No up to date information (Initial City Link)

Member Name: Littledreamer

Product:	Initial City Link
Date:	10/02/09 (268 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Parcel arrived in one piece!

Disadvantages: Website out of date regarding collection depots, no communication to tell you where to go to collect

I recently ordered something from an Amazon seller and they used City Link for their deliveries. I think this is the first time that I have had dealings with City Link and I wasn't totally impressed with the service they offered.

I got home from work to find a card had been put through my door as a delivery had been attempted by City Link and there had been no one home. So far so good! I called the number on the card and got an automated service that advised I could press 1 or 2 to either rearrange a delivery date or have the parcel delivered to my local depot. I opted for the local depot as I thought it would be easier to pick up rather than risking them delivering again when there was no one home. There was nothing on the card and nothing on the automated service to tell me where my local depot was. I have the internet at home, but for people without access to the internet it would be difficult for them to obtain this information.

I found the City Link website and put in my postcode. From this, it told me that my local depot was Kettering and there was even a map showing me where it was. Kettering is about 8 miles from where I live, so not too bad.

I drove there on Saturday only to find that the depot had a sign on the door saying that the branch had been closed since the beginning of January and the nearest depot was Northampton which is totally in the different direction from my house. I wouldn't have minded picking it up from Northampton but was annoyed that the website had not been updated and nothing on the phone lines to tell you where to go either.

I called the number on the poster and got through to a customer services agent at the Northampton depot and quoted my parcel reference number. It took her quite a while to advise me that yes the parcel was at the Northampton depot. I was beginning to think that it had been lost as there was a lot of uncertainty, however I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this matter as there must have been a huge backlog of parcels due to the recent snow.

I finally got to the Northampton depot and I did have to hang around for quite a while until someone finally found my parcel. It was not really this part of it that annoyed me as I understand that it needs to be found and this can sometimes take time, it was mainly the issue of Kettering depot being closed and no communication on the card to tell me where my parcel could be located.

The parcel was located and it was in excellent condition so that's the main thing I guess!

I don't think I would use City Link if I ever need any parcels delivering as was not really impressed with the running of the operation.

Summary: No organisation!