Buyers not being in for couriers

sharnad

mikey72 wrote: »

No citylink are the cheapest for a reason.
I don't use any supplier that uses citylink. It's no good to me if it doesn't arrive when it should, and I don't care if my supplier can save a couple of quid on it.

The Citylink in owe area are really bad - would never use them, stuff goes missing they tell you to pick stuff up and then cant find it

DHL are usually okay

Strapped

custardy wrote: »

is that 2 deliveries of their choosing or one delivery and then one the buyer picks?

Unfortunately it seems to be two of their choosing, unless the recipient gets in real quick.

I must admit though that they managed to deliver one of my parcels today, at the 3rd attempt so maybe I should stop complaining. Or worrying so much.

custardy

Strapped wrote: »

Unfortunately it seems to be two of their choosing, unless the recipient gets in real quick.

I must admit though that they managed to deliver one of my parcels today, at the 3rd attempt so maybe I should stop complaining. Or worrying so much.

thats a problem then
the majority of buyers who arent in for the 1st attempt wont be in for the 2nd

Strapped

custardy wrote: »

thats a problem then
the majority of buyers who arent in for the 1st attempt wont be in for the 2nd

Yes, exactly. I think I need a chat with someone about it, thanks for helping me to clarify it in my (currently overworked in a major way by things outside the business) brain. :beer:

Strapped

Hammyman wrote: »

I'd love to use RM but customers won't pay the cost. They want it next day but don't want to pay the £25 it would cost to send Royal Mail. I've had people mark me down on DSR stars because I charge £9.99 to deliver a laptop next day even though its £2 less than it actually costs me with the packaging.

Yes, this ^.

JPS29

mikey72 wrote: »

No citylink are the cheapest for a reason.
I don't use any supplier that uses citylink. It's no good to me if it doesn't arrive when it should, and I don't care if my supplier can save a couple of quid on it.

Interested to know how you know they use citylink. All my listings just state either 24 or 48 hour courier or the chosen RM method. It doesnt state a particular courier.

mikey72

JPS29 wrote: »

Interested to know how you know they use citylink. All my listings just state either 24 or 48 hour courier or the chosen RM method. It doesnt state a particular courier.

If I need it for my business, I don't buy from ebay in the first place to be honest, and I place the order by phone. I ask who the courier is, if they tell me citylink, I don't place the order. I really do need stuff tomorrow sometimes. None of my suppliers do use them nowadays, some used to, but they don't anymore.
Someone like Hammyman churning out a few old secondhand laptops from his backroom is probably ok for a cheap and cheerful service, and I might take a punt if it doesn't matter when or if it arrives, and I would be ok to do an INR, but not if it's important that I get it.
Citylink really are that bad.

RHemmings

cool-dog wrote: »

City link are useless in my area, I have had 2 parcels from ebay delivered by shittylink in the last week, both supposedly 24 hour. I looked at the tracking info on their website, it stated 2 failed deliveries and card left. I was in the whole of last week waiting for these deliveries and no card was left, no knock at the door (i know this as i have dogs that bark when someone is at the door). The parcels even had my mobile number that they could of called if they could not find me.

So even though it states failed delivery, it may be because they did not attempt delivery!

This is a very important post. Just because a courier company CLAIMS that they attempted delivery, doesn't mean that they DID attempt delivery. People are saying things such as that they've kept up their side of the bargain if they've sent the item. Well, if there's non-delivery, it's quite possible it's because it's the courier that is at fault, not the buyer. And in that case, why should the buyer be out of pocket?

JPS29

@mikey
Fair enough, I just assumed (wrongly) that you meant through Ebay as we're on the ebay board.
TBH I use the citylink mailing bags for up to 10kg, think it was actually hammy that made me aware of it via the courier thread.£4.99 + vat saves me £2 against interparcel, have sent about 30 deliveries with them so far and not had a problem. I think however if we're honest with all couriers when they're good they're great, but when problems happen they're all terrible, no?

mikey72

JPS29 wrote: »

@mikey
Fair enough, I just assumed (wrongly) that you meant through Ebay as we're on the ebay board.
TBH I use the citylink mailing bags for up to 10kg, think it was actually hammy that made me aware of it via the courier thread.£4.99 + vat saves me £2 against interparcel, have sent about 30 deliveries with them so far and not had a problem. I think however if we're honest with all couriers when they're good they're great, but when problems happen they're all terrible, no?

Any mail or internet order means there has to be someone in to receive the parcel, or it has to go in a parcelbox, that's why I always try to find out how it's being delivered. A seller on ebay offering a courier I'll pass on if another seller offers RM normally.

The thread started out discussing non delivery as the customer wasn't in. Several of us, including me, suggested maybe the courier wasn't reliable, and just wasn't delivering, or was inflexable on re-delivery, so I would have no problem with an INR on ebay, as it's impossible to actually get citylink to deliver.
Interparcel, DHL, RM, etc, I would probably be able to get my parcel off them, and wouldn't have be do an INR.

Citylink isn't used by any company I deal with, some because they've changed as Citylink was a nightmare to them.

As to Hammyman's suggestion,

"I do absolutely nothing. I've honoured my side of the deal. The couriers I use (City Link) do redeliveries and leave a card where you, the recipient, can book a redelivery or collect from the depot."

That's complete rubbish. The seller needs to actually deliver, not just stuff a parcel in the post. If it's not delivered, Paypal will just give me my money back, including the carriage, and I'm not going to mess around chaing a parcel because the seller has decided to save a couple of quid. The seller may get it returned by citylink, and I'll have raised a dispute, and left 1 stars and a neg if they told me that.

Generally, I've found most couriers actually are good, but citylink stick out as the glaring exception.

Personally, if it's only £2 more, I'd use Interparcel and leave citylink well alone. As with everything, buy cheap, pay twice.