Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => General Wargames and Hobby Discussion => Topic started by: fastolfrus on November 04, 2015, 08:00:16 AM
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A cautionary tale...
Went to a conference and got home to find a "Sorry I missed you" card on the mat.
No details on the card apart from a date, house number, and "1 parcel in the dustbin".
By dustbin sits by the front boundary hedge - easy for the binmen (or anyone else) to reach.
I contacted Hermes (the courier who left the card) and asked what parcel was left.
The told me I don't have a parcel, it was delivered 2 months earlier.
I asked why had they left the card then?
They said I needed the 16 digit tracking number
I noticed an 8 digit barcode and sent that
They responded that it was not their number and must have been left by someone else.
I offered to scan the card, which is headed "Hermes" in big letters at the top, and has their website on the back.
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They still maintain that it is not their barcode number.
But it may be a parcel from a retailer, so it is not their problem. All I need to do is contact my retailer and get them to sort it out.
I said I would contact every retailer I could find and ask who sent me a parcel since they could not tell me who sent it.
They replied that they have a confidential contract with retailers and cannot tell me who sent it. Or when it was sent. Or what size it is. Or who it was adressed to.
I await the next installment of the customer service emails....
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It is indeed a cautionary tale. It's unsatisfactory for two reasons:
[1] They shouldn't leave the parcel. The bin was used for their convenience not yours.
[2] The customer support as described is unhelpful at best.
I suggest you escalate this to the second level of support (a team leader or higher) and focus on point [1]. When you do find out who sent you the parcel make sure they complain.
You should bear in mind it's the end courier that's the real problem. When myHermes first set up some of the local couriers were not the best and they took steps to weed out careless and thoughtless couriers. This one sounds like they need a rocket.
When I use myHermes for an order I always inform the customer and add the customer's email address to the order. The latter means myHermes sent them an email with the tracking details. You should insist your retailers do this or just request a tracking number.
If you don't get any joy PM me and I will give you the email of one of the senior UK managers who has helped me in the past. Alternatively you can contact Carole Woodhead who's the CEO of Hermes Parcelnet UK (http://www.ceoemail.com/s.php?id=9539) enclosing a scan of your card.
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BTW their twitter support is very active - @myhermes
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Yeah, the sender is the account holder and they specify who MyHermes is allowed to contact regarding the parcel and where a parcel may be delivered to if the recipient is out.
Restrictions on who companies are allowed to release personal information to are widespread in many sectors and this is one of them. But yeah, they really should have left more details on that card they left you. In case of parcels not being delivered they are usually kept at the local MyHermes depot and then returned to the sender if not claimed.
I use them a lot because as a Sender, the service is brilliant. This isn't the first time I have encountered annoyance by people not being able to get information or flexibility on a parcel they are to receive however, but it's the Sender who sets up the restrictions and details on every parcel.
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Another email from the customer service team.
It looks as though Sanjeev has escalated this to his supervisor, they have now given me a company name so that I don't start randomly emailing firms.
Don't know who they are, but I'll track them down.
Thanks for your assistance.
I'll keep you informed.
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Good luck with it. MyHermes does have a minimum of £25 insurance built in, so that might come in useful.
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Googling the company name that they gave me led me back to .... Hermes.
So a few more emails and they again advised me to contact "A Retailer".
In a moment of desperation I emailed 32 retailers to ask if they had sent a parcel to Scarborough in October.
I also spent a half hour on the phone to Trading Standards.
TS couldn't help much but pointed out that if I ever find the item value I can charge them with the Tort of Negligence.
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Having told Hermes about TS and the 32 retailers they relented and gave me a phone number and a tracking number.
I googled the phone number and found a shipping company in Warrington.
I emailed them and they told me the tracking number relates to a KS parcel delivered in August.
I have now emailed them:
"Your courier left a card on 24th October 2015.
Unless you are now sending out couriers in a time machine, could you tell me how the parcel you dumped in my rubbish bin in October got delivered to me in August?
Can you confirm that the parcel was addressed to me?"
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Had a few things delivered to me by Hermes. I wasn't overly impressed with them. Had a couple of parcels left several doors down the street which I always find to be a little concerning as I couldn't tell you who the hell lives beyond our immediate neighbours. Had a courier from another company say that they're not supposed to leave parcels so many doors away. The most annoying was a parcel was left with a neighbour but we weren't left a calling card. Took a week before our paths crossed by chance and they were able to give me the damn thing. I contacted Hermes to point out how had my neighbour not been honest then without a card I'd be none the wiser and they just gave a stock 'we'll assess our driver training' answer. Thankfully other couriers seem to be more popular as I've not seem Hermes for a while. I like DPD as they send you a delivery time by text and email on the day.
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Took a new approach.
Rummaged about on the Hermes website and found another email address for complaints and sent a simple "How do I claim compensation for your negligence" message.
I now have a tracking number. For a parcel sent 10th October.
Took them 14 days to get it into my dustbin.
Matches the style of number from the August parcel, so I'm guessing it may be a kickstarter. Now I just need to find which one... (and who it was addressed to)
Interestingly Hermes say that the delivery was cancelled.
I've asked what cancelled means.
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Cancelled apparently means that Hermes have refunded the delivery fee to my retailer so that they are not out of pocket.
Now all I have to do is find out who they are and ask them what happens next.
Maybe I can't get a parcel from Hermes because I'm not Greek, or immortal....
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So...it's 2015. We can land a probe on Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet some 580,000,000 km away or upload wirelessly a few gigabytes to the jungles of Borneo, yet state-of-the-art delivery and communication methods for shipments are "threw it to the dustbin" and "left it to some bloke who may live on the same street"?
Impressive.
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Once had United Parcel Service leave a note saying "Left package in car parked at the curb"...
Wasn't our car. Never found out whose it was...
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So...it's 2015. We can land a probe on Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet some 580,000,000 km away or upload wirelessly a few gigabytes to the jungles of Borneo, yet state-of-the-art delivery and communication methods for shipments are "threw it to the dustbin" and "left it to some bloke who may live on the same street"?
Impressive.
In essence, it's because that's what they're paid to do. Couriers operate on volume, not quality of service.
I always tell people to send me things via the regular post over using a courier. Much less chance of some idiot fucking around that way.
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I would double up on the suggestion to hit them on social media...my last company would contact you damn near immediately if you started posting negative stuff on their facebook/twitter bla bla bla. Sometimes it pays to be the squeaky wheel.
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I had the same problem but with a Christmas gift.
Bought it from Asda, got supposedly left in the bin by Hermes. Rang up Asda and got a refund immediately.
Contact the retailer, not the delivery company.
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Tricky if you don't know which parcel this uesless bunch of muppets have mishandled.
JDE
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When you say bin you must not mean the thing you put your household rubbish in surely.
Yep: garbage can, rubbish bin, dumpster - whatever you call the receptacle in which you deposit your household waste into.
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I once arrived home from work to find a Hermes driver putting a parcel in the bin and about to walk off without even leaving a card to say where the parcel was. When I asked him what the donkey he was playing at, he said he thought "someone would be sure to look in the bin when they throw something away".
I... disagreed with his line of thinking.
Still, Hermes aren't as bad as Yodel. Yodel are the firm who tried putting a hardback book through my letter box that was too big to fit by wedging it in at an angle and hammering it as hard as possible. And I was at home at the time, they never even tried knocking at the door. The first I knew was the thump! thump! thump! as they started breaking the back of my book. That made me lose my cool.
Every other time Yodel have been supposedly delivering to me they never even turned up.
These days, if I'm ordering something I ask first if the seller is going to use Hermes or Yodel and if they say yes I tell them I won't be buying from them and I tell them why.
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ok, have to ask.
When you say bin you must not mean the thing you put your household rubbish in surely.
some tool dumps my mail on my old teabags and whatnot......well like I am going to be totally uncool about that. Biffotasticly peeved even.
Well, recycling bin so it's not too bad.
They did it again yesterday with a bunch of parcels. I was walking up to the door as he did so, though, so it wasn't resting there too long.
Why?!? Why would you put peoples mail in their rubbish and why do you people dumpster dive for your mail so calmly?
British stiff upper lip.
Still, Hermes aren't as bad as Yodel. Yodel are the firm who tried putting a hardback book through my letter box that was too big to fit by wedging it in at an angle and hammering it as hard as possible. And I was at home at the time, they never even tried knocking at the door. The first I knew was the thump! thump! thump! as they started breaking the back of my book. That made me lose my cool.
Every other time Yodel have been supposedly delivering to me they never even turned up.
These days, if I'm ordering something I ask first if the seller is going to use Hermes or Yodel and if they say yes I tell them I won't be buying from them and I tell them why.
My girlfriend used to work at Argos and they used Yodel all the time. From what she said, 99% of the complaints could be put down to Yodel being awful.
The worst was some guy had ordered a bunch of VERY expensive paving stones from them. He never gets a knock at the door but hears a loud crack outside and discovers the Yodel delivery men just throwing the paving stones out of the van onto his front. Out of the van.