I doubt this will do any good but I’m going to track how this poor customer service experience pans out as an experiment in “groundswell customer action”. I really have been reading too much Forrester Research ;)
Here’s an open letter to Parcelforce that I just sent to their customer service team. I don’t want to be a bolshy customer but they’ve really pissed me off. Let’s see what happens.
***
I’m furious. This is the 3rd time you have failed to deliver my parcel.
Having paid a customs charge and extra Saturday delivery fee on your automated telephone service, I waited all day Saturday 3rd May and had no delivery.
I called your Charlton, London, depot. I spoke with a perplexed lady who rescheduled the delivery for the following Saturday (May 10th), specifically requesting an early delivery.
The following Saturday (May 10th) there was no delivery by lunchtime. I called your Charlton depot again. I was hung up on 3 times with no explanation. I eventually spoke to an unhelpful man who told me no delivery had been scheduled. The parcel had instead been left for collection at the Forest Hill depot.
He agreed to refund my weekend delivery charge and reschedule the delivery for this evening (Tuesday 13th May). I’ve just checked the online status of the parcel and it’s still at the Forest Hill depot. I called the Charlton office again (you’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now) but they’re closed.
I manage a company that protects and promotes brand reputations online. In cases of disasterous service like this I recommend that brands admit their mistake and make a genuine effort to make amends. Publicly and quickly. I suggest you start with the Charlton office before your company reputation is further damaged by negative word-of-mouth.
I cannot be at home during office hours (which are long). I do not have a car so cannot collect. A taxi will be expensive. My weekends are precious and you’ve taken two of them from me.
What are you going to do about it?
Phil Dearson
***
It appears that I’m not alone. Hmm.
Actually, that’s just one of 17,800 results on Google for “Parcelfarce”. That’s quite a lot of people. Quite a lot of noisy people. Hmm.
You’re far from alone. Parcelforce (or indeed farce) has become a bit of a swearword among its unhappy victims, and frankly your story is in the amateur league. (No disrespect intended. I applaud your efforts.) Unfortunately, they are in the cushy position of being an unlicensed postal operator (so unaccountable to Postwatch) yet acting as the national carrier (so a sort of monopoly position). I run a micro business and have had multiple run-ins with them, but my many attempts to complain have met with stony silence. Indeed, why would they bother to placate me? As long as people keep sending international packages to the UK through their national postal service, Parcelforce will keep handling them, regardless of how appallingly they do so.
scroobiouss last blog post..[A loud, long, lingering scream, echoing into the void] goes here
There must be something we can do about it though. There are thousands of annoyed people. I’ll put my evil thinking cap on. That always makes me feel better.
Well, be sure to get in touch if you come up with any Cunning Plans. I would dearly love to believe there’s something I could do, but experience so far suggests otherwise.
scroobiouss last blog post..[A loud, long, lingering scream, echoing into the void] goes here
This just in from Karen Blackburn at Parcelforce. She’s obviously the person to speak to. Very helpful :) Still, we’ll see what the situation is come 1pm tomorrow as she suggests.
*****
Dear Mr Phil Dearson
Thank you for your enquiry.
I was concerned to hear of the series of events that you have received from Parcelforce Worldwide. This kind of behaviour falls considerably short of the standards of service expected of Parcelforce Worldwide employees.
The vast majority of people employed through the network understand that customers expect and deserve excellent service.
I appreciate how frustrating and disappointing this issue will be for you.
I have contacted your local delivery depot. I have issued them with your details and I have asked them to investigate your enquiry. They will contact you directly by telephone with their findings. Please allow 24 hours for a reply from the depot.
You can contact your local depot on 08700 844 501 directly, in the unlikely event you have not had a reply within 24 hours.
I am sorry I am unable to provide any further information at this stage and I apologise for any inconvenience and/or undue stress caused as a result of this issue.
If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us again at this email address: parcelforce@parcelforce.co.uk.
Please ensure that you include the full history of your enquiry so far, in order to help us respond to you as quickly as possible.
Our hours of business are: Mon-Fri 8am to 7pm and Sat 8:30am to 12:30pm
Telephone: 08708 50 11 50
Text phone: 08000 85 58 54 (for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing)
Fax: 01924 294 205
Kind regards
Karen Blackburn
Parcelforce Worldwide
Customer Service Email Team
Gosh, 1 minute after posting this I received a call from the Charlton office from a helpful lady (whose name I didn’t get - damn) apologising and saying that they are going to pick up the parcel from the office they left it in and they’ll redeliver it on Saturday.
Impressive response. Let’s see if they can deliver.
Am I the most petty man in the World? Quite possibly.
Nothing petty about trying to get a company to do what they’ve been paid to do. Nor about getting extremely frustrated at Parcelforce’s inept, rude and frequently deceitful “service”. (It’s possible that developing my own level of bitterness is revealing of some very unattractive personality traits, but that’s another story.) I’m glad you’re getting your issue resolved. I’ve also gotten a very apologetic email from head office, but not a particularly helpful one. Correspondence continues. Of course, my own problem has been (entirely accidentally) resolved, but I’m still angry and out of pocket and not minded to drop it…
scroobiouss last blog post..[A loud, long, lingering scream, echoing into the void] goes here
Well, the Downing Street crew are still deliberating on an e-petition submitted last night. It’s not over yet. Watch this space: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/parcelforce/
Well, it’s Saturday and (big surprise) no delivery from Parcelforce. I just rang their Charlton depot again and was told it’s still languishing in the post office and wasn’t picked up at all. Latest pointless letter to Parcelforce below.
What I don’t understand is who to seek compensation from? I sent the parcel from Japan and had no say in who the courier would be when it reached the UK.
****
Dear Karen
A lady from the Charlton depot called me literally one minute after I’d received your email. She said that the parcel mentioned below (tracking id here) would be picked up from the Forest Hill Post Office and delivered to me on Saturday (that’s today - 17th May).
I just called Charlton to check on the delivery status. I spoke to Bobby Hundan there. He said the parcel is still in the Forest Hill Post Office and not scheduled for redelivery.
What do I have to do to get this parcel delivered? Having been let down 4 times by the Charlton depot I don’t believe anything they say.
I’m sure one of your team will send me a nice email apology saying everything will be fixed soon and “we really pride ourselves on an excellent standard of service”. I say, prove it.
Regards
Phil Dearson
Well done on starting a petition. I can’t say I have much faith in them, but I applaud the effort. And yes, I am trying to spread the word (on my blog and elsewhere).
Not remotely surprised that you still don’t have your parcel. This is classic Parcelforce - send a superficially intelligent and helpful seeming response that sadly, has absolutely no effect on getting the job done.
scroobiouss last blog post..Parcelfarce, the petition
Ugh having big parcelforce problems as well, like most people. Even worse, I have to pay customs and handling charges on the bloody thing.
Yeah, that happened to me too. £100 almost AND and extra £12 to get it delivered on a Saturday. What are you supposed to do? Take a day off to wait around all day and then NOT have it turn up.
Way to get fired.
Feel free to sign the Downing Street petition if you’re sufficiently motivated to ;)
Hi Phil
just wanted to add my commiserations, I have had numerous problems with these wan*ers, Im a bit of a guitar nut and bought a $2600 Gibson on U.S. ebay it arrived but as matchwood… not a penny in compensation, and that was even after threatening to torch the house of the head of customer services! Im now awaiting another expensive guitar which is apparently at Charlton depot (I know..you’d have thought Id learned by now) and having seen the amount of blogs about this particular depot am becoming more concerned by the day. There must be a way of sorting this crap company out, its legalised gangsterism!
Hi Mark
That’s shocking and slightly scary that it’s the Charlton depot again. I’ve been studying social media and consumer activism recently and it’s the only thing I can think of that might bring some pressure to bear. I’ve started a petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/parcelforce/ if you’d like to add another voice or dissent. Not sure how effective it’ll be, but what else do we have?
I have had nothing but BIG BIG PROBLEMS with the Charlton depot.
I live in HERNE HILL, for some reason the delivery man on that route likes to deliver to the SUB POST OFFICE not my home.
I have just had the 4th parcel from the US left at said post office and not my home, I have been at home all day, tracking showed out for delivery then at 14.20 online tracking said attempted delivery then left at post office, This is the BIGGEST LIE, he never tried to deliver to my home.
I rang PARCELFORCE WORLDWIDE, a very nice lady said this was because the parcel did not have my full address on it, I said this was absolutely NOT THE CASE, because they say that with every parcel they have been paid to deliver and have NOT, I also told her they never left a card because they never came in the first place, and not having a card gives me a big problem when I go to the sub post office, I have to BEG the post master to turn over said to me.
I will say this, YEARS AND YEARS AGO the delivery man on this route really was wonderful, you could set your watch by him, you would see his van moving and delivering on his route.
When I am purchasing from the US I now ask if they use parcelforce and if they do I say I am sorry but I will have to cancel the sale if they cannot use another UK delivery company.
I wonder what they do all day over at the Charlton depot? This level of inefficiency has to be deliberate, doesn’t it? Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, as they say (unless it’s digital, in which case… oh, whatever).
I ordered a parcle from Americsa and it arrived UK 3 days later (this was 2 Weeks ago)
Parcle force lied about an attempted delivery and a scheduled re-delivery.
I went to the depot to pick it up only to be told that it was at my local post office. Arranged for it to be re-delivered, it never showed up. Tried calling them but they dropped the phone on me twice. Finally spoke with a lady who said it would be sent back to the depot, went to pick it up the next day and was told it was still at the local post office.
Called up to ask about the parcel just to be sure, because the lady said it was at the depot ready to be picked up, and this time they couldnt find my parcel. Took my number to ring me back when the parcel had been hunted down. Called to imform me that parcel had been found but that been scheduled to be sent back to sender (i thougt it was only after 3 weeks and only if the person couldnt be reached) Arranged to go pick it up this evening - no apology from parcle force. What tossers!!!
Well, quite, Zuky. I couldn’t have summed it up better. Any idea what we, as poor disempowered customers, can do about it?
i making complain for mising items receved parcel force charlton i receive a open parcel two tiems is missing when i want call the office there telefone is nt a local call i have to pay so it is difficult to phone so please i would like to get back my the missing items as soon as posiple.
by saida
I think we might all have to go down to Charlton together and deliver them a parcel full of our discontent. But deliver it late, partly opened, with some of our discontent missing! That’ll show them.