We don't deliver any item above ground level!

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OK, I confess.  It's been yonks since I carried any major redecoration on my flat that required retailer delivery services carting big ticket white items to the door and then up to my flat.  Last time I did it was a quick and efficient process.  My Bosch fridge, oven and AEG washing machine are over a decade old and still going strong thanks very much.  Well...  the fridge and washing machine are.  The oven, not so.  Not since last week when the main cavity dial busted and I found that the manufacture had gone out of business and I couldn't find a replacement part either.

So it was bye, bye oven...

And now it's hello big gripe.  I ordered a new electric oven on-line from Appliances Direct, who took my order and all went tickety boo until it came to explaining their delivery arrangements.

"Of course we can deliver your oven, madam" they reassured me...  "and we do this at no cost to yourself."

"Free?  Wow, wow, wow, unbelievable." I felt like screeching, in tones that exceeded anything Kate Bush could have managed 30 years ago.  After all, I don't have a big car or van; I don't really drive so I can't hire one.  I only have a Brompton bike and that is no good.  Delivery was the only option for me.  Plus I envisaged that I needed two Mr Muscle-men to carry the darned thing up the steps to my house and to my first floor flat.  After all, I am merely a wishy washy woman - with sinewy arms and just enough strength to haul in the weekly shop from Sainsbury, not up to the job of hauling darned great ovens up flights of stairs.

When I explained my profuse gratitude, thanking them and nearly kissing the receiver for what seemed to me to be prompt and efficient service for an oven at a reasonable price, it never did cross my tiny mind that this ordering process was just a little bit too good to be true.

Not long after, I was rudely awakened ...

"...but before we take your credit card details, madam, we must draw your attention to our website information on deliveries.  Have you read it yet?"

"Hmmm...  OK I will, and no I haven't" I responded dumbly, thinking it was no big deal.  Then the bomb exploded...

"....we don't carry any in item above ground floor level."

After a deafening silence of about 10 seconds, I swear that the entire street could hear what was to follow: this almightly outpouring of grief...  "Waaah!!  Waaah!  I wailed, now staring at the phone in disbelieve as though it was about to bite me.  By now, I was nearly sobbing down the receiver.  "I live on my own, I wailed; I'm female, I can't cart a darned great oven up two flights of steps single handed.  How can I manage, I sobbed?" Then desperation took over in the form of emotional blackmail: "What if I were an elderly lady of 80 years old?  You would have to do it then." What if the papers got hold of this story?

"Uh, nope...  our policy is clearly stated on our website"

Apparently, it is de rigueur these days to p*** off customers...  Whoops, I mean, to have delivery teams refusing to ascend a single step, no matter what they are delivering and no matter how heavy it is.  Health and Safety of the delivery team takes precedence, not the customer's capabilities or wishes or convenience.

Well, I only have one thing to say to that zero tolerance bo**ocks.

You can just cancel my entire order...  matey!.  And that is what I did.  Then I promptly reordered the same goods with another company - who offered me a better deal and they also assured me that they had no such silly policy in place.  My order would be delivered to the first floor.  No quibbles, no fuss and no expense!

They had better be telling me the truth when they come to the door with my oven tomorrow, otherwise they can turn right round again at the front door and take the oven back with them and stick it where the sun don't shine.

By: Grumpy xx

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strandedfemale

I've had similar problems and been left to cart a 7kg parcel indoors from the road. One thing that I am happy with though is the local frozen food supermarket and its lovely, helpful, friendly delivery guys who insist on putting the bags down on my kitchen floor. I shop there every week now.

05/12/13 strandedfemale

-4

LancashireLass

Ok, I may on a ground floor, but my gripe about delivery companies (not the men or women who do the delivering) is that I work full time 9-5 mon-fri so the best time to catch me in would be either after 6pm or on a Saturday. I recently had a parcel to be delivered totalling a whopping £2.45 they attempted delivery5 times te fifth time sucessful, only because I have a good neighbour who happened to be in that time. My main moan is that when I enquirer about the upgraded Saturday delivery I was quoted £12.00 for the privilege, my response to that was "skip off and do one, you are penalising me for working full time"' the bloody parcel wasn't that much. How can these courier companies get away with it.

27/04/13 LancashireLass

-2

Brightonrebel

Ok I'm a courier and the reasons for us not being able to carry heavy items upstairs is because most of us couriers are self employed and let's be honest if we slip and break our arm or leg are you going to pay our wages and running cost of about £1000 a week??? I don't think so and also the clown that wrote about why we push cards through the door is errr yes we realise that most people are at work and if we don't deliver we don't get paid so if you ain't going to be in dont order anything you idiot.

14/04/13 Brightonrebel

-9

Kenny (Site Admin)

SORRY!!!!

Please accept my apologies for the recent problems on the site and the inability to post comments for the last week or so. This is due to my hosting provider reinstalling the database server (incorrectly) which affected my database. But after a fair amount of brow-beating (fixing the problem myself) we're back in business.

Thanks also to those who have sent in gripes recently I'll get some of these up in the coming week along with a promise to post up new gripes more frequently!!!

Thanks

27/01/13 Kenny (Site Admin)

13

Companies should deliver

Or whatabout all the delivery people out and about every day simply pushing cards through doors saying 'sorry you're not in when I tried to deliver your item'. When will companies realise most people are at work during the day?

10/01/13 Companies should deliver

7

Victim of Banks.

You would think in these days of economic hardship a company would carry the items upstairs to get an extra sale. How many unemployed people would swap places with those workers and just get on with it?

01/01/13 Victim of Banks.

4

These companies need to get real

I ordered a fish tank and a stand to go with it (along with other accessories, pumps, gravel, etc), to be told we only deliver to the kerbside and that the delivery men will not walk on or go on private property and it will be my responsibility to carry the items from the pavement (kerbside) into my house. Needless to say, order cancelled and although the local aquarium was more expensive they delivered into the room of my choice and even offered to set up free of charge.

28/12/12 These companies need to get real

30

Baz.

Welcome to the modern World of shopping, where the customer is never right. Where you have sales assistants who have done a day's course on the appliances they sell and when you ask them a technical question they direct you to a help line where the operator is actually very unhelpful and don't know anymore about the appliance than you do. Won't go above the ground floor? How ludicrous. How long before they are asking customers to arrange their own deliveries? Well done for canceling the order.

28/12/12 Baz.

31

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