The polls are in, and Yodel.......

... well quite frankly they suck !

A recent poll from a reputable source, conducted in the UK about domestic parcel delivery put Yodel dead last.
In fact they were SO last, they actually had almost double the amount of BAD votes to the next placed carrier. Now that really says something when it comes to customer DIS-satisfaction.

Good		592 votes (18%)
OK		654 votes (20%)
Bad		2104 votes (63%)

As the boss of a company scoring THAT badly, surely you would start to look for ways to improve.

As the boss of a company USING a company that scores this badly, surely you would be looking for alternative carriers to keep your own customers happy.

But thats not how business works, we all know that by now. 

Most people complain about foreign call centres, but more and more companies are outsourcing their customer service centres by the year.

So, all my moaning, all my complaining and blogging. It seems I was far from alone in my bad feeling towards the company. Even more reason to maintain my stance that I will NOT order anything from a company in the knowledge that they use Yodel as a delivery agent.

Dear Yodel..... (again)

OK, so im calling to speak to someone, but can only get as far as the automated service. The parcel ID only gives me an update then hangs up, and the courier didn't actually come here so I don't have a card....So there is no option to speak to a human?

Yodel... the final curtain

So after much messing about with Yodel over the past couple of days, and many stories exchanged on Twitter and Facebook about the amazing behaviour of what seems to be the biggest useless company in the UK...... I finally got my package!! Woohoo!

How you may ask. Well here goes. The DELIVERY company were meant to deliver Tuesday, pretended they had, put a false scan on the package, stating they could not get into an open, functioning business during our business hours... while I was sitting outside and saw no one show up.

On Wednesday after lots of complaining to @YodelOnline and @SpirtsDirect_CS I was told the package would go out.... Then by 2pm with no scans on it, and no movement I was told it was staying at the depot and could go and collect, from the DELIVERY company. By this time SportsDirect had refunded my postage costs much to my delight, so it wasn't too bad. But as I was at work, it wasn't practical.

At just after 4 the package suddenly showed it was out for delivery. With business commitment of 5.30 it was never getting to my work on time. Yet faithfully I waited til 6.45 (past my finish time) As expected, nothing showed. And as expected, a short while later it was coded as no one in again.

Today I had reached the end of my tether and told SportsDirect to just cancel it, but didn't hear back. Frustrated I tweeted again at both companies, only to get another reply from Yodel inviting me to collect it. This would mean heading in the opposite direction to work, and being late for work!

Fed up of the whole thing, I gave Yodel my eta as 30 mins, and left home. Exactly 30 mins later I arrived there, told them who I was, gave ID and began the wait.

The guy at the counter thought the package might actually be out for delivery, so it took longer to find out where it was. Turned out it was in the warehouse anyway, where it had probably been since Tues. While I waited another lady came in, she had been waiting 5-6 days for her parcel, and like me had seen lots of activity on the tracking website, suggestions that it had been out for delivery, that no one had been home and other comments.

When the guy finally found her package he pointed to the address, telling her this was the problem and it was wrong. She said no its not, that's exactly where I live, he didn't accept it was right. When she said she would never use Yodel again, he replied 'please don't madam, please don't ' 

Finally my package arrived at the counter, and as it was put down, it was quite clear there was a slash across the front of it. Quite purposeful, and carefully done so not to damage the contents. I would go so far to say done to check what was in the package and if it was worth stealing. Done with a sharp object, cutting right through, but not touching the contents. As you can see I took a picture in situ on the counter.

Asking them to record the damage, the first guy didn't have a clue, the second said 'yeah mate, I'll put something on the system' and asked if the good were damaged. I pointed out they were dirty, he said 'ok'.

With that I took my package and left. Needless to day I tweeted my dis-satisfaction to Yodel, and after a response asking if anything was damaged, I have not heard back since.

With that, I have now vowed I will NEVER buy from a company who uses Yodel again. Along with a growing number of people I believe. Working in the parcel logistics business I am fully aware that problems happen. But I am yet to have a simple transaction with Yodel, and have never know SO many other people have such a foul taste in their mouth about a company also.

Given the volumes that Yodel deal with, I imagine even a huge number of complaints still leave a high satisfaction rating. God only knows they tweet all the positive responses they get. But you only have to search twitter for Yodel + shit / useless / crap / rubbish / bad etc and you will see just how many people complain about them daily.

In fact they are SO reactive to negative comments, that even when a friend tweeted to me, mentioning I should not be surprised how shit Yodel were, they asked him to DM them with his tracking number. 

So, I now have a dirty orange jacket, collected myself from the delivery company it was assigned to. I do wonder if to save money during a peak period, they are simply bullshitting delivery attempts and getting customers to collect. Thus keeping the shipping fee, but saving the delivery cost.

Food for thought! 

FAILED!

Kinda missing the point of home delivery don't you thing?

OK Yodel.... seriously now....

Where the hell is this package?
After speaking with SportsDirect earlier they kindly refunded the delivery charge for the parcel that Yodel don't seem to be able to deliver.
Yodel then tell me this morning that the package will go out for delivery today.... Shock horror, 3.45pm and the tracking still shows the package sitting at the station, well I never.

So here we go again, another day without the package arriving I wonder?

Time to call Yodel again and see if I can get through this time..

Yodel you f**kin liars!

Fed up of this bullshit now, I lose track of the number of times I have dealt with Yodel, but they are yet to deliver a package without problems. From saying it was the wrong address, to tonight's 'unable to gain access' to a reception desk of a courier company that is open beyond 7pm? Seriously? 

Or was it the courier could not be bothered to deal with the traffic on Southwark Park Road, so just waited til past regular business hours, bullshitted and just coded it as business closed.

So once again I pay for faster delivery, only for the company delivering it to let the supplier down. Why people still use Yodel I don't know, I sure as hell wouldn't out of choice!

So I await some twitshit about how sorry they are, and some pointless apology which neither gets me my jacket for tonight when I wanted it for, nor the money back for paying for a delivery service that failed to deliver.

If there is one thing Yodel does do well, it's continue to survive in an environment where SO MANY people think you are utterly useless.

Thanks for nothing Yodel, the only guarantee you keep is the guarantee to fail and disappoint every time!

Yodelayheehoo... Parcel for you ..

After getting an email from SportsDirect to say my package was out with non other than Yodel, I panicked and Tweeted asking if I would ever see it. They replied and offered assistance, so I asked roughly what time the package would be delivered, as its coming to my work address.

Knowing its a 9pm commitment I was aware that it might be after I left, but then I got this reply from @YodelOnline
Hi Michael. The driver will know to deliver before 5 and I can safely say your parcel is out to you and will be attempted today :-)

Needless to say I was delighted to hear the news. However with the clock fast approaching 6pm, there is no sign of the said package, nor any replies from the @YodelOnline team. Shocker I know.

So as the clock ticks on, and the courier has still not shown, the excitement of the day moves onto another game. Away from 'look out the window' and on to 'which excuse will it be'

So here are the options.

Will the courier...

A/ Attempt the delivery just before 9pm, when the building is finally all locked up. There is someone on reception til gone 7pm.

B/ Scan the package and say the address was closed (before 7)

or
C/ Scan the package as 'wrong address' minutes before returning to the depot and scanning it back in. As has happened in the past.

If it is C I wont be too impressed.

Working for a courier company I understand how much pressure couriers are under, but as someone who works between the courier and customer, I know how important correct and clear communication with the customer is. Rule #1 DON'T promise things that won't or may not happen.

My faith in Yodel wavers from day to day.  My last experience with the online guys was great, faith restored. But then having a package delivered to my address the other day, the courier hurriedly confirmed it was the right address, and left it with me upon me signing. Only to return 20 mins later as he had left the wrong one.
YES, I know I signed for it, but I was taking the dogs out, and he told me who it was for and what address. Just gave me the wrong one.

Either way, its 5.55 now, and the tracking website says....

Current status: With courier

Your parcel requires a signature.

Dear Yodel, poor confused Yodel

Firstly let me say, thank you to the guys from Yodel on Twitter, for making things happen, shooting from the hip and just being down to earth. Without your input today I would be fuming. 

So lets get to the fun part.

Last night I tweeted, blogged and Facebooked my frustrations about a failed delivery, which was eventually scanned as an incomplete or unusable address. The call centre told me in no uncertain terms that the soonest the package could go back out was Friday. I was NOT happy and vented this by complaints of many forms to Yodel.

This morning, first thing I get a tweet from Yodel asking if they can help, 30 mins and a few messages later and I am assured the package is going back out for delivery, and am told the time the package was scanned onto the van. 09.52. And indeed it shows on the online tracking as just that.

02/05/2013

09:52

Parcel with courier, its on its way!

So, with this in mind, and knowing I am still pretty much housebound anyway, I relaxed a bit.
You can imagine my confusion when I then received an email from Yodel customer services in response to my rather sarcastic email from yesterday evening, stating the following....

Please accept my sincere apologies that you have had cause to contact Yodel regarding your delivery.
I have looked on our system that states you called around 7.30pm yesterday evening to re-book your delivery, unfortunately our cut of time for re-deliveries is 4.30pm therfore the nearest available day would be Friday as advised by the adviser you spoke to.

This email was sent at 10.24, a full 30 mins AFTER the package had been sorted and scanned onto a van for delivery TODAY. Naturally a rather sarcastic reply was sent questioning the accuracy of the information in the email. What this says to me is that the person replying to the email didn't really look into the matter at all, but just grabbed a few bits of information, took a guess and replied with lip service not customer service.

Had they looked into the matter properly they would also have noted that the call was connected at EIGHT thirty, not 7 as stated in the email, that was of course after being on hold for 30 mins. At my expense I should add as apparently..... I quote..

 With reference to compensation for calls, Im afraid that this falls under the category of consequential loss and as a company Yodel do not cover this. We strive to ensure that all our customers receive excellent service and I realise that on this occasion you feel it was not achieved. 

So in short...

Yodels drivers will lie when they cant be bothered to try and deliver a package, and state that the address was wrong.
When the address on the package is confirmed as correct by a call centre agent on the phone, they will then in turn suggest access to the house was not possible, or that the road is small and not on a map. And that it will take TWO days to get the package back out for delivery,
When you email customer services to complain about the whole matter, the agent will simply fabricate a call time, ignore the comments made about getting it back out for delivery THE NEXT DAY, and instead say SAME day reattempt is not possible. Finally stating that it  WILL take 2 days, and the 30 mins on hold is for you to pay for.

THEN.... You speak briefly in under 140 characters to a helpful bunch at @YodelOnline via Twitter, and they sort the whole matter out, get it back out for delivery, and are polite and honest in the process.

Thanks again to the small contingent of Yodel staff who are actually helpful. As for the rest.. Karma gonna get ya!

Right..... now wheres my bloody package ! Haha

Yodel, you complete and utter joke!

To say I have had a bad experience with YODEL the delivery company today is pretty much an understatement. The only saving grace is that I am off work sick today, or I would have in fact just wasted a whole day of my life waiting for a package that was destined NEVER to show up. Of course it wasn't, Yodel were dealing with it, what was I expecting.

My new phone ordered from the CarphoneWarehouse was dispatched yesterday, and the online tracking began, ending with ...

01/05/2013

20:01

Parcel returned to delivery depot

The reason for this, apparently my postal address of 30+ years was a little too complex for someone along the line to cope with, so they just took the package out for delivery, drove around South London with it since 10am, finally decided they didn't know where SE23 was, and scanned it to say the address was inadequate. The tracking screen updated an hour later to say it was back at the depot.

So I called the call centre.... and waited...... and waited, oh and errm waited some more. THIRTY minutes later I finally got through, and after a long discussion about how hard it is to walk up my drive way, or why a courier would not know where the road was, it was agreed it would be redelivered.... ON FRIDAY !!

FFS are you kidding me, its gonna take them 2 days to get the package back out to me, im not allowed to get someone to pick it up for me, and they can only give a 12 hour delivery window.

At least I know a rough idea of why they are called YODEL now. Its either the method of communication between customers and customer service, or the sound the thoughts make as they travel across the vast expanses between some of their staffs ears.

I shall leave you with my email to Yodel.



I have waited patiently all day for a package to arrive and watched as it was updated to received at depot, til out for delivery. Finally at 8pm it updates to say its back at the depot.
On calling your call centre and spending 30 mins on hold, I finally got through to someone and was told the courier was unable to find my postal address. I should point out at this point that I too work for a large international courier service, and know our drivers would never take out a package which they thought the address was incorrect or incomplete on.
So why is it this courier in question has spent all day with the package with a perfectly good address and postcode on, only to claim it was inadequate? And now to rub salt in the wounds I am told I can neither collect it, nor have it reattempted until Friday, and even then its a 12 hour delivery window.
I have a job to go to, I have a life to live, and I now have a rather large phone bill as I had to join the end of a VERY long queue of people probably with similar comments and complaints as myself, waiting to speak to someone at the call centre.
So, can I collect this package and save someone the painful task of trying to navigate across the vast, open, confusing to navigate wilderness also known as South London, or can someone armed with a medieval artefact know as a map manage to deliver it before Friday.
Im not quite sure why it would take 48 hours to turn a package back around and out for delivery again.
This has been a totally ridiculous chain of events, and in turn deserved nothing less that a ridiculously sarcastic email to complain about the service.
Quite simply, can someone please arrange for this package to be delivered, properly and before Friday. And a refund for the call cost would be quite delightful.
Regards