Courier experiences

[baijuxavior]

This year I started some online purchasing from ebay etc. As usual the sellers shipped the items through courier companies and I had mixed experiences with the courier companies' services.

My first online purchase was in this january. I purchased a creative external sound card for my laptop from a chennai dealer and he shipped the item in my office address the very next day on 17/01/11 through professional couriers. The dealer gave me the online tracking number and details about the courier office which is about 30 km from my office. After three days it reached another branch, about 60 km away from my address. I expected they will ship it to the courier office that has service in my local area. But for the next few days there was no activity. On 26 jan (Republic day) en route to official duty i visited the local courier office to have a check and found it was closed. There was staff inside the office so i knocked on the door. A lady slightly opened the door and told me today is holiday and so no courier. I told her that i was expecting a courier and i came here from 30 km away so please check on your computer. But she firmly said today no service and closed the door. (I am sure she will not only open the door but check with the items then and there had she seen the sticker on my official vehicle). The next day when i checked the website i found the item has been returned back to cochin and then to chennai without even calling me. What a professional service. But fortunately the dealer contacted me over phone and i requested him to send it through dtdc courier. He shipped it on 29/1/11 and i got the item on 31/1/11 after 14 days.

Last week i purchased a modem and a parker pen for my friend from ebay (different sellers) and both were sent through dtdc to my office address. I got the modem in 3 days but the parker pen was sent back to the seller saying they had no service in my location. The seller contacted me and i requested him to resend the item in the same address. This time dtdc delivered it in 3 days. I don't know what is wrong with these courier companies. Every time they ship the items to different branches.

And what about door delivery?. In my experience they never delivered the items to doorstep. Instead they will call and inform to collect the items personally.

Lesson i learned: Be prepared to have lots of patience. Do not buy online unless the item is not available locally.

Guys please share your experiences also

 

[denom]

Quote:
had she seen the sticker on my official vehicle

Baiju, Are you working for the government/Police??? Asking this as you hinted of the same in your post above.

Yes, 95% of these courier companies are plain useless, what you have experienced is what a majority of us have also faced.

Have specially written about a bitter experience I had with respect to sending by courier(Blue Dart) a pair of tower speakers, in a thread earlier:sad:

 

[baijuxavior]

Quote:
had she seen the sticker on my official vehicle

Baiju, Are you working for the government/Police???

You guessed. My profile says that.

 

[vinay]

Courier

In order to reduce the ordeal of courier bad handling etc, among the best way is to always use a branded courier, that way at least you are much more protected from all aspects.

On the other hand there are many instances where one can avoid the courier, there are opportunities where some one can carry the item for one on their travel or it could be sourced locally etc.

V.

 

[baijuxavior]

Re: Courier

In order to reduce the ordeal of courier bad handling etc, among the best way is to always use a branded courier, that way at least you are much more protected from all aspects.

On the other hand there are many instances where one can avoid the courier, there are opportunities where some one can carry the item for one on their travel or it could be sourced locally etc.

V.

Thanks. Your font looks stretched in opera mini (when i am using mobile phone) making it difficult to read.