Parcel2Go / DPD Lost Insured Parcel - help?

tigaruk

Long story short, dropped of a parcel at a drop off shop using parcel2go and DPD. It never left the store according to tracking. Visited store myself and they say they don't have it. DPD won't deal with me directly (although i've got their head office to look into it for me) and Parcel2go make you use their live chat and fob you off unless you use the special key words.


Parcel was insured but both DPD and Parcel2Go keep fobbing me off telling me to wait 2 business days, then 7, then 14, then how ever long it takes for them to decide the parcel is missing and go through the next steps.



I've written to the directors of each company (which is why DPD are looking into it) but what can i do to get them to sort this out. Im fed up with no one taking ownership of the issue and having to deal with live chat as both companies tell me they don't have a single phone in their offices to be able to chat to a real human. Especially as this was for a client and now im at risk of losing all their future business because they 'cant trust' me sending orders to them, so it may cost me more than just the contents.

mikb

The online tracking is not 100% reliable, so there may need to be a physical investigation (of the internal systems that should feed the web-tracking), or depot CCTV etc.

I've seen P2Go tracking go from "Awaiting Dropoff" to "Dropped off" (good), and then sit there for days. It looks like the parcel is at the shop still -- as no "In Transit" "Out For Delivery" "Delivered" status. Bite nails ...

Meanwhile, over on eBay - positive feedback that it's been received. Eh? Next day, P2Go says: "Delivered".

So you may have to let them investigate, even if it does take time.

tigaruk

Thanks, the issue is they've had time to investigate and keep finding new terms and conditions or reasons to extend it. Today telling me that even though i told them weeks ago it was lost that because i had not asked for an 'Official Enquiry' they had not put in an authorisation to look for the missing parcel.


The bigger issue is my customer wants a refund now, 1) that means i have to fund out of my pocket, not from the insurance 2) The parcel could be found and sent to customer so then im out of pocket and the stock is not with me.

mattyprice4004

As much as it's a bad situation, I'd ask the customer to wait while the parcel is located as it could still end up with them.

theonlywayisup

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

As much as it's a bad situation, I'd ask the customer to wait while the parcel is located as it could still end up with them.

It's a bad situation but it's not the buyer's issue.

What platform did the buyer buy from? Your refund isn't relevant to the buyer. They don't have their item.

When did you buy the service from the agent? How did you pay?

visidigi

Don't use middlemen. And don't be surprised if you get nothing but lip service from DPD.

You will need to bear with P2G - its peak season and there are alot of packages in the networks.

Whats your timeline of events here?

tigaruk

Early December parcel paid for via p2g using credit card via paypal. Parcel dropped off next day on a friday morning. Tuesday customer contacts me to let me know the parcel has not arrived. Chased via dpd phone number, they say its not been collected as the driver could not get access (it's a super market open 7am-11pm) and will be collected that day.


It wasn't collected, call again and they say they'll specifically book a driver in to collect. Doesnt collect. That evening i call again and was told by DPD that the driver said the parcel was not ready.


I then head to the store and spend 2 hours with staff who check stock rooms, contact DPD themselves twice and in the end say it's not there and give me a number for an 'Action Team' at DPD, that DPD gave the sainsburys staff.


Call the number in the morning, told no team exists and this number can't do anything to help and to contact normal CS. Ask for Head office number, refused multiple times. In the end get them to escalate in their team and told DPD can't look for the parcel until P2G tell them too as they have no systems in place to action that sort of request internally. Asked to escalate to a manager and told no managers exist and they can't put me in contact with one.



Fed up, email sent to Director of DPD. His team responds and tells me i've been lied to, happy for their number to be given out, team should have got manager to speak to me and they can action internally. Will look to fix those issues and said they'd send someone into store to look at their CCTV. Will take 3-5 business days. 5 business days have now passed.


In between this i spoke to P2G, told them it was not moving. Fobbed off and told to get the parcel myself. Spoke to live chat to tell them it was not there and is missing. Told to wait 3 business days over xmas. 3 business days pass and contact live chat who tell me i had to specifically ask for an 'Official Enquiry' otherwise they won't do anything. Told they can't escalate to anyone as no one has phones in the company and they couldn't do an official enquiry if they escalate anyways. Told this will take 14 days but possibly longer with as long a time frame as they desire.



Sent email to Director of P2G. He has now responded at 10pm tonight with a one line 'Will look into it' response.


It's the fact no one at either company has taken responsibility, with most CS obstructing every step of the way. These are also hand made products, so theres a lot of time and effort put into them i won't get paid for out of the insurance, let alone the cost of making them.


Theonlywayisup - i get what your saying and agree but at this point in time the parcel is in limbo. It's not classed as missing officially yet so P2G and DPD still say it could be on it's way to the buyer. I have no issue with refunding the buyer but until they've told me it's lost it means i could refund and then the parcel is found and given to the buyer, ending up out of pocket.

visidigi

So you dropped it into sainsburys.
You claim it wasn't collected
But the package is no longer at sainsburys.
There is a high probability the shipment left sainsburys - due to level of courier movement.
I am assuming the tracking for the shipment you printed is coming up blank.

The responsible party is P2Go - its not DPD and tbh I am even surprised they are speaking to you in any format - you are not their customer and you did not pay the rates which entitle you to their support.

Have you therefore opened the required official inquiry and waited the 14 required days for a response? Or are you actively emailing directors instead? If its doesn't turn up from the official inquiry then you will end up in the claim process anyway.

As a business I would anticipate you will need to refund your buyer and claim under the paid insurance from P2Go - couriers don't pay consequential costs so I wouldn't even consider this at the moment.

Goli1

tigaruk wrote: »

Early December parcel paid for via p2g using credit card via paypal. Parcel dropped off next day on a friday morning. Tuesday customer contacts me to let me know the parcel has not arrived. Chased via dpd phone number, they say its not been collected as the driver could not get access (it's a super market open 7am-11pm) and will be collected that day.


It wasn't collected, call again and they say they'll specifically book a driver in to collect. Doesnt collect. That evening i call again and was told by DPD that the driver said the parcel was not ready.

As someone who has been involved with DPD for a very long time, I can give you some insight into how the operation works from the DPD side.

Firstly, with the majority of supermarkets we are given a single access point which includes a bell and a prayer. Most supermarkets are pretty poor with responses to their goods entrances and some don't make provision for when the warehouse guys are on breaks etc. If a parcel is down as not ready then it means that (usually) it can't be found at the access point or when we turn up and the customer would try and give us an unpackaged phone etc (not shop collections usually)

Reasons for non collection at a Supermarket are
They didn't answer the door.
The parcel is insufficiently packaged.
They didn't answer the door.
There is no barcode on the box, or for multiple parcels from same sender - they have duplicated the barcodes to send multiple boxes.
They didn't answer the door.
The parcel contains goods that are unsuitable for transport.
They didn't answer the door.
They cannot find the parcel(s)

Second, if it has been collected then 99% of the time it will be on the system. Shop collections are different to any other type of collection we do. A normal collection we would just scan the barcode, give the customer a receipt and go - Instantly on the system.
With shops we scan all the barcodes for parcels to be collected (as does the shop) the shop generates a QR code from the sum of all the barcodes read and we scan that code to ensure that both sides agree. So there is a very firm transferal from one company to the other. If there is no record of the parcel being collected the likelihood is that it is still at the shop.
The system is not 100% perfect and (rarely) we have to pick parcels up because the shops gun doesn't work 2 days in a row, but the majority of the time that is how it is supposed to work.

As far as I am aware, your contract is with P2Go and not DPD so they would be the ones ultimately responsible for whatever your insured value would be.

I'm not sure this insight helps you very much or even at all, but at least you know how it works a little better now.

joanneframe

A similar thing happened to me at the end of October. I used DPD who used Parcel2Go. Eventually by middle of December Parcel2go admitted they had lost my parcel - a 20kg gramaphone motor that had been sent for a service - I am invited to put a claim in, but have to prove the value - even though they accepted a payment for increased insurance at the time I ordered. So far they have rejected my attempts to provide a valuation, saying a screenshot from amazon or ebay is what they want. The item is difficult to replace, let alone get a valuation. Reading reviews I wish I had sent it through the Royal Mail

DaftyDuck

.... well, you could always get "a friend" to post one up on ebay, at a price of your choosing....