Homebrew delivery hell

[tonight_we_fly]

Apologies for the rant, but I feel so angry about this that I need to share it with somebody...

This week, a very good online seller of homebrew stocks and equipment lost a customer. It's a real shame, because it's through no fault of their own whatsoever (I genuinely think their service is fantastic), but because of the staggeringly awful conduct of the courier service which they use to deliver their orders. Is it OK to name and shame here? Well, just in case not, let's just say that the deliver company concerned have a three-letter name; the first and last letters are the same.

So, the story begins with me placing an order. Reasonably large (comfortably over £100), qualifying for free delivery from the seller. When I placed the order, I was invited to supply delivery instructions (presumably to be passed to the courier), so I inserted the following:

“My wife is currently off work on maternity leave, and so hopefully should be able to receive this order if we know when it's coming. Please do not leave with a neighbour - if somebody could please phone me on xxxxx xxxxxx when the order is on the way then I can confirm at what time she will be at home on any specific day.”

You've probably already guessed by now that they left the parcel with a neighbour and did not bother to phone me at any time, but that doesn't even tell half of the story.

I received a text message from the couriers on Wednesday, stating that they would be delivering on Friday (no time given). That's OK I thought, I can deal with that. The text message also claimed that the anticipated time-window for delivery would subsequently be displayed on their website, although it never actually was.

I immediately replied to the text message. I reiterated that I did not want the delivery left with a neighbour, as my next door neighbour is disabled and this was going to be a large and heavy package. I stated that my wife would be at home all day on Friday apart from briefly attending a midwife appointment at 11:30am. I said that I would therefore prefer them to avoid this time, although if there was no other option but to deliver at that precise time then (so long as they let me know beforehand) I would stay at home to receive the delivery myself, and go in to work late. They did not respond to my message, so (not hearing otherwise) I assumed that everything was in order.

By Friday morning I had still heard nothing from them suggesting that I would need to stay home to receive the order whilst my wife was out; again I checked their website, and the mythical delivery window was still not given. So I went to work.

During the morning, I received a text message stating that my parcel would now be delivered between 11:11 and 12:11 that day. This was precisely the window which I had told them was when my wife would be out, and was now too late for me to stay at home to receive the delivery as I had suggested. So again I replied to them. I reminded them that nobody would be at home, they had not given me the chance to be at home myself, so I asked them to either deliver early or to wait until 1pm. I also yet again asked them not to leave the package with my disabled neighbour, and said that I would come and collect it from their depot at another time if necessary.

However, already having experience now of them previously having ignored my text message replies, I sent them an e-mail as well. I told them all of the same information yet again (DON'T leave with a neighbour blah blah blah) for what was now the fourth time, leaving my telephone number and virtually begging them to phone me, in the hope that somebody would finally start treating me with a tiny amount of respect.

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that (again) they ignored the text message. For the e-mail I received an automated response saying that my message had been received, and that somebody would contact me shortly. That was all I heard back from them; nobody has made any attempt at all to respond to my e-mail, by any mechanism.

We almost pulled it out of the bag. My wife dashed back from her midwife appointment and was actually home by noon; there was no sign of a calling card, so in spite of their total unresponsiveness we thought we were perhaps going to receive the delivery after all. She was very feeling very tired (as one does at almost thirty-eight weeks pregnant), but decided to hang on before going upstairs for a lie down because she was expecting the delivery to come very shortly.

She waited tiredly for a long time. At 5pm there was a knock on the door, but it was not the courier. Apparently the couriers had bullied my disabled neighbour into taking the parcel in, whilst my wife had been out. The courier had not even left a calling card to say that this had been done, so all of the time that my wife was sitting there waiting for the delivery so that she could catch some sleep, the package was already next door, but we did not know this because the driver was presumably too lazy to spend just a few seconds filling out a card and dropping it through the door to let us know.

The man next door was about to go to visit family when he knocked (and so could not hang on to wait for me to get home from work), so consequently my disabled neighbour and my heavily pregnant wife had to struggle down his path and back up ours with the large heavy box. I should have been doing this myself of course, but for the fact that the courier company had seemingly gone to every length possible to prevent me from receiving this package, and to cause the greatest inconvenience which they possibly could.

When delivery is what they do for a living, how can they possibly do it so extraordinary badly? And the sad thing here is that the real loser is the homebrew seller, because they're a great shop, but sadly I won't be able to use them any more because of the awful courier which they employ for their deliveries.

For those of you who have stuck with me to the end, we'll finish on a positive note. With my new supplies, last night I brewed a nice wheat/blonde beer, which is under the stairs in the fermenter about to start bubbling. So long as he doesn't arrive early, I should just about have time to bottle it before my son is born. Cheers.

Deep breath...

 

[ScottM]

Absolutely hate that courier bud. I dread seeing their name being used when I'm ordering items as they are nothing but hassle. Their drivers tend to be the bottom of the barrel, for the most part they can't even speak English (Up here most are Polish). There is no contact number and every response from them is automated.

When the service works, it works great and no issues are had. When it's like the situation you had, and similar to my experience, that they are absolutely hopeless. Time and time again they haven't bothered leaving me a card, often I check the online tracking just to find out if my package has been delivered... and if so... who to!!

By far the best delivery services I have used are UPS and DHL. There ore others that are good, but these guys I find fantastic and are what other companies should be striving to emulate. I've had ups and downs with city-link, but on the whole they have been good.

DPD are just the cheapest at the moment, which seems to be the reason everyone is going through them. From what I understand they are just a piggy back on the city-link network. For me they are pulling city-link down.

 

[CheshireCBR]

Unfortunately most communication from these delivery companies by text is automated through a computer rather than by a person so responding isnt any use my ex wife use to be transport manager for different firms one being a devision if tarmac, so she has seen it from the other side and sad to say they have just as many problems just every day rather than the one off's that customers get, best thing to do is speak to the seller, express your concerns to them so that they can revise there delivery options rather than stop using them altogether if you have had good service and products off them.

 

[Jeltz]

Their client - the seller - need to take this up with them as the driver should never have bullied a disabled neighbour and it has lost them future business.

I assume that the neighbour couldn't wait for you to get home before getting the delivery out of the house.

I'm fortunate that I always order stuff to come to work and that way there is always someone here in office hours, even then I've had several occasions when tracking info states "nobody was at home" despite this being a high street premises open from 9-5 6 days a week and the "attempted delivery time" is middle of the day.

Couriers and the drivers are a law unto themselves.

 

[Zedilly]

It seems a shame that your home brew supplier should suffer through the poor service of the couriers they use.

Have you contacted your home brew supplier with the details of your experience, as unfortunately if they are not aware of any problems they are unlikely to consider using any other delivery companies, and the poor service continues for everyone else to endure in the future. It may be that they have had several complaints already and yours could be the straw that breaks the camels back and forces their hand into a change of courier.

Likewise have you contacted the courier company's hierarchy with your complaint, as unfortunately if they are not aware of any problems they think all is well within the company and will not make any necessary changes.

Just my 2p's worth.

 

[Stu]

They aren't half as bad as Yodel (previously HDNL).

They regularly win "Worst service" awards. I swear if DHL weren't propping them up, they'd go bust (They are also previously known as DHL and HDNL).

Going back to your comments... Apparently many of these drivers are self employed. They are paid an absolute pittance per drop (often 50p or something) so whilst you think you might have paid £8-10 per delivery, the driver who is actually the guy doing the hard work is seeing none of it.

I know it doesn't help, but I'm afraid you're simply a number. You should think yourself lucky that they give you a window at all - Yodel and City Link don't do this at all - you're in the lap of the gods to when you might get a delivery.

Personally, my favourite is Interlink. They send you regular email updates and texts, they give you an exact slot (told the day before) and if you aren't in, then they text you and email you to say either where it has been delivered or how you can get it redelivered.

 

[LeithR]

Seems they are having problems from both directions see the attached link.
http://www.silveracre.com/dpd.html


@tonight_we_fly,
I used to live in Herne Hill (Brantwood Road and Hollingbourne Road) and went to Tulse Hill School back in the 60's.

 

[Asalpaws]

I hadn't really thought about it but having read your stories and similar things happening to me, I will not order from any online supplier using either "Alpine singing style" courier or "Three letter co" already mentioned. I have informed companies about the poor service of their couriers but I guess as already stated, their probably the cheapest, might be a false economy if it stops any return custom!

 

[jonewer]

DPD are *****. I hate them with a passion.

Though not the only ones to deliver to the neighbour when specifically instructed not to.

 

[tonight_we_fly]

Thanks for all of your comments; in a funny sort of way, I feel a bit better for having read them.

On the one hand there's almost a funny kind of reassurance to read that it's not just me, and this kind of thing happens to other people as well; but on the other, it's horrifying to hear of others having similar experiences, and this almost being considered the norm in some cases.

I am going to write to the shop that I made the purchases from tomorrow, to let them know the story. Thanks to those that made this very sensible suggestion; in fact I had it in the back of my mind to possibly do this anyway, but thought I'd test the water on the forum first just to see whether what perspectives I gained from people's comments before deciding how to proceed.

Thanks to all those who took the time to respond, much appreciated. The good news, to finish this all off, is that last night's brew has by now started bubbling and foaming very nicely under the stairs. By the time it's eventually been through bottle conditioning and is ready to serve, my wife will finally be able to drink again (in moderation) for the first time in the best part of a year, so at least I'll be able to serve her up a glass to show that her part in the whole episode wasn't in vain.

 

[Kentish Man]

At Xmas the fantastic DPD left our fresh Turkey with an address half a mile away with a pensioner who was out at the time. The similarities of the address where the numbers 45, on my delivery instructions printed on the face of the box it stated " if not home, leave at number 43" .

When It became clear on the day that we wasn't going to receive the item I checked the website to find they had "left in a secure location : Porch".

We don't have a porch , neither did the man at number 45 half a mile away! Luckily he was honest and didn't need a free turkey dinner.

I reckon there are two things going on here.

Too much work for one delivery man and pay peanuts get monkeys.

If you live anywhere close to a large city you know exactly what I am talking about.

Thank god I spend most of my year abroad .

Rant over.

You can take the man out of Kent, but you cant take Kent out of the Man

----------------
FV. Wilko Golden Ale
Conditioning Woodfordes Wherry / Bottled and Keged
Currently drinking : ( over gassed) dregs of Young's Scottish Heavy

 

[31bb3]

My opinion is I'd contact the seller and tell them what you have experienced form the courier tell them your gripe as far as the delivery issue and that it has put you off buying from them again they may have had bad feedback before from other customers and may sway them to rethink the courier

 

[narmour]

On a brighter note, good luck with the birth of your baby!!! :

It's going to be the most harrowing day of your life. And anyone who says "what about the woman?" tell them that at least she won't remember it. I remember every little detail of ours, crystal clear. And it'll never leave me. SWMBO can't remember a thing and is already talking about number two.

But aside from the gut wrenching trauma, it's the most wonderful thing that will ever happen to you.

 

[joe1002]

SWMBO had to be booked in for a c-section for our no.2 and she remembers all of it, and she still wants another

It'll be the best day of your life and I guarantee you will shed a tear of happiness when you hear your son or daughter cry when they are first hatched (it will be the one and only time you are happy to hear them cry :lol:)

 

[SloeBrewer]

I know someone who works for a courier firm, they get paid 70p per delivery and have to supply their own van, have the correct courier insurance and so on. He has to work stupid hours just to earn minimum wage. I really don't know why anyone does it, and it's not surprising they make no effort to follow instructions, they just want to cram in as many deliveries as possible.

 

[tonight_we_fly]

Ah, thanks for your kind remarks narmour and joey1002. I'm indeed anticipating this to be an even more emotional day than the one when I cracked open my first ever home brewed beer, and that's saying something!

 

[WelshPaul]

Ah, thanks for your kind remarks narmour and joey1002. I'm indeed anticipating this to be an even more emotional day than the one when I cracked open my first ever home brewed beer, and that's saying something!

The difference is that home brew improves as it gets older!

 

[Duncs]

I had a delivery from an online homebrew place (one that is no longer in business and had a LOT of complaints about them). The parcel was thrown over my 6 foot fence on to concrete below and not found my me for a couple of days after it had been in the rain. The can that the package contained took most of the impact but fortunately it did not split. I phoned the homebrew company to let them know how their chosen courier had treated the parcel and their reply was "It may be wet and a bit dented, but the contents will still be OK".

Never used that company again and stay clear of the delivery company too, if I can.