Screwfix Deliveries -UPDATE

Well,thats another day come and gone and no parcel supposedly sent on Wed . The Tracking number supplied shows it at the Parcel Force National Hub at 2000 hrs last night and at the Glasgow central Depot at 0600 this morning and "out for delivery" so i expected it today . Of corse I can't get a tel number for this local depot and when you phone the Parcel Farce Worldwide contact number you get a message saying its closed because its a holiday so I dont know if it actually treated as a holiday up here . I dont think it is so it might arrive tomorrow hopefully .. Stuart

Reply to
Stuart
Loading thread data ...

Did you pay for the guaranteed delivery or just the best efforts?

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Reply to
Andy Hall

In message , Stuart writes

I'm in the same boat, my order was dispatched as three separate deliveries, two arrived yesterday, by two different non Farce carriers, the majority of the stuff was sent by Farce and there is no sign of it.

Reply to
bof

Just the normal £5.95 which isnt listed as for shipping but for handling whereby they make a big thing of Free Delivery . I think thats quite enough to pay without paying any more thanks very much. I do have to say that my experience with them has been that things do normally arrive next day but I think thats usually when they use a courier . I have ordered lots of things from different companies who use couriers and pay that sort of shipping and they rarely dont arrive next day. Stuart .

Reply to
Stuart

This is all clearly stated on the delivery section on their website.

They say that there is £5.95 packing and handling for orders under £45, and it is free above £45.

They don't say that it is £5.95 for delivery.

In the delivery section, they say that :-

Free delivery is *usually* next day. They don't guarantee it for next day.

£4 for before noon next day. £9 for before 10am £4 for Saturday

Clearly there is a cost in processing an order and picking it. Quite reasonably they can absorb that into margin on a larger order. For a smaller one, that cost obviously eats into the margin too much and they make a small charge of £5.95 for processing the order.

Compared with getting into the car and going to a shop or merchant, this is pretty cheap - especially when you take the time cost into account.

Undoubtedly, as a major shipper, they have pretty good rates negotiated with the carriers. They are able to absorb those into margin.

If you want the order on a best efforts basis, you don't pay any more. If you want a guaranteed delivery with a refund if they don't perform then it's only an extra £4. It's all clearly stated.

Granted that SF send incorrect and broken items, but that is a separate issue.

Fine. So at their discretion, they opt to use a courier firm and that firm is light on timed deliveries for the delivery day. Under those circumstances you win because the goods are delivered.

However, it is not reasonable to criticise when you have not paid for a timed delivery and don't get one.

But you hadn't paid any shipping - only a handling charge.

If you are paying around £6 for handling and shipping elsewhere, then the supplier is taking the additional cost out of margin or has a better deal with the courier firms than Screwfix.

In the former case, you are going to pay within the price in one way or another.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Reply to
Andy Hall

Really depends on where in the country you are. When we lived in Southampton, it was always next day. Here in a remote part of Devon it is *never* the next day. All down to the carriers.

I find this is one area where they really shine. Phone them up and say you have a missing/damaged/incorrect item, and every time they send a replacement out straight away, no arguments. If it's an incorrect item of low value, they don't normally want it back.

Reply to
Grunff

Even if you pay for the before 12 delivery?

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Reply to
Andy Hall

No, I was just talking about the free delivery. If I pay for before 12 it almost always gets there before 12. There have been a couple of occasions when it's been as late as 3pm, and one time when it didn't turn up 'til next day. On all those occasions SF were very apologetic and refunded the pre 12pm charge.

Reply to
Grunff

They do say that they can't manage the far reaches of Scotland etc.

I receive quite a lot of deliveries for different purposes via various courier firms and most achieve the level of service paid for. Even Royal Mail can manage it if you pay for Special Delivery - the regular service doesn't work to any useful timescale because it's too cheap.

Quite a lot of the courier firms use self employed drivers and many of them operate a policy that if the driver misses the deadline for a delivery he doesn't get paid for it or loses some amount of money.

I suspect that ParcelForce don't do this, and perhaps this explains their poor service.

.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Reply to
Andy Hall

Well, its probably because ParcelForce staff are members of a union. If such rules were suggested, no doubt they would threaten a strike over it. Similar to pizza delivery people - if its late then they don't get paid - however, if traffic is bad etc then delays can happen, and if someone has a number of parcels to make before midday and bad traffic or van failure, or some other delay then penalising it as it's not their fault is a bit unfair. Having exclusions for when to fine people then makes it more difficult to decide which to fine on and which are okay. Certainly imposing something like that into ParcelForce (or ParcelFarce if you like) is unlikely to be acceptable to the unions.

David

Reply to
David Hearn

Hmm. Not a bad idea. That would finally put it out of its misery.

Some of the couriers have GPS tracking in their vehicles so it isn't that hard to determine what's going on.

Also, there is plenty of software around that will provide planned optimal routes for deliveries, and is quite widely used.

I think I'll write to the CEO and suggest it as a money saving and service improving measure........

There is a guy who delivers to me quite regularly for Securicor Omega. He's self employed and works on the basis described of payment by results. He told me that he used to work for ParcelForce and now makes much more money and is a lot happier doing it.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Reply to
Andy Hall

NO WAY !

I had to argue for half an hour on a mobile phone to get a replacement sent for something I desperately needed but had been delivered damaged. They wanted to wait until they had collected and inspected the return. A lot of shouting later got me the undamaged version two days later but it took them

3 1/2 weeks to collect the damaged one.
Reply to
G&M

Round here ParcelForce are the good guys. They seem able to read a map and identify which farm is which.

Reply to
G&M

I place around 40 orders a year with Screwfix. This means I get wrong/broken/missing items every now and then. I haven't once experienced the kind of problem you describe. I find SF have one of the best levels of customer service I've come across (nearly as good as RS!).

Reply to
Grunff

Round here they most certainly can't read a map, and have major problems following basic directions.

Reply to
Grunff

Have had SF deliverys by various firms, Omega, coopers, etc but parcel farce is the only one who always fails to deliver. Using their online tracking and the local depot fone number, which too an age to get, shows them, or at least the drivers as total incompetants.

I once rang to ask why my package hadnt been delievered when the online tracking showed it had been on the van for a full 12 hrs, and was told they hadnt a clue where the driver was, he wouldnt answer his mobile, and hadnt delivered a package for 4 hrs!!!!

Tim..

Reply to
Tim (Remove NOSPAM.

Just shows that there are no good delivery companies everywhere. But if there were everybody would use them and they would be overwhelmed I suppose. In general I have found that where I am (Northwest) with SF that if it hasn't left their warehouse by 3pm I won't be getting it the next day,

Reply to
G&M

I have no problem with SF deliveries but I don't like 100s of miles away from them in haggis land.

Reply to
BillV

I presume you mean "live" rather than "like" .

" haggis land " ? . I'm saying nothing about that . :-) Stuart

Reply to
Stuart

I ordered stuff from Screwfix yesterday p.m. and the package turned up via Parcelforce before 08:30 this morning!

The fact that I was under the power shower at the time was probably not the fault of Screwfix or Parcelforce, and anyway I have dried the bathroom floor and the stair carpet will dry out soon I guess.

You need strong nerves to be a delivery driver - the sight of me soaking wet clad only in a towelling robe must be at least slightly unnerving for the more delicate members of the human race :-)

Cheers Dave R

Reply to
David W.E. Roberts

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.