Scarecrow
Suspended / Banned
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- Name
- Derek
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How difficult is it to deliver a parcel! 
Last Saturday I ordered a lens over the phone from a shop in Cardiff. "Thank you very much" said the nice young man, "we'll pop that in the post on Monday for you."
Excellent, I think to myself, that should easily be with me by the following weekend, as I have a shoot to do, and the new lens will be really useful.
Tuesday came and went with no lens. I thought it a bit optimistic to expect a delivery by then, but stranger things have happened.
I was really hopeful for Wednesday, but again, no delivery. :|
It should be here by Thursday, I thought, but I got home from work just after lunch time, and still no delivery.
I was getting a little worried by this stage, so I gave the camera shop a quick call, and they were good enough to tell me the name of the courier firm they use, together with a tracking number.
Armed with this information, I got online, called up the appropriate website, and put my details in. What's this, they tried to deliver on Wednesday but were unsuccessful so delivery has been rescheduled for Thursday?? As no 'Sorry we missed you' card was left, and I was unaware of who the carrier was, who on earth reqested the delivery reschedule? :shrug:
Further reading of the tracking information revealed that the rescheduled delivery was for that day; any time between 7:30 am and 5:30 pm. As there was still no 'Sorry we missed you card' when I got home I assumed (perhaps too hopefully) that my lens would still be with me by close of play.
At 5:15pm, with still no sign of any delivery, I thought I would give the couriers a call for a real time update. After negotiating various menus of their telephone system, and finally getting through to a real person, after passing over my details I was informed that actually, my parcel had gone missing in the depot the day before, but they had found it today (Thursday). This raised two questions: if it had gone missing in the depot yesterday, why was their tracking system showing that they had tried to deliver it that day? Further, if they found it within their system today, by what miracle had it found it's way on to a delivery lorry for a possible delivery by 7:30 am?
Not to worry, I said. Just mark the parcel down for collection, and I'll pop along after work tomorrow (i.e. Friday - today) and collect it in person. "Not a problem, I've done that for you now" confirmed the voice at the end of the phone "and you can collect it at your convenience." A quick re-check of the online tracking service confirmed that my parcel was now marked down for personal collection
So today, I finished work at 1:00 pm, and headed off towards my local courier depot, which unfortunately is in the opposite direction to the one I need to go home. Still I had nothing planned for this afternoon, and finally getting my hands on my lens would be worth all the trouble.
I finally arrived at the depot after a 30 minute drive, entered reception, and handed over my tracking note together with the required identification. The young man entered my details in to the computer, but his puzzled expression did not fill me with any sort of confidence. "Ah," he finally exclaimed "your package has gone out on the lorry for delivery!" :bang:
Saints preserve us. Thank God these people aren't running a brewery.
They finally contacted the driver, who confirmed that he'd actually left the parcel with one of my neighbours, so when I finally got home 3/4 hour later, a quick knock on the door of my neighbour, and I finally managed to get my hands on my new lens.
p.s. There was still no 'Sorry we missed you card' in my letter box, so if I hadn't been to the depot, I wouldn't have known that my lens was sitting just a few feet away in my neighbour's house.
Muppets doesn't really describe what I think of them, but I'm trying to be polite.
Last Saturday I ordered a lens over the phone from a shop in Cardiff. "Thank you very much" said the nice young man, "we'll pop that in the post on Monday for you."
Excellent, I think to myself, that should easily be with me by the following weekend, as I have a shoot to do, and the new lens will be really useful.
Tuesday came and went with no lens. I thought it a bit optimistic to expect a delivery by then, but stranger things have happened.
I was really hopeful for Wednesday, but again, no delivery. :|
It should be here by Thursday, I thought, but I got home from work just after lunch time, and still no delivery.
I was getting a little worried by this stage, so I gave the camera shop a quick call, and they were good enough to tell me the name of the courier firm they use, together with a tracking number.
Armed with this information, I got online, called up the appropriate website, and put my details in. What's this, they tried to deliver on Wednesday but were unsuccessful so delivery has been rescheduled for Thursday?? As no 'Sorry we missed you' card was left, and I was unaware of who the carrier was, who on earth reqested the delivery reschedule? :shrug:
Further reading of the tracking information revealed that the rescheduled delivery was for that day; any time between 7:30 am and 5:30 pm. As there was still no 'Sorry we missed you card' when I got home I assumed (perhaps too hopefully) that my lens would still be with me by close of play.
At 5:15pm, with still no sign of any delivery, I thought I would give the couriers a call for a real time update. After negotiating various menus of their telephone system, and finally getting through to a real person, after passing over my details I was informed that actually, my parcel had gone missing in the depot the day before, but they had found it today (Thursday). This raised two questions: if it had gone missing in the depot yesterday, why was their tracking system showing that they had tried to deliver it that day? Further, if they found it within their system today, by what miracle had it found it's way on to a delivery lorry for a possible delivery by 7:30 am?
Not to worry, I said. Just mark the parcel down for collection, and I'll pop along after work tomorrow (i.e. Friday - today) and collect it in person. "Not a problem, I've done that for you now" confirmed the voice at the end of the phone "and you can collect it at your convenience." A quick re-check of the online tracking service confirmed that my parcel was now marked down for personal collection
So today, I finished work at 1:00 pm, and headed off towards my local courier depot, which unfortunately is in the opposite direction to the one I need to go home. Still I had nothing planned for this afternoon, and finally getting my hands on my lens would be worth all the trouble.
I finally arrived at the depot after a 30 minute drive, entered reception, and handed over my tracking note together with the required identification. The young man entered my details in to the computer, but his puzzled expression did not fill me with any sort of confidence. "Ah," he finally exclaimed "your package has gone out on the lorry for delivery!" :bang:
Saints preserve us. Thank God these people aren't running a brewery.
They finally contacted the driver, who confirmed that he'd actually left the parcel with one of my neighbours, so when I finally got home 3/4 hour later, a quick knock on the door of my neighbour, and I finally managed to get my hands on my new lens.
p.s. There was still no 'Sorry we missed you card' in my letter box, so if I hadn't been to the depot, I wouldn't have known that my lens was sitting just a few feet away in my neighbour's house.
Muppets doesn't really describe what I think of them, but I'm trying to be polite.
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