Hermes Delivery

[HotTea03]

Hello

I believe this is in the right place but have Hermes changed their delivery style?! I'm perfectly willing to be told I'm unreasonable but find the situation below a little odd.

We have recently moved house and very rarely shop online. However, I have just had a knock on the door from our local Hermes delivery lady who popped round to introduce herself.

She mentioned that she has a parcel for us and gave me her card and mobile number (but no parcel). Said that she will keep our parcels at home and we can call around and collect it when we want to as she gave up delivering as a lot of people arent in so rather than sending them back to the depot at the end of the allotted time she will keep them and people can pick up from her house.

I explained that we might not know whether we have a parcel via Hermes as sometimes the delivery doesnt tell us or provide tracking information. For example, the parcel I am waiting for has no delivery information just a 'standard delivery within 5 working days' clause. So how would we know to collect it? And we were told to list pop round on the off chance!

Explained I work from home a lot so would prefer parcels to be delivered in first instance but she said she can't do that.....

As she was leaving I asked for the parcel she said she had.... and she said she left it at home in case we weren't in and to pop round to collect it!🤣

My partner and I are pretty bemused and just looking at each other about what just happened. It seems as if this is the normal set up around here and just feel a bit put off that I'll still have to collect my parcel a mile away. I understand it must be annoying delivering parcels if no one is home but this seems a bit odd.

I am completely baffled!

I started with Hermes this January for ultra flexible work now that ds is a toddler.

It was not ideal. Firstly it's not that flexible. You ideally take on a round which you got to do, or find cover for, daily. Or you can be a cover driver which is more flexible but you'll go off to new routes all the time and get lost and take ages.

It takes ages when you're new. You collect and organise the parcels yourself. If you just bung the 60-80 packets into your car anyhow, you'll spend ten minutes per house rummaging for the right one.
You get 65p per parcel so you need to be fast. I can see why this lady is trying this scheme but she has invented it and should be delivering them to you or a neighbour.
Whatever people think about the risk to parcels while in the driver's house, we do get told to store them at home rather than in the car in case they cannot be delivered. Then we try again the next day or take them back to the depot. You can take your parcels home to sort and put in order if you want but I think that just adds to processing time.
The bosses were super nice but other staff were annoying by staking a claim on the limited parking at the depot, meaning nobody else could get away on time. That and the fact that I just couldn't go fast enough and wasted so much time trying to find a neighbour who could take the parcel, I didn't last very long.
Call Hermes to alert them to what is happening. You'd just as well collect from the depot at that rate!!! ( but which isn't an option btw)

She's a CF. She's paid per delivery and now as well as no running around from her, she doesn't have any fuel costs either.

Absolutely complain to Hermes. I can understand attempting to deliver (she had your bloody parcel, why didn't she put it in her car!) and then putting on the card that they can collect if they prefer, but not bothering to deliver at all is totally not on.

She’s scammer, getting paid to provide a service and then getting the customers to do her labour for her, and you did it! She tricked you by being a blustering, loud, cheery scammer and you obeyed her, showed up to her —warehouse— house and got the parcel she didn’t bother her hole to deliver. You need to contact Hermes for a refund. They didn’t deliver.

I would definitely report it to Hermes. It would be one thing if the delivery woman was offering a depot service for those that couldnt be delivered (eg instead of lobbing it over the fence or coming to the same house for 4 days straight or sending it back to the retailer, she keeps it at home and let's people know they can collect at a convenient time) in addition to actually delivering parcels but she is BVVVVU to not actually at least attempt one delivery first.

When I order online I pay for delivery to my door, if I wanted to collect it I would take that option when offered by the retailer. I work for a supermarket that has a click and collect service for parcels and I usually use that service (so I can collect my parcel from our secure parcel room at the end of my shift rather than risk it being left in the hallway outside my flat all afternoon) unless an item is big/bulky/heavy or I have a day off when I will be in to accept a delivery and so order it to be delivered to my home.

I do not drive so having to collect a parcel from the delivery person's home, unless they were a neighbour, is going to cost me money (on bus/taxi fare) and time (esp if they live on the other side of town and I am beholden to the local bus schedule) which is not my responsibility when I have paid the retailer to deliver it to me.

I think you win cheeky fucker of the year thread op!!

She will be paid by Hermes for each parcel she picks up from them and delivers. That’s a good scam she has going. What about the parcels no one collects? We have home delivery for our convenience so I’d be making it clear to her that it’s not convenient for me to go to her house for something I’ve paid to have delivered. After that it’s up to her - she either delivers to you or you let Hermes sort it out.

WTAF! Laughing out loud here. This is a Little Britain sketch. call hermes.

Good morning all,

Just a quick update, I spoke with my OH and he said the teen didnt ask for ID and barely spoke with him. My OH said he looked a bit grumpy as if he had been woken up but was still in uniform.

I haven't managed to see or meet any neighbours yet, however someone has private messaged me on here asking if I am from xxx place as it sounds very familiar.... and i am! The power of Mumsnet.... it seems this has been going on a while!

Superdrug set my status to dispatched last night and I woke to an email from Hermes in the early hours to say my item is on it's way... we shall see if anything sunk in yesterday! 🤣🤣

Life is never boring eh!

Thanks for the update, OP! No wonder the courier is so jolly … getting paid to deliver parcels but not actually delivering them … saving on petrol … resident grumpy teen to hand them out …! Although I do wonder what happens when she's not in!!

Hermes don't actually give you a clear route to complain to them. If a parcel doesn't arrive they say contact the retailer and get them to discuss it with Hermes. They don't want to discuss their customer service because they know it's shit.

That sounds very odd. Our Hermes guy told us last week that he isn't allowed to leave the parcels anywhere any more and that they have to be delivered into the customer's hand now and signed for. The very next day we had 2 Hermes packages through the letterbox 😂

”Hermes don't actually give you a clear route to complain to them. If a parcel doesn't arrive they say contact the retailer and get them to discuss it with Hermes. They don't want to discuss their customer service because they know it's shit.”

They don’t want to discuss their customer service with the end-buyer because the end-buyer is not their customer. The retailer is their customer.

The end-buyer is the retailer’s customer, and can complain to the retailer if the order isn’t delivered.

“Our Hermes guy told us last week that he isn't allowed to leave the parcels anywhere any more and that they have to be delivered into the customer's hand now and signed for.”

Hermes is establishing its own collection points. If enough retailers choose to offer Hermes Click-and-Collect, the woman and her (I assume) child may eventually find themselves out of work.

I thought our previous Hermes woman was cheeky enough in just delivering all parcels to one house in the cul de sac and leaving it for us to distribute/collect but this is a whole new level 😂