Buyer beware beware

[Country joe]

I order a filter from Swell UK, it was being delivered by Yodel, I tracked the item, and it said would be delivered today Thursday which was okay, I made arrangements to be here Thursday, then a card through the door on Wednesday could not be delivered, they never said it would be delivered on Wednesday I had tried to leave in a safe place or a neighbour but it said this service is unavailable, I have found out will be delivered today I've sat since 8 am and still no sign, contacted Yodel to contact driver for a rough idea when he would be coming, they said they can't contact drivers, never again will I use Swell uk, when I contacted Swell they more or less said its not their problem, its Yodel. Rant over.

 

[Essjay]

Yodel is not the most reliable courier in the UK. It is likely to be all Yodel's fault and Swell have their hands tied. All they can do is change their courier which most customers would be unhappy about as the postage costs would go up.
When we had a cat the on-line shop I ordered from used two couriers Yodel and DPD, which always cost more than Yodel but was much more reliable. I always paid the extra for DPD because they always delivered in the two hour window they emailed to me first thing in the morning.

 

[Colin_T]

We have similar issues in Australia. I ordered some nematodes (worms) to kill fungus gnats. The parcel cost $33.00 for shipping and it required a signature. I was home all day waiting for it to be delivered and it didn't turn up. The next day I had the front door open and the courier turns up and hands me the parcel. Doesn't ask my name and I said do you want a signature? They said nope. I said are you sure? They said it's fine and left. I contacted the company I bought it from and let them know it had been delivered and I got it but there wouldn't be a signature because the courier didn't want one.

Jump forward a couple of months and I got another pack of nematodes sent out because the first lot presumably died during transit because they were late delivering it and the worms didn't do anything. Again it was meant to be signed for. I went online to track the parcel and find out when it was going to be delivered. The tracking website was down. I called the phone number and they couldn't help due to the system being down. I opened the front door to let some air in and the parcel was out the front. Nobody knocked on the door or got a signature.

A couple of weeks ago I got a parcel from Temu (like Chinese Amazon). Tracking was fine and it got delivered but nobody knocked on the door or got a signature. The parcel was left in the middle of the access driveway for the world to see. My neighbour came home and picked it up and put it by my door then knocked but I was out the back so I had a loud conversation with her over the outside of the house. She said there's a parcel out the front and she had to move it from the driveway because it was in the way. I thanked her and got the parcel. She's a good neighbour.

I had some native plant and conifer seeds sent to me from over east. They were meant to be delivered to the door and signed for. Tracking website said they had been delivered. They weren't here and I went to the mailbox to check, nothing in there either. Back and forth with the nursery and courier company and everyone blaming everyone else. It turned out the parcel got left in the mailbox and was sticking out of the mailbox. It disappeared from the mailbox within an hour of being delivered because I checked the mailbox about an hour after it had apparently been delivered. It turns out a person was walking around the neighbourhood checking every mailbox as she walked along the footpath. She was reported to the Police who caught her, charged her and let her go. The next day she was back out there doing it again. Presumably she stole my parcel.

There were three different courier companies used for these three parcels. Each was meant to get a signature and not leave the parcel unattended. All three failed and one parcel didn't even get left at my door. It was left sticking out of the mailbox (60 meters from my front door) for anyone to take.

We also have people driving around following the courier vans and picking up parcels that have just been delivered. This is a new low for me and I had never heard of it before but the courier companies, police and the company I got the seeds from all said they have heard it plenty of times before. We live in a crappy time where people steal your mail and parcels and delivery drivers don't follow instructions.

 

[Essjay]

A few years ago I ordered some aquarium plants from a reputable company, ProShrimp. I had an email from the courier (DHL) saying the would be delivered between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, a Friday. Looked at the tracking site and the package was out for delivery. 3 o'clock came and went, then I had an email to say they were running late. Still no plants when I went to cook dinner. Half way through eating dinner I checked my emails which said the package would be delivered on Monday. I was fully expecting dead plants as I'd ordered them just before a cold snap with predicted temps below zero C over the weekend.
The following day, Saturday, my husband and I had just got back from having our flu jabs when the DHL van turned up with the plants. No email to say they were being delivered on Saturday, the last contact from them said Monday.

 

[Colin_T]

I had a good courier in Mandurah. I was buying model trains and Lego from Ebay to replace what I had lost in 2016. I got a bit carried away and was buying lots of stuff . But the courier kept asking me to sign for every package even though we kind of became friends just due to how often he was delivering them

Some people are professional at their job and some aren't.

 

[Country joe]

I can't believe a courier firm can't contact drivers, a right load of bollocks.

 

[Essjay]

It's not that Yodel couldn't contact the driver, it was the main depot that decided to put the package on the van the day before they told you they'd deliver.

In the case of my plants, the driver informed the office he was running late. Maybe there'd been an accident and he was stuck in a tailback for hours. Then before he could reach our house he had to stop working as he'd reached the maximum hours laid down by law.

In both your case and the case of my plants it was the depot at fault for telling us one day then putting the package on a van on a different, earlier day.

 

[Lcc86]

That's strange I get stuff from Yodel all the time and never have an issue with them. Even the dreaded Evri don't seem to have issues round here. Hopefully it's just a one off, hope you get your parcel soon!

 

[Rhysp87]

I ordered all of my initial aquarium stuff from swell. The tank turned up perfect as they used a heavy goods courier. Two other boxes were sent with yodel, the first turned up completely smashed and the second never turned up at all. Swell refunded me for the first and resent the 2nd with dpd and it turned up fine. I’m amazed swell are still using yodel as it’s clearly upsetting customers and leading to a poor experience.

 

[Country joe]

As long as Swell keep using Yodel, they won't have my custom.

 

[MattW]

Swell is about a 20-minute drive from me and in the past, I've had to use online delivery even with them being close. I've had about 5 orders from them, and only once has my order been messed up. Yodel was the issue. The supposed delivery date was on a Tuesday my day off at the time, it arrived Thursday and was left in the porch for hours baking in the sun with no notification of delivery (aquatic plants). I had no issues with Swell on refunds or other matters, I do think they are a good company overall. But it is a shame to see how Yodel acted regarding your order.

The company I work for used to use a third-party delivery courier and occasionally had issues regarding delivery times and damages. Once a package leaves the store/warehouse it was simply up to the delivery service to deliver it on time/undamaged only depending on the severity of the delivery issue would the company intervene.

I assume companies choose Yodel over others because of costs. ProShrimp my go-to store now, is now delivered by Yodel for my area. Hopefully, you won't have anything like this happen again.

 

[Back in the fold]

@Colin_T You have thieves following delivery guys and stealing off porches as they’re left ! ? ! ? That’s a low that the USA , land of theivertunity , hasn’t sunk to yet as far as I know .

 

[MaloK]

Loll,

Amazon left a 52 inch tv in my parking and it got stolen under 35 seconds, CCTV proof on my system. Since the delivery "experience" was on behalf of amazon they shipped another one for free.

2 months ago I ordered an air pump, a sponge filter and a mat of foam to make a matten filter, on high speed delivery...

I received a T-shirt an they called it a day. Since it was an amazon delivery "experience" They send over the stuff for free once again, all went good this time.

3 weeks later, what show up to the door, another air pump, sponge filter and foam mat, "lost in the mail" !!!

Trying to redeem this error with the seller made me sick and I gave up, nothing was never settled in my mind, for whom paid for the delivery error.

 

[Country joe]

Arrived today at 6.30 pm

 

[Colin_T]

@Colin_T You have thieves following delivery guys and stealing off porches as they’re left ! ? ! ? That’s a low that the USA , land of theivertunity , hasn’t sunk to yet as far as I know .

Yeah I had never heard of it before but the neighbours told me when I was enquiring about my missing mail. They had descriptions of the people and vehicles and it was reported to the police. It's pretty disgusting really and seems to have started with covid.