driver refused to drive up the lane (his truck would fit) and even if he did he wouldn't lift the sack over the garden wall (with the hi-ab of course) because he's not allowed to. so now I have to bucket 1m3 of ballast through the house... should take me, oh, 3 or 4 hours... that's if SWMBO is accommodating and doesn't make me barrow it down the road, around the corner, back up the lane (up hill) and up 5 steps into the garden, 600m round trip about 40 times... a marathon !!
That was the policy at our local store 3 years ago. I seem to remember that the delivery is actually handled by an independant company (the truck may have wickes painted on the side but it is just another contract)
It was this company that had the rule AFAIK. Maybe your local store has changed delivery company?
Sounds like you got a bad driver. Most of them (including Jewsons, Wickes, Keyline) I've used have been happy to hiab stuff wherever was remotely possible. One guy even allowed me to tow his lorry across a muddy field with a tractor to offload exactly where it was wanted.
I think a "strongly worded" letter of complaint to Wickes is in order. Might even get you some vouchers in apology.
Perhaps down in your part of the country this might be a more common requirement than in built up areas?
I have fond memories of driving on Dartmoor about 20 years ago when I took the wrong road out of Plymouth (don't ask...) trying to get back to Exeter and then Southampton, basically heading north-west rather than north-east. A few miles out of Plymouth I decided I'd go cross-country to get back on track.
Nothing too eventful happened, but I remember some rather quaint roads that one doesn't tend to find in the rest of the UK :)
Just had some brick pallets and sand delivered by Wickes this week. Got next day delivery and the delivery guy was very good. The builders merchants may be more flexible but their prices are also higher!
Regards the combi boilers to Corgi registered fitters only, that is a real piss off. I've installed 6 combi boilers exactly to spec and had them checked for safety by a corgi guy without any problems. Not that I'm too worried as I buy all my boilers from Mr Central Heating anyway.
Read my reply much earlier - essentially, possible damage to walls etc not covered by insurance. If they' (vehicle, employee and company) are only insured for delivery to the doorstep, then any damage/injuries etc incurred during a delivery not to a doorstep may well be not be covered by insurance (I can imagine that back injuries are common if they have to manually lift something further than just off the truck onto the ground - and probably still common just for that part). If you can imagine all the different situations that people have, there's a lot of potential problems (delivering
20 bags of plaster to the 3rd floor of a flat, or along a narrow, unmade path).
As I said though, I would have expected a little flexability though on the driver's part if there was no chance of damage/injury - though a "strongly worded" letter of complaint is unlikely to get you anywhere as usually they warn you of it being a door-step delivery either at time of booking delivery - or on a large notice by the sales desk. If they've said its doorstep delivery only, then how can you complain about it?
Some years ago we went to a wedding on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border. Reception was in an old stately home and when we went to leave the ingress was blocked by a bus and we were diverted down another lane. Well of course it was late and dark, it was also very foggy. This lane became an unfenced grass track heading down into a valley, so after wandering around for about 10minutes on various grades of 'path', completely lost and unable to see more than about 25 feet, we emerged on a B road. Putting my reliable male sense of direction on full beam and ignoring SWMBO I turn right and we find ourselves headed for Worcester, which was fine by us. I did expect to end up stuck at the bottom of some field though.
Sounds like a narrow road we used in the Lake District (after looking on the map for a short cut!). Nice normal looking lane going up a hill. Further along the road it narrowed into a single lane. Later it got even narrower. Shortly afterwards grass appeared along the middle of the 'road'. Then it went very very bumpy. In the end, after worrying about grounding the engine sump on the grass etc we made it out to the other end where we saw a signpost to our destination. Pointing back the way we came was another sign saying "Not suitable for vehicles". We found that very funny and took a picture of it. Strange they didn't put a similar sign on the other end of that road!
Probably, but even in built up areas building sites tend to be muddy pits in the winter.
Yes, we've got a lot of those. Sadly at for the past four months, mostly clogged by grockles with and without caravans who don't know how to reverse, so I try to stay off the more well known ones on the moor during the summer. And in the winter, snowchains stay in the car at all times. Don't want your fancy 4x4 SUV's, thank you - my little Colt with its chains will through ice and snow no normally-tyred 4v4 will. :) [1]
There's a saying of people who learned to drive around here, and probably in other rural places too. "Can go backwards as fast as they can forwards."
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.