Couriers and failed deliveries

biggsy137

Not sure if this is in the right place so apologies if it's not.

It seems that everywhere I look there a poor reviews of couriers either failing to deliver items or telling you it will be delivered sometime between 7am and 7pm or similar.

I write this as I've once again taken a day off work to wait for a delivery that hasn't turned up. Contacting the courier got me "it's out for delivery today, we can't tell you any more than that" and contacting the retailer I got the same response.

I've had this many times before and even had "we tried to deliver but you weren't in" messages when I've been sat at home all day!

From what I read online, this is a regular even 'normal' occupancy with many different couriers. So my question is this: what rights do we have against this kind of behaviour? Probably none?
When will couriers have to start taking responsibility for this sort of behaviour?

Or am I just being a grumpy pillok?

forgotmyname

Lots if you booked next day delivery then you maybe entitled to a refund or compensation.

The person who booked and paid for the service is the one who complains though.

You complain to the seller.

Had the same item failed to be delivered 3 times. Online tracking said out for delivery then suddenly its sorry we missed you, with the time hours earlier. Even though i had been chasing them, and the item was number 7 in that days delivery queue.

biggsy137

Unfortunately it was a 'spend x and get free delivery' so I've not paid for the delivery (although the supplier will have I'm sure)
I've complained to the supplier and to the courier and got the same response from both. Basically, tough luck.


Now sat at home for another day having been on the phone to them this morning and promised a call back shortly to confirm a delivery time, that was an hour and a half ago

davidmcn

biggsy137 wrote: »

Unfortunately it was a 'spend x and get free delivery' so I've not paid for the delivery (although the supplier will have I'm sure)

You get what you pay for. If customers were prepared to pay a decent amount for deliveries then they wouldn't end up with their parcels being tossed over a hedge by somebody making less than minimum wage.

biggsy137

Hardly my fault that the supplier offers to absorb the delivery costs because of the amount that I spent with them is it?

biggsy137

Also not my fault if courriers won't pay their staff a decent wage.

My gripe is that they have said one thing and then not delivered (litterally) on it.
If I did that in my job, I'd be out on my ear yet so many of these companies do this on a regular basis judging by my experiences and all the reviews I've read online.

Aylesbury_Duck

biggsy137 wrote: »

Hardly my fault that the supplier offers to absorb the delivery costs because of the amount that I spent with them is it?

biggsy137 wrote: »

Also not my fault if courriers won't pay their staff a decent wage.

But it is your fault. It's all our fault because of pricing pressures. Nearly everyone looks for the cheapest delivery option or the cheapest total cost of goods and delivery, driving down pricing until we end up with the common courier options we choose from.

You chose the supplier, perhaps in part because they offered to absorb the delivery cost? Presumably you could have sourced it from somewhere that offered a delivery at the weekend or in a defined time slot, for a premium price of course. You get what you pay for, which is a low-margin, high-volume service.

DoaM

Check out the Failed Delivery Fight Back article linked at the top of the forum (I believe - I can't see it as I'm using a modified forum skin that blocks out the irrelevant parts and focuses on the forum content). If they fail to deliver on the allocated date and you have to take additional vacation/time off work to receive the delivery, then you can charge them for your time.

biggsy137

DoaM wrote: »

Check out the Failed Delivery Fight Back article linked at the top of the forum (I believe - I can't see it as I'm using a modified forum skin that blocks out the irrelevant parts and focuses on the forum content). If they fail to deliver on the allocated date and you have to take additional vacation/time off work to receive the delivery, then you can charge them for your time.

That is interesting, I'll have to find that and have a read. Thanks.

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

But it is your fault. It's all our fault because of pricing pressures. Nearly everyone looks for the cheapest delivery option or the cheapest total cost of goods and delivery, driving down pricing until we end up with the common courier options we choose from.

You chose the supplier, perhaps in part because they offered to absorb the delivery cost? Presumably you could have sourced it from somewhere that offered a delivery at the weekend or in a defined time slot, for a premium price of course. You get what you pay for, which is a low-margin, high-volume service.

So basically, everyone should be paid mega-bucks and as long as they can blame someone else for their actions (or blame the money) then their appauling service is ok because actually it's my fault anyway...


Regardless of how much I get paid, if I provided the same level of service as what they have done then I'd find myself out of work pretty quickly!

Aylesbury_Duck

I think you’ve missed the point. The service is “appauling” as a consequence of the price and the consequent pressure on wages. I doubt people set out to make mistakes and cut corners just to annoy you. They are rushing about trying to eke out a decent wage which relies primarily on speed in many cases. Slapdash practices and mistakes are a consequence of that.

If you want to guarantee a better service with more predictable delivery times, pay for a different level of service.

Potbellypig

What do you do for a living biggsy137?