In my full time job I’m involved with marketing. One of the main difficulties we face as marketers is getting our audience to trust us. Companies can only gain the trust of their audience is by finding out exactly what it is their customers want and then delivering specifically what they have charged their customers for.
That brings me nicely onto CourierPost.
Assume you’ve purchased something of a significant enough value – let’s say $100 worth of vouchers that have no name on and can be given to anyone. You want that item to delivered directly to yourself. Have a think about what the most important requirements are for your courier company.
Hopefully you’re like me and would say:
- Delivery on the day that I pay for it to be delivered
so that I know I’ll be there to receive the item
- Released only to me and signed by me
the parcel is effectively $100 cash to anyone
- If there are any problems, I would expect an honest and helpful support service
CourierPost have failed these requirements in fantastic style. And not for the first time. If this was the first time, I wouldn’t be bothering to write this blog post.
How CourierPost Failed:
My mother lives in the UK. She wanted to buy my wife a Christmas present online from a supplier in NZ. So she went to the Hoyts.co.nz website and bought her $100 worth of cinema passes. She paid extra for an overnight delivery and had them sent to our home address in Woolston, Christchurch.
Here’s the result of 8 days and 4 phone calls:
You can clearly see on this receipt that the item was picked up on December 11th and was on an overnight service. The 11th is a Friday so the next working day would be Monday the 14th.
We got home late on the 14th and found a card-to-call. My wife assumed they would attempt another delivery so didn’t call on the 15th. When nothing arrived, my wife called and asked for the parcel to be redelivered to her workplace as she wouldn’t be at home to receive it personally. She was told it would be delivered on the morning of the 17th.
On the 17th, at work, she waited all morning and called CourierPost again at mid-day. The conversation went something like:
Lauren: Hi there, I’m just waiting for my parcel to be delivered. Can you tell me where it is?
CP: It’s still with the courier but that’s really to be expected.
Lauren: How so? I was told it would be here this morning?
CP: Yeah but it’s a busy time of year so there’s nothing you can do.
Lauren: Ok … so when can I expect it?
CP: Hopefully it’ll be there later today.
Lauren waited at work all day then called again when nothing turned up. Again she was told that it was a busy time of year and so would be redelivered the next day for sure. The 18th.
On the 18th December, surprise surprise, nothing turned up at work. She left for home at 5pm and called CourierPost. This time the conversation ran:
Lauren: Hi I’ve been waiting for a parcel and keep getting told it will be delivered then it doesn’t turn up.
CP: Oh no it was delivered this morning.
Lauren: What? Who to?
CP: Your workplace.
Lauren: Well I’ve been there all day and haven’t received anything.
CP: Oh right. Actually it was delivered at 4:47pm.
Lauren: What? So it’s been delivered just now?
CP: Yup.
Lauren: But it’s supposed to be delivered to me. Who signed for it?
CP: I don’t know.
Lauren: OK well I’ll check myself and call you back.
At the point I stepped in. I checked the CourierPost Track and Trace system and that told me that the parcel hadn’t been delivered at all and was still in transit. If I can look that information up, why couldn’t the guy at CourierPost? OK maybe he’d got the Track and Trace number wrong but even then, he gave two completely different times for delivery and then couldn’t say who had signed for it. And even THEN, the parcel is marked for signature by the specific recipient, my wife, and that hadn’t happened.
So this time I called CourierPost myself.
Mark: Hi there, my wife is expecting a package and has called CourierPost 3 times and been told all sorts of rubbish about its delivery. What’s going on?
Lady at CP: Oh my, I’m so sorry about that. Yes I can see right here that she’s already called a few times. I can see that it’s on the courier van right now and should be with you soon.
Mark: Don’t take this personally but I’m not happy with that as an answer. We’ve been told all sorts of information by CourierPost that has turned out to be false.
Lady at CP: Yes that’s absolutely fair enough. I’ll phone the courier driver now and find out what’s going on ……………….. ok unfortunately they’re not answering but I will ensure that the courier driver phones you tomorrow morning between 8am and 10am and we’ll be having words with this driver.
Mark: Ok get them to call me on my cell phone and also my wife isn’t at work tomorrow so it needs to be delivered to my home address. But get them to call me first to make sure we’re up and we receive the parcel personally because this is getting silly.
Lady at CP: Oh definitely. I’ll make sure that happens.
Saturday the 19th arrives. 10am comes and goes and I’ve received no parcel and no phone call. Just as I’m about to call CourierPost and unleash hell, my wife gets a phone call from her colleague at the retail store where she works. The tatty parcel has turned up there (instead of our home) and delivery has been taken by herself (despite the parcel needing to be signed for by my wife WITH a drivers license if at an alternative address).
According to CourierPost:
What is a signature required upon delivery service?
To provide peace of mind, we offer a signature required upon delivery service option when sending items.
And here’s the signature. Maybe by the person who received the item, maybe by the courier driver themselves:
So here’s my present to you New Zealand:
Do you fancy getting some extra Christmas presents this year? All you have to do is wander around looking for CourierPost’s card-to-call cards – you’ll find them slipped half under doormats in the rain rather than in the mail box right next to it – and then all you have to do is call 0800 COURIER, give them the tracking number, redirect it to your own address and you’re good to go.
Don’t worry, you won’t have to sign for it. Just don’t expect it the next day.
Merry Christmas!
P.S. Last time I courried something to my work address: Name, Company Name, Old Weekly Press Building, 107 Cashel Street. I finally tracked it down at The Press, Worcester Street. It had been signed for and everything. Thanks CourierPost.
… and another thing
Coincidentally, this morning I received a three-pack product that I’d bought from www.1-day.co.nz.
1 x American Crew Shampoo
1 x American Crew Conditioner
1 x choice of molding clay, paste or some other paste-type stuff.
I’m not exactly fussy with my hair but I’m not a fan of hair gel … which was fine because there wasn’t any on the list or in the photo of the products. So I chose the molding clay:
What I actually got was the shampoo and conditioner and one large bottle of styling gel. Great.
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