Friday 23 July 2010

Furrustration, furrustration

and something a little more. Purrhaps I am too cynical?
The problem. We were both out yesterday afternoon. We were also careful to be back by four o'clock as we had been told the carrier with the new oven would " 'phone between four and six to arrange a delivery time on Friday".
When I returned at 3:30pm I discovered a note stuck in the front door claiming "sorry we missed you" and saying that they had tried to deliver the oven at 2:45pm.
Now a delivery truck from the company went down our street at 9:00 am. I saw it as I was setting out. It may have been going somewhere else but I rather doubt it. There would be no need for them to turn into our street and, unlike the locals, they are not likely to take a detour along it. I strongly suspect that the oven was on the truck and they decided, for reasons known only to themselves, not to deliver it at that point. It would have been the work of five minutes. They do not have to install it.
So, I 'phone the carriers. They tell me they had no instructions about delivery times. I rather doubt this. They would at least be expecting to deliver on a specific day. The girl at the other end of the line tells me that it will now not be possible to deliver until sometime next week. Not good enough I tell her much too politely. Well they could try to deliver it tomorrow (now today) for an additional fee. I see. Their mistake and I am expected to pay a hefty re-delivery fee? Well it seems that I will have to pay a re-delivery fee anyway. Why? There was nobody at home. They have to come back. How could we be expected to be at home if we did not know it was coming? That, it seems, is our problem. I am not impressed.
We need the oven. I will pay the delivery fee. I am also going to put in a formal complaint and claim it back. I may be wrong but I rather suspect they are working the system. It could be a very lucrative little scam.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

This is one of my pet hates - companies who don't do what they say they will do, when they say they will do it - whether it's from incompetence or, as may be in your case, greed. It's a sorry state of affairs when a company is held up to have 'great customer service' simply because they have done what they agreed to do, but that's what it has come to. Sorry about your woes Cat. Hope you get your oven - and your refund!

Janet said...

Delivery men are a law unto themselves. Talk about "your fault, our fault", I have a bill which I am ignoring - it is for making a delivery on a particularly narrow street, difficult access etc. The truth of the matter is that the delivery van parked right outside the house with no problem at all on our quite ordinary street. Happily the men who unloaded the van were a great crew. Good luck with your oven.

catdownunder said...

Well we have the oven - without the delivery fee. When they 'phoned to say when they would be delivering it I said, "Yes, we expected you today, not yesterday." Silence - but the delivery man did not demand money so my polite complaint must have worked.