why does Ebay persist with using Evri (formerly Hermes)

[angieflange]

So every single parcel I have ordered via Ebay has been delivered to a neighbour who is elderly and recovering from cancer.  After the eighth occasion and after going round in circles with an auto-bot clearly intent on avoiding passing me onto a real person, I was finally advised they would ensure it won't happen again. Yet here I am, three mis-delivered items further and Evri, as usual, simply pass the buck to the seller or myself. Ebay, Evri are diabolical so why on earth do you use them? I am no longer shopping on Ebay, it's too unreliable

[buffster1963]

It is the sellers who choose to send items with Evrie. You can buy postage through Ebay for Evrie but sellers can post with any company they want. A lot choose Evrie because they are cheaper. 

[the-nutwood-collection]

You best option would be to contact the seller before you commit to buy, and ask what carrier they will use if you do buy.  You should also make it clear that you do not want the package sent via EVRi.

A reputable seller should be able to tell you what carrier they use and, if it's EVRi, you can shop elsewhere.

[a1once]

I always use Evri. Touch wood, I have never had the slightest problem. Recently had a parcel weighing 16.5Kgs, so Evri would not carry it. Went to Parcel2Go and picked DPD. Never again. Apparently, DPD only collect from the drop off location when and if they feel like it. So my parcel sat gathering dust for three days. Customer unhappy. Me, unhappy. Was supposed to be a 24hr service. I think that any courier service, is only as good as the delivery person at the end of the process.

[kempseykate]

I'm pretty sure most couriers would try a neighbour if you are out. If you are usually out could you not arrange to have your item sent to a Click and Collect (if the seller offers) or to a friend/relative who is likely to be in?

Personally, I find a much higher success rate with items delivered by the due date, to the correct place than I do with RM.

[eastern-lights]

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@angieflange wrote:

So every single parcel I have ordered via Ebay has been delivered to a neighbour who is elderly and recovering from cancer.  After the eighth occasion and after going round in circles with an auto-bot clearly intent on avoiding passing me onto a real person, I was finally advised they would ensure it won't happen again. Yet here I am, three mis-delivered items further and Evri, as usual, simply pass the buck to the seller or myself. Ebay, Evri are diabolical so why on earth do you use them? I am no longer shopping on Ebay, it's too unreliable

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Is it going to your neighbour because you are out? If so, where do Royal Mail delivery to in the same situation?

[papso22]

That is the worst of example of ebay customer services promising something they can't deliver, that I have ever heard.

EBay has absolutely no control over which courier a seller uses.

[beechvale76_5]

I fail to see what this has to do with ebay? You should have contacted the seller after the first few times it happened and made sure they provided tracking so you would know when to be in when it was going to be delivered. 

[twofourdeltasurplus]

or maybe if it happens all the time add a note to your orders to add a save place, you have not come back to say if you were in or not, thats another thing.

If in then its the person delivering on your route being lazy, going to the closet door to the road or something like that.

I have sent over 30k parcels with them and had very few problems.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

so why do you keep on buying things from sellers who use EVRI?   The local courier will not come up our farm track (not a problem to the rest of the world though as everyone else manages to deliver) and after the first couple of attempts trying to get hold of EVRI (Hermes as it was then) and getting nowhere with them  we now just check on delivery and if it is something we really want then we contact the seller to see if they can send any other way.  Most do but some would rather loose the sale and stick with EVRI, that is up to them, we just find another firm.

[angieflange]

I try not to and contact sellers asking them to pick another option but am sometimes either too late or they ignore me. I also tried getting deliveries to my parents' address instead and Evri couldn't even find them! My query was why Ebay offers Evri as an option when they are notoriously bad - one MP asked Sunak to investigate them after 40,000 complaints! And there is zero customer care or support. When I asked for their complaints procedure, they blocked me! They don't even appear to have one. So while I do my best to avoid Evri, I order a lot of things on Ebay and can't always ensure another option is picked. 

[angieflange]

it isn't about a safe place, they already have that. The problem is they can't be bothered to actually find my house as it's tucked away behind another one so they dump my parcels there, with a resident recovering from cancer, and the dumping ground is right next to an A road so either get stolen, broken or soaked. 

[angieflange]

I fail to see why you responded in such a condescending and rude tone. Try reading my query properly before passing comment, this isn't about me being in or not or tracking, I am not an idiot - they are simply not bothering to find me. So yeh, not remotely helpful but thanks!

[angieflange]

no but my question is - why does Ebay even offer Evri as a choice when they are known for being so useless? So far, all I have is people making stupid comments about tracking or "well I've had no problem" which relate in no way to what I said.

[angieflange]

no, I am in. They just don't bother heading up the 10 steps or so to my house but dump it outside my neighbour's drive where they get damaged, stolen or soaked. They have my front porch recorded as the safe place but don't even get that far. Royal Mail and other couriers don't struggle, just Evri. They were dire as Hermes too. My issue isn't just the cr*p delivery - it's the impossibility of speaking with a real person and trying to resolve the issue. Lots of negative comments  in reply to my query but not a single one telling me how to complain formally and good luck finding out! There's nothing on their website, the chatbot is useless and they don't appear to be regulated by anybody or have a formal complaints procedure in place. The last person I actually managed to reach blocked me when I asked!

[angieflange]

I am not "out" when they dump my stuff elsewhere. Please re-read my issue. Yes, I tried getting them to deliver to  my (elderly) parents too and guess what, couldn't find them either!(big house, next to main road in tiny hamlet).

[angieflange]

I do that but don't always spot it, am too late or the seller ignores me anyway

[angieflange]

I'll add that: yes, I know it is the seller and not Ebay who picks them. My question was, with such a bad reputation, why are they even an option? And I am not away when they deliver, I am usually here working at my desk then my elderly neighbour turns up, having walked up the steep steps in heavy rain, to do Evri's job for them. They also dumped another neighbour's delivery outside the same house. I guess "High Bank" and "Fern Bank" must look just like "Hasselt Cottage". The drivers always take a photo which clearly ha the wrong house name on it yet they carry on dumping. They also have my mobile number so I can walk to the main road to show them where I live but haven't once called to check. 

[beechvale76_5]

You never mentioned in your opening post that you were at home when the parcels are delivered to your neighbour.

[rjwilmsi]

Yes, in the drive to be cheap the cheap couriers are cheap but in my view not good enough overall.

As the recipient you didn't purchase the label from the courier so don't have a contract with them. If they fail to carry out their contractual duty (safe delivery of parcel) you can't sue them - which is the bottom line if no customer service available.

I agree that EVRI, like the other cheap couriers, tend to have underpaid/overworked drivers in a rush so they will take shortcuts and make mistakes. Compensation on items is low so items don't seem to be treated that well. Other side of it is that they deliberately make their customer services hard to access to save cost, and it is only really available for loss or damage claims, they don't want to hear any feedback/complaint that delivery to neighbour wasn't correct choice etc.

I used EVRI a bit in the past as a seller, I don't now and would only advise their use for items of minimal value that can be replaced and where they are significantly cheaper than better options (such as DPD, Royal Mail Tracked). That's not many items in my view. Other sellers report good experiences with them though. I think the local delivery driver is a big factor - some are good and some not. As a buyer I get items from delivered by EVRI, my local EVRI driver normally does a decent job (I did once have to stop him handing over several parcels for a different address).

eBay sellers choose which courier they use, out of eBay's control. Some sellers will state one courier then use another (mostly individual/private sellers), so even checking that before purchase isn't enough to be sure what you'll get.

The best option may be to use eBay click & collect to a local shop. Or if the seller doesn't offer click & collect, use another seller. That way whatever courier is used doesn't matter to you, and the courier driver will always find the shop open.