Daryl

Just had a slightly surreal situation with a courier company. I ordered some wine glasses off the internet and they turned up this evening, delivered by what I presume was a husband and wife, pensionable age. She presented me with a form to sign and the bloke brought the box over.

When I saw it was the glasses, I said that I would like to check they were in one piece. The bloke span the box around and said "they look fine to me". I replied that the place I had ordered from had said that I should check them before accepting delivery. The woman said "we don't do that".

I pointed out that the form I had just signed said "received in good order and condition", to which the bloke said "too late mate, you've signed the form", he then took the form from his wife and went to make off towards his van, still carrying the glasses. At this point I grabbed the form back and said that if he didn't let me check the glasses, I wouldn't return his form (which had all his other deliveries on it). He then got back in the van, so I said to woman that it wasn't unreasonable to want to check they weren't broken, so she said she would go and speak to him. Anyay, she got in the van and they then drove off, leaving me with the delivery sheet but no parcel!

Was I unreasonable to want to check the parcel, anyway know what will happen next? Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get it off my chest

CooperS

Why did he make off to the van with the parcel after you'd signed in the first place?

Stephb1986

you should ring the company they work for stating what happened with the delivery the drivers id number should be on the top of the form, as it wasnt a unreasonable request they shouldnt of acted like this you have every right to check the parcel before taking delivery. I have two jobs now i work for parcel net delivering parcels for catalog companies and i also deliver for next, ive not had a problem so far but you could of accept delivery of the parcel and if you wasnt happy with it you can return it free of charge by ringing the number on the box and fill in a simple returns form. failing that you can ring the company you bought the glasses from and tell them that the courier refused to let you check the parcel before accepting it and that he took off with the parcel and his behaviour was totally rude. hope this helps

Daryl

'Cos he said I wasn't allowed to check it and he wasn't prepared to wait!

Daryl

There's no ID number on the form, not even a phone number. I made a note of the telephone number on the side of the van and took the reg. number as they drove off. The company is called Fastway Couriers, not seen or heard of them before. Anyway, thanks for the advice, will try and ring them on Monday and see what they say.

Incidentally, I have since remembered that the woman said "if you want to check the parcel, come to our depot next week and you can check it there" - what a cheek!

Simon C

And this is a simple thing called theft. Now you've signed for it, albeit you have the delivery sheet, they have the parcel.

Call the old bill and put their stats up.

Da Booga

Fastway is a franchise, odds are the couple are the franchisees [sp] for your area so I don't know how far you'd get with them as they'll be their own boss presumably. Don't know how much interest the main Fastway company would take in it either.

You may get more info from the Fastway website

http://www.fastwaycouriers.co.uk/

HTH

The Rani

Caught the courier service used by my mail order club leaving a parcel on the doorstep today - not the first time that has happened (and they always seem to have a signature for it too!). If you are unlucky enough to get a card through the door, you have to ring a premium rate number to get through to their head office who will eventually transfer you to the local office - and they are only open Monday to Friday 9-5, so if you work 'normal' hours, you are well and truly stuffed. The mail order club are not bothered either. 'If you don't like it, you can close your account.'

Stephb1986

Sounds like a one man band then and they mustn't have other drivers so it would be a bit hard to complain if its a franchise and they own it. why should you have the hassle of going checking it at the depot when you paid for home delivery. Anyone who likes getting readers digest dont as they send you books and charge a fortune for them as couriers we can just leave them on the doorstep and run as most people refuse to take them the same with the book club too. Next catalogs weigh 9-10 lbs each i delivered 100 yesterday but they have to be signed for because people pay 6 quid for it!! but i suppose if you order alot from next its not too bad coz then you get it free. theres some nice stuff in for autum/winter so order one aslong as you aint in my area! ha ha ha
I hope you get somewhere with your parcel, if you dont ring the place you bought them from and say they use a incompetent courier and that you wont be shopping with them again. (even if you are)

CooperS

I'd have took his bloody van keys and thrown them in the field, cheeky sod!

clare792000

I came home at about 6 one eeving last week to find the bouncy castle my husband had bought from on internet company on my bloody doorstep! Now a bouncy caslte as you can imagine is huge, was worth £500++ and I live in a 'less thatn desiravble' area, with my doorstep on full veiw. I contacted the mail order company and they said they would have a word, very reassuring, needless to say i wont order from them again!

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

trust me the post office aren't any better

How would you interpret the term "Do not bend"

Do you think it would mean.... erm... do not bend?

Postman don't.

4 times. 4 bloody times my wife had certificates for music exams (she teaches brass, woodwind & keyboard) FOLDED through the letterbox.

Each time she complained - the last time was hysterical - we were expecting the exam certificates and as soon as the postman started to post them through the door I called upstairs and my wife went flying out into the street in her dressing gown and just hurled abuse at this postman!

He actually said "I thought no one was in."

There were two cars on the two car drive, the lights were on in the house and it was early morning!!!!!

She complained so much that the Burton postmaster was on first names terms with her

5'1" of terror is my wife

Abdabz

we have the same wife!!!

David Lock

And I bet they hadn't even blown it up for you

shaunywrx

Someone i knew had a parcel turn up with the words "photographs do not bend" printed on the envelope in big red lettering, and some cheeky ****** at the sorting office (or the postman) had written on it "oh yes they do" and bent the thing in half, and stuffed it through his letterbox!

Leslie

He is contracted to deliver the parcel in good condition and you are entitled to check it as well.

Don't let them get away with it!

Les

robby

when i worked as a courier we had to get a signature before the parcel was handed over, no signature no hand over.
The courier is actually responsable for the parcel up until a signature is given so if anything did happen they are held responsable
the problem with letting people open the parcel before signing was
1. they didn't want the parcel after discovering it wasn't like they ordered - ie ebay tat - they'd then refuse to sign and when we took the parcel back to depot and returned to sender it looked as though we'd tampered with it
2. they'd damage the item when unpacking and refuse to sign - then blame courier
3. they'd remove certain contents of parcel, refuse to sign and when we returned remains to sender it looked as though we'd pinched parts
4. it would take too long if every customer opened/ inspected parcels - i'd do 70+ drops a day and was only given 2-3 minutes for each stop due to time scale/ bonus system (which i never got)

i was more flexable at times which got me into trouble at the depot a few times - 1 customer ordered a mirror over the internet, i could hear the sound of glass rattling in the box when i carried it to the door so asked what the contents were. When the customer said it was a mirror i said i'd wait while they had a quick check, it was shattered (as i thought) so i told the customer i still needed a signature but wrote "damaged" next to it - i then filled in a returns form and took it back - this didn't please my employers buy hey - customer care

what i'm trying to say is unless you get a courier who will bend the rules slightly then you will have to sign before you can inspect any parcel as they are responsable for it until they obtain a signature - if you grab parcel and open it then refuse to sign the delivery company can call the police and say you stole it from them as there's no proof of it being delivered (no signature) so it is in fact still in the care of the delivery company - this happened a few times where i worked - all succesful for the company

robby

almost - he is contracted to deliver the parcel - how does he know what condition the contents are in?

R19KET

But isn't this the point of NOT SIGNING for an unchecked parcel ?

I Agree !

The standard insurance on parcels is something like £12 per KG, and if you want extended liability, most couriers charge circa £7 + vat extra.

I NEVER just sign for a parcel, I always cross out the "Received in good condition", and write UNCHECKED,even if the box looks ok.

If the box appears damaged, then insist on opening, and checking the contents before you sign.

If the courier won't allow you to, write on the form "parcel damaged, and rejected due to not being allowed to inspect the goods", and refuse to accept it. Then speak to the supplier.

If you decide to reject the goods, this way the courier will return them to the supplier as "undeliverable" and it will save you having to bugger about either doing it yourself, or waiting for the supplier to arrange a collection.


Mark.

robby

[QUOTE=R19KET]But isn't this the point of NOT SIGNING for an unchecked parcel ?



if people didn't sign for a parcel becaue they couldn't open and inspect the contents then nothing would get delivered?

R19KET

Robby,

I'm not suggesting that people open every parcel that gets delivered, just the ones that appear to be damaged, or in the context of the thread, where very fragile goods are involved.


Mark.

Stephb1986

That just makes it harder for a courier as if you aren't in so we take it to a neighbour so we have to then stand there and let them check it because you couldnt be bothered to be in or leave someone in to sign for the parcel. maybe we should just take it back and let you pick it up and inspect it in your own time not ours as we are paid per parcel not per hour we dont have all day you know!

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

You don't get these problems in Sameday



However, would have to agree with the couriers on this - admit to possibly being biased but from 1st hand knowledge - because as at the end of the day, the customer is paying naff all to get the package delivered sometimes 100s of miles. For the courier, he/she is getting pennies to make deliveries - steph above has done 100 drops yesterday & did she take £100 for a days work? I doubt it plus out of what she did earn she has to pay fuel/insurance/depreciation etc and of course tax/NI. What I am saying is that every mardy so n so that keeps a courier waiting is costing them money. They get paid to go from A-B, not hang around, so have some thought for them.


As I said, don't get the same problems in Sameday but then you pay more

CrisPDuk

The contents of the parcel do not matter, if the parcel itself is undamaged, the courier has completed his contract, if the glasses within are broken despite there being no evidence of damage on the packaging that is bad packaging, not the courier's problem.

The company I used to work for had so much trouble with one particular supplier mis-supplying or badly packaging stuff, that we started to photograph the boxes before we opened them, and as we opened them, to prove that neither we nor the couriers had tampered with them! Fortunately we only used to get three or four deliveries per month from that particular company.

Daryl

Then why do you sign to say "received in good order and condition". Are you suggesting that it applies only to the packaging and not the goods inside?

I understand that the courier wants to get the parcels delivered as quickly as possible, but if the contents are fragile and they will not let me check the contents, I will not accept delivery - in which case everyone's time is wasted.

StickyMicky

the courier who brought the seat for my office chair project came screaming up on site, popped the back open and tried to just leave it without me checking, the box was all torn and ripped and falling apart

i checked it over and he got pretty grumpy and started whingeing, i told him to STFU i removed the seat from the box and had a quick look around and found no damage, signed for it, and then he sped away,

then found some damage to it afterwards

Stephb1986

The driver himself wont pay out of his own pocket as the company he is working for should have liability insurance and goods in transit insurance. As im a self employed courier i have to pay these myself and as puff said above im not getting £100 for 100 catalogs i get 45p per catalog if i pick them up from the depot myself i get a extra 5p per catalog so we aren't on a fortune i have my insurance, tax, fuel, tax and national insurance coming out of it too

I also have the costs of keeping my van on the road this week i had to pay £75 for a back box non fitted and £40 for front brake pads, it has a oil leak at the moment but its not too bad but keeping a eye on the oil level everyday because i dont have the money to keep it off the road for a few days while a garage looks at it. But i can still understand Daryls problem in wanting to check the parcel, some people make it more difficult than others though.

robby

the corier is contracted to deliver the parcel - not contents (how does he know whats inside)
they get paid if you sign or not so if you refuse it doesn't really matter to them as they attempted the delivery

R19KET

I'm sorry, some of the comments are ridiculous.

The "service" is to deliver a clients parcel/s within a specified time, in good condition, and the parcel includes the contents.

Of course the client is resposible for adequately packing the goods.

Now I appreciate all the issues the couriers "delivery drivers" have. The companies they work for give them too much work, too little time to achieve it, and not enough pay...........

Sadly, none of this addresses the issue when a parcel arrives in less than perfect condition ! and apart from Robby, it would appear that the drivers really don't care, so long as they get the "drops" done !!

I wonder how you guys/gals react if, & when you have goods turn up damaged ????


Mark.

Daryl

Update - phoned the regional franchise office this morning and the manager knew about it. He asked me to return the delivery run sheet ("our property") to their office and pick up the parcel at the same time. I asked why they wouldn't re-deliver it and he said the couriers refused because I swore at them (a lie)!

I then asked him to return the parcel to the consignor, because I didn't see why I should have to collect it, which he agreed to. He then said he wanted his property back, so I said he was welcome to come and collect it! End of conversation.

Then spoke to helpful lady in Head Office who said I should have been allowed to examine the parcel - she will try and resolve the matter, waiting to hear back...