Sorry ParcelForce, You're crap. (Parcelforce)

Member Name: L85K

Product:	Parcelforce
Date:	23/03/04 (1310 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Things can only get better. Lets face it, they cant get much worse!, It's not their fault, you wasn't in! (even if you was), 1 out of 5 packages will be delivered properly

Disadvantages: Useless Customer Support, Slow, Rude Drivers, They'll "Misplace" at least 1 in 10 packages

A little background: My friends, Partner, and family all live in america. I have to use this service at least 4 times a month through no choice of my own, all incoming international packages go through ParcelForce.

This month alone I've recieved 2 packages, 2 are en-route. Because I'm fully aware of what parcelforce is like I sit close to the window all day (hard to miss a great big read van). One is supposed to arrive today, at least that's acording to the tracking (which by the way is completely worthless). I've known 3 different guys to deliver packages, so I'm going to base this on them. It's not 1:30pm GMT, I've never, in all my years of using ParcelForce, known a package to be delivered past 11:50am so this is written in a fit of both rage at them not keeping to their times, and listening to the recorded messages for 45minutes a turn.

The first delivery guy was mid 40s, black-ish hair and a compulsive liar, it took him 3 deliveries to turn up. I had the london depot number (which I've now lost, if anyone can give it please do!) and I spoke to the manager there (nice guy, promised it would be delivered first thing and it was). The delivery guy came and of course blamed it on the manager with a "it's not my fault, it's the depot" comment.

The second guy was young, I'd say early 20s, he delivered on time though seemed very moody and abrupt. What ever happend to service with a smile? OK I don't really blame him, look who he works for!

The last guy to deliver had gray hair, mid 50s (if not older). I can honestly say he was good. Prompt service, with a smile, he said he came at 7:30am but thought everyone was asleep so he returned later, how nice is that? They need more guys like him!

Customer help is NO help. You call, you get a voice prompt with "Push 1 for x" "Push 2 for x" Even the tracking is voice activated (and it can't recognise your

voice!) If you push 5 then 5 (I think that's right) you get the joy of holding on the line for 45 minutes while you wait for a operator. Oh and that's not the only thing people, call them now and you get a "We will NOT answer questions about deliveries or tracking, please push 9 to listen to the prompts again". Absolutly usless! This is my biggest arguement here. Try calling them even if you havent got a package to be delivered, listen for 30 minutes and imagine you DID have. Oh and when you finally do get a operator, you either get a guy who doesnt know what he's doing, or a girl who seems to be in her puberty having constant PMS. I honestly thought you had to train customer service staff before you put them on the phones, obviously not!

The worse thing ParcelForce has ever done is lose one of my packages. My partner sent it, 1 week came, 2, 3, a month, 2 months, it arrived back at her door 6 months after she sent it with a "We're sorry, we could not gain entry" note attached. I can understand if they couldn't. But why was there no note from ParcelForce asking me to pick up my package? And what on earth caused them to wait 6 months before returning the package? The US Post Office refunded her money and apologised on behalf of FarcelForce.

The package I'm waiting for today was sent on ParcelForce24 yesturday. I don't know if they meant 24 days or what but it's very unlikely it's going to be delivered today. Sure customer service will tell you "They can deliver up until 7pm" which is really funny seeing as customer service only works until 5pm.

Dixons had a contract with them. I ordered my PC from Dixons, again, ParcelForce just didn't deliver. But I had Dixons Customer Care (they know how to treat their customers!) to call them and ask them what the hell was going on. Now you'd think ParcelForce would keep promises with Dixons, after all it's a huge company
, tha
t must be one hell of a account to have! But no, after endless calls from Dixons to ParcelForce I finally got my PC Delivered 4 days late.

As most of us know, ParcelForce is the sister company of our beloved Post Office. You know, those people that open birthday cards for you and stick them through your door? That's a wonderful service for people who hate opening them and receiving any money inside. Or whos staff will stand outside your door reading postcards sent to you before sticking them through the letterbox. Again a GREAT service for people who find it difficult to read. I can only but wonder at what ParcelForce is doing to our packages.

I'd really like to see some improvements to this service. Real-Time Tracking would be a excellent thing to have, at least then you could see exactly where the truck was on the road. I'd also like to deal with some TRAINED customer service operators for a change! Sure the first improvement I mentioned would cost quite a bit of money, but they'd be a lot less complaints, and some happy customers for a change.

I'm extreamely biased toward ParcelForce as you may have noticed. I honestly wish I could give them a good review, almost everyone else has given a bad one, but I'm not going to stand here and lie for them. Even though they have delivered 2 packages correctly in the past month. I urge you before choosing to use this service to read other reviews. Search Google for more. But most importantly, if you can help it. STEER CLEAR OF PARCELFORCE!

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