Weird situation with a courier

[Shiklah]

The access to our rural property was very difficult when we bought it and we have recently completed work to have a driveway built, making it easier to turn around (we are the last house on a long narrow lane on a steep hill). Last Thursday builders were just finishing off and the access was blocked by DH truck, when a courier arrived with a parcel. DS15 answered the door and the courier got very close to him and was ranting that he couldn’t turn around. Hearing this I came to the door and said he should calm down and stop shouting, and that I would get my husband to move the truck (I can’t as I am not licenced to drive it). When I said this he courier went berserk and ran at me waving his arms and shouting “get him, get the big man, I am not scared of him or no one, get him, I’ll show him”. DH was working on a building project behind the house and was unaware of the courier, so I decided it was best not to escalate the situation so I repeate ‘you need to calm down’ and walked back in the house. He reversed down, which I am sure was difficult.

I reported it to the shop and saved the cctv footage of his outburst which clearly shows him aggressively charging at me and his snarling contorted face etc. They apologised and said the couriers company/management would be in touch.

On Tuesday I was telephoned by the courier who was verbally aggressive on the phone shouting at me and and accusing me of ‘you pissed me off threatening me with your big boyfriend. He’s massive isn’t he, 6 footer eh? Why you do that, it was out of order’
I was completely taken back and just repeated that I has calmly told him my husband would come and move his truck, no threats had been made. He said he had a parcel for me and I said I felt it was best if he left it for now, and ended the call by saying “i’m going to go now, I can’t have aggression directed at me and I need this sorting out officially” he stared shouting again but I ended the call.

Yesterday he called again. His opening statement was “we have a big problem here’ and then launched into a rant about all the parcels he’d brought me over the last few months and how grateful I should be, how he felt I was threatening him and I had to accept his behaviour as ‘he’s not scared of anyone’ , how all his customers love him ‘black people, white people, everyone gets likes me and I have no problems you are causing this problem’ etc. When I could get a word in I asked why he was calling me and he said he had a parcel and unless he delivered it today, I would never get a delivery again. I asked him to take the parcel to the depot and ask his manager to call me”
He then said ‘managers name asked me to call you, he thinks you’re a trouble maker’
So I just said, right, okay, let’s leave it there, I’m going now and ended the call. I later got a text saying my parcel was at a local shop but I can collect it as I working hours so can’t get there to collect it.

So what now? The courier hasn’t contacted me - I have made a formal complaint. My first parcel was from M&S who were very apologies, the second is amazon who again have apologised but how can I find out what is happening with the courier? I am worried he’s going to return and be aggressive, we live very rurally. I also have a delivery set up for medications and lots of other things as I am disabled. I am very anxious and couldn’t sleep last night although that seems a bit silly in the light of day.

Sorry it’s long. Thanks for any advice.

Put it in writing to both companies and ask what measures they are taking to resolve this. An official complaint may take a while to process. If he comes again and is pleasant assume he's been warned, if unpleasant say you are calling the police, shut the door and do it.

You need to escalate this with DPD. Here it gives an email address for their Director of Customer Experience: www.dpd.co.uk/content/how-can-we-help/make-it-right.jsp

Write to her, clearly setting out dates/times of everything as above. If you can attach the three other emails you've sent to them, do so. Say you feel threatened by this driver and don't want him contacting you or delivering to you again, and that you want to know what measures will be taken to ensure that he is properly disciplined and that this can't happen again. Be really firm, but calm.

Call 101 please. I've used them for advice before and they were very knowledgeable and helpful.

Also, write to the chief execs of Amazon and M&S. They cannot give work to a company who continue to employ someone who behaves like this.

Get on Twitter/Facebook or ask someone to manage an account on one or both for you and name and shame both companies, and DPD, on there.

This is serious.

Send an email to the CEO, at most large companies they have a policy that emails to the CEO get a response within 24 hours. Let them know that the employee has been aggressive and harassing you over the phone and that if it continues you will have to involve the police. The courier should only have your phone number for use in the delivery and I am suprised his calling you to threaten you is not considered gross misconduct. Insist that they find a method of delivering to you that does not involve this man.

Call 101 and email/call the company till someone takes you seriously. Make sure you provide evidence and whatever you do don't delete it. I know it'll make things awkward for you but he sounds dangerous. He is breaching all sorts of contracts and codes calling you and threatening you. He has no right to use your number other than to confirm deliveries.

Best of luck, and we're here if you need us.

If you download the dpd app you can select a safe place (a shop etc) where your parcels can be dropped off. I know it won't sort the whole issue out, but at least you would have minimal contact with him. Might be worth a look?

Thanks everyone. It's reassuring to know I am not being over the top.

I don't do Facebook or twitter but will email as recommended thanks

The shop will keep it till next thurs but I've got a refund from amazon as I can't get there due to long working hours

I would go high up with DPD but I would also try to get hold of the depot DPD use for your area & speak to a manager there.

I had an amazon prime delivery driver shout at me over my postcode, nothing I could do. So I escalated it to amazon, he then phoned me shouting at me so I told amazon who told me they had called me. I had to screenshot the call log & email amazon customer services who did credit me a voucher & apologise but I will never use prime again.

With yodel their courier used to throw parcels at the wrong address over the wall, I told the manager of the depot who assured me it would be dealt with & ive never seen that courier again.

The aggression is unacceptable & you don’t deserve to be treated like it. Don’t answer if he calls, he’s only calling to be abusive. Keep screenshots of the call logs & create an email/paper trail & hit twitter & Facebook with the screenshots. They’ll have to listen.

If you don't want to escalate this and hes the only courier around and you need deliveries I really don't see what you want to get out of this If it were me and he'd spoken to my child like that I want him sacked never mind the rest of it!

DPD are a relatively small company of mostly self employed franchisees you won't get the same restoration you would from a larger corporate place.

Sorry when I say I don't want to escalate it I meant call police etc but happy to progress with Dpd and companies I bought from.
I have a habit of minimising things so this thread is helping me see it is serious
Thank you

I knew this would be DPD before you even said. You must be quite shaken having to deal with that.
I refuse to take deliveries from them now after experiencing lies and aggressive behaviour . M&S compensated me generously but said they can't do anything , they could use a different company though surely? I now collect my stuff from the M&S stores ( simply food not the larger stores) and Amazon tend to use Royal Mail or Hermes which are great.

I think pursuing it formally is the best idea.

In the meantime if you have to interact with him again I have found that saying 'You are being very aggressive' or even 'I am feeling very intimidated by you' can defuse the situation. Sometimes I think people don't know what they're doing (God knows why).

But the courier company doesnt care! As long as he is making deliveries they wont do anything so either you accept that this man will be doing your deliveries from now on or you contact the police.

If not for you then another person who he kicks off at who may be more vulnerable than you, may not have CCTV etc and so may not be able to prove his behaviour. Its lack of proof that has probably kept him in his job so far. For the rest of us, please do report him to the police.

I'm very lucky: my regular DPD courier is a delight, really friendly and helpful. I feel especially grateful for him when I read all the shit people have had from other DPD couriers.

I used to have to do phone interviews for work. I installed a call recorder on my phone - there are a whole bunch available. It automatically records every call you make or take and saves as a sound file. You can immediately delete any other call you don't want a record of. Should give you all you need to talk to courier co again.

I would message the email address given above, and be clear that it is a very serious issue and that you will need to contact the police if they continue to ignore your messages.

I would also arrange a "safe place" for your parcels to be delivered in the interim - perhaps a neighbour?

Keep something that you can record on (phone etc) at all times, just in case he pops up at yours while on his rounds.

I hope you get this resolved quickly. I can imagine how stressful it is.

The police are your only option because like I said before DPD are all independent self employed depot franchisees they don't care what happens on the road just that the deliveries are made, your not going to hit them in the pocket and that would be the only language these guys understand.

Thanks that's really helpful to know about them being franchises.

Yes I am surprised m&s have no say when they must have a multi million pound contract

Honestly OP I would call the police. He has been really aggressive to you and your son and made several aggressive phone calls to you. He seems to feel he has a reason to be really angry with you and seems unhinged. He knows where you live and you have mentioned it is isolated. When his employer eventually does take action he is not likely to be less angry. I think you should outline the situation to the police and ask what to do. It sounds old fashioned but they might just tell him that he can’t harass you and that might be enough. Or at very least if you do need them in a hurry in the future they will know what’s been going on.

Is English his first language?
His response to you saying you would get your husband to move the truck seems much more suited to his believe you were getting your husband because of his behaviour/because your husband could sort him out. If English isn't his first language, is there a chance he may have misinterpreted what you said?

Obviously he was being aggressive before you said that, so the initial fault lies with him but that might explain the fall out now; the phone calls and the company ignoring you if the driver has told them that you threatened him.

He sounded local - definitely a fluent English speaker and used foul language. There is no reason to think I would make any threats - I'm a middle aged woman 5 foot tall, 8 stone and spoke in a calm quiet voice throughout. I work with venerable teenagers so am usually good at handling any aggressive inappropriately directed at me and calming people down.

I worked in customer service for a company that used Yodel, Hermes and DPD and there was nothing we could do when customers would call with a complaint about the couriers, because the company I worked for didn't own the courier companies so they have no disciplinary power over them. All we could do was offer a replacement parcel or a refund or put them through to the courier company. So M&S and Amazon won't have any control over DPD in this situation, you would have to escalate it with DPD specifically.

Seriously, speak to the police on a non emergency number.

This is threatening behaviour, and given that he’s repeating it it’s also harassment. You should not have to put up with this, his behaviour is not normal and you don’t know what he will do next.

You will not be wasting their time.

Sorry you’re having to put up with this.