Delivery rights discussion

sanity_ wrote: »

Under normal circumstances, next day delivery will indeed arrive next day. However, adverse weather, mechanical breakdown, sickness etc can affect delivery times. Delivery times are not guaranteed. (RM Special Delivery is the only exception, and the guarantee extends to refund of shipping cost only).

Orders placed after 2.00pm will be despatched the following day (that means orders booked on a next day courier service at 9.00pm won't actually leave our premises until the following day).

We do not despatch orders on Saturdays or Sundays.

Our delivery terms and order deadlines are plastered all over the website. The very last thing a customer does before placing an order is acknowledge our cut-off time and delivery schedule. Customers can track their parcels online and see that the item's on the van out for delivery.

Still I get phone calls and emails.........

"I only went out for half an hour"

"I ordered guaranteed next day"

"It let me book a next day courier at 11 o'clock at night therefore I assumed the cut-off time was invalid"

"Yes, that is my house in the photograph but the courier didn't drive down my street because I was upstairs"

I even had one customer place an order on a Wednesday evening, pay £26.00 for a Saturday delivery, then 'assume' it would arrive on the Thursday because I would be grateful for the extra money.

"I am desperate for this item, but it is not my responsibility to collect it from the delivery office, I want a refund" (the delivery office in question was located precisely 600 yards from this person's front door).

I agree that the customer needs to be protected from rogue traders.

haha a classic!!

I stopped offering 24hr delivery a long long time ago & stated in my website header '3-5 day turnaround' -- yet i'd still get this line! I remember one particular customer, created the order online then telephoned to pay, during the phone call she enquired about delivery for which I told her what day it would be dispatched and how long delivery would take -- it actually went out 2 days before this date, yet she phoned up on the 3rd day demanding a refund because we have failed to supply her with the order within the agreed time and how she has lost of patience with us & our false promises of delivery! :shocked: I don't know where these people come from!

Wish Id had this info before, would have been handy.
My letter to Currys below:

Order reference: xxxxx
Complaint reference: CCxxxxx

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing on behalf of the above named lady who is aged 84 and severely arthritic and recently undergone open heart surgery.
On discovering her fridge freezer was faulty I decided that to minimise any anxiety and distress to her the quickest solution would be to purchase from Curry’s, a large and well known retailer.
How wrong could I have been?
On the first delivery date nothing arrived so I had to phone up only to be told “they got half way there and realised they’d forgot to put it on the van, they should have phoned to let you know they weren’t coming.”
Is this for real, I somehow doubt it.
They rearranged delivery for a few days later, we were not happy as wed paid for express delivery as the item was urgently needed by this woman.
Once again we waited all day long and no delivery, I phoned again and was told
“the van broke down on the way”.
Would you believe these excuses?
A third delivery date was arranged and after waiting around for the delivery, yes you guessed it failed to arrive yet again.
I once again phoned Curry’s and spoke to xxxxx who lied her way through the conversation.
Not her fault she says, you need to speak to customer services, even though when she answered the phone she had announced herself as customer services!
I was once again refused to talk to the manager or under manager, apparently they are permanently in meetings and don’t speak to the public!
Xxxx then promised that the item was being delivered that afternoon, she had been in contact with the delivery department and the item was in transit at the moment and would definitely be delivered that afternoon.
I questioned her on this statement and said I did not want to be sitting around yet again waiting for something that was not going to arrive, but she insisted that it was in transit and would be there.
It didn’t arrive; I somehow wasn’t surprised, but was very disappointed at the service of such a large company.
I phoned again and the man who answered said I would receive a phone call from the delivery department in the next 10 minutes, no call arrived so I phoned him back and he said that no delivery was being made that day but he could arrange a delivery in a few days time.
Thanks xxxx for yet another lie and wasting my time.
I then cancelled the order, enough is enough, Id given them every chance.

I was told that to get a refund I would have to return to the store, this I have a problem with.
The Currys store is 30 miles away, a 60 mile round trip.
I have already done this once to order the item, so again would be a total 120 miles petrol not to receive goods paid for at Curry’s.
Also as I live 20 miles away from this lady a 40 mile round trip on 3 occasions for failed delivery’s adds up to another 120 miles worth of wasted petrol.
Also the lady in question doesn’t travel too well at her age and condition and I don’t see why she should have to make the journey just to be refunded money you owe her.
We have already wasted a lot of time and petrol and phone calls and think now its time Curry’s did the decent thing and repays this woman what’s owed in a decent way.
I would suggest a cheque in the post or transfer the money back into her account, is it that hard?
I was offered a £10 gift card for our trouble by the complaints department I phoned from the website number, but turned this down as I didn’t think this was a worthy offer and would not accept a Curry’s gift voucher after the service we have been provided with.

I used to work for DHL. The people that claim the drivers post a card without knocking are either deaf, have their tv on too loud, or are very slow at getting to the door.

Drivers have a lot of parcels to get through in a very limited amount of time so they will do everything that they can to distribute them as quickly as possible. I would always prefer to knock very loudly instead of using a doorbell that might not work.

The sender of the item gets to choose the level of security that the parcel will receive, some can be left unsigned in a safe place, some can be left signed for by a neighbour and others must be signed for by the adressee only. Its a good idea to have a note on your door advising which neighbour or safeplace parcels can be left, but don't be upset if they get returned to the depot instead, the security level of the item will over-ride any request that you have pinned to your door.

Furthermore, if you are elderly or disabled and will take a long time to answer then you should put a note on the door to say be patient. I used to knock once, wait 30 seconds, if no sign of movement then I'd knock again (but much louder) wait another 30 seconds then head off to try 2 neighbours or look for a garden shed (if allowed). Then I'd go back to the original door and leave a card. If there's a dog in the house then the card would be left wedged in the doorframe and not put through the letterbox. I could give you extra time to answer no problem, but I couldnt possibly do it for everybody - so if you needed it then you had to say so, else I'd be gone!!! The very last thing that I wanted, was for the parcel to go back to the depot - all that meant was that I had to reattempt delivery the following day and I didn't get paid a penny more for a second visit - so there is no sensible reason why I would want to drive off without knocking.

and my pet hate.... houses that don't have a door number displayed - especially long stretches of houses where not one of them shows a door number - not just a pain for delivery drivers but for taxis, postmen, emergency services. WE ARE NOT PSYCHIC!