MSE News: Shoppers vent fury at Yodel as Christmas deliveries arrive late

GentleGiant_2

Yodel are dire. They also lie both about items being delivered when they have not and the leaving of invisible cards.

However, what I am amazed about is why people chase any courier for delivery. Your contract is with the company you purchased from - contact them and ask them to do the chasing.

If they refuse, ask for a refund and go elsewhere.

gwdhld

I am having similar issues to everyone here. I purchased a tablet for my son for Christmas 30th Nov via a voucher site (mighty deals). I requested delivery to my work address as this has a 24 hour reception and therefore I would defiantly get the parcel. After not receiving the parcel I decided to track it, I visited the redeem code site (IQUE) and they directed me to yodel. The tracker was showing that the item had been delivered, yet I had not received anything. I contacted the call centre and was advised a member of staff in a different department would ring me back. I received no call back so emailed. Eventually someone rang leaving a message to say item delivered on 15th and was signed for by someone called Smith. I checked with reception but no parcel, checked rota staff but no one called smith on. We then checked CCTV but no deliveries showing. I emailed Yodel again to advise of same, this time someone rang and left a message to say item delivered 17th dec (different day to original information), they advised that if we had a problem we would need to speak to sender as they could not authorise further trace as I was not customer. I emailed both IQUE and MIGHTY DEALS but no reply from either. Given this I borrowed money to buy a different tablet from the High street. After new year I started the quest again, still I have had no joy with Yodel or IQUE. To be fair mighty deals have responded but have said that as they are just the voucher company they are limited as to what they can do. If this parcel bass been delivered it has been stolen and therefore this is a criminal case and I would report to police, however i have asked yodel for proof of signature so I can show as evidence to police but they have been unable to present it. Given the CCTV etc it would suggest that it hasn't been. I have kept copies of all emails and was planning on writing formal letter this weekend. I will not stop until I get either a refund or the item. Does anyone know where I stand with these voucher sites please. Any suggestions would be grateful.

Saetana

If you have issues with a Yodel delivery, don't waste your time contacting them - contact the retailer as it is THEIR responsibility to ensure your goods are delivered. From what I have heard, you are likely to get more joy with the retailer in any event as you have statutory protection. More people contacting retailers rather than Yodel might eventually have the desired effect of stopping these large companies using them.

tlise

Our service was ok, until we had a different driver. I constantly had problems with having things delivered or collected...he once delivered a replacement pushchair and 2 boxes, but refused to take back just one pushchair claiming he had no room. I had to ring up every day for a week before it was collected. Then another time because it was me who answered the door, he claimed that he hadn't been asked to, then reconsidered and said he would check his van for the paperwork adn what a surprise it was there. Clothes despite being bagged, stunk of cigarette smoke...The final straw for me was preordering 2 call of duty games for my 2 teenagers. They were dispatched and sat in the warehouse on the 13th (release date) and still there 3 weeks later. I was going to put in an official complaint but then he doesn't seem to deliver round here now. If he starts again, I will do though.

In the past we have had parcels left outside the front door in the rain, and even thrown over the flat roof at the back, or over next doors fence because we weren't in.

tlise

suelees1 wrote: »

I suppose it serves us all right for not using our local shops

.....and this is what'll happen if they get rid of Royal Mail and everything is privatised

I unfortunately have had more problems with Royal mail not delivering letters and parcels than I have any other company....especially during the summer or around christmas.

Clunket

I returned a parcel to Studio in June, the driver arrived before I had sealed the parcel which I explained, he just said would you hurry up because I have lots to do. I quickly sealed the parcel and the driver gave me a receipt for it.

The parcel never arrived at Studio, I therefore had to prove that collection had been made before Studio would remove the cost of the item from my account.

I also had a delivery from carphone warehouse in July, the delivery had a 3day delivery time scale, after the 3 days I checked the parcel tracking number and it stated that the parcel had been delivered to me, I contacted CW by email to explain that delivery had not been received.

Two days later a kind honest gentleman from a different block of flats near me, knocked on my door and explained that the delivery driver stated to him that he could not find my address and thrust the parcel into his hands saying would you pass the parcel onto me and drove off. This man could have quite easily have kept my parcel containing a new mobile phone, as the man was in the car park and never gave his address to the delivery driver.

I think Yodel are a joke and would never consider using them to deliver anything on my behalf.:o

glowballs wrote: »

Yodel are a JOKE!

I ordered a parcel from Studio catalogue on December 4th 2012, checked the online tracking and it arrived in the Yodel, Gateshead depot on 8th December 2012....

NO ATTEMPT at delivery, on 15th December I called Yodel to be told they couldn't do anything for 14 days, so by 22nd I gave up hope as it was a Christmas present..

Eventually found the depot in Gateshead on 27th December to be left waiting 30 minutes.. Then told..... "Why didn't you come and collect it earlier!!" - I explained that my 'courier' is paid to deliver the parcel to my door, or at least attempt delivery.. I am right, right?

Anyway, the parcel is 'missing', unhappy child didn't get her lovely present and I've got the bill outstanding for the goods!!

S

Malsiluk

I read this thread with interest, as I used to 'work for' Yodel doing local home deliveries. I did this for close to 2 years until the attitude of the company and the slave-rate wages finally drove me to quit.

Yodel (previously DHL) get many local deliveries done by what they called 'lifestyle couriers'. These are people who deliver in a fairly small (postcode) area, close to where they live. They used to deliver the parcels in sacks to your home address and you would sort them out, check you had the ones they thought you should have (and trust me, often the odd one or two had gone missing) and then you went out and delivered, using your own car, stuffed full of parcels.

This seemed like a good idea to me at the time, but they only paid you 65p per parcel and nothing for your petrol costs. I had a semi-rural area and I quickly found that I was driving about an average of 1 mile per parcel. As I was making very little, they upped the rate to £1 a parcel, but even then, when you took into account the time spent sorting the parcels and planning your route, as well as the actual delivery time, I was earning around £4.50 per hour on average, after deducting motoring costs at Inland Revenue rates.

Now though I say it myself, I was pretty good. I treated the parcels as if they were my own and never threw a single one over a fence, or left it sitting on a doorstep in full view of the road. I would knock on many a neighbours door to see if they would take a parcel, when the intended recipient was not in.

Yodel would not pay you for a repeat attempted delivery. You had to try on up to 3 days (and leave a card for each failed attempt, with your own mobile number on it for the customer to ring) all for the single delivery price. They then started to add more and more parcels that could only be delivered to the address, with a customer signature obtained and not left with the neighbour. This was paid at the same rate. What finally killed it off for me, was when they introduced another delivery classification, that only paid you 50p and you could do it on any of the next 3 days. As I was already 'earning' well below the minimum wage (but they get away with that, because they treat you as self-employed, not an employee) I was not willing to deliver stuff for 'half price' and bring my average earnings down even further.

You can see from the above, that a lot of people doing this work are doing it for peanuts. Many would take shortcuts, just to get the work done and earn something. I didn't feel able to do it like that, so gave it up after about 2 years of frustration. Trust me, Yodel are just as badly organised from the inside, as they seem from the outside. Trying to get your parcels to be delivered as a reasonable time before lunch, was like banging your head against a brick wall.

grumpytoo

Gothchick wrote: »

I haven't seen any good comments about Yodel yet, so I would like to redress the balance. I have had several deliveries through Yodel and have found the delivery times were fast and the courier herself was very polite and friendly. And, no, I don't work for Yodel!

You must have had the former DHL Yodel as opposed to the former HDNL Yodel. Parcel 2 Go know the difference but Joe Public doesn't! If you look on the P2G website you will see TWO Yodel services and two prices. AFAIK the higher priced service is the former DHL and the lower priced service is the former HDNL. IMHO its a bit like renaming Windscale as Sellafield but its the same idea. Anyway the old rule still applies "Pay peanuts and you'll: get monkeys!":(

grumpytoo

tlise wrote: »

I unfortunately have had more problems with Royal mail not delivering letters and parcels than I have any other company....especially during the summer or around christmas.

Sometimes you will get rogue postal workers but these are thankfully incredibly rare. Several decades ago in Bude there was a postie who had too much mail to deliver so he used to finish his round on time by burying the "surplus" mail that he couldn't be bothered to deliver! He was of course sacked but the sentence was very lenient as he wasn't stealing it for gain.

There were several bad guys in Plymouth and according to the papers two postmen were sacked for stealing money out of birthday cards. Even worse was a manager at the sorting office who seemed to be able to smell the money! Again his specialty was birthday cards. An old colleague living in Mutley Plymouth sent a card containing a £20 note to his sister in Plympton. This distance was only about four miles but the card never arrived! Disgusting isn't it? The moral of the tale is to never send money through the post especially in greetings cards.

grumpytoo

Saetana wrote: »

If you have issues with a Yodel delivery, don't waste your time contacting them - contact the retailer as it is THEIR responsibility to ensure your goods are delivered. From what I have heard, you are likely to get more joy with the retailer in any event as you have statutory protection. More people contacting retailers rather than Yodel might eventually have the desired effect of stopping these large companies using them.

Absolutely correct! Normally the recipient won't have any leverage with the courier firm as it was the SELLER who made the contract with them (the fact that the seller paid for the transport by using the BUYERS money doesn't seem to count!)

Sometimes eBay sellers will insist that the BUYER organises and pays the courier. I have done this several times and it can lead to a peculiar situation. (1) The goods don't arrive. (2) The buyer chases the courier. (3) The courier retorts "You will have to contact the seller about this as he's the one who organised things." (4) "NO" I say "I am the one who organised and paid for the transport and the contract is with me!"

This does seem to rattle them somewhat and they will usually get their a**es in gear.