CityLink

Zagu

Thanks for all the replies people, unfortunately my experiences are clearly not unique. Its the scant disregard for peoples time that really annoys me. Staying in all day is a pain in its self, but to do so for nothing is beyond infuriating.

There appears to be no real process for compensation for later-than-planned deliveries either, and when I asked about a refund, I was told that I had to reclaim it from the company I purchased from. I then checked how much I would be refunded, and it was only a £1 premium I had paid for next day over the 2-3 day delivery. I wasnt going to hassle a good company with excellent service/products for a quid, but the way that the buck is passed on isnt really acceptable. CityLink should be the ones sending me my £1 cheque, which I would have claimed purely out of spite. I probably would never have cashed it, but thats besides the point.

Its also interesting to note that the Customers (outgoing goods) appear to be quite happy with CityLink, while the Consignees (CityLink are delivering to you) appear to have a very different view.

vikki_louise wrote:

do you know who are the cheepest and more relaible to send with (small amountsof parcels so no big account?)

From the link I posted in the first post, it appears that many comapnies are less than reliable. Heres a comparison between them all, but its important to take into account that some companies only have two or three reviews, so probably isnt a true indication of their reliability. To be honest, the parcel I was having delivered was about 10kg, and cost £8.50 Next Day, but I would have been far happier to pay a pound or two more from a reputable company who were capable of doing what they promise. Wasting a whole day to save a couple of quid isnt that attractive.

smcaul

I spent quite a few years working in the courier industry, and I have to say that none of them are perfect - as a whole company many are very good, it is individual depots that let them down, and can even be just individual drivers within those depots. The point about failed deliveries showing as attempted is just a way for depots/drivers to fudge figures. If they put it as an attempted delivery/no one home then they still get paid for the delivery and the KPI's look good. If it comes back as a driver out of time/failed delivery then the customer can normally claim back the cost of posting and the depots/drivers delivery figures go down the pan. This would then impact on their bonuses. The other point to note is that if the driver/depot is a franchise then they would start to loose quite a lot of money through failed deliveries - so as a result many are podded off as "Attempted, no one home" or "Card Left".

magyar

smcaul wrote:

I spent quite a few years working in the courier industry, and I have to say that none of them are perfect - as a whole company many are very good, it is individual depots that let them down, and can even be just individual drivers within those depots. The point about failed deliveries showing as attempted is just a way for depots/drivers to fudge figures. If they put it as an attempted delivery/no one home then they still get paid for the delivery and the KPI's look good. If it comes back as a driver out of time/failed delivery then the customer can normally claim back the cost of posting and the depots/drivers delivery figures go down the pan. This would then impact on their bonuses. The other point to note is that if the driver/depot is a franchise then they would start to loose quite a lot of money through failed deliveries - so as a result many are podded off as "Attempted, no one home" or "Card Left".

Generally I have to say we find few problems with deliveries. I probably despatch several hundred things every year from work, nearly all of which turn up OK even to some of our remote locations in Scotland. (In fact, these tend to be the most reliable...probably says something)

I've always thought though there must be a market for a delivery company which had a more specific delivery time. Lots of us have taken time off work or worked from home to wait in for a delivery - I wonder how much extra you'd have to charge to put a timed delivery - (most of the grocery stores manage it to within 30 mins). Personally I'd probably pay an extra quid or two no probs.

smcaul

magyar wrote:

I've always thought though there must be a market for a delivery company which had a more specific delivery time. Lots of us have taken time off work or worked from home to wait in for a delivery - I wonder how much extra you'd have to charge to put a timed delivery - (most of the grocery stores manage it to within 30 mins). Personally I'd probably pay an extra quid or two no probs.

When I worked for a courier we did trial evening deliveries, for a premium, but they were not that successful. There was also talk of a live system whereby the system knew where a driver was on the route, what order his drops were in and so could estimate a delivery time for all parcels left on his route - again I don't think this has been implemented. Basically it is down to cost, and we as consumers don't want to pay too high a price for the delivery. You can already have timed deliveries with most couriers - pre 9, pre 10 and pre12. but they are expensive - we pays our money and takes our choice I'm afraid.