Black Sheep Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 No horror story but used Doddle for the first time this week. We have great difficulty receiving parcels, folks are home infrequently during the day and although the post is pretty regular, other couriers vary enormously as this thread testifies. Doddle offers a receiving service for parcels which you collect from one of their collection points, simply address the parcel to one of their offices with your name and user ID in the address and then pick it up from the office when it arrives, they e.mail and text you to let you know when it's there. The process was pretty slick, the cost can be hefty at 1.95 a throw but you can pay a fiver a month for unlimited collections so any more than two a month and you're in profit. It won't suit everyone, the offices are in major stations, I use the London ones and collect on the way home from work, but if you are near one it's worth considering. Any carrier delivery issues are dispensed with as the offices are manned 07.00 to 20.00 to receive deliveries so no more expensive packages left on the doorstep. That sounds great, if there's one near you! While I circumnavigate Manchester to get to and from work, I don't go into as that takes too long, even on a motorbike, but then I can receive large bulky parcels at work I did get into trouble for receiving a second hand petrol tank (bike) from a breakers yard that stank of fuel once... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted June 12, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 12, 2018 Rather than start a new thread I'm reviving this one. My wife was expecting a large fairly high value parcel today. The shop had sent it Parcelforce Next Day 24 or whatever it is called these days. We usually see them around our part of town about 2pm which as we hand't got anything booked until after 4pm shouldn't have been a problem, especially as the tracking app was showing the van less than a mile away at about 1.45pm. An hour later the tracking app was still showing the van in the same place and the delivery time was predicted as 3.30pm to 4.30pm. My wife went out and returned at 3.50pm, Meanwhile I had been working on the front garden and moving stuff in and out of the car on the drive, No sign of the delivery by 4pm so I did that job by myself and my wife said she would cycle to where she had to be later and I would pick her up to get back home. Almost 5pm there was still no delivery. despite the van having to pass the entrance to the estate at least twice to get to the different places it had been shown on the app. A series of phone calls produced several bs claims including that delivery had been attempted at a time when I was watering the hanging baskets and planters at the front of the house, and it had been mis-sorted and was on its way to the Hub. No card was left so the driver had never been near our front door. I am waiting in hope but little expectation that tomorrow will not be another day of hanging around waiting for Parcel-Farce to get their act together. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted June 13, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 13, 2018 (edited) After travelling about 150 miles from Carlisle via Kingmoor to within 600 yards of our house the parcel has now set off 120 miles in the opposite direction towards Three Spires Junction, Coventry. How does ParcelForce stay in business? Let's see what Thursday brings. Edited June 13, 2018 by TheSignalEngineer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I often get the card through my door the day after I get the parcel. The courier leaves it with my neighbour, who then hands it over when I get home in the evening. Then the next day we get a card saying that the parcel is next door. Caused a fair amount of confusion the first couple of times... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 We have just had a Hermes delivery very kindly completed by a complete stranger on her way to the office, who lives about a quarter of a mile away. The driver apparently delivered the package with another correct delivery at her address yesterday evening, received by her teenage daughter, the two of us having the same house number... That's hopefully going to please the wife (it is items she ordered for her disabled Father) as she was about to savage Hermes for telling her the delivery had been completed successfully. I expect they will get away with mild contusions instead. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 A customer of mine in London, to whom we've sent something with UK mail and I had this interesting situation: His business is in one of a courtyard of 5 buildings, each named Unit A, B, C, D, E, thingy court, 123 whatever road, londonish Unit E, his premises, is the only one in use, being newer than the rest, units A-D being in the process of being pulled down for re-building. The parcel has gone to unit D despite unit B having become a pile of rubble, and unit C having no back wall. The driver has let himself into the foyer and we presume left it somewhere safe, the card says 'unit D reception' upon seeing this tracking info the customer has contacted me who's contacted UKmail who have simply kept re-stating that it's been delivered and that it's at unit D reception and so there is nothing to be done. About 20 mins before seeing the tracking info on the tracking site, unit D was turned into a pile of rubble. towards the end of the day my colleague did manage to get UK mail to understand that it wasn't possible to retrieve the parcel from Unit D reception so they arranged for the driver to go back and collect and re-deliver (they wouldn't move straight to raising a claim)Tracking was updated the following day to say that the driver can't find the address to retrieve the parcel so we are now pursuing it as lost. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire2865 Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 A customer of mine in London, to whom we've sent something with UK mail and I had this interesting situation: His business is in one of a courtyard of 5 buildings, each named Unit A, B, C, D, E, thingy court, 123 whatever road, londonish Unit E, his premises, is the only one in use, being newer than the rest, units A-D being in the process of being pulled down for re-building. The parcel has gone to unit D despite unit B having become a pile of rubble, and unit C having no back wall. The driver has let himself into the foyer and we presume left it somewhere safe, the card says 'unit D reception' upon seeing this tracking info the customer has contacted me who's contacted UKmail who have simply kept re-stating that it's been delivered and that it's at unit D reception and so there is nothing to be done. About 20 mins before seeing the tracking info on the tracking site, unit D was turned into a pile of rubble. towards the end of the day my colleague did manage to get UK mail to understand that it wasn't possible to retrieve the parcel from Unit D reception so they arranged for the driver to go back and collect and re-deliver (they wouldn't move straight to raising a claim) Tracking was updated the following day to say that the driver can't find the address to retrieve the parcel so we are now pursuing it as lost. Amazing they can drive vehicles, manage online websites, and operate a national mail service, yet cant read or comprehend a building is demolished? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted June 13, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 13, 2018 Apparently my wife's parcel didn't get put on the van for our round yesterday. From today's phone calls Parcelforce HQ think it is in Manchester. Manchester depot say it is in Coventry. Will it appear on Ebay next week? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted June 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 (edited) Well, Thursday has come and gone as far as Parcelforce delivery hours are concerned. No sign of the parcel or tracking info this morning so PF and shop contacted. PF said no sign of parcel, shop said OK we will claim. PF rapidly swung into panic search mode and three hours later told the shop they had found it. Will tomorrow bring a result? Edited June 14, 2018 by TheSignalEngineer 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium skipepsi Posted June 15, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 15, 2018 Parcel expected no sign of it or a card explaining where it might be. Online tracking says handed to resident Karen somewhat confused as she rarely leaves the house and the two eldest children are at home. Contact made with the seller and a replacement organised. Then on the following Wednesday recycle bin collection day one of the neighbours knocks and says I have a parcel for you. Apparently the worker loading the truck saw the parcel in next doors bin and being honest went to her and gave her the parcel which was addressed correctly for our house. Given the layout of our houses the delivery driver walked an awful long way to misdeliver it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted June 15, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 15, 2018 Well, it finally arrived as promised. The driver was none to pleased at having to come out to our place or having to handle a big parcel. He was a subcontractor in a hire van, it appears that Parcel Farce don't send there own van out here any more, they pay some poor unsuspecting self-employed person £1 per parcel delivered to do it. He said he was told that he had to take the parcel and make sure it was delivered, obviously the depot didn't want us on their backs any longer. As to where it had actually been we don't know, all tracking had been wiped this morning. During a 15 minute call the depot managed to find it and make sure it was coming our way. It sounds that it had never actually gone anywhere and had been 'lost' within the depot by the previous subcontractor. The moral of the story is don't touch ParcelForce. I have used them in the past and stopped doing it after we had a claim for a non-delivered item. We had a copy of the receiving name and signature and it turned out to have been left at the shop next door but no card left and the person hadn't passed it on. I was going to place a large order this week for some models and other stuff, but the terms of the shop I was originally looking at said over a particular weight they used Parcelforce. Needless to say I haven't placed the order yet and that particular shop may not get any of it now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big James Posted June 15, 2018 Share Posted June 15, 2018 My other half once had a PS4 controller left in a bin because the couldn’t be bother knocking. Luckily we was in the house so was able to retrieve it. We’ve also had parcel just left at the front door in plain sight. Luckily where we currently live has a porch so it’s not to much trouble for them to leave it there. Big James Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire2865 Posted June 15, 2018 Share Posted June 15, 2018 My other half once had a PS4 controller left in a bin because the couldn’t be bother knocking. Luckily we was in the house so was able to retrieve it. We’ve also had parcel just left at the front door in plain sight. Luckily where we currently live has a porch so it’s not to much trouble for them to leave it there. Big James Being in the US, I have no issue with packages being left on porches as most of our houses have doors far enough from the road to not be much of a concern. Yes certain areas have package theft issues, but that is really a case of vocal minority rather than the norm. However I can never get over how many stories I hear of UK postal workers leaving packages in garbage bins. Who in their right mind thinks that EVER an acceptable place to leave mail? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted June 15, 2018 Share Posted June 15, 2018 Well, it is not a bad idea if the delivery person mentions it on the card that they ought to be putting through the letterbox. A wheelie bin has a lid and is not likely to be the first place any scumbag opportunist thief might look (unless you live in a very bad area). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railsquid Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 It's amusing to watch the faces of people in Japan when I tell them UK parcel delivery services will leave parcels in bins... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 I am expecting a parcel today being delivered by Hermes, their service has really upped its game this year both with the presentation of their online information and quality of local franchisee However the Royal mail still beats most for speed, for me the Post Office is very close, my local postie is excellent and costs are highly competitive, with most couriers being very expensive Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted June 16, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 16, 2018 My recent experience of Hermes has been good. Royal Mail is OK as the local delivery office is 3 minutes away on a pushbike. When our regular man is on at DPD he is very good. UPS and Yodel now both use a drop off and collection shop about 2 miles away so if I miss them it isn't much of a problem. Parcelforce is worst by a long way at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyC Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 (edited) Knowing the difference, for similar sized / cost packages, between what we used to get charged for delivery when I was ordering spares for machinery at work and what is charged for delivery to home from Amazon etc, I do wonder if while people do not get the standard of service they expect with home deliveries they do actually get a standard of service commensurate with what they have actually paid. At work in most cases I was ordering from UK or EU suppliers to a UK address so it is, I think, comparable to home deliveries, (I once ordered a PCB for a navigation light panel, size was about 8 inches x 2 inches; cost about £150; delivery £100, though that was from Norway) Edited June 16, 2018 by JeremyC Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted June 16, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 16, 2018 Knowing the difference, for similar sized / cost packages, between what we used to get charged for delivery when I was ordering spares for machinery at work and what is charged for delivery to home from Amazon etc, I do wonder if while people do not get the standard of service they expect with home deliveries they do actually get a standard of service commensurate with what they have actually paid. At work in most cases I was ordering from UK or EU suppliers to a UK address so it is, I think, comparable to home deliveries, (I once ordered a PCB for a navigation light panel, size was about 8 inches x 2 inches; cost about £150; delivery £100, though that was from Norway) Agreed. The parcel firms are trying to compete with Royal Mail which in the small packet business they will never do using deliveries direct from a depot several miles away. We have about a dozen post rounds in our town, mostly double manned in vans. This means that all small parcels and some bigger ones come out with the postie. They have another round which does all of the big / heavy stuff in a separate van. The courier firms besides Hermes come from depots up to an hour drive away (on a good day) and do between 50 and 100 parcels per trip. The staff are mainly contract and get paid peanuts per parcel. Hermes seem to do a drop at a central point in the area for the locally based delivery men to take out, and do collections from sending drop-off points at the same time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 I am expecting a parcel today being delivered by Hermes, their service has really upped its game this year both with the presentation of their online information and quality of local franchisee Well, Herpes certainly needed to do something about some of its contractors/franchisees/delivery persons. We had two class acts in our neck of the woods last year. One was a pervy old bloke who would invariably say he couldn't read the screen of his gizmo 'cos of the sun so could he just step inside a minute, to which I invariably replied "No you can't". But he was eclipsed by the wench who I happened to catch leaving a parcel on our doorstep. I opened the door and said "Ever thought of ringing the bell or maybe knocking?"? The reply was "Well I seen no car in the drive so nobody's in, innit" ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 At my previous address the local chap ran round in a clapped out car with family in tow, and the relief chap just did not attempt to make the delivery. Initially where I now live there were s few issues both with the local driver and local delivery centre. That's seems to be a thing of the past, the new franchise is a very nice chap and reliable, no van but his car costs more than most vans. My main concerns previously were, are my goods being kept safe all the time, is the chap reliable. And I believe runs a professional business. No complaints but the Royal Mail is twice as quick on economy delivery. On the few items I sell, I charge much the same as those who use Hermes economy service, but send Royal Mail 1st class, which I believe is a much better service and worth the few pennies extra, aided by the Post Office being just round the corner with exceptionally helpful staff. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Next time you're waiting for a mail-order delivery, think of this;- https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=you+tube+parcels+delivery&view=detail&mid=5237B522153A990EEA8A5237B522153A990EEA8A&FORM=VIRE 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewC Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Yesterday has put me off Yodel for life. We have a storage locker at Safestore in SE7. Yesterday morning we couldn't get into the building as there were 2 Yodel lorries unloading cages filled with packages blocking most of the parking lot. The rest of the parking area was filled with delivery sub-contractors. The way some of them were throwing the boxes around while they rearranged their vehicles was shocking. One box from Moonpig was kicked along the ground a good 10' from where the cage was to the back of the driver's mini van. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Yesterday has put me off Yodel for life. We have a storage locker at Safestore in SE7. Yesterday morning we couldn't get into the building as there were 2 Yodel lorries unloading cages filled with packages blocking most of the parking lot. The rest of the parking area was filled with delivery sub-contractors. The way some of them were throwing the boxes around while they rearranged their vehicles was shocking. One box from Moonpig was kicked along the ground a good 10' from where the cage was to the back of the driver's mini van. To be fair to Yodle I think all delivery firms do much the same, if I am sending a tank loco through the post I aim to protect it from the effects of being thrown across the room or being at the bottom of a large sack which are thrown into large vans and may be at the bottom of a pile of sacks I tend to buy whitemetal kit built items, the most common damage is being dropped on its corners, which seem to be the most vulnerable area The one area of concern with most carriers is the security on the final transfer to the courier, which seem to be in public places from the reports like yours I have heard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Some real pride in the job.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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