Cheeky bugga

[journeyman Mick]

Had some gear delivered by courier today, signed the paperwork etc and as he was leaving he turned around and asked:

him: "you don't work in town do you?"

me: "No, I work from home"

him: "Does anyone here work in town?"

me: "What, in this area?"

him: "No, anyone in this house, do they work in town?"

me: "No, why?"

him: "Well this is really a bit further than I like to come out of town, I'd rather deliver somewhere in town"

me: :eek: ........... "well maybe you could train all your customers to just come and pick up their freight at the depot and save you all the driving around"

him: ( a bit embarrased now) "aah, well......"

me: (in extremely sarcastic mode) "listen mate, if I wanted to go and pick the stuff up somewhere, I wouldn't pay for courier service would I? If you like, I'll call your depot and ask them not to send you out here because you don't like the drive, whaddaya reckon?" :mad:

I live 4.5 km from my local village (where the couriers meet up and swap parcels) and about 30km from town and all the freight depots. Do you think I'm being too hard on the poor wickle courier lad? (contractor in his own van)

Mick (the mean hard man)

[RETIRED]

Mongrel!

[journeyman Mick]

Mongrel!

Who, me or him?

Mick

[ptc]

Been there done that.
" I'm running late," wanted to leave it in town. 11 klm away.
no way i could get it in a car as it happens.
freight was $80. from the big island.
When he arrived at house he was real ****** off.
nearly phoned the freight company to complain (should have done).

[doublejay]

I can never understand why people with absolutely no idea about customer service end up working in these 'customer facing' businesses. If you don't like people - don't work where you have to serve them.

[Wood Borer]

Mick,

It is the courier with chip on his shoulder, not you.

Years ago in the 80's I had big problems trying to get 3 quotes for a minor building alteration at a school where my kids went. That was at the height of the boom. Almost every builder laughed at my request and weren't prepared to even look at the job.

Well as you know the 80's crash knocked a bit of sense into lots of people who were arrogant and too big for their boots.

After the crash I had a bigger job (over $200,000). I was pleased to give the job to the builder who quoted and was successful with the previously smaller job.

I didn't offer the previous clowns an opportunity to do the bigger job. Strange how they found time to call me about that job and complain about not being approached to give a quote. They told me there was no work and times were tough! Really? Did they think I really cared for them after their previous performance - No not at all.

What goes around comes around and perhaps the courier could learn such a lesson. If they are too busy to do the job, there are polite ways of expressing the circumstance but to laugh in your face and mock you is not only rude but demonstrates short sightedness and encourages sweet revenge.

It would be interesting to know if his comments reflected the official thoughts of his company. A courier company not wanting to deliver!

[echnidna]

I get that crap all the time.

Courier deliveries are often dropped off at some business in Timboon township and I get a phone call to pick it up there. So I have to drive 12km to pick up.

I have tried stating on orders "DO NOT DELIVER VIA CAMPERDOWN COURIERS" or I will never order from you again - and it still gets sent via them.

Next time it happens I will ring the supplier and make an insurance claim as the goods haven't been delivered to me.

[Stylesy]

You are harsh Mick - expecting someone to do the job that they actually get paid to do!!

You're definitely not alone though - I think everyone has a story to tell (all customer service based) where the words "customer service" get misinterpreted. So many people take it to mean that the customer should be servicing their business, not the other way around.

I've got to admit I'm a CS nazi - have walked out of many shops, etc for just this type of reason. And like Wood Borer, I reward the businesses who know the real meaning of customer service.

Cheers, Craig (who's just had his Friday afternoon whinge)

[RETIRED]

Mongrel!

Was referring to your signature.

[Mulgabill]

How's this?

I was expecting a pallet of turning blanks from the Apple Isle and received a phone call from an International Shipping company subsidiary to say that they had a shipment for me in excess to 150 kgs and that they required someone to be at home to take delivery.
I politley explained that that was not praticable as I worked some 30kms away a could not take time of work. I instructed them to leave the delivery unattended and offered to leave signed instructions to that effect. I mean who was going onto my property, behind closed gates, and carry off a 150 kg pallet?

This was not good enough! They expected me to be there to accept delivery. As it turned out what they really wanted was for someone to be there to assist unloading their van AND THEN could not give an estimated date or time of delivery (it depended on their drivers workload on that particular day!!!). :eek: :eek:

CRIKEY! I was beginning to see red! I had paid up-front for door-to-door delivery.

A Mexician stand-off ensued. (no reflection on anyone of that nationality).

Guess you caved in?

I wanted the wood and they wanted to delay the delivery until such time I could take delivery. To break the impass I undertook a late afternoon trip of 88kms in the 4x4 with a trailer to dockside and after a 45 mins wait until they located the pallet returned home a much wiser man.

Subsequent complaints to their management fell of deaf ears and it was explained that it was their Logistics Dept decision and they would not comment (to me) on the operation.

I will be more cautious in future when purchasing from the great Apple Isle.

[kiwigeo]

Couriers high on my list of people I least like dealing with. Worse thing is the way they just rock up expecting you to be home. They then leave you a card asking you to ring them up and arrange re-delivery (usually for an extra fee). You then ring them up and they tell you theyll deliver the goods next day but they wont give you a time when theyre going to arrive.....youre expected to sit waiting all day for them to turn up.

On the positive side.....the Australia Post Couriers are generally pretty good. If they miss me I ring them up and theyll give a rough time when theyll be back and they nearly always arrive on time.

[kiwigeo]

I can never understand why people with absolutely no idea about customer service end up working in these 'customer facing' businesses. If you don't like people - don't work where you have to serve them.

Agree with you there Doublejay but I think that's only part of the problem. IMO the other part of the problem is the fact that a majority of people in this country put up with bad service and dont make the effort to either complain or redirect their custom elsewhere.

Although I dont think twice about avoiding a business thats given me bad service I must admit I generally dont go to the effort of complaining about bad service unless its really bad.