Rant about home deliveries

[frozzy]

I am so cross I am spitting!!! On the 9th of December I ordered about £200 worth of goods from that flagship of the High Street Marks and Spencer. When I ordered it the delivery day was given as 16th. Fair Do's its Christmas a week should be expected at this time of year. At the same time I ordered three things from my sons favourite website in the USA, and a few things from Amazon.
First to arrive within 24 hours was my Amazon order WOW! Thats amazing.
Next to Arrive was the USA order (5 days) I am even more impressed . DHL are everything they profess.
16th arrives................ and goes. No M&S order.
17th arrives .....................and goes. No M&S order
18th is Sunday.
19thth comes and so does my postie. No M&S order.
Sharp email to them, wheres my stuff?
20th, an email from M&S customer service. City Link tried to deliver your order at 18 34 last night, but there was nobody in so they left a card. Eeeeh........ No they didnt- lie number 1. Lie number 2 was the card .
I have been nowhere in ten weeks thanks to my bust leg and I was outside the house last night at 18 34 in the yard and didnt see flying pigs, santa claus, or a flying City Link van.
Phone call to M&S........
Oh dear, the screen says that the driver ran out of time last night.
So why did he say I wasnt in?
And why did he say he left a card?
Now I feel quite sorry for the City Link driver, because he very likely works for a company that treats him like dirt, shovels the work on in the festive season and fails to employ extra people to cope with the deluge of parcels and as a small parcel carrier he is not governed by working time directive (most have opted out of them anyway) so by 18. 34 I expect he had had a bad day and threw in the towel.
But that dosnt get me my parcel from M&S does it!!
So next time M&S are negotiating for parcel carriers they might give a thought to what company they employ and not go for the cheap option!!!
As I write now its 15 23 and my parcel still hasnt got here (although M&S managed to tell me it was put on a van at at 7.20 this morning) and I have a nasty feeling my parcel might not get here today either!!
Get a grip M&S!! If a parcel can make it in 5 days from USA, Amazon can do it in a day and even Argos managed it in three days, why cant you manage it in a week??
Rant over.

[diane]

Have no experience of M & S but just a big thumbs up for Amazon who are consistently amazing. I also sent for something for my Grandson from Hong Kong and it arrived beautifully packaged 4 days later with a handwritten note thanking me for the order, Merry Christmas, and if I was happy with their Service could I pass on the good word to others......I certainly did!!

[sm07]

Tesco are just as bad as m and s ! I Would never order from them again, I was very impressed with sainsburys tho :-)

[viking]

Another thumbs up for Amazon.

Hope your parcel arrives tomorrow frozzy.

[haggismarmite]

Amazon have been amazing on the one hand but on the other hand very naughty.

All my orders from them have arrived next day or on the day they specified (been quite a lot of orders as I had some vouchers from them accumulated), BUT I come in at 11pm each day, and OH has been leaving at 4am - now sometime between those hours Amazon have left our deliveries just inside our gate come rain or shine. Now it's not far between the gate and the garage or the house, only about 20 paces so if they decide to deliver at some bizarre hour and decide (thank goodness) not to knock on the door why on earth would you leave a TV and a massive box with a Sylvanian house in it, and some books in the rain on a lane where anyone mad enough to be passing that time of day could nick them when there is somewhere sheltered they could have put them!

I haven't complained as I don't want to scupper any subsequent deliveries but it is rather naughty and all I can say is thank goodness the TV works and didn't get wet!

I feel very sorry for the delivery guys this time of year, and I have to say the one company I wouldn't trust to order from is M&S they've always been unreliable when I've used them so I gave up on them last year.

Hope everything arrives in time for you.

[nici]

I was prepared to be impressed with my delivery from Argos - Cerys's new bed (a flatpacked midsleeper) ;D I ordered it and was promised delivery by 13th Jan, then they phoned last Thursday (15th Dec) to say it was available for delivery and they could deliver on Saturday afternoon between 12 and 6 and would need an adult to sign for it. Fantastic. The day before, I received a text, confirming delivery between 2:30 and 4:30 - even better for waiting in. I was out at the ponies, but my OH was in. At 3pm the driver phoned to say he'd be with us within the hour. All very efficient so far.

Then it all went wrong. Firstly the delivery guys said my OH couldn't sign for it as he wasn't the householder - erm yes, but he IS an adult! Then they refused to take the two big packs upstairs, claiming that it was against their H&S rules As I had paid for "delivery to my room of choice" I was not best pleased to arrive home and find the bed in my living room

My OH & I eventually managed to struggle upstairs with it all, by splitting one pack and struggling with the weight of the other. But he's in his 50s and I'm not far behind and with a very gammy knee. So if we could carry it all up, two strapping lads should certainly have been able to.

Anyway I phoned to complain, and Customer Services confirmed that both packages were within the weight limit for a 2 man crew to delivery upstairs, and the guys had no excuse for not delivering to the bedroom. They refunded the delivery charge and have promised me a £20 gift voucher in compensation.

I do sympathise with them a little - the packages were very heavy. However if the crew were not willing to carry out the physical requirements of their job, maybe it's time they found themselves alternative work. My OH used to deliver sofas, and frequently had to carry them upstairs to flats or town houses with upstairs living rooms and they were a lot heavier. Now he's older he delivers sandwiches instead - it's less of a physical strain but does mean working permanent nights.

All's well that ends well though - Cerys's bed is now assembled and she's (hopefully) sleeping soundly in it as I type this ;D

[marymary]

Had a nightmare with DPD this year who refused to deliver to us as apparently our lane was blocked by snow.......we havent had any snow ...yet this year!!! Photos of our lane and surrounding area showing no snow were sent to the company who had sent the parcel and parcel was re- delivered ...everytime we have a delivery with DPD it fails as it takes the driver 10mins off his route to get to us as we are isolated..

[rockysullivan]

I actually had a GOOD experience with DPD as they are the only couriers who I've so far experienced who give you a one hour time slot when your parcel will be delivered so don't have to wait in all day.

Amazon - excellent as always (although managed to miss postie by about 10 minutes so had to go to DO this morning to pick it up) - and btw Haggismarmite it isn't Amazon themselves who deliver - it's either Royal Mail or a courier company.

Worst experience by FAR this year is a sports equipment company - ordered a pair of astro turf boots for my husband a week ago. Got order acknowlegement and since then nothing - have emailed them twice. Sat on hold to their premium rate "customer service" line, tried their direct line which they just don't answer. Been doing some research since and they get TERRIBLE reviews on the review websites. Just wish I'd seen those before I ordered but as my OH is quite anal at researching these things I thought he'd have checked before putting the link to the website on his Christmas lis. Hey ho - lesson learned.

[larkhaven]

Interlink also give a one - hour delivery window, and you can speak to someone at your local depot.
Just a word from 'the other side' - here at Customer services we do our damdest to get everything delivered safely and on time - Us girls are exhausted !! We understand your annoyance when thats not the case, and put up with abuse, sob stories, lies, and at this time of year being told we are personally responsible for ruining your Christmas! Its our job, and we really do try to do a good one.
Our drivers are taking things back out in their own time, and again doing all they can to get everyting delivered.
I hope all you HG's get all your deliveries on time , especially the ones from the big guy in red!

Thought you might enjoy this link:

news.sky.com/home/strange-news/article/16134495

[fayeandash]

M&S did the same thing to me earlier in the year, ordered from both m&s and next on the same day, got my next order the day after, waited in day after day for the m&s order and it never arrived, so I rang them up and they told me the driver had tried to deliver but there was no answer, without a word of a lie I never left the house as I really needed the goods I had ordered before the weekend, and the driver also never left a card, I have never ordered from them since then, will always stick to Next now for online ordering.

[viking]

Thanks goodness the couriers and the posties who serve us, serve us well.

Most of the problems seem to lie not so much with the sender, but with the delivery agent.

[haggismarmite]

Well no-one has much good to say for Royal Mail most of the time but I have to say woohoooo to them this year. Everything ordered now safely here, in one piece and quickly! My postman popped in on Sunday (we don't get Sunday deliveries obviously) on his own time to deliver a parcel that had been left behind at the sorting depot and instead of leaving it til the next delivery he brought it over as he was passing so thank you to him.

[lips36]

Im going to moan about this, nearly every time i have home delivery they come either before or after the stated time and chuck the parcels over our garden gate,BUT behind that gate i have a pair of racoons (chocolate lab and a border terrier).you have guessed it they have great pleasure in playing with there new toy and ripping it to shreds.It's so frustraiting as i have to send them back and re order always stating please do not put over the gate. But they still do.
Next and MandM direct are the worse it drives me mad.
The dogs always look pleased with them selves tho lol

[topper]

we ordered 2 sets of captains beds for our 4 and 7 yrs old boys, marks and spencers said they would put the beds up, but the room had to be clear for them to do so, hence on the day of the delivery, we got rid of the existing beds. our delivery slot was between 1 and 3 and when nothing had arrived at 4 we called the firm to be told the van had broken down and it would not be possible to come !!!!! it then went from bad to worse, the boys slept in our bed that night and us on the floor, delivery dates were re arranged and same happened the beds didnt come.
in the end they were delivered, i sent a letter of complaint, which resulted in a £50 voucher,
which no way covered the time off work awaiting the deliveries, time spent sleeping on the floor, and 2 young boys with no beds.
the total of our order was over £2000, flag ship store, i think not