Ranting about Delivery Companies

Today I feel the need for a rant, grab popcorn and take a seat.

Why are delivery companies all so terrible?

Copyright: ragnarocks / 123RF Stock Photo

I'm not going to single one out because every one I have ever had contact with has at some point done something stupid.

• I've had a laptop left on the doorstep in plain view of the street (in a box clearly identified as a new laptop!). 
• I've had a box thrown over a wall, a box containing 12 glass bottles of traditional beers, a box that then lay, smashed and sad in the rain for a WEEK because no card was left and so no one know the parcel was there. 
• I've had parcels left under car wheels. 
• Boxes left in empty recycling bins, again with no note. 
• Numerous parcels undelivered or left with neighbours but no note left to tell me.
• I once rang to chase the delivery of a new mobile phone to be told it had been signed for the previous day and that then mysteriously was delivered one day later...no signature required.

And that brings me to today's rant. DD ordered some presents for her friends from a well known online retailer, but from a seller there, not the well known online retailer itself, 4 days after the latest delivery date she emailed to ask where the gifts were, to be told they had been delivered and signed for, two weeks earlier!

No one in the house had seen this parcel, we checked with neighbours, we searched around the house, (no point in checking the bins as they had been emptied twice since the delivery date!) nothing. I contacted the company. 'Nothing to do with us' they said 'it's been delivered, we have signed delivery proof'. I asked to see the signature. The signature is barely even a line, it's a stroke of a pen and bears no resemblance at all to any of the signatures of the occupants of the house, in fact even the dog would make a clearer signature. I told the seller this. They replied that the driver had also filled int he name of the signer (my surname) and 'he couldn't have known that unless the signatory told him' ... erm...surely the name is ON THE PARCEL! Of course the driver can know the name to fill in!
Maybe he was busy and planned to come back later, maybe he got home and realised he missed the parcel and meant to do it the next day and forgot, maybe he called at the wrong house and some weird stranger claimed our gift? I don't know, but the parcel is not here and someone somewhere is lying.

I spoke to the delivery company in this case and they were helpful but said that it is up to the seller to query deliveries, not me, and that if there is a problem the seller needs to claim from them. So I am stuck in the middle, DD has paid, we have received nothing, the seller claims it's delivered, the delivery company can't help.

What is the point of a signature if it's not a signature that matches yours? I think it's about time that the delivery world caught up - what about a digital PIN, a number generated by the delivery company and not known to the driver, but emailed to the recipient so that they can key it in on delivery?

Currently I'm still fuming, arguing with a seller on a well known online retailer website and threatening to open a claim with the well known online retailer to get our money back.

Update : Well know online retailer have a good claims procedure and have refunded DD. So Yay! for them.

Do tell me about your delivery nightmares. I know you must have some....

I'm so sure you have a tale to tell - I've switched blog comments back on!

Ranting and Pissed off about poor PR and lack of Coffee

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It’s been a while since I’ve had a good old pointless rant on the blog, but last night tipped me over the edge into being a pissed off tattooed mummy so today you have this little gem to read.

A while ago I received an invite to a sampling evening at Costa Coffee, lots of people, maybe all card holders, were invited too and I initially ignored it as it would be a rush to make it after work, but then after a reminder invite I thought ‘what the hell, might as well, a few nice snacks, some tasty coffee, might cheer up a drab Wednesday night’ so I duly sent my RSVP

Fast forward to yesterday, the Wednesday in question. Due to some bad planning I ended up working at a different site to normal, and to make matters worse had a meeting at a third location! I decided to walk to the meeting to save parking costs and as the parking is hard to come by any way, so I walked half an hour down a steep hill to my meeting. After work I realised I now had to walk up a steep hill for 30 minutes in the dark, carrying a laptop and other bags and to top it all it was now pouring with rain.

I arrived back at the car looking like a drowned rat, fed up, aching (that much walking when you have motor and sensory neuropathy is just stupid! Idiot) and now half an hour later than planned, and an hour’s drive from home and the Costa event. I thought about not going, but maybe it would be I needed, after such a miserable walk, and I’d dry out on the drive.

I arrived at the Costa Coffee shop at about 7.10pm, I saw no sign of anything Christmassy, staff were mooching about, hardly any customers…I panicked, was it the wrong Wednesday? I checked my invite and the Costa twitter feed, nope it was tonight. As I walked to the counter I was overtaken by another woman..she was deep in conversation by the time I arrived and what it boiled down to was that the staff had no clue whatsoever about the promotion! They said the manager was away on a course and no one had told them anything, they made excuses but didn’t apologise. The lady asked if there were any samples at all “no, not really” they replied. She looked annoyed, unsurprisingly as she seemed to have brought a friend (we were promised extra club card points for bringing a friend) I stood listening, incredulous, and then, almost in tears, I left. Seriously pissed off.

But my fun evening didn’t end there, I realised my petrol light had come on in the car so went to the garage to fill up, a car on the forecourt had broken down and was being pushed into a parking place by the owners, the garage attendant was telling them they couldn’t leave the car there and they were arguing. As I was paying for my fuel they were still messing about, when the garage lady ran into the kiosk shouting ‘call security!! They are threatening to jump start the car, right over the main tanks, they won’t be told!!’ Wowser, maybe my night could get worse, maybe I’d be blown up!

As you will see, I wasn’t. I paid and scarpered, arriving home over an hour late, pissed off, wet, hungry, achy, tired and cold. Only cheap wine and twitter (and a cheeky young man threatening to send *ahem* personal DMs to me) cheered me up.

This morning my hips are so painful I can hardly walk.
So, moan over…how was your day?

Angry at the government. A pointless rant

Image credit: iqoncept / 123RF Stock Photo

I'm angry. No surprise.

I'm angry that David Cameron thinks it's ok to lecture us on volunteering, telling us to volunteer our time, to give to the community for nothing. Because giving is good, helping people is nice, friendly. Being altruistic is something that people do, a pleasant human trait. Then in the same breath threatens those that dare to be unemployed that they should volunteer or starve. Here's the thing, it's not voluntary if you have  to do it. Cameron was once all over the Big Society, though he's been quieter of late, maybe now his carrot of 'look you'll be nice' hasn't worked he's trying the stick of 'do it or else'.

And now David Cameron is trying to avoid helping any people that dare come to our shores as immigrants. Despite the fact that they may need help, that helping is good ...etc (see above)
And also that we send aid abroad each year to help those less fortunate, apparently they cannot get help if they come here, only if they are dying somewhere far away, or poor somewhere far away. The most amazing example of NIMBYism ever. And don't even get me started on the fact that the NHS relies on immigrants

When I teach DD how to behave, how to "be nice" how to do "good things" I like to teach by example. I give to charity, I am polite, I'm friendly, I volunteer, I compliment people (yes I also rant and rage but in general I try to show her a "good" way to behave.) But Mr Cameron seems to be all about "do as I say not as I do". Recent comments in the news suggested he risked making Britain 'the nasty counrty' of Europe. I think he's too late, I think we already are.

I'm fed up, fed up of having an unpleasant government that is becoming nastier by the minute, and worse, according to many, is not even right about the assumptions it makes as to the cost to the country of these terrifying immigrants.

Like many people I'm not sure we have anyone in politics currently that will change things, but at least when we get a chance to vote again there is a chance, however slim, that we can get someone else in to power that may at least try.

Sorry, pointless rant, but it feels better out than in. I'm also not sure it makes sense.