Having trouble getting courier to refund me for their mistake.

[V8 Supercharger]

Hello all

Sorry, abit of a long one i know, but it shows the dilemma im in.

I usually use Interparcel to get the best prices from couriers and then book it all through Interparcel themselves.

On this particular occasion i had to send out 4 parcels quite quickly as the customers all had their own deadlines. When i looked on Interparcel the only courier that could do same day collection and next day delivery was TNT. So i booked all 4 with them.

As normal, Interparcel sent me the shipping labels, which i printed and attached to the parcels. About 2 hours later TNT turned up, collected the parcels and sure enough they were delivered the very next day. Top notch service . . . . or so i thought.

In the evening i had an email from one of the customers who was complaining that he had the wrong parcel!!! Surely not, im pretty sure i labelled them up correctly, or did i

This was on Friday 23/08/2013 and it was just the beginning of the bank holiday Monday weekend. I had no contact numbers for any of the customers so i fired an email to all of them asking them what they had received. With it being the Bank holiday weekend, some of them had gone away so i was not getting answers as quickly as i would have liked. All this time the 1st customer to complain was getting quite irate.

Anyways, it was not until the following Wednesday that i managed to track all of them down and found that of the 4 parcels that i sent, 3 of them had gone to the wrong places. When i asked the customers what kind of shipping label they had on them, they all said it was a small A5 sized label stuck on with brown tape, which was exactly what i had stuck on them. So it dawned on me that this was indeed my mistake and obviously i had to correct this at my own expense now. But as they were time sensitive deliveries for atleast 2 of the 3 customers and they were not willing to really help me out by printing and labelling them up again so i could arrange for another courier to correct them (which i dont REALLY blame them for), i decided to go around myself and re-deliver them.

I took a day off work, drove 700 HUNDRED miles and just over £200 later i had them all at the correct places with 3 very happy, and quite amazed, customers.


Now the problem iv got is that when i got to the first customer, about 260 miles away, i realised that it was not actually my label on the parcel. The one that i was emailed by Interparcel and stuck to the parcel was underneath. Underneath another label that TNT had stuck on at their depot. Some clever numpty did not match up the addresses when labelling them up and so they all went to the wrong places. So it was NOT my fault after all, it was TNT's.

I took this up with Interparcel who seemed to be sympathetic at first, and then when they realised the parcels had all been corrected they said they cannot do anything now, not even refund the original postage costs that i paid.

Iv still got the shipping labels on me which clearly show the wrong TNT labels stuck over my correct labels and yet they will not ackowledge that a mistake has been made and so "will not investigate any further". I mean WTF . . .

Now im not the most diplomatic of people, and il end up losing my rag over the phone, which may not help my case. So iv sent them an email at their complaints dept. and they've basically said the same thing, that i should not have sorted this out myself but left it to them and they would have eventually got it sorted. Iv told them that these were time sensitive deliveries and they should have been delivered correctly the first time around, but they've ignored this. Iv also mentioned that i had paid for a service which they did not provide, and they have seemed to side step this aswell. I have all the evidence here of their mistake but they just dont seem to be interested.

Does anybody know if theres anything i can do . . . or is it a case of the big guy screws the little guy over???

 

[Howard]

I would just suck it up and get on with life.

It's too short to be rowing with parcel companies.

 

[V8 Supercharger]

To be honest im a big fan of road trips and this was just a mini road trip, so not exactly the end of the world.

But its the principle behind it, for them to turn around now and say they have not done anything wrong is whats really getting winding me up.

If they simply turned around and said "oops, we've made abit of a boo-boo here, so we'll just refund you the original amount you paid to us" then that would be the end of it as far as im concerned.

But to say that its somehow my fault for sorting their mess out is a bit of a low blow.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I'd simply send them an email stating your complaints and you've found the aftercare abysmal and if the situation isn't rectified to your satisfaction, you won't be using their services again.

It's obviously annoying, but getting irate will do you no good.

 

[PXW]

Agree with posts above - just sit back, take the moral high ground and look after your blood pressure. Not worth it.

On the upside you seem to have secured a fair bit of goodwill with your customers thanks to your 'going the extra 700 miles' personal service. That wouldn't have happened without the courier's foul-up...

 

[markjay]

As others said.

You can of course take them to Small Claims for the cost of the day off work and fuel (checking first who's you contract with, i.e. Interparcel, TNT, or both). But in reality it makes sense to just let it go.

I was in a similar situation a few years ago when a parcel hande-in at the local post office for delivery with Parcel Force (then the Post Office courier service) was incorrectly handled. Parcel Force rejected my claim because from their point of view the parcel was delivered as per the label it had on it (which the post office afixed incorrectly). The Post Office said they were not processing complaints regarding Parcel Force deliveries... I am certain that the Small Claims court would have explained them their respective responsibilities, but I decided to take it on the chin and give it a pass...

 

[brucemillar]

Next time use YODEL. This will ensure that your stuff will never be seen again by you or the intended recipient. Calls to their NO Help Whatsoever Desk will leave you wanting to eat your own excrement. To test you humour to the limit they will refer you to their "lost goods" warehouse. When I got put through there, it was "empty". This is explained easily as the goods are not "lost" they are sitting in some delivery drivers house or garage awaiting an ebay listing.

 

[219]

Hello all

Sorry, abit of a long one i know, but it shows the dilemma im in.

I usually use Interparcel to get the best prices from couriers and then book it all through Interparcel themselves.

On this particular occasion i had to send out 4 parcels quite quickly as the customers all had their own deadlines. When i looked on Interparcel the only courier that could do same day collection and next day delivery was TNT. So i booked all 4 with them.

As normal, Interparcel sent me the shipping labels, which i printed and attached to the parcels. About 2 hours later TNT turned up, collected the parcels and sure enough they were delivered the very next day. Top notch service . . . . or so i thought.

In the evening i had an email from one of the customers who was complaining that he had the wrong parcel!!! Surely not, im pretty sure i labelled them up correctly, or did i

This was on Friday 23/08/2013 and it was just the beginning of the bank holiday Monday weekend. I had no contact numbers for any of the customers so i fired an email to all of them asking them what they had received. With it being the Bank holiday weekend, some of them had gone away so i was not getting answers as quickly as i would have liked. All this time the 1st customer to complain was getting quite irate.

Anyways, it was not until the following Wednesday that i managed to track all of them down and found that of the 4 parcels that i sent, 3 of them had gone to the wrong places. When i asked the customers what kind of shipping label they had on them, they all said it was a small A5 sized label stuck on with brown tape, which was exactly what i had stuck on them. So it dawned on me that this was indeed my mistake and obviously i had to correct this at my own expense now. But as they were time sensitive deliveries for atleast 2 of the 3 customers and they were not willing to really help me out by printing and labelling them up again so i could arrange for another courier to correct them (which i dont REALLY blame them for), i decided to go around myself and re-deliver them.

I took a day off work, drove 700 HUNDRED miles and just over £200 later i had them all at the correct places with 3 very happy, and quite amazed, customers.


Now the problem iv got is that when i got to the first customer, about 260 miles away, i realised that it was not actually my label on the parcel. The one that i was emailed by Interparcel and stuck to the parcel was underneath. Underneath another label that TNT had stuck on at their depot. Some clever numpty did not match up the addresses when labelling them up and so they all went to the wrong places. So it was NOT my fault after all, it was TNT's.

I took this up with Interparcel who seemed to be sympathetic at first, and then when they realised the parcels had all been corrected they said they cannot do anything now, not even refund the original postage costs that i paid.

Iv still got the shipping labels on me which clearly show the wrong TNT labels stuck over my correct labels and yet they will not ackowledge that a mistake has been made and so "will not investigate any further". I mean WTF . . .

Now im not the most diplomatic of people, and il end up losing my rag over the phone, which may not help my case. So iv sent them an email at their complaints dept. and they've basically said the same thing, that i should not have sorted this out myself but left it to them and they would have eventually got it sorted. Iv told them that these were time sensitive deliveries and they should have been delivered correctly the first time around, but they've ignored this. Iv also mentioned that i had paid for a service which they did not provide, and they have seemed to side step this aswell. I have all the evidence here of their mistake but they just dont seem to be interested.

Does anybody know if theres anything i can do . . . or is it a case of the big guy screws the little guy over???

File a small claims action for refund of your costs for correcting their mistakes ( loss of earnings due to time taken off work plus fuel costs incurred ) .

I'm not sure if you could also claim for refund of their charges since they failed to deliver the service you paid for - I suspect you may not be able to claim for both .

See if your customers will email you a statement of what happened , or if you already have all correspondence on email , print it off .

Go to court with your labels etc , plus the emails , and I'd be surprised if you didn't win .

I think a small claims action costs something like £30 ( you may also be able to recover this if you win ) and you can raise it in a court near you so as to minimise further loss of time .

 

[baxlin]

Next time use YODEL. This will ensure that your stuff will never be seen again by you or the intended recipient. Calls to their NO Help Whatsoever Desk will leave you wanting to eat your own excrement. To test you humour to the limit they will refer you to their "lost goods" warehouse. When I got put through there, it was "empty". This is explained easily as the goods are not "lost" they are sitting in some delivery drivers house or garage awaiting an ebay listing.

I was lucky, then, it seems. YODEL just didn't bother to pick my parcel up at all. Had to re-negotiate for the next day. Tracking it a few minutes ago it has arrived at the depot nearest to the recipient's address, so there's still hope he'll receive it today.

Malcolm

 

[Spinal]

Yodel (or nodel) somehow managed to lose a bathtub I ordered... yet they never admitted it, but made me wait at home every Wednesday for 6 months (I ended up not waiting at home as I knew they weren't coming) before they admitted that they lost it... The ironic part is, the seller wouldn't refund me until they returned the bathtub...

Send a complaint to TNT as you did, mention the volume of parcels you send and how you wont be using their services again... then chalk it up to experience.

M.

 

[brucemillar]

I was lucky, then, it seems. YODEL just didn't bother to pick my parcel up at all. Had to re-negotiate for the next day. Tracking it a few minutes ago it has arrived at the depot nearest to the recipient's address, so there's still hope he'll receive it today.

Malcolm

Oh dear. I also tracked my parcel as it made it's way from oop north to down south. I was delighted when after several weeks and different depots, multiple phone calls and e-mails, my parcel arrived at my home address.

My delight soon evaporated when instantly recognised that my package had been torn open and half it contents removed. Still encouraged (foolishly) in the belief that losing TWO CAR WHEELS WITH TYRES would not be an easy thing to achieve? I started on the cycle of phone calls, emails etc.

I spoke to people in far of places with strange names like Bolton, Manchester, Oxford, Canterbury. I navigated the route taken by my parcel without leaving my office chair. My final destination (two weeks later) was the mythical "Lost property Warehouse".

As stated this is an empty building in somebody's back garden staffed by pixies and elves.

I never got my wheels. I did get somebody's BMW refurbed wheels which had a senders address. I contacted the sender who explained that since his customers had gone missing BMW had moved to using internal combustion units in their cars. His customer had died of old age, his skeletal remains found in waiting position in his front porch his hand outstretched awaiting a parcel that would never arrive.

My neighbour had 10 litres of engine oil delivered by Yodel. He knew this when he discovered what looked like a Fracking test behind his locked front gate. Yes on his CCTV he clearly witnessed the YODEL tooth fairy happily toss the parcel over his gate SPLAT !!

Never mind you may think. Well my neighbour did mind. He had not ordered any oil and still has no idea who it was intended for.

So if you are awaiting 10 litres of engine oil bring a straw and a sponge to Kent.

YODEL .... Keeping your bowels moving while stealing your stuff...

 

[grober]

Last time I spoke to my mate who ships vintage Hifi round the globe swore by UPS. Wouldn't use anyone else.

 

[Howard]

Every time I have sent a parcel via Interparcel ( economy ) , the UPS man has come and picked it up.

 

[V8 Supercharger]

Next time use YODEL. This will ensure that your stuff will never be seen again by you or the intended recipient. Calls to their NO Help Whatsoever Desk will leave you wanting to eat your own excrement.

I was lucky, then, it seems. YODEL just didn't bother to pick my parcel up at all. Had to re-negotiate for the next day. Tracking it a few minutes ago it has arrived at the depot nearest to the recipient's address, so there's still hope he'll receive it today.

Yodel (or nodel) somehow managed to lose a bathtub I ordered... yet they never admitted it, but made me wait at home every Wednesday for 6 months (I ended up not waiting at home as I knew they weren't coming) before they admitted that they lost it... The ironic part is, the seller wouldn't refund me until they returned the bathtub...

My delight soon evaporated when instantly recognised that my package had been torn open and half it contents removed. Still encouraged (foolishly) in the belief that losing TWO CAR WHEELS WITH TYRES would not be an easy thing to achieve? I started on the cycle of phone calls, emails etc.

I never got my wheels.

My neighbour had 10 litres of engine oil delivered by Yodel. He knew this when he discovered what looked like a Fracking test behind his locked front gate. Yes on his CCTV he clearly witnessed the YODEL tooth fairy happily toss the parcel over his gate SPLAT !!

YODEL .... Keeping your bowels moving while stealing your stuff...

Ahh yessss . . . . the biggest conmen of the lot, Yodel.

Funnily enough when i first started out about a year ago i used to use Yodel, through Interparcel aswell.

After months and months of abysmal service, parcels going to the wrong places, parcels turning up damaged, parcels not turning up at all or better still, just not getting collected despite the driver saying he turned up and no one was around. The last one was the final straw for me as the driver claimed on 3 different occasions that no one was here despite him coming around repeatedly for the parcels. What he failed to notice was the 5 CCTV cameras that record inside and outside the premises, and not one of them picked him up on the times and dates he was saying he was there!!!! The invisible driver that he was

After losing my rag with Interparcel in several emails and phone conversations which got very heated, i noticed Yodel are no longer on Interparcels courier list. Im sure it wasnt due to me, but id like to think i played some small part in this.

After them i started using City Link. Slightly more expensive but a HELL OVA better service. Used them for about 6 months with no problems until they decided to lose one of 2 parcels. Both parcels were for the same customer, but one was delivered while the other went walk abouts. When i enquired i was told by City Link that only one parcel had ever been collected and so only one would ever have been delivered. When i spoke to the driver a few days later he confirmed he had collected 2 parcels, but also mentioned that City Link were trying to fob me off as they knew there was a problem. The reason being that nomarlly the driver would get a phone call on the same day as a complaint going in but in this case he had not heard anything about it, so something was definitely fishy there. Anyways, City Links official stance was that only one parcel was ever collected and so only one was ever delivered. About a week of me harrasing them and hey presto, the missing parcel was delivered back to me, complete with City Link stickers and written on top was "failed deliery" . . . you dont say. I emailed the crankpot at City Link about this who had been emailing me on their official stance, only to never hear back from him again. I was about ready to let go of this when they messed up another 2 parcels. Ment to go to London, ended up in Liverpool. As soon as i got on to them they sorted it out. 2 weeks later i got an invoice from Interparcel telling me they had a complaint from City Link that i had not declared the weights correctly of my parcels and i owed them £60. I had declared them to be 40kg but when City Link checked they turned out to be near 140kg. So i told Interparcel about the previous incident with City Link, how i only sent 4 17" alloys this time and how they cannot weigh 140kg unless i had placed a dead body in there somewhere. I knew City Link were trying to get me to pay for their mistake in delivering them to the wrong place, so i told Interparcel to produce the dead body and i would pay the difference. No dead body has yet been produced and i have not heard back from City Link, Interparcel or any Morgue.

That was the end of the road with Sh**ty Link aswell.

 

[V8 Supercharger]

Last time I spoke to my mate who ships vintage Hifi round the globe swore by UPS. Wouldn't use anyone else.

Every time I have sent a parcel via Interparcel ( economy ) , the UPS man has come and picked it up.

Been using UPS now for the last 2 months or so and so far no complaints . . . . fingers crossed.

 

[V8 Supercharger]

I really hope things dont go pear shape with UPS as i like to keep postage costs down for customers, and i dont make any profit on postage costs, but everytime one courier decides to mess it up good and proper i have to use the next one who is always slightly more expensive. At this rate i might have to start delivering parcels myself by the end of next year.

But it just goes to show how little they care for their customers now-a-days. Its all about money and so it can never be their fault.

Postage insurance is just a complete waste of money so dont bother with that. When you come round to making a claim they always have something in place which makes it your fault anyway. Like the lost parcel with City Link, I could never claim for that as their stance was that they never collected it. Or TNT who are now claiming that they had delivered them so thats their job done, despite the fact that all of them were delivered to the wrong places. Its getting more and more like car insurance, they love taking your money, but pull out all the stops if you ever make a claim.

The basic policy with all types of insurance seems simple - Deny Everything.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I really hope things dont go pear shape with UPS as i like to keep postage costs down for customers, and i dont make any profit on postage costs, but everytime one courier decides to mess it up good and proper i have to use the next one who is always slightly more expensive.

There is a message in there ^^

The 'best price' is usually far from the 'best service'.

 

[markjay]

Yodel... perhaps.

But no one, no one, loses parcels and letters to the scale and magnitude of the Royal Mail *sigh*.

 

[stevieb15]

Yodel... perhaps.

But no one, no one, loses parcels and letters to the scale and magnitude of the Royal Mail *sigh*.

Not wanting to be contrary just for the sake of it but I've always found Royal Mail service levels to be unequalled, rigid and expensive maybe, but...

 

[markjay]

I have ordered on several occasions items from Amazon where the seller shipped via Royal Mail, nothing arrived and 'Signed For' is strangely not trackabe, so I wait 21 days get full refund from seller, but what a waste of time.