Such a Disappointment!!!! - UPDATED

On Friday 23rd November 2012 I placed an order with Amazon UK. I paid the extra £7.99 for next day delivery, and looked forward to the next day.

The next day dawned and I waited for my package. I had already been online and used the tracking service to find out that HDNL or Yodel were delivering my package. I had already heard of Yodel and the complaints others had made about them so I was a bit worried, and how right I was to be worried.

I waited in almost all day, in fact there was never less than two family members in the house all day, usually my wife and my 20 year old son were in and of course me, oh and lets not forget our four legged doorbell Poppy, a slightly overweight  Lab mix dog.

My house is a semi detached house, a real family home. It has a double glazed front door and a doorbell on the right set in the frame, which by the way works. We have also had delivery men, visitors just knock on the door and we normally hear them, if not Poppy alerts us that there is someone at the door.

Everytime I heard a van pull up I looked through the window, there were several deliveries that day, but mine never materialised. At approximately 7 pm I phoned Amazon to ask where my package was, I spoke to a very nice advisor who had to suffer my anger and disappointment, and she told me that the driver had attempted to deliver my package at 9.38 am but there was no reply so had left a card.

LIAR is the only word I can use for this driver. My wife was in the shower having got up at 9.30 am, and I was upstairs in the bedroom. My 20 year old son was in his room just about waking up, and Poppy the four legged doorbell was asleep on the sofa waiting patiently for someone to take her for a walk. The door was not knocked or the doorbell rang otherwise I would have been down like a shot, and Poppy would have been barking, neither of which happened.

After speaking to the nice Amazon advisor I tried to contact Yodel, but having no card with a reference the phone call was abruptly terminated by the automated answering service (if service is the right word!!!). So then I wrote a strong email to Amazon, another to the CEO of Amazon uk and wrote a stinging complaint to Yodel on their useless web site, which by the way at 7.30 pm was still stating my package was in transit (what they probably meant was in transit van over weekend!).

It is now Sunday 25th November 2012 and I am still fuming at the non event and the disappointment suffered as my package was a birthday gift. I have no hesitation in stating clearly that Yodel should not be trusted and the complaints I have heard are well justified. I have attempted to ask Amazon not to use Yodel for any of my deliveries all I got was a refund of the extra delivery charge I paid and a £3 voucher to use when I next purchase something that qualifies from Amazon.

This lack of compensation and understanding from both Amazon and Yodel is stunning. I was about to purchase a Humax box from Amazon, but instead went directly to Humax and purchased from them. I have made a Christmas list for my family and I am now looking to purchase from elsewhere, such is my disappointment.

My advice to anyone is check with Amazon, if they are using Yodel I would cancel your order and look somewhere else, anyway I have found you can often get a better service and price elsewhere as Amazon are not always as cheap as other online shops.

Here is a question for both Amazon and Yodel. Why would anyone make the effort to purchase next day delivery if they know the delivery address will be empty? Doesn't make sense does it?

UPDATE
Finally got my parcel almost three days late. Had an apology from Amazon, and nothing from YODEL. About a week later my brother emailed me to say he had just been YODELLED in other words, had been all day waiting for a package to be told there had been an attempted delivery, but no one was in. My brother is also a professional and as honest as the day is long. He also complained and got nothing from YODEL.

YODEL should be avoided at all costs, they lie, they do not care and their customer service manager is a crap artist just like the whole company.

My Humax box came the day stated from Humax, delivered by Royal Mail without any problems, well done to Royal Mail.