Fastway couriers space cadets

[suzyj]

<vent>

So I bought a frame on ebay. The seller sends it via courier (fastway couriers) on the 18th July. All well and good, as I had a couple of weeks off work to watch le tour and was home the whole time.

On the 24th, I was getting a little concerned, as it hadn't shown up. Send a message to sender. No response.

Repeat the message on the 27th, with a note that I'll report to ebay as item not received on monday (31st). Still no response on 31st, so click the "item not received" link on ebay.

Sender finally deigns to respond, and gives me a tracking number. I call courier company, and they claim they tried to deliver on the 20th (I was definately here the whole day), and left a note (what note?). Hmmmm...

They say they'll deliver today, so I take today off. Still nothing.

Ring them up and they claim they have no record of a request to redeliver, and give me the drivers mobile number. I call him, and he says it's gone back to Melbourne. At this point panic sets in.

Another call to the company, and now they say they've actually got it in the depot, and they'll deliver it tomorrow. They refuse to deliver it to my work, so I've got to waste _another_ day waiting for it.

I am _so_ ****** off. What a bunch of fsking amateurs. Assuming they actually do deliver the bloody thing tomorrow, I'll have wasted two days waiting for it.

</vent>

 

[scotty72]

I've had simmilar experiences with couriers who can't be bothered to get off their lazy arses.

A few times now, I've waited at home all day, only to find a card in my letter-box claiming they tried to deliver it and I need to arrange collection.

Lesson - couriers are lazy bastards.

Scotty

<vent>

So I bought a frame on ebay. The seller sends it via courier (fastway couriers) on the 18th July. All well and good, as I had a couple of weeks off work to watch le tour and was home the whole time.

On the 24th, I was getting a little concerned, as it hadn't shown up. Send a message to sender. No response.

Repeat the message on the 27th, with a note that I'll report to ebay as item not received on monday (31st). Still no response on 31st, so click the "item not received" link on ebay.

Sender finally deigns to respond, and gives me a tracking number. I call courier company, and they claim they tried to deliver on the 20th (I was definately here the whole day), and left a note (what note?). Hmmmm...

They say they'll deliver today, so I take today off. Still nothing.

Ring them up and they claim they have no record of a request to redeliver, and give me the drivers mobile number. I call him, and he says it's gone back to Melbourne. At this point panic sets in.

Another call to the company, and now they say they've actually got it in the depot, and they'll deliver it tomorrow. They refuse to deliver it to my work, so I've got to waste _another_ day waiting for it.

I am _so_ ****** off. What a bunch of fsking amateurs. Assuming they actually do deliver the bloody thing tomorrow, I'll have wasted two days waiting for it.

</vent>

 

[matagi]

I've had simmilar experiences with couriers who can't be bothered to get off their lazy arses.

A few times now, I've waited at home all day, only to find a card in my letter-box claiming they tried to deliver it and I need to arrange collection.

Lesson - couriers are lazy bastards.

Scotty

One advantage (?) of living in a rural area is that couriers hate driving all the way out to deliver stuff. So if they actually read the special instructions which always say "ring before delivering" and you say to them "I'll pick it up from the depot", they're really happy with that. Works a treat.

Unfortunately, regardless of location, the IQ of the average courier is pretty low. So if they are stupid enough to drive out to our place and waste all that time and petrol without ringing to check that we are actually home, that's their bad luck.

 

[SteveA]

<vent>

So I bought a frame on ebay. The seller sends it via courier (fastway couriers) on the 18th July. All well and good, as I had a couple of weeks off work to watch le tour and was home the whole time.

On the 24th, I was getting a little concerned, as it hadn't shown up. Send a message to sender. No response.

Repeat the message on the 27th, with a note that I'll report to ebay as item not received on monday (31st). Still no response on 31st, so click the "item not received" link on ebay.

Sender finally deigns to respond, and gives me a tracking number. I call courier company, and they claim they tried to deliver on the 20th (I was definately here the whole day), and left a note (what note?). Hmmmm...

They say they'll deliver today, so I take today off. Still nothing.

Ring them up and they claim they have no record of a request to redeliver, and give me the drivers mobile number. I call him, and he says it's gone back to Melbourne. At this point panic sets in.

Another call to the company, and now they say they've actually got it in the depot, and they'll deliver it tomorrow. They refuse to deliver it to my work, so I've got to waste _another_ day waiting for it.

I am _so_ ****** off. What a bunch of fsking amateurs. Assuming they actually do deliver the bloody thing tomorrow, I'll have wasted two days waiting for it.

</vent>

Ring the courier company. Arrange to collect it from the depot. Ring 'em again just before you get in your car to make sure it is still in the depot and hasn't been loaded on a truck again. Safest way. Has always worked for me. For some things (like complete bikes), I have the sender mark on the box that it is to be collected from the depot with my number to call.

good luck,

SteveA

 

[Travis]

scotty72 wrote:
> I've had simmilar experiences with couriers who can't be bothered to get
> off their lazy arses.
>
> A few times now, I've waited at home all day, only to find a card in my
> letter-box claiming they tried to deliver it and I need to arrange
> collection.
>
> Lesson - couriers are lazy bastards.

Same here. The last four times I have ordered something from Torpedo7
or Probikekit, the courier has simply left a card in my letterbox. I
was home on all of those days and I have an annoyingly loud and
persistent doorbell which is impossible to miss.

Its not the fault of the bike shops of course, but I've had both
companies add "special delivery instructions" to my packages to the
effect of "please ring the bell to make sure I'm home before leaving
the card in the letterbox".

We shouldn't have to give that as a special instruction, but
unfortunately we do.

Travis

 

[Zebee Johnstone]

In aus.bicycle on 2 Aug 2006 00:23:25 -0700
Travis <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> We shouldn't have to give that as a special instruction, but
> unfortunately we do.

I had one who apparently couldn't locate the Optus building in North
Sydney.

Sydneysiders will know it. It's the brown skyscraper that's just
about the tallest thing for miles, with "optus" in really large
letters.

At least the dispatcher had the grace to sound sheepish.

Zebee

 

[SomeGuy]

I have a big sign next to my doorbell saying 'please ring doorbell', with an arrow. It has greatly reduced the number of couriers who knock once then run away.

 

[[email protected]]

suzyj wrote:
> <vent>
>
> So I bought a frame on ebay. The seller sends it via courier (fastway
> couriers) on the 18th July. All well and good, as I had a couple of
> weeks off work to watch le tour and was home the whole time.
>
> On the 24th, I was getting a little concerned, as it hadn't shown up.
> Send a message to sender. No response.
>
> Repeat the message on the 27th, with a note that I'll report to ebay as
> item not received on monday (31st). Still no response on 31st, so click
> the "item not received" link on ebay.
>
> Sender finally deigns to respond, and gives me a tracking number. I
> call courier company, and they claim they tried to deliver on the 20th
> (I was definately here the whole day), and left a note (what note?).
> Hmmmm...
>
> They say they'll deliver today, so I take today off. Still nothing.
>
> Ring them up and they claim they have no record of a request to
> redeliver, and give me the drivers mobile number. I call him, and he
> says it's gone back to Melbourne. At this point panic sets in.
>
> Another call to the company, and now they say they've actually got it
> in the depot, and they'll deliver it tomorrow. They refuse to deliver
> it to my work, so I've got to waste _another_ day waiting for it.
>
> I am _so_ ****** off. What a bunch of fsking amateurs. Assuming they
> actually do deliver the bloody thing tomorrow, I'll have wasted two
> days waiting for it.
>
> </vent>
>
>
> --
> suzyj

I thought you made your own? I thought everything else but hand-made
steel was just so much dross? What do you want to buy one for?

Reading below, hark at all the spoilt white-collar
take-a-day-off-work-to-wait-for-my-latest-consumer-durable gear
weenies! I mean, really, guys.

Courier companies are utilising all the otherwise unemployable of our
society, the long-haired, smelly, unwashed, undermotivated, mentally
under-resourced worker drones that our reflexively consumptive society
deems that it needs to engage to satisfy our increasingly rapacious
product-oriented whims.

I know, I used to be one. But only on a bicycle, admittedly, and only
for a short time. But I know a few, talk to a few at work, see a few
regularly as they deliver, and most never really look happy, or on top
of it, or as if they have many choices in their lives, or joy in what
they do. Which I suppose we, as gear weenies one and all, pretend that
we do, and use our freedom and choice and disposable income to buy more
stuff to prove it.

How about "Oh well, it's just a new widget, I won't die if I don't get
it this week, and the delivery guy was probably on a really tight
schedule, working 10 hour shifts, having lifted boxes of 3rd year
medical textbooks all day, and driven through oceans of crappy traffic
as well, and he's not really that bright, and probably missed his
motivational cone/medication/back massage this morning, and just wants
to get home and see his kids. C'est la vie"

One day, all this shuttling of stuff via the web and couriers will be a
thing of the past, and we'll all be in our little self-sufficient
utopic village communities, beating new chainrings out of napalm bomb
casings, and wondering "Whatever did I see in Campagnolo Record carbon
ErgoLevers, they don't help me fetch the milk from the dairy like my
trusty NeoSocialist WorkBike Mk II does, it was all mere frippery and
empty craving."

Until then, I will be the first and greatest of all the bicycle
hypocrites.

MH

 

[hippy]

<vent>
</vent>

Why wouldn't they deliver to your work?? Bunch of tossers..

hippy

 

[suzyj]

SteveA wrote:

> Ring the courier company. Arrange to collect it from the depot.

Only I don't have a car, so lugging a bike frame home from some industrial area in the middle of nowhere is likely to be a little difficult. If they'd send it to my work (which they'll only do if they get notice from the sender in writing, which isn't likely to happen) that would be fine, but they won't.

Mfhor wrote:

> Reading below, hark at all the spoilt white-collar
> take-a-day-off-work-to-wait-for-my-latest-consumer-durable
> gear weenies! I mean, really, guys.

<shrug>

If that's the way you see it, then I guess you must be right. I just don't like laziness, incompetence, and being lied to, especially when it relates to something that's as expensive as a bike frame.

Cheers,

Suzy

 

[vintage]

"hippy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> suzyj Wrote:
> > <vent>
> > </vent>
>
> Why wouldn't they deliver to your work?? Bunch of tossers..
>
> hippy
>
>
> --
> hippy
>

I had a frame shipped from Tassie last month to here in Melbourne. After 5
days it was still in TASSIE! Only after multiple phone calls to fastway did
it arrive 8 days later.

They are the jokers of the courier industry it seems.

The seller was quoted about 3 days when they picked it up. Got some wheels
coming from Perth at the moment. Hope they didnt' use Fastway or they will
take a month to get here :-(

 

[Stuart Lamble]

On 2006-08-02, vintage <[email protected]> wrote:
> I had a frame shipped from Tassie last month to here in Melbourne. After 5
> days it was still in TASSIE! Only after multiple phone calls to fastway did
> it arrive 8 days later.
>
> They are the jokers of the courier industry it seems.

Counterpoint: I ordered some camera gear from a retailer in Sydney on
Thursday, with explicit instructions to not charge the credit card until
Monday (as it would take that long for the funds to be available.)

I emailed through the authorisation on Monday morning. Four or so hours
later, the card was charged. At 9pm, I got an email confirming that the
goods had been shipped with Fastway.

They arrived the following afternoon.

I'm not saying that Fastway are necessarily good. I'm just saying that
they aren't as bad as is being made out in this thread, is all.

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@" to "usenet".

 

[Bleve]

suzyj wrote:
> SteveA wrote:
>
> > Ring the courier company. Arrange to collect it from the depot.
>
> Only I don't have a car, so lugging a bike frame home from some
> industrial area in the middle of nowhere is likely to be a little
> difficult. If they'd send it to my work (which they'll only do if they
> get notice from the sender in writing, which isn't likely to happen)
> that would be fine, but they won't.
>
> Mfhor wrote:
>
> > Reading below, hark at all the spoilt white-collar
> > take-a-day-off-work-to-wait-for-my-latest-consumer-durable
> > gear weenies! I mean, really, guys.
>
> <shrug>
>
> If that's the way you see it, then I guess you must be right. I just
> don't like laziness, incompetence, and being lied to, especially when
> it relates to something that's as expensive as a bike frame.

Some of my IT clients are courier companies (Hippy, shush!). They're
people, like everyone else, they have good days, bad days, things go
wrong, people make mistakes , they have impossible deadlines to meet,
cranky customers, cranky bosses, it's a much more difficult thing to do
for a living than I suspect the average punter would expect ... name a
day that you haven't made a mistake, if you can ...

The problem is being lied to, IMO. If *I* make a mistake (and I do,
lots!) I come clean about it. I expect the same from the people I
interact with.

 

[Marx SS]

I've got a courier story too:

I come home on Tuesday evening & find 5x cartons of white wine (Sav Blanc ) from Dan Murphurys on my door step delivered by Aust Postal couriers. Each box clearly has a completely different address on them, as in it's not even my street.



So I ride up to the correct address a few blocks away leave a note on the backing board that came with some BBB brake pads I bought that night.

 

[cfsmtb]

I've got a courier story too:

I come home on Tuesday evening & find 5x cartons of white wine (Sav Blanc ) from Dan Murphurys on my door step delivered by Aust Postal couriers. Each box clearly has a completely different address on them, as in it's not even my street.



So I ride up to the correct address a few blocks away leave a note on the backing board that came with some BBB brake pads I bought that night.

Have they come & picked them up, or do you require further *assistance* to quaff, em, meant, deliver to the correct address?

 

[Tamyka Bell]

suzyj wrote:
>
> <vent>
>
> So I bought a frame on ebay. The seller sends it via courier (fastway
> couriers) on the 18th July. All well and good, as I had a couple of
> weeks off work to watch le tour and was home the whole time.
<snip>
> Another call to the company, and now they say they've actually got it
> in the depot, and they'll deliver it tomorrow. They refuse to deliver
> it to my work, so I've got to waste _another_ day waiting for it.
>
> I am _so_ ****** off. What a bunch of fsking amateurs. Assuming they
> actually do deliver the bloody thing tomorrow, I'll have wasted two
> days waiting for it.
<snip>

Toll IPEC weren't any better when I ordered my Learsport.


T

 

[Graeme Dods]

[email protected] wrote:

> Courier companies are utilising all the otherwise unemployable of our
> society, the long-haired, smelly, unwashed, undermotivated, mentally
> under-resourced worker drones that our reflexively consumptive society
> deems that it needs to engage to satisfy our increasingly rapacious
> product-oriented whims.

It doesn't matter if they're thick, lazy and smelly, if they
can't/won't do the job they're paid to do, they shouldn't have it [1].
If, on the other hand, the company is the one encouraging or condoning
shoddy work to meet unrealistic schedules, they shouldn't be given the
custom.

Like most things, you get what you pay for with courier services. The
(usually) very reliable international companies (DHL, FedEx, etc.) cost
a lot and the cheaper ones are often more hassle than they're worth.

Graeme

[1] For rather scarey examples of this type of worker, read this
http://tinyurl.com/hv8ky

 

[SteveA]

SteveA wrote:

> Ring the courier company. Arrange to collect it from the depot.

Only I don't have a car.....


Suzy

Erm...yes. Doesn't work easily without a stink-mobile to get to and from the industrial area where transport depots are usually located.

Hope they manage to get your frame to you

SteveA

 

[Zebee Johnstone]

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 3 Aug 2006 16:12:43 +1000
SteveA <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> suzyj Wrote:
>> SteveA wrote:
>>
>> > Ring the courier company. Arrange to collect it from the depot.
>>
>> Only I don't have a car.....
>
> Erm...yes. Doesn't work easily without a stink-mobile to get to and
> from the industrial area where transport depots are usually located.

Don't you just need a trailer for your current bicycle?

I manage Ok with a trailer for the motorcycle, although it is true I
can usually get to the industrial areas rather more quickly on the
motorbike than a cyclist can.

I've been pondering one of Moz's cheapo trailers, but so far I can do
the shopping on the bent with just panniers.

Anyone know if those quick release skewers that need a 5 sided allen
key to open come in size long? I prefer not to leave the bent with a
really easily stolen wheel, and I put the lock through the front which
is worth far more with the dynamo hub.

Zebee

 

[SteveA]

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 3 Aug 2006 16:12:43 +1000
SteveA <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> suzyj Wrote:
>> SteveA wrote:
>>
>> > Ring the courier company. Arrange to collect it from the depot.
>>
>> Only I don't have a car.....
>
> Erm...yes. Doesn't work easily without a stink-mobile to get to and
> from the industrial area where transport depots are usually located.

Don't you just need a trailer for your current bicycle?

I manage Ok with a trailer for the motorcycle, although it is true I
can usually get to the industrial areas rather more quickly on the
motorbike than a cyclist can.

I've been pondering one of Moz's cheapo trailers, but so far I can do
the shopping on the bent with just panniers.

Anyone know if those quick release skewers that need a 5 sided allen
key to open come in size long? I prefer not to leave the bent with a
really easily stolen wheel, and I put the lock through the front which
is worth far more with the dynamo hub.

Zebee

And I reckon if I rode any of my bikes around inside the transport depots I have picked things up from, I would want a bloody big flouro flag on the bike so I didn't get pan-caked by a courier.

Steve(been hit by a courier once already)A