Screwfix and ANC - pathetic.

[Huge]

Apparently Screwfix use any one of three couriers; Lynx, Parcel Force and ANC.

Pray that they don't use ANC for your order. I ordered a small amount of plumbing stuff, for delivery on Tuesday, since the pain of driving to Wickes was too much and I only needed it today.

I'm still waiting.

ANC have repeatedly lied to us about deliveries, starting with the card in the letter box. I assume the driver couldn't be arsed to walk round the front gate, since we were in all day.

Since then, we have been promised delivery on each of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and today, "guaranteed". What does "guaranteed" mean, when they have failed dismally to deliver my stuff each and every day? I can only assume that "guaranteed" is a code word meaning "I'm lying, f*ck off and stop bothering me".

I suppose I should be pleased that they've delivered *something*. Does the bloke in Kempston who ordered a 3-port valve and some light bulbs read this group, because I have your stuff.

I've spoken repeatedly to Screwfix, who "promise" to do something about it, but I assume that ANC lie to them, too.

If I can't get the stuff on time, I shall be forced to go somewhere else, even if it isn't Screwfix's fault.

ANC, you can be absolutely sure that I shall never, ever, use you.

[Lurch]

On 18 Dec 2004 14:24:08 GMT, [e-mail] (Huge) strung together this:

Think you're correct on that one. That's why I never pay for any guaranteed next day deliveries as they usually take as long as standard deleiveries, which usually turn up next day from personal experience.

I like it!

[Alan]

In message , Huge wrote

I've never had any problems with ANC, however Parcel Farce is another matter.

[Dave Liquorice]

I had terrible problems with ANC when I was in Bristol, they could never find my address. It was a flat in a conversion the name of the block was clearly displayed no matter which direction you approached and all the bell buttons clearly labled with the numbers. They even denied the road was in the A to Z at one point!

I ended up always having to visit the depot to collect and to say "pay peanuts, get monkeys" is an insult to monkeys. The place appeared to be totaly staffed by school leavers with a combined literacy level of an ant.

ANC up here aren't a problem but that is probably beacuse the local garage does the delivery for them... Off hand I can't think of a delivery service that has been a problem up here, probably because it takes an hour to drive in and an hour to drive out so once in they make sure they deliver, unlike an urban area where parking makes each drop a pain and the depot is only a handful of miles away...

[Stefek Zaba]

...

That seems to be a widely-experienced phenomenon: there's huge variability in the quality of different depots run by the same carrier. I'd guess they stem from the nature of the local employment market as well as the talents of each depot's management team. Multi-drop delivery isn't a highly-renumerated lifetime career option generally - it's a job people drift into and out of. Some are conscientious, some are downright criminal, most are somewhere inbetween. Living at a name-only house on a main road (damn the pretensions of the Wills family!) it's taken a while to "train" the local delivery services - I've found a short-enough form of clear description of our location, by reference to a nearby road junction, to improve the "first time" hit rate. Thereafter, with a friendly natter with whoever's delivering if I'm in, they find their way back easily enough. Until, of course, they find a job making use of their architecture degree (to mention one driver we've had!) and we have to rerun the habituation process with the next driver for ANC/Parcelforce/Lynx/UPS...

Stefek

[Mike Dodd]

Going OT, however, reminds me of trying to get a package delivered to my work's address. Delivery company unit was based around 8 miles away, package label clearly expressed the correct formal delivery address. When I enquired about the (lack of) delivery they cited "Address not found". Great, however, as the address was of a local employer of some 8,000 people, based on an airfield that'd been operational since the second world war - you have to wonder sometimes.

[Simon Hawthorne]

Ditto - I had my company's name on my parcel - and my home address - they couldn't be arsed to find my house - so delivered to one of my company's depots - about 1 mile away!!

By 'my', I meant, the company I work for....

Plonk!

S.

[James Hart]

I bet Deutsche Post would have found it ;)

[Mike Dodd]

Aha, just rembered who the delivery company was... "Lynx", how do I know?, just had a parcel delivered today, coincidentally from Screwfix.

No-one in, so they left the parcel by the side of the house. In the snow. And the rain. SHMBO brought the sodden package in at lunchtime - fortunately it was a load of stainless steel screws (so no damage there!), however, the OTHER two parts of the order (a Christmas present) are no-where to be seen. Screwfix looking into it, but please add Lynx / Leyland nr Preston to the list of appalling delivery companies.

Regards

[Bolted]

I had this happen with a Fein Multimaster from Axminster via ANC. I went there the next morning to pick it up and they'd lost it, whooops. I've also wondered on other occasions when this has happened, but delivery has been made the second (or third) time, whether that is because the driver gets paid a certain amount per attempt, rather than flat fee per parcel. Anyone know whether I've a too active imagination?

[Huge]

Amusingly, the parcel arrived yesterday, some 15 days after despatch by Screwfix. I sent it away.