Halfords & Wiggle - seriously WTF?

[I like Skol]

Our local Hermes courier is the bees knees.

On a morning he does the florist deliveries and then in the afternoon does the Hermes ones. Everyone knows him and looks out for him in his van. He disappeared for a while as he had to shield and there was a thread on Facebook asking if he was ok along with a birthday card appeal as it was his birthday while shielding. The courier got a few hundred cards!

Never had a problem with him and parcels always where they say they are.

Hermes employees are not the ones causing the problems above, it is some kind of bureaucratic or financial battle between Wiggle and Hermes? Maybe Wiggle are slow payers and Hermes just hold all parcels when they have to force a payment?

 

[RoubaixCube]

Hermes employees are not the ones causing the problems above, it is some kind of bureaucratic or financial battle between Wiggle and Hermes? Maybe Wiggle are slow payers and Hermes just hold all parcels when they have to force a payment?

I dont know about that but normally, a big company such as Wiggle, Halfords, Chain Reaction etc etc would have contracts in place with logistics/couriers who get paid an agreed amount every year to deliver their goods for them. Its not done by a package by package basis like when you walk in to the post office and have them send a parcel for you, They have to have hundreds of items packaged and sent out by the end of the day by. Either the courier they have a contract with will show up in a big van or lorry to collect every 4-12hrs and take goods to their depot for processing (depending on the volume of goods that need to be sent out) or the seller will have their own vehicles to drop the goods that need to be delivered at their couriers depot. Normally it would be the courier that comes out to pick things up.

Its just quicker when youre dealing with high volume or bulk.

On the odd occasion where their contracted courier has failed multiple times to deliver or collect items that need to be returned. customer service will normally book a one off service with an entirely different courier to do a delivery or collection -- This doesnt always happen but some companies will do this as its a one off as it doesnt happen very often.

I say this with 6 years of working for Royal Mail, having done a very short amount of time with DHL and dealing with a lot of customer service departments. Not saying that im 100% keyed in and know how everything works but this is the most logical way and one with the least headache.

I cant tell you if they have to meet a certain target for deliveries and collections every year to keep the contract -- that's something which was beyond my pay grade. I just know that contracts with big companies are worth a lot of money

Thats how logistics companies like Eddie Stobart & such earn their millions. Everything is based on contracts.

 

[DCLane]

The challenge with Hermes is the local couriers; my usual one is great but the stand-in clearly can't be bothered delivering on some days. They return the parcel as 'undeliverable' when actually they simply can't be bothered going a bit further.

 

[I like Skol]

I dont know about that but normally, a big company such as Wiggle, Halfords, Chain Reaction etc etc would have contracts in place with logistics/couriers who get paid an agreed amount every year to deliver their goods for them. Its not done by a package by package basis like when you walk in to the post office and have them send a parcel for you, They have to have hundreds of items packaged and sent out by the end of the day by. Either the courier they have a contract with will show up in a big van or lorry to collect every 4-12hrs and take goods to their depot for processing (depending on the volume of goods that need to be sent out) or the seller will have their own vehicles to drop the goods that need to be delivered at their couriers depot. Normally it would be the courier that comes out to pick things up.

Its just quicker when youre dealing with high volume or bulk.

On the odd occasion where their contracted courier has failed multiple times to deliver or collect items that need to be returned. customer service will normally book a one off service with an entirely different courier to do a delivery or collection -- This doesnt always happen but some companies will do this as its a one off as it doesnt happen very often.

I say this with 6 years of working for Royal Mail, having done a very short amount of time with DHL and dealing with a lot of customer service departments. Not saying that im 100% keyed in and know how everything works but this is the most logical way and one with the least headache.

I cant tell you if they have to meet a certain target for deliveries and collections every year to keep the contract -- that's something which was beyond my pay grade. I just know that contracts with big companies are worth a lot of money

Thats how logistics companies like Eddie Stobart & such earn their millions. Everything is based on contracts.

Yes, but if Wiggle aren't paying the contracted amount on time then the carrier may just freeze the service with stock still in the system, and us the poor customers could be the ones getting our orders caught up in the middle of all this? Just a thought really, not saying this is definitely happening.

 

[Adam4868]

To be fair to most of them,there literally snowed under ! Obviously more people are buying online and the run up to Xmas.Im working at post office until Xmas and it's near enough impossible to get through what your given to deliver.
No such thing as first/second class anymore 😁

 

[RichardB]

In that instance, the correct answer would be I'm sorry we don't stock it as very few people buy it, however I can get some in for you, what brand/type/colour do you want? it's not rocket science, and personally I know they can't stock everything, especially very slow moving items, but at least offer to help your customer, there's every chance they'll be back to buy more stuff from you, wind them up and they won't in both scenarios they'll tell people too, it's better to have praise, then have others know how unhelpful you are.

Precisely. Not the answer (little demand, no stock, how can I help?) but the way it was delivered (what kind of weirdo are you, wanting cloth tape?).

There is something odd going on with Wiggle/Hermes at the moment and it can't be doing either company any good....

www.cyclechat.net/threads/wiggle-at-it-again-cursing.267857

I've had a couple of problems with Hermes deliveries in the last few weeks. Our courier is normally bang-on, but delieveries kept failing. The postcode he had for us (which I double checked with him and it was correct) was taking him to a village 5 miles away and he was wasting time asking where we were to people who had never heard of us. He reckoned the comany's geolocation software was faulty, as this was happening frequently and not just to him. If he can't deliver when promised (due to delays like the above) he has no option but to tick a box which says 'tried to deliver but you weren't in', which is untrue. It is infuriating beyond words to receive an email saying you weren't in when you were in the garden within sight of the front gate ALL BLOODY DAY.

 

[Mike_P]

I completely forgot this week that in store prices in Halfords are higher than on line, so that was one visit without any purchase although I did subsequently, once I had noted you cannot use BC discount on line, realise the difference would have been only 11p. Still it made for an (e) bike ride in an odd sunny moment with the discover of a cycle route I had missed previously.

 

[I like Skol]

Ordered some parts from Rose Cycles today. Could have got part of my order from Wiggle for similar pricing but thought 'stuff it!' and gave my business to the German supplier as they don't mess me around with randomly cancelled orders and dodgy delivery.

#wiggleareyoulistening

 

[Sloth]

If only life was that straightforward eh.

How is this complicated mate?
People who lack empathy and patience choosing a career that involves dealing with customers is like deciding to be a doctor but hating the site of blood!

 

[dan_bo]

How is this complicated mate?
People who lack empathy and patience choosing a career that involves dealing with customers is like deciding to be a doctor but hating the site of blood!

You're quite aggressive aren't you?

For a lot of people, shop work isn't a career it's a means of getting by. A shite one at that.

 

[Sloth]

Not aggressive, just trying to understand why it's the customers fault if you hate your job?

 

[I like Skol]

How is this complicated mate?
People who lack empathy and patience choosing a career that involves dealing with customers is like deciding to be a doctor but hating the site of blood!

Ha ha! Sloth by name and Sloth by nature. More than a month to form a response

 

[Drago]

I presume the site of blood is some kind of abattoir?

 

[Sloth]

You're quite aggressive aren't you?

For a lot of people, shop work isn't a career it's a means of getting by. A shite one at that.

Ha ha! Sloth by name and Sloth by nature. More than a month to form a response

Yeah I know, been kind of busy
Actually it only took a moment to form the response, but a month to check back into the thread.....

 

[Sloth]

I presume the site of blood is some kind of abattoir?

Oh dear, must have been half asleep! Should of course have read 'sight'