Another True Story

Me:

Dear Customer services,
I booked and paid for a courier to collect a parcel from me, through ThinkCourier.com 22 hours ago, 7pm last night.
The parcel has not been collected, it has been sat waiting since 8am this morning.
Would you kindly fully refund my fees paid.
This is another failure of service from DHL, I will have to book a next day delivery with another company, at a much higher rate, because my customer needs this parcel by Friday.
I am very, very disappointed and angry. This is the third problem I have had using this service.
Kindly confirm my refund.

Reply:

Good morning,
Please accept our apologies that your parcel was not collected yesterday.
I have refunded your payment via Paypal as requested.
Our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Me:

Thank you for the refund.
Please forward this message to someone senior in your company.
The service by Think Courier has proved to be unreliable.
I now have a parcel to ship to London today and all the stress involved with re-organising collection, finding another company etc.
I will never use your company again.
This is the third time I have been let down by you. You have cost me a great deal of time and money.
I suggest you improve your services dramatically, you are likely to cause damage to the reputation of smaller companies like us because you do not keep to the terms of the contract.


Reply:

Hello, I am sorry you have experienced such problems. I feel the urge to explain the situation so you understand our part in the logistics operation. I am not passing the buck and accept we are responsible as we are the company you contracted to do the job, however, our role in this operation is the software which deals with your order. Whereas other couriers have people sat at a computer punching your shipping data into another system, this can put your shipment at further risk of delay or failure as busy times can result in your order being processed hours after you have booked it. Our software is monitored constantly, every order is piped through to the actually carrier who is doing the collection, it is processed within seconds of you booking it. The software is so successful we have been installing into other courier networks across the UK.

Where the delivery system has broken down is with the carrier in your area; they clearly have the order on the system and the driver has the instruction to collect from you. Unless we can actually get hold of the driver and ask him why he did not bother collecting from you, it is beyond us why he/she did not collect. I have to say it is rare when this kind of thing happens and it really is because of the collection depot or driver in your area, either too busy or not pulling their weight. It lets the side down for all of us, and to add insult to injury I will expect to see abortive collection charges on my account where the driver will make out he attempted the collection, but this is my problem.

The solution to your problem is not to stop using Think Courier, as there is a good chance the next company you use is probably using our software. Please select a different carrier on the quote page, not DHL for instance.
Kind regards
Stephen Abel
Managing Director


Me:
Dear Mr Abel,
Thank you for your email. I regret your decision to not even personally address your email to me.
I appreciate your comments but I will be using UPS from now on.
You must take responsibility for your service.
I cannot simply tell my customer that the party bags for her child won't be delivered, therefor she'll have to go without, I have to find another way around the problem and ensure the parcel gets there on time.
You should have this same policy and instead of sending an email saying sorry, we've refunded your money, you should stand behind your service and make sure a courier gets here, collects my parcel and does the job.



Reply:
I am sorry, I did not realise you were going to make this personal.

I do accept responsibility, I made this clear I my email. Considering we orchestrate over 100.000 parcel deliveries a month whether it is a Think booking or via the other companies that use our software, we suffer with very little failed collections, but I feel I must educate the customers who jump to the wrong assumptions. Just as it frustrates you that a driver did not arrive, it frustrates me just as much that the odd driver spoils a perfect delivery solution.



Your choice to go with UPS is very wise, they are excellent albeit expensive if you are buying direct. We have a UPS account too and can ship parcels from £9.39, this is for a typical parcel under 10kg. If this is competitive with you current UPS supplier you can book this with our larger sister company


Me:
you really are a tosser



Reply:

Thank you, I could return the compliment but that would be low.

Maybe I asked to be called a tosser but you have a knack of rubbing people up the wrong way, i.e. I regret your decision to not even personally address your email to me.

You may have gathered I am not too good at customer service hence why I don’t normally do it.

The Christening - a true story

Potty Mummy reminded me of this occasion with her witty posting this week.
Our neighbours had their second child Christened last summer.
Frances attends her Catholic Church evevry Sunday, Dr.G (her husband)never accompanies her, he's not a great believer.
They were renovating their palatial house at the time and living in a mobile home.
I offered my kitchen for the preparation of all the food to be prepared.
Dr G delegated and my children did a smashing job of the buffet. His parents retired to my bathroom to wash, change and go out for lunch while we soldiered on.
We all arrived at the Church and sat quietly waiting for the ceremony to begin.
Big sister entertained us all with a beautiful rendition of "the enormous catapillar", or "crunch, catapillar, crunch"...an unusual but nevertheless inspired choice for a Christening.
The vicar walked in and greeted us all, shook hands with the God Parents and Dr. G.
The Vicar announce there would be a reading, Frances turned round in the pew, "Oh, Dad, could you do the reading, please?"
A wonderful portly gentleman rose from his seat, did the sign of the cross and bowed with respect before the alter, then gave a faultless reading..not bad for an impromptu moment.
The Vicar put his fingers into the Holy water and made the sign of the cross on the babys' head. In turn the God Parents and Parents were to do the same. The vicar stood in front of Dr.G.
Dr. G glared at him.
Frances nudged Dr. G.
The vicar nodded with encouragement.
"Look Frances", he spat "I don't agree with any of this and I'm not doing it!"
He slouched in his seat, arms folded across his chest and steadfastly refused.
Darling husband and I were shaking with laughter, our children were glaring at us and mouthing to be quiet.

The Vicar then said he would annoint the babys' head.
He rummaged in one pocket, then the other, then another.
He frowned, shouted to his helper at the back. The helper rushed forwards searching round the alter, into little cupboards, backwards and forwards, it was like something out of the Two Ronnies.

Frances fed the baby.
Frances walked out and changed the babys' nappy.
"He's lost the bloody oil" she hissed as she walked by us.

Frances returned with the clean and tidy baby, the vicar found the oil in his pocket (this was after around 20 minutes of rummaging)..darling husband and I were crying with laughter, our children were furious with us, we were going to be in big trouble when they got us home.

They annointed the baby and I forget the rest, but it was terrific entertainment.