Couriers

[plutopup1]

Haven't been on these boards for a while but a recent experience brings me here today. Wondering what experiences people have had as a buyer knowing through online 'tracking' tha an item is on board to be delivered that day only to be told later when chasing up up with the company to see where the package is that the courier attempted a delivery and left a card when neither were clearly true as the buyer in question, me, was home all day and no card was left.

[plutopup1]

And by the way davewil, did raise the issue with the courier company last week and today got an answer to their investigation and of course they are standing by what their driver said. Funny, when you go to a certain web page which reivews this company, this problem, the one I had, is not isolated but just the same wanted to know if other buyers (not sellers) have had issues when buying off ebay when it came to delivery.

[lyndal1838]

If your parcel was deliverd to the PO then the courier concerned is either AP themselves or StarTrack.   Am I close?

As for which courier companies are the bane of our existence on ebay....try Hunters, Fastways, e-go....have a browse round the boards.  There are plenty of threads of complaint about many companies.

If you worked for a company that delivered to the PO you should know that the undelivered parcels are all taken to the PO at the end of the run, not each individual parcel....there just is not the time.

Your issue is just called Human Error....as I said in my first answer...it happens.

[plutopup1]

You are correct about the company concerned being Star Track and you are right about undelivered parcels  being taken to the local post office at the end of the run. Know this first hand having sub-contracted for Star Track, AaE and a previous iteration of Aust Post courier division called Messenger Post in the past and before Star Track Express was bought out by AP.

As to human error can accept that when the truth is being told, can not accept that when blatant lies are being told. What happened to me is not a rare event it would seem based on the folowing web site but was interested to know if BUYERS have been having problems with any courier companies as buyers on ebay. I haven't added my comment yet but will do in due course.

http://www.productreview.com.au/p/star-track-express.html

[lyndal1838]

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@plutopup1 wrote:

You are correct about the company concerned being Star Track and you are right about undelivered parcels  being taken to the local post office at the end of the run. Know this first hand having sub-contracted for Star Track, AaE and a previous iteration of Aust Post courier division called Messenger Post in the past and before Star Track Express was bought out by AP.

As to human error can accept that when the truth is being told, can not accept that when blatant lies are being told. What happened to me is not a rare event it would seem based on the folowing web site but was interested to know if BUYERS have been having problems with any courier companies as buyers on ebay. I haven't added my comment yet but will do in due course.

http://www.productreview.com.au/p/star-track-express.html

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Yes, I know I am right....my OH, myself and my daughter have a combined total of 75+ years of experience in the courier industry.

I was a subbie for nearly 20 years before I retired, my OH is still a subbie with StarTrack after 20 odd years with several companies, then AaE and finally StarTrack and my daughter is the state manager of the courier division of a large international logistics company after starting in the industry as a 17year old on a motorscooter.

If you were still in the industry you would know that it has gone down hill over the last few yeas.....English is a second language to a lot of couriers these days and the company expecttions are high.  Subbies are expected to deliver a bare minimum of 80 drops a day so yes, a lot of them cut corners if possible.  If the run area is large then 80 drops is pretty hard to keep up, as well as pickups as they come in.

If you want to know my opinion as a buyer then my pick of the companies to avoid is Fastways.

I also avoid sellers who use couriers if humanly possible, although I have very little trouble once parcels get to my area.....I know most of the drivers who deliver here and we get on very well.

[cherry*135]

I had a parcel delivered today. They never knocked. I live well off the street though and it is quite safe to leave parcels at the front door (between the screen door and front door, if they don't require a signature).

One parcel that did need signature, they never knocked either (2 adults home at the time), that would have saved me five days trying to track it down if they had.

One parcel, recently, the driver (small local company contracted to a national company) 'thought'  the parcel should go to a dance studio down the street as he knew a lady there that has the same first name as who the parcel was addressed to!  Took a week to get that one back also.

I live about 40+ mins from any depots, so don't appreciate being told I can go pick it up from there (especially when I was home when they first tried to deliver it).

[curmu-curmu]

Yes - I agree that individual couriers are letting the industry down - I've had issues with Startrack, DHL, Hunters and others I can't recall atm. But...they are rare instances, and many drivers are above reproach. The subbies for AP in my area in particular are fantastic!

In well over14 years of buying, both on and off ebay, the issues could be counted on both hands...with a few fingers to spare.

As for your 'non-argument' with the seller's delays - why mention at least twice in your posts that they posted your item late, if not to vent? It's still irrelevant to your thread. Their posting time just does not factor into the failure of the courier. And now that we know that the seller was a company, there are so many possible causes for delay, the least of which is human error. Have you never let anyone down in your entire life? As a seller yourself, you'd be well aware that 'estimated ' delivery times are just that. An estimate. Not a guarantee.

As a seller, I pride myself on providing a maximum 24-hr turnaround between sale and posting, but there's a saying - 'The best-laid plans of mice and men'...

[plutopup1]

Well curmu-curmu you obviously are perfect. I vented about the seller to put my feelings of frustration with the courier into context - being stuffed around by a seller who didn't do his job to be topped by a courier that lied. You, with 14 years experience buying and selling (not unlike me) may take this in your stride but I can tell you a newbie Ebayer would say to themselves this sucks and avoid ebay in the future.

[curmu-curmu]

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@plutopup1 wrote:

Well curmu-curmu you obviously are perfect. I vented about the seller to put my feelings of frustration with the courier into context - being stuffed around by a seller who didn't do his job to be topped by a courier that lied. You, with 14 years experience buying and selling (not unlike me) may take this in your stride but I can tell you a newbie Ebayer would say to themselves this sucks and avoid ebay in the future.

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No...I'm far from perfect. I'm human - and I do make mistakes. But I do try to keep them to a minimum, and when I get frustrated by someone else who doesn't do what I expected them to do, I don't get my knickers in a knot over it, but manage to get on with my life!

Worry and stress are bad for your, (and my) hearts - so I try to let problems roll off, rather than fester.

Whilst it's clear that the courier stuffed you around, it's also clear that you still harbor a grudge against the seller, for what could be a one-off issue - which may never happen again, but because it was your parcel...it's unforgivable!

They apologised, then sent it priority, but that still doesn't seem to be enough?

As for newbies taking umbrage at sellers who may or may not meet their high expectations?  Well, we're probably better off without them. They'll only give us defects for impossible deadlines or unrealistic expectations. There's more than enough great buyers on ebay not to worry about problematic buyers!

And incidentally - if you want to see incompetence first-hand, try buying a new lounge suite from one of the big B&M stores!

Failing to carry advertised stock, constant upselling, blatant lies, overcharging on FREE deliveries, failure to honour warranties, the list goes on and on!

[plutopup1]

curmu-curmu- if you look at my initial posts I never brought up any issue regarding the seller, this thread was started regarding an issue with a courier company. You were the one who first raised the word 'seller' and it was in response to this I posted a clarification to give context - that as a buyer I was contacting the seller to see where the package was.

I can understand sellers standing up and defending each other  but this thread was not about the seller in this instance, could have started a separate thread on this topic ont he Seller discussion board if I wanted to go down that track.

Love your comment:  As for newbies taking umbrage at sellers who may or may not meet their high expectations?  Well, we're probably better off without them. They'll only give us defects for impossible deadlines or unrealistic expectations. There's more than enough great buyers on ebay not to worry about problematic buyers! Sort of speaks for itself re: you think of buyers who might have expectations of dealt with as a valued customer, receiving what they bought in the condition it was listed as in a timely manner.

The questions of B&M stores is also totally irrelevant to the question I was raising here so why bring it up in the first place?

This was always a post/thread about couriers, nothing more nothing less.

[curmu-curmu]

"if you look at my initial posts I never brought up any issue regarding the seller,"

Funny - I thought that you'd mentioned in at least two posts, including the first one, that you didn't like the fact that their postage was delayed...

Anyway, think what you will - it's certainly no skin off my nose!

And as a seller with over 15 years' experience, with 100% positive feedback, I'll leave it up to you to figure out if my service is beyond reproach or not.

And yes - there are newbie buyers out there who are numpties - and sellers really are better off without them, and the hassles and defects they cause us - whether intentional or not. There are more than enough great buyers out there, who realise that sellers are not automated machinery, and just sometimes, are human enough to stuff up once in a while! And in realising this fact of humanity, said great buyers are willing to cut us a little slack.