Don't Use Yodel (UPDATE: well actually maybe do use them)



  • I ordered some products for my PC yesterday and wanted them quick. Ebuyer these days uses Yodel. For those that are from the USA Ebuyer is the UK equivalent of Newegg.

    So my product was delivered apparently at 12.19 pm today, I apparently have a text message proving it. I work from home so I should know if it is delivered! No one bothered ringing my buzzer all day other than the Jehovah Witnesses, which seems to happen Wednesday and Saturday (Wednesday is a day off for shop traditionally in the UK when shops weren't allowed to be open on Sunday).

    So I assume they placed it in my letter box. Nothing. I dunno about other parts of the world, but you get a card in the letter box whether it was delivered to a neighbour or the collection office.

    So I check outside the door on my block of flats ... nothing.

    I walk to my neighbours doorways (most are out) to see if they have a delivery outside ... nope.

    This isn't right. so I try to use the Yodel chat app on their website ... give my tracking numbers and details. Then don't receive a response for over 40 minutes. I give up.

    I try phoning them. Get hung up on after getting through to a human (this is at 1pence a minute and then whatever my mobile phone tariff will charge)

    Phone back. Get told it will take me a day to get a response back from the manager of the office and it was signed by "Rich". I complained that their driver didn't even bother pressing the buzzer (it is loud enough to make me jump out of my seat, I cannot miss it). Both times customer service ignored me. Yodels customer service tactic is to ignore until you don't give a fuck about your £240 SSD driver purchase.

    In the end it ended up being easier to go to about 100 flats and asking who was "Richard" and whether he had two packages from a company from Ebuyer. Half the people that live in my "commune" (I have no better name for it) don't speak English. They had delivered it to 158 and not 58 ... FFS.

    UPDATE

    It is worth reading this post as Yodel were decent and did far more than I was expecting.

    https://what.thedailywtf.com/topic/22508/don-t-use-yodel/31


  • Dupa

    @lucas1 around here drivers from delivery companies like to forge signatures and leave stuff wherever. Placing a signature for a lot of companies means the package is in order, that you've checked the insides, even.

    This doesn't happen that much in Kraków, but I come from a village nearby and the fuckers making the deliveries there reaaaly like doing this.

    I fucking hate delivery companies.



  • @kt_ In the UK you expect someone to at least do their job. Getting onto a phone to India at probably 10p-35p a minute and being told what you can see on the website and then getting just being ignored when you complain isn't on.


  • Winner of the 2016 Presidential Election

    All delivery companies are equally shitty. There's a lot of competition and sellers don't care about anything other than the price, so the companies save costs wherever they can. And if a delivery driver is forced to make at least 200* deliveries a day to earn a decent wage and/or not get fired, of course they will try to cheat whenever they think they'll get away with it.

    *I pulled that number out of my ass


  • FoxDev

    @asdf I've never had an issue with Parcelforce. I arranged to have a delivery last Saturday (April 1st). And they delivered on April 1st, at about 10:30AM. Can't ask fairer than that.



  • @asdf The thing is that we have consumer laws in the UK.



  • @RaceProUK I just used the default on ebuyer. I didn't choose Yodel.


  • Winner of the 2016 Presidential Election

    @RaceProUK said in Don't Use Yodel:

    Parcelforce

    They don't exist in Germany, so I can't tell you anything about them. Where I live, UPS is the only reliable delivery service, though. Which is weird, since everyone else complains about UPS. I guess you just have to be lucky and get a delivery driver who takes his/her job seriously.



  • @asdf UPS is pretty decent in the UK but then the UPSdelivery station thing depo is less than 30 miles from me.


  • FoxDev

    @asdf said in Don't Use Yodel:

    They don't exist in Germany, so I can't tell you anything about them

    It's a division of the Royal Mail IIRC, so it's UK only.

    @asdf said in Don't Use Yodel:

    UPS

    *twitch*

    I once relied on them to deliver a package in the US. It arrived 3 days late… at the wrong house over five miles away in the next town. It takes real effort to fuck up that badly.



  • @RaceProUK You didn't have 4 tonnes of Gravel on your parents driveway when you were 14 and had to sort it out yourself. It was a backwards and forwards on the phone saying "this gravel isn't mind please pick it up and move it to where it should be".

    I used to live at Oakdale and it should have been delivered to Oakdene. Most delivery men can't read properly.

    The thing I have to remember as bad as dyslexia is for me (it isn't that bad) ... my Brother and quite a few of my friends cannot read anything more than the missions instructions on GTA. Some of them are dyslexic and some of them the last time they read a book was when they were at school.



  • In Hong Kong, even the local post office does shitty service for parcels.

    My mom has retired and she is almost 7 x 24 at home, and somehow the postman leave a card that they tried to deliver last month and no one is there.

    The parcel is just Fitbit replacement band. I guess it's still too heavy for them.



  • @cheong That is what you get when you leave the British Empire.


  • FoxDev

    @lucas1 said in Don't Use Yodel:

    @cheong That is what you get when you leave the British Empire.

    To be fair, our lease expired



  • @RaceProUK I remember when it went back the Chinese. My dad was saying they wouldn't be celebrating for long.



  • Yodel was formed when Home Delivery Network acquired DHL. The two couriers that I'd had the most trouble with. DHL once put a note through my door for a failed delivery the day after after I'd walked the ~2 miles to their depot to pick up the parcel.

    UPS and DPD have always been reliable in my experience. DPD's website is even quite good. You can see the driver's location on a map.


  • FoxDev

    @jakjawagon I do like DPD. I've only relied on them once, but being able to track the package as it's being driven to me is pretty cool.



  • After reading this thread, they only thing I can says is...
    Canada Post does a wonderful job 😄


  • Dupa

    @lucas1 said in Don't Use Yodel:

    @RaceProUK You didn't have 4 tonnes of Gravel on your parents driveway when you were 14 and had to sort it out yourself. It was a backwards and forwards on the phone saying "this gravel isn't mind please pick it up and move it to where it should be".

    It reminds me of this story:


  • Banned

    I never had problems with deliveries, because I always choose payment at delivery (one of few nice things about Poland is this option - apparently unavailable on the other side of the pond). It costs extra, but at least I know it'll be really delivered to my hands - after all, forging money is significantly harder than forging signature.


  • BINNED

    Why do you all deliver at home? I haven't done that for years. Most shops offer pick-up at a ups or postal point. Those are generally small grocery shops, newspaper shops or gasstations. Places with decent opening hours. I mostly use this one gas station on my way to work.
    The company mail room will also accept anything personal as long as it states the recipient.


  • FoxDev

    @kt_ Only TDWTF could have a text file telling people which pages they can and cannot index:
    0_1491467275675_upload-ae2cae1f-7be7-4085-a5ec-3affda124db5



  • @Luhmann said in Don't Use Yodel:

    Why do you all deliver at home? I haven't done that for years. Most shops offer pick-up at a ups or postal point. Those are generally small grocery shops, newspaper shops or gasstations. Places with decent opening hours. I mostly use this one gas station on my way to work.

    One reason I can think is because when you live in a village, the nearest pick-up point may be in another village or town some way away. The only time I tried this option, I ended up having to make a 20-minute bike ride to somewhere I had no other reason to go at all (a petrol station between two other villages outside my normal route to town) plus of course 20 minutes back again. The next time I ordered something from the same web shop, I opted to pay more to get it delivered to my door instead.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Luhmann said in Don't Use Yodel:

    Why do you all deliver at home? I haven't done that for years. Most shops offer pick-up at a ups or postal point.

    Home is where the heart I  am. I usually see delivery guys coming (mail, UPS, FedEx) and meet them at the door and they hand the package to me.



  • @boomzilla Not everyone spends his time sitting in front of his house, watching over his lawn with a gun in his lap...


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @remi Then perhaps they need to examine where they went wrong in life.



  • @boomzilla Perhaps they weren't born with enough money to afford not to work?

    Unless you found someone paying you for doing that, in which case you have a very good point and I'd like to know if they're hiring?


  • FoxDev

    @remi Who says he isn't paid to watch over his lawn? :P



  • @TimeBandit said in Don't Use Yodel:

    After reading this thread, they only thing I can says is...
    Canada Post does a wonderful job 😄

    I especially like flex delivery, where I can have something sent directly to the post office and pick it up right away, rather than getting the note in my mailbox telling me to pick it up from there the next day.

    To be honest I've never had any major problem with any delivery service. The worst experience I've had with UPS was having to go out to the ass-end of nowhere ("UPS Customer Centre") to pick up a package that they tried to deliver while I wasn't home.

    However, my friend is still in a months-long battle with them after they broke something that he had shipped, with insurance, over who's responsible and if the insurance actually means anything other than "lets charge the customer extra and screw them anyway."



  • @RaceProUK
    First rule of any entrepreneurship: always make sure you'll be able to pay yourself.



  • UPDATE

    The driver actually came round today with a hand written note to apologise. Which IMO is pretty good of the company.

    The guy's English was worse than mine after whiskey so I think someone in the depot wrote it for him, but the company did apologise and so did the driver ... Fair dos for Yodel and that was damn decent of them.

    He apologised, I told him I hope I didn't cause him too much crap with his employer and we shook hands.

    So maybe you should actually do use Yodel. They do actually seem to give a shit about keeping people happy.

    EDIT: I will write an email back to yodel thanking them and the driver for the apology.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Luhmann said in Don't Use Yodel (UPDATE: well actually maybe do use them):

    Why do you all deliver at home?

    I get things delivered to work, mostly, although it can be a pain if something turns up on a day I'm not in work.

    edit: In theory the whole Amazon Logistics "we'll deliver it before 8pm" thing is a risk for work as the after 4:30pm there's no-one in the post room to accept it but as work is near an Amazon distribution centre then they seem to make it to my office fairly early early in the day so it usually works out fine.



  • @Luhmann said in Don't Use Yodel (UPDATE: well actually maybe do use them):

    Why do you all deliver at home?

    Another £2, I am not well off because I waste money.



  • @lucas1 said in Don't Use Yodel (UPDATE: well actually maybe do use them):

    In the UK you expect someone to at least do their job.

    The stereotype of English here used to be someone that follow the rules exactly and get annoyed if something is 1min late.



  • ...



  • @lucas1 said in Don't Use Yodel (UPDATE: well actually maybe do use them):

    @RaceProUK I remember when it went back the Chinese. My dad was saying they wouldn't be celebrating for long.

    Actually, the government officers and some citizen celebrates, most citizens didn't care too much about who rules them.

    Things change when life becomes difficult, and people need someone to blame.



  • @Luhmann said in Don't Use Yodel (UPDATE: well actually maybe do use them):

    Why do you all deliver at home? I haven't done that for years. Most shops offer pick-up at a ups or postal point. Those are generally small grocery shops, newspaper shops or gasstations. Places with decent opening hours. I mostly use this one gas station on my way to work.
    The company mail room will also accept anything personal as long as it states the recipient.

    My company also has mail room, and because Hong Kong is small, you also get option to deliver to nearest convenient store that operates 7 x 24 and usually within 100 steps from your home.

    But sending things to home do not incur extra charge, when you know there are people stay at home 7 x 24, why would you prefer to pickup parcels elsewhere yourself?


  • BINNED

    @cheong
    Because around here it is usually free or same price as home delivery. So why would I worry about the delivery messing up when I just can pick it up on my way home.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    I never ever use Polish Postal Service. Their service is horrible.
    The day they go bankrupt or do mass layoffs - I'm throwing a party. Seriously.

    If I have to use delivery company, I give my work address. Somehow, seeing that the recipient is a company, makes them all professional all of a sudden.

    But my first choice is always post box (parcel-o-maton?). 24-36 hours delivery and I can get the package even in the middle of the night. Cheaper than other options too.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    All this talk about mail services, I thought I'd see what the USPS has been up to...

    http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/327659-usps-reports-spike-in-dog-attacks-on-carriers



  • @boomzilla
    Good boy(s)!

    😜

    This poster does not condone dog attacks, attacks on mail carriers, or dog attacks on mail carriers. Please treat your mail carrier with respect and chain your dog up responsibly



  • @hungrier said in Don't Use Yodel (UPDATE: well actually maybe do use them):

    @TimeBandit said in Don't Use Yodel:

    After reading this thread, they only thing I can says is...
    Canada Post does a wonderful job 😄

    I especially like flex delivery, where I can have something sent directly to the post office and pick it up right away, rather than getting the note in my mailbox telling me to pick it up from there the next day.

    To be honest I've never had any major problem with any delivery service. The worst experience I've had with UPS was having to go out to the ass-end of nowhere ("UPS Customer Centre") to pick up a package that they tried to deliver while I wasn't home.

    However, my friend is still in a months-long battle with them after they broke something that he had shipped, with insurance, over who's responsible and if the insurance actually means anything other than "lets charge the customer extra and screw them anyway."

    I've had two truly memorable delivery fuckups.

    The first wasn't actually the courier's fault. I ordered computer parts from Jungle.com(1), somewhere around the year 2000, and immediately after I placed my order, they updated their IT systems, and that update ... groped ... my order. So instead of the destination being my house number and street on my small village in Oxfordshire, it became my house number and street, Berkshire. (For the Americans among us, imagine the address being morphed into 123 Main Street, Delaware.) The shipment, of course, went back to Jungle, and their customer service person just shoved the parts in a box herself to get it me, with the correct address this time. The parts duly arrived, but of course in wrecked condition because she didn't pack them properly. And of course they had stopped selling that type of product, so they had to give me a refund. I contacted the UK distributor for the product, and after checking their resellers, the guy asked me for an address and a credit card number, followed by, "OK, that's all gone through, they'll be with you tomorrow." And they were.

    (1) Happily(2) defunct web-shop selling computers, computer parts, and miscellaneous electronics.

    (2) Well, I'm happy they're defunct, anyway.

    The second was when I bought a 5.25" floppy drive on Ebay. The drive arrived safely, but was electronically defunct - I've never seen such a shower of Linux kernel messages as what that generated. So I contacted the seller, and arranged to send it back to him. Royal Mail Special Delivery - next-day guaranteed tracked delivery - is normally (or was at the time) pretty reliable, but on this occasion they burped, and it took over a week to be delivered. But I got to hear a man in Belfast, Northern Ireland tell me that he was a bit disorganised and that consequently his dwelling looked like a bomb had gone off in it.(3)

    (3) To be fair, he did comment on the irony of a Northern Irelander saying that.


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