Parcel deliveries always seem to be pushed onto the receiver, often needing a ‘signature’. I have sometimes wondered what to do about about obvious parcel damage. This is what Castorama have sent me - I should get a delivery from their carrier tomorrow:
Vous trouverez en pièce jointe la facture prête à être imprimée de votre commande du 04/09/2023 n°… Il est important de ne pas signer le bon de livraison avant d’avoir vérifié le contenu des colis et l’état de la marchandise. En cas de problème, veuillez indiquer, sur le bon de livraison, les réserves nécessaires ou envoyer au transporteur les réserves par LRAR dans les 3 jours suivants la livraison. D’autre part, vous pouvez émettre des réserves pour non-conformité du produit, non remise de la notice/des instructions d’installation. Pour votre information, vous recevrez ce document après chaque expédition ou retrait en magasin.
If stuff has arrives in an obviously damaged packaging… we always insist on opening and checking BEFORE signing…
Sometimes the outside is awful but the inside is OK… fair enough.
But, if there’s any doubt , we then mark the paperwork accordingly.
On one occasion, a long-awaited delivery arrived. As it was being unloaded, we could see immediately that there was some damage and refused to accept it… completing the “refusal” bit on the paperwork.
Then sent a swift email (plus photos) to the Sales Director of the company we’d bought the equipment from… plus a suggestion that the goods be better packed in future to avoid such damage (and disappointment) happening to any other Orders…
He promised delivery of a replacement within 2 days… which was surprising but appreciated…
Oh my… just 2 days later the original “damaged” delivery arrived at our door again…
So, that got sent back too…
But no magic spell to get a delivery driver to stop long enough for you to check the parcel?
One reason we prefer using point relais’s. Then we can examine the parcel carefully before signing. We only use the ones where you collect from a person, and not the lockers outside supermarkets as no idea how you would prove a damaged parcel then?
In actual fact… delivery folk have never given us problems… once they are actually at our door… and that covers all the “small” delivery companies as well as the big-boys.
If they need a signature, they will wait for it … as they must…
Although we have had random problems eg: someone phoning to say “I can’t find you…” but that’s them just being daft/lazy… and completely different.
I use Amazon quite a bit, and have done since 1998, never a problem. Out of loyalty I’ve tried to use French companies directly too, always a problem. For example, with FNAC the item that showed in stock and ready to ship bit was not actually in stock and after my waiting a week an email arrives offering a totally unsuitable alternative, and then you have to chase a refund. So for me, Darty, Fnac, Castorama, Oncle Tom Cobblie et tous can sod off I’ll buy over the counter but never risk their online sites again.
Plus Amazon is shipping more and more stuff for following day delivery. I could spend a day traipsing around Nice or Marseilles or Toulon unsuccessfully trying to find stuff which I know I will have within 24 hours with a click on Amazon. I think unless these companies up their customer service game, rarely a strong point in France, Amazon will knock them out with dreadful consequences for the high street, which malls have already damaged.
Surely Amazon use the same delivery companies as Oncle Tom Cobblie? I wasn’t aware they had their own delivery company - but then I never use Amazon as a point of principal.
Yes, Amazon use a variety of companies, DHL, UPS, Colissimo, etc. some are better than others but all get the parcel to me within the committed time. I’m sure they are all afraid of annoying Amazon. Even Colissimo. So it’s not the “final mile” that makes the difference for me, it’s the whole supply chain from supplier management, inventory, packaging, no quibble returns, responsiveness, etc. It’s a well oiled machine. I think other companies see online sales as a “bolt on” to their bricks and mortar business, which is is, and it shows.
Yes, that has happened to me, but not recently and not with Amazon shipments. I don’t think Amazon would stand for it, and you get to rate your driver after the delivery. I’ve found all the drivers, apart from one yesterday ironically, excellent. He didn’t get out of the van and made me walk to the gate when he should have just popped the small parcel in our letter box. He won’t last long.
Delivery driving isn’t the low paid job it used to be.
Some years back I bought a small painting in Santa Barbara and had it shipped back by UPS at considerable expense. They pulled the “we can’t find you” trick on me two or three times (even though a quick Google would have shown our house and location) so I finally drove to their depot in Aix to collect it, a two hundred km round trip. They gave me the parcel and I tottered off home. Some days later they sent me a email saying they had forgotten to charge me the duty and TVA they had paid on import. I responded that as I’d had to collect the parcel myself, they could swallow it. And that was that
We were buying a portable haudraulic lift from a specialist company in Holland…
The item was loosely covered with flimsy cardboard and strapped to a wooden pallet.
When it arrived, it looked as if it had been dropped from a height… and quite possibly had…
Fluid leaking from (possibly) damaged parts… had soaked into the coverings…
Eventually, when the replacement, pristine, undamaged lift was finally delivered, it was wonderfully packed in protective stuff… and strapped to a heavy-duty framework.
Obviously, my photos and comments had worked their magic… and we got a partial refund on the original price, too… as a goodwill gesture.
Deliveries from courier companies have vastly improved in recent years. Some time ago we had a card left in our mail box saying they were unable to deliver our parcel because it was incorrectly addressed ???
Says the CEO of the company . First off, this is in the States, not Europe and it is for a 40 hour week which is illegal in France, and 52 weeks a year. I really don’t think one can compare salaries across continents as too many variables.
Combien un Chauffeur livreur gagne-t-il en France ?
€ 1 875/ Mois
Le salaire médian pour les emplois chauffeur livreur en France est € 22 500par an ou € 12.36 par heure. Les postes de niveau débutant commencent avec un salaire environnant € 21 352 par an, tandis que les travailleurs les plus expérimentés gagnent jusqu’à € 29 295 par an.
My link was just an indication of the trend Jane and obviously not meant for direct comparison.
Have a chat with a few drivers, as I have, and ask them what they think. It’s not a bad gig, in a world where, sadly, the gig economy prevails Why do you think so many have abandoned bar/restaurant, long distance truck driving etc. in favour of delivery work? I think it’s better hours, more time at home and reasonable, if not spectacular, pay and benefits.
You must be buying different stuff to me then because if I want anything I have to order before I set off - a week here is not usually enough to order items on arrival, and you can completely forget ordering even on the Monday if you are planning to leave the following Saturday or Sunday.
Mind you Amazon sometimes strikes me as distinctly odd. I needed a new PSU for the media server I have here as the original died. Ordered in the UK for delivery at home Monday night for Thursday delivery. Turned out that it was not next day because it came from Germany.
Despite the item already being in the EU Amazon UK would not deliver it to my French address.
Despite it being in stock in Amazon’s EU network Amazon.fr would not sell it to me at all.
Amazon.de *would* have delivered it to my French address, and for less than I paid in the UK - but obviously not until I was here and having it arive Thursday so that I could get iit into the case was preferable. Especially as that task was not straightforward - the case originally took an odd variant of a TFX power supply which was only ever made by one manufacturer as far as I can tell - now unobtanium. So an SFX supply was squeezed in, in its place.
Most of the stuff I order comes directly from Amazon, your stuff looks as if it’s from their Marketplace so would be a bit slower. Though even then I find their delivery estimates accurate. I understand the window of delivery problem, I have it when I’m forward ordering for another location that I plan to be at when the delivery occurs or I hoping to receive before I head off.
I think Amazon tries to under promise and over deliver on delivery dates. So them exceeding exceptions is no good to me if I haven’t arrived there yet or slipping by a day would mean I’m gone.
I ordered a Tapo hub and button on Saturday (2/3rds of the Amazon UK price) and it was delivered on Sunday and I ordered a Tapo temperature and humidity monitor yesterday and it’ll be here today (I’m playing with home automation at the moment ) I ordered three books from them last week, one came the day after, the second the day after that and the third on the third day. All as had been scheduled at checkout and all from different suppliers, I think.
I looked at my .fr account and I’ve had 36 deliveries from them this year, all on time. There were 59 in 2022, 42 in 2021 and a record 63 in 2020 and that’s only Amazon France, I’ve a similar volume (more YTD) from Amazon.co.uk and a few from Amazon.com. All, as I say, delivered on time and with no hassle. It’s hard to beat.
Ooh, interested. I’ve just started dabbling with Home Assistant to figure out what I can do with it. Mostly just environment monitoring at the moment but with a view to taking actions based on those readings.
We’ll I’m really only dabbling but I’ve overdosed on Blink cameras in three locations, I’ve got Tapo light switches and plugs (measure power consumption) in two locations. I’ve Tado radiator thermostat valves in two locations and theoretically the A/C splits here are automated, but the Hitachi app is rubbish so I’ve parked it for the moment. I’ve YoLink leak sensors in three locations and pool temp sensor and an ICO pool chemistry thingy floating around here. A couple of Levoit (Which recommended) dust filters. Most of the stuff works through Alexa. Apple Home is a bit rubbish IMO but I use it for Apple TV and homepods.
I’ll buy over the counter but never risk their online sites again.
