MSE News: Yodel boss: No apology for delays but 'deliveries getting better'

allgoodnamestaken

I ordered some items from Gap which were supposed to be delivered by Yodel. The online tracking said that they had tried to deliver the parcel about 5 times and then sent the items back to the store as no one was in. I had a newborn baby, so happened to be in at all the times and dates listed. They didn't ring the doorbell or leave a calling card once! I then tried emailing them a couple of times to see what was going on, and they didn't even bother replying.
One of the items in the parcel was an 'I love daddy' babygro for my baby to wear on fathers day. Obviously baby didn't get to wear it and the parcel never turned up, despite me ordering the items two weeks before Fathers day!
Yodel SUCKS!

gje1987

My recent experience was that I was given an attempted delivery card with the basic parcel details. As I needed the item the next day, the only option was to phone an expensive 0871 number to arrange collection from the depot as the online system wasn't allowing me to arrange redelivery. Couldn't find a free number online. Instead of being able to talk to a person, it took me about 7 minutes on an automated system to arrange collection. There is no direct option to do this on the phoneline, you get talked to for about 3 minutes about going online, then you have to sit through the dates for possible redelivery and then when you request more dates it finally gives you the option of collection. It then spends 2 minutes explaining what you have chosen before confirming.

Turn up on my way home to the out-of-my-way depot location (I don't own a car so was walking/public transport) to find in fact it had been left at the corner shop over the road. So I payed that premium rate phone number and gone out of my way for nothing.

BTW the free number which I demanded to find out at the depot is 08001577777.

LFC5Euros

I bought a chair off eBay, after about two weeks it hadn't arrived. I contcted the vendor and he said that Yodel had delivered it, twice, but the house was unoccupied. If I wanted the chair, I'd have to pay for my own delivery. This despite my address being a 45 room hotel and golf club, with 24 hour reception. God knows what happened, probably the driver couldn't be arsed. Either way I never got my chair...

Katrin

I had an expensive order from Amazon left on my doorstep in the rain. I was at home, nobody rang the doorbell or put a card through the door.
I complained to Amazon who straight away offered to replace the order, assuming it was damaged, which it wasn't. Amazon customer service didn't try to make excuses or argue at all. This made me think that this is a common problem with Yodel deliveries and they are used to complaints.
The only explanation is hat Yodel is so cheap that retailers can afford to replace lost or damaged deliveries. Question is - can they afford the damage to their reputation?
Whoever is looking after corporate communications at Yodel is probably pulling their hair out after reading this interview with his boss.

gwapenut

LFC5Euros wrote: »

I bought a chair off eBay, after about two weeks it hadn't arrived. I contcted the vendor and he said that Yodel had delivered it, twice, but the house was unoccupied. If I wanted the chair, I'd have to pay for my own delivery. This despite my address being a 45 room hotel and golf club, with 24 hour reception. God knows what happened, probably the driver couldn't be arsed. Either way I never got my chair...

This is my big problem with drivers lying about attempting delivery. It gives Yodel an excuse to charge for a new delivery or insist on customers driving to the depot after the "3 strikes and you're out" rule.

In these cases, yodel are taking money for a delivery but either requesting more money for the same job, or getting the customer to do their job for them.

I dislike CEO Jonathan Smith's press releases. Too much emphasis on blaming the press and customers and too little acknowledgement of Yodel's problems.

kara24

Im so glad this thread has come up as I have been complaining about Yodel for such a long time. Have had many deliveries/non deliveries from them, including a bag of dog food which arrived half empty and taped up at the sides, no apology. Their best trick though is the mysteriously appearing parcel. This usually happens a day or so after delivery is expected and they can appear in some very random places. The best of which I think was when I went to empty my lawnmower cuttings into the composting wheelie bin and discovered a parcel inside. No card had been left and I had no idea how long it had been there - I think about 4 days. I gave up complaining to the various companies that use this service as I got the "Its the delivery company's fault" line, except with the dog food who apologied profusely and sent me another bag. I also had a parcel shoved through the letter box which I should have signed for. I rang the sender and told them I hadnt been asked to sign for it in the hope they would stop using them, but to no avail they are still going strong.

gwapenut

Yodhl wrote: »

2 out of 3 delivered isn't too bad to be honest but don't compaire the likes of UPS to Yodel as UPS are more expensive and deliver far smaller volumes

I don't understand. Whether they are cheap than UPS is irrelevant, a 1 in 3 failure to fulfill a legal contract is VERY bad, not "not too bad".

Mosh

After using them once to return a large package which got back to Amazon very swiftly, we're currently going through one of the worst "delivery" issues since City Link lost a flat screen monitor back in 2006.

I was called on Aug 14th by a rep telling me our exercise bike would arrived between 7 and 10am on Aug 15th. Time taken off work, no delivery.

I called them up (0800 0151509 if you're expecting a van delivery) and was told that the package was on "warehouse hold", but with no further explanation. I was promised that someone would call me back as my call had been "escalated". Tracking only said that the package was at their warehouse in Airdrie and had arrived at around 2am on the 14th.

Nobody called back. I rang them the next day. Another polite rep told me that I shouldn't have been expecting a call back, and that someone would only have contacted me once the status changed. As it stood, still on hold with no further explanation.

Another day went by and I rang again on the 17th. This time to be told that the package would never have been delivered on the 15th anyway as there is a 3-day turnaround from arriving at the depot to being dispatched. This is for them to check the package, plan routes etc. I find this hard to believe, and it also knocks all delivery dates out by a mile.

I was offered a delivery date of the 22nd - more than a week after the package had arrived at their depot, and this was presented almost as a favour as had I not contacted them I would have been further down the queue. So, hang on, if I'd not rung anyone then it would just have sat on a shelf? Until when?

As she was booking it, I was told that the package had already been scheduled for delivery on the 21st - but no idea of the time of day. I am to expect another call closer to the time where I will be informed of this and likely have to take *more* time off work.

The address I was given for complaints (and invoices for my wasted time) is as follows:

Jonathan Smith
Unit 9000
Hatfield Business Park
Frobisher Way
Hatfield
AL10 9TR

Somehow I won't be holding my breath on the 21st...

gwapenut

I wouldn't hold out much hope of Jonathan Smith taking your complaint seriously, or even acknowledging it. Many companies pay great attention to letters or emails sent to the CEO - but in my personal experience, Yodel isn't one of those companies.

fredbear5150

Just had to let everyone know of my experience with these cowboy couriers! A blatant example of them massaging figures to make them look better than they are, absolutely disgusting business practice.

I waited in all day on Saturday for an Amazon Prime delivery, it got to 5pm and nothing turned up. Home Delivery Network's lines closed at 1pm so rang Amazon and they said there was nothing they could do there and then but would escalate.

According to their web site, HDNL do not deliver on a Sunday but went out on Sunday and came in at 5pm to find a non-English speaking courier (who couldn't answer any of my questions) with my parcel from Amazon.

I was going to leave it at that (Amazon gave me a one month extension to Prime delivery as compensation so accepted that from them) but then just looked at the tracking information on the parcel and HDNL are saying they delivered the parcel at 2pm on Saturday!!!

So, in other words, they have altered a document that I signed to show that they delivered the package on time rather than a day late!!!

Is this ethical???