Blame the shop... or courier company

[AUbicycles]

I am experiencing particularly bad service with DHL so my 'experience' is directly influenced by something over which the original retailer / shop / brand has indirect control.

The retailer can certainly select their provider and providers may be cheap / expensive / fast / slow / inefficient / efficient etc. An added level of difficulty is for international orders when other providers are used so the connected experience becomes disconnected (e.g. tracking or customer service) or when contracters are used (they may officially serve the delivery company and wear their T-shirt but whenever anything goes wrong, they are an independent service partner and the 'main company' accepts no responsibility).

So how often is your shopping experience (customer satisfaction) ruined solely by the delivery company... and have you experienced exceptional delivery service that goes above and beyond?

Christopher

[mikgit]

Don't usually have an issue with the international companies, dhl, fedex, royal mail or usps, it's once it hits our shores and and ozpost that things go south. My actual delivery guy to the door is excellent, but stuff takes like 2-3 days other county to OZ, then can take 10 days or more to get from Melb/Syd to my place in Tas. It's pretty bad, you watch the tracking and it's just ugh.

[RonK]

I think when you are looking to point the finger of blame you also need to include Australian Customs in the mix. I suspect much of the local delay occurs in Customs.

I'm not sure why you would be getting bad service from DHL. I deal with stores in Germany quite often and have been getting consistently reliable service from Deutsche Post DHL.

But it is my take from reading the various threads about online purchases that the merchant is often blamed for issues in the logistics chain.

[eeksll]

I blame the shipping company but ultimately its the shop that loses out. Online shopping is a package which consists of shop, courier and end of point collection (e.g if the only place I can send it to is the post office and I can only pick it up on sat between 9-12 then that will play a part as well).

I have a office I can get things sent to, so that kinda cancels out the last point for me.

I have noticed recently, wiggle dont offer a express post option, I thought it did in the past. However, I still ordered and got it very quick.

Pushys offer shipping ($12) and express shipping ($15). However, if i have an order total for free shipping, I still get charged $15 for express shipping. Reducing that to $3 for express shipping when I am over the free shipping threshold could make things go smoother?

[queequeg]

Some of the worst delivery service I have had is entirely local. I have rarely had problems getting parcels from overseas to Australia, but when it gets here thing just vanish into black holes.

I have had packages take 3 weeks to go between Syd/Bris and Syd/Mel without explanation, and only recently I had two item consignment from Mackay to Sydney arrive in Sydney with one item missing, and the delivery company couldn't tell me where it was, only saying "it will show up in a few days, items often get split". I have no idea how that happens when they are collected together, arrive at the depot together, then go their own way to the same destination, but you only have one tracking number, so it shows as Delivered when you try and follow it up.

BTW I just had a DHL Package delivered yesterday. It only left the UK on Thursday!

[Patt0]

I have had problems with them all. I am patient so dont mind waiting, so little problems are just that. I would prefer services that used auspost simply because they are close and easily accessible. There are no DHL or toll within cooee. So when issues have arisen it has required me to drive across town, wasting my time and petrol. DHL did not deliver twice,ie drop card in letter box and not knock on door, and I now refuse to use them. Toll have smashed a few items but the merchant has replaced them each time. First time, I made two trips, hour each, to the toll depot. Now I insist they pick up and redeliver. The worst case was two 2800$ coffee machine. Yes they dropped the replacement as well .

[CycloTron]

I have to say the experience must be variable depending on your area.

I've had no issues with Auspost and DHL Express in my area provides exceptional service - quick delivery and if no one answers the door, the courier driver actually rings my number to ask for permission to leave unattended. I buy so much online that I'm now on a first name friendly basis with the DHL guy and the Auspost parcel man

However, Couriers Please and Toll have both been unreliable, although no disasters to date. Issues like leaving a card without even bothering to knock, attempting to deliver to the wrong address (even though they been to my place before!), minor delays etc.

[biker jk]

I found DHL excellent and when Wiggle used to use them it was the fastest delivery with the best tracking. TrakPak is terrible in comparison and Wiggle delivery times have blown out. I suspect much of this is due to the Australian end with AusPost pretty poor. For example, it might take a few days for a parcel to arrive in Sydney from the UK but it will then take 2-3 days to be delivered. I complained to AusPost and their response was "yours is not the only parcel being delivered", i.e. we are busy, and "you get what you pay for". In my case, I find it crazy that my parcel arrives at Sydney airport, then travels west to Chullora, then east to Alexandria, then back to where I live. So on average, it sits with Australia post for 2-3 days after arriving in Sydney. That's terrible service.

[hamishm]

This applies when ordering from Australian online retailers too. I bought something from Bikebug and they sent it with Toll; I wasn't home, and had to reschedule the delivery for the next day. I didn't get a chance at check out time to authorize them to leave it if nobody was home.

Other shops use Startrack which will leave it at your local post office for collection later the same day. Faster if a bit less convenient.

[mikgit]

Other shops use Startrack which will leave it at your local post office for collection later the same day. Faster if a bit less convenient.

yeah our locals guys do this (if hey don't leave it at the back door or in the catflap... only problem is that the post office will close up before 5.30, ugh! even if you get there before 5.30 and they are still open, they won't serve you becasue they already turned off the post office stuff...

[CycloTron]

only problem is that the post office will close up before 5.30, ugh! even if you get there before 5.30 and they are still open, they won't serve you becasue they already turned off the post office stuff...

Yep, likely they are trying to make it inconvenient so you'll pay for one of their Parcel Lockers.
Good ol' Ahmed is all about showing himself the money...

[RonK]

only problem is that the post office will close up before 5.30, ugh! even if you get there before 5.30 and they are still open, they won't serve you becasue they already turned off the post office stuff...

Yep, likely they are trying to make it inconvenient so you'll pay for one of their Parcel Lockers.
Good ol' Ahmed is all about showing himself the money...

Parcel Lockers are free. I use one regularly and it doesn't cost me a cent.

[CycloTron]

Hmmn, didn't know that! Thanks for the correction.
However, what's in it for them then?

[RonK]

They save the cost of home delivery.

[Bird]

I think its baffling why I can order an item from USA, or Germany, and it gets to Melbourne in better shape than an item ordered same day from Perth

[mikgit]

only problem is that the post office will close up before 5.30, ugh! even if you get there before 5.30 and they are still open, they won't serve you becasue they already turned off the post office stuff...

Yep, likely they are trying to make it inconvenient so you'll pay for one of their Parcel Lockers.
Good ol' Ahmed is all about showing himself the money...

Parcel Lockers are free. I use one regularly and it doesn't cost me a cent.

Yeah that would be good, it's just usually there is someone here to collect, so it's only sometimes (alwys the most inconvenient, like a friday, so you don't get it till monday). From what i can tell it looks like if you use parcel locker it goes there first, it's not a placement after a miss delivery? Because then we'd have to go pick it up 100% of the time, and it's not that close.

[RonK]

Yep, likely they are trying to make it inconvenient so you'll pay for one of their Parcel Lockers.
Good ol' Ahmed is all about showing himself the money...

Parcel Lockers are free. I use one regularly and it doesn't cost me a cent.

Yeah that would be good, it's just usually there is someone here to collect, so it's only sometimes (alwys the most inconvenient, like a friday, so you don't get it till monday). From what i can tell it looks like if you use parcel locker it goes there first, it's not a placement after a miss delivery? Because then we'd have to go pick it up 100% of the time, and it's not that close.

My situation is the opposite - there is never anybody at home during the day, and since I live a secure apartment building a courier cannot gain access to leave a parcel in a safe place.

The Post Office is only a short distance away, and by addressing deliveries to a parcel locker I don't have to rush there during business hours to collect it.

When ordering I always check that the merchant uses postal services rather than couriers for delivery. On the odd occasion when a merchant uses a courier unexpectedly it is a major inconvenience trying to arrange an alternative delivery.

[open roader]

So how often is your shopping experience (customer satisfaction) ruined solely by the delivery company...

I used to have shocking delivery times from c r c - I'm talking 8-9 years ago on maybe 6 or more small item purchases over maybe 6 months. I can't recall which delivery system was used (may well have been Royal Mail) but I went with c r c as they used PayPal unlike many others at the time as I liked using Paypal. However this frustration of consecutive multi week and sometimes/multiple month long waits lead me to stay away from c r c for a good 6 years before I even considered them again and I think I've only purchased one rim from them since as they were the only source of that type of rim - mercifully the rim arrived within a couple of weeks..........

In that period when I deliberately black banned c r c from my shopping agenda I spent an awful amount of money on internet based/mail order bicycle related items - c r c just missed out - full stop.

have you experienced exceptional delivery service that goes above and beyond?

A few years back I built three bicycles up in close succession, two of mine and my boss' bike. M boss was keen to get some riding in before his overseas business schedule kicked in and his time ran out so I had some rapid fire ordering to do with fingers crossed that headset turned up before the weekend or hoping that new derailleur arrives tomorrow etc. I recall purchasing said headset from BigBike in Sydney and it arriving the very next day (Sydney to country Victoria) and being very impressed. Bike Bug had maybe a half a dozen orders in that time and all were either couriered the next day or they arrived in the mail within a few working days. This really worked out well as my boss and I got some good afterwork and weekend riding in and as a result, Bike Big is often my first port of call if I'm looking to shop online because of the very good run of dispatch and deliveries I recived back then.

[Ross]

The company (bike parts or courier) is only as good as the individual person. There are crap employees in every company whether it is PBK/Wiggle/c r c/DHL/Startrack/Aus Post or somewhere totally unrelated to bikes or freight.

And different people (end user customer type people) have different views and tolerances of service. What is good service to me can be bad service for someone else, and vice versa.

My local Aus Post delivery I think is pretty good. Most times he leaves the parcel on my front porch if I'm not home, which suits me as I don't really have the time or inclination to run around to the PO to pick a parcel up.I'm lucky I live in a pretty reasonable neighbourhood where generally no crime happens (except the odd hoon speeding or doing burnouts). But I can see where this arrangement wouldn't work for some people that are concerned their parcel could be stolen.

Only ever had one parcel from a UK bike shop go missing in transit in ~10 years of ordering, and the bike shop sent out replacement parts FOC without quibbling.

[Ross]

If I order parts online I expect to wait weeks (sometimes months for Aliexpess companies from China). If I want something straight away I will pay double or more the price and buy it locally.

[robbo mcs]

First up a good plug. I ordered something locally from 99 bikes online, they were the only place I could find this particular part online. Ordered 8pm friday 23rd of December, expecting to get it in the new year sometime. Went to the post office 11am saturday 24th to check my PO and box and the package was there. Couldn't believe it!

My gripe is people who don't give an option for postal delivery rather than courier, or keep this information myseriously hidden. My home address for various reasons is difficult for couriers to access, and we are not allowed to take deliveries at work. So my preferred method is PO Box. Often you get the whole way through the order process, and even pay, before it tells you PO boxes not allowed. Even in that case I would be happy to pay an extra $5-10 for an alternative postal delivery.

[RonK]

First up a good plug. I ordered something locally from 99 bikes online, they were the only place I could find this particular part online.

My gripe is people who don't give an option for postal delivery rather than courier, or keep this information myseriously hidden.

Mine too. However I went to order something from 99 Bikes only this week but their delivery information quite explicitly states someone must be in attendance at the delivery address, so they didn't get the order.

[lone rider]

Stopped buying from Cell bikes because they use Couriers Please. It may not be the whole company but the local delivery person in my area stuffed up my deleviries from them so many times I couldnt continue to have any confidence I would recieve my orders. The issues ranged in leaving my parcels at the front door of an adress down the street, forging my siganture on items that werent delivered. I complained to Couriers Please head office, they didnt seem to care, contacted Cell, they kept on using them, did all I could but nothing changed so havent bothered again. I think because I may have been a one off due to no other customers having the same driver/issues I was ignored.

[DavidS]

My only irritation has been packages sent to a similar address in a nearby suburb. Can they not read a postcode or suburb, do they not deliver for a living, is not being able to read an address something of a compulsory requirement in such a job?

I don't get it. Luckily it has only happened twice and I've never had an issue with my wine orders, of which there have been many.

DS

[Baalzamon]

I've got no issue with DHL. In fact they will sms me when the order is expected to arrive, give me instructions if I want to change delivery or redirect it to a drop off point which I have done in the past.

I get more issues with Australia post.... Item attempted delivery and no card being left. Go check tracking and it's been signed for! Raise a case for it. Don't hear anything. Suss I go to the post office and show them the details for the tracking. Go to my shelf and pick it up and I'm like... But it was signed for, and they were "Yep we signed for it, but incorrect status chosen"