Getting so fed up with lazy or devious eBay customers.

[paulears]

Forgive me, I'm only venting really, but I begin to dread ebay messages - potential scammers are on the increase and also lazy people.

Where's my package - they yell. For the higher value items I use parcelforce rather than RM because they have tracking not just a "it was delivered" system. The tracking reveals they tried to deliver it, but the customer promises were unoccupied at the deliver time which they provide. You tell the customer, they demand to know what you are doing about it. You give them the parcelforce re-arrange your delivery URL and then three days later - where's my package? Then the buggers demand a refund - you say yes, as soon as it arrives back I'll do the refund. They then demand a post paid label - and you suddenly think, hang on, a label for a product you don't have? Ebay listen - and they've advised me to do nothing at all at the moment. Then another person says they haven't got a lower price item - you check with RM and it was delivered a week ago with the usual squiggle - no, I don't have it.

Then you get people who ask loads of questions before buying, and I'm always honest. No sorry - I don't know if it will connect with your message handling system - I've not actually heard of it. The radios does have a data connection for programming but I simply don't know if it will process readl time data received and your software is compatible. I checked on the software website and there is no list I can find of compatible equipment for me to check. Ten minutes later - "so you are saying yes it will work?" No - I am sayng I don't know. "If I buy it to try will you refund me, including MY wasted postage?" I'l refund you - but my wasted postage and yours are just how it goes? I'll ose and you lose. "Thats very unhelpful of you - I don't want to buy from you now as you have been so unhelpful.

While typing this, another complaint - exactly the same - Royal Mail say delivered, customer says not. Unless Royal Mail postmen really are knicking items galore - it's getting silly> It looks bad on my account though - I don't like these people who might be trying to scam me, but equally they could be honest folk and the postman really did just leave it on view, scribble on their pad and hope!

 

[gpietersz]

How much of an increase has there been? How much of a problem is it?

 

[paulears]

One in 20 now have some kind of delivery issue - had another one a few minutes back, and perhaps it's the holiday not helped, but if RM take an item back to the depot, is telling the customer with a card that difficult?

 

[MBE2017]

This was the reason why I decided to go to recorded delivery for every item when I used to sell on eBay, stopped all bar approx 3/6 con merchants per year, and Iused to send then an official looking form to fill in for a refund to help the PO with a fraud investigation ongoing in their area with the Police.

Approx half always found the item after that email, strange world. I stopped selling on eBay in the end, not just because of this but partly down to it.

 

[Ozzy]

Although not directly eBay related my wife is having some of these issues herself, she sells gifts via her own website. She uses Parcel2Go (Woocommerce integration so is handy) for shipping and for sending out it's great, but she's had people deny receiving goods even when Hermes have had photos of the items on the persons doorstep, door open, etc.

Then of course she's had people giving the wrong address, and also had Hermes/DPD completely lose items, and she's always the one picking up the tab. P2Go just refund the delivery cost when an item goes missing, and my wife has to pay for another item to be sent for the customer.

Retail (B2C anyway) is such a brilliant yet also such a frustrating sector. I miss it when the wife and I, well actually the wife and I just worked for her, ran a market stall. So much easier, but colder.

 

[japancool]

Then of course she's had people giving the wrong address, and also had Hermes/DPD completely lose items, and she's always the one picking up the tab. P2Go just refund the delivery cost when an item goes missing, and my wife has to pay for another item to be sent for the customer.

She presumably (like me) doesn't pay their extortionate insurance costs?

 

[paulears]

"I haven't got time to go to the sorting office to collect the parcel as it's not my fault I was out. Can you get them to deliver it to the shop next door?" How on earth can I do that? I secretly did get a little pleasure telling one chap that to get it from the local RM depot he'd need ID, maybe a driving licence or a bank statement at his address in his name. Something just told me that he wouldn't have any of these things.


On the insurance front - is it just too much to expect to NOT need it? They sort of say we'll deliver it broken, if you want extra care, that's extra dosh!

 

[Ozzy]

On the insurance front - is it just too much to expect to NOT need it?

What other industry exists where you can get away with charging your customers a premium (insurance) just in case you fail to provide the service you are charging them to provide?

 

[japancool]

If an airline loses your baggage, they have to pay to replace it.

Courier companies should be the same.

 

[MBE2017]

What other industry exists where you can get away with charging your customers a premium (insurance) just in case you fail to provide the service you are charging them to provide?

Package holidays? Cars? The list goes on.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

The volumes going through the systems at the moment are off the scale and you have to wonder if the networks can actually handle freight at its current level . This obviously results in delays and related problems

My advice to anybody on here would be to avoid the parcel resellers and only have an account with the carrier . This means you have a contract and dialogue with them and not the middle man who has no control over the situation at all !

 

[Mr D]

If an airline loses your baggage, they have to pay to replace it.

Courier companies should be the same.

You've not claimed on courier company for damaged stuff?

About 20 years back I had to submit a claim to TNT for the office I worked at, they lost a pallet of a certain item. Useless outside the company, value zero to anyone else. Value to us was about a grand.
And they paid up.

 

[Mr D]

The volumes going through the systems at the moment are off the scale and you have to wonder if the networks can actually handle freight at its current level . This obviously results in delays and related problems

My advice to anybody on here would be to avoid the parcel resellers and only have an account with the carrier . This means you have a contract and dialogue with them and not the middle man who has no control over the situation at all !

Was talking to a courier office employee this afternoon. Well over 200k last night, this time of year would be about 120k. Starting staff earlier, using more temps, finishing with an hour's overtime - all the tricks that courier companies do. Expensive tricks - and a limit to how much can push staff even in a 4 day week. Recovering from a 10 hour hard job to again do 9 or 10 hours and again.... not everyone can handle it.

 

[antropy]

Package holidays? Cars? The list goes on.

No that's a different thing because the insurance isn't to cover them not delivering.

Paul.

 

[Ozzy]

Package holidays? Cars? The list goes on.

In those instances you are insuring the holiday in case you get ill or the hotel explodes, or something like that. I wouldn't expect my holiday insurance to be needed if I get on a plane to Majorca but it accidentally ends up in Paris, I'd expect the airline to sort that problem out.

My advice to anybody on here would be to avoid the parcel resellers and only have an account with the carrier .

Believe me I'm trying to convince my wife to do this for her business, but she's hooked on the Parcel2Go system and how easy it is to use. I've just told her she'll have to accept some of the losses and time taken to resolve some of them as a cost of using a simple system.
Personally, I'd get a deal direct with one courier but it isn't my business and my happy home life is worth more than my interference

 

[WaveJumper]

Was talking to a courier office employee this afternoon. Well over 200k last night, this time of year would be about 120k. Starting staff earlier, using more temps, finishing with an hour's overtime - all the tricks that courier companies do. Expensive tricks - and a limit to how much can push staff even in a 4 day week. Recovering from a 10 hour hard job to again do 9 or 10 hours and again.... not everyone can handle it.

Absolutely and I was talking to DPD last week the manager reckons they are dealing with volumes now which are three years ahead of the company business plan. And there seems to be little sign of it slowing down, be interesting to see as the year progress's

 

[Chris Ashdown]

What pissed me off was the delivery company lost your goods even though they are tracked at every stop from start to finish, they then sell these missing goods and keep the profit,

I would not mind so much if the selling price they achieved was sent to charities, but why should the courier gain at loosing a parcel

 

[japancool]

In those instances you are insuring the holiday in case you get ill or the hotel explodes, or something like that. I wouldn't expect my holiday insurance to be needed if I get on a plane to Majorca but it accidentally ends up in Paris, I'd expect the airline to sort that problem out.

Believe me I'm trying to convince my wife to do this for her business, but she's hooked on the Parcel2Go system and how easy it is to use. I've just told her she'll have to accept some of the losses and time taken to resolve some of them as a cost of using a simple system.
Personally, I'd get a deal direct with one courier but it isn't my business and my happy home life is worth more than my interference

BTW - the booking system that DHL Parcel use is identical to Parcel2Go's - she might want to have a look at them.

 

[japancool]

What pissed me off was the delivery company lost your goods even though they are tracked at every stop from start to finish, they then sell these missing goods and keep the profit,

I would not mind so much if the selling price they achieved was sent to charities, but why should the courier gain at loosing a parcel

Reminds me of this:
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...post-auctioned-royal-mail-163-20-1622480.html

 

[WaveJumper]

Many moons ago (yes before the internet) my wife had a temp job with TNT for a couple of weeks. Customer phoned in complaining they had not received their delivery, a flag pole. How the hell do you loose a flag pole. TNT never did find it.

 

[Ozzy]

One of my neighbours surname is Schumacher, yes that Schumacher, and she is very much into motorsport as you'd imagine. She sent her racing leathers away to be repaired, they were lost, and eventually the packaging was found in the corner of a warehouse without the leathers inside.

 

[thetiger2015]

The volumes going through the systems at the moment are off the scale and you have to wonder if the networks can actually handle freight at its current level . This obviously results in delays and related problems

My advice to anybody on here would be to avoid the parcel resellers and only have an account with the carrier . This means you have a contract and dialogue with them and not the middle man who has no control over the situation at all !

Some carriers don't deliver to certain addresses. RM are the only ones who will deliver to highlands and unusual locations - we could exclude these customers but we advertise UK mainland, so they'll go through the whole checkout and then find they can't get it delivered, which looks awful.

So, we use 2 different carriers depending on rates and then RM as well but RM tracking is really weak. They just deliver at random times, usually when people are out or back at work. Trying to get a refund out of them is like pulling teeth.

The courier Ts and Cs also mean we are not covered for anything that has glass in it, may break or is electrical/electronic. That pretty much means they have zero cover for ANY items, as they class them all as breakable.

We did use to pay extra for insurance at 30p per parcel but we never managed to get any refunds. Even lost parcels are not covered, unless they're missing for 30+ days. Useless for us, because the customer wants a replacement sent way before any of that, which mean's we're two parcels down already and the chance of a refund is......very tiny!

 

[japancool]

Some carriers don't deliver to certain addresses. RM are the only ones who will deliver to highlands and unusual locations - we could exclude these customers but we advertise UK mainland, so they'll go through the whole checkout and then find they can't get it delivered, which looks awful.

Most deliver to Highlands & Islands but charge extra.

I use Hermesand have had 3 compensations paid for lost or damaged parcels.

 

[Paul Norman]

I always see Ebay as a digital table sale.

If I want to buy a pair of decent trainers, I go to a respected trainer store. Not Ebay. I know it is not as simple as that. But in some ways, it is.

I don't sell on Ebay, in case you hadn't guessed, and have not done so for some time. On balance, it would work for dumping obsolete stock, but not for profitably selling good stock.

 

[thetiger2015]

Most deliver to Highlands & Islands but charge extra.

I use Hermesand have had 3 compensations paid for lost or damaged parcels.

It's possibly due to the items we send. They're gift items, so many contain glass/mirror components and when we fill out the claims form, they obviously check the listing and see the items are either delicate or have glass in them, therefore they are not covered during transit.

We've only had refunds for errors when printing labels/addresses autocompleting wrong etc.

We don't book direct though, perhaps we should. At the moment, we have multiple carriers listed for dispatch, depending on weight, size and delivery times. RM is the only one that appears for some postcodes, maybe I should look in to that.

 

[Paul Norman]

What pissed me off was the delivery company lost your goods even though they are tracked at every stop from start to finish, they then sell these missing goods and keep the profit,

I would not mind so much if the selling price they achieved was sent to charities, but why should the courier gain at loosing a parcel

Your question is correct.

Currently, there is an odd situation emerging. Ecommerce rules make the seller entirely responsible, even if the courier deliberately kicks your parcel into the canal. The courier company, if they are called Hermes, doesn't have to care.

On the other end of the sea saw, we expect a person to collect a parcel, treat it like treasure, and deliver it to an address to which they may have to travel numerous times, all for a very modest sum.

Very modest. And the person driving the van is probably not getting the minimum wage.

 

[Mr D]

Many moons ago (yes before the internet) my wife had a temp job with TNT for a couple of weeks. Customer phoned in complaining they had not received their delivery, a flag pole. How the hell do you loose a flag pole. TNT never did find it.

Can imagine a big store room with all the items that labels have come off.....

 

[MBE2017]

Very modest. And the person driving the van is probably not getting the minimum wage.

Last time I heard the rates they were approx 60/70 pence per delivery, that is successful delivery. Any non deliveries do not get paid, so even three attempted deliveries the poor driver gets one payment. Many get sold on the lie about multiple deliveries to the same addresses, of which there must be a couple per day, but most are single drops.

All well and good in a dense urban area, but another reason why country areas are badly covered, the rates do not cover the fuel used half the time.

 

[Mr D]

Last time I heard the rates they were approx 60/70 pence per delivery, that is successful delivery. Any non deliveries do not get paid, so even three attempted deliveries the poor driver gets one payment. Many get sold on the lie about multiple deliveries to the same addresses, of which there must be a couple per day, but most are single drops.

All well and good in a dense urban area, but another reason why country areas are badly covered, the rates do not cover the fuel used half the time.

Its also possible to do far more driving without a break than is safe.
When you only get paid for working, taking a 20 minute break isn't an option. So 10 hours later tired and hungry ..... not the safest driver on the road.

 

[paulears]

The Parcelforce guy is a great fella but he is pushed hard you see him stopping and running. They do quite a lot of timed deliveries and often he is in an area too early so he has a choice. try the timed delivery early, or delay the rest - both can cost him fifty quid in lost bonus money, so he cannot win no matter what he does.

 

[Mr D]

The Parcelforce guy is a great fella but he is pushed hard you see him stopping and running. They do quite a lot of timed deliveries and often he is in an area too early so he has a choice. try the timed delivery early, or delay the rest - both can cost him fifty quid in lost bonus money, so he cannot win no matter what he does.

Not a fan of parcelforce.
They do not give a time they will deliver, if you are not around they try again next day - eventually a 2 hour round trip to go collect the item.

Perhaps one day they will raise their game and at least give an hour time slot to deliver in.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Not a fan of parcelforce.
They do not give a time they will deliver, if you are not around they try again next day - eventually a 2 hour round trip to go collect the item.

Perhaps one day they will raise their game and at least give an hour time slot to deliver in.

You can go online and get an estimated ETA, see where the driver is on a little map etc., but only if they are carrying the correct scanner. It was a slow rollout in 2019 so I guess 2020/21 with increased volumes and extended delivery times, agency drivers..... it's not something they've rushed to expand?

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

The Parcelforce guy is a great fella but he is pushed hard you see him stopping and running. They do quite a lot of timed deliveries and often he is in an area too early so he has a choice. try the timed delivery early, or delay the rest - both can cost him fifty quid in lost bonus money, so he cannot win no matter what he does.

We have couriers who, if they arrive early, tear the label off and scan it when it's due

 

[paulears]

I also struggle with people with poor English and buy technical products that need programming with the computer software. I send every buyer a link to the software, and even a get going file from the unit in my office. I ask them nicely to just use it to edit, so replace the access codes for my local entry point with the one for theirs, and to apply for a digital ID and pop that in in place of mine. I now get loads of email updates for conversations I have had with people in foreign countries that I haven’t, which I don’t really mind as it makes me appear very busy! One chap wanted to send one back. I said fine. When it arrived ‘faulty’ I dumped the memory contents. Totally empty as supplied. Out of curiosity I emailed him. He phoned me. Did you have trouble with the computer software? Compooter? I don’t have one of those fella. Another said my codeplug didn’t work. Did you change it to your local repeater? How do I do that? Sigh. What is its frequency? Don’t know. What is its name? He gave me a call sign. That’s not a digital one, they usually start GB7 not GB3. This is too hard, I’ll send it back.

other people complain about things meant to help. This loud whirring noise comes on when I talk. That’s a cooling fan. It keeps making a beeping noise when I press buttons. Yes, it’s a menu item called .... beep, turn it off if you don’t like it. Then, later that day. I keep having trouble entering long settings of numbers, I keep missing some? Turn the beep back on so you know each one got registered. Thick. My friend works selling cars. He says people spend thirty grand on a car then complain they can’t set the satnav. They don’t refund.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Now come on Paul, we in Norfolk are meant to be laid back bumkins, not grumpy old men or are you from Suffolk

 

[paulears]

Dammit! You worked it out. How Oulton Broad came to be on the Norfolk Broads is clearly indicative of history. When the Spanish Armada were around, them buggers from Yarmouth came to Lowestoft and pinched our guns! During Ketts rebellion they got found out for dismantling the battlements and nicking the stone! Sums Norfolk up, if you ask me - but I could be biased.