Delivery rights discussion

bonnylol

stokegal wrote: »

Martin

I am a long term member of this forum and a great admirer of your previous campaigns but I have to say that I am deeply disappointed by your active promotion of a "compensation culture"
I think you really should have thought more about this and the consequences before someone of your stature began to advise the general public how to bleed the retailers dry!
I work for a large retailer who offers a home delivery service and I see the daily struggle we have with low profits and ways they they try to reduce margins, redudundances, removing overtime for people who have previously relied on it as part of their wage, increase in prices just to try and stay afloat...
And now you begin to advise of how to really claim money for "inconviance", I dread to think how a small business owner will feel after reading your article, times are tough for retailers or have you already forgot about Woolworths, Zavvi and other unfortunate high street retailers and you are actively promoting this.
Most of these delivery issues are for genuine reasons - 3rd party couriers, customer fault themselves, one off system errors - no retailer intentionally try and upset their customers and there is already costs for them for failed deliveries And now you just want to add to these costs!

Shame on you Martin!!!!

I'll probably posting on the redundancy forums in 6 months - thanks again!! Really wish you thought more about this one.

ould

Could not agree more! Well said! Too many companies going bust without all this compensation culture!

bonnylol

cherylelizabeth1 wrote: »

Seems a familer story... I had city link on saturday dump my marks and spencer parcel next to my door step (very busy main road) and put an unfilled card through my door not telling me anything! Of course no parcel when I returned home, but the worst thing is my parcel was a case of alochol! Of course m&s refunded it, as they were now out of stock, but im very annoyed as i had taken advantage of a very good offer and am now stuck looking for replacements!

How do you know the missing parcel was dumped next to your doorstep if the card was 'unfilled'?

arcon5

Most companies provide a estimated delivery date and don't guarantee delivery on or by certain dates -- even when you pay for a 24hr service. This is because they have no control over this and it's unfair to expect a retailer to payout compensation for the couriers mistake.

As far as this article is concerned, what a ridiculous piece! Encouraging consumers to claim compensation in these situations is unbelievable!!

Shame on you!

LowFlyingCourier

bonnylol wrote: »

How do you know the missing parcel was dumped next to your doorstep if the card was 'unfilled'?

Very true! As a driver myself I also find it quite irritating when customers say that a driver has left a card without knocking! No driver will go through the process of leaving a card if they can get deliver the parcel instead!

bod1467

LowFlyingCourier wrote: »

No driver will go through the process of leaving a card if they can get deliver the parcel instead!

Really? You're absolutely sure of this? So all the people who post about getting a card (and sometimes even seeing the courier drive away) when they've been at home are lying?

arcon5

bod1467 wrote: »

Really? You're absolutely sure of this? So all the people who post about getting a card (and sometimes even seeing the courier drive away) when they've been at home are lying?

If its a maintstream courier - probably. It doesn't really make much sense does it ? when they have to go back with the parcel another day.

If though it was RM i'd believe it, as if their over-stretched it is easier to post a card to a batch of address' and not have to carry about the batch of parcels in their sacks ect

sanity_

I sell by mail order.

I never cease to be amazed by the sheer unwillingness of customers to believe what is served up in black and white when an order is placed. ie:

Someone needs to be in to sign for the parcel.

Parcel will not be 'left safe'.

We can deliver to an alternative address such as an office address.

We need a working contact telephone number to pass on to the courier.

Under normal circumstances, next day delivery will indeed arrive next day. However, adverse weather, mechanical breakdown, sickness etc can affect delivery times. Delivery times are not guaranteed. (RM Special Delivery is the only exception, and the guarantee extends to refund of shipping cost only).

Orders placed after 2.00pm will be despatched the following day (that means orders booked on a next day courier service at 9.00pm won't actually leave our premises until the following day).

We do not despatch orders on Saturdays or Sundays.

Our delivery terms and order deadlines are plastered all over the website. The very last thing a customer does before placing an order is acknowledge our cut-off time and delivery schedule. Customers can track their parcels online and see that the item's on the van out for delivery.

Still I get phone calls and emails.........

"I only went out for half an hour"

"I ordered guaranteed next day"

"It let me book a next day courier at 11 o'clock at night therefore I assumed the cut-off time was invalid"

"Yes, that is my house in the photograph but the courier didn't drive down my street because I was upstairs"

I even had one customer place an order on a Wednesday evening, pay £26.00 for a Saturday delivery, then 'assume' it would arrive on the Thursday because I would be grateful for the extra money.

"I am desperate for this item, but it is not my responsibility to collect it from the delivery office, I want a refund" (the delivery office in question was located precisely 600 yards from this person's front door).

I agree that the customer needs to be protected from rogue traders.

I need to be protected from rogue customers though.

Sorry to say that hell would freeze over before I compensated a customer who wanted to rewrite the Ts and Cs to suit them after they agreed to them the day before. If that's the way things are set to go I think I'd rather pack it in.

tomwakefield

sanity_ wrote: »

I sell by mail order.

I never cease to be amazed by the sheer unwillingness of customers to believe what is served up in black and white when an order is placed. ie:

Someone needs to be in to sign for the parcel.

The problem with that is that it's not always possible to know when a parcel will arrive. Some of Amazon's supersaver deliveries are done by courier, and the first I know of a delivery attempt is a "sorry you were out" card. Even if I did check online to see "ah, parcel out for delivery today, must mean it'll arrive today" I couldn't get time of work with no prior notice to my manager.

sanity_ wrote: »

"It let me book a next day courier at 11 o'clock at night therefore I assumed the cut-off time was invalid"

You should fix that flaw with your site. If you allow things to be selected, people will select them, regardless of what your terms say.

sanity_ wrote: »

Sorry to say that hell would freeze over before I compensated a customer who wanted to rewrite the Ts and Cs to suit them after they agreed to them the day before.

Make sure your Ts and Cs are bulletproof then, as far as the law is concerned.

sanity_

tomwakefield wrote: »

The problem with that is that it's not always possible to know when a parcel will arrive. Some of Amazon's supersaver deliveries are done by courier, and the first I know of a delivery attempt is a "sorry you were out" card. Even if I did check online to see "ah, parcel out for delivery today, must mean it'll arrive today" I couldn't get time of work with no prior notice to my manager.

Then don't get the package sent to your home. Send it to an office address.

tomwakefield wrote: »

You should fix that flaw with your site. If you allow things to be selected, people will select them, regardless of what your terms say.

It's not a flaw, it's common sense.

tomjonesrules

tomwakefield wrote: »

You should fix that flaw with your site. If you allow things to be selected, people will select them, regardless of what your terms say.

You're wrong, it is not a flaw. If a website offers 'next day delivery for items ordered before 5pm' it is common sense that items ordered after this time will be delivered the day after next. Anyone that cannot understand that, should not be allowed on a computer.