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.