Couriers

2 December

Do I say it or not … why not … 23 sleeps left to go … … …

Monday evening we had a courier driver arrive at our door to collect a parcel that needed to be taken back. Sounds easy really doesn’t it? Well, it didn’t end up that easy. He refused to give us a receipt for it. All he kept saying was, ‘Not needed, not needed.’ So I demand the parcel back and he refused and walked off. I followed him outside and I again demand he hand it over, only to get the same words.

After he drove off, without putting on his lights, which meant I couldn’t get his reg number, I told Jan and she phoned Yodel, the courier company. They apologised and logged it as a complaint. The same man has arrived here around 30 minutes ago and he was full of excuses and only casually apologised himself. Thing is, we don’t get a choice which courier they want to use do we, and we have to make do with who they decide on.

Going a few years during my OU days, there was an annual rise of complaints as course material went astray or didn’t arrive at all. It seems that I was one of few lucky ones who didn’t have any real problems apart from one time when the driver put my materials into a meter cupboard beside the front door. He didn’t leave a card to say where it was so I hadn’t seen it for several days, simply because we always used our back door at that time. Anyway …

The OU was using Parcel Farce at the time, but that bunch of cowboys decided that they no longer wanted the very lucrative contract with the OU. A months’ notice was given to allow the OU to find a new company. They found one and signed up, and SMS took over the contract. If they had problems with Parcel Farce, it was nothing like they did with SMS. Again, it seems I was one of the lucky ones who didn’t have a problem with course material. The biggest one I had was when my new passport was pushed through the door late one Saturday. I saw the car arrive but see the driver until he reversed out. Checking to front hall I found my passport, and item that I should have signed for but didn’t.

For some time I drove for Interlink, another courier company. I heard very few complaints from any of my customers over our service. Obviously mistakes happened at times, yet they seemed to be few and far between. Since then I have heard quite a few. What I did hear a lot of was the cock-ups other firms made, as well as seeing some of the results of them too.

One time I pulled up outside a house and attempted to deliver a parcel but no-one was in. The lady next door refused to take it for me. I should have known really, there was a pile of identical parcels, delivered by Parcel Farce beside the front door. The addressee spent most of his time abroad, coming back every couple of months to pick up and deal with mail.

Another one I heard about was TNT. That came about because I delivered to a local company and thinking of the bonus I asked if you used a courier company, he used TNT. He wouldn’t sign up to us because he would have to pay for his deliveries; TNT used to be always late which meant he would get his delivery done free of charge. Seems a daft way to go about running a business to me – but what do I know, I was only a driver.

Long standing readers here will know that I really do have a problem with all Royal Fail and Parcel Farce drivers. They are without doubt the worse drivers as a group within the UK. For today’s photo then … 

Royal Fail on the job again.

Today’s funny …

A man kills a deer and takes it home to cook for dinner. Both he and his wife decide that they won't tell the kids what kind of meat it is, but will give them a clue and let them guess. The dad said, "Well it's what Mommy calls me sometimes." The little girl screamed to her brother, "Don't eat it. Its an asshole!