In the UK more than 10% of our shopping is now done online. And whilst we’ve come a long way in terms of improving the online shopping experience there’s one area where it appears that there’s still work to do – the delivery. So why is that?
Like I said, a large proportion of our shopping is done online, and then there’s catalogue and in store shopping too. Well these all lend their weight to the 1.7bn parcels that are delivered around the UK every year.
There are a number of delivery companies that take on the task of delivering our parcels – one of them being Yodel, the UK’s biggest independent delivery firm. Yodel delivers around 155m parcels every year.
Well last night I appeared on Channel 4’s Dispatches, joining the programme to unveil their investigation into some pretty poor practices carried out in a Yodel warehouse.
Yodel uncovered
In a behind the scenes investigation Dispatches revealed footage of Yodel staff throwing clearly marked ‘fragile’ and ‘handle with care’ parcels around their depot and into their vans.
There were scenes of parcels being tossed around from person to person quite carelessly. And whilst Yodel have stated that their staff ‘are never trained to throw a parcel’ it was clear that these rules were being blatantly ignored.
Now, you may recall our campaign against dodgy deliveries. It was backed by over 19,000 of you who wanted to see the delivery companies smarten up their game and start delivering the service we all expect – that means an end to missing and damaged parcels.
Last November our campaign came to a close after we saw a marked improvement in customer service, all delivery companies achieved over 70% in customer satisfaction survey. So this behind the scenes behaviour is pretty disappointing to see.
Sort it out
Having watched Dispatches footage, my first thought was that it’s amazing that we get anything delivered that isn’t broken! And it was clear that the training given, simply wasn’t being followed.
Yodel clearly need to address this with their staff right across their warehouses. When you order something for delivery you should be able to expect that your purchase will be handled and delivered with care and consideration. If your delivery hasn’t met expectations then make sure you know your rights.
So what’s your experience been like with delivery companies? Have you had a particularly bad or even good experience that you’d like to share?
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