Yodel

[maltloaf]

[QUOTE 3249948, member: 45"]Thanks for that.

Seeing as the issues I've had with yodel have been with the driver, how do you keep someone who is a contractor paid a pittance to the close account that you need?[/QUOTE]
They are disciplined on a system much like in employment. They have a set of rules to work to and breaches generate warnings/final warnings/dismissal. Serious misconduct can and does mean instant dismissal depending on how serious the breach. A zero tolerance system has been introduced and enforced in the last six months or so. Drivers can be and are also fined for failing deliveries and the penalties can be very severe, sometimes up to £25 per parcel so obviously it's in their interest to get them right .

 

[maltloaf]

The problem is if the driver had taken it out and then failed it because it was a bad address he would run the risk of a fine etc. Especially with it being classed as a High Value parcel, which those are (shipped by K&N logistics)

What should have happened is they flag it up to their floor manager (called a service delivery manager) as they think it's bad address, the SDM should pass it to the admin side to raise a query with the sender. The parcel should have been scanned 'Held bad address' awaiting a response from the sender. Local staff will also look on various systems for your name etc to see if they can match it to an address and then get the parcel out the next working day once the address is corrected or confirmed as valid.

1. It would be held until the query was resolved, either yes the address is valid or here's the correct address.
2. All contractors are contractually obliged to clear every delivery that is due that day. If they do not they will be fined. An address query isn't considered lazy as is the correct way of doing it but a good SDM would have told him to take it anyway in my opinion to satisfy the "right first time" approach we are pushing.

 

[bianchi1]

I had ordered some wheels with Planet X. There was no sight of them after a couple of days so I e-mailed them and was told that that had been dispatched.

Four days later and still no wheels, so I phoned them up and was told that 'yodel' had delivered my wheels, with me signing for them 5 days previously (at a time when I was at work)

The poor chap at Planet X was most apologetic and started an investigation for me.

I was interested as to who had received my wheels as I live up a cul de sac with lovely neighbors. That was until I descovered a soggy wheel box shoved completely out of sight behind a hedge to the side of my house!

If the driver had just posted a note through my door it would have been almost fine...as fine as leaving an expensive wheel set in a hedge and signing my name for it, but there was no indication at all.

I obviously immediately contacted Planet X to apologise, but did make it clear that I would think twice about ordering any high value items from them in the future as long as they use yodel.

 

[maltloaf]

Carding in general and the leaving of cards is a very hot topic. Drivers now have to scan a barcode on a card that they are leaving so there is a trail. Any delivery that requires a card left such as leaving a parcel safe or with a neighbour automatically records GPS coordinates from the driver's terminal. If anything doesn't match, the driver is fined, is liable for the full value of the item and always are made to return to addresses to fix the problem they have caused.

 

[smokeysmoo]

A mate of mine ordered an apple pc and laptop online and they were delivered by Yodel. Their driver left them outside...................................................in the rain

 

[AndyWilliams]

Always been good for me.

 

[ColinJ]

After reading some of the posts above, I was a bit worried when I heard that a parcel was on its way by Yodel.

I have been out this afternoon and there was no card, and no parcel.

I thought I would have to stay in tomorrow to await the delivery but there was a knock on my door at 18:55 and a very chirpy Yodel guy was standing there waiting to hand over my parcel. (I had been told that a signature was required but didn't have to sign anything!)

 

[Salad Dodger]

I've never knowingly dealt with Yodel (unless any of my on-line purchases were delivered by them, without me realising it was Yodel wot dun it), but I do see quite a few of their vans operating in this area. Vans with lots of dents and scrapes, being driven as though in a Grand Prix.

I know it's only circumstantial evidence, but I would not be inclined to trust deliveries to them......

 

[maltloaf]

Out of 55 vans in our depot, only two are owned by Yodel. The rest are sub contractor vans. They are written with a Yodel logo etc at the contractor's expense. Yodel vans are a maximum of four years old. Contractor vans have to be a maximum of six years old

 

[Kevin Alexander]

I had ordered some wheels with Planet X. There was no sight of them after a couple of days so I e-mailed them and was told that that had been dispatched.

Four days later and still no wheels, so I phoned them up and was told that 'yodel' had delivered my wheels, with me signing for them 5 days previously (at a time when I was at work)

The poor chap at Planet X was most apologetic and started an investigation for me.

I was interested as to who had received my wheels as I live up a cul de sac with lovely neighbors. That was until I descovered a soggy wheel box shoved completely out of sight behind a hedge to the side of my house!

If the driver had just posted a note through my door it would have been almost fine...as fine as leaving an expensive wheel set in a hedge and signing my name for it, but there was no indication at all.

I obviously immediately contacted Planet X to apologise, but did make it clear that I would think twice about ordering any high value items from them in the future as long as they use yodel.

Should of claimed non delivery and 2 sets of wheels.

 

[jdtate101]

Yes Yodel are very bad. Amazon flirted using them for a while, but the volume of complaints forced them back to Royal Mail. I've heard stories of stuff stolen by couriers. lost, broken or not delivered for days. I won't use any company that ships via Yodel.

 

[maltloaf]

Amazon still use Yodel. Us and dpd do the majority of the next day work for them plus Yodel also do 2-3 work for Amazon.
Amazon blame many of their own failings on all carriers, not just Yodel, especially when they fib about dispatch dates !

 

[maltloaf]

They dispatch items from their warehouse and tell customers they have been dispatched. What they don't tell customers is often they have loaded parcels to a trailer that is not due to be collected for one or even two days in some instances. The customer then thinks Yodel (and others) has just held onto the parcel for days.

Don't get me wrong, Yodel have been terrible and have provided poor service but it's a fact that they are performing better. Nothing is ever fiddled, every delivery is monitored and every driver is under a very strict set of rules which may not have been rigorously enforced in the past but is now.

 

[maltloaf]

It's the way they dispatch into our network. They dispatch to a trailer which is then taken to (their) contractor's yard and from there collected by Yodel.

Yodel drivers are almost all self employed. If they do something wrong and Yodel find out about it they will get fined and possibly fired. Since the lowest possible fine is £10 and they will have only been paid around £1.40 for your delivery, they are fast learning that it's worth getting it right.

 

[JoeyB]

Interesting thread.

In the past we have had issues with Yodel, but by and large most deliveries from them have been OK recently. My only issue with them is that they sometimes delivery quite late, 9pm to my work address is no good!