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.
Darren Jamieson, aka MrDaz, is the Technical Director and co-founder of Engage Web and has been working online in a career spanning two decades. His first website was built in 1998 and is still live today.
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? :o) 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?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
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.
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.
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