FedEx - the most spectacularly incompetent carrier of them all !

[Phil Pascoe]

They deliver a million parcels a day across their network so they must be doing something right! I think in the end it comes down to the knowledge/tenacity of your individual driver.

Yes, much depends on your local people. Hermes here were excellent til the chap went to work for Amazon, but I've had two pickups arranged in the last few of weeks that just didn't happen, I had to take them to a drop off point.

 

[pgrbff]

Maybe I've been lucky, but I use FedEx and UPS for my international shipments to and from Germany and have never had a problem with delivery on either end in the past 20+ years. I received a small FedEx delivery yesterday that didn't include my complete street address and house number. This was the shipper's mistake, but the package was at my front door when I returned from shopping.

I'm not going to make excuses for FedEx, but from what you described, you set the conditions for the problem.

UPS are positively the worst for me. I've been waiting for a delivery from Germany since early last week. Driver doesn't reply to messages, new excuse in tracking every day. Not in, incorrect address, etc. etc. Birkenstock simply don't believe me.
I try very hard not to use UPS unless there is really no alternative. It's the lies I find difficult to accept, after all I did pay for the shipping.

 

[Redkite]

Adding insult to injury, my premium rate, 'overnight' delivery arrived after 72hrs and was left like this for me to discover by DX couriers.
It seems the 'This way up' sticker wasn't obvious enough .
The adhesive tins were bashed about and, going by the marks on the box, it had been on its side for three days, the bottom surface of the box was pristine.

At least it was left at the house. Despite several complaints, the DPD driver still leaves packages, including my housebound neighbour's ready meals, in a ditch 300 yds from our properties.

 

[Ozi]

This is what we get for all the "Free delivery" offers out there

 

[stuart little]

I had one delivery of 'liquid' which had the three arrows sticker on, BUT it was applied upside down ;- GOOD START! Fortunately no leakage occurred. If it had leaked, the driver would have soon smelt it or got 'fumed'!

 

[stuart little]

Back to carriers we love to hate. Amazon Strikes Again! Yesterday lunch time I noticed two large bags of what looked to be pet food or stuff for the garden, on the wall at the end of my property. Several hours later they were still there, so being 'The Good Neighbour' I took a look, they were addressed to a neighbour two doors away, but they were out, so I took the bags to them. They were out, but on seeing them later they said it was an Amazon delivery. Hardly a delivery when just dumped on an estate wall.

 

[doctor Bob]

Ladies and gents may I present Hermes.

Here is my prooof of delivery

and the parcel was delivered to a totally incorrect postcode.
As per opening post, stuck in a loop, neither Hermes or sports direct give a shiiit.

 

[Jameshow]

Herpes are the worst period...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

MyHerpes here have gone very quickly from the best to the worst.

 

[voyager]

fedex and ups for me, Fedex seem to deal with lost shipments better, but they are all good until they loose your parcel.

 

[chrisbaker42]

I’ve had a couple of minor problems with Hermes but only due to local staff illness. The only major problem I’ve had was with Yodel who simply left a package at the front gate only 20m from the front door luckily it had only been there according to their delivery time for three hours before I took the dog out. It was also a damp day but not pouring.

 

[Mellor77]

Can I nominate the good old British Post Office? I had an email to say that delivery had been attempted (eBay) but nobody was in. There was no card through the letterbox so I drove up to the local sorting office. I gave them my details and apparently they had four parcels for me. Great, I thought…

Looking at her computer, the helpful lady told me that the packages had a different address on. I asked her which address and it turns out that it was a block of flats a few doors down from me. Thinking I had scrolled down too far on one of those ‘find your address’ boxes I asked which parcel had the wrong address. Apparently, according to the computer it was ‘all of them’. Now, as I knew a couple of them were from eBay, it would be impossible for all of them to have the incorrect address. In fact, I could actually see the parcels just behind her on the shelf (I recognised the packaging/logo on one of them) and asked if she could just show me the parcels so I could see which address was incorrect. She just kept pointing to her computer and saying that all of them were wrong because it says so on the screen. I asked if she could just look at the parcels herself, she didn’t even have to show me, but just tell me how many were wrong (I was the only customer and the parcels were within arms reach) we just kept going round in a loop with me asking her to check the physical items behind her and her telling me she didn’t have too because she could see on her screen that the addresses were all wrong. After about ten minutes I had no choice but to leave empty handed.

So, an hour long phone call to the post office (during which I was asked what address was on the parcels!!!) resulted in all of the parcels being redirected to my work address. And how many of them (when they finally arrived) had the wrong address….? None of them. The postmoron had simply put the wrong address on the red card and the imbecile in the office could have sorted it out simply by picking up a small bunch of parcels which was right next to her. To be fair to the postie though, he is very good at sitting on the wall at the end of the street and smoking roll-ups. He should be good at this though, it’s all I ever see him do. Rant over.

 

[GuitardoctorW7]

Here's my 1983 Gibson es335 guitar ( with Tim Shaw pickups) after it was "delivered" by UPS. The hard case is punctured too above this damage. Well packed in a foam lined container. In the process of suing them for negligence.

 

[pe2dave]

I wonder if it's the driver, rather than the company? My 'love to hate' company made a polite delivery the other day.
I totally agree about cr.. websites though, quite unnecessary (but expensive to do right perhaps?). Ditto unhelpful help phone numbers (if you can find them on the cr.. websites!)

 

[Blackswanwood]

I wonder if it's the driver, rather than the company? My 'love to hate' company made a polite delivery the other day.
I totally agree about cr.. websites though, quite unnecessary (but expensive to do right perhaps?). Ditto unhelpful help phone numbers (if you can find them on the cr.. websites!)

I think the local driver can be a big factor. We seem to be on a good streak with the same driver for each major firm for six months plus.

It's an absolute doom loop when something does go wrong and in particular if it doesn't quite fit their automated options. Hermes went through a spate of delivering parcels for a house with a similar name but in a village several miles away to us - they have no option for "You've left someone else's parcel and I'm fed up of delivering it for you" and it's impossible to speak to anyone.

 

[Stu_2]

GoPro use UPS, or at least they did last year, and they are truly p1$$ poor. When the delivery fails there's just no way to find out what's going on and, in the case of UPS, no way of speaking to anyone. I was pretty shocked when I looked at the various reviews for them. I've been quite happy (lucky) with DPD deliveries. Before they went bust, I used to use City Link quite a lot, and they seemed OK.

Where possible, I generally avoid buying from a supplier that I'm unable to get hold of on the phone, and don't mind paying a little more in order to avoid them. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't appear to have the same approach, which is why we're left with so many companies no longer offering direct contact with a human.

 

[clogs]

we have a different problem....
No house number or street name.....
the postie just knows our first names and we live up the hill.....
THATS IT.....
we normally order stuff and give the local bar/pub address...quite normal here.....
we also put our mobile number just under our names but berfore the pub address so the drivers can and usually give u a bell to say they are around.....
We are very limited to courier companies here and to keep things simple we've asked if our parcels can just be delivered to their office and we'll collect from them....just give us a call.....
we'll see what happens....!!!!!!!!
quite often the courier is an old guy in a beat up even older car who gets the parcels to us....
Crazy place.....
I did buy a used 1/2hp electric motor a few weeks ago from the other end of the island 2.5hours drive away) he put the package on the inter island bus paid the 3 euro's for the post ...
he gave me a quick bell to say what time it left....
I waited at my bus stop to collect it....it turned up with a polite smile from the bus driver.....
howz zat......I just love this place....

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I wonder if it's the driver, rather than the company?

I think so - though the drivers seem more variable with some companies than others. We've had a run of good DPD drivers both here and at our last house, whereas Hermes have been fairly rubbish throughout. One Hermes driver argued with me about whether or not he'd delivered a parcel until I pointed out the CCTV camera, at which point he stormed off in a sulk. The next Hermes driver delivered something to the house next door and the proof of delivery shot showed the wrong house number clearly - they still insisted it had been delivered to the right house.

 

[stuart little]

we have a different problem....
No house number or street name.....
the postie just knows our first names and we live up the hill.....
THATS IT.....
we normally order stuff and give the local bar/pub address...quite normal here.....
we also put our mobile number just under our names but berfore the pub address so the drivers can and usually give u a bell to say they are around.....
We are very limited to courier companies here and to keep things simple we've asked if our parcels can just be delivered to their office and we'll collect from them....just give us a call.....
we'll see what happens....!!!!!!!!
quite often the courier is an old guy in a beat up even older car who gets the parcels to us....
Crazy place.....
I did buy a used 1/2hp electric motor a few weeks ago from the other end of the island 2.5hours drive away) he put the package on the inter island bus paid the 3 euro's for the post ...
he gave me a quick bell to say what time it left....
I waited at my bus stop to collect it....it turned up with a polite smile from the bus driver.....
howz zat......I just love this place....

I remember the times when one could do the same here. As a young model builder I'd call a model shop in Hereford, order the kit, then send a cheque 1st cl., then next day go to my local bus st. to collect. I don't think there was any charge. Saved a 30 mile return cycle ride [or bus fare]

 

[the great waldo]

Here's my 1983 Gibson es335 guitar ( with Tim Shaw pickups) after it was "delivered" by UPS. The hard case is punctured too above this damage. Well packed in a foam lined container. In the process of suing them for negligence.

Lucky it wasn't a 1958 les paul standard ! I had a guitar go out by ups and they insisted that they do the packing otherwise they wouldn't be liable for any damage, they still managed to destroy the guitar and when a claim was put in they said it wasn't properly packaged !! Duh!
Cheers
Andrew