Anyone else noticed a real deterioration in DPD's service?

[vinylscot]

If you had asked me three months ago to recommend a courier, I would have suggested DPD, without hesitation.

However, since then, I have had five or six MAJOR problems with them, as sender and recipient; I don't think there has been one transacion which has run smoothly.

My most recent experience as a sender involved a driver failing to deliver on two successive days, claiming he couldn't find the address - it's perfectly clear on Google Maps, including a clear view of the door, and on satnavs. Eventually the parcel was returned to me, and resent via Parcelforce. I got a refund, and a VERY grudging apology from DPD.

Now, as a recipient, a driver has failed to deliver, lying that nobody was at home. However, I've not to worry as it will be delivered to a pickup point - which is four miles away, across the city, and will require two buses and a train to get there. There is a DPD pickup point 400 yards from my house. Also, their website shows the fifty nearest pickup points to any postcode you input. Their chosen pickup point is not one of those fifty nearest to me - all fifty are at least half a mile nearer.

DPD customer service can't (won't) help - they say call DPD Local as it's in their network now. DPD Local won't help - they say it can't be changed, even thought the parcel is still in their depot. (They claim, yesterday and  today, that they cannot contact the depot direct, even though that's what they did with my previous similar problem in July). I have a number for the depot (found online) but there was no reply yesterday afternoon and this morning. 

I can't physically pick up the parcel from their chosen location, so it will be returned to my sender in France, and we'll either go through the whole rigmarole again, or I'll get a refund.

Has anyone got any suggestions? Which courier company would you recommend now?

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

Same here

atrocious service lately

With more than one serious issue

[rjwilmsi]

I used to think DPD were one of the best - that is main DPD not DPD Local. Certainly as a recipient their live tracking / updates / delivery slot / redirect to parcel was as good as / better than others.

However, they have in my experience always been impossible to contact when there was an issue - phone line is automated and just reads tracking info then hangs up. As no courier is perfect, refusing to provide the option to speak to a human is an issue.

The real problem I had just recently was as a sender. I dropped off a parcel at my normal parcel shop, but a week later the item hadn't been collected. Speaking to the shop staff member there he said the DPD driver claimed there was no space on the van multiple days running and despite the shop staff member rasising this with DPD nothing had been done. So I had to take the parcel back, refund my buyer, and relist for ParcelForce only. I called the DPD help number and entered tracking number then it said as the parcel was booked via PackLink then DPD wouldn't help and it hung up on me. So useless DPD.

So unfortunately I won't be using DPD again in future as a sender if they can't commit to collecting a parcel within a week (a day's delay now and again wouldn't be a problem but a week is) and they refuse to provide any human customer service.

[npowerman]

Round here they have always been useless half the drivers are foreigners and cant be bothered to look for places.

[selective_distribution]

How strange that you should mention this.  I have just had a total nightmare with DPD. Driver could not find the address (I found it in 30 seconds!), driver attempted to deliver 3 times, but could not find house. Customer going frantic, time off work, waiting at door at delivery times he was told, sending DPD detailed instructions on how to get to address. Was told that they were sending it back to me.....Customer told that they were delivering to him.....Then I was told that they had lost the package! Then told that they had found it, and were returning it to me....three day`s later they delivered to customer! I paid for next day delivery, and it took them over 2 weeks to deliver the package! There were over 30 emails between myself and the customer, `They are delivering it to you tomorrow.....Oh, no, they are sending it back to me...They are delivering to you today....No, they are returning it to me`.... and so on.....taking up a great deal of time. And the icing on the cake?.......I recieved a voucher for the princely sum of £2.50 as compensation! I not very politely told them where they could keep their voucher.

[collegefreaks2000]

Blimey, as others have said, I previously valued them very highly.

The only use I have had out of them recently is receiving big orders shipped by sea and picked up and processed by them at port and brought to my home, both times without a hitch.

However after reading this, I'll definitely use someone else, probably UPS, for heavy/expensive sales to customers that I would have had no quibble in using DPD before.

[victortardis]

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@npowerman wrote:

they have always been useless half the drivers are foreigners

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Oh, no, not these foregneirs again.

Yesterday I noticed my postman has an accent, Royal Mail appears to have been infiltrated too.

Something needs to be done about this.

[selective_distribution]

I take your point, but (see my post above), When DPD eventually managed to deliver to my customer he mailed me to say that they had just done so, and he made a point of telling me that he had tried to explain to the driver that he had been waiting for 2 weeks for the package....but the driver could not understand him as he did not speak a word of English! If the Driver does not speak English then presumably he cannot read English, which is probably why he could not understand how to read a map to find the house.

[4_bathrooms]

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@vinylscot wrote:

DPD customer service can't (won't) help - they say call DPD Local as it's in their network now. DPD Local won't help - they say it can't be changed, even thought the parcel is still in their depot. (They claim, yesterday and  today, that they cannot contact the depot direct, even though that's what they did with my previous similar problem in July).

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DPD and DPD Local are actually separate companies; DPD has a red logo whilst DPD Local has a blue version. DPD Local was originally branded Interlink Express until it was rebranded in 2017.

As far as I can tell DPD only deal directly with larger accounts and have their own company owned depots, vehicles etc. DPD Local is a franchise operation and has always been a poor relation that shares some logistics infrastructure with the parent company.

Anyway, I only book a small number of parcel deliveries as things like shower enclosures and toilets are sent palletised. For what it's worth I book via Interparcel using mostly Evri or Tuffnells and rarely ever have problems.           

[greenbellator]

I also used to rate DPD highly – given a choice as a buyer they have been my preferred courier.  However, hereabouts (mid-Wales) they seem to have succumbed to the new habit of “dump and run”, using drivers who have not been introduced to the use of a doorbell.

I never thought I’d look back to the good old days of lockdown when couriers rang the bell, stepped back a good six feet and waited for me to answer the door so they could take a photo of my feet and the package.  Sigh!

[bennotbill]

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@greenbellator wrote:

However, hereabouts (mid-Wales) they seem to have succumbed to the new habit of “dump and run”, using drivers who have not been introduced to the use of a doorbell.

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Much the same as the Amazon drivers around here.

[tommystrezures]

I think one of the problems DPD have is the way their drivers are contracted. We live in a semi rural area, so our service is reasonably ok, but thats due to the fact our driver is paid by DPD or is rather I should say on a contract with them. Other drivers we used to get used to hate our "round" due to the nature and not enough parcels on board as they were in effect on zero rated contracts or paid per delivery (eg 50p or what ever Dpd pay). From our hub they send the non contract drivers on the busy rounds where they can make a living delivering a couple of hundred parcels a day (or what ever their requirement is) and the contracted employees on our rounds similar to ours where the volume of parcels may not be what it is to larger towns or cities.

@4_bathrooms did Tuffnells get a buyer as I thought they went in to administration a couple of months ago, I know a company called shift were looking at them.

[victortardis]

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@selective_distribution wrote:

I take your point,

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No, you must have missed my point. My comment wasn't directed to you but to the poster who claimed a service suffered due to foreigners being employed there.

I don't think I have had one British born driver in 10 years using UPS, but I have had only one issue which I am positive wasn't related to someone's country of origin.

[**grandpa**]

Yes, Shift.

https://www.insidermedia.com/news/national/shift-set-to-relaunch-tuffnells-following-deal-for-depots

[npowerman]

Dont get me wrong i have nothing against foreigners only the ones who drive for DPD they are lazy.

[four_mid_able]

Iv'e noticed a deteriation in ALL couriers services over the past 18 months or so and it gets worse by the week.

I think it's because there has been a big increase in online sales which obviously requires more deliveries per driver and more investment in vehicles and drivers which the courier companies don't seem to be doing.

They just expect the same drivers to deliver more parcels each week than they did the week before.The drivers usually get paid a fee per parcel but they have to go to extremes to meet their deadlines hence the service gets shoddy (and dangerous ,don't drive tired etc).

I dread to think what it will be like in the lead up to Christmas.

 

[bits_n_bobs_heaven]

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@vinylscot wrote:

If you had asked me three months ago to recommend a courier, I would have suggested DPD, without hesitation.

However, since then, I have had five or six MAJOR problems with them, as sender and recipient; I don't think there has been one transacion which has run smoothly.

My most recent experience as a sender involved a driver failing to deliver on two successive days, claiming he couldn't find the address - it's perfectly clear on Google Maps, including a clear view of the door, and on satnavs. Eventually the parcel was returned to me, and resent via Parcelforce. I got a refund, and a VERY grudging apology from DPD.

Now, as a recipient, a driver has failed to deliver, lying that nobody was at home. However, I've not to worry as it will be delivered to a pickup point - which is four miles away, across the city, and will require two buses and a train to get there. There is a DPD pickup point 400 yards from my house. Also, their website shows the fifty nearest pickup points to any postcode you input. Their chosen pickup point is not one of those fifty nearest to me - all fifty are at least half a mile nearer.

DPD customer service can't (won't) help - they say call DPD Local as it's in their network now. DPD Local won't help - they say it can't be changed, even thought the parcel is still in their depot. (They claim, yesterday and  today, that they cannot contact the depot direct, even though that's what they did with my previous similar problem in July). I have a number for the depot (found online) but there was no reply yesterday afternoon and this morning. 

I can't physically pick up the parcel from their chosen location, so it will be returned to my sender in France, and we'll either go through the whole rigmarole again, or I'll get a refund.

Has anyone got any suggestions? Which courier company would you recommend now?

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To be honest, it's not just DPD! Most of the courier / postal services have been very unreliable certainly over the past month. Whether this is because the usual sorting / delivery people are on holiday and there are a load of temps working this month, I really don't know:-(

What I do know, is that most courier / postal service have now cut their opening hours. Most Royal Mail sorting offices are now only open from Monday to Friday 8am-10am - 2 hours each day, and 4 hours on a Saturday 8am-12 noon.  Evri now only make collections between 8am-12 noon etc.

As for courier services to be recommended, I really can't think of one reliable one at the present time, which is shocking to say the least!

[vagabondcoffeeroasters]

True. Drivers keeps lying that there was nothing to pick up, while not even showing up. And later I find fine on invoice for nothing to collect.. They do refund, but why I have to chase. I already having delays and have to spend more time making sure they charge correctly? 

[kodrum-92]

Get this, they gave me the same tracking number as someone else and they refuse to help me locate my parcel as my tracking number is linked to a . G. Mortimer 

[silanda_uk]

Late to the party, but yes.

I don't use them much for personal parcels, but found them very good in the past. On the other hand, we use them for work and they've become increasingly terrible of late. Persistently not following instructions about where to pick up pacakges, no showing collections, trying to deliver items intended for completely different addresses, etc.