Home Delivery Network Still Suck
One of the distinct dangers of doing Christmas shopping at Amazon is that it will be shipped with the god-awful Home Delivery Network. The fear of seeing the HDNL mark on my order is instilled deep within me, and unfortunately part of my last purchase fell befoul of it. As it happens, the going looked good, with a slow start but the delivery actually appearing at HDNL’s Newhaven depot on Friday. Weekend deliveries were clearly out of the question for this dedicated organisation, but they did seem to have a fighting chance of making their pessimistic estimate of today.
The goods were dutifully loaded onto the van at 7 this morning, and I waited eagerly for the buzz of my arriving products throughout the day – to no avail. At half four this afternoon the goods were scanned back in to the Newhaven depot, having had a pleasant tour round the local area, without a hint of stopping at my flat.
| Dec 10, 2007 | 04:34:07 PM | NEWHAVEN DEPOT UK | Arrival Scan |
| Dec 10, 2007 | 07:06:31 AM | NEWHAVEN VAN UK | Out for delivery |
| Dec 07, 2007 | 10:15:27 PM | NEWHAVEN DEPOT UK | Arrival Scan |
Tellingly, the contact page of their site has: “Home Delivery Network Limited do not provide local or national telephone lines for customers to call”. If I were them, I don’t think I would either.
Expect he saw the stairs to your flat and though F-That!
As it happens, I came to a compromise and met him halfway up.
I would like to bring to your attention the conclusion of the last few days of waiting for a package from HDNL.
According to their site and Amazon tracking, on Monday, my iPod touch and book order from Amazon was out for delivery…then returned. Same again for Tuesday…but still no delivery, and certainly no cards left.
Today (Wednesday) I called their customer support where their operator reported that he did not know why the driver did not deliver on Monday, no card, no knock at the door. He went on to tell me that the driver ‘did not have time’ to deliver it on Tuesday, but I should expect it today.
I was pleased then when my wife told me over the phone that the parcel had been pushed through the letterbox, which I thought odd, as I imagined the package to be quite chunky.
I returned home to find a rather sorry looking, obviously tampered with parcel. The end flaps were bent limply and literally fell out of the package as I lifted the package. My first concern was that the exposed book that I pulled out looked a little worse for wear, due to the fact that there was no internal shrink wrapped packaging.
Then my horror…the iPod touch (£175) was not there.
Maybe this is why the driver chose to post the package rather than knock at the door and wait for a reply.
I reported the incident to Amazon who immediately re-ordered the iPod and apologised profusely.
Why can I not expect a level of professionalism and reliability from a company that is carrying the reputation of a large number of prestigious and reliable retailers?
Hopeless. They must be pretty cheap if Amazon keep using them through all this.
Getting the same, waiting for a delivery that according to HDNL’s tracking has actually been sitting in the van since 11am Saturday 1st March. I have actually spoken to HDNL as phoned up Amazon to complain and they gave me the company’s phone number. Since yesterday I have phoned up 5 times and been promised a phonecall back each time…….no surprises that I have to date not received a phonecall. I have spoken to a manager and she even told me that she thought their service was very good……not sure she enjoyed my vicious reply. Have just phoned again and have been guaranteed a phonecall from the Newhaven depot…….maybe I ought to open a betting session on this. What adds insult to injury is that the depot is 4 miles down the road from me, I should have strolled along and picked it up. One thing’s for sure if no parcel today they getting a visit from me tomorrow. Watch for the mushroom cloud over Newhaven.
I have the same problem , ordered 5 items from amazon all placed on the same order , home delivery network marked it as out 2 days on the trot , then returned to depot marked as ” moved ” i stayed in for 2 days and everything i ordered from amazon was delivered except for the items on home delivery network . no card through the door on either day and nobody knocked or range the door bell
how the hell do they consider ive moved if they didnt call , and yet items from the other amazon affiliates arrived on the same day and were signed for , british mail got it right , so did dhl , so why cant home delivery network get it right ? lazy bloody drivers who make up stories to stop getting in trouble if u ask me .!!!
if you have any probs with hdnl please call the transport manager on 0161 333 3631 or 01613333699