Hattons Model Railways of Widnes (formerly Liverpool).

[Tim Hall]

I suppose it probably means they're busy, which is good. Let's face it, in the grand scheme of things we don't NEED any of this stuff quickly (or at all ), but we're all like kids at that Festive time once we've ordered .....

[Trofimow]

I ordered  selection of items at 04:18 this morning, and they were delivered (by Yodel) at 15:15 this afternoon.

 

Under 11 hours from order to delivery...

[Robin Brasher]

I pre-ordered a Hornby Golden Shuttle asking for it to be delivered by Royal Mail.  If Hattons had done this and I was out I could have collected it the following morning from my sorting office which is a ten minute walk from my flat the following day. Instead Hattons have sent the parcel by Yodel. I was out when Yodel came so I have arranged for the parcel to be delivered on Thursday which means that I will have to stay in all day until Yodel delivers it. Last time this happened I told Hattons that I did not want them to use Yodel.

[Jonhayes]

I have used Hattons for over 20 years and have always found them to be brilliant. So when my wife started to raise the subject of Christmas presents I hopefully sent her my wish list from the Hattons website. Brilliant 2 locos to unwrap this year (must have been good!). Anyway, when I get home from work today i find a card through the door saying that they had left the package behind a dustbin!

 

To say I was not impressed that a package worth over £200 was left behind a bin in a cardboard box in the rain is an understatement.

 

As I have an account with Hattons a text message has come to my phone asking me to rate the delivery by Yodel. I am sure you can guess my response.

 

Never had this issue with the Royal Mail!

[Robin Brasher]

I took up the matter of using Yodel instead of Royal Mail with Hattons. Hattons have asked me to remind the retail assistant, who takes my orders, to ensure it only goes Royal Mail. I don't know how to do this. Hattons notified me that they had processed my order to go by Royal Mail tracked 2 day. A few minutes later Hattons told me the item had been packed ... at 18:26 and put in one parcel addressed to me. Parcel 1, courier Yodel, 24 hour service.

[Bernard Lamb]

Yesterday I received an email re a packing list. It stated to be sent by Royal Mail.

An hour later I received a duplicate notification this time stating Yodel.

As I was going out this morning I was rather anxious as to what would happen.

When I arrived home at lunch time there was a note through  the door stating Yodel had left a parcel at the house over the road.

I went over to pick it up and bumped into the postie who asked if I could take in a parcel for the neighbour.

A right game of pass the parcel.

No complaints about Hattons or Yodel on this occasion.

Bernard

[cromptonnut]

I would rather pay a bit more to get Royal Mail - so as Hattons don't absorb the extra costs - if I was given an option.  It should be perfectly possible at checkout to offer additional delivery types so people can choose, say, Yodel at £4 or Royal Mail £6.

 

But as with others, the next time I order from Hattons, if despite reminders, it comes by Yodel, it'll be my last.

 

I have three perfectly good model shops within an hour's drive that may not be as cheap as Hattons and I'd have to wait until the next weekend to get there - but convenience wins every time.

 

My wife and I have both had bad experiences with Yodel, from a variety of different suppliers.  Many others share our experience.  How they are still in business I do not know.

[JimHearne]

It seems silly that Hattons online checkout lets you select Royal mail or Yodel and then they ship it differently anyway.

Why let you select if it doesn't make a difference.

I placed an order on Friday, selected Royal mail 2 day as it's my work address, there would be nobody there till Monday and the postman always comes during the day.

It was shipped by Yodel, not sure why but they didn't try to deliver on Saturday (maybe they worked out from the Unit part of the address).

Delivered to the unit next door at 16:57 on the Monday but no card left for us or details on the tracking that it was next door.

I had to go round the other units and ask if they had a parcel.

 

Jim

[JimHearne]

I would rather pay a bit more to get Royal Mail - so as Hattons don't absorb the extra costs - if I was given an option.  It should be perfectly possible at checkout to offer additional delivery types so people can choose, say, Yodel at £4 or Royal Mail £6.

 

 

The online ordering gives you a choice of about 5 delivery options but they seem to ignore if you select the standard Royal Mail option. 

 

Jim

[Budgie]

I haven't had any trouble with Yodel up to now, but today I decided I wanted something same day, so I went to my local model shop. It's not too far from Beckenham to Sidcup, and the round trip took me about a couple of hours' worth of modelling time. It looks like I'll be using them more frequently for the stuff they keep in stock.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Budgie

[melmerby]

Not Hattons, but I had two parcels being delivered by Yodel.

The first arrived before there was any tracking info, the second the guy brought in his private car!

 

Strange organisation!!

 

Keith

[Ian Hargrave]

Not Hattons, but I had two parcels being delivered by Yodel.

The first arrived before there was any tracking info, the second the guy brought in his private car!

 

Strange organisation!!

 

Keith

That's normal for Yodel. Many work from home & collect their delivery items from a central depot.I don't particularly like them but I've never actually come to grief with them yet with both Amazon and Hattons.

[APOLLO]

Sing a little song whilst waiting for delivery !!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0degkN3JgTE

 

Brit15

[Ian Abel]

Sing a little song whilst waiting for delivery !!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0degkN3JgTE

 

Brit15

Arrrgghhhhh...."Frank Ifield", bloody hell, I think my parents had that record! That's definately scary that it can even be found ANYWHERE!!!

[JCL]

Memo

Sing a little song whilst waiting for delivery !!

 

 

Brit15

Ouch, memories of Hemsby, circa 1980...

[RhBBob]

Not Hattons, but I had two parcels being delivered by Yodel.

The first arrived before there was any tracking info, the second the guy brought in his private car!

 

Strange organisation!!

 

Keith

 

Happens quite often here with parcel delivery firms who employ a private individual - with local knowledge - for the latter part of the delivery. 

 

Quite logical in our village as there are no numbers on our road and our full postcode - PE (Peterborough) just to confuse matters - covers some 24 properties spread over a mile of this, the Main Road (otherwise known as the A16).

[Crumplezone]

I must admit I've had a good track record with yodel so far on deliveries, but I assume that is down to the fact they deliver to my area then pass it off to a local courier for delivery to my door. I've had quite a few orders in the past 4months which ehattons has sent via yodel and not had them get lost, broke or left in odd locations. The yodel option is also supposed to require a signature so they really shouldn't be leaving the item anywhere unless you asked for it in special delivery notes.

I live in the Teesside area so maybe Yodel is fine up here because they hand off to a local courier, it does mean my order may not turn up to 4-5pm because its given to a local courier but it does state that on their FAQs, I'm not sure of other people's areas but I have seen most complaints about Yodel originate either at the Capital or other cities which for some reason or another Yodel doesn't seem to be able to deliver well to.

I will note however i had put in a order with citylink delivery and ehattons had changed it to yodel deliver for here which I found abit odd.

I just placed a order today (8pm-ish) for some bits and it should come Friday by Yodel after being dispatched tomorrow, I'll let people know if I have any issues, but I shouldn't hopefully. It probably be the same delivery woman who I've had the previous times.

Its abit ironic in one respect because I've heard equally bad experiences from citylink and even royal mail, but said experiences seem to always state major cities as delivery locations. Maybe these smaller delivery firms do not have the capacity to deal with city drop offs? Who knows, as long as they offer cheap next day delivery costs for bussiness they will keep using them, Amazon hasn't dropped them and quick look at their forums shows a thread as long as your arm about Yodel complaints but Amazon hasn't dropped them.

Either way if you had issues with them I'd suggest trying the online chat option on hattons.com site or phone them, I've always had a good response when enquiring about when a delivery may go out or if there were any issues and they normally follow it up quite quickly to.

[Tim Dubya]

The online ordering gives you a choice of about 5 delivery options but they seem to ignore if you select the standard Royal Mail option. 

 

Jim

 

They always ignored any delivery option I've chosen and done just want they want to anyway!  I doubt I will be using them again, after completely c*#%ing up the last order I placed with them (there is a lot of difference between a point motor and a transformer!).  

 

I've now learned that its better to pay that little extra and use a reliable supplier for peace of mind and less stress (oooh me chest pains!).

 

Cheers

[Crumplezone]

Well just a quick update, as noted I put Yodel down as a delivery option and ehattons has sent me a dispatch email saying it is now coming by citylink as two parcels tomorrow, I'm slightly confused as to why it was changed when both citylink and yodel offer to same service.

[Tim Dubya]

Not Hattons, but I had two parcels being delivered by Yodel.

The first arrived before there was any tracking info, the second the guy brought in his private car!

 

Strange organisation!!

 

Keith

 

"Organisation" ?

Edited November 13, 2014 by Tim Dubya

[chris bales]

Can't say I have had any trouble { not yet any way } All I do is select Royal Mail option and in the other comments box Please ensure Royal Mail delivery only not courier thank you

[Robin Brasher]

I have sent an email to Hattons listing my pre-orders and asking them to send them by Royal Mail and not by any other courier. They have promised to do this. I was housebound yesterday waiting for Yodel who arrived at 15:00. I was out when they came on Tuesday so I arranged for it to be delivered yesterday The outer packaging was damaged but the model looks all right. I will test it tonight. Yodel's service was reasonable this time but I prefer Royal Mail as the outer packaging is usually intact.  If it had been sent by Royal Mail I would have been able to collect it at 07:00 from the sorting office 10 minutes walk away and I would have been free to buy a Great British Railways T9 from Poole 20 miles away. Now I have probably missed out on that model.

Edited November 14, 2014 by Robin Brasher

[jamessolomon]

A couple of mates of mine we get together in the loft at one house call it a club and model but one commented on what Hattons call there condition of the 2nd hand stuff usually is different than on the website

[cromptonnut]

A word of warning for anyone who buys Peco setrack from Hattons - there's some quirks in their pricing.

 

ST200 standard straight £1.20

ST2000 8-pack of ST200 £12.00 (£2.40 more than buying them individually)

 

ST201 double straight £1.75

ST2001 8-pack of ST201 £17.00 (£3.00 more than buying them individually)

 

ST204 quad straight £3.00

ST204* 24-pack of ST204 £68.00 (£4 less than buying them individually - as it should be).

 

I have reported it via live chat so hopefully something will be done in due course but thought I'd share it for anyone who didn't want to spend more money than they needed to.

[jsp3970]

After reading this thread I am glad I don't live in the UK and risk the option of Yodel destroying delivering my parcel. Yes Canada Post takes its time sometimes, and I have to allow time for an item to clear Canada Customs, but the local postie knows me and delivers the parcel right outside my doorstep. Since I live in a basement suite this is out of view to anyone on the street. By comparison Fed Ex will just drop it off at the other apartments door and I only know its been delivered by checking the Fed Ex website.