To expect companies to have been prepared for the Christmas rush

[Noodledoodledoo]

I am getting so fed up with Christmas deliveries not arriving.

I have not left things to the last minute, I have 2 orders I made in November, one the 14th one the 26th which I am having a nightmare being delivered.

I get they are swamped but it has now messed up 4 peoples presents which are unlikely to get there on time as I need to wrap and send on. I am aware there is a backlog at the post office so don't want to leave to the last minute when I ordered in good time!

Hobby craft and M&S have badly let me down this year, my attempt to not just rely on Amazon!

I work for a well known company that actually has very few staff. We got over 800 orders Black Friday weekend and people are starting to complain. We're working as fast as we can and doing masses of overtime etc but can only do what we can do 🤷🏼‍♀️

I’m still waiting for a boots order I made on 27th of November. Seems to have been stuck in a Royal Mail dept for 2 weeks and not moved. I’m not confident it’s going to turn up.

I cancelled one order that I placed nearly 3 weeks ago with delivery quoted as 5-7 working days. Their Facebook page was full of complaints about orders paid for weeks ago suddenly being out of stock and nothing arriving.

I phoned and they had a huge backlog of things coming into the warehouse to sort through. They thought that would take a week to clear before sending stuff out, if they had it.

I cancelled and ordered the same things on amazon late Thursday night, and it arrived Friday morning.

Royal Mail have had issues all year due to Covid, an increase in online shopping and then black Friday and Christmas on top. They're dealing with an extra 50% over last year and are prioritising certain types of parcels.

Our small business sends out about 1000 parcels a week as RM 24 hour service and about a third are taking a week to 10 days to arrive and more are going missing than usual. This has been going on all year and we've had to move our Christmas dates much earlier than usual due to it.

Normally 6 weeks would be plenty but it's extreme circumstances this year so maybe a little bit unreasonable given how long delivery companies have been struggling.

Have to contacted them? I run a small business on Etsy and even the items I've sent to the USA have arrived within 10 days of me sending them.

I've just had someone contact me as an item I sent on 8th December hadn't arrived - first class post. The tracking on royal mail showed they tried to deliver today but no-one was home. So first class taking more than a couple of weeks even now seems very odd. And I'm just a 'one woman band' business.

I also sent something to a friend by Hermes last weekend - picked up from home last Sunday. It arrived on Thursday. I'd be contacting them wanting to know where the items were.

"You could even have almost everything you need - the product, the card boxes, the packets, the trucks... but you’ve got no legally required instruction warning booklets, because your printer had people off with Covid and has a back log. So much can go wrong."

Absolutely agree with Cocomarine on this issue. We have a small manufacturing business and made plans for our production for Christmas. Whilst we have managed to produce what we need, we are being let down by our packaging suppliers so cannot package our goods for sale.

We had no way of knowing we would be let down by our suppliers, but even if we had anticipated it, we could not order the packaging earlier or more of it due to our space restrictions. In turn our packaging suppliers are being let down by their raw material suppliers, so cannot fulfil the orders that they desperately want to. No company plans on letting their customers down.

I’ve had the exact opposite experience
Everything I’ve ordered has arrived before the expected day
I have mainly used amazon smile and my charity donation goes to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation

I have ordered about 20 items over the last few weeks, not a single item has been delayed, in fact a few came sooner than estimated.

Of course companies are having to work differently, but they’ve been doing so for months now. If someone, knowing what they have for months promises delivery in a week, being 3 weeks late is not good service and can’t be blamed on “the current situation”. They’d get a pass in April or May, but not ten months in to this thing.

I do wonder, in the context of a global pandemic and impending Brexit, if people could manage their expectations a little better?

Sorry, but does it really matter if someone's present doesn't arrive in time for you to wrap and send it on to them for Xmas day?

Would 'sorry, I did order in November but pandemic etc, will give you it as soon as it arrives. Have a lovely Christmas anyway' be so bad?

I’m fed up of covid being a giant excuse for companies to be shit and just shrug their shoulders like ‘covid innit’.

NO it’s poor planning, shit customer service and a good example of why you’ll be going out of business after losing your customers to Amazon!

It’s totally acceptable for it to be slow/reduced services due to covid buts NOT what these companies are doing. They’re taking 800 orders on Black Friday (to try and recoup profits) knowing damn well they only have capacity to get 200 orders out to customers in the time frame they’ve told them, then shrugging their shoulders at the other 600 saying ‘covid innit’ - PISS POOR PERFORMANCE!

I had an ao.com delivery booked (which I’d waited two weeks before ‘due to covid’). 7pm that night I get a call to say they can’t come UNTIL THE WEEK AFTER as had run out of time ‘due to covid’.

Me: It’s not really good enough is it?
Customer service: Unfortunately it’s very difficult circumstances with covid.
Me: Right. Tell me how covid has caused you to run out of time today?
CS:....erm
Me: Did the driver or fitter not turn up/suddenly have to self isolate?
CS: sigh ... no
Me: Do either of them actually wear PPE? Because they didn’t when they were here last time.
CS: I don’t believe they do. I’m not sure.
Me: ....so how has covid caused this?
CS: sigh I suppose...well it hasn’t
Me: so it’s not ‘covid’ is it? It’s you overloading drivers with jobs and over promising to customers to sell more stuff you can’t actually deliver on time.
CS: I’m gonna email them and get them to come on Monday (3 days later).
Me: I think you best do that.

I ordered 2 in stock books early November from Waterstones to make extra sure they would be by Xmas and last week wondering why they haven't arrived realised that beyond acknowledging the order they hadn't even started processing it!

I tried the customer service line but half an hour later no response so cancelled it and have tried the local book shop collective Uk.bookshop.org which my mum said delivered in a couple of days . . . Fingers crossed!

@Noodledoodledoo

But if I ordered something 6 weeks ago I would expect it to be have taken into account. It's not last minute orders, it was planned to arrive to give me time. On both shops they said delivery within 7 days - not 4 weeks. Even with the current situation 3 weeks delay is excessive.

I planned my shopping to make sure I gave myself plenty of time to send them on, now I am going to add to the issue with the post office.

And?

How EXACTLY do you think they should have prepared better.

My understanding is that EVERYONE is struggling to get enough delivery drivers / suitable vehicles and the existing ones are being asked to work up to 6 days a week to keep up with demand.

What would you solution to this problem be? Its all very well being critical but without a viable alterative ideas as to HOW exactly companies could have been more prepared for the unprecidented you are being unreasonable.

As it goes, if you can do click and collect, its a reasonable alternative and particularly as we get closer to christmas and new year its a sensible idea as its likely to be far more reliable.

Some very mixed experiences then.
I think that Royal Mail, in particularS, should have been planning for this since spring. This time of year is always busy for them and with people being urged to buy online, it’s obvious demand would be higher, so you’d think they might have had contingency plans, even if some staff are missing.

I ordered three items from M&as. One arrived on Thursday, , but is down as ‘awaiting despatch’. One arrived today and the third seems to have gone to the other end of the country. It’s difficult to be sure because there’s only one tracking number for three separate packages. I don’t know why M&S put things in separate packages. Other companies appear to manage to put things together in one.

It’s very odd. I sent something to a customer 2 weeks ago first class and it hasn’t arrived yet. But then ordered from Allbeauty at 5.30 yesterday and the postman delivered it at 9am this morning. I got free postage as well and didn’t pay for any quick delivery services

The delays may not be due to post/warehouse delays but because the goods are not in the U.K. yet. There are massive backlogs at some ports, and some containers have been delivered to European ports instead. So it's possible that goods that the retailer expected to have in stock simply aren't available yet.

@RedToothBrush

How EXACTLY do you think they should have prepared better

This is laughable. How about they start by simply not advertising/promising short delivery timeframes they don’t have logistics in place to actually make happen?

No one expects a company to pull couriers and drivers out of their bums in this economy. But they are expected not to lie/falsely promise customers things they can’t deliver. Not being able to source the logistics to deliver is the companies problem NOT the customers! By selling the customer items they can’t actually deliver it’s essentially fraud, with the company shunting the delivery issues onto the customer and making it ‘their problem’ whilst the company sit there with the customers money in their pockets.

Don’t even get me started on customer service lines. These jobs can be done from home and companies have had 9 months to sort their shit out

@Thatwentbadly

1) There are not enough people /vehicles for delivery 2) People in factories, sorting offices and delivery drivers having to self isolating 3) Increased demand 4) Deliveries stuck in ports due to stockpiling by companies as they are considered after a no deal Brexit they won’t get things into the U.K.

How do you suggest they solve these issues?

Its funny how few people are paying attention to the delays at ports and just how bad it is and how even large companies can't get expected delivery times atm to pass on to customers.

I am anticipating 'the shit delivery' threads to escalate in the next ten days with people starting to do their nut by about the 20th.

Christmas will be 'ruined' in thousands of homes as Santa forgot a key present and I'm anticipating lots of food orders due to be delivered from the 20th onward to have huge numbers of ommisions or subsitutions as food production lines / haulage firms are hit.

[quote Pumpertrumper]@RedToothBrush

How EXACTLY do you think they should have prepared better

This is laughable. How about they start by simply not advertising/promising short delivery timeframes they don’t have logistics in place to actually make happen?

No one expects a company to pull couriers and drivers out of their bums in this economy. But they are expected not to lie/falsely promise customers things they can’t deliver. Not being able to source the logistics to deliver is the companies problem NOT the customers! By selling the customer items they can’t actually deliver it’s essentially fraud, with the company shunting the delivery issues onto the customer and making it ‘their problem’ whilst the company sit there with the customers money in their pockets.

Don’t even get me started on customer service lines. These jobs can be done from home and companies have had 9 months to sort their shit out [/quote]
They wouldn't sell SHIT at the moment then, because no one knows when anything will turn up! The retailers and the haulers don't know! So they can't pass this infomation on. The stuff I'm hearing on the ground is bonkers.

I worked for HobbyCraft in Customer Services, until earlier this year. Peak trading each year is horrendous for the staff (and customers alike!) There will be queues of 20 plus on the phone and not enough staff. Awful last year, but I can imagine it's even worse this year, with the pandemic. I'm so happy not to be dealing with it this year....not the customers, they're great. However, most of the line managers just shout at the phone reps to get off the phone and take another call. They're basically just shouted at all day! Most of the issues are because of Hermes. They're escalation procedure is terrible, even we couldn't speak to them via phone. Just awful!

They wouldn't sell SHIT at the moment then, because no one knows when anything will turn up! The retailers and the haulers don't know! So they can't pass this infomation on. The stuff I'm hearing on the ground is bonkers

Oh well in that case its perfectly reasonable for them to make up time frames as they please and take peoples money promising them stuff they have no idea whether is doable or not!

Just imagine you’re a single parent with a tight budget and you ordered all your kids gifts from a large reputable online retailer promising delivery in 7 days. Only for it to be 2 weeks later, no items, no chance to speak to anyone, no money to replace the items. Sorry but company’s desire to sell stuff really doesn’t trump a customers entitlement to ethical/honest treatment and not being screwed over before Christmas.

I’d rather company’s went out of business than thousands of children/families go without over Christmas.

They're escalation procedure is terrible, even we couldn't speak to them via phone.

I worked many years ago for a company which delivered to customers direct and to retailers. If something doesn't turn up, its a bloody nightmare getting a response out of a haulage firm. The haulage and delivery firms are overloaded this year.

This is probably why Amazon is doing better than most because everything is essentially inhouse.

I would image hobbycraft is particularly hard hit if its getting stuff imported by container from China due the port problem.

I'd also imagine hobbycraft can't hire many more staff even seasonal because of margins on products already being stretched by covid restrictions.

I think a lot of people are forgetting that not everybody has the money to start shopping early . And ok it's fine if adults presents don't arrive on time because you can explain to an adult it will be late . How do you explain to to a 5 year old that Santa hasn't been able to get there presents to them ! I do think people have a right to be a bit annoyed even if Royal Mail can't help it especially if there paying extortionate delivery charges to make sure things arrive on time but there arriving the same time as if they had opted for free delivery!

@Pumpertrumper

They wouldn't sell SHIT at the moment then, because no one knows when anything will turn up! The retailers and the haulers don't know! So they can't pass this infomation on. The stuff I'm hearing on the ground is bonkers

Oh well in that case its perfectly reasonable for them to make up time frames as they please and take peoples money promising them stuff they have no idea whether is doable or not!

Just imagine you’re a single parent with a tight budget and you ordered all your kids gifts from a large reputable online retailer promising delivery in 7 days. Only for it to be 2 weeks later, no items, no chance to speak to anyone, no money to replace the items. Sorry but company’s desire to sell stuff really doesn’t trump a customers entitlement to ethical/honest treatment and not being screwed over before Christmas.

I’d rather company’s went out of business than thousands of children/families go without over Christmas.

Well bahumbug to you. You can have coal for christmas instead if you want thousands to lose their jobs and for their kids to have no christmas and uncertain future about whether they will have a home and food. You'll still not get your essential tat for christmas anybody quicker...

@Pumpertrumper

I’m fed up of covid being a giant excuse for companies to be shit and just shrug their shoulders like ‘covid innit’.

NO it’s poor planning, shit customer service and a good example of why you’ll be going out of business after losing your customers to Amazon!

It’s totally acceptable for it to be slow/reduced services due to covid buts NOT what these companies are doing. They’re taking 800 orders on Black Friday (to try and recoup profits) knowing damn well they only have capacity to get 200 orders out to customers in the time frame they’ve told them, then shrugging their shoulders at the other 600 saying ‘covid innit’ - PISS POOR PERFORMANCE!

I had an ao.com delivery booked (which I’d waited two weeks before ‘due to covid’). 7pm that night I get a call to say they can’t come UNTIL THE WEEK AFTER as had run out of time ‘due to covid’.

Me: It’s not really good enough is it?
Customer service: Unfortunately it’s very difficult circumstances with covid.
Me: Right. Tell me how covid has caused you to run out of time today?
CS:....erm
Me: Did the driver or fitter not turn up/suddenly have to self isolate?
CS: sigh ... no
Me: Do either of them actually wear PPE? Because they didn’t when they were here last time.
CS: I don’t believe they do. I’m not sure.
Me: ....so how has covid caused this?
CS: sigh I suppose...well it hasn’t
Me: so it’s not ‘covid’ is it? It’s you overloading drivers with jobs and over promising to customers to sell more stuff you can’t actually deliver on time.
CS: I’m gonna email them and get them to come on Monday (3 days later).
Me: I think you best do that.

You sound proud of that OP!!! Your name isn't Amanda is it? You sound exactly like an evil cow I once had the 'pleasure' of working with. How DARE YOU 'speak' to a customer service assistant like that! You do realise she/he will also be speaking to at least two other customers at the same time. It’s you overloading drivers with jobs Yes, of course it's the person you're chatting to that did that

May karma bite you in the arse big time.

Sorry OP, that wasn't to you.
It was to that PP Pumpertrumper