Amazon. Currys. Boots. O2. If you've ordered something from any of them, chances are it'll be delivered to your door by Yodel. Or maybe it won't. The company formerly known as HDNL, had a trail of unhappy customers when it featured on Watchdog in 2010. Sixteen months on, new name, new promises - same old problems. Rebecca Willcox reports.
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When it comes to generating complaints, Yodel certainly does deliver. We receive angry emails and letters almost every day. This, despite the company re-launching with a brand new name, snazzy new website and - apparently - a 'new way of thinking'.
They also make a lot of promises on their website. Let's see how they compare to the reality. First up, a pretty basic promise: 'We Deliver'. Donna McDonald from Swansea wishes they'd kept their promise. She ordered a new washing machine from the ISME website. On the due date of delivery, Donna waited in all day but unfortunately it didn't arrive. The tracing information provided by Yodel online showed the delivery was apparently still "in progress".
Donna called Yodel a total of 26 times. Donna explains: "They had no clue where my delivery was. I asked to speak to a manager on 16 different occasions and they were fobbing me off, basically." Yodel eventually declared the washing machine "lost", so Donna ordered a second one from the ISME site. She then received a phone call from Yodel the evening before it was meant to arrive. They told her they had also lost the second washing machine. Yodel then said the first machine had now been found, but by then Donna had given up.
Yodel also promises 'Building partnerships with our customer [...] Partnerships that are based on trust.' However, if you want to chase Yodel up for non-delivery, they'll charge you. What's worse is, if their tracking system says that your parcel has been delivered, then it's a case of your word against theirs; but not if you are Starlyne Allen. At the end of 2011, she ordered two mobile phones from o2 - another company that uses Yodel to deliver. On Yodel's website it stated that the package had been signed for by Starlyne - but she hadn't received them. But this time their word wasn't good enough, because Starlyne had a secret weapon: CCTV.
Starlyne has CCTV covering the entrance to her house, so she checked the footage at the time the parcels were allegedly delivered. It revealed that the Yodel delivery driver arrived with two packages - he spent some time at the front door but he left with the packages still in his hand. Despite the evidence it took Yodel a month to act on Starlyne's complaint. She has since been refunded for the two phones from O2 and has received £25 of high street vouchers from Yodel.
Yodel says it focuses on your needs and promises expertise that's second to none: the website states 'We're not one's to brag but it's this complete range of skills that sets us apart from the rest.' Hope they're not thinking of bragging to Kim Hobbs; she bought some presents for her daughter but they lost the first part of her address which left her present-less on the 23rd December - and she didn't get an apology.
Claire Jolly lives in East London; she has a seven foot fence and gate and has CCTV footage of the Yodel delivery driver bringing the X-Box 360 she ordered from Amazon - and throwing it over the gate. Yodel did apologise after Claire complained.
The one promise that Yodel seem to be able to deliver on is their claim: 'At Yodel we really give you something to shout about.' That one I can believe...
A Yodel spokesperson said:
Yodel successfully delivers approximately 170 million parcels a year on behalf of many of the UK's top retailers, including around 20 million in the three weeks running up to Christmas. The overwhelming majority of these deliveries run smoothly for retailers and their shoppers. We acknowledge that occasionally we face challenges, some of which are beyond our control, and in most cases we overcome them. However where we cannot, or when our service fails to meet the high standards that we set ourselves, we apologise_ Good customer service is a priority for Yodel and we continue to expand and improve our training programme to ensure best service.
The online shopping industry is growing rapidly and we are striving to improve, innovate and lead the way in parcel delivery to help facilitate this. We offer new services that retailers can choose for their shoppers, such as text and email alerts to advise of our estimated window of arrival; the option for local couriers to provide their direct contact numbers when a delivery or collection cannot be made, so that shoppers can speak to them to arrange an alternative time; and a counter service, available in over 4,500 convenience stores, allowing easy collections and returns from local shops. We stand by our mission of being the partner of choice for retailers and we believe our record, when taken as a whole, strongly supports this.
With particular reference to Ms Jolly, whilst we had previously not seen the
CCTV footage, Ms Jolly had brought this matter to our attention. We investigated, took appropriate action and Ms Jolly has subsequently confirmed that the matter was resolved to her satisfaction.
Yodel: New name, but delivering the same old problems?
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
When it comes to generating complaints, Yodel certainly does deliver. We receive angry emails and letters almost every day. This, despite the company re-launching with a brand new name, snazzy new website and - apparently - a 'new way of thinking'.
They also make a lot of promises on their website. Let's see how they compare to the reality. First up, a pretty basic promise: 'We Deliver'. Donna McDonald from Swansea wishes they'd kept their promise. She ordered a new washing machine from the ISME website. On the due date of delivery, Donna waited in all day but unfortunately it didn't arrive. The tracing information provided by Yodel online showed the delivery was apparently still "in progress".
Donna called Yodel a total of 26 times. Donna explains: "They had no clue where my delivery was. I asked to speak to a manager on 16 different occasions and they were fobbing me off, basically." Yodel eventually declared the washing machine "lost", so Donna ordered a second one from the ISME site. She then received a phone call from Yodel the evening before it was meant to arrive. They told her they had also lost the second washing machine. Yodel then said the first machine had now been found, but by then Donna had given up.
Yodel also promises 'Building partnerships with our customer [...] Partnerships that are based on trust.' However, if you want to chase Yodel up for non-delivery, they'll charge you. What's worse is, if their tracking system says that your parcel has been delivered, then it's a case of your word against theirs; but not if you are Starlyne Allen. At the end of 2011, she ordered two mobile phones from o2 - another company that uses Yodel to deliver. On Yodel's website it stated that the package had been signed for by Starlyne - but she hadn't received them. But this time their word wasn't good enough, because Starlyne had a secret weapon: CCTV.
Starlyne has CCTV covering the entrance to her house, so she checked the footage at the time the parcels were allegedly delivered. It revealed that the Yodel delivery driver arrived with two packages - he spent some time at the front door but he left with the packages still in his hand. Despite the evidence it took Yodel a month to act on Starlyne's complaint. She has since been refunded for the two phones from O2 and has received £25 of high street vouchers from Yodel.
Yodel says it focuses on your needs and promises expertise that's second to none: the website states 'We're not one's to brag but it's this complete range of skills that sets us apart from the rest.' Hope they're not thinking of bragging to Kim Hobbs; she bought some presents for her daughter but they lost the first part of her address which left her present-less on the 23rd December - and she didn't get an apology.
Claire Jolly lives in East London; she has a seven foot fence and gate and has CCTV footage of the Yodel delivery driver bringing the X-Box 360 she ordered from Amazon - and throwing it over the gate. Yodel did apologise after Claire complained.
The one promise that Yodel seem to be able to deliver on is their claim: 'At Yodel we really give you something to shout about.' That one I can believe...
COMPANY RESPONSE
A Yodel spokesperson said:
Yodel successfully delivers approximately 170 million parcels a year on behalf of many of the UK's top retailers, including around 20 million in the three weeks running up to Christmas. The overwhelming majority of these deliveries run smoothly for retailers and their shoppers. We acknowledge that occasionally we face challenges, some of which are beyond our control, and in most cases we overcome them. However where we cannot, or when our service fails to meet the high standards that we set ourselves, we apologise_ Good customer service is a priority for Yodel and we continue to expand and improve our training programme to ensure best service.
The online shopping industry is growing rapidly and we are striving to improve, innovate and lead the way in parcel delivery to help facilitate this. We offer new services that retailers can choose for their shoppers, such as text and email alerts to advise of our estimated window of arrival; the option for local couriers to provide their direct contact numbers when a delivery or collection cannot be made, so that shoppers can speak to them to arrange an alternative time; and a counter service, available in over 4,500 convenience stores, allowing easy collections and returns from local shops. We stand by our mission of being the partner of choice for retailers and we believe our record, when taken as a whole, strongly supports this.
With particular reference to Ms Jolly, whilst we had previously not seen the
CCTV footage, Ms Jolly had brought this matter to our attention. We investigated, took appropriate action and Ms Jolly has subsequently confirmed that the matter was resolved to her satisfaction.
Yodel: New name, but delivering the same old problems?