The early morning courier thread, grr

[Simpo Two]

Courier arrived today at about 8.00am with my shiny new camera, yippee!

However, the joyous event was spoiled just a little. It went like this.

Doorbell goes, I trot downstairs and open door to be greeted by empty-handed driver. 'Tell me what I'm looking for' he said - the inference being he had so much stuff in his van that the info would help him find it. 'It's a camera' I said, 'so I guess a box about a foot square'.

Off he scuttled to the van and I stood in the doorway for a couple of minutes while he rummaged around in the van. Eventually he found the box and brought it over. The top was caved in, and mindful of the fact that this camera is worth £2,000, I set it down and started opening the box to make sure the contents were OK. I heard some muttering from the driver and asked for elucidation. 'You're not supposed to open the box until you've signed for it' he said. I replied 'This is worth two grand so I want to make sure it's not damaged'. 'They're supposed to pack it up so it doesn't get damaged' he said. 'Yes but if you guys are going to play tennis with it in the van...'

The contents were OK and I signed for it and off he went. But I was struck by two things.

1) Should I really have to sign for something which I suspect may be damaged? Far better to find out and then refuse the delivery, surely. What happened to 'Received in good condition'?

2) His attitude was clearly 'It's not my fault guv'. If UK workers took the extra mental leap to think 'Let's try to do our jobs properly and take responsibility for our actions' (rather than crush a box and not think of the time-consuming chain of consequences, distress and possible financial loss that can follow) we could probably all finish our work by lunchtime.

[scotal]

Simpo Two said:

. If UK workers took the extra mental leap to think 'Let's try to do our jobs properly and take responsibility for our actions'

You're funny
Why on earth would they do that?

"Its insured innit"
"Its not my problem guv,you'll have to call the office 0870......"
"I dont do pick ups, so some other bloek will get a mouthful when its replaced"
"You can afford £2k for a camera, you can afford to replace it"
" I ain't paid enough to care"

Ad infinitum.


ETA, most of the stuff we order these days seems to come via royal mail. We have the same delivery driver every time. He's polite, careful, cheerful, never needs our help guessing which parcel is for us and leaves clear legible meesages should the parcel be left with a neighbour. BTW he's not British, go figure.

Edited by scotal on Tuesday 29th July 09:50

[Monki]

Once signed for, there's small print saying you've checked it and that the item is not damaged. I don't know how strongly that would stand up in a legal environment, but signing usually says that you've accepted the goods in an acceptable condition.

When working as a courier I was always really careful, but some of the other drivers used to just dump parcels in the back, lobbing "fragile" boxes at the bottom of a pile...... used to really shock me!

Might be worth complaining about, probably won't get anywhere as the complaints office at a lot of delivery firms is a secretary sat at a desk pretending to listen to you.

[rhinochopig]

A few years ago I had £1200 pounds worth of flatscreen TV picked up - the screen wasn't very flat at all and it buzzed. I asked the company I bought it from to tell their couriers to brink packaging as I'd thrown the old stuff away. They turned up in a van and just through it straight into the back. I was stunned and asked will it be ok in there. The chap just shrugged and got in the van.

[sleep envy]

scotal said:

ETA, most of the stuff we order these days seems to come via royal mail. We have the same delivery driver every time. He's polite, careful, cheerful, never needs our help guessing which parcel is for us and leaves clear legible meesages should the parcel be left with a neighbour. BTW he's not British, go figure.

sausage?

[mouseymousey]

I was advised by a company I bought something from recently that when you sign for the parcel you should write 'unchecked' next to your signature. The problem is that most couriers seem to use machines that you sign on now where there's nowhere to write 'unchecked'.

[Cara Van Man]

sleep envy said:

scotal said:

ETA, most of the stuff we order these days seems to come via royal mail. We have the same delivery driver every time. He's polite, careful, cheerful, never needs our help guessing which parcel is for us and leaves clear legible meesages should the parcel be left with a neighbour. BTW he's not British, go figure.

sausage?

pervert!

[williamp]

Some couriers are very good. No idea which ones, sadly.

Still, better then the Royal mail. Waiting for a package during the week? They'll deliver when Im at work, so I wait 2 days before going to pick it up. Package arrives at the weekend? Postie rings bell at 7h30- perfect during the week, annoying on the saturday...

[scotal]

sleep envy said:

scotal said:

ETA, most of the stuff we order these days seems to come via royal mail. We have the same delivery driver every time. He's polite, careful, cheerful, never needs our help guessing which parcel is for us and leaves clear legible meesages should the parcel be left with a neighbour. BTW he's not British, go figure.

sausage?

Nope, African. (fking huge as well, first time he knocked on our door I could only see his outline through the glass, thought twice about opening it. Stereotypes rule eh?)

[sleep envy]

[johnnywb]

My parent's business ship all their goods by courier and recive a lot by courier. All stuff we receive is signed for "unchecked" crossing through anything that might say "received in good condition". All customers are advised to do the same by labels on the boxes.

Whilst it might not help the customer directly, if the product is damaged and has been signed for "unchecked", we will issue a replacement and take up the cost of replacement with the courier company. However, we can only pursue the courier company if the goods have been signed for unchecked.

I now sign for everything unchecked, just covers my back.

[Simpo Two]

johnnywb said:

I now sign for everything unchecked, just covers my back.

Do you have that option on an LCD screen though?

[johnnywb]

Simpo Two said:

johnnywb said:

I now sign for everything unchecked, just covers my back.

Do you have that option on an LCD screen though?

Hmm that's a good point! THe only thing i've had to do that with recently has been tickets. I normally just put 'unchecked' in brackets after the signature, which i'd guess you might be able to do?

[97octane]

Have heard & seen this first hand - courier companies not handing over the goods to let you check them before you have signed to say you have received and checked them! I have also been told (by UPS) that this is company policy!!
Something wrong there.

[anonymous-user]

UPS hmmm, those tossers went to the trouble of driving into our carpark only to not even bother knocking the door yesterday!! Where is the logic in that? Redelivered today(sticker on box saying no answer!! Well no, not if you don't knock the fking door!!!!!!!!!). Not the first time this has happened, last time it was City(stty) Link.

[Plotloss]

Simpo Two said:

johnnywb said:

I now sign for everything unchecked, just covers my back.

Do you have that option on an LCD screen though?

You can on the smaller sets up to and around 32", the larger sets will typically be delivered by smaller outfits who will be a bit more forgiving of you taking the time to lift off the upper portion of the carton.

[randlemarcus]

Plotloss said:

Simpo Two said:

johnnywb said:

I now sign for everything unchecked, just covers my back.

Do you have that option on an LCD screen though?

You can on the smaller sets up to and around 32", the larger sets will typically be delivered by smaller outfits who will be a bit more forgiving of you taking the time to lift off the upper portion of the carton.

Almost a perfect whoosh for Plotty there

I do believe they were decrying the inability to write "Goods Not Yet Inspected" on the DHL PDA Systems

[GTIR]

The goods are not "yours" until signed for, therefore your not allowed to open them up as they are somebody elses property (the supplier)

I used to deliver stuff (medical) and some poeple tried to open up the packages before they signed for them even when they were not damaged, I stopped them pointing out that if they refused the delivery and the package was opened I would get into trouble as some of the goods were worth a lot of money, £3k for some drugs.

If its damaged refuse it, simple as, or not what you ordered then contact the supplier.

[Plotloss]

randlemarcus said:

Plotloss said:

Simpo Two said:

johnnywb said:

I now sign for everything unchecked, just covers my back.

Do you have that option on an LCD screen though?

You can on the smaller sets up to and around 32", the larger sets will typically be delivered by smaller outfits who will be a bit more forgiving of you taking the time to lift off the upper portion of the carton.

Almost a perfect whoosh for Plotty there

I do believe they were decrying the inability to write "Goods Not Yet Inspected" on the DHL PDA Systems

Oh.





Bugger.

[Muzzer]

mouseymousey said:

I was advised by a company I bought something from recently that when you sign for the parcel you should write 'unchecked' next to your signature. The problem is that most couriers seem to use machines that you sign on now where there's nowhere to write 'unchecked'.

Depends on which terms the delivery has been made under.

If my company made a delivery to you, and you wrote 'unchecked', that is not a statement of damage or fault so would not automatically "cover your back"

When signing for anything, you should make a rudimentary inspection of the goods for damage and check that the product codes, etc are correct. Anything amiss should then be marked on the paperwork.

The times I've had claims from customers for supposedly destroyed products that they've supposedly received like that but not marked the paperwork accordingly for. "I wrote unchecked on the paperwork!" they cry.

Yes sunshine and a fat lot of good that'll do you...