Not impressed with Ian Allan Publications

[Ron Solly]

Ordered & paid for a book Oct 17, paid £11 for postage which I assume was for airmail & to date, this book has not arrived here in Australia.

 

To make things worse, 4  e-mails to them have gone un-answered even though I have an electronic receipt that they had read the second one.

 

 

Rant over!!

[Ron Solly]

Today early Aust time , I found another e-mail address for Ian Allan so sent it off again & got a response within 10 hours. The first e-address is Main Office so e-mails get lost.

Anyway, the book was sent via a Courier & they know nothing so Ian Allan firm is chasing things up.
For some reason, other books I have had from Ian Allan takes about 4 weeks yet I can get locos from the UK in under two weeks - go figure!

Now to wait........

[chrisf]

I've not had a great deal of joy in getting a response from Ian Allan Publishing.  In David Clough's otherwise very good book on Beeching a whole chunk of text is missing.  I have asked electronically four times WHY it is missing but guess what, all things are quite silent.  Are there no proofreaders these days?

 

Chris

[Happy Hippo]

Chris,

 

The chunk of text was probably ordered for removal by the 'good' Doctor back in 1963 along with the rest of the line you were reading about

 

I think they don't rely on proof readers, especially for certain picture captions.

 

Regards

 

Richard

[Kenton]

 

In David Clough's otherwise very good book on Beeching a whole chunk of text is missing.

Just representative of the effect on the railway - whole chunks of that went missing with Beeching.

 

I guess different couriers give different rates and manage long distance deliveries differently. 2 weeks sounds pretty good to me especially if it ended up going in a sack in the hold of a ship. Then there is the fearsome Australian customs.

 

BTW do not be mistaken into the belief that an auto notification means that the email has actually been read by the intended recipient.

[Ron Solly]

I did ask Ian Allan this

 

Do I presume it was Airmail?   You have lost me re using a Courier. Wasn't it sent via Royal  Mail?  It normally takes about 2 weeks maximum for me to get parcels from the UK. And I have had a few different book deliveries from all over UK as well without any problems.

 

 

the reply is

 

Yes, it was sent via the post, Royal Mail. When I say ‘courier’ I mean the company we use to collect our parcels from our shop. We don’t pay a visit to the post office ourselves as we don’t usually have enough staff to do so. So then this courier arranges/sorts out our packages and posts them for us using the service they deem most appropriate. In this case, yes, Airmail.

 

Having checked the address, yes we did put the correct address on your package. I am wondering if it has anything to do with the fact that it was rather a heavy book. Obviously, I can’t speak for these postal services. Once it has left our hands, it is, as they say, out of our hands. Hopefully, it has just been delayed, like previous books you’ve ordered from us and will show up in the next few weeks. Otherwise, it’s possible that I will hear from our collection courier that it has been returned to them and then we can go from there

[Kenton]

 

Otherwise, it’s possible that I will hear from our collection courier that it has been returned to them and then we can go from there

That is their problem .

 

Hmm. is this yet another case for the distance selling rules? The onus for delivery of an internet ordered item rests with the seller. Failure of delivery requires the seller to chase the "courier/mail system" and a replacement should be sent. or words to that effect.

 

The date of dispatch is critical here which might not be the same as date ordered. I would say that 4 weeks air mail from the UK to Australia is very excessive (even not knowing if you are outback Australia - it cannot be that bad!). Sounds like it has got lost somewhere so a replacement should be sent.

[trisonic]

This time of the year it often takes over 28 days to get stuff between the UK and the USA. Security seems to be ramped up. I've noticed this getting far worse since 9/11.  Sending "devices" by Airmail or couriers is actually remarkably effective and my opinion is that mail is deliberately, randomly,  delayed as a matter of security policy in order to defeat timed "fuses". I never expect anything to arrive before Christmas that is ordered from the UK after mid-November.

It's just the way it is nowadays.

I remember nothing being too delayed back in the nineties at all.

 

Best, Pete.

[Ashcombe]

We regularly send parcels by Royal Mail to family in Australia. If a parcel exceeds 2 kg in weight, it has to be sent by surface mail which could take up to three months or longer! Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.

[Ron Solly]

When Airmail rates are paid, one expects the item to come via air- Hattons is a good example with items weighing more than 2kg and coming via Air.

[Ron Solly]

Well, it arrived today but not by UK Royal Mail but in a heavy duty  plastic bag SWEDEN POST.

[truffy]

It's not impossible, then, that it traversed the globe north-south via the north pole. It wasn't delivered by a fat man in a red suit and white beard by any chance?

[Joseph_Pestell]

I've not had a great deal of joy in getting a response from Ian Allan Publishing.  In David Clough's otherwise very good book on Beeching a whole chunk of text is missing.  I have asked electronically four times WHY it is missing but guess what, all things are quite silent.  Are there no proofreaders these days?

 

Chris

 

I recall an atlas that they published which had more than 40 mistakes on just one page (which covered Kent). I particularly "liked" the EKLR station that had migrated onto the SER.

 

I was keen to compile an historical atlas of London's Railways. The mainstream national atlases never give enough detail of the London area. I offered it to Ian Allan and they wrote back to say that they would not consider publishing such a book as it would not be of sufficient interest to the market.....and then a couple of years later they published just such a book!