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[Bradley66]

Placed an order with Blanchard`s earlier in the week , surprised to be told that it will be delivered on
Thursday 6th..
It was delivered , but not to my house and DPD didnt put a card through the letterbox to tell me where had been delivered to.
Nothing that simple. I got sent a picture of someone's front door , no idea who, and a message telling me that I had signed for it.
I was 25 miles away at the moment I supposedly signed for the parcel.
I now have a parcel full of genuine parts somewhere. And the best bit is that DPD tell me its delivered. They no longer except responsibility for the parcel. DPD have really excelled on this one!
I have contacted Blanchard`s , and it will get sorted out , but should we really have to put up with this level of service from the couriers ?
Rant over

[island dormy]

  Hi Bradley

  Over here the couriers have not taken signatures since covid started they just leave it on the door step, most of them will not even take the time to ring the bell to let you know its out there. Normal procedure is to trip over it next morning leaving the house.

  Victor

[Wittsend]

.... we've all seen the YouTube vids of courier drivers (from all the various firms) tossing packages over garden walls etc.
 

Great fun if it's not your parcel.

I guess you get what you pay for.

I also guess that companies/suppliers use the courier(s) who bid the cheapest for the contract



 

[gilbo]

Placed an order with Blanchard`s earlier in the week , surprised to be told that it will be delivered on
Thursday 6th..
It was delivered , but not to my house and DPD didnt put a card through the letterbox to tell me where had been delivered to.
Nothing that simple. I got sent a picture of someone's front door , no idea who, and a message telling me that I had signed for it.
I was 25 miles away at the moment I supposedly signed for the parcel.
I now have a parcel full of genuine parts somewhere. And the best bit is that DPD tell me its delivered. They no longer except responsibility for the parcel. DPD have really excelled on this one!
I have contacted Blanchard`s , and it will get sorted out , but should we really have to put up with this level of service from the couriers ?
Rant over

Evening Trev
Well at least you have a photo to work with - unlike the clown from Yodel last week who delivered a battery for SWMBO's car - to the the wrong house in the wrong street (and they were out!) so he delivered it to the neighbour - of the wrong house in the wrong street. No photo available for 4 days!!!!! In the meantime (it happens regularly here) I had tracked it down.
So the point is that they seem to work on 'approximate' postcodes and if their satnav says they are 'here' (when they clearly are not!) they look for the number of the house on the parcel and NOT check the street.
Generally no one signs for anything these days but they take a photo of the door open to 'prove' it was delivered - somewhere. The other thing I don't get is why anyone accepts a parcel for someone else and then doesn't read the recipients name and address!! I had that happen a few months back and when I knocked the door the woman said yes she took a parcel in, assumed it was for her (as it was her birthday the next day) and just put it in a cupboard. Mmm - what was she going to do with 200 pop rivets then I wonder 
My advice to you would be to check out the range that your postcode covers (plus a bit more) and armed with the photo go and have  a walk around the neighbours - you might get lucky as trying to use any couriers so called customer service agents is an utter waste of your life.
No, you shouldnlt have to do this but sadly what alternative do you have. Kicking up a stink falls on deaf ears as theythousands just like you a day!
HTH
Happy New Year BTW - missed you on Sunday!

[Wittsend]

Try living at No.11 ***** Drive North and then they build houses on the other side of the fence.  So there is now "another" No. 11 ***** Drive, but no North. We protested like mad to the council and Royal Mail to change the name of the new estate road, but they would have none of it.
Different postcodes. I can see the other house from ours 
Problem is the woman there hates the Royal Mail and hates me - because it's my fault there are 2 houses with virtually the same address 
This is coupled by the fact that there is another David Alan Jones living at No. 10 on the new estate. I can see his house too, but he happily delivers wrong mail over the fence.
At least I know what their front doors look like.

Not long back I ordered from Paddocks but with fat fingers I transposed NR8 to NR5 about 2 miles away - to a chap's puzzled parents. He worked it out and delivered that evening 

Consider too that these courier drivers are on about 50p a package delivery - it's a hard day's work for some.
Gig economy, so no minimum hourly rate.

The secret is don't spend a lot of money that you can't afford to lose and don't buy anything that's breakable.

[Bradley66]

Evening Trev
Well at least you have a photo to work with - unlike the clown from Yodel last week who delivered a battery for SWMBO's car - to the the wrong house in the wrong street (and they were out!) so he delivered it to the neighbour - of the wrong house in the wrong street. No photo available for 4 days!!!!! In the meantime (it happens regularly here) I had tracked it down.
So the point is that they seem to work on 'approximate' postcodes and if their satnav says they are 'here' (when they clearly are not!) they look for the number of the house on the parcel and NOT check the street.
Generally no one signs for anything these days but they take a photo of the door open to 'prove' it was delivered - somewhere. The other thing I don't get is why anyone accepts a parcel for someone else and then doesn't read the recipients name and address!! I had that happen a few months back and when I knocked the door the woman said yes she took a parcel in, assumed it was for her (as it was her birthday the next day) and just put it in a cupboard. Mmm - what was she going to do with 200 pop rivets then I wonder 
My advice to you would be to check out the range that your postcode covers (plus a bit more) and armed with the photo go and have  a walk around the neighbours - you might get lucky as trying to use any couriers so called customer service agents is an utter waste of your life.
No, you shouldnlt have to do this but sadly what alternative do you have. Kicking up a stink falls on deaf ears as theythousands just like you a day!
HTH
Happy New Year BTW - missed you on Sunday!

Evening, I completely forgot about last Sunday, having said that I have followed James down enough lanes to know that I am lucky to get out the the other side in one piece 

 

[Bradley66]

  Hi Bradley

  Over here the couriers have not taken signatures since covid started they just leave it on the door step, most of them will not even take the time to ring the bell to let you know its out there. Normal procedure is to trip over it next morning leaving the house.

  Victor

I take it from you name and location you are on Island ? I have friends in Nanaimo , have been there numerous times over the years.

[Peter Holden]

I live on highfield rd Adlington it has a PR6 postcode, 3 miles up the road there is a Highfield Rd Chorley also with a PR6 post code and to confuse things even more our road has been extended, there is now a Highfield Rd North, Adlington.  To make it worse there is also a Highfield Rd North in Chorley.

Peter

[George1990]

If they delivered the parcel to the wrong house why would they then come round to yours and put a card in the door?

With UPS the sender can inform of mis-delivery, then they GPS track the drop and get the driver to pick it up again from where it was erroneously delivered.

DPD may to do something similar, but the drivers are self employed and probably won't bother.

[rustynuts]

I have read that a lot of the companies put unrealistic delivery targets on their drivers and this was certainly borne out by a recent experience of mine. I had a delivery from Yodel; the tracking link they gave me gave a real time GPS location of the van. In the morning I saw he was going round a housing estate in the town a couple of miles away from me, so I thought he would be with me soon. Then he went miles out past me and spent lots of time in sparsely populated villages where finding addresses can be a nightmare if you don't have local knowledge. I used to live out that way where there were so few houses that our postcode covered an area of a good few square miles and many lanes. He then spent a couple of hours in a large village a few miles away and then at about 7pm I had a text to say that my parcel had been delivered, but the doorbell never rang. I went out with a torch and found a soggy parcel on the verge.

Not very professional, but I would sympathise with the driver, long hours, probably not on minimum wage as he will not have been paid by the hour, but by how long his employer thought it should take him to deliver his load. If he dared to complain I can imagine what his employer would tell him to do!

It's down to economics. Would you be prepared to pay a couple of quid extra for each delivery to give the drivers a decent standard of living and working conditions? The sellers and the courier companies obviously don't think so. 

[island dormy]

  Hi Bradley

  Yes I am on Vancouver Island in Duncan for the last 30 years, lots of British cars and land rovers here.
We have 3 Big British car shows each year, lots of fun.
 So is your friend into British automobiles chances are I know him.

  Victor

[Bradley66]

  Hi Bradley

  Yes I am on Vancouver Island in Duncan for the last 30 years, lots of British cars and land rovers here.
We have 3 Big British car shows each year, lots of fun.
 So is your friend into British automobiles chances are I know him.

  Victor

They are not into cars , both Marine Biologists. I know Duncan. 

[Matt Reeves]

I have read that a lot of the companies put unrealistic delivery targets on their drivers and this was certainly borne out by a recent experience of mine. I had a delivery from Yodel; the tracking link they gave me gave a real time GPS location of the van. In the morning I saw he was going round a housing estate in the town a couple of miles away from me, so I thought he would be with me soon. Then he went miles out past me and spent lots of time in sparsely populated villages where finding addresses can be a nightmare if you don't have local knowledge. I used to live out that way where there were so few houses that our postcode covered an area of a good few square miles and many lanes. He then spent a couple of hours in a large village a few miles away and then at about 7pm I had a text to say that my parcel had been delivered, but the doorbell never rang. I went out with a torch and found a soggy parcel on the verge.

Not very professional, but I would sympathise with the driver, long hours, probably not on minimum wage as he will not have been paid by the hour, but by how long his employer thought it should take him to deliver his load. If he dared to complain I can imagine what his employer would tell him to do!

It's down to economics. Would you be prepared to pay a couple of quid extra for each delivery to give the drivers a decent standard of living and working conditions? The sellers and the courier companies obviously don't think so. 

That's a pretty accurate summary. Also some companies such as Parcel Force have a system which won't allow the driver to deliver to an address outside the specified time, but the pre-set route often fails to group nearby deliveries together, so the driver is forced to waste time constantly back tracking.

I stopped working for Hermes due to their unrealistic targets and the fact they cut the amount paid per parcel by almost half, plus their "app" is dire.

[Alan Drover]

I used to deliver for the now defunct Target delivery company but I was an ad hoc driver. All drivers were self employed and had to provide their own vehicle.  I was working for someone who owned several vehicles. I would do awkward deliveries such as the oil refinery at Fawley which could take up to 2 hours if there were multiple drops and the various military establishments which could bel long winded too so it wasn't too bad as I had very few timed deliveries. I helped do timed deliveries where it would have been impossible for the regular driver to fit them in his schedule. I had to make an 8am delivery to HMS Gloucester in Portsmouth dockyard. I was there at 7.50am and some crew members quickly helped unload their parcels. The ship was due to sail soon afterwards.
I would hate to do delivery work nowadays.

[Genem]

Our post code covers most of the village and is centred on the now defunct Primary school half a mile away. We live 400m up a track that has no name.  I pity new Courier drivers, its a long drive to come out here and as Alan says, they are on a pittance. No wonder that I've tracked deliveries coming down the main road from the North, heading right past the turnoff that would take them the 6+ miles to get to this village, heading straight South... A 12 mile detour to deliver a parcel, for 50p ?  DPD ? They only come once a week.  I've asked Blanchards to send everything by Royal Mail, willing to pay any extra cost. Royal Mail come 6 days a week, "Paul the Postie" knows everyone, takes a minute to talk to people, a social service that should be better recognised but will not show up on the Accountant's spreadsheet. 

Back to couriers... the fun really starts when they get here. Its a narrow farm track with 3 houses on it and a locked gate at the end... so they dump parcels at the Pub, which at this time of year is often shut. Expecting a delivery ? - Go look in the smoking shelter. Generally works OK but before Christmas our neighbour's present for their daughter, a new phone, went "adrift" and another item the same week.