Smyths and Dpd!

lyndsay1986

ordered a vtech camera for my son for christmas from smyths . It was ordered 11 days ago now.

Got in touch with smyths via their facebook page got an email from them stating my trackig number for dpd

went onto dpd tracking service and said was to be delivered friday..loaded onto van so i stayed in all day..nothing checked website again and says 'unable to deliver your parcel today due to severe weather please keep checking back for updates'

checked back yesterday ..same thing . Thing is their depot is around 30 miles from us and my dad works in that town and he manages to get to work n back he says roads not to bad .The roads here are fine we have managed to get 3 parcels delivered from parcel force yesterday

wealdroam

OP, you do understand don't you that a van would not come thirty miles with just your parcel on it?

Is it possible that somewhere on that round the driver actually became stuck, or at least severely delayed such that he could not deliver your package?

Perhaps your dad could pick up your package from their depot.

loztiggy

DPD have been one of the best couriers in my area over the snow so there must be a reason. I find them in general an extremely good courier. I often have to use them as i have a warranty agreement with pc world and they do the deliveries, they always come during their hour window and the driver is a friendly courteous man.

fran2491

lol iv also had the same problems,but in all fairness it doesnt matter if the roads are clear now as courier companys have a huge backlog aparently from the tiny sprinkle of snow! i have 7 items im waiting for now and every one has been delayed! i lived in germany for 6 years and when it snows there it snows! took 3 hours to dig the car out one day, yet all the roads were clear even side roads and the tiny street we lived on! i never had one delayed item in germany.
the uk are shockingly bad at dealing with a little bit of snow just strikes me that they use snow as an excuse,and plus with it being so close to christmas i cant see the delays geting any better:mad: iv had 3 dpd items delayed and all were delivered on day 3 of saying delayed due to adverse weather, so hopefully yours will turn up soon! as a saiving grace if it gets to close to crimbo and still no prezie ask your dad to get it hun.

Becles

I'd hardly call 14" of snow a light sprinkle which is what the North East got.

It's not common for the UK to get 14 inches of snow in November and early December. Of course we are not prepared to deal with it as it was extreme and unexpected.

It may not be bad in your area, but you don't know the full logistics of the parcel and where it has travelled through on it's journey to you.

loztiggy

yeah becles im in chester le street, we had 50cm in our back garden at the height of it.

fran2491

Becles wrote: »

I'd hardly call 14" of snow a light sprinkle which is what the North East got.

It's not common for the UK to get 14 inches of snow in November and early December. Of course we are not prepared to deal with it as it was extreme and unexpected.

It may not be bad in your area, but you don't know the full logistics of the parcel and where it has travelled through on it's journey to you.

what im saying compared to germany yes it is a light sprinkle,it just amazes me how poor the uk is with dealing with snow! i have friends who live in canada where its covered in snow at least 6 months of the year, if schools closed over there for snow kids would miss out on half there education!
yes of course its not common for snow in late nov,but it was forcast for at least 2 weeks before,im in the south we had 12 inches yet in the run up to the snow i didnt see one gritter truck out!:mad:

Becles

2 weeks isn't really long enough to organise a complete highways maintenance programme for the UK roads for extreme heavy snow.

I'm 35 and many of the winters I've seen have been fairly mild with only a few days of light snow at most. I've never seen snow as deep and as prolonged as we had. It's not cost effective to keep machinery and materials for dealing with extreme heavy snow, as it usually doesn't happen in the UK.

Nilrem

fran2491 wrote: »

what im saying compared to germany yes it is a light sprinkle,it just amazes me how poor the uk is with dealing with snow! i have friends who live in canada where its covered in snow at least 6 months of the year, if schools closed over there for snow kids would miss out on half there education!
yes of course its not common for snow in late nov,but it was forcast for at least 2 weeks before,im in the south we had 12 inches yet in the run up to the snow i didnt see one gritter truck out!:mad:

The likes of Canada however gets heavy snow on a regular, yearly basis, pretty much like clockwork, thus can justify having the equipment (and manpower) on hand to deal with it.
We often go years without any snow at all in many areas, and only light snow in others at irregular intervals - that means even just planning for this sort of snow is very hard, let alone justifying the costs associated with being ready for it at short notice (and two weeks notice is pretty short, especially if it requires equipment to be readied earlier than expected).

It's also worth noting that even in the countries that do regularly get a lot of heavy snow, they don't even attempt to keep many roads cleared (I think it's Alaska for example they close down one of the biggest/most important roads for about 4-5 months of the year, leading to a massive diversion), and have things like some railway lines get shut or run at a massively reduced service, and some (fairly big) airports simply shut for the whole winter.
But rely quite heavily on the average person having equipment they themselves can use to help with dealing with the snow - things from the relatively minor (snow chains/winter tyres, snow shovels), to the medium (snow blowers), to the high end (vehicles specifically for the snow, either 4x4 or snow mobiles etc).

We could triple our spending on things like snow ploughs, gritting equipment etc and still not be able to cope with the weather parts of Scotland have had, and then have 90% of the equipment sat rotting away* for the next 10-25 years before it's all needed again, and then find that it's not ready when needed because it takes time to get it prepped and checked out (things like making sure everything is road safe after a few months sat idle).

Even things like winter tyres we don't use much because it's so unusual - I know people who have been trying to get hold of them and are having major issues as the supply can't keep up with the demand, even the road haulage companies don't have them to hand and they lose a lot of money every day their trucks are out of action so you'd assume that they would be amongst the first to get them fitted.

As an amusing/saddening anecdote, I've heard that some police 4x4's don't have winter tyres, as they are less economical and that officers are having to play the system to get them authorised by the accountants,

*Or housed in large warehouses with a maintenance staff and schedule to keep everything in a state of readiness, something that costs fairly large sums of money (engines need to be turned over, batteries checked/charged, oils, tyres and other perishable parts replaced on a regular schedule)

fozmcfc

Extremely well put Nilrem, so many people are completely ignorant when it comes to bad weather and how it affects the UK.

lyndsay1986

Still says due to adverse weather your parcel can not be delivered .

looked for a number to ring them so my dad can go pick it up and can not find one...tells me to fill out an enquiry form.

i have found somewhere on the website that says pick up from local depot and takes me to page where it asks for my card reference number....so can only be picked up after they have tried to deliver !