I wish I could name and shame!

[Thingy]

Oh how I wish I could name and shame! Its against the rules, I cant and I wont. But what do you think of this.

In another thread I discussed buying a new Avtex for the caravan and eventually did so. I sold my old Avtex on Ebay, working perfectly btw.#

It sold at 5pm on 17th May. The same day, 17th, it was wrapped and dropped off at my local pickup point for a famous nation and international courier. It was dropped too late for that days collection, so it should have been picked up on 18th for next day delivery. On 21st my customer contacted me to let me know it hadnt arrived. When I looked into it, their tracking system stated it had been collected that day 21st. It should therefore have arrived on 22nd. It didnt. Today, I find it wasnt collected until 23rd. Today, I find finally the parcel is in Brimingham. Its taken from 17th to 24th to do a 30 minute journey. As it is going to Scotland the chances of a delivery tomorrow are remote, as its still in Brum at 1145pm. The earliest possible delivery is now 26th. Nine days for a next day service.

To date, I have been lied to by customer services, who claimed the parcel had been picked up when it hadnt, then gave me conflicting dates for the actual collection and at the time of conversation had no idea where the darn thing was. I have a very irate customer wanting his money back, which I am prepared to do once the TV turns up and he returns it to me.

This company doesnt answer the phone, its livechat just spams canned responses and they dont respond to email. This is one of the biggest couriers there is, globally.

 

[Buckman]

I think I can guess which courier it was as we have had issues with them delivering the wrong address. Most courier companies do not seem to answer the phone and prefer to leave you in limbo. If you use the chat system and ask a question they cannot respond to, the chat is suddenly terminated.
Probably why Parcel Force are starting to get more business as quite a few of our deliveries are now by Parcel force and not one of the other courier companies.

 

[otherclive]

Dealing with companies is getting to nightmare status. In mid April we purchased some new AEG kitchen appliances from a well known supplier. We actually went into store too in Bristol. The delivery date was left open as we didn’t want it too early as we are also storing kit for our daughters kitchen installation that starts next Tuesday. On 14 May just as I was driving out of Whitby I had a phone call. The lady asked why I had not submitted for a refund on the cancelled order. I explained that we had not cancelled the order and she said there was now no stock, but dues in were expected shortly and our order would be reinstate. So yesterday I looked at my account; zilch.

I rang the number on the receipts and after a myriad of button presses spoke to a human. Because I had purchased in store he couldn’t help. So I asked if I could be transf to the store. No. I then asked for the stores customer service number. That could not be given out as they were “ customer facing”. I let him know that I was a customer lest he hadn’t realised it. He then suggested I visited the store. 39 mikes each way, dream on.

I then looked at the receipt paperwork and there was a customer services email address so I sent an email. Quick as a flash the message came back saying the email was no longer an active address. I then tried we chat but that was not available. Out of sheer frustration I fired off on Twitter. 10 minutes later I received a notification to PM them to sort out the refund. I did that but let them know it was a cooker etc that we required not a refund. The saga continues. But I will be sending a thing called a letter to the Sheffield address clearly addressed to the Customer Complaints Department.

 

[woodsieboy]

I am not at all surprised at the story of couriers that lie, we have been waiting 3 weeks to have 2 pallet loads collected at work, they lied and said they had tried to collect twice and the pallets weren't ready,they have twice sent vans which are not big enough, and even suggested we break the pallets down so that the stock would fit in the van , after they insisited originally the stock needed to be on pallets, fortunately we are not paying as the goods are going back to a supplier,and this courier has terrible reviews on its own website,they dont answer the phone, they give false information on tracking system, yesterday supplier booked another courier and they are due to collect today, so Iwill be avoiding any courier with green lorries.

 

[Sam Vimes]

The rise of the Internet has both benefits and shortcomings. We now have access to a myriad of services and goods but at the sametime these companies have become faceless. As I've mentioned before if you have millions of customers then a few disgruntled ones don't make much difference to the bottom line. Used to be a time when shops, banks etc offered you a service, now you have to do all the work and they take all the money.

Let me add my own whinge about customer service which helps to reduce my stress levels. BT. If you've ever had to try and contact them and get a resolution to a problem then you need a big bucket of anti-depressants by your side.

Last year our area went over to Fibre - FTTP - ours was relatively straightforward but our friends and neighbours have experienced tremendous problems to the extent that some of them have declined to switch over. Dates are constantly missed; install costs in some cases have been prohibitive.

About 5 weeks ago BT contacted us to inform us that our phones would be switched over to Digital Voice which replaces the copper landline and works over the broadband. It had several advantages so we were OK with this. Except that BT seem unable to do the switch over completely. We can make outgoing calls on the new service but not receive incoming calls so we have to keep the old landline phones active as well.

Three times I have contacted BT about this problem and each time they admit they have no idea why it's not working and all they can suggest is that they cancel the order and start a new one. Nothing changes - its still doesn't work so tomorrow will be yet another call to BT and another bucket of anti-depressants.

BTW: BT expect all of you to go through this by 2025 as they get rid of the old wired landlines. Stock up now on the Prozac now.

 

[Buckman]

We have fibre up to the small exchange box around the corner and then it is copper from there to the home. I doubt if BT will be able to convert every one across to Digital voice by 2035 never min 2025.
We use Whatsapp for all our overseas calls and vey occasionally for local calls.

 

[Sam Vimes]

I agree it's very optimistic. Consider also that fibre isn't rolled out to everyone yet and in some areas the install cost of FTTP is so high it puts people off taking it up anyway.

 

[Thingy]

Ill bet even us few on here get wildly different broadband dl and ul speeds. We are fairly isolated here, out in the sticks, and I am getting around 70mbps with BT. Its fast enough for anything I need.

 

[otherclive]

Dealing with companies is getting to nightmare status. In mid April we purchased some new AEG kitchen appliances from a well known supplier. We actually went into store too in Bristol. The delivery date was left open as we didn’t want it too early as we are also storing kit for our daughters kitchen installation that starts next Tuesday. On 14 May just as I was driving out of Whitby I had a phone call. The lady asked why I had not submitted for a refund on the cancelled order. I explained that we had not cancelled the order and she said there was now no stock, but dues in were expected shortly and our order would be reinstate. So yesterday I looked at my account; zilch.

I rang the number on the receipts and after a myriad of button presses spoke to a human. Because I had purchased in store he couldn’t help. So I asked if I could be transf to the store. No. I then asked for the stores customer service number. That could not be given out as they were “ customer facing”. I let him know that I was a customer lest he hadn’t realised it. He then suggested I visited the store. 39 mikes each way, dream on.

I then looked at the receipt paperwork and there was a customer services email address so I sent an email. Quick as a flash the message came back saying the email was no longer an active address. I then tried we chat but that was not available. Out of sheer frustration I fired off on Twitter. 10 minutes later I received a notification to PM them to sort out the refund. I did that but let them know it was a cooker etc that we required not a refund. The saga continues. But I will be sending a thing called a letter to the Sheffield address clearly addressed to the Customer Complaints Department.

In the end I posted a “rant” on Twitter and as the famous saying from Dads Army goes “ they don’t like it up em” Quick as a flash I received a reply asking me to contact them by PM. Our order has been reinstated and a the care plan refunded as a gesture. We could have had delivery tomorrow; shock horror garage is full of daughters kitchen installation. So the company agreed to move our delivery into earlyJuly. Oh the power of social media, but frustratingly unnecessary.

 

[Raywood]

Bad publicity seems to be the only thing that works with most companies except the caravan industry who just do not care at all.

 

[Hutch]

I would love to go around the Coachman Factory and see their production procedures. My aviation working could possibly show them what is incorrect in their procedures. Maybe not, but the caravan companies need a kick up the bum. Sealing, pre drilling holes etc. Standards need to improve.

 

[Damian]

My aviation working could possibly show them what is incorrect in their procedures.

You dont need aviation or any other kind of experience to see what is wrong with caravan builders.....believe me !!
The problem is the total lack of pride by the operatives and working in less than ideal premises with a lot of heath robinson tools and no promise of employment long term.

Coupled with piece work this adds up to sub standard products.

 

[Buckman]

The problem is the total lack of pride by the operatives and working in less than ideal premises with a lot of heath robinson tools and no promise of employment long term. Coupled with piece work this adds up to sub standard products.

Could also be the reason why manufactureres are now struggling to to recruit people?