Delivery Agents

[Big Boy]

Thailand Post has always had a bad reputation. In recent years, the postal service has been partially replaced by numerous delivery agents e.g. Kerry, Flash, etc. We use them a lot, but usually in conjunction with C.O.D., which works very well.

What happens when it isn't C.O.D.? IMHO reputations are no better than the postal service.

A recent example, my son ordered 2 items, one that he would keep, and one that he would return. He would pay when he knew which item he was keeping. It wasn't a problem with the supplier i.e. he is a regular, trusted customer.

A week went by, and the package hadn't turned up. We checked the tracking history, and the item had been signed for personally by my son, and there was even a 9 second phone call to my son recorded on the history. Obviously, my son had signed for nothing, and his phone had no record of the phone call.

I spent quite some time on the delivery company's web site using their chat facility. Just like a scene out of Little Britain, it was a case of, "The computer says..................." I said we were getting nowhere, and asked if I could speak to a supervisor. The guy said no, but I could check the company's website - a full history was recorded .

The above chat went on for over 30 minutes, and I had them tied up in knots, but it kept coming back to, "The computer says..................."

I'd tried everything I could. I had to pass the problem to the supplier. They hit the same brick wall. They had several conversations with the carrier, culminating in yesterday's final proof. The courier said it had been delivered to a lady teacher, who had signed for it. Sorry, but there are no lady teachers living at my house. Besides, "The computer says..................." said it was handed personally to my son. Lies, lies, lies.

The supplier believed my son, and told him not to worry, they would sort it.

08:30 this morning, my wife received a package from a motorbike courier, who insisted on taking her photograph with the package. It was the original package, still sealed. I'm wondering if this will be the lady teacher receiving the package 10 days ago.

This is not the first time I've experienced "The computer says..................." syndrome. Some will remember my disputes with True. Basically, if not using C.O.D. delivery agents are no better than Thailand Post. I just wonder where my son's package had been for the last 2 weeks, and how the computer had been fed such definite proof of delivery.

[Dannie Boy]

One of life’s mysteries BB - I doubt you’ll ever get to the bottom of it, in fact I wouldn’t waste any time trying!!

[brianks]

Living here in a small town of Khanom I know where both Kerry and Flash have their terminals on the road into town. When I get the tracking information that the package has arrived at the local station and being given to driver for delivery I have printed the tracking number and taken it to their locations. For two days now I have gone to their location before 11am when they are distributing the packages to the drivers for delivery. Fortunately they are only a few km from my house but now I have the packages and don't have to wait until 7pl (like I did last night with another delivery) to be sure I have the product.

[buksida]

Likewise, living in a very small town we know the Kerry/Flash/Whatever delivery drivers personally, and they'll often call up and deliver stuff to us while we're out!

[Big Boy]

Actually, we know the drivers here in a bigger town like Hua Hin. This morning's delivery was on the guy's personal motorcycle, and no other packages on the bike, which to me makes it even more suspicious. The only reason we knew it was being delivered by the agent was my son recognised the driver.

[HHTel]

I had something similar a few years ago. Had it out with the supervisor at the main office (near the airport). He showed me a pic of the signature on screen. Not my signature of course. Then one of his colleagues recognised the signature as one of the delivery guys! I was told they would look into it. A few days later I was called back to their main office. The supervisor had my package which I confirmed was mine. He apologised and told me the guy responsible had been sacked. Whether that actually happened or not I don't know.

[Big Boy]

My son has just had another delivery nightmare. He ordered something from a company where he is friendly with the owner. He requested next day delivery. My son's friend personally walked the package to the shipping agent (who will remain nameless) and paid for next day delivery.

Next day was yesterday - nothing arrived. My son phoned his friend who provided the tracking number, who confirmed the package was in PKK. OK, not next day, but Thai time - we can make some allowances. Here is a section of the package tracking history (company identifiers removed):

track.png (54.3 KiB) Viewed 1155 times

The package was finally delivered about an hour ago......................... by regular post.

I'm guessing if the courier does not have enough traffic going in a particular direction, they just walk the packages to the post office.

This particular courier company are useless. Until today, they have never managed to deliver anything to our address, so this is an improvement. The previous package was delivered to another address, and the courier provided a photo of the package being handed over as proof of delivery. The fact it was delivered elsewhere and to a random person was of no concern to the courier - they had fulfilled their obligation by delivering it, somewhere. After a lot of complaining, they gave us a phone number of the school where they had delivered it, and we had to collect it ourselves.

[Dannie Boy]

I’m surprised that you used a courier that was known to be useless - couldn’t someone have found an alternative courier?

[Big Boy]

We didn't choose the courier, the supplier did. However, he has had to replace items sent via the same courier to us in the past. He always says he is insured, but crap customer service.

[Gregjam]

I am just coming to the end of a six month period at home and while here have had items delivered almost every day. It frightens me to think how much online ordering my family and I have done. There have been the odd hiccup but they are very much a minority. Suppliers have used Lex, Kerry, Flash and the Post Office. In that time I was only once given an item for someone else and the courier came back an hour later and collected it. One of my items misdelivered arrived with an apologetic rider explaining what had happened.
Our deliveries have been anything from baby goat milk powder to motorcycle parts and rarely do we not get a call from the driver first.
While I cannot comment on express delivery, my overall experience has been positive and apart from online ordering costing less than buying in a shop and being able to get what you want it also saves me money as the wife is not distracted by other items or nearby shops.

[Big Boy]

We too get regular deliveries, but there is just one agent who seems to go out of their way to get it wrong. Today's delivery was actually their best ever effort - the package was delivered to the correct address. Maybe they should use the post office more often.

[buksida]

One thing I am noticing is delivery times taking longer and looonger. They can't blame Covid now yet it still takes a week to get something ordered from Laz (Bangkok) down here to the boonies.

[Big Boy]

Maybe in the same way as this example, where it was more prudent to walk to the local post office rather than drive to Hua Hin to save on fuel costs, the delivery agents are holding on to goods until they have a big enough load to make the journey worthwhile. However, I often track goods, and the delay seems to be picking an item up from providers - again, maybe waiting until the shop has enough packages to make the pick up worthwhile.

To me, delaying pick up makes sense whilst building a load to PKK i.e. there are no storage costs at the agent's local hub.