Delivery Woes

[Black Hole]

A close friend was due to have a very large package delivered last Wednesday. She had arranged to wait in for it, but then tracking said (paraphrase) "there's a problem at the depot and there may be a delay until tomorrow". She waited in the next day, no joy. I mooted the idea that the "problem" was that although the package was at the delivery depot, it wouldn't fit on the van or occupied too much space on the van to fit in everything else for that round.

She then got in touch with the suppliers (ie the customers of the delivery company), who arranged an expedited Saturday delivery. It still didn't arrive. She submitted a redelivery for yesterday (and waited in again). This time, it looked good. There was a delivery time-slot issued. Before the slot expired, a message came through that the driver couldn't find the address and the drop-off had been cancelled.

She got hold of the suppliers again. The suppliers tried to contact the depot but got no response. They then contacted head office, who also couldn't reach the depot but had a regional office contact her, who took the details and looked at the tracking said there was nothing wrong with the delivery address and there should be no excuse, and would make direct contact with the driver and make him go back.

Meanwhile, the suppliers had used their own customer view of the delivery tracking, and GPS showed the van parked two doors away when the driver reported not finding the address.

Needless to say the package never arrived.

I think this is one specific driver for that delivery route who really didn't want to deal with a very large package. I suspect the package might not even have been on the van, just scanned at the depot to make it look like it was on the van.

I am given to understand the suppliers are now going to retrieve the package and use a direct courier, but all this is at enormous inconvenience (to their customer) and huge additional expense (to them). It really should be for the delivery company to sort out the problem, perhaps they can be made to compensate.

 

[EEPhil]

I had an item (shaver) that stopped working close to the end of the guarantee period. I contacted the manufacturer (Philips) through the webpage and they said they'd send out a new one. (Couldn't really care less as the item wasn't very good and I'd already bought a better replacement(Remington)). The Philips replacement was supposed to be delivered by UPS. I followed the tracking - delivered to UPS, shipped to the local depot, on the van - not delivered. I saw a UPS van pass by my window! No excuse, just a problem with the delivery. I couldn't be bothered to follow it up as the package was an out-of-guarantee replacement that I didn't really need - and I'd got a year out of the Philips and had bought a better one, so I wasn't really out-of-pocket. I just didn't need the hassle! IIRC the complaints procedure looked a bit too complicated and confusing.

 

[Owen Smith]

Meanwhile, the suppliers had used their own customer view of the delivery tracking, and GPS showed the van parked two doors away when the driver reported not finding the address.

Sounds like they hadn't had their Weetabix.

 

[Black Hole]

My friend is now away and unable to receive said package. It's on her doorstep.

 

[Owen Smith]

My friend is now away and unable to receive said package. It's on her doorstep.

Of course it is. This sums up the appalling state of delivery services in the UK. They would have never done this before covid, why is it now deemed OK after covid?

 

[prpr]

They would have never done this before covid, why is it now deemed OK after covid?

Because they are lazy b@st@rds who just want to get rid of the stuff in the van without fail. Taking stuff back just means they either have to redeliver it or store it somewhere, which costs. They don't care about the security of stuff once they have 'delivered' it. Some of them even nick it having delivered it. And they are paid by the delivery and tasked with ridiculous schedules by incompetent/belligerent/uncaring/vicious managers who have the same imposed on them by the higher ups, culminating in the evil perpetuated by the evil c**ts like Trmup, Msuk and Zucrekbreg et al.
Covid just showed them they could get away with whatever they like, and they have carried on with it regardless, even though most other things went back to (vaguely) 'normal' afterwards.

 

[Owen Smith]

They don't care about the security of stuff once they have 'delivered' it.

Yes but leaving it on the doorstep in full view of the road is not delivering it in my opinion.

 

[Black Hole]

Yes but leaving it on the doorstep in full view of the road is not delivering it in my opinion.

You're absolutely right. The item remains undelivered until it is actually in your hands (or at least through your letter box), unless you have given permission for it to be left somewhere. Never do that, never nominate a "safe place".

However, in this case, my reading of it is the driver got hassle for falsifying the record and was given an ultimatum to deliver today, trying to avoid the cost of returning it to the retailer and compensating them.