Home Delivery Network toss my parcel over the gate
I returned home last night when it was pissing down with rain (in Manchester, go figure) to find a card through my door from the Home Delivery Network. There was no order number on it and none of the fields were filled in, but there was some pen scrawled on the top displaying the words ‘Round Side’.
Not sure what this meant I figured maybe there was a parcel left round the side of the house, so I looked. There was nothing there. Then I thought what if they’ve chucked it over the 6 foot hight gate? I hope not, it’s a very high gate, a long way for a parcel to fall and it’s been pouring down all day.
I went out to look and sure enough there was a parcel from Amazon sat a pool of water next to our bin. Jesus Christ, what sort of arsehole does this?
I decided evidence was in order so I took photos of the parcel as I opened it, you can see from the pics that the water had seeped into the box. It would, it had been there all frickin’ day.
I also have a computer coming from Amazon. I hope to fuck they don’t use the Home Delivery Network for that one. I doubt it’ll stand a 6 foot drop into a pool of water. What a bunch of fucking morons. Come on Amazon, sort it out.
I'm an Affiliate Marketeer, SEO, web developer and all round Internet personage. I run a network of content websites on a variety of different subjects. I'm also victim to some of the worst luck in the world, and I tend to Blog about all of it here. 
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As much as its not funny, I have to laugh. Next time, you may want to choose FedEx or somebody… the hell with HDN…
I didn’t choose the monkies. Amazon use them for delivery in the UK, though from the complaints I’ve seen online when I search Google for them maybe Amazon won’t use them for much longer.
I sympathise with you. Home Delivery Network are by far the worst delivery / courier firm around. I have been waiting 6 days now for a Next Day delivery from Dabs.
I complained to Dabs; Dabs contacted HDNL who say that they attempted delivery twice and left a card.
This is a complete lie as I was at home both times and there was no card.
Being late is one thing but blatantly lying to customers is really out of order.
Thanks for comments Rob. The more I read about the Home Delivery Network, the more I hear how bad they are. They seem to be a right bunch of incompetent cowboys.
I can see them getting dropped by Amazon real soon. Their kind of unprofessional attitude isn’t going to turn people onto Online shopping.
Home Delivery Network? They must be joking.
Great, I’m hearing ALOT of bad things about HDL, must be pretty awful, I’m regretting getting all my computer things from dabs (delivered by HDL) now, hope they don’t try throwing mine over the gate, £190 worth, i won’t be happy. considering they are keeping it at a depot only 2 hours away I’m already annoyed they haven’t dispatched it. is it true they don’t deliver on Saturdays?
I recently had the misfortune of having an amazon.co.uk item delivered by the home delivery network. I ordered an xbox 360 elite (nearly 300 quid). When it arrived no-one was in so the prat delivary driver threw the box over the fence (about 8ft high) and left it in a shared back garden (between my house and next door). Not only did he damage the xbox (had a hard drive failure from the get go) but it could easily have been stolen from where it was left. After a very abusive phone call to the HDN and a rather more calm one to amazon I have managed to obtain a replacement for my xbox. Amazon should drop these idiots as they are ruining the very good reputation the have built up over the years.
Same as me. I ordered 2 Le Creuset cast iron casseroles from amazon. Of course, amazon still use this idiot company (HDNL) to deliver. Again they toss the 10 kg parcel over my 6 foot high garden gate and landed on the concrete walk path. Even they made by iron, the impact caused a big crack on one of the casserole and I need to get it replace. I am not sure what inside this idiot delivery guys brain. Are they want to become the world strongest man and use the parcel to practice. THe worst is HDNL does not have any email or phone for me to complaint. But I will certainly complaint to Amazon. I think I won’t order any stuffs from amazon from now on except they change the delivery company.
if i way ask,, why werent you home to take delivery,, i have had amazon stuff delivered to me and had to fill out a form the driver has given me ,, if i may be so bold,, great job HDN clean and polite drivers. would you all be so quick to call them names like you mention if thay were standing infront of you off duty i wonder ???
Why wasn’t I home to take the delivery? Oh I don’t know, maybe I was… let me think… actually in work!
Where’d you think I was knob jockey?
Home Delivery Network have received the sort of feedback here I’d have expected them to receive, as they make a habit of throwing people’s parcels over fences. Your pathetic attempt to speak for them (or yourself more like) is quite transparent.
Rather than making shit up on websites about how great Home Delivery Network drivers are, why not actually redress the problem and give them some decent training?
Or at least teach them common sense, such as don’t throw parcels over 6 foot high fences. You’d think it obvious, but to a Home Delivery Network driver I guess it’s a little out of their comprehension.
Hey pissed off driver, as a matter of fact u dick I would have played hell with the driver if I’d caught him throwing my £300 xbox over the fence. How about you stop trying to defend the home cowboy network and actully accept that your company are a bunch of lazy senseless idiots who don’t have the common sense or the moral fibre to take the package back to the delivary depot again. I mean a bit of thought and hard work wouldn’t do you any harm now would it.
I buy plenty over the net and have never had a problem with couriers until I came across HDN.
I’ve now waited over 2 weeks for a desk fan to be sent from England to Glasgow. According to their site they tried to deliver it 3 times last week an left a card each time. I haven’t even got one card. Also the fan is apparently in a depot 30 miles from me & they asked me can I pick it up! Can’t they transfer it to the Glasgow depot – apparently it’s against company policy! And to speak to them I have to phone the seller, they contact hdn, then I have to wait for HDN to phone me!
No wonder you can’t phone or email them – imagine the amount of complaints they would have to deal with.
Hi Daz
I find the coments relating to HDN understandable, afterall they’re a ‘Parcel Carrier’ at the the end of the day! I’m the MD of a Distribution Company whom specialises in Business to Business, however over the past 18 months I set up a side line department specifically to service the Domestic Market (which is a huge growth area). I find it strange that no PLC company has taken this market seriously, instead they’ve simply attempted to profit by using the/their parcel network, resulting in damaged goods, late deliveries, and not to mention if you receive your goods at all?
Watch this space!, we currently provide a Domestic delivery service Nationwide. We telephone every consignee and advise them of a time and 3 hour delivery slot and even a 30 minute call before we arrive, this service is provided to both to Retailers and the General Public.
Remember the name????? ‘Domestic Distribution’
http://www.domesticdistribution.co.uk will be a force to be wreckoned with, WITHOUT LOOSING FOCUS ON CUSTOMERS!
Amazon wont stop using HDNL for one reason alone- they are getting their parcels delivered for peanuts. And youve heard the saying about peanuts and monkeys havent you?
Hi Daz
Firstly, I agree with you, it is not acceptable to have a parcel delivered that way, put simply, the driver should be dismissed. However, I would like you to try and put it in perspective. HDN deliver in the region of 350,000 to 400,000 packs per day OUT of the Christmas peak period and I assure you that the % of “Monkey” drivers is small and on the whole the delivery to customers is as it should be, albeit HDN could be better. But be aware, if you google DHL, FED EX, ROYAL MAIL etc etc you will find equally unacceptable standards of delivery there as well.
This is to condon HDN and the minority of dimwit drivers delivery style, I merely want to point out that sadly …. this crap style of delivery is not exclusive to HDN.
Secondly, to Mike Heslop, I am sure Mr Daz is delighted for you to advertise your Company on his site, however, as a prospective customer I would be reluctant to use a Company of which the author of that said article cannot even spell correctly!! You don’t LOOSE focus with sustomers Ian, you LOSE it! I hope to god your not the Managing Director!!!
By the way Mr Daz, I live in Manchester and we can certainly agree on one thing .. the weather is shit!
Home Deliever Network UK is worst than worst.
We have been waiting for a very important package sent from the other side of the globe, and after 2 weeks going around England ( I have been tracking the package ) they decided to send it back without notifying us, but leaving us last Friday saying they would have re-delivered on Monday. They are very incompetent, and the reason I am saying this it’s because they failed to deliver because they looked for the addre at 1.113 instead of 11/ 13 where we have our offices. They could have used the post code ( which they had ) or the phone to call us. So, now these geniuses sent the package back to the sender and we have to wait to get there again and then ask some other curier to send it to UK again. Unbelievable !
Diego
Home Delivery Network UK do not send or recieve any packages from abroad, they are solely a UK based delivery company. The furthest they go off this island is to Northern Island and Southern island. However, there IS a Home Delivery Network in the USA who DO deliver all over the world, perhaps you mean them?
Best to get your facts right first before you publish
Home Deliver Network have a driver in the London area who doesn’t ring bells. Get that, a driver who either doesn’t know how to or want to ring the bell. He will leave a card through the letterbox though. He has wasted a whole day of mine and someone else’s mornings waiting for him. He turns up and leaves a card but doesn’t ring the bell. His office have had numerous complaints and what are they doing about it? They’ll pass it up the line….
Can people learn that the word “Lose” is not the same as “Loose” which is something else completely. For example “I am a loose cannon, when HDN let me down” and “I will lose it if they don’t get my deliveries delivered and my returns returned”
Hi, I used to work for HDN(NI), which is the Northern Ireland branch of the company, its great to see customers finally standing up to those assholes. I really must stand up for some of the drivers who don’t throw fragile parcels over 6 foot high fences, to any right thinking person that is just mind bogglingly stupid to say the least. These drivers, and I am going by my own experiences, have in excess of 150 parcels to deliver a day. They say on their website that they keep a driver on a certain run to so they get to know the customer…..BOLLOX….I learned a run in West Belfast and was on it for ages, knocked the fuck out of myself to learn it, studied maps every night for weeks. When eventually I did learn it and finally the customers were complimenting me on my service and the way I delivered the parcels HDNL took me off the run and put me on another run which I had no idea about. I’m ashamed to say I was ending up bring back 40-50 parcels a day because I didn’t know the area, no help was given to learn that run. In the end I was getting complaints about no getting the parcels to the customers on time. Eventually I learned the run and again was getting compliments for my service, which I’m proud to say I worked hard for and again HDNL, going back on their word again took me off that run and stuck me on another run, so inevidably the service went down again and it was my fault. So you see they aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. In fact they are not only the worst company I have ever worked for but they treat their customers like shite and the driver gets the blame. As I said, I sympathise with the customers, as a customer myself while working for the company I has numerous parcels destroyed by the driver who delivered in this are in similar circumstances to that of Mr Daz, people work, no let me rephrase that…people NEED to work and what do the drivers expect, that you’ll be there 24/7…not a chance, I apologise for the shite you people have to take from this company. You should complain about them like fuck. I know I will be.
I apologise for the spelling mistakes people, my key board is slightly mangled. So continuing from my last comment. I am trying to give you some examples of what HDNL is really like to work for. Talking about service levels, as you can see clearly from my last comment there isn’t nearly enough training given to drivers, I know of men and women in the depot in Carrickfergus who came into work on their first day and were sent into an area with no maps, they had no idea where they were going until the day they started, they end up putting so much pressure on us that drivers were literally GOING INSANE. There are country runs where there isn’t a town or village on the route and they send new drivers out on these routes with 90-100 parcels on their first day and that’s virtually impossible to deliver that volume of parcels without prior knowledge of the area and countryside. These drivers are rushed off their feet so much that they will do anything to get the parcels off the van, its crazy the way they are forced to deliver so many parcels. The drivers have been pushing HDNL to bring in more drivers to take the heat off them, so that they CAN improve service and the way they deliver parcels but to no avail, HDNL are simply in it to make serious money. They laid off a man in the Carrickfergus depot because he wasn’t delivering his target everyday…..this man had never been shown part of the run. An experienced driver who DID know the run, complained to supervisors and management that the run was “HUGE and couldn’t be covered by one man” again, these complaints went without change and this is why the service is …well to put it bluntly…SHITE…management refuse to listen to drivers, the people who are out doing the job, asking for help and getting none is why service is crap. Before I left, HDNL expanded the routes so that they were unbelievably huge, so no doubt the service has gone out the window now. I couldn’t stick it anymore, they put all the blame on the drivers when in reality the drivers are asking for help but getting none, I feel sorry for any driver working for them.
hi ya peeps
well wot more can i say bout this cowboy company i ordered something bout a month ago from littlewoods and to this day have still not recieved it! i have had several talks wiv the catalogue ppl and they say it has been delivered and that i have my parcel but wen in fact i dont, why wud i ring them and complain wen if i had the fuckin thing is beyond me, i have just spoke to hdnl and now they say it has been collected how can they collect something if i have not recieved it i have apparently had 2 calling cards left thru my door too and they are so difficult to obtain a number for so i must say thanx to mr daz for takin a pic of his calling card which enabled me to get their number and ring them
also i was waitin for a bed be delivered hdnl rang me to arrange a day so i took the day off work as you do was told 1230 -430 call out neva arrived in that time slot so natuarlly rang catalogue they sed no by 6 so rang agen at quarter past sed it wud be half past i sed well no i have been on fone to you for last 15 mins and still not here had a call later anyway outcome was reason code 15 i asked wot that was they cud not tell me my other half at the time was havin probs wiv city link couriors as i had also waited ih for him to have his new pc delivered so he was frustrated too and dropped his weights on his hand ended up at casuality got home to a voice mail sayin the reason why bed was not delivered was due to the fact there was not enough man hours in the day to deliver the bed and it was returned bk to the depot at 615pm wot a bunch of toss heads
take care everyone!!
jen
also i was waitin for a bed be delivered hdnl rang me to arrange a day so i took the day off work as you do was told 1230 -430 call out neva arrived in that time slot so natuarlly rang catalogue they sed no by 6 so rang agen at quarter past sed it wud be half past i sed well no i have been on fone to you for last 15 mins and still not here had a call later anyway outcome was reason code 15 i asked wot that was they cud not tell me my other half at the time was havin probs wiv city link couriors as i had also waited ih for him to have his new pc delivered so he was frustrated too and dropped his weights on his hand ended up at casuality got home to a voice mail sayin the reason why bed was not delivered was due to the fact there was not enough man hours in the day to deliver the bed and it was returned bk to the depot at 615pm wot a bunch of toss head <—– Quote
Well, maybe the driver was sleeping on it? lol
[...] I wrote about how the Home Delivery Network (HDL) botched a delivery of an Amazon order I placed by throwing it over a gate into a puddle, in [...]
I am a HDNL driver and you lot really take the biscuit.you should get off your arse’s and try it sometime.The main reason stuff is thrown over gates is due to the fact that we are put under pressure by managers not to bring stuff back,and secondly hdnl has taken on sub contractors to deal with peak times/sickness.And i can quite honestly say these morons are giving us a bad name,some cant even speak english but they are cheap,i agree with some of your comments but the problems are with management not the lowly driver!.
Hopefully some of you berks with half a brain cell may have worked it out,if not stop moaning and bugger off somewhere else,see if you get a better service?????.
Then you will really have something to moan about!!!!!!
Hi Biggles (Craig Duffield), I don’t really think it’s fair you telling HDNL’s customers to get off their arse, bugger off somewhere else and get a better service.
How can I choose a better delivery service from Amazon? It’s up to Amazon to chooser who they want, and at the moment they use the imbeciles from Home Delivery Network, like your good self it would seem.
So if you think your being under pressure is reason enough for you to throw people’s parcels over their fence then you, and the rest of your company should be sacked.
I’m fed up with HDN. Since dabs.com (who are excellent) have started using these cowboys, my orders have all been late / left outside all the time. I’ve had one item (motherboard+mem) left outside in the driving rain with a note “left round back”, Needless to say the box was soaked through..amazingly the items inside, despite having wet boxes actually still worked.
I’ve also had orders with multiple containers delivered over many days even though dabs.com gave them to these guys all at once!
With argos.co.uk ive had an expensive consignment stolen as they left it in plain sight (i was in all day..they just dumped it without ringing the bell and didnt even bother leaving a note) without any apology from HDN. Argos were ok with this and re-despatched the items using a different courier and this time I got the items without and problems.
What a fab website ! My experience is small and simple. I have 2 notices, one on the door bell and one next to my `cat-flap` suggesting the obvious ` Cats ONLY, do not place ANY deliveries in front of or through the `cat-flap` So HDN placed a large catalogue in front of the `flap` so as to block the way in and out ! (resist the funny comments please……however tempting it may be!!! I am VERY cross! Thanks Daz for the opportunity to share my anger.
HDNL are a joke and thats for sure!
A parcel from DABS is sent Friday for “Next Day” delivery, so I expect it Monday.
I work from home so in all day, no show. Check the web site in the evening and it shows “failed delivery – carded”.
I ring the local depot (thanks saynoto0870 for the local number) and a woman says she will speak to the driver and ring me back.
Woman rings back, the driver carded an address off of Sussex Close, which is opposite my close. He had been told my close is off Sussex Close instead of opposite Sussex Close. I then point out to the woman that there are no closes of Sussex Close as all the closes around here are exactly that closes i.e. small cul-de-sacs with no roads off of them. Also if you go to Sussex Close you can’t fail to see my close as it is directly opposite!
After a for ums and arrs, she finally agrees that perhaps the driver is lying. I ask to speak to somebody to make an official complaint, she then gives me an 0870 number (which saynoto0870 can’t find an alternative).
I ring this 0870 number and get another woman, who I relate the whole tale to.
“Give me your details and I will pass them on to the Nottingham depot to get in touch with you” she states! “But they have just given me your number to make a complaint” I reply.
“To make a complaint you need to write in” she says!
So I am given a 0870 number to ring at my expense to only be told that I need to write in – what a joke of a company.
I buy everything from the net, but you can be sure that I will not be using any site that lists HDNL as its courier!
HDNL are an absolute disaster. Trying to get my parcel from the Carrickfergus Depot (N.Ire) redelivered and what a nightmare. Cant even find a contact number for HDN ANYWHERE!!!! Does anyone have a customer service number for this bunch of cowboys? I would be eternally grateful!
i totally agree with all comments, HDNL are a bunch of incompetent idiots who obviously couldnt run a piss up in a brewery, and whats more the companies that use them must know of thier bad rep but continue to use them, i waited in nearly every day for 2 weeks and guess what? i stil aint had my delivery, littlewoods direct say they dont have a contact number for HDNL, how ridiculous is that! all they say is we can e mail them and its not really our fault because we despatch the goods to them and its thier fault it hasnt been delivered, why do these companies use these idiots when they have so many complaints!
Hi I had an order from Dabs today from HDN and it came all fine (though at 6:45). The driver was pleasant and didn’t have any problems. Though when I came across this website at 6:00 I really thought my money was lost.
I guess it really is the management. I think there are some genuinely good drivers out there (like mine) but the management either keeps switching there roots or goes and hires cheaper incompetent drivers to save money so they can enjoy all the profits.
From reading your stories I have actually been put off of Dabs and Amazon because although there good sites bad delivery=bad service and thats what it’s all about.
Me too fecking idiots.
In response to Dustin you cannot choose which courier service will bring you parcel unfortunately .
(Hell if only you could i would make sure HDN is put completely out of business!!)
I ordered a baby walker from Boots.
Wednesday night i got home to find it had been tossed over back gate. (nothing on card again just scribble b.hind side gate!!)
Damage has been done to gate with panel taken out shards of wood all over floor!!
Spoken to Boots as well as HDN. HDN have logged complaint,so far nothing back from Boots!!
damn, i thought i was the only one, just ordered some outfit (including a wedding wear for tomorow) from dorothy perkins two weeks ago. HDNL claimed they tried to deliver twice, but i still cant find a call out card. i have attempted to book a delivery date FOUR times, and i am still waiting for my parcel. they keep promising to deliver without no show …… i don’t know why companies still use them… i think they companies should stick to the likes of royal mail, UPS etc
I have been waiting all morning for HDN to deliver a package from John Lewis and was actually in my kitchen, at the front of the flat, when a van pulled up outside.
I watched the driver come up to the front door and as my buzzer didn’t go and he wandered off I assumed he must have been delivering to another flat, of which there are seven.
When I went downstairs there was a note saying he had attempted to deliver and will try again tomorrow.
Not sure what constitutes attempting to deliver in HDN world but not even ringing a bell/buzzer is a pretty unique definition.
Needless to say I emailed john Lewis and am now wondering if I actually need to be outside in the drive tomorrow – all day – so this moron doesn’t take my parcel back to the depot again.
Just for the record; there are only three names on our entry system and mine is the first. He’d have been standing next to this while writing his card.
Anybody in Surbiton/Kingston had the same problem?
I can’t believe you bought the Barrell Roll Blaster!
I am a driver at HDNL chesterfield depot. I work my nuts off every day.
The higher management is only interested in profits.
They do not care about any of their staff.
They don’t care if the parcels are delivered or not as long as someone has taken them out of the depot on the day its supposed to be delivered so they look like the targets have been met to the bods higher up the chain to them.
They wasted over a million pounds on paying agency staff over the last xmas period. Simply because they can be used as and when required, no sick pay holiday pay etc.
We have a dedicated and hard working set of senior drivers who cover for sickness and holidays who have to cover up to 10 rounds each and know the rounds pretty well and 99% of the time achieve much more than the round drivers they are covering. The problem we have is that the holidays are not worked out in any sort of logical way so some times they are forced on rounds they don’t know at all. Targets are not met, parcels are brought back etc etc.
Most of the time everything that comes into chesterfield over night from around 120 companies gets delivered the next day and we clear out.
Unfortunately the management don’t want this to happen anymore as its costing too much in overtime payments so from august 18th overtime can be capped as they see fit, which means some of you are going to miss out. Especially if you live in an area that has a driver that usually takes everything that comes in to earn extra as overtime.
This is not the drivers fault,
We have been told that the company has no money and we are making a loss, weird as the littlewoods shop direct group who own HDNL have just bought empire stores.
They also manage to fill the car park most weeks with top end company cars of the higher management when they come for meetings.
Also because the company has no money we were offered a 0% pay rise this year and unbelievably the unions recommended that we accepted it.
Morale is at an all time low within this company but we still turn up every day and try to deliver our parcels,
Personally I don’t use amazon or dabs, try bigpockets.co.uk or ebuyer, they use city link. I’ve not had a problem with them for over the 2 years I have been buying stuff on line plus they are cheaper.
Problems we have with amazon,
If you order for next day delivery it MUST be signed for although they don’t tell you this when you arder.
Tracking sometimes will say it is somewhere in the country when it is still in their warehouse, we can check if it is in their warehouse but you cant.
They refuse to give us the customers phone number even if the address is out in the middle of nowhere and the driver just needs help finding them.
Dabs ,
All dabs parcels are sent next day and must be signed for even if they tell you otherwise
Littlewoods/shop dierect.
Tell the customer on the phone/ online that their parcel will be with them, say on Friday but send it to us on Tuesday and then make it a next day parcel. Where’s the customer? Not in obviously, they are expecting it Friday not Wednesday. Same goes for collections.
Argos,
Tell the customer when they order it will be with you between 7am and 10am. But they don’t tell us anything of the sort.
We DO NOT and NEVER HAVE offered a timed delivery service. Where would you start if you tried to give all 150 of your deliveries that day a time, its impossible anything can happen out on the road.
Jd Williams and associated companies also john lewis.
Send everything out as a next day parcel and must be signed for even though they tell the customer on ordering you parcel will be delivered within 5 days.
Tell a customer on Monday your parcel will be within 5 days they automatically think it will be delivered on Friday and not Tuesday/ Wednesday.
Warehouse wine/ laithwaites
Send cases of wine that have not been ordered.
It goes on and on, but the only person you will ever see is the driver so he gets the blame, yes its wrong to chuck stuff over gates etc but we are quizzed and sometimes not paid for deliveries that are taken back because the customer for whatever reason isn’t in.
Most of these companies use hdnl because we are the cheapest and that my friends is the bottom line.
I have had the mis-fortune of dealing with the cowboys at xmas time….it took over a week to deliver a monitor we ordered from Dabs!!
Now these fools have a 32″ LCD TV I have ordered from Amazon. It was dispatched yesterday, and I was gutted to see that Amazon are using this company!!
If its not here in PERFECT condition by the estimated delivery day (8th August) then Amazon, HDNL AND my credit card company will be getting phone calls!
I am a driver for HDNL, and just wondered if any of you ever put this much time and effort in to thanking ANY delivery company when your purchases arrive on time??
MrDaz –
Amazon also use Parcel Force, CityLink, Parcel Net.
Rob –
HDNL maybe bad, try googling other companies see what you get!
try this for a start-http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/transport-automobile-services/dhl/reviews/
Complain in writing to your local depot, stating dates, times,etc.
Ahmed Saleh –
Are you sure it was HDNL? The reason I ask is because if we deliver anything that expensive its usually a POD(proof of delivery)
BTW Ahmed Saleh id like to see you confront me!! I’d knock ya wrag-head off…..u dick!!!
Dingo…sorry Diego –
Get your facts right, and get your address right on the parcel!
Kanna –
LOL, so this driver goes around just putting cards through peoples letter-boxes? that must mean he takes all the parcels back to the depot?? Get a grip!!
jen -
Try punctuation when you type! Jesus Christ I hope you dont talk like that!
biggles36 –
Maybe they should tell us what they do for a living, Im sure we can pick fault with them too.
Darren –
ALL high value items from Dabs & Amazon ARE PODs!
Paulene –
Maybe you should write a notice saying “I am VERY cross!” and stick it somewhere so all can behold your anger!!
OMG you must lead a sad existence if thats all you got!
Jon -
I & Google maps & Multi Map maybe wrong but….Isnt Sussex Cl both sides of Smithurst Rd?? And if you look , there is what looks like a small close off one of them!
Rita -
I think its you that is the idiot!! if Littlewoods told you they dont have a contact number for HDN, do you think they could be lying to you about the whereabouts of your parcel?!
Rustius –
Thankyou! (I think)
HDN HATER -
Bet you just wanted a new gate didnt you!
Mo -
I think you’ll find that RM have just as many problems as us, and UPS wouldnt touch a shitty little contract like that!
Kevin -
So you saw him with a J Lewis parcel and “assumed he must have been delivering to another flat” YOU ARE THE MORON!!!!
*Please read this comment by jay lockwood* every word he states is true! It explains ALOT of what ppl are complaining about!
Hey Redman, by your comments, especially this one: “BTW Ahmed Saleh id like to see you confront me!! I’d knock ya wrag-head off…..u dick!!!” we can see you’re a typical HDN driver, as in, racist.
Is it Home Delivery Network’s company policy to employ ignorant racists, or is it just coincidence that you’ve been attracted to the role?
Readman -
You wrote……
“I am a driver for HDNL, and just wondered if any of you ever put this much time and effort in to thanking ANY delivery company when your purchases arrive on time??”
Yes, I do thank delivery drivers when thing arrive or get collected. I have a VERY good repore with out Parcel Force delivery driver because he comes to deliver and collect stuff from use all the time, and has done for the last 4 or 5 YEARS!!!
I have also had experience with DHL, FedEx, CityLink, UPS, Royal Mail and TNT…..NOT ONCE did any of them take a WEEK to deliver a next day item!
Not even Royal Mail…..that says it all! Royal Mail are terrible, but even during their strikes I got my Special Delivery items on time, where as HDNL just screwed us about until we threatened Dabs with legal action via out credit card provider.
Once that was mentioned Dabs contacted HDNL and they pulled their thumb out their are and delivered the item a WEEK LATE!!!!
Ok. I am sittng in my house. I am awaiting a package from HDNL. I have been wating for 2 items, one from Marks and Spencer and one from Amazon.
The Mand S one was delivered to the wrong street apparently. However I know the owner and they say no item was delivered. (Yes they were in and yes they looked)
M and S have refunded me, but I am intrigued to find out where the package actually went to as I often am not able to leave the house and need delivery services. The other one from Amazon is due today. THe HDNL say they have added on extra directions (after 3 goes).
Note: M and S were unaware of a telephone number for HDNL. On HDNL website there is NO number. Only when (if you ever get one) you get a card, will you get a number.
In fact seeing as some people don’t appear to believe this here is a quote from the HDNL website: “Home Delivery Network Limited do not provide local or national telephone lines for customers to call. If your delivery has been attempted and you have received a card, please contact the number on the card.”
I asked several times for my telephone number to be added to the details so the driver could call me and was told “we don’t supply our drivers with phones”.
I was more than happy to refund the driver personally for using his or her own phone.
But no.
I am now just twiddling my thumbs. The package is very expensive and fragile and I am dreading yet another “can i have a refund” call…
PS. Amazon gave me the number, it is 08448 111816
PPS, just received a text from the people on the other street. They’ve been carded.
HDNL say the driver “must have not got the instructions”.
Uhuh.
I have now recieved my parcel, driver had no problem finding house this time. Even so, I won’t be knowingly using them again as the process has taken up a lot of time!
No reason for any of you to care, just thought it only fair to say I did get the package, after my mega moan…
how stupid do people get!
MrDaz
LOL everyone, no matter what their colour is, have racist views some of the time! Especially when they are trying to wind them up.
nib
Thank the driver through the depot(if the number address can be found) the managers/company need to know if something is going right for a change!
The trouble is you see, the(bad) actions of the minority of drivers has a knock-on effect on the good drivers.
No praise for the good drivers….allways “how can we as a company make things run better”………….Get rid of the sh*t, and reward the cream!!
So “Redman Nottm”, according to you it’s OK to be racist if you’re wound up, or trying to wind someone up? I’m betting you’re a delivery driver of HDNL as well, it seems to be company policy to be racist.
I wonder if Home Delivery Network would be interested to know that its drivers are racist and abuse people with racist comments on websites.
Would they even care?
I find it fascinating that if you have a grumble on the internet about other companies, there are virtually never comments from employees as usually they value their jobs and the reputation of the company for which they work.
It is clear to me that he HDN employees that have posted here have a totally apathetic and openly hostile attitude towards their customers. I’ve spent my whole day waiting for a parcel today, that their tracking system says is “sorted” and that nobody at all can tell me where it is. I’ve been verbally abused by their call centre – frankly I’m astonished that any company can run like this.
I shall definintely be writing a letter of complaint to Amazon about this and telling them what I think of HDN.
And as for Redman – you should be ashamed of yourself. Even if people have racist thoughts, those that aren’t poorly educated ignorant thugs don’t voice them.
Thanks for this posting Mr Daz…
LOL! MrDaz,
EVERYONE has racist views!
Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing, It allows ppl like Ahmed Saleh and others on this page to insult(“fecking idiots, dick, lazy senseless idiots, assholes”)
the majority of good drivers for the acts of the minority of bad drivers & call centres giving wrong info.
If they are going throw insults like that around then they should expect to get it back!
Also no need to bet-
Redman Nottm (2 comments) // Aug 6, 2008 at 10:03 pm
“I am a driver for HDNL”
Paul I think you’ll find its “more than just a grumble” that people are having on this page!
We have on this page got an “openly hostile attitude towards their customers”….what do you expect when they throw insults our way?
Before people hide behind their keyboards and their right-on attitude, they should think about the verbal abuse “poorly educated ignorant thugs” and wonder, will the comments I get back be nice ones?
HDN claimed to deliver twice but no card left, eventually agree to saturday delivery because I complained to Amazon who phoned them from America and complained that the service they had paid for had not been completed to contract. Woman at amazon put note on my account not to use HDN again. Now I’ve ordered IPod and docking station only to receive an email telling me who is delivering it and guess what… HDN. Guess I’ll be telephoning them tomorrow to rearrange delivery or find it soaking on the front step, or maybe its been left and nicked, or… will post again with update when I perhaps receive it.
hi mate agree hdnl don’t give a damm i work there they come to depot on trailers if its raining the water seeps through the trailer
Most of your comments on this page may well be true and I know from my time working for hdn that many of the drivers are poor. But I can assure you that all drivers in general begin the job with great intentions but very quickly just get abused and then forced to “up their game” as they are returning too many parcels to the depot each day which means you get a roasting from your de-brief team and them a roasting from the depot manager the next morning and on top of that you dont get paid for what is not delivered, which as has already been pointed out most of the parcels are sent out by the company ahead of schedule so nobody expects the delivery and blatently will not be home. The whole management and targets/routes set by the company are totally unreal, and shifting guys round different routes on a daily basis and expecting a guy with no local knowledge no maps, no prep time and no assistance is a bloody joke and I hated working for them, they just all seem to want to tear out your soul grind you into the ground and then blame the drivers for fucking up and it relentless because their is no real laws in this sector, its a tottally thankless task with constant abuse of staff and many times I have been out in areas miles from my home with no guidance or help at 10 even 10.30 at night which means your not getting home till about 11/11.30 but your still expected at the depot bright and early 5.30 next morning, with no thanks or have an easy day today they just throw a shitload more parcels at you moan that you didnt do well enough yesterday and it wont be tolerated and they are sick of the excuses of local knowledge, maps, guidance and the like, then just send you out again.
I feel for all the drivers at this company and you should all complain and moan to the company, but please consider the pressure and abuse these guys get, and it is certainly not by choice these guys take out too many parcels each day and that their routes are so big and they do not force themselves to leave parcels over gates and so on, it is just too greater demands from the management who have no idea how tough this job is and in how many ways it could be improved.
But like one of the other guys said they are the cheapest and in the current climate that is all anybody cares about.
Big up Redman Nottm! Mr Daz you need to get a life really if you have nothing better to than complain…thats life, shit happens! Accept it.
You’re right Phil, I have nothing better to do than complain. Who the hell am I to expect a parcel I’ve paid for to be delivered and not dumped in a puddle over a 6ft gate?
I’m just asking the Earth. I know now that if I want a parcel to be destroyed on delivery I should use Home Delivery Network. They’re no fucking use for anything else.
Twat.
hahaha . . pathetic buch of tossers … get a life.. next time a parcel’s trown over your fence… lets hope it dunts you in the head … haha
Ah, thanks for the comment “gogo logog”. I think we can all see why you’re a delivery driver with the worst delivery firm in the UK. Find school really hard did you? Get some pretty shit grades?
Never mind, you’ve found your level.
i can confirm with people in past messages i am a driver at the moment with hdn and its a crap place at the present time to work ,if you didnt know all ready this company started of as white arrow then it was reality and now the shit hdn it was a good place to work when it was white arrow and it has steadly gone down hill as new names came in please think more of your driver when he gets to you there are so many companys we deliver for and nun of them speak to each other argos are the werst they tell you we will be there at a set time so you wait in untill that time it passes and understanding you get piss off because we are not there BUT WE DO NOT DO TIMED DELIVERYS it just when we can get to you and are areas are BIG stupiedly big and we have crazy times to get it done by today i took out 208 nearly all single drops and yourve got to get it all done inside 11 hours so i put it to all of the people above complaning about the drivers IF YOU CAN DO IT BETTER GET DOWN THE LOCAL DEPOT AND TRY IT bet you dont last a day oh also i forgot to say all this work is with out a break .no time or you peolpe dont get ur parcels
Hi there ‘driver at present’ (or Richard Tongue). Stop complaining about being a delivery driver and just deliver the parcels. It’s not rocket science, it’s not taxing, it’s not even remotely difficult. You drive your van and post the parcels to the address written on the front of them. If you find it too hard, do something else.
For the record, I think a great many people on this site complaining about your piss poor company could ‘do your job’ without making such a hash of it, but I doubt very much delivery drivers like you could do our jobs, mine for example.
Just deliver the parcels, the address is written on them, you’re not exactly looking for a cure for cancer!
mr daz get your head out of your arse.what do you want the parcel wrapped in bubble wrap and sealed with a kiss,you ordered the parcel did you not,so you should have known it was coming no,so why not be in when they deliver they are called home delivery network after all,and your parcel got damaged well just tell amazon you want another one.sitting here laughing at you set up a blog because your parcel got wet,why not spend your time looking for a cure for cancer.and if you have never walked in another mans shoes how the hell can you know how easy their job is
No Ray, I don’t want my parcel sealed with a kiss, just delivered to my address and not thrown over a 6 foot gate, into a puddle in the pissing rain. It should be fairly obvious, but I guess with the low IQ of a Home Delivery Network driver it is just out of their (and your) comprehension.
You’re laughing at me setting up a website that ranks page 1 of Google for ‘Home Delivery Network’? I’m laughing at you trying (and failing) to deliver a parcel to an address that’s written in front of you. Which one of those is more difficult I wonder?
Don’t give up your day job, you’re clearly cut-out for it.
where did a say i work for them,so your web page is on page one whoppee doooo, what have you managed to change nothing at all,so yes im laughing.please stay in your day job,clearly suits you sir.can you answer the above point,why did you want it delivered to your home address when you had no intention of being there.
mr daz,i think you are skating on very thin ice with some of your posts by the way,lets hope hndl legal team are better than there drivers eh.see ya.
Of course you work for them Ray, you’re sullen, can’t spell and overly aggressive. All that’s missing is a severe degree of racism to your bow and you’re a classic HDNL driver.
You and your ilk may be able to wait in all day for parcels, having sod all else to do, but some of us work for a living. As such, when parcels are delivered (and not left with a neighbour, which is the intelligent thing to do) they’re returned to the Post Office to be collected on a Saturday. Had I known Amazon would use Home Delivery Network, I wouldn’t have ordered from them, nor will I order anything else from them until I’m satisfied they don’t use the incompetent idiots at HDNL.
As for their legal team, oooh, scared. Bring it on. I’d like to see them try to deliver me the papers for legal action, they’d get slung into the garden with the rest of their packages.
i dont work for them at all,you simply can not explain yourself can you,you ordered a parcel,and for the first time you admit you wont be there,left with a neighbour would be the intelligent thing to do,did they our you order the parcel.you really have to much time on your hands fool try finding a cure for cancer
infact dont people who suffer from cancer dont need such an arsehole.
Wow, you really love this cure for cancer thing. Can’t you come up with your own one-liners?
Of course you work for HDNL, I know it’s embarrassing being a delivery driver for the worst delivery firm in the UK, but face up to it like a man and admit it.
I believe I did explain it quite clearly, it’s not my fault if you’re too thick to understand. Probably explains why parcels get slung over gates I suppose.
I think ranking first page for ‘Home Delivery Network’ is important too, I had hundreds of visits in September from that exact search, from people obviously wanting to find out what HDNL are like – and they did, they saw exactly what they were like. They’re incompetent, staffed by sullen racist drivers. The comments on this post prove that. The other websites with complaints against HDNL prove that too, quite why you’re defending them is beyond me… oh yeah, you work for them, forgot.
I too have had dealings with them in the past and to be honest they are completely useless. I ordered a dress of Lipsy 2 weeks in advanced for a special occasion, after being carded twice and numerous phone calls to them, i had to take a day off work and travel 20 miles to their depot to collect it myself the day before I needed it and on top of that the dress didn’t fit, it was too big so I obviously I had no time left to send it back to get a smaller size. I don’t order from Lipsy anymore. I internet shop quite a a lot and never had any problems until I had to use them.
I ordered some clothes on Monday from ASOS and guess who delivering… HNDL! I have ordered from ASOS many many times and they have never used them, it has always been Royal Mail which have never faulted once. Be interesting to see what happens, at the moment their tracking site says it’s in the van to be delivered. I’ll keep you posted.
quick tip …wen ordering mail order .. make sure your home to receive it or have it delivered to a friend/ family member who will be home or even have it delivered to your work place ..what ou expect a driver to “post” your xbox or big tv ???????
‘dear o dear’, you sound talented. Learn to spell, and perhaps read, then maybe you won’t have to work as a failed delivery driver.
These guys are a bunch of knobs…..I’ve ordered two items from dabs recently and my heart sank when I saw it would be HDL delivering it.
There tracking says ‘delivered’ on both items with ‘no sig’. My home is here and I also work from here, there is ALWAYS someone here.
Found a telephone number for them though…08448 1118162. Phoned them and ‘it’s still on the van’…why does it say delivered then??..I ordered it 4 days ago, paid for next day delivery and it’s still on the van?
That number is probably a stupid rate on the call, but it’s worth it to talk to these idiots, and I might actually get the items delivered now they know I’ll call them…Oh and the girl on the other end of the phone is a proper charmer btw….must have gone to that ‘dell-boy school of charming’.
Good luck ya’ll.
Update….
15min after I called them up, the parcels turn up…funny that.
I just had the worst experience with HDL. They kept failing delivery my parcel in the past week and told me it was a misunderstanding on the part of the Nottingham depot. I took 2 and half days off waiting for the parcel and they simply told me they failed to do so FOR SOME REASON THEY DON’T REALLY KNOW. They promised to redeliver today and apparently something went wrong and they sent my parcel back to my dad. It was an international parcel and now my dad has to pay for the returning postage. All they told me on the phone was we do understand and we do apologise for the inconvenience cause. But there is nothing we can do about it. Communicate with your deport to begin with!!!
I have to say HDL is a big joke. Have no idea how my parcel got delivered by them anyway. My dad sent from the oversea postoffice!! Do not use them, they are the worst delivery company I have ever experienced.
I have had to stop using sites that i used frequently as they have changed delivery couriers to HDN. I think i have had about 5 packages delivered by them and not one has ever turned up the right day. The worst thing about it is the way they lie and say they were not able to deliver and have left a card. I always have things delivered to my work which has a 24 hr reception so how could they have not been able to deliver it???? To the drivers who have posted on here how could we all be making these stories up? the internet is covered in the examples of how HDN keep messing people around and show no customer service at all. They really are the worst delivery company and thats saying something with royal mail around!!
Hoepfully companies will notice their custom dropping and the number of complaints and change courier companies. Least then HDN might raise their game!!
Home Delivery Network
Lamby Industrial Park, Wentlogg Avenue, Cardiff, South Glamorgan CF3 2EX
Tel: 029 2077 9779
Classification: Delivery & Collection Services
i hope this may help some one has i had a hard job to find the phone number
These McRejects have so far ruined 2 things by throwing them over the 6ft side gate, one of which was a dirty great long piece of plinth so it was no mean feat. Total caveman mentality as had they put their brain into gear they’d have found the back gate Unlocked!!! When told not to do this again they have taken to leaving boxes for my hubby (an electrician who requires dry electrical parts strangely) on the front door step instead in the p’ing down rain. Genius! Stumbled on this site whilst trying to find a number to tell the retards the parcel they trashed is still in the back garden waiting to be collected, please don’t stick another card through the letterbox telling me I’m not home as I know, I’m sat at work, wasting my time, phoning you muppets for the 3rd time telling you the same damned thing. Grr!
Ive been waiting 23 dasy now for 2 parcels. called HDN customer care and they give me 2 track and trace numbers, one worked the other did not.
one parcel has been sent back to the online store i ordered from the other has been sitting at Southampton depot since 9th October!! that is the closest they have been to delivering to me, 180 odd miles away!!!!
im trying to get on the HDN site now and it won’t load, have they finally gone bust? let us pray
HDNL are inexpensive that is why Amazon use them.Remember that Amazon offer a FREE DELIVERY SERVICE.
Their Drivers have to deliver a large number of parcels each day so please remember to have your parcel delivered to an address where there is someone available to accept it.
Also if you want a parcel collected please remember to package your parcel before you request a collection.
Do not expect the person collecting to wait why you package up your parcel once they have arrived at your door because you have been too lazy to package it up before hand.
“These McRejects have so far ruined 2 things by throwing them over the 6ft side gate”
Why didn’t you leave your gate unlocked so that the Driver could look for a safe location to leave your parcel ?
“Hi there ‘driver at present’ (or Richard Tongue). Stop complaining about being a delivery driver and just deliver the parcels. It’s not rocket science, it’s not taxing, it’s not even remotely difficult. You drive your van and post the parcels to the address written on the front of them. If you find it too hard, do something else.”
You are right it isn’t Rocket Science but you are wrong about it not being taxing and not being remotely difficult pehaps you should offer your services to HDN as a Driver and get an Education.
From this Monday they are increasing the maxium weight of the parcels from 25 kilos to 32.5 kilos with no reduction in the volume expected to be delivered and no more money.
“Ah, thanks for the comment “gogo logog”. I think we can all see why you’re a delivery driver with the worst delivery firm in the UK. Find school really hard did you? Get some pretty shit grades?”
1 in 4 parcels delivered to a Home Address in the United Kingdom are delivered by HDN.
That doesn’t sound like the Record of the Worst Delivery Firm in the United Kingdom does it ?
Hi Roger, I’d love to try to be a delivery driver for a day. Just last week I took a box of china round to my mother’s house, and as she wasn’t in I lobbed it over the fence smashing it to pieces on the floor… no wait, I didn’t do that. That would of been fucking stupid. That’s what a HDNL driver does.
You utter moron.
There’s not one, NOT ONE, positive comment on here from a Home Delivery Network customer. Wonder why that is?
There wasn’t anything in my comments that justified that comment.
YOU ARE THE MORON.
BYE.
No, you’re the moron, moron.
Haven’t you got some deliveries to screw up and some electrical items to dump in the rain?
Bye!
I have the same problem with these, when i order from ASOS they use to use DHL but then changed to home delivery network. On delivery options i always choose the next day one cus i want my stuff fast, and on 3 occasions they took 4 days to deliver. all of which were thrown over my back gate to. 2 other times they delivered them at 9pm! 9PM!!!!!
its a good job they pack the clothes in plastic seal because my packages were that wet the cardboard was falling apart when i picked it up.
shocking.
I can top all that, waiting for a parcel on next day delivery ordered 2 days ago. Actually sitting in office on hold to HDN as we speak (thanks to the person who posted the number!) and to make it worse i finished hours ago as it’s 6pm on a Friday night!
I initially rang to make sure it was still coming as I didn’t want to be sitting around waiting at work if it wasn’t coming and I could have made other arrangements.
Yes not a problem they say, it will be with you.
I call back at 5pm, oh it’s already been delivered and no one was there. Bull spit. No card left either, Ironically me and a friend working round the corner ordered the same and she is sitting in her office waiting and no one was there either. Convenient. But I have checked CCTV….shck horror…..no van.
I call back to confirm this, oh dear, he’s working til 7 so you can pick up from the depot. Now if he’s out til 7 and my parcel is in the van how do I collect it from the depot?
Oh it wasn’t loaded onto the van. Ah so it was never delivered really?
Oh yes what I mean is he has dropped it off, all the way back that quick? So if he’s working til 7 he can come back? No he can’t.
Oh so someone is ringing me back from the depot as I’m not allowed their number. So I wait and wait…someone will redeliver or we will tell you where to collect from.
Put on hold for half an hour to be told I can only go collect it and now it’s too late. Liars, Con artists. Nothing will be done about the con artist lying driver as this is standard to them.
so..i work for HDN, the call centre side of things, and to be honest i dread going into work. All we get is shit from irate customers, and we can’t do anything about it..we have to ask them to be patient until 7pm, inevitably they don’t get their parcel and then ring us back up and give us shit. what can i say? you ask us to get a manager, off i toddle. Manager tells me to deal with it, go back and say hes in a meeting. and so nothing gets resolved. We lost BT!!! YAYYY! the level of calls we get from angry BT customers has now gone down. to be fair though, BT NEVER sends us the parcels on time, and we’re on the recieving end, its hilarious. I’ve ordered things myself with the driver not knocking on the door, with either one of my parents ALWAYS in, and drops it off 4-5 doors down. Pointless.
I just started night trucking in there artics,I run empty trailers around for 2 hours 30 mins a night,sit and drink coffee for 3 hours 30 mins then go home….Wait for it….I and about 60 other peeps get paid a massive £1060,YES £1060 a fucking week for doing sod all,the company is owned by the Barclay brothers,ranked 47th richest people in the uk,but for how long??
I think the abuse directed at HDNL Drivers is out of order. Sure there are bad apples at all Firms.
To say they are poorly educated is wrong. I suspect many of the Contributors are Professional Twentysomethings who have a good income and work in a nice office.
Be warned this country is in a bad way and your circumstances might change. Many HDNL Drivers are ex Managers ( one I know is an ex Director ). Many have lost their “good” job but still have to find an income.
Driving jobs are fairly easy to get but the basic pay is poor. HDNL TARGETS are the problem – NOT THE DRIVERS. Imagine if you had to drive around highly urban areas and deliver at a rate of a parcel every 2 minutes. Its impossible unless you cut a few corners.
Without the little old ladies who stay at home waiting in and people who don’t work, virtually all the parcels would comeback. It is called Home Delivery – but people can’t/won’t stay in.
The frustration comes in regular complaints back to the Depot. Occasionally a Manager tries to chastise a Driver. The problem is the good drivers ( 99%) know there Areas so well that they can immediately give a reply ie. A Towerblock – no response to the intercom.
If the Company really wanted to offer genuine Customer Service it would reduce Drivers Ridiculous Targets. I have seen people quit after one day doing this job. Getting up at 4.30 am Clocking on at 6. Skilfully loading parcels onto your van in drop sequence ( nobody does it for you, theres no computer providing a list ) Shifting 130 – 200 parcels, and getting back by 4pm – TEN HOURS LATER. No lunch/no break. Oh yes encountering regular abuse from other motorists for blocking roads and the risk of personal attack. Maybe we are a bit mad for doing the job however, there isn’t alot of choice.
I hope none of you have been or are Customers of mine. I would like to think that our service improves. My advice is that you stay near the door of the delivery address, keep off the phone, turn your tv or music off and listen for the Driver. We do attempt the deliveries but can’t wait for ever for people to answer their doors.
Personal Abuse of fellow human beings is not on.
Guess what ……. I was run off the road this morning by a HDNL driver!!
F***ing w**kr didn’t even stop to see if I was ok or to apologise. I was livid. It happened right outside my sons’ school at 8.50am. He obviously didn’t take this into consideration when he began driving like an idiot.
Unlucky for him, an HDNL van comes up my street regularly, guess who’s gonna get blocked in?
And another nice example, about 1 hour ago (sure they ‘work ‘ late) a HDNL driver quietly slipped a card in my porch, without even bothering to ring the bell.
I am sure only some of the HDNL drivers are arseholes, but that ’some’ seems to be a quite significant number!
I’ve had a really bad day waiting for HDL to deliver my daughter’s new coat from BhS online – thinking it only ever happens to me, but reading this I actually feel better ! I’ve now got to wait for them to call me to arrange for ME to collect my parcel from them at my local depot. Like an earlier contriubutor – phoned up to ask where my parcel was only to be told it never actually left the depot. I will be telling BhS to drop HDL as their courier as soon as their customer care line opens in the morning.
Well, you’d have thought living over a shop wouldn’t have caused problems as the delivery advice was deliver to shop as I live above it.
Oh no: unable to deliver – carded.
Was it too difficult to go into the shop as there wasn’t even a card there. I find it staggering that all other post i’ve ever had recorded delivery and DHL and otherwise can go into a shop and deliver it for me but HDN can’t.
Be interesting to see what excuse I get from them tomorrow.
MrDaz,
When you start slagging shedloads of people off, don’t post pictures of your damaged items on the web, with your address blatently obvious on the front of the box.
Numpty!
Mark
When trying to be clever and point out that my address is in the photo, try doing a whois on this website, where my address is also visible. Just in case you don’t know what a whois means, my address is 17 Lambourne Close, Woodhouse Park, Manchester.
If you want to make threats referencing my address, pop round for a chat, twat.
I’m not trying to hide from you, or anyone. Although with the delivery record of Home Delivery Network, having my address clearly visible isn’t always enough. They’ll still fail to show up.
Not making threats, just think you’re a numpty.
I’m a bit concerned now because I was due to receive a Wii from Amazon today via HDN, but when I went to track my package this afternoon it said it had been returned to the depot.
I rang Amazon (as I could not find a number for HDN) and got through to a very helpful guy.
I told him that I had purposefully stayed in all day, and was wondering when/ if they had called.
He said that they had at 2.30pm but had no access.
I’m figuring they musn’t have rang the bell!?
He emailed them to deliver later today or tomorrow, but now I’m not holding out much hope!
At the moment it appears the Home Delivery Network aren’t even taking their own calls, as my obligatory two calls to their ridiculous 0870 number to query deliveries have been answered by people who either took my number and promised someone would call me back (they did….the next day…when I was out – you deliver when I’m out (or do you?), you now ring when I’m out, do you not like me HDN?…) or claimed they ‘didn’t even work for HDN’ – why are you answering their calls then? Are they simply too embarrassed at their shoddy service to come to the phone perhaps?
I cannot believe Amazon persist in using this monsterously inefficient company; if I am very lucky and someone calls me back tomorrow (not before 3pm mind, so they tell me) I will probably have to schlep all the way over to their Park Royal depot (around a 2 hour round trip with no car) only to find that they ignore me for a while,then insist I provide a further proof of ID other than my passport AND full driving licence, and then hand me over a parcel with which they have obviously been practising their keepie-uppie footie skills in the warehouse. Thank goodness I have decided not to opt for re-delivery this time round, as last time that involved staying in for an entire Saturday (having been assured this is when they would attempt to deliver, for the 3rd time), only to have them attempt delivery on the following Monday, when of course, like the normal person I am, I was back at work! They are absolute masters at leaving their mythical cards either in invisible places, or balanced on top of the door buzzers outside the block of flats (the postman manages to get mail actually to my door, why can’t they? Is it because they can’t be bothered perhaps, hmmm?)
My heart sinks when whenever I discover Amazon have used HDN to send…sorry, ATTEMPT to send something to me, there seems no rhyme or reason as to why they do this when really, Royal Mail are just fine (and the postman is friendly, the depot for collecting parcels is just down the road etc etc). BT seem overly fond of HDN too (3 weeks waiting for a home hub, never again!). It just makes me so cross that in a world (i.e. London, my little world) where most people work a 9-5 job, five days a week (with, in my world again, a good hour commute either way), companies such as Amazon and BT can’t find a more reliable delivery service that might be able to get goods to people without such a monumental struggle and argument.
Thank goodness for sites like these that let me vent!
You lot make me laugh….If you delivered to most of the UK’s postcodes day in day out,moving round millions of items,don’t you think you would balls up sometimes??…..Drivers (van) have targets to meet,around 200-250 per day,some sad low life twat on a counsil estate orders some crap off bid up tv or simalir wants the stuff next day but spends most off the day in the pub spending there dole money and complains when they dont get the parcel???
As for the HGV class 1 drivers who never mmet the public just truck from depot to depot,well they ARE very clever…Why ??…Well what do you earn for a 40 hour week with NO or little presure??…They earn £960 for that basic week,with just 2 hours overtime and a 10 hour shift on a Sunday they are on a whopping £1620 PER WEEK !!!!….So who is the moran now !!??
Have fun…just booking my cruise for 2009,well may as spend some of this lovely money I have been earning for the past 2 years !!
Recently got a delivery from Amazon via HDL. Needless to say I was at work. Phoned them to find out where the depot was so I could pick up as I usually do with Royal Mail – they said it’d be Wembley (quite far from my house), but they refused to provide the telephone number or opening hours. Said the depot would contact me. A few more delivery attempts followed depite me saying I’d be at work during the day so it’d be pointless. I didn’t bother phoning back, and they never phoned me. Didn’t even have to contact Amazon for them to refund me. First ever encounter with HDN, and it reminds me of 1970’s British Leyland customer service. Useless with a capital ‘U’.
To the ‘Top Driver In Crick Depot’, or Alan, as you’re known to your parole officer. I love the bit where you said:
Reckon we’ve just found out eh? You can’t even spell moron, you moron!
Balls up sometimes? Looks like you idiots actually deliver a parcel sometimes, but not often.
Working on the cruise ships now are we? Or are you selling the parcels you’ve stolen from people when you should have been delivering them?
About HDN delivering the parcels unfortunatly every shop that delivers seem to use them Littlewoods & wilkinson to name two. I had fragile parcels chucked over a 6 foot fence and now they have decided to just dump them on my front door step leaving no card to say this is what they have done and in only 3 months i’ve had over £300 worth of stuff stolen because they can not be bothered to either leave it with a neighbour or take it back. When they do manage to get me in I do actually have ago at the drivers and tell them not to but do they listen NO
Mr Daz…I think you are getting me mixed up with your freinds and FAMILY,as you can’t ever ever trust a MANC !
So look in the mirror b4 you doubt others….Knob !
My wife was waiting for two parcels last week; then she got carted into hospital on Thursday afternoon for an emergency caesarian. I was away all of Thursday and Friday, then picked up two HDN cards on Friday night saying that they’d already tried to deliver twice. However, the card promised that they wouldn’t send the goods back for five working days, so I had plenty of time to contact them.
My wife is out of hospital today, so i called their 0844 8111816 number. Oops, they’ve already sent back the parcels. Remember that their first delivery attempt was last Thursday afternoon, so they’d gotten rid of the parcels on the third working day after the original attempt. Even if they count Saturday, it’s not five working days.
I was mad about this, not only because my wife really needs the things in those parcels for her new baby but because the cards specifically say that you have five working days in which to contact them. But the customer service bloke — a fellow from Bolton called Asif Bhana — was mindblowingly unhelpful. No apology: he told me to contact the original supplier. When I told him that I wanted to speak to his boss about why they’d sent my stuff back early, he refused to let me speak to a supervisor. They were all answering calls, apparently. When I said I’d wait on the line until one became available, he told me that that wouldn’t be possible. Oh, and he couldn’t give me their names or an email address. Or a phone number or email address for the depot where the mistake had apparently been made.
I’m going to write to their Customer Service manager — Elaine Boyle, Director of Customer Services, Home Delivery Network Limited, Fallows Way Whiston, Merseyside L35 1RZ. (Asif didn’t tell me about her — I found her details on their website.) But I’d urge everyone here with complaints to send a letter or email to the company which actually sold them the goods in the first place. It makes no sense to attack the drivers, who are presumably doing the best job they can and/or are under the watchful eye of managers and supervisors who are responsible for the quality of the service. It may be a waste of time to write to Ms. Boyle and HDL themselves, though there might be a bit of catharsis in this. But what really needs to happen is a concerted effort to tell companies like Amazon, Marks and Spencer, Boots and John Lewis that HDL offers a miserable experience to their customers. That’s the only thing that will help either to change the HDL culture, or ensure that better suppliers get the big companies’ contracts.
Mr Daz i would love to know if there has been a degree set up yet in oxford for people to learn how to become an exact copy of your self. You are with out a doubt one of the most interesting people i have ever seen write on the internet. Do you in your spare time tour the comedy venues of the country? If so when are the dates and ticket sales? can i have a free one? You seem like such a lovely man. is this your job do you actually get paid for this? if so then wow you must be loaded there is a lot of money in writing on this shit website. If you just do this in your spare time then you must be lonely would you like a hug?
) Ill give you a cuddle you little bugger..
Love you lots Daz
Delivery boy x x x x
I was reading through the comments and i thought it can’t really be that bad..Boy was i wrong…..I ordered some books from the amazon… i come home today soaking wet from the rain to find a card which says my parcel is outside…..This made me think-outside….in the rain…..in a cardboard box…been there for hours….thrown over the fence…..
need i say more? when will amazon drop this company?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
[...] January this year I posted about the delivery company ‘Home Delivery Network’ (HDNL) and how they’d chucked my parcel over the side gate, which was 6 ft high, into a puddle [...]
Just had my second experience of HDN, they are completely useless. My BT Home Hub disappeared a few months ago into some black hole it would seem. Now they’ve been ‘trying’ to deliver a parcel for two weeks. The tracking says they have tried to deliver it NINE times (yeah right) left several cards, then to top it all off at the end says they can’t find my address. So where have they been trying to deliver it? Where have they left these cards? Are they incapable of phoning or asking for directions? Or is it just all lies?
I finally phoned up the local depot, and was told they don’t have any address for me, just my name….WHAT? To complete my bummer of an experience I’ve just looked and my latest Amazon order is being delivered by them. Oh crap. I think it’s VERY DODGY that their website gives out no phone numbers, you have to trawl through the internet to find them. Says it all really.
Just had a phone call from Amazon saying HDN can’t find my address and the package has been at their depot all week. So I phone up the local depot again. Woman answers the phone and throws a bit of a wobbler about how I found out their phone number, which I thought was hilarious. Yes, we know ways of finding you, you muppets.
Right, yesterday I spent ages giving the bloke at the depot detailed instructions on how to get here, got him to repeat them back several times along with my contact numbers just to make sure he’d actually listened to me and written it all down. All seemed fine and I was told they’d deliver today. Person I spoke to today says there is no record of me phoning up and giving directions. No big surprise there then. Gave detailed directions and contact numbers again.
Been told both parcels will definitely be delivered tomorrow. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Do these drivers have sat navs and mobile phones? Or do they just drive around aimlessly, tossing cards out at random intervals? How come every other delivery service has found my house, or phoned for directions when lost, but these idiots are incapable of doing anything. Grrrrrr….
Well, no parcels, no surprise. More lies. This company really needs to be investigated, they are a joke. I’ve already complained to Amazon and the company I purchased the other parcel from, told them I will instantly cancel any order that says HDNL will be delivering. So who else to complain to?
I nominate next week as
‘National Kick an HDNL Delivery Driver in the Shins Week. ‘
Yes, I’m very angry.
[...] delivery company Home Delivery Network (HDNL), who deliver for Internet retailer Amazon, have managed to annoy a great many people online. My [...]
Currently wating for a HDN parcel from Amazon…third day now…..did some tracking and it read ‘Attempted Delivery 20.14′ ‘returned to depot 20.18′
Something tells me you don’t work till 8pm and that it doesn’t take 4 minutes to get from my offices to your depot – in fact I know from my numerous trip there to pick up parcels that should have been collected, that it takes well over an hour. Did someone run out of time, hmmm? Couldn’t be bothered?
I wish Amazon didn’t use you and just stuck my little book into the post box, I really do.
Whenever HDN deliver our parcels they always put them in the blue recycling bin (ok I suppose it’s a bit better than having them thrown over a 6ft high gate), but this even includes days when the binmen are coming (luckily I’ve always managed to retrieve them before the binmen). The worst thing with HDN is that they don’t even wait 5 minutes for us to come to the door. They just spend 5 minutes stood outside writing the card out and then post it through the letterbox. If they’d have knocked on the door a lot of the time I’d have got there faster. It’s even worse when they’ve just emptied our bin and they put the item in the bin ‘cos then we’ve got to reach right into the bottom to get it out.
Although there is one good thing about HDN compared to Royal Mail, at least they seem to get the right house. A lot of the time with Royal Mail we get loads of letters that are destined for the other side of town, or houses around the block, and a lot of the time it’s not an easy mistake. I can understand if it’s been sorted into the wrong persons bag, and he doesn’t do the route on the other side of town, but surely it’s more professional to return private and confidential letters back to the office, than to just pick someones random letterbox to shove them through! I am constantly concerned about where my letters are going, I have now gone paperless on all of my bills that I can to ensure the letters aren’t getting posted to random houses.
@MH
“When you start slagging shedloads of people off, don’t post pictures of your damaged items on the web, with your address blatently obvious on the front of the box.
Numpty!”
If you wanted to find the website owner’s address it isn’t particularly difficult given there is a picture of the author, as well as a short bio. Anyway we are dealing with HDN not the russian maffia. They clearly do not have the wherewithal to arrange any retribution. Any company that lets the first page of Google remain littered with negative comments clearly doesn’t engage online anyway.
My friend works for a very large online retailer an admits that HDN are shit, I think the only reason they get used is that they must be the cheapest. It is high time Amazon, ASOS and whomever pulled the plug on these jokers and started using the Royal Mail again even if it does cost slightly more.
Just to back up my fellow drivers, i have worked for HDNL for many years. This company does not give two shits about their work force or their customers. We go through about 500 parcels in a morning to get out just our target . They print off about 100 barcodes that have to go that day (which is a extra fee.Which will not turn up on time anyway) From 6.30am it could take you up 3hrs to sort these 100 parcels out. Just by matching up the barcodes.The only way this company is going to listen. Is for everyone to go on gate. And for customers to boycott the company. And then it might get better for everyone involved, customers included.
Hi Rebel, that’s the first intelligent thing I’ve heard a driver of HDNL say! You’re quite right, if the company is flawed from the top and is putting impossible pressure on its drivers, then drivers will leave for other, better organised, companies.
Perhaps some form of boycott would be in order. Let’s hope so eh?
I found this site because I have had trouble with these delivery people.
They said they delivered my parcel 2 days ago. To my address! Even though no one was home, it was not left with a neighour and there was no card through the door. They insist it was delivered and signed for by someone named Barry!
I called thedepot who said theywould speak to the driver and call me back. They called back and said the driver was coming back with a 2nd parcel today so would bring my original parcel as well.
How can they do this if (as they claim) before I complained about it my parcel had been signed for by Barry?
Sorry if this doesn’t make a lot of sense pretty stressed!
The company I work for uses HDN to varying degrees of success. I do believe that there are good drivers out there (judging by the good driver emails we recieve) but I also get to hear and see first hand some of the goddamn stupid things they do when trying to deliver parcels. I’ve seen pictures of parcels that have been left in doghouses (complete with dogs) which have been torn apart and the contents destroyed. I constantly place free of charge re-orders for customers who have had their parcels *ahem* stolen or *ahem* lost, and it is compant policy that they must get a signature or the parcel will be returned. So why then would a HDN driver leave a parcel that clearly states ‘FOC Re-Order – MUST GET SIGNATURE!!!!!’ outside a building society in the middle of Northampton at 6.30pm clearly when it’s closed. And then expect it to be there the next day? Now don’t get me wrong, it if wasn’t for them half of my days work would dissapear but i’m expecting a package from them any day now and i’m slightly apprehensive. I’m just hoping that because it is being delivered to the head office of the company I (and I assume them too as they have our contact) that it should all arrive without hitch. Another thought has just occured to me though. We do use them to deliver all of our orders, and the only product we deliver is Wine. Now a lot of our cases go missing, so i’m thinking that the reason they seem to consistantly perform so shoddily may be because they are always hungover! Just an idea anyway
The reason why a lot of cases of your wine “go missing” is because your customers are “trying it on” – and you’re daft enough to believe them! End of story.
Yes Matt, his customers ‘trying it on’… nothing do with the drivers for HDNL stealing it. Not like there’s any complaints on this site about Home Delivery Network. Oh no, there is, loads.
I had the misfortune to use “Home delivery network” What a shower of shite they are and this is the email I sent to Elaine Boyle managing director
Elaine,
can I take this opportunity to tell you firstly how crap your website is, It doesn’t give you any telephone or email contact details. (I wonder if its because you would be inundated with complaints)
Secondly can I tell you about yet another let down your delivery company has bestowed upon me.
I ordered a top for my partner from Republic for Christmas and was rather hoping it would arrive in time for Christmas. Not a lot to ask for when it was ordered 3 weeks before Christmas.
But alas no I wasn’t going to get it in time for Christmas because the poor service of your company ensured I wasn’t going to get it.
I checked my email today to see why my order hadn’t arrived and had an email with a track number on it and a link to check your website. On checking your website it said “Delivery attempted could not gain access” As you would expect there was no contact number to chase it up. (No of course you wouldn’t expect that unless it was your website)
I tried Yell.com to get the Warrington depot number nut there was only a Scotland one there so I rang them. The chirpy person on the other end said only one attempt was made to deliver the parcel then it was returned to sender, she couldn’t understand why as they should have attempted a second delivery at least.She then gave me the number to the Warrington depot.
I rang the Warrington depot only to be told that they had returned it to Republic.
I rang Republic and told them about your very poor service, they apologised and said they would send out another. I told them not to bother if they are going to use such a poor company as yourselves and asked for a refund.
I also mentioned to republic that if they googled your company they would come across several forums with thousands of comments about the disgusting service “Home delivery network” give to their customers. Can I suggest you do the same and See what the general opinion is about your company.
Please don’t respond with a ” I am sorry but this is an unusual level of service for us” Because I know its not. I have ordered several items from Amazon and had nightmares with everyone of them, a couple of occasions it was easier to drive to Warrington to collect myself.
Can I also point out that there wasn’t a card left to say delivery was attempted and there wasn’t on any of the previous occasions. I live on the ground floor of an apartment block and have my own front door and letterbox.
Lets just hope none of your Christmas presents are coming via “Home delivery network”
I would say I look forward to your response to this email but I doubt you will even bother.
In response to one of the previous comments – if only it were true that Amazon would stop using HDNL.!!!
I’ve seen forums with complaints about them and amazon going back to 2006!!!
I find myself agreeing with the majority of the posts on this site (except for the marginally illiterate rants of the defensive HDNL dirvers – whom I feel for, as it is evident that it is pushy managers that appears to be the driving factor for their ineptitude)
This is the second time that I have had a problem with this company, the first time was when I ordered a set of GHDs from ASOS for my wife, which were discovered by my bins having been dropped over my 6ft side gate and left in the elements for a week (no card put through door, the tracking website revealed they had been sitting there in the rain for the week)
Normally, I ignore one negative experience with a company, but these tools managed it again.
I recently ordered a Wii (hard drive inside, which everyone knows is notoriously susceptible to knocks) from Amazon, who used this company to “deliver” it. In the past, Amazon have used CityLink, who have been exemplary in their service.
I came home to find a card through my door stating that the parcel had been delivered ‘over gate’ (i.e. chucked over my side gate).
So i got a little angry with them. Phoned the number on the card and had a lovely, but non productive chat with a nice lady who apologised profusely for five minutes, but offered no resolution except for me to get onto Amazon. I did this, and Amazon stated that HDNL is great normally (which I find difficult to believe having read all the negative comments on this site) but offered a new Wii and a free collection of the old one.
Why are Amazon putting up with this crap? Surely this is damaging their reputation, and as such they should be putting pressure on HDNL’s managers to increase the quality of their service, and not just the speed. Frankly, I’d rather get a product a few days later than have to go through the shit of getting a new one re-ordered.
They thought it might be nice to leave my package in the recycling box right next to the front door.
It was incredibly well hidden from the street via the simple tactic of tipping the box onto its side. How could any potential thief have got the better of that?
HDNL are delivering until Wed 24th, ALL depots will be clearing out ALL parcels, or so we’ve been told. Depots re-open next monday. Saves you a phone call.
Mr. Daz
Being new to the internet I came across your site on HDNL. I posted a response on the site marked “Why does AMAZON persist with HDNL” then I discovered this page. WOW you really do have a bee in your bonnet don’t you. I wish to reply to just a few of the people who are on this page and I am in no way going to get into any arguments or slanging matches with anyone, I am going to have my say and that’s it.
Firstly Mike Heslop:- This sounds a fantastic company, timed deliveries, ringing customers prior to delivery, everything a delivery company should be. Unfortunately the poor HDNL drivers have upwards of 150 deliveries a day, phones are not supplied by HDNL and if the driver uses his own mobile {if he can find the time} he will not be re- embursed.
Diego:- {with apologies to king frank} HDNL do deal with parcels from abroad. Unfortunately the ONLY thing HDNL adds to the parcel is the HDNL tracking number{barcode} the recipients details{usually on a customs manifest} has been hand written by the sender. This means in the vast number of cases the address is practically unreadable, it looks like it’s been written by a 3 year old due to the fact it has been written by someone who doesn’t speak English let alone write it, {not a racist comment Mr. Daz just fact} no wander parcels get sent back.
Kanna:- I find it very difficult to believe an HDNL delivery driver would take the time to walk down someone’s path – walkway or whatever, stand there for at least a minute writing on an out card then take the parcel back to the van and spend another minute inputting “failed delivery” into his scanner then affix a red failed attempt sticker on the parcel instead of knocking on the door.
EXAMPLE — I attempted a delivery of a lawn mower. carried it to front door and knocked. Customer owned 2 dogs that immediately started barking{loudly} other side of door. Knocked again, dogs still barking. walked down garden path to shed looking for safe place to leave parcel, shed locked. Tried nieghbour, not in. Knocked again {dogs still at it}. wrote out card saying attempted delivery. Dogs nearly took my fingers off when I posted card. Carried box back to van sat for couple of minutes filling in paperwork. Total time spent at address absolute minimum of 6 to 8 minutes. Drove to next delivery. When returned to depot customer had rung in to complain saying waited in all day and driver never knocked. The depot supervisor {who still believed the customer is always right} said I obviously didn’t do my job right, {a job I had been doing since the supervisor was a snot nosed kid in infant school} and I would have to go back out with parcel and re deliver it, one minute later I had clocked off and was on my way home — go figure.
Biggles:- correct. The problem with HDNL is the management. HDNL take on more and more contracts knowing full well they have not got adequate staff and resources to deliver the contracts they already have. Plus the contracts dictate to HDNL how they want thier parcels deivered when it should be the other way round.
Kevin:- I’m sorry Kevin but if I was waiting for an important delivery I WOULD have met the driver at the door. Firstly to ensure that, had a mistake been made, it would be corrected there and then and you would have got your delivery, secondly as most people in flats tend to be out, if it wasn’t addressed to you then you could have done the driver and the person it was addressed to a favour by taking the parcel in for them {if they are out} as I’m sure you would expect your nieghbour to do for you.
Jay Lockwood:- read this from Jay and inwardly digest, he talks a lot of sense. Don’t shoot the messengers, complain to the bosses of HDNL
Mr. Daz:- I respectfully suggest you get over your unfortunate episode with HDNL and move on. whatever you may think of HDNL your experience is NOT the norm. In my humble opinion it was most likely an agency driver who couldn’t give a monkey’s {of which there are many}. HDNL need to become aware of these people so they don’t use them again, unfortunately that person will more than likely just be sent to deliver for another company by the agency because they usually don’t give a monkey’s either. bad deliveries, your not the first person it’s happened to and I doubt you will be the last because of the above. Having said that I was once told many moons ago that “Always remember when dealing with the general public. They only remember the bad times never the good” in other words you can spend years loyally serving them, bending over backwards for them, putting yourself out for them, but the fist time you slip up{whether it’s your fault or not} they won’t let you forget it EVER
That’s it. Thank you and goodbye….
Ex HDNL driver
Monostatos, if my experience with Home Delivery Network was a one off, there wouldn’t have been 125 comments on this post (126 now). Guess we’re all just ‘one off’ occurrences eh?
I’m a driver myself, (not for hdn, but have done done one off jobs for them)
home delivery network specalises in delivery to homes, apparently, at the end of the day you can’t complain if you’ve ordered something to your house, and then been in work during its delivery, most people do this, this is why things get throw nover the fence, you have no idea how frustrating it is to spend a day delivering parcels just leaving notes as everyone is out, i myself only get paid on delivery, so everytime i have to leave a card i just drove all that way for free, if your working, order it to your workplace, if thats not an option, pay the extra and get it delivered on saturday.
and for those complaining about parcels not arriving, do you per chance live in a flat/apartment, or a house in the middle of noware with asome obscure house name like, ty derwen (a very popular name i deliver to tons of them) and then not bother putting the house name on the house, or anyware from the road>? some people think we are mind readers, its not always obvious to drive down a unmarked road which is around a mile long as it turns out its your driveway, with no indication from the lane that there is anything down there, its flipping hard work.
i’ve had to return parcels just before christmas, usuallu because the address is wrong, or the postcode is wrong, on the last day before christmas, i had a parcel with a nextday service on, i was annoyed that i had to take it back, they had cleveryly written 01234 as their phone number (you know when your order stuff, the phone number is there so when we can’t find your house we phone you…) the postcode took me to a street with around 14 houses in, all numbered, there was only a housename on the parcel, asked a few people, even tried the local post office, no one had heard of it, i don’t know if its got there now, but all i could guess is that the postcode was wrong, now tell me how exactly i delver that parcel? in the office they tried searching for a number, but as the postcode seems to of been wrong we had no way of contacting the person, so we had to send it back, we don’t want to send things back, but if something is unreachable then its not our fault.
[...] and the posts about their company, such as this post where over 100 people have commented on Home Delivery Network’s shoddy service and their inability to deliver [...]
Well tonight is my last night at HDNL,over the last few weeks I have been taking secret films on my mobile,this includes the staff at DROITWICH damaging wet items on perpose so the scan label cant be read,staff in Theale the wine saying for example 768 cases,when there is really 745 say,MANAGERS at CRICK bluntly loading there cars up with tv’s you name it,total crooks,I have video footage to put these crooks away for a long time,I may even put it on here if you allow me Mr Daz,but the best….My lorry returned to CRICK at 4am last week with about 130 parcels on from Tesco.com,I was told to load them into a hire van round the van,I said I am not loading/unloading as this is something I am not employed todo,the MANAGER and 2 shunters loaded them into this hire van and the guy drove off !….PURE THEFT !….
Hey ‘Anon’, if you have videos that depict drivers damaging parcels, then send me your email address via the contact form and I’ll reply to you. You can email me any video files and I’ll post them for you.
Let’s see what you’ve got!
Couldn’t agree with this post more: I ordered a laptop for use on a business trip. It was supposed to arrive the day before I left, unfortunately Home Di**head Network must have spent all of 30 seconds trying to deliver the parcel before leaving! All they left was a note written in illegible felt pen saying “first delivery attempt, require signature” and a date on a half torn piece of paper. No tracking id number, contact details etc. How the hell do they expect anyone to find out what has happened to their parcels if they don’t leave contact details. I see from all the unhappy posts that come up on Google that I’m not alone, I just wish more online retailers would stop using these jokers!!!
Just a quick comment – personally i’ve never experienced a flaw with HDN, receiving several packages per week from them. Our local driver is polite, courteous and very careful with the goods. All I can say is don’t be too quick to poorly judge a good, experienced company like HDN – it’s usually just the odd driver that can’t be arsed to do the job properly.
As far as contacting the company goes, it is difficult, however. The following link may be useful:
http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1138109855
Comments appreciated, but it’s like any other business – they do look, bluntly, absolutely shite, if the staff don’t do their job. It’s like being ignored by a cashier in Asda – not the company’s fault, just some moron who should give their job up to someone who wants one.
Dude, i feel your pain.
I too am a sufferer of the worst luck in the world. If anything can go wrong it usually does with me!!
I was just googling the number for the carrickfergus depot and seen this page. ha! rant city!
but i concur! what a pile of cunts!
My experience seems pretty typical for HDN. My parcel was dispatched on 08/01 per my email from asos.com but only turned up on the tracking website on 13/01 whereupon a delivery had been attempted but my address was inaccessible. No card or other notification was left indicating a delivery attempt. This was very strange- although there’s an outside gate to the property it and the pedestrian gate are almost always open and the instructions for using the intercom are simple and written above it.
That was last Thursday- 15/01- and no attempt had been made to redeliver or otherwise notify me by HDN or asos. Having found the depo number through google I explained that to access my flat all they needed to do was use the intercom- the instructions are written above it (press ‘P’ and then flat number. My flat number was the delivery address). Fair enough, operator says this will be passed onto the driver and they’ll try again tomorrow.
The next day I steel myself eight hours of waiting in a tiny apartment, check the tracking number and… attempted delivery the previous afternoon, no access to building. This wasn’t mentioned to me when I phoned the previous day. That afternoon, after receiving a delivery from DHL through the intercom system the tracking website was registering a failed attempt to deliver at 11.30. While I was in the apartment. I can hear the intercom clearly in any room, so no attempt was made to use it. I phoned HDN again and explained what had happened. The girl on the other end, who was pleasant, explained that he was a new driver and she’d write out the instructions really clearly and they’d attempt to deliver it tomorrow. After mulling over whether I could spend another whole day waiting inside I phoned them back and asked if I could pick it up from the depo: which was fine, and I was assured the item was still there.
After driving to Carrickfergus in rush hour traffic I finally get near the industrial estate she described and phone them to double check where it is. There was an out of office message- our operating hours are 9 to 6. This was at ten to six. Carrickfergus is out of the way (for me). The traffic going into Carrickfergus after four is at a stand still.
So, after returning home to nurse my disappointment I check the tracking website again so I can complain to asos. Two attempted deliveries- no access. These were both while I was in the house and after my second phone call explaining the intercom system (which is clearly explained in big letters on the main gate).
To top it off, to get it redelivered to another address- a business address in the centre of town less than 10 minutes drive away- HDN need to send it back to asos who will then send it back to them. Even when there is one depot for the whole of Northern Ireland. And the delivery driver’s route is, presumably, more than 1 square mile.
I’m looking forward to seeing what excuse HDN will cook up for not being able to deliver to one of the biggest shops in the city centre.
I love the way people are so quick to slate off and blame people but calling them ‘cunts’ is going too far. I can assure you that at the depot i work at alot of people work damn hard at trying to do a great job and that can be said for alot of the company.What no one puts on here is that with a successful level of service at approx 99 %, this doesn’t get a mention.If for example, to round the figures down, HDNL delivers 100 million parcels a year that still means 99 million successful deliveries but unfortunately it still means a million less successful deliveries.The times when we go out of our way and make deliveries far beyond the service level agreements that we have,they dont get a mention or times when one of our drivers in the north saved someones life,that dont get a mention. You are all so quick to condemn and blame.This is peoples jobs and livlihoods you are talking about and i can assure you that most people within HDNL care and work very hard to meet the commitment to the customer. Your lives must be sad and unfulfilling that you have to complain all the time. As for you Daz,you really are a prized,stuck up your own faggot arse cunt who needs to get a life.
‘hdn employee’, you really are a typical Home Delivery Network employee aren’t you? You try ever so hard to defend your company, say that you work hard and that HDNL have a high service level, but you just can’t avoid calling customers (which I am) a ’stuck up your own faggot arse cunt’.
That’s a typical HDNL employee attitude. Your offensive behaviour towards customers always surfaces, that’s why Home Delivery Network are so maligned online, their employees are just racist scum who find it amusing to destroy packages and insult customers.
Well done for enforcing the stereotype!
If anyone wants to email ‘hdn employee’ about his comments, they can do so at twinsmith49@yahoo.co.uk – tell him MrDaz sent you!
Well what a little beauty this thread is!
Just to reinforce the general feeling of this thread.. HDNL really do not give a FUCK about their workforce, or their customers for that matter. Ive worked for HDNL for the last 6 years as a driver and i can honestly say times have never been as bad as this.
Since HDNL formed ( Business Express and Reality merged around the 2004 mark i think?) things have seriously gone from bad to worse. The company have made so many attempts to cut costs, and each time have only succeeded in losing more money!. Just to illustrate this, about 2 years ago, the big cats in head office decided they needed to cut costs, so made a bunch of drivers redundant, some of which saw upto 60k payouts – smart move you would think? ERR no! About 3 months after the cuts, most of, if not all the ex drivers were creeping up again working for agencies, as they had made too many people redundant…yes thats right, they gave a large chunk of the workforce around a million pounds between them, then invited them to come back to work
lol
The company has been running at a loss since its beginning. Thus far HDN has not made any profit of any sort and has solely relied on cash from its shareholders to keep it afloat – this has lead to the whole company being ran on pretty much a shoestring, and is why customers are beginning to see poorer and poorer service…at least in my opinion. The only way HDNL are going to improve is if they throw all the current board down an elevator shaft, and restructure the managerial team using people that know what they are doing! HDNL have what is probably the best client base a delivery company could have, names like ASOS, AMAZON, ARGOS, Littlewoods, Tesco, Next, M&S, Republic, Barrats. They are all high profile clients, which send a lot of traffic our way, is just poor organization and management which means the company is so inefficient its laughable.
As its been said by another ex driver, you can bend over backwards for the company day after day, but the SECOND you do something wrong youre OUTTA there. Ive seen people get handed final written warnings for scuffing vans on lamposts – we drive all day, everyday, accidents are going to happen, but i guess the managerial team see things differently.
Last year i saw an employee sacked for going to his best friends funeral! as only “immediate family can justify absence” it was only after he threatened to goto the newspapers with his story he was re-instated….BUT! if you win your job back, you then go on the “naughty list” as we like to call it at out depot. When youre on the naughty list, the mangers will search for ANYTHING to dismiss you, and surely enough he was fired a month later for something equally as trivial.
A lot of the van fleet arent even road legal! Ive driven vans before where the seats have literally come away from the floor – when you go round corners you actually have to move your feet to support yourself. There was an episode a while back where one of the vans had failed an MOT, but was still sent out to work as it still had 2 days mot before the current certificate expired, even though it had been deemed unroadworthy.
I can understand the frustrations of some people on here, throwing large boxes full of expensive gear over a fence isnt really on, and is certainly not something i would do personally, but id like to assure you that there ARE those of us who try our best to do a good job. I regularly receive cards, presents, tips, cuppas and all sorts off my customers because they know i work fucking hard!! Even though we aren’t supposed to enter a customers property, I regularly carry flat pack furniture up staircases and have no problems carrying heavy items into customers houses, especially if they are elderly or pregnant women. I once even installed an old ladys TV for her aswell
None of this ever gets rewarded, instead we return to the depot and get a gobful off the cockhead evening manager about bringing 5 carded parcels back after ive delivered 243 items. Bearing in mind my quota is 137 it really doesnt motivate you to put any extra effort in at all.
HDNL on the whole employs a very able workforce that are willing to do the job properly, but inadequate equipment ( i waited over a year for a company issue raincoat), unrealistic targets and unfair working conditions means drivers have little choice but to cut corners, which then brings a torrent of customer complaints down upto you. Basically if youre a driver youre in a in a lose:lose situation.
……….i cant wait to get the fuck out lol.
Ive worked for this company for over 15 years . Yes some of us are complete cowboy drivers and yes some of the customers are complete cunts but both sides are in the wrong. What idiot orders an item knowing full well they are not gonna be in? If I order an item from any supplier I make sure Its going get delivered. Some of you wanker customers ignore the first and second cards that are put through your doors so what the fuck do u expect us to do? If we take your parcel back u moan! if we leave it u moan! You fucking neighbours are fed up taking your shit in but hey blame the driver! You are to blame. On the other hand the management impliment head office directives which means that we are caught between a rock and a hard place. All the driver wants to do is knock on your door and make the delivery but because u failed to be in we are told to leave the parcel safe or with a neighbour , some drivers will not try neighbours becase their targets are far too high and to do so would make a long day even longer so they do the next option which is a safe delivery. That means leaving anywhere that is out of view. It doesnt include throwing over side gates but its a practice thats been going on for many years in which the management will only act on a complaint. Infact I have to say many of my customers actually ask me to do it ! Ive seen worse things done by parcel farse oops i mean parcel force.
Bottom line is this u want your parcels then make arrangements before hand. If you cant at least give the guy a chance and leave a note where u want it put.
Lastly most HDN drivers will leave a parcel then return it to the depot ,why? beause if you take more than 5 back out of 200 u get the third degree and threatened with the sack or loosing the route to another driver who WILL leave them. 2 PEOPLE TO BLAME , U THE “CUSTOMER” AND THE “HDN MANAGEMENT” ! THE DRIVER IS A FUCKING PAWN !
Have you considered reading the Peter Principle, a new ‘ology about incompetence, and why it exists. Get it from Amazon. The irony may be too much for you to take?
the Home Delivery network have found their final position of incompetence in the world around us.
J : )
Recently we were sent an e-mail from somebody who *really* doesn’t like HDNL. Now personally I think the guy who sent this needs to think about what he’s saying really. You can’t really say that an entire company condones the behavior of a member of staff, just becuase they happen to use them for their deliveries. I think if you delved into any company or workplace all over the word you would uncover some skeletons that people wouldn’t want you to know. So while I agree that it is a terrible thing which has happened, I had to marvel at this guys reasoning that all companies that are dealing with HDN must therefore condone these actions. I would anyone elses thoughts on the matter, I have copied the e-mail below:
Dear Sir/Madam!
I am writing to let you know that i am very disappointed to learn that you have in the past been using Home Delivery Network to deliver your wines to customers.
One of the managers in this company’s Omagh, Northern Ireland depot is (Name Removed). On 18th September 1988 this man shot dead his 18 year-old ex-girlfriend and her mother in a fit of temper, and then hand-cuffed himself to the steering wheel of the car he was driving and drove off the end of a pier into the sea. He was taken from the car and taken to hospital where he recovered. In court he was found guilty of causing these deaths but pleaded insanity and was sentenced to be detained in a mental hospital in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, from where he subsequently escaped, and is now living and working in Northern Ireland despite being wanted for the killings.
As a manager he earns a bonus from the company profits – so for every single case of wine which this company delivered for Virgin wines, (Name Removed) makes a profit.
Do you think it is right that this situation continues? This thug left 2 women dead.
At the beginning of March i will be printing literature aimed at customers of all companies associating with Home Delivery Network by using this company for their deliveries. the companies involved will be named on this literature, and the fact that they know of this situation will be mentioned.
If i do not hear from you to clarify whether or not you are still using Home Delivery Network, i will assume that you are quite happy to be named on this literature as using Home Delivbery Network and thereby approving of the actions of (Name Removed).
I await your response,
(Name Removed)
_____________________________________
It’s madness really isn’t it!
Typical conversation with HDN.
“I have a card through my door, it says you have tried to deliver, I was at work”
HDN – “We will deliver again tomorrow”
“I will be at work, I work every weekday like thousands of other people”
HDN – “Can you collect”
“Your depot is 40 miles away, it sort of defeats the object of shopping online if I have to travel 40 miles. Can you deliver Saturday, I don’t mind paying a surcharge”
HDN – “No, we don’t deliver in that area on Saturday”
“Can you change the delivery address to my work”
HDN – “We can’t guarantee to deliver during working hours”
“Can you leave the item in a safe place by the side of the house”
HDN – “No, the item may not be safe so we cannot leave it, could we leave it with a neighbour”
“My neighbour works”
HDN “How can I help you then?”
“Well, you can’t help me can you, because you are a totally inept delivery company”
I’ve ended up cancelling my virgin wines, after the last attempted delivery took 5 attempts and had a broken bottle of wine. Flipping hopeless.
Every time we order from Amazon now we pray it won’t come HDN.
Good grief, they are at it again. I’ve had a few experiences with HDN since I first posted on here, all bad I might add. Now yet another parcel has gone astray. Every single time I’ve ordered something to be delivered by them it goes missing and they’ve fed me a load of bullshit. I’ve stopped ordering from companies I know use HDN, but it seems more and more are starting to use them. I am slowly running out of places on the internet to do my shopping. I am sick to death of chasing after them. I’m sick of runing up my phone bill. I’m sick of speaking to the rude morons who work there.
I do almost all my shopping online, and I’ve never had problems with any other delivery company. My husband and I both work from home, so are almost always in. We live in a detached house, with a large sign at the bottom of the drive. During the day we can see from our windows any car coming up our drive. Our dogs bark if they hear a car, so even if I’m distracted I know someone is there. So I know the delivery drivers have not been to my house all the times they say they have. They are liars. That’s the bit that annoys me the most – the blatant lies. Why do they do it? The amount of cards they say they’ve left at our house is astounding. The number of times they say they’ve tried to deliver each parcel to my house is quite flabbergasting. STOP BLOODY FIBBING! I’d have slightly more respect for them if they told the truth, ‘Well I couldn’t be arsed to deliver to you today, so I’ll see how I feel tomorrow, but it’ll probably be in a fortnight if I’m honest, or if I like what’s in your parcel I’ll just keep it myself.’
I just can’t stand dishonest, deceitful, bare faced liars like HDNL.
I was just thinking, a list of companies using HDNL would be a very useful thing. Then we can all avoid them like the plague. My latest missing in action parcel is from Tesco Direct, so they can get stuffed. Already stopped using HalfCost and Amazon.
I HATE THEM!!
they either just didnt check the address they were posting my packages to or they never delivered them and just said they did to the company. and ran off with them.
i got next day delivery and was waiting for a week before i emailed some hate to the online store. to find out that it had already been ‘delivered’.
they need to get shut down…
what company doesnt have a phone number to call.. clearly not an honnest one they must make so much money each year ripping people off.
so so angry!
Had the same thing as many others today, tracked the parcel online and it says “Unable to Deliver – Carded”, there has been no card left and it is being delivered to my work where there is 25 people around all day long as well as a huge loading bay and a goods entranced constantly manned.
I rang Amazon and they said they would arrange for it to be delivered tomorrow and gave me the number of HDNL to ring, I rang HDNL and they insisted that the driver had been and he then read the address back to me, correct address, blatant lie about the driver, we will see if it comes tomorrow, but, I doubt it.
This is the second time this has happened to me using Amazon’s couriers, I have now told Amazon I am stopping using them to purchase larger items because HDNL are useless.
Apart from the odd few mishaps with HDN in the past we used to have it pretty good, but as of late we must have a new delivery guy (or 2?) because out of 15 parcels ordered since Christmas only 6 have been received.
I am disabled, but have been able to get the door when it has rung, hence the 6 items received, every other time no one has attempted to knock and there has been no card nor any sign of a parcel.
Now with three highly sensitive dogs and me here 24/7 I doubt they even came on to the drive!
I am at a complete loss and trying to sort out this mess is causing me no end of grief. I just feel used and targeted almost.
IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBS WITH HOME DELIVERY NETWORK PLEASE CALL 0161 333 3699
i was supposed to get a parcel delivered from amazon by these idiots and they have seriously took the piss in delivering it to me. whats worse is that they have written on the tracking record that delivery was attempted when i have recieved no such contact from them, i have been a customer of amazon for a very long time but have never come across such stupid delivery service and the depot where they are keeping my parcel is only 13 miles from where i live so it cant be that hard to deliver a small package……..seriously amazon needs to sort this mess out.
Some say they actually employ staff to post responses on websites like this such as the bad feeling towards them from the public…
I ordered 2 tv ane and one television stand from Cdiscount. They dispatched quickly and i was assured next days delivery. True to their word parcels arrived via HDNL who managed to drop the tv on the floor. Guess what one of the t.v. was missing. I used the tracking service and saw that all 3 items were loaded onto the van at the same time. So how did they manage to loose it. After speaking to CDiscount they advised me that they could not phone the company as they had no telephone number but emailed them. they came back the following day to say my parcel was now in Ireland. I again check HDNL tracking service and it showed the parcel was not at Olbury but Droitwich Spa meaning it had to pass my house to get there and the it was shipped to Ireland. i cannot get any response from anyone despite emails. This tv is due to be flown out to Pakistan tonight. What are the chances of compensation aginst HDNL and how could they have managed this. It is a complete mystery to everyone
PLEASE RING 0161 333 3631 OR 0161 333 3699
WITH ANY PROBLEMS WITH HDNL THIS IS A DIRECT LINE THROUGH TO THERE TRANSPORT OFFICE THANK YOU
Very entertaining thread. Some real horror stories there, and I was a bit worried about the Wii I’d ordered from Amazon when I found this.
However, in the interests of fair feedback, I have to say my delivery was seamless. The tracking site kept me up to date with what was happening and it was delivered ahead of schedule, at 6pm by a very friendly bloke. I can’t fault the service!
I have just encountered HDN for the first time for a delivery from Marks and Spencers.
Apparently, I phoned the depot before they even tried to deliver it to hold on to the parcel then return it! And we all know how difficult it is to find a phone number for them! What an absolute lie.
Forget delivering to the wrong address, they could not even be bothered to put it on the van !
Why are these big companies still using these idiots ?
Hey all,
The transport number will get you guys nowhere you will be getting through to the sortation depots who will not be able to help you in the least. If you need to make a complaint about HDNL they will email your complaint through to the relevant HDNL depot and will guarantee a reply within 24hrs.
what you guys dont realise is that behind the scenes we aim to have 100% customer service and any complaint received will be dealt with promptly, but unless you complain to the seller of the goods we will never know what the driver did,then we cant do anything about it to rectify the situation.
HDNL are an internet based company which we only deal with the seller of the goods we do not deal with the public direct,but when we do we try and help them 100%.
The other factor is that the sellers place an estimated day of delivery on each parcel,unless that date matches your delivery date then the parcel will stay in the depot until the date the seller gave us to deliver arrives.
With regard to the Mode of Deliveries (how your parcel was delivered),you need to contact your sellers and let them know whats happened they will then immediately contact the relevant depots.
Hope this has helped, i do know your all going to bombard me with complaints but hey someone has to defend the depots who do a great job!
I’ve just had my second delivery experience with these guys and no surprises they’ve lived up to their reputation again.
The first delivery, back in December was for a Wii-fit from Amazon. We returned home from work to find it sat in the driveway, in the rain, in clear view from the street. I’m amazed it (a) was still there after being delivered in the morning and (b) actually worked after the soaking it got.
The second experience was yesterday, when £500’s worth of camera gear arrived from Amazon. This time, the driver left the package out of sight of the road, but the torrential rain we got in the afternoon left it sat in a puddle of water. Amazingly, the contents don’t seem to have been damaged, but that’s more luck than anything else.
I won’t be ordering electrical goods from Amazon (or indeed any other company that use them) again while they continue to use these idiots!
Probably wasn’t raining at the time they left your goods Paul, and plus these drivers dont know whats in the parcel, doesnt tell you on the front of the box what it is inside does it, they aint mind readers you know!
Bought a 19″ TFT from Amazon that was shipped by HDNL. They threw this over a side gate as well and the weather was rough therefore the parcel was absolutely saturated.
Round 2 people…I have rang in advance to see if my parcel will be planning on being late so this time I can drive over to the depot in good time. This is a very important night. Cinderella must go to the ball. Lets pray they don’t let me down.
I was told for the Bedlington area the parcels arrive between 3pm and 3:15pm so watch this space.
I am filled with a sense of dread though….
Ordered a hard drive from PLAY.COM, checking the tracking shows that item was picked from depot on 29th April and delivered 30th (no scan). Nothing has come through the post box to say a delivery attempt had been made and no way of contacting HDN. I can’t even contact PLAY until 21 days have expired. These guys at HDN are a bunch of cowboys, I bet the package is sitting there at his home….Never gonna order a large item from PLAY again until they choose a different courier.
Could you contact Anon?
Regarding post Jan 2, 2009 at 8:18 pm
If its possible Id like these dirty thieves brought to book for stealing!
Thanks for any help.
Brought a £270 phone online – delivered by Home Delivery Network……who delivered the package to my neighbour who they allowed to sign for it……now neighbour says he left parcel in the communal area…..package has grown legs and walked off. Well done HDN. First & last time I will buy anything from Play.Com unless they change delivery company.
Mrdaz, any chance you can contact – anon (post Jan 2, 2009 at 8:18 pm), please.
If the video he/she has can be forwarded to me I’ll be more than happy to send it to our security officer, head office, manager of said depot….and anybody else that would be interested in dis-honest employees of HDN!
Thanks.
mmmmmmm doesnt look like Anon was telling the truth does he ‘grass them up’?
lol xxxxx
With regard to the mobile phone, if you check the policy with HDNL and the senders, they have an agreement that they can deliver to neighbours, its not the driver who left your parcel in the communal area is it? it was the bloody neighbour!!!!! get a grip guys, if this is all you have time to do daily then you seriously have some sad lives
Lets talk figures people…
This discussion now has 162 replies, and that is since Jan 08. Just to give you moaning idiots a helping hand, lets assume that every comment here is a complaint, and then to help you a little more still, lets multiply that by 10.
So, for arguments sake lets say there are 1620 complaints here. HDNL on average sorts over 400,000 a night, the majority of which go out for delivery the next day. 1620 is over a YEARS worth of your collective complaints. This doesn’t even equate to one percent of a NIGHTS turnover. You wanna know why your complaints go unheard? It’s because HDNL hit their contracted targets with ease. My depot usually hits around the 5,000 parcels a day mark, out of which we shall usually receive one, two or maybe three complaints.
Its quite funny to see some of you guys get so so frustrated by your experiences, when the fact is, you don’t help yourselves half the time. We have people ordering items due to be delivered in the week, when they know themselves that they will be at work.. i mean come on, we are called HOME Delivery Network?! Are we supposed to break into your house to leave your item? If you want it delivering on a Saturday when you’re not at work, then BOOK A SATURDAY DELIVERY!
Then we have a couple more idiots moaning about the length of time drivers spend at customers doors. I even saw one comment about “how the driver was unwilling to wait 5 minutes for me to get out the shower”! I usually do around 150 parcels a day, If each customer wanted me to wait 5 minutes.. that works out at 12.5 hours – yea, of course ill wait :/….
Granted there are some cases here which are obviously bad methods of delivery on the drivers part, but a huge number of you wining idiots could avoid future problems if you took a more active role in the delivery process.
If you know youre not going to be home, what is so difficult about asking a neighbor to have the parcel, then leaving a note? Maybe leave the porch or garage open, and a note to say leave it. People these days seem to lack any form of initiative.
Another fine example of this is people who live at addresses with both a number and a name, yet only supply the name as they get some strange sense of exclusivity from it. If you have a number on the parcel the driver can make a pretty accurate guess as to where your house is going to be, rather than crawling up the road at 5mph (and losing more time that we don’t have!) to locate your house. If we are short on time, and have to crawl up a mile long road looking for some small 10″ sign chances are the response is going to be “fuck it, ill look tomorrow”
I could go on forever about how customers could help themselves, but alas it falls on deaf ears as usual, so i shall save myself the trouble of listing each example.
To finish up, all i shall say is that 162 complaints really does pale into insignificance when compared to the amount of satisfied customers we service on a daily basis. The only way for you guys to avoid future problems is to put yourself in the drivers shoes for a moment.. We dont enjoy taking your goods back to the depot! If you present your driver with a safe place to leave your parcels then rest assured nine times out of ten they will be left there.
Feel free to forward any rants/abuse/complaints to omgitsdavie@googlemail.com where they will probably be laughed at, and possibly responded to if i find myself in a state of extreme boredom.
Now i have to start with saying i have had tons of deliveries through HDNL and only one or two problems. My two delivery guys were friendly, the only ones i found were rude were the ‘big furnature’ delivery guys.
I can also appreciate both sides having also worked for a company who treat staff and customers like crap (i worked in NCP’s head office, the worst job i have ever had, you were constantly penalised if you went out of your way to help a customer because it was ‘time consuming’ and ‘targets wouldn’t get met’ – ridiculous if you ask me.)
Can i ask why nobody has contacted watchdog? I mean ex and current employees if it is as bad as you say, and also customers who are having recurring problems with HDNL. If enough people took action they would have to look into it and can only make the companies using HDNL realise things need to change or customers will dissapear. Surely it can only mean change on every part, which sounds like is needed. More so if i must say for the employees of this company.
i have a parcel waiting to be delivered. although it has too a week when it was suppose to be next day but its meant to be coming tomorrow… so with a but of luck it will
Amazon don’t only use HDN. In my area of Hull all my Amazon orders are delivered ( well are supposed to be delivered ) by the Post Office. This guy has got no idea what a door bell looks like, despite a sign in the door with an arrow pointing to it saying in BIG UPPER CASE, please ring the bell. I guess he cannot read to well. I am expecting an invitation to the Post Office Christmas party as I spend more time there collecting parcels than the permanant staff. Despite numerous complaints nothing is done and I still have the same supposedly delivery driver supposedly attempting my Amazon deliveries.
MORAL: HDN may be bad but they are not the only ones doing a very poor job.
well it came. later than expected. but great customer service
stop twisting on like dick heads could you do better? no i think not so get a life you sad idiots.
KingFrank wrote: “I would be reluctant to use a Company of which the author of that said article cannot even spell correctly!! You don’t LOOSE focus with sustomers Ian, you LOSE it! I hope to god your not the Managing Director!!!”
Talk about people in glass houses chucking stones? The word your fingers were desperately searching for is ‘customers’…..not “sustomers”. Before you go picking on someone else’s spelling, I’d take a long hard look at your own, my friend. Tut tut!
I really can’t be bothered to write too big a reply to the idiot titled ‘HDNL driver lol’ but I would have thought even you could work out that this website only represents the people who are a) Computer literate enough to want to use the internet to vent their frustrations, b) felt that they wanted to compain on a forum about the service from HDNL and finally c) Found this particular forum to actually broadcast their frustrations. So whilst I agree that the percentage of complaints on this forum are small in relation to the amount of parcels you deliver, this forum DOES NOT represent every single customer that has had a delivery from HDNL, becuase i’m pretty damn sure that theres a lot more people who have had such shocking service from you lot that they just haven’t got it in em’ to re-live explaining it to everyone else on a forum. So i’m glad you find it amusing, becuase it just shows that your customer service is appauling after all. Just becuase you deliver lots of parcels, doesn’t make it ok to treat customers the way you lot do, which is with disdain and arrogance which you have just proved in your last comment.
i’ve never had any problems with hdnl, and i’ve had deliveries from amazon, asos, boots and dorothy perkins. I also work for hdnl, and love my job. I am not a driver, or a moron. I would defy anyone to find a company which has absolutely no complaints and has 100% good comments made by it’s 1,000’s of employees. I will say that whilst hdnl as had some issues, it is trying to fix them and it is improving.
Hi, i am one of the victims. I ordered somethings on Chelsea Megastore online , i had 2 oreders, one was on the middle of MAY, ant i just can collect one of my 4 orders , i lost 3 of orders, and until now i still can’t collect them , i had been try to collect the store manager , and help me to contact HDNL, but the same answer, they said they had try to delievery to me x4 times, but some of the times i were here actually, just need to call me, and i can go downstairs and picked them up , but they always said they can’t go into my building(because it was a student union, they don’t have the key to open it, this i can understand ), i don’t know why they didn’t provide the drivers a phone, and then try to call the coustmers first , just a call , no more requirement! And i can’t just waiting for you 24 hours outside the building, that’s unbelievble & unthinkeble!Yep , they are discrimination me , i found the number on this website(thank you so much),and i try call them , but they just look like pick up my call and don’t want to answer me ( all people around the world are discrimination our Chinese?), I had been shop online one more time , and choose Next working delievery, was on early June,but the problems are the same , i still can’t collect my packages, i don’t know what should i say and what can i said about these, and i can’t find any way to complaint this, what can i do ? Can anyone help me ? I am sorry if there were any splling mistakes here
Hi all, please find an email i sent to play.com attached.
I am writing to complain about the abysmal service of your courier company.
I recently ordered:
deleted for privacy.
When I set the laptop up it turned out there was no operating system on there, so I phoned your company and was sent an email informing of the arrangements for you to collect the item.
The reference given was
Again deleted for privacy
I phoned your courier ‘ Home Delivery Network’ to ascertain approximately what time the package would be collected, only to be told that they operate from 0700 to 1900 Hours and the item would be collected in that time.
It clearly states on your email to me that the package would be collected between 09.00 and 17.30 Hours.
I waited at work and at around 18.00 Hours again rang ‘Home Delivery Network’ again to be told the driver would collect it between 0700 and 19.00 hours. I needed to leave to fetch my son from swimming and offered to drop the parcel off at your couriers depot, but I was told I couldn’t do that. So I hastily arranged for someone else to pick my son up and continued to wait.
I phoned your company and spoke to a very helpful operative called Eamon, who was surprised at what I had told him of the couriers operating times and said he would raise the issue with his manager. I was and still am angry about the service I wasn’t getting and asked Eamon to cancel the replacement Laptop and refund my money, which he assured me he would on receipt of the faulty Lap top.
By 19.00 the courier still had not turned up at my work, so yet again I rang your courier only to be told a blatant lie in that the driver had arrived at 16.40 hours and that the factory was closed.
I am furious, first I wasted two hours of my time waiting for your courier to turn up and then I am lied to and practically called a liar by your courier when I tell him his driver did not come to the factory at all.
I feel outraged that I get treated like this when spending £400.00 with you.
Needless to say I am not going to be spending my money with your company again, and I will not hesitate to tell as many people as I can about the abysmal service.
I understand that you do not control the courier company, but you are responsible for hiring them. Perhaps you should consider using a reputable courier such as TNT
IM NOT BEING FUCKING FUNNY BUT YOUR ALL MOANING CUNTS NOTHING IS FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH 4 U. YOU ORDER PARCELS AND NO THEY ARE GOING TO BE DELVIRED TO YOU YET U KNOW U WILL BE IN WORK OR OUT OF THE HOUSE AND THEN YOU RING UP AND THINK YOUR IN THE RIGHT IF YOU DONT LIKE THE SERVICE DONT ORDER ANY FUCKING PARCELS. FUCKING PRICKS THE FUCKING LOT OF YERS
Well i received a 50″ plasma, opened it and a bloody big crack on the screen. Have waited all day for these idiots to pick it up for return & they haven’t showed.
I know people who work in gortrush indutrial estate and these guys decide to shut shop early if it’s a good day. It is a good day today so I reckon no one will appear.
I am in the hose & Mr Nob head above hasn’t arrived.
I wish I’d seen this sooner!
I’ve had the same problems – my Amazon order didn’t warn me that it wouldn’t be a good old, timely and reliable Royal Mail delivery where I can pick it up at the depot if there’s a problem.
When my parcel didn’t arrive I saw it in the small print.
I traced HDN and found out they’d tried to deliver my parcel 4 days before. A card or a call would have been nice.
So I rearranged delivery, they couldn’t give me any details about time “it’ll be between 9:00 and 5:00″. I’ve taken today off work, it’s 5:05, I’m still here, my parcel is not.
I’ve just called them, apparently it could arrive any time up until 7pm. I have to leave the house at 6:15. I’ve asked them to rearrange delivery to my work address, it seemed suspiciously easy, I don’t trust them to manage it.
Is competancy an impossibility??
Yes “Wine Taster” i guess i do find some of the rants on this site amusing, purely for the fact that in half the cases on here, the customer could have avoided problems by using his/her common sense.
Granted there are a few genuine problems detailed here, but you are going to get that with every company. As long as i know i am doing my job properly, why worry? Its not like i have the authority to rectify any problems.. I go to work, do as i am told, as long as my wage clears each week i sleep at night.
On the whole the HDNL work force is made up of willing and able individuals. Its the idiotic fat cats at the top of the chain setting unrealistic targets and working practices that ultimately dictates the level of service our drivers can realistically provide.
I offered various solutions that will aid most peoples delivery woes. If they don’t employ them, then i have no sympathy.
You know my email should you wish to rant some more
So, just to clarify, whenever we order anything that ‘might’ be delivered by HDNL, we should take a week off work and sit by the front door waiting for you? This would of course apply to any orders made at Amazon.co.uk, as they use HDNL occasionally.
So, whenever any order is placed with Amazon the person ordering needs a week off around the delivery date in order to avoid their order being thrown over their gate, left on the curb or crushed under the wheels of your van out of sheer spite? This would mean a lot of people sitting around waiting for Home Delivery Network Drivers.
I have been working for the firm currently known as HDNL for 10 years. I have been a depot oprative, a driver and am now in a managment position. Through out this time I have been happy to receive a salary and do my best to help the place run smoothly.
The problems with delivery companies are larger than systemic issues within any indivdual company.
It is the relationship between the client, ie Tesco’s Amazon, Argos, Littlewoods and the delivery company which cause problems for the delivery firm and in turn the customer.
These large companies have the smaller delivery companies over a barrel. In a similar way to supermarkets dictating the price of milk to farmers. These companies can demand service that is unrealistic at prices which provide insufficent funding. Ranting and raving will not improve service.
If you order goods from a supermarket for delivery they will charge you £5 pounds for the service. This is on top of profits made on the actual sales of the goods.
I belive the only way you will get quality delivery is if you pay for it.
DO NOT CHOSE THE CHEAPEST DELIVERY OPTION.
The privitization of the P.O. fragmented the delivery system within the U.K. and it is painful working within a system that has so many failings. However over the 10 years I have been with the company things have steadily imporved (please don’t ask how bad they were to start with, those are painful memories). Here are a few suggestions.
IF YOU ARE OUT AT WORK FROM 9-5 ORDER THE ITEM TO YOUE WORK ADDRESS.
IF THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE FIND A FRIEND OR RELATIVE WHO WILL BE IN AND ASK THEM IF THEY WOULD KINDLY ACCEPT THE ITEM FOR YOU AT THEIR ADDRESS.
IF YOU CANNOT DO THIS AND YOUR ITEM DOES NOT REQUIRE PROOF OF DELIVERY PLEASE PROVIDE A SHELTERED SPOT WHICH IS NOT VISABLE FROM THE ROAD.
I realise this does not solve all the problems we have with delivery in this country but I hope it helps.
Just a note to say that most online transactions above £80 can ONLY be delivered to the billing address.
We have switched to HDNL as our main courier and I have to say they have been brilliant. We were previously using UPS (who smash everything) and RoyalMail (who lose everything). HDNL provide great tracking, have treated parcels really well with no breakages, for us as a company are really helpful to ensure everything run seemlessly and offer us far more competitive rates than UPS and RoyalMail did which we have passed on to our customers… now allowing us to do a next day delivery at prices other companies charge for standard.
Yeah they’re going to get a few complaints, but thats just because they’re handling more parcels than others… so it just goes with the quantity. Overall I would say HDNL are excellent and a lot of you are quick enough to moan as if you are the only people on earth… and you never make a mistake.
Sorry to call you a liar ‘Happy HDNL Customer’ but if you are indeed a happy customer who have just switched to the ‘brilliant’ HDNL, you would be happy to reveal the name of your company…
Let’s have it. Then we can contact them to confirm whether you’re lying or not.
I would also suggest that someone who works for a company with customers whom they value wouldn’t say “a lot of you are quick enough to moan as if you are the only people on earth… and you never make a mistake.”
Admit it pal, you’re another dumb ass HDNL driver attempting to cover your company’s woeful reputation in yet another cack handed and obvious way.
I have read a lot of these comments with interest and have encountered similar complaints on other websites about HDN and other couriers.
Personally, I have had no problem whatsoever with HDN. Having said that, I live in a road which is easy to find and there is usually someone in the house at all times to take delivery. Also, the companies from whom I have bought goods, including Amazon, have always supplied a tracking number so that should I have to go out on the delivery date, I make sure that someone is in to receive the parcel.
The only courier I have had problems with is SMS (Swindon depot), but when they opened a depot in Tewkesbury, their service improved dramatically.
Re Amazon. I ordered a couple of books on Tuesday and received notification that they had been sent out yesterday via HDN. I chose the free delivery option and wonder why on earth they are sending them by courier. The books are just a couple of paprbacks, so not heavy and I am sure that the ordinary post would be able to deliver them and put them through the letter box. Rather odd, I think, and now have to make sure that someone is in to sign for them. I cannot believe that HDN are cheaper than normal second class post.
Hi all
Just before I start no Daz I don’t work for (HDNL) I work in the building trade. And yes I do hold qualifications. Before joining the building trade I worked for many years in road haulage as a class 1 hgv driver I also hold plant machinery licences I also have a motorcycle licence I also live in the real world. Do you or anybody on here understand what a massive logistical operation the parcel service is? We are not just talking a couple of packages here there isn’t only you lives on this planet but you would think so by the way you talk. THE MAN WHO MAKES NO MISTAKES DOESN’T DO ANYTHING. Know body is perfect oh apart from you that is. Because of the economic climate the building trade is on its knees at the moment and work is scarce and because we all have mortgages to pay and family’s to provide for we have to work so we do whatever pays the bills. I looked into subcontracting to HDNL with my own van. Now to do this I need my insurance to be for hire or reward also I need goods in transit insurance I also have to pay for my own fuel. So before I do anything I have to spend money.
Working for HDNL I would be paid for every parcel I deliver NOT for parcels that I return to the depot. So for every parcel that I carry round all day that I could not deliver that is adding weight to my van and costing me money in fuel which takes my time to unload back at the depot and all this because the person the package was meant for was not at home. YES ok I agree the miss handling of packages’ is wrong and I am not making excuses for the driver that does this but these guys are under so much pressure to make a wage they will do anything to get this parcel delivered and off the van. As for the comments about the drivers just posting cards then as far as I can see these guys must just be doing the job for fun because they are not getting paid for it. you are only looking at about a pound yes 1 pound per parcel take running costs out of that and it doesn’t leave me with a lot at the end of the week. plus if I get a puncture out on the road not only does it mess your day up time wise but the cost of a tyre means you might as well not have gone out to work that day at all. Believe me the traffic on the roads these days the road works and diversions all just add to the stress levels of the drivers. I think people on here need to sit back and look at the bigger picture before they get so negative. After all it’s just a parcel. You all need to remember in any trade. IF YOU WANT SPECIAL TREATMENT THEN IT COMES AT A PRICE. Nothing for nothing in this world.
I am going to level with you here MrDaz – you sound like a full on cock mate
You cannot pay the pittance that amazon charge you for delivery and expect to receive a 10 minute time window in which your parcel is going to arrive. As its been said previously, although you may not think it, parcel delivery is a huge logistical operation. Do you “really” think anyone can predict a realistic time frame for you when our drivers carry sometimes upwards of 150 parcels on their vans each day?
Say i encountered 30 addresses in the morning where no customer was home – not an uncommon occurrence. That in itself is probably going to consume anywhere from 2-4 minutes extra to deliver each of them parcels. That means that in a worst case scenario I’ve been put behind schedule by 2 hours!
Then there are obstacles such as road works, RTAs, heavy traffic in general. There are 101 variables that ultimately dictate our time of arrival, yet for some reason you feel that our company is to blame? Get a clue you muppet lol.
As ive said before, i cant hide the fact that some parcels do get mistreated, and that’s something you’re always going to encounter, but if you “try” to help the driver our, 9 times out of ten he is going to reciprocate that gesture by trying to deliver your item to a neighbor or somewhere safe.
A little common courtesy goes a long way.. rest assured If i knew i was delivering something to your house, i wouldn’t think twice about launching it over the gate you pratt.
Have a nice day :]
I must be one of the few customers who have never had any problems with HDN.
I’ve used them for years and never had a lost parcel or item thrown in the garden.
They’ve always delivered when they have said they would and the delivery guy is always really polite and helpful.
Whilst I obviously would never condone any delivery driver throwing anyone’s goods over a fence, I don’t think you can judge all of them based on some bad ones…..
I am expecting a parcel from them, hope it’ll all go well. So far I can say that their website doesn’t work, so I cannot track the parcel. And this blog was second in the list on Google.
That pretty much sums them up – sorry I couldn’t reply to it when I was at work today, but it certainly gave all at ASOS a good laugh!
Wash your filthy mouth out!!
[...] “HDNL Toss my parcel over the gate” [...]
suprise suprise, paid premium for next day delivery……………..no delivery. Have to phone their premium rate number just for a moron to be as unhelpful as they possibly can. I wont be buying from any company that uses these cowboys again. The wait continuies…………….
I wish their driver trying to deliver my “parcel” would show the same initiative… 2 failed attempts to deliver (yep, I too work all day..) and they’re generously offering me the option to drive to their depot to collect – about 45 mins drive away. I requested that they sent it to me at work – but they said that area is covered by another depot in the same town where I work (which, incidentally, is closer to home that the depot they currently have it at). “Brilliant” I thought – and requested that they transfer it to that depot for me to collect – but that’s evidently not their policy (to be helpful??) and they refused. The annoying thing is that the “parcel” is only envelope sized and would fit through the letter box as easily as their flaming “we’ve called” cards. Grrr…
I’m now in this situation. I work all day, so I missed an Amazon delivery from HDNL on Tuesday. I know full well it’s small enough to get through my letterbox, but they require a signature. When I attempted to arrange a redelivery, they’d only give me options for Monday to Friday. As I’d be at work, that wasn’t really an option for me. I could pick it up from their depot, which is a mere 45 miles away, and I don’t drive. Brilliant! So, I’m now having to take a day off work on Friday, and have arranged to redelivery for then. Having read the comments here, I’m now somewhat worried that it might not turn up even then. Watch this space…
So the box containing your lame toy got a tad moist eh? Well let’s play the violins! At least you got your poxy parcel, you should count yourself lucky. I bet your neighbours refused to take it because they don’t particularly like you, and what sort of MORON expects a parcel to be delivered ’safely’ if he doesn’t leave his back gate, porch or garage unlocked for the driver? How else do you expect the delivery to get into your property, then? Some weird form of osmosis through the cavity wall, perhaps?
By the way, if you complained to Amazon and hoped to see a driver get a ‘warning’ for it then you’re shit out of luck – the very WORST that would happen is the driver in question would be given a copy of your sad rantings by his supervisor, they would then both have a good chuckle at your lack of perspective on life before consigning it to the nearest rubbish bin, and making a note not to leave anything at your address again, EVER – unless you have the common sense to be IN to sign for it.
I do occasional work for a parcel delivery firm – not HDNL – and it nevers ceases to amaze me that people order goods with no thought as to how they are going to be delivered if they are out.
Quite often if you try a neighbour you get the response ” oh not another one” or something similar.
I quite often use the drop over the gate method but only if the parcel is in a waterproof bag and does not appear breakable.
If I took back to the depot all the items I could not deliver because the customer was not in the return proportion would be over 50%!!!
I also only get paid for completed deliveries.
Hey Keith, nice to see that you’re keeping up the stereotype of Home Delivery Network drivers being rude, abusive and dismissive of the parcels they carry. HDNL really does hire some of the most despicable people in Britain doesn’t it?
I went for a coffee for 10 minutes and DABS/HDN try to deliver and leave me a card.
It took me over an hour to get through to DABS via webchat, girl says sorry cannot help as it is with courrier but they have no number they can give me. 1 Hour later I find a number for HDN locally – they cannot do anything and suggest I call DABS
Solution: cancel the order (DABS being helpful now) and order from a company who values my business.
Whatever their drivers personal views (if they had any intelligence they wouldn’t work for hdn would they ?) it seems HDN have a sales pitch that says price is most important. It reminds me of British Leyland, Rover and MG. ……………….
When will these people learn that if your only criteria is price then you will inevitably fail ! Foul mouthed HDN drivers are a symptom of the plague – any professional drivers have obviously left long ago
If you are given an expectation that a parcel will be delivered on a certain day and that delivery does not take place (e.g. you’re in and HDNL don’t show up, or turn up and card you without even knocking on your door) you are potentially able to claim compensation. For example if you take the day off work, or are using flexi time to be about for the delivery, or are unable to do something because you stay in… you have a case for compensation.
Amazon will soon sit up and take notice if people start being reimbursed for their wasted days of non-deliveries.
I only came on to this site when I was looking for more information about HDNL delivery methods/ times.
I’m hoping my parcel will arrive tomorrow. If it does and it is thrown over my 6ft wooden gate I will maybe stop for a second to think, ‘oh that’s a bit of a blasé way of delivering an item’ but then I’ll take it inside and open it and everything in the world will be fine.
Darren, why did you become so incensed about this minor event? So incensed, in fact, that months and months later, you are still looking down your nose at the jobs some people do to make money.
You got your parcel, it looks completely fine. I hope the toy isn’t for you. It isn’t, right? If it’s for your child, I hope you don’t use that sort or bad language in front of him/ her. I also hope you don’t constantly hammer away at his/ her confidence the same way you and others have offended many people who have read this, especially delivery drivers.
I’m 21 so maybe I’m too young to become a ‘complainer’, little things like this don’t bother me. I hope I don’t turn out like you, Darren, with your lovely little blog and picture.
I assume you weren’t actually that bothered about your parcel being casually lobbed over your gate because it didn’t break and everything was fine. All I can think is that you just wanted to use ‘HDN’ as your title so you would get lots of hits and some pennies from the companies that advertise on your site.
Thanks to any delivery driver who has posted to me. Very rarely have any issues, however never used HDNL before so wait and see. It can’t be an easy job so well done for what you do despite the pressure of the guys who do nothing but get paid more.
[...] Home Delivery Network toss my parcel over the gate (from 2008) [...]
HDNL (Hopeless Delivery Network Ltd)
I have found that it’s no use calling the centralised contact number on their website as you will (if patient and persistant) be put through to a really unhelpful and downright rude person wo will not even try and help. However, I managed to find the contact number for my local depot (wrexham 01978291559) and upon calling, the lady who answered could not be more helpful and resolved the non delivery problem I had experienced in minutes (I am about to go and collect my parcel today, head office said that was impossible until tomorrow)
So I would recommend calling your local depot direct if you can find their number. I was lucky and a google search brought up a listing for it.
My HDN delivery guy is so lazy. He brings van into garage block at back of house and can’t be arsed to walk around the front and knock on the door. He either shouts to me over the gate… bit difficult to hear if radio is on, initially just barged through the back gate before I had a lock on it and caught me half dressed (!), or as today just threw my catalogue and accompanying letter over the gate. Had he bothered to walk around the front and knock, which is common courtesy, he would have found I am here to take delivery. I so wish shopping networks would stop using them!
Oh dear…..
RE ” Rich (2 comments) // Oct 8, 2009 at 11:19 pm ”
Does that mean HDNL have a case against you? Seeing as they have had to use 2 lots of fuel to get to your house, pay the driver twice for the same delivery etc etc… swings and roundabouts mate.
” Mike Withans (1 comments) // Oct 7, 2009 at 6:43 pm ”
Whether you were gone for coffee for 10 minutes, or 10 hours, the fact still stands that your item needs a signature! What is so hard about arranging for your neighbor to have your parcel and leaving a note?!.. seriously?!
” Andrew (1 comments) // Sep 30, 2009 at 6:58 pm ”
So, you ordered an item that requires a signature, knowing that A) you dont drive, and B) you wont be home to accept the item?
….words fail me im afraid.
Lastly – MrDaz, any chance of a reply to my previous comment?
Im eager to hear your ideas about how a company that delivers close to half a million parcels daily can offer you this tiny delivery window that your £2.50 apparently entitles you to.
HDNL driver, racist, moron (you choose your title), I don’t want HDNL delivering my parcels, ever. You idiots are, well, idiots.
When the Royal Mail deliver and I’m not in, they leave a card, I collect it. Simple.
When DHL deliver and I’m not in, they phone me and check when I am in, or arrange to deliver it to a work address.
When HDNL deliver and I’m not in, they lob it over a gate.
It’s not fucking rocket science, it’s delivering a parcel you inept twat.
I think its really unacceptable what happened to your parcel; the oafish delivery drivers who have sent unhelpful and rude replies don’t exactly help create a good impression, however you shouldn’t tar all HDNL drivers with the same brush. The guys who deliver my Virgin Wine boxes (HDNL) are polite, punctual and not one broken/stolen consignment to date.
However, I think HDNL should seriously consider more accessible contact numbers, easier options for redelivery and delivery dates should be specified and guaranteed – a number of my friends have found it difficult to collect packages from depots which are usually miles away and getting through to someone at the depot is a real nightmare.
yeh i orderd a £259 motheboard from maplins. Todays date is saturday 17th october. it was supposed to arrive on a wednesday the following week but to my surprise it came this morning after i orderd it last night.
anyway i was in, parents were in, all awake havin breakfast. now when i orderd the motherboard from maplins, they said that i wil have to sign for it. I gave them instructions saying if i was not in, leave with neighbour.
wot happened?? ROYAL MAIL of all companys did not knock on the door, did not leave the parcel wiv my neighbours rather they tossed it over the 6ft side gate??
how do i know if motherboard is damaged? i am gona get compensation from them.
If you were dilvering parcels that said next you would assume their were clothes in it. if you saw a parcel wiv maplins you wud be stupid to not know they sell electrical goods! rang maplins and they said they cannot do nothing about it.
Stupid idiot of a dilvery man. I just hope the gate was originally open and he locked it when he went out (cuz the gate was locked when i got to the parcel)
Now now MrDaz, am i getting to you or something? Calm yourself you big woman.
Im getting tired of explaining the same thing over and over, so ill try my best to break it down into even smaller pieces for you digest yes?
“DHL will phone me and check when I am in”
Okay lets start with this one here. DHL deliver a fraction of what HDNL delivers day to day. Both companies will obviously experience failed deliveries, thats something you will never avoid. However, the quantity of failed deliveries is obviously going to be relative to the amount each company attempts to deliver daily.
Our failure target is around %3, but when you consider the fact that our depot alone can see 10,000 parcels a day, that would equate to 300 items. We have 3 girls that work in our office. Do you think they have the time to sit and call 300 customers DAILY to ask when they are going to be home? as well as performing all the other clerical tasks associated with running a parcel delivery depot?
We then come onto the fact that DHL’s method of delivery is very different to that of HDNL. Being largely based around timed services ( Before 10/12 etc) which means their customers have a smaller time frame in which to expect their item. This ultimately ends up in less failed deliveries, and probably means at the end of each day DHL depots have a small, “manageable” handful of parcels to re-arrange delivery addresses/dates for… this is why you get that magic phone call that you love so much.
Now, would you like to know why all of your favorite internet shopping sites are switching to HDNL?…Quite simple – COST. We are cheaper because we dont offer such time specific services. It doesn’t take a genius to work out who the companies like Argos and Amazon are going to favor when you take into consideration the fact they dispatch such massive amounts of product a week, its just good business sense. HDNL are winning contracts left right and centre, and all your kicking, screaming and threats of boycotts isn’t going to change that. I guarantee that if they lose you as a customer, they will gain 100 new ones in your place lol
“When the Royal Mail deliver and I’m not in, they leave a card, I collect it. Simple. ”
Quite an easy one – Again, imagine 300 items brought back daily, then imagine 3 girls trying to run round the depot finding said 300 items while doing all their other work.. its simply impossible to offer that kind of service from our depots.
Lastly, I despise racism in any way shape or form, and don’t appreciate being wrongly labeled one. I urge you to trawl through my previous posts and quote anything that you feel amounts to a “racist remark” i can assure you, you wont find any. I dont mind the other insults.. they are easily passed off as big words from a small man, hiding behind the safety of his keyboard
:]
I too have had the grave misfortune of dealing with these morons.
Orange use them for their deliveries of Netbooks and Broadband equipment.
I’m sure you can see where this is going.
I wasn’t surprised to see they are based in Speke, Liverpool. I’m honestly surprised the thieving scouser twats haven’t stolen every single thing of value.
Naturally I attempted to converse with one of the scumbags but it’s hard to understand the whining scouse accent.
My advice would be shop elsewhere, complain, do anything you can to avoid these idiots.
And by the way before you start with the whining “Aaaar Ay you’re picchhhing on me cause I’m a scouser” I’m not. I’m complaining because you’re a bunch of cunts.
Twats.
No Dave, you’re not getting to me. You’re an idiot.
So you’re saying that DHL and the Royal Mail offer a better service than you because they’re generally better? They have more staff per delivery item and are paid more to deliver a better a service (pardon the pun). Whereas with HDNL it’s a case of you get what you pay for. You’re cheap, not very cheerful and retailers use you because it protects their bottom line… screw the customer.
Either that or you’re just complaining that you have too many parcels to deliver; you can’t possibly deliver them in all in such a short space of time without lobbing a few and stealing others. It’s too hard; I can’t do my job any more!!!!
Boo fucking hoo.
As for the racist thing; there are dozens of racist comments on this page from HDNL drivers, most of whom are too stupid to use their real names. If you insist on posting as ‘HDNL Driver lol’ you’ll be tarred with that racist brush.
Daz, i find it somewhat amusing that you feel you are able to judge my character so accurately based on a few posts on your pretty little blog here, but im happy to tolerate it if it keeps you happy
I guess everyone needs their own “outlet” so to speak.
Right, back on track.
As for the service HDNL offer , you are pretty much on the money. DHL and Royal Mail provide a better service, and therefore charge the retailers whom they service premium rates. HDNL charge less and provide a “get what you pay for” service as you so eloquently put it. This just so happens to be satisfactory for vast majority of customers, who get their items in a timely fashion, and re-order time and time again. The customer is happy , the retailer is happy.
A stupidly small minority ( Thats you guys here :] ) kick up a fuss and moan. Sometimes your complaints are valid, most of the time they aren’t. That, added to the fact you represent such a small percentage of your retailers customer base means your custom doesn’t justify the switch to a more expensive courier. Like it or not, thats how it is.
Lastly – how my name i use to post here somehow indicates i am racist is beyond me. A few other drivers have posted racist comments, so that automatically makes me one? Does that mean you would walk past a Muslim in the street and automatically assume they are a terrorist? If you are going to throw around childish names then at least base them on something factual. :]
It seems you can’t leave my ‘pretty little blog’ alone can you, muppet?
So we’re agreed that DHL and the Royal Mail offer a great service, whereas HDNL is shit. Good.
As for the racist thing; until you use your real name on this website and post under your real identity you will be tarred with the same racist HDNL drivers who have posted here under equally stupid names.
Be a man, if you can.
Admittedly, i am drawn to your blog here quite a lot. I guess it could a number of things. Maybe its your childish name calling that amuses me? Or perhaps your warped sense of logic that somehow leads you to believe that using my name on here would somehow grant me “real man” status? You already know my name is Dave, other than that i really have no desire for you to know any more about me. Ive kindly supplied my email for you to contact me should you wish to pitch anymore PMT fueled bitch fits.
DHL and Royal Mail certainly offer a more precise service than HDNL, but i wouldn’t go as far as saying our service is shit. If that was the case then we would ultimately fail as a company eventually. The fact that the whole network is having 3000 brand new Mercedes Sprinters rolled out to each depot would suggest we are doing something right, seeing as they are probably the best vans money can buy. That, and the fact we are winning contracts left right and centre of course…..
Lastly… “Be a man”? Oh the irony! Coming from a “man” who was so annoyed with his delivery driver that he decided to create a whole blog entry to tell his cyber buddies how disgruntled he was. Why not take a trip to your local depot and ask to speak to the driver face to face, and perhaps have your own change to practice what you preach.
HDNL dont even ring the door bell, they simply leave a card saying you were out….even though i wasnt and they didnt bother to push the door bell!
Asked wtf was going on and told they wuld resend it today, and the guy turns up and leaves…..straight away….yep,, couldn’t even be bothered to get out of the van!
Great value for money ! I hope pple at HDNL burn up in a fire and rot in hell!
As of 2 months ago HDN have started using drivers from Agile group and things are changing for the better. They can’t bring them all in at once but they’re slowly swapping over to Agile. Agile drivers are professional and well trained and things will be better from now on.
im glad im fictional cause id weep for your souls if i wasnt .
3 months ago I ordered Orange Broadband. I’m still waiting for my router box to arrive. The 3 month delay , I now find out , is due to internal order email at Orange going missing. Anyway they said they’d sort it out & get a router sent to me urgently. I’m still waiting.
Orange tell me they use Netlink & they gave me their tel number. I called Netlink &they tell me they don’t deliver as they’re only middleman who organise someone else to deliver. The actual delivery Co is HDN. I called HDN & got through to their call centre who told me that their system says their delivery guy tried to deliver at 7:49 am on Nov 10th 2009 & he left a card. What a liar! 3 people were at home & a dog who would hear a fly sneeze. I asked for HDN Chesterfield depot tel number & they refused. Stupid morons. They lie, then they piss off the customer by refusing to hand out a phone no. so the customer could find out what the hell is going on. I found the tel no. on the web. Depot confirms what the call centre says. It seems that they use drivers who can’t read house numbers coz that’s the only explanation I can come to. The depot manager offers to deliver the parcel on her way home. A result at last but what a bloody useless outfit. Why the hell do Orange use such a crap delivery Co. But there again maybe HDN have the high standard of customer care that Orange has – ie totally crap.
unfortunately the small amount of ‘i don’t give a shit’ drivers do taint the image of the rest of the hard working couriers,
having recently started working for HDN, i am quick to see how all ‘drivers’ are slated as monkeys, by the few folk who tend to order stuff online and then not have any other arrangements for the parcel to be recieved by somebody when it arrives,
and you call us monkeys,
how about the drivers like myself who will not just leave a parcel behind a gate, and rely on a ‘card’ through the door to let you know it has arrived.
i’d sooner take it back to depot, than leave it in a position that it could be stolen or damaged.
or even the drivers who do up to and over twelve hours a day to make sure that when a parcel needs delivering on the day it says it is…and when it can’t be delivered, will come back at a later time on the same day, more than once, to attempt to deliver said item.
are you so perfect at your job that you never have an ungratefull, collegue / customer complain about you on an internet forum..?
p.s. as for the question about HDN delivering parcels on saturdays, yes they do….much to the surprise of the customers who didn’t expect items to turn up at a weekend.
oh and what about the stupid customers who can’t even remember what they’ve ordered and when it turns up at their door, they ask the driver ‘what it is….?’,
how the fuck should we know…it’s brown and parcel shaped..and thats it.
Hi, found this by accident whilst looking for ways to contact HDNL !!! My problem is last Friday – which was an extremely wet and windy day !!! I returned home to find a note – my parcel was under a car – I say was because by the time I returned home it was gone !!!!! What a surprise – it`s either going to get ruined (a clock ) on the ground in a cardboard box !!! Or stolen as quite big !!! Finally got hold of someone today, and they will interview the driver and call me back tomorrow. For some time now parcels have been left on our doorstep in full view of any passers by – but never this bad !!
They really are shit. My girlfriend saw a van pull up and the driver come out and just post the note saying we tried but you weren’t in through the letter box. HE NEVER EVEN RANG THE BELL OR KNOCKED. What a joker.
Hi Raindeer. This is one of the funniest (or worst) comments I’ve read yet. They actually left your package under a parked car??? Hoping that a) the package wouldn’t get stolen, and b) the car wouldn’t drive off, before you returned home and found it?
This is too hard to believe. Surely even the inbred, racist morons at HDNL wouldn’t be this stupid?
Surely?
My local HDNL driver is good. He knows the area, down to how frequent customers prefer their packages to be left, and he will approach neighbours to hold packages.
So I am currently fuming at HDNL. I ordered a shipment from Amazon UK and followed thr tracking using the tracking number. Today it showed ‘Delivered’. So I expected to see a package. I got home – no package. No card either. I knocked on my upstairs neighbor’s door since he works from home and he didn’t have it. I got on HDNL’s website and used the tracking number and there was a note that the parcel was ‘left in an outbuilding’. Well, the only ones we have at the flats are garages and they are locked. It was dark by now so I got a torch and looked around the garden. Nothing. Then I looked over the wire fence into the gardens of the other flats and I could see it in the next-door neighbor’s garden. Their gate was locked. Now the only way the driver could have gotten it there was to heave it over the 6-foot wooden fence. They’ve finally come home so I was able to get my parcel. Now,, my flat door has a plaque next to it with the flat number and the driver obviously made no effort to even find the right flat. I’ve already phoned HDNL and left a complaint (did that while I was waiting for the neighbors to get home) and I’ve also phoned Amazon to tell them what I think of this service. Luckily my order was just books. God forbid it should be something breakable with this type of treatment!
I am the proud recipient of a package that was thrown over my garden gate sometime two days ago. Its not mine. And I don’t want it.
We were in when the card was pushed through the door and actually saw it hit the mat, but by the time I travelled the 10ft to the door the perpetrator had vanished . . .he/she is in the wrong job . . .
Of course I can’t get through to HDNL, so what now?
I was able to get through on the phone to them. Try 0871-977-0800. The automated voice will ask for your ‘8-digit number’ from your card. I didn’t have one so I just stayed quiet. It tried again a couple of times and then put me through to a human.
Hey, the same thing just happened to me! I arrived home, the card through the letter box said “Rear Porch”. Funny, I thought; I don’t have a rear porch.
I do have a fence however, 8 foot high, below which is my hard, cold patio. It has also been raining all day. The box is just a crumpled heap on the floor. The stuff I ordered includes a semi-fragile item (stoneware cooking set), which is probably knackered (I can’t open it yet, I’m looking for my camera).
I’m phoning Amazon now.
maybe places such as Amazon should arrange with the customer a proper time and date, and if need be a location the parcel can be left safely…(and i’m not talking about leaving it with a neighbour…all to often the neighbour on the delivery instruction nips out for some reason or other, and the driver then ‘misses them’…unless the neighbour knows it is due to be delivered….
all to often folk order stuff on-line, (and are usually given a three to four day ’slot’), however if the said parcel arrives in depot ready for despatch by courier the next day it will be..
however these folk…and amazon, give absolutely no thought to making sure the parcel can be delivered.
and it’s left to the driver to hunt around for a place to leave it safely..which at times can be hard….just think about the folk who live in ’secure’ flat complexes…the driver has no access to the complex… so how the hell is he supposed to deliver a parcel ..eh? and ends up having to hunt around the ‘neighbours’ to find a person willing to sign for an parcel.
cue the slating cause i’m daring to stick up for the ‘good drivers’ out there….
Well, if the person who delivered my parcel had bothered to look for the correct flat (properly numbered as pointed out aboove), he or she would have found that the gate to my garden opened. The parcel could have been put there without having to heave it at all.
There are good drivers out there – my local Parcelforce guy was a good one. However the person who delivered this parcel wasn’t one of them.
This is just my experience of HDNL and I am not commenting on the original post or any other experiences to date with the company.
I ordered a new camera from Amazon on Sunday 22 November and chose Super Saver Delivery because to be honest it was free and I didn’t need the package in any hurry. Dispatched on Monday morning and I was given a tracking number, went to the HDNL website and confirmed on their tracker that it was in the network. Out of curiosity I Googled them and I began to get worried when I read this blog amongst others. I had chosen to have the parcel delivered to my work address as I work far enough away from my house that there would be no chance of being in when they delivered. I spent much of last night into the early hours reading all the above posts to try and get an objective view and to be honest I didn’t sleep that well.
I had found the local rate number for my local depot and rang them this morning to check on the progress of the parcel and the very courteous operator answered after 2 rings and told me it was out for delivery today, I explained that there may be a few problems dropping the parcel which have only surfaced this week, and I said if the delivery failed today then I would be happy to come and collect it from their depot as it is luckily about 3 minutes from my house.
Anyway i needn’t have worried as the package arrived today at 12.45 a day early, in one piece and I met the driver in the post room and he was very polite and apologised for not being able to deliver the package the day before but he arrived after the post room closed at 5pm. I said that was ok and i am now a happy customer.
Would just like to say that the operator i spoke to at the Leeds branch, Nicky, was very helpful and even rang me back at 1.00pm today to confirm that the parcel had been delivered successfully.
So I am in no way excusing the actions of some of the staff at HDNL, but I just wanted to say thank you to the driver and staff who successfully delivered my package today. I only wish the entire network was serviced by the likes of Nicky and the driver who I dealt with.
I just got a video card sent via these people.
It’s arrived with boot prints all over.
Never will be using them again.
i can totally understand what you are saying mate…i can only hope that this person ‘gets his shit in one bucket’ before it’s to late…
as for me i do spend an inordinate amount of time trying to find numbers on the side of houses…sometimes they are covered by foilage and other stuff, so they are not always easy to see.
my pet hate is folk who drop the number from the house they live in, and change it to a name…
lol
it’s so frustrating to look for no. 26 for example, only to find it’s now called ‘ firkham hall’ or something else…
also folk who live in ‘farmhouses’ who don’t bother to pop a number on the gate at the end of their ‘farm track’……. imagine driving along a country lane, the light is failing. looking at various farmhouses set back from the main road…and not being able to distinguish which farm is home farm and which one in holm farm……
in regard to the ‘vanishing’ driver who drops a card through your letterbox and the promptly vanishes, this is only due to the fact that unfortunately the driver doesn’t have enough time to stand around waiting for somebody to answer the door….(in his defence…and by personal experience)..his round usually consists of aorund 190 parcels spread over four or five post codes….and he’s only allowed to drive for a set amount of hours by law, but the parcel companies do tend to forget this when loading him up ,, thus giving him shite when he returns after driving for upto eleven hours with five or six parcels undelivered…. so this does put a lot of pressure on him,
now i’m not asking that folk go and give the driver who delivers their parcels a big hug and lots of loving….
just give him the benefit of doubt…even though most drivers will try their damned best to deliver everything on time, and to the correct location, sometimes things do go wrong and things mess up, and it’s not always the fault of the driver…
somebody once said…never cuss a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes….how true that little statement is…..
As HDNL state Our drivers’ detailed local knowledge enables them to deliver . Well my partner certainly delivered. He is a delivery driver for HDNL. He certainly as detailed local knowlege as he is now living with one of his customers. They certainly provide a good service. Makes you wonder what they pay them for. So for al you men out their watch out for HDNL drivers. If you come home to your wife smiling you kow why. She just had a parcel delivered
HDNL are not getting any better. I ordered a laptop computer from them which HDNL managed to get as far as the local depot, then lost it. To be fair – the staff at the depot were polite and tried to be helpful, but they never did find it. Amazon sent me a replacement for next day delivery by a real carrier (City Link) at no charge.
I have recently ordered a bunch of DVDs from Amazon and I’m watching the HDNL tracking system as it has already been sent to the wrong depot. I hope it turns up in time for Christmas. I’m inclined to only use Amazon for marketplace purchases, until they drop HDNL.
HDNL must be costing Amazon a fortune in lost business and recovery actions. Roll on the day when they go back to Royal Mail and I can pick up missed deliveries at the corner shop post office again.
I am currently sitting all alone in my office which has been closed for the past hour, waiting for my “next day delivery” item to turn up. Apparently it left the depot at 11:27am this morning, it’s almost 7pm now.
After a few calls to the number on the website, where they state deliveries are made “between 7 and 7″, I’ve been told that due to it being so busy this close to Christmas, it could be anytime after 7pm that I receive my package. OBVIOUSLY it’s busy at Christmas, it’s not us, the customers fault, if they didn’t hire enough extra staff or can’t handle traffic! Nobody can trace the van with my item, nor call the driver, because apparently it’s “illegal” for HDNL to supply their drivers with phones, don’t think they’ve ever heard of “handsfree?” And please, ten year olds have mobile phones, as if the drivers don’t! I suggest maybe they can call me when the driver is close (as if they don’t know where their driver is, yeah right!) or drop off the package to my house, which is only five minutes away. Of course not, that would involve having contact with their staff!!!
I may be jumping the gun, I’ve still got fifteen minutes before it’s actually 7pm, but I have a very strong feeling I’m not seeing my items at all tonight. I’m sitting here in my darkened office stewing with fury, this is RUBBISH SERVICE!!!!
OK, there is no argument that HDNL are absolutely incompetent. But why are they so shit? Well I have a mate who has worked there for three years and he explained why. As is the case with every fecked up company in England the senior management are tossing it off. They change every three months so its a pretty short toss. Basically what happens is that a new prat bullshits his way into a directorship then looks at ways of making himself look special. Whats the easiest way of doing that? First off you marginalise a few established staff and ‘encourage’ them to leave. Usual story – we have new ways of doing things and your old ways aren’t part of the bigger picture. Unfortunately those old ways include quaint notions like delivering parcels to customers without stealing them or wrecking the contents. The next step is to show just how clever these new management techniques are. Hmm what to do? Of course! A re-organisation or ‘rationalisation’ of the service and processes. Basically sack a few people and shuffle a few other people around. Result – an even more useless service. The drivers can sort it out, if they want to keep their jobs that is. Then the new director can show a big cost saving and the benefit of new ideas. Not to his bosses at HDNL mind you, but to the next not-so unwitting prat who gives him a job at another doomed company. And the moron management merry-go-round continues. So don’t blame the drivers, blame their useless, couldn’t give a shit, directors who only use these jobs as a stepping stone to greater riches. NOBODY cares about service in England, so long as the money keeps rolling in. Lets face it, the likes of amazon aren’t going to care because they are paying virtually nothing for delivery, which most of the time makes it. OK a lot gets stolen and a lot gets wrecked but look at all the lovely money we are making. Whats the alternative? The Royal Mail in total meltdown. Hardly an option. So don’t blame the drivers. A company that charges that little and pays that little isn’t exactly looking to employ someone who wants to make a career out of delivering parcels. Just get out there, drive just within the law and get rid of those bloody parcels. The depot staff are all Arthur Daley crossed with the Godfather. Happy to turn a blind eye to thieving so long as they get a cut and even more than happy to pass the buck when things go pear-shaped. Its not about HDNL, this is just a symptom of how bad things have got in England. The whole country is fucked because both the private and public sector are being run by greedy, useless cunts. Wake up and smell the stinking roses!!
I had ordered a mobile phone from very.co.uk on 13/12 and was told I will receive it on 15/12. However it hasnt made it yet. Apparently they have made 2 attempts – 1st attempt was when they could find the address and 2nd was their van broke down. What a shitty service by HDN! What kind of an asshole delivery company cannot find an address! Arent they supposed to be specialists? Also HDN seems to buy vans from junkyard. And the cost of calling those morons to find the item costs 10p a minute. I hope HDN goes out of business as soon as possible
I just came home today to find my expensive £115 gift to be thrown over our 6 foot fence YESTERDAY when we werent in. We returned home to find the parcel on our stone back yard, covered in a nice thick layer of half-melted snow. The sensitive headphones i bought are soaking wet. Thanks HDN.
HDNL mole – Why can’t the drivers return parcels to the depot? Because they’re shit, thats why.
Jesus. A PS3 I recently ordered from play.com is languishing with HDNL. Apparantly, it was dilivered to me yesterday. No, it was not. Fucking useless
I have been sat waiting for a delivery from Amazon for 3 days, HDNL have just told me it’s at the depot and I have to collect as they can’t get it out before Christmas, Amazon don’t seem to be bothered at all.
I use FedEx and city link for my business never use this home. They apparently can’t give out depot numbers because they are to busy unbelievable.
I ordered a Denby 28 piece ceramic & glass tableware set from Amazon. Second delivery attempt by HDN was today. Upon receiving the parcel I gave it a little shake and all I could hear was the sound of broken glass. Opened it and sure enough there were 2 wine glasses smashed, not just a couple of cracks in them but smashed into 100s of peices. One of the plates was also cracked.
To be honest I wasn’t surprised. HDN have previously delivered me a broken XBox 360 and a broken Nintendo Wii.
I have been driving for HDNL for 6 months now.
The depot I work at is incredibly busy, with some 75 vans loading approx 180 items each van each day, 6 and even 7 days a week.
These routes are are handled by just 3 route managers, who control all the parcels, and drivers for these routes.
Every single complaint about a delivery is investigated daily by my manager, I get 3 or 4 a month I guess, which generally are not due to my own short comings.
I start work at 8am , I collect my parcels for my rural round, my daily target is 150, however I take around 175 per day.
I load up and set out for my round at about 10am, all being well.
I have a 90min drive to my first delivery.
Generally now, I know my route well, as I have been on it for 2 months, so I know my regular customers, and have agreed areas I can safely leave parcels.
However, there are plenty of addresses with no safe place to leave a parcel, so I take it back to the depot.
I must get 3 or 4 difficult addresses daily to find, these include cottages that are named (eg rose cottage) but there is no name plate on the building, or it is covered over by bushes, so the name is not visable to see.
I am driving down a road slowly, being pestered to speed up by other motorists, trying to spot ‘rose cottage’ amongst a dozen other un named cottages, so I can deliver the parcel.
Now, if the person in ‘rose cottage’ cant have the decency to put a visable name plate on the building that can be seen by the road, what makes that person think I will spend 20 minutes knocking on all the doors asking for ‘rose cottage’ just to be told by ‘doris’ that shes lived there all her life, but has never heard of ‘rose cottage’ (even though it turns up 4 doors away)?
I wonder how many people here, complaining about not recieving a parcel, can honestly say, that a person in a van, with limited visabilty, driving at 10mph down the road, can see the name/number of their house clearly and easily?
Because I will tell you this, if after 5 or 10mins looking for an address, I dont find it, the parcel is scanned as failed, and goes back to the depot.
Can you imagine spending 10mins looking for 100 addresses? thats 1000mins, or 16.7hours!
Then theres the next day delivery items.
I knock on the door, no answer.
No safe place, I leave a card.
Tell me this.
Why order something for the next day, then go out?
Its stupid!
Then you moan about missing me!!
HDNL deliver from 8am – 8pm monday – saturday.
If you cant stay in all day the next day, then dont ask for it to be delivered then!!
Its not rocket science!
Then theres doorbells that dont work.
I press a doorbell, it doesnt ring, I dont know that do I?
So how is it my fault if you miss me when I come, because you cant be bothered to change the batteries in your doorbell?
Then theres the ‘customer’ that signs for the goods, then phones the depot saying it hasent been delivered… you just signed for it, then you say I must have signed it!
I have had that atleast a dozen times.
Its amazing how quick the customer finds the item when the police are called!
Or how about when I arrive at an address to find a note asking me to deliver to another address?
No, I deliver to the address on the parcel only, if you are at work, then either ask for it to be delivered to your work address, or dont book a delivery at all.
Use your brain.
I work during the day. so I dont shop online because I know nobody is home.
Why cant you do that?
Granted, throwing parcels over a 6ft gate, or leaving them in the rain is completely out of order, but Im sure there must be a reason for it.
1 address that I now refuse to deliver to, actually left an instruction card on the front door stating ‘I am at work everyday, I can not get to your depot, there is nobody home to sign for the parcel, please leave it on the doorstep’
Well, the parcel was POD which means it MUST be signed for.
It was raining.
There was no where to hide the parcel anyway.
So for 5 days running I carded the parcel.
I go to work on the 6th day to find the customer has complained they havent received the parcel!
This is the type of idiot I deal with day in and day out.
If you want a parcel delivering please ensure a few simple steps are taken.
1. make sure the name/number of the building is clearly in view
2. make sure somebody is home.
3. make sure your door bell works.
4. if you cant be home arrange for a neighbour to be available, or for a safe place to leave the parcel.
It really is as simple as that.
If you cant be bothered to help me, then why should I be bothered to help you?
At the end of my day, if I have any undelivered parcels, I try a second time.
Only then do I take them back to the depot.
Aiight
Well this is my first time using this delivery company and well, it was despatched from a location roughly 6 miles from my house at 7:53am… its just arrived at 3:53pm :L
The driver was polite and careful, but wasn’t very smart (in terms of mental capacity & dress)
He knocked on every single house in my close asking if they were expecting a package >.> Even though the package he was delivering had my house number on.
He was delicate with it though, and kept it in the van until he found the right address.
I think this delivery was not the best, but definatly not the worst.
Jay, just because the depot is 6 miles away, it doesnt mean a thing.
Maybe you had a cheap delivery booked, eg. not a premium time slot, so the timed delivery will be given preference.
There could be 100 deliveries before you,
Also the time it says the parcel is despatched, is not exactly true.
The driver scans all parcels for delivery, then loads his van, meaning a hour, 2 even, can pass before the parcels even leave the depot!
With regards to the driver knocking on neighbours doors, well maybe he couldnt see your house number?
I cant believe you moan about a driver using his loaf and knocking a couple of doors to find your address!
Would you rather he recorded your address as unable to locate, and took it back to the depot?
Besides, if you know he was knocking on doors, and that he left the parcel in his van, then why didnt you open your door and ask if he was looking for you?
Jeez, some people arent happy unless they moan
I certainly will never use HDN ever again. I ordered a Mobile from play.com and it was to be sent to me via HDN. However after a week had passed, still no mobile, so i contacted them and they said…get this…my package wasn’t lost but it was sent to the wrong Depot for delievery. So they send it back to the central depot only for it to go back to where is was the 1st time cause…that is the closest depot to my area!
The HDNL delivery guy left one of my parcels IN MY RECYCLING BIN.
It seems they tend to avoid leaving cards too.
& they have NEVER come between the allocated times they give from their SMS text alerts either!
I EXPECT my parcels to be late, lost or damaged if they’re being delivered by HDNL.
HDNL are absolutely s**t. At least you got your parcel. I’ve just waited in all day for a parcel that hasn’t turned up. I then receive an email from ASOS, who the order is with, to tell me that apparently a delivery attempt was made (not in my street it wasn’t!) and guess what, no calling card was left so I can’t even use their helpline to rearrange delivery. And, I paid £5.95 for the privilage! It’s a massive let-down that they can’t close these obviously massive loopholes in their delivery process. I work in Online. It’s not rocket science.
HDNL = Bunch or Fucking Retards!
Urgent parcel ordered yesterday with next day delivery.
Tacking number issued.
04:30 – arrived in local depot
07:30 – loaded onto van
14:09 – returned to depot because the lazy bastard is finishing his shift at 3.
We went to pick the fucking thing up because you monkeys are too retarded to deliver a next day item on the next day.
Then when we pick it up it’s marked as unable to locate.
There should be another box – I am too fucking lazy to deliver this today because my bacon and egg butty is running down the front of my monkey suit.
How can the same driver that delivered the first damaged item have difficulty finding the same house again!?
You really are a bunch of fucking morons.
What an idiot!
How do you know it was the same driver?
Plenty of rounds have 2, 3, or 4 vans.
Drivers have a start time, but not a finish time, drivers finish when they have delivered all of the parcels.
Again I will say this.
How visibe is your address from the road?
Is your door number visible?
Its easy to blame the driver, dont forget, you know where your address is, that doesnt mean everybody else can find you!
By your posting, you sound like a real ignorant prick.
Maybe you abused the driver when he delivered last time, if its the same guy?
I delivered to a guy last week he swore at me and threatened me, just because I was 20mins late… in all that snow!
I told him, and I told my depot, that I will NEVER deliver to his address again.
You sound just the sort of ignorant twat that would shout abuse at somebody.
Im surprised anybody delivers to you.
Asshole
I’m having great fun with these guys at the moment. I ordered a new TV – not a small item, I appreciate. Tracking showed it as due for delivery on 11th, so I booked a day off work to make sure I was home for it. By 3pm it was still showing ‘Received at depot’ – but fair enough, there was a note on the site saying that some deliveries were delayed because of the weather. Expected delivery date was still listed as 11/01/10.
By 4pm the status had changed to “Route Planned for delivery”, still with an expected delivery date of 11th. Great – it must be going on a late van.
No. By 8pm the status hadn’t changed. No problem, I’m prepared to give a little slack given the weather. But its changed status at least, so it’ll be on tomorrows delivery, right? So I call my boss, and get Tuesday off as well – short notice, and a pain in the arse, but these things happen.
Tuesday morning, expected delivery date has changed to 15/01/10. Lovely. So I wasted 2 days holiday for nothing. After much begging, I manage to get Friday off too – that’ll make £200 in pay for days taken off, and it would have been cheaper to buy from Currys.
Wednesday, I go to work as normal. On my lunch, I check the order to make sure its still on for a Friday delivery. “Delivery expected today”. Great, thanks for telling me. Except because I’ve already taken two days off to wait for you, I’m not in.
But no problem, because it still says the expected date is Friday, and the courier will have left a card, right? So I can just call and reschedule for Friday, simple.
I get home. No card. There is a letter though, delivered by Royal Mail, from HDNL. “Your order is scheduled for delivery on 13/01/10″. Well yes, I know that now. I missed it because you didn’t bother putting it on the tracking system.
So this morning, I call the number to rearrange the delivery. It takes half an hour to even join the queue, because their phone system seems to be managed by one of those Quiz Call type things where you just get told “Your call was not successful this time, please try again” before being cut off. Eventually I manage to get through, which tacks me onto the end of a 30 minute queue. When I eventually speak to someone, I explain the situation, and I’m told “I’ll add your mobile number on to your account, and someone will call you some time next week to let you know when it will come”
I pointed out that this is the number I’m supposed to call to arrange a delivery, and thats what I’d like to do. “We can’t arrange a delivery date, but someone will call you to let you know when we’re coming.” I then pointed out that the Expected Delivery Date on the tracking was still 15/01/10, and that I’d booked that day off to be home for it. “Ah, but that’s just a promissory date”. Well…yes. You’re promising to deliver on the 15th. “Someone will call you to tell you when we’re coming”
So even now, I have no idea when my parcel will arrive, and it sounds like if they ever get round to calling me, they still won’t let me arrange a date, they’ll just “tell me when they’re coming” and hope for the best.
I’m very tempted at this point to just tell them to fuck the thing back off to the seller and close my account with them – this is all too much hassle.
Please don’t blame all the drivers.
My partner works at HDN, and is probably one of the more dedicated drivers, regularly getting compliment calls to the depot.
But he does have an issue with named properties that have no name plate. People seem almost proud of the fact that their property is hard to locate. Even so, he will typically knock on a few doors to find it.
The problem seems to be the weak management and a desire to cut costs at the expense of the drivers.
A route driver can pick and choose what he wants to deliver. Since he needs to deliver a certain number he will likely choose the ones that are easy to deliver, leaving the difficult stuff to the relief driver or temporary staff who might not know the area so well.
Management have decreed targets for what needs to be delivered. If a driver can’t find a property after half an hour and returns it as Address Query he doesn’t meet his target and he gets stick for it. So he pretends to card it, and the item then languishes in the depot till the customer calls.
Depot managers get credits for the amount of stuff on the road during the day even if the drivers have more than is possible to deliver. Result is lots of things get scanned out and lots get scanned back in at the end of the day. Furthermore, time is wasted in scanning lots of stuff that will never get delivered that day.
At the end of each day, there is only one or two people checking in staff. Result is that drivers queue for an hour or more (unpaid). Add to this the above requirement that results in a lot of returns to the depot, the queues get even longer.
As the days get longer and longer up to Christmas, in the morning the manager demands they take far too much, and then in the evening they are issued with snotty letters for working too long hours.
During the snow, they’ve worked long or longer hours (20 drivers stuck in snow on Halden Hill for 8 hours on Tuesday) but got paid less because they’ve delivered less, and got in trouble for getting stuck in snow and therefore not meeting targets.
They are more and more dependent on owner-drivers who get paid per parcel. Would you search half an hour for an address if you were being paid a pound, and not being paid for your diesel – day in day out? And they also end up turning around staff quicker meaning fewer drivers know the routes.
Maybe this is the way to run a business in this cash-strapped time? Remember when you are getting free delivery, and when Amazon are cutting delivery costs to the customer more and more, someone ends up being a little bit more shafted, and a little bit less keen to do a decent job.
PS. The one time I bought some crockery off Ebay it came by Royal Mail, and, guess what, it was thrown over a 6 foot gate
[...] ordered a case of Spanish red wines before Christmas, and it arrived (via HDNL would you believe) in good time. I was impressed, and a little shocked. When I tried to open the [...]
Well, im waiting for my delivery from HDNL – and will stay in all day with a working doorbell and clear signed house number and see if they deliver.
I hope to god that i’m not having to write on this board again saying that it didn’t deliver…..
I’ll go f00kin mental if it doesn’t come today….
HDNL have just bought a division of DHL. Rumour has it that all the DHL drivers in that division in this area have been given notice of potential redundancy, and my OH’s depot manager is charging around saying that any HDN driver who doesn’t cut the mustard will be out.
So expect lower levels of staff morale, disorganisation while the companies are merged, and higher levels of parcels that are claimed to be carded (but not), or left on doorsteps because the driver is under threat of being sacked if he or she takes stuff back to the depot.
Still if it gets the Barclay brothers a knighthood it has to be worth it.
You are all morons. Do not use a 7am-7pm delivery company if you are going to be at work. I got an idea for you… Get off you fat arses and walk to the fucking shops…? Makes sense. If you order something be in for delivery! Hell its not hard people. What are you gaining bitching on this website? Why not just pick up a Thompson Local and ring the depot if you have a problem?? HDNL has a 99% delivery sucess rate, and with customers like Amazon moving more parcels through our network than in the past due to failures by other companies its hard to believe we’re as bad as you lot make out.
[...] comment can be read below, and here, and you can read the original post (with the 250+ comments) here. HDNL Employee hdnl.co.uk a@b.com [...]
Well, HDNL Employee, I was in for the delivery, but the driver didn’t knock, just put a card through the door, as others have mentioned. Fine, not great, but I thought it’s easy enough to have it rebooked on the website.
The day I had it re-booked for I missed another day of work. No show, no card, nothing. And again the second time. By now I’m p*ed off. I look up the depot, as you advise. I go to the depot even though I don’t have a car and it cost me £5 bus fare. They apologise profusely, promise to ring me. I wait AGAIN. NOBODY RINGS. So I ring them, am fobbed off again. The ebay seller has also rung them to be told they have “probably” lost it but are still looking.
I have just rung the depot again, and now they won’t even speak to me to lie to me, they just say they’re busy and will ring me back in a minute. What the hell else am I supposed to do? In what universe is this acceptable business practice? This is the depot in Bamber Bridge, if anyone from there is reading this!
I understand that they treat they drivers shoddily too, but then why stick up for them and have a rant at the customer? Yeah, what fools we are for expecting a delivery company to deliver our parcels, and be accountable if they don’t!
Wow… Thought I’d check up on HDNL after finding my order from Play.com had a link so I could track the order, initial thoughts were that this was a nice touch.
I looked at the site to see if they had information about the delivery process in relation to the status given so I could expect my package on a specific day as so far they have only received parcel data so it’s still early days yet.
Having no luck I decided to Google my pondering and, lo and behold, stumbled upon this page and plenty of review sites all claiming this company, who claim be be good on their site, are somewhat of a shambolic parcel relocation system. (I say relocation as items are said to be simply getting bounced between various areas of the country)
You’d think a respectable company like Play would take note of review sites showing mass customer disgruntlement when selecting couriers. My custom with them is currently hanging in the balance.
The delivery tracking report started on 25/1/10, I shall post again upon delivery or after each dealing with them.
A note to the HDNL Employee above:-
We do not have a specific choice in the courier we choose for our deliveries from e-tailers, all we can do is hope that it’s the lesser of two evils as far as the company used are concerned.
‘You are all morons. Do not use a 7am-7pm delivery company if you are going to be at work. I got an idea for you… Get off you fat arses and walk to the fucking shops…? ‘
Some things aren’t available from physical shops, sweetheart. These things also include manners, customer service training and pride in your work. How sad that you appear to have never experienced any one of these things. Perhaps if you were less obviously bitter about your faliure to make anything of yourself you’d be more open to becoming a half-decent employee. As it stands your defence of your company has dented their reputation even further. You are, quite simply, an embarrassment.
Parcel is currently in a van somewhere between Bolton and Bamber Bridge.
27/01/2010 02:38:00 BAM_BRIDGE DEPOT
The parcel has been received into depot
27/01/2010 08:22:00 BAM_BRIDGE VAN
The parcel has been loaded on to the drivers van
“Bennett” has slightly worried me with their post after having so much trouble with this same depot.
Probably more updates later today.
Parcel turned up an hour after my last post. Everything was fine.
Maybe I was lucky having no problems. Or maybe they’ve improved their service. Who knows?
Apparently my parcel was sent back to the supplier- they told the supplier they were sending it back to them on Weds early morning and they’ve still not managed.
The distance from me to the supplier is about 14 miles. FFS. Useless.
I LOL’d. What sort of service do you expect personally abusing drivers? I i was to sit here and abuse you, and then asked you to do something for me, do you think I’d do it? So after calling people ‘Fucking Morons’ I really do hope the driver shits on your doorstep…. sir.
Yes..I had a £300 sony camera thrown over a 6 foot door to the side passage by HDN van driver. Quite literally a tosser.
Guess what Mr Daz……my flat mate ordered a pile of books from Amazon. Guess where HDN man left them? Under a parked car.
next time you order a parcel why dont you be in and this wont happen or get it delivered to work or something similar instead of us delivery drivers walking up to a fucking empty house, do you not think it fucks us off the fact you order a parcel and then not even in or bothered to get delivered elsewhere or leave a note, if you delivered parcels you would see it from the other side
Ordered something from the white company, when it arrived the box was an absolute disgrace – ruined. It was clear it had been kicked and stepped on. It was half open and nasty to look it. Delivered around 7pm, it was just left on my step with a note saying “no one in”. There was three cars on the drive and lights on inside and out, believe me when I say the house at winter looks like a lit up christmas tree!!
Also ordered a bed from the White Company that these cowboys delivered, released by the white company on the 2nd feb, it arrived over 25 days later. They made a mess of our hallway, and because the box was covered in mud (unbelievable), one of them used one of our rugs to place it between the white walls and the box. I have a good mind to send their CEO a letter saying get something delivered by them