The Norfolk hamper company thread

karlie88

ppc_guy wrote: »

Not at all. He has made a !!!!-up.

But he is just one man...

If the one man has to spend time replying to emails the same man cannot be trying to get out as many hampers as possible. Its the pitfall of a small business.

So would you rather:
A) Him reply to your email stating he is working on the order and he hopes to have it to you before xmas
He doesnt reply and moves his butt to actually try and get it to you before xmas?

Neither.

I would have rather him:

C) Employ 1 or 2 extra staff members at the end of November when he realised the large number of orders that he had to fulfill before Christmas. He then could've trained those extra staff members for a day or two to pack hampers at a high standard. Neil would then have had enough time to deal with customer phone calls, emails, stock control etc.

By 15th December he would have had a good idea of the number of hampers yet to be fulfilled. Based on the previous 2 weeks, he could have made an accurate calculation as to how many hampers would definitely be received by 24th December. For those fortunate enough, he could then send a quick email to inform them of the latest delivery date. And for those people whose orders couldn't be fulfilled, he could've sent them an email to apologise, explain the situation honestly and provide them with an option of continuing with their hampers after Christmas or a prompt refund.

Daffy22

And it is quite worrying, for someone who quotes on his own website that he has ran hamper companies for over 7 years, so apparently experienced, that he needs to take advice from someone else.

karlie88

I can see that a few other people have gone for option C too.

:rotfl:

ppc_guy

maxtweenie wrote: »

Not at all, I know that you post on another thread. But I don't know you, and by your own admission you didn't order any hampers so I have no idea why you have inserted yourself into this debacle.

I initially "inserted" myself into this debacle in an effort to help people, My first attempts to contact Neil were to offer to take any hampers which needed to go Norwich way in my personal car on Xmas eve. I was in Yarmouth visiting family and live the other side of Norwich and thought this was a tragedy so i tried to help in any way i could even if it was only 3 or 4 hampers i could take i saw it as 3 or 4 people less upset.

This didn't work out and it has, if im honest, intrigued me to an extent. I love business and wanted to get into knowing where this went wrong and of course help Neil make things better which in turn makes it better (again to an extent) for everyone adversely affected by this whole episode.

maxtweenie

ppc_guy wrote: »

I initially "inserted" myself into this debacle in an effort to help people, My first attempts to contact Neil were to offer to take any hampers which needed to go Norwich way in my personal car on Xmas eve. I was in Yarmouth visiting family and live the other side of Norwich and thought this was a tragedy so i tried to help in any way i could even if it was only 3 or 4 hampers i could take i saw it as 3 or 4 people less upset.

This didn't work out and it has, if im honest, intrigued me to an extent. I love business and wanted to get into knowing where this went wrong and of course help Neil make things better which in turn makes it better (again to an extent) for everyone adversely affected by this whole episode.

As I don't know anything about you, I have no knowledge of your experience with small business and I do not know whether any advice you give him will be of benefit or not. I have managed multiple businesses, from small one man bands to very large multiples, and I currently build workload models that are used by retailers to plan staffing.

The best advice I could give him at the moment is that he has two options;

A) Refund everyone whose money he has had for months and hasn't supplied goods to, or
See everyone in the small claims court.

Daffy22

ppc_guy wrote: »

I initially "inserted" myself into this debacle in an effort to help people, My first attempts to contact Neil were to offer to take any hampers which needed to go Norwich way in my personal car on Xmas eve. I was in Yarmouth visiting family and live the other side of Norwich and thought this was a tragedy so i tried to help in any way i could even if it was only 3 or 4 hampers i could take i saw it as 3 or 4 people less upset.

This didn't work out and it has, if im honest, intrigued me to an extent. I love business and wanted to get into knowing where this went wrong and of course help Neil make things better which in turn makes it better (again to an extent) for everyone adversely affected by this whole episode.

He shouldn't need help to work out he took on too many orders that he could not fulfill, so instead of being down the line with people when the light bulb went on, he buried his head in the sand or was blatantly rude almost passive aggressive to HIS paying customers. Any businessman with the experience and credentials he claims he has, knows when to say stop. So he shouldn't need the advice of someone who is intrigued in his c!"* up to point out to him how he needs to fix it. It is basic business common sense!

ohmochraich

newbie1980 wrote: »

i do wonder if loads are holed upo in a ukmail warehouse somewhere

Well I know mine definitely is......:mad: my delivery went from being told by Ukmail cs that it would be delivered on the 22nd to showing as delayed.....and the story changing to it will be delivered on the 27th on 72 hour delivery ( funny it was next day delivery on the 21st:mad: ).
In Neil's defence he did send an order out ( wont know how much of my order until it actually arrives!) before Christmas ( although not far enough before to actually arrive in time for Christmas).

I have a feeling a few more people will find their dispatch date was before Christmas, when their hampers eventually arrive!

Tipitytoppity

Personally I think a lot of good could be done by spending a hour on a PC hitting "Submit Paypal Refund" on his Paypal cancellations. Most people I would imagine just want to be shot of the whole dreadful experience and getting their money back in their accounts would be a good way to draw a line.

As a Small Business owner that uses a courier I do believe a lot of angst could have been prevented by supplying the customer email address to the courier on booking the parcel so that they then update the customer with parcel details. As soon as the parcels picked up then this happens automatically.

Of course this relies on transparency so if you are saying that parcels are dispatched when they aren't then you won't have a tracking number! Continually lying and saying parcels were on their way lost me at least 3 days in Dec waiting in for parcels that were non-existent yet promised to me as being "dispatched"

I for one am very glad that I was sucked in on the hamper a month deal which I nearly was - lucky escape!

Merry Christmas everyone - hope you have all had a lovely day in spite of "hampergate"

jenster

Daffy22 wrote: »

And it is quite worrying, for someone who quotes on his own website that he has ran hamper companies for over 7 years, so apparently experienced, that he needs to take advice from someone else.

i too am one of those waiting for a FULL REFUND now to my orders some of which were placed in August - and never received
im also of the mind had The man held his hands up when it be came apparent not only had he taken on too much which i also think a majority would have accepted , but also didn't know which order(s) he had sent and in what order.
I still for the life of me dont get in what order he was sending his orders there was no rhyme or reason as to why orders like mine placed in August were being ignored and pushed to the back of a dis-organized queue in favour of those being placed after it - it also was becoming apparent - those that shouted REALLY LOUDLY were getting some form of hamper(s) all be in a lot of cases substandard because they didnt contain what was advertised and he was just "cobbling" together with what he had left -

what people on here just couldn't take were the blatant Untruths of it will be with you on the 5th then the 8th then 14th then the 19th ( insert any date) then before Xmas and it was our own faults for even questioning him as to where they were
when in a hole stopping digging because Australia isn't too far away

PPC Guy If you have pointed all this out IF all WE did as a group os MSE which included those posting on here / facebook/twitter getting trading standards /Local press and Radio Involved gets those of us still waiting our full moneys back
then job will be done - lets just say the proof will be in the pudding

Tipitytoppity

jenster wrote: »

i too am one of those waiting for a FULL REFUND now to my orders some of which were placed in August - and never received
im also of the mind had The man held his hands up when it be came apparent not only had he taken on too much which i also think a majority would have accepted , but also didn't know which order(s) he had sent and in what order.
I still for the life of me dont get in what order he was sending his orders there was no rhyme or reason as to why orders like mine placed in August were being ignored and pushed to the back of a dis-organized queue in favour of those being placed after it - it also was becoming apparent - those that shouted REALLY LOUDLY were getting some form of hamper(s) all be in a lot of cases substandard because they didnt contain what was advertised and he was just "cobbling" together with what he had left -

what people on here just couldn't take were the blatant Untruths of it will be with you on the 5th then the 8th then 14th then the 19th ( insert any date) then before Xmas and it was our own faults for even questioning him as to where they were
when in a hole stopping digging because Australia isn't too far away

PPC Guy If you have pointed all this out IF all WE did as a group os MSE which included those posting on here / facebook/twitter getting trading standards /Local press and Radio Involved gets those of us still waiting our full moneys back
then job will be done - lets just say the proof will be in the pudding

Not the Festive Christmas Special (absent) Pudding - obviously!;)