outweigh any risk to skirting boards.

Stuart:
What more exactly would you have liked the guy to have done ? carried it into your house, unboxed it all, wore it in a bit for you ? lol (only kidding)

I didn't LOL. There's nothing remotely funny about your comment, so I suspect you didn't actually laugh out loud, either. What I would have liked the delivery guy to have done is to carry the boxes a further two metres so that the delivery was inside the house and not blocking the front door from closing.

The delivery was four boxes - a 11.5kg pushchair in a box that is about 1.3m tall; a 8.5kg car seat, moses basket also about 1.3m and a fourth flat-pack rocking stand. None of these I would consider as appropriate for a pregnant woman to be carrying / shunting around.

Mk14:37

Esoog and Bosseyed, I might also suggest that the best way of dealing with risk to property is not to avoid entering, but to take better care.

When I was in Japan, my a/c unit broke and two very pleasant chaps in clean, pressed (boilersuit) uniforms came around to fix it. They took their shoes off in the front entrance and laid down a dust sheet to keep clean and prevent any damage from their ladder etc, then vacuumed before leaving. The place was as clean as before they had entered - there was no face-pulling and "needing to order in the parts". Perhaps something our service industry could do to learn from.

967stuart

Mk14:37 wrote: »

Bosseyed, I think that you're probably right here (and by gosh do I hate those sue-for-scuffed-wallpaper types) and thank you Esoog for your case in point. Though surely the risk to mother and baby should far outweigh any risk to skirting boards.

Stuart:
What more exactly would you have liked the guy to have done ? carried it into your house, unboxed it all, wore it in a bit for you ? lol (only kidding)

I didn't LOL. There's nothing remotely funny about your comment, so I suspect you didn't actually laugh out loud, either. What I would have liked the delivery guy to have done is to carry the boxes a further two metres so that the delivery was inside the house and not blocking the front door from closing.

The delivery was four boxes - a 11.5kg pushchair in a box that is about 1.3m tall; a 8.5kg car seat, moses basket also about 1.3m and a fourth flat-pack rocking stand. None of these I would consider as appropriate for a pregnant woman to be carrying / shunting around.

Again, the guy put the box in your house, so i think you are being stupid.

Esoog

Just an update ont this one, my girlfriends mum ordered a pram for delivery from mothercare. A week before it was due a letter arrived reminding her of the fact it was coming and at the bottom it clearly states that the delivery company are not allowed to cross the threshold due to public liability insurance, so at least they give you warning!