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They were delivered on time, but in an appalling state. Some of the boxes and goods (things like a bouncer chair and the blankets) were delivered to me wet and in damaged packaging. The man dumped a heavy box in my hand to carry up the stairs. Im 33 weeks pregnant, and this was totally inapproprite. He refused to let me have the cot, and said the whole order had to be returned.
When I called up to complain the customer service manager was very rude with me, she said I was lucky they were delivered so quickly and was short, unsympathetic and totally unhelpful. she refused to put me through to a manager, or let me know when my goods would be redelivered.I was made to feel like I was lucky there were there at all, and that my complaints were not taken seriously at all. I was spoken to very ruidely.
Mumsnet Discussions - mothercare are awful (Pregnancy)
Whatever problems there are at the depot, the customer shouldn't be getting wet and damaged deliveries, this is unnecessary damage to the Mothercare brand, it doesn't show any care at all. When choosing your courier, you need to brief them, and the courier driver needs to be aware that they may need extra lifting equipment or a two man team to deliver to pregnant women (this also counts for delivering to the elderly, and the physically disabled).So if you are a company looking to deliver items to women who are heavily pregnant...
Couriers and delivery, for when your customers welfare actually matters to your business.
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I was thinking about the major players in the courier industry today. How they do the little niggling things like ring the doorbell for 1 minute on a Saturday morning delivery. That made me wonder what else they do wrong
- They don’t re-deliver. You go out, miss delivery and they leave a card to collect from the depot thats 30 miles away and you cannot get it for another week…
- They tell you any time between 9 and 5pm for delivery, and you wait and wait and wait… you call the depot at 5pm and ask about the delivery only to be told, they couldn’t find you.
- The courier arrives three hours late for the collection, offers no reason or apology for wasting your time
- The courier decides it’s acceptable to throw items in and out of the van
- The courier doesn’t use safer, greening driving techniques and pulls away in a cloud of black exhaust fumes..
Top 5 things other parcel couriers do wrong…
Here at Arrow Light Haulage your local Essex and Kent courier, we take excellent care of your goods that we deliver, we treat them like the’re our own.
We give you fast, accurate collection times. When you use our dedicated / epress same day services you will get an accurate time for delivery. We don’t leave your goods on the doorstep if you are unable to bring it in yourself (although we are not obligated to). For an all round better, faster, greener, effective courier service just give us a call on 0844 884 3331.
Sarah
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Couriers are often seen to be the most expensive options when it comes to deliveries, a dining table and chairs can be quite awkward and heavy to move. When you start to weigh up the cost of actually doing the job yourself, fuel, van hire, you begind to realise how a courier can actually save you.
These are generally too heavy to be delivered by parcel services. Depending on what they are made from, I would check with your courier company first. If it’s possible, the furture should be dismantled and packaged securely before collection, this reduces the cubic weight and makes it more likely your items can be delivered. Remember to package them carefully to prevent damage.Collecting and Delivering a Dining Table and Chairs by Same Day Courier
Pallet Networks - You dining is palletised and collected with other items and sent to the hub (usually in the Midlands) then put on a vehicle that will deliver to a depot and then on to you, the end destination. Your pallet may be ‘ugly freight‘ or oversized and this would be more expensive. There is high risk of damage using these services and it’s very difficult to establish where in the chain it happened.
Overnight / Economy courier - Your dining table is collected and loaded onto the vehicle, with other goods and delivered at some point in the next few days. The routes are as fuel efficient as possible, less chance of damage than a pallet network, but your item could risk some damage if the courier company does not secure their loads or protect your dining table and chairs correctly. We always secure our items and wrap them for added protection.
Same day or express courier - you item is the only item on the vehicle, it is secured and delivered in one piece, the only method likely to result in the least amount of damage.
When you decide which type of courier you need, you also need to ask some other questions about timings and help unloading. You will also need to advise on parking restrictions etc.
If you need any advice, please don't hesitate to call us on 0844 884 3331 or 07816 528421
Sarah
Kent couriers collecting and delivering on your time
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Tolls are set to increase by 50% in the sutumn as a result of the survey. Motorists will now pay £1.50 to drive a car over the bridge or through the tunnel. Vans will pay £2.00 and Lorries will now pay £3.70 although there is no longer a charge if you use a trailer.Toll Increases At The Dartford River CrossingIn the last set of accounts (2006-2007) the crossing made £47 million in profit for the treasury, straight into the chancellors coffers. So why the increase? is £47 million not enough? Apparently not, and its businesses and residents local to Dartford and Thurrock that will pay for this.Sarah
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Sarah has been blogging about the school run today, and in doing her research she found that the school run puts 20% more traffic on the roads from 8.30am to 9.15 am and 2.30pm to 3.30pm.
The Institute of Advanced Motoring has some tips for tackling the school run.• Avoid taking the car if you can. Walking, cycling and public transport are all better options, not only for children, but also the environment. Children cycling to school should be proficient and wear a helmet, with bright, all-weather clothing.Give us a call on 0844 884 3331 if you think we can help, we can deliver everything except your kids, to school.• If you have to drive, offer to car share with other parents and take it in turns rather than add to
Whats this got to do with courier services? Sometimes it's more cost effective and safer to have our driver sitting in the traffic, than one of your own.
congestion around schools. When you have an informal arrangement, set an example by
attending a defensive driving course such as that offered by the IAM.
• Allow plenty of time for the journey. Crashes cause delay and are normally caused by drivers
going too fast and driving too close to the car in front. Leave five minutes earlier to reduce
stress.
• Drive well within the speed limit. Maintain a sensible safety gap - remember the “two second
rule”. At 35mph you are twice as likely to kill someone as you are at 30mph. Yet within the
car, this feels hardly any different. The school approach presents many hazards - including
children not concentrating fully as they cross the road.
• Park considerately and safely. Never double park, block driveways or simply rely on the
footbrake to keep the vehicle still as children climb out of the car. Consider parking 100 yards
or so away from the school gate and completing your journey on foot. This gives you an
opportunity to teach children about using the road and reduces congestion at the school gate
itself.
• Never stop on the yellow “zig zags” by the school gate, even briefly. Always ensure you let
the children out on the pavement side (or if there is no pavement, the side away from the
traffic).
• Do not drive on the pavement in an attempt to allow oncoming vehicles to pass. Wait until the
way ahead is clear rather than risk injuring a pedestrian.The East London Ex-Pat’s Guide to Essex, Aug 2008
Kevin
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Collect and deliver from Lakeside to anywhere in the UK.
Want an item, only to find it has sold out in your local area? If they have it in Lakeside Essex, we can collect it and deliver it to you for just £9.99 plus VAT. Thats right a couriered parcel service for just £9.99.
We take orders all week, and on Thursday evening we will collect your item, wrap it and pack it, and on Friday we will dispatch it and it will be with you Monday morning.
As part of our premium services, provided you have booked our by midday, we can collect and deliver overnight to most places in the UK for just £15+VAT.
So now you need never miss out on the ideal pair of shoes, designer dress or suit and of course all items up to the value of £500 are insured.
This service is for items up to 20kgs volumetric weight, 2 metres in length.
We are also able to collect from stores in Romford, Basildon and Southend.
Sarah
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Are you looking for a parcel delivery company?
We have an excellent ‘account’ free parcel delivery service. What does account free mean? It means you pay as you use our services, so you don’t have a minimum spend and there is no maximum spend.Is your Basildon Amtrak Account cancelled?We are an Essex based express courier and parcel company within easy reach of West Thurrock and Dartford, and we can collect and deliver your parcels and packages all over the UK.What does that mean to you, the customer? It means you don’t have any unexpected shocks when the invoice hits the mat, no fuel surcharges, or overweight charges (you know those nasty charges that mean you pay an extra £5 or £10 because you have gone overweight by .5kgs). Account free of all the hassle associated with other parcel and courier companies.
Give us a call on 0844 884 3331 (local, no matter where you are) or 07816 528421 (mobile and out of office, yes we really are 24-7).Sarah
West Thurrock parcel courier and collection![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_srP8P4WY3mOghpdsKkKdVQKgNeuoCqCX63mdsOVId4U8P9lNvcB_U1qBGOdYIkKhZ8_S7EhedGJYewJnddSEkLpW4OoT6lotTM2zZr9M_rN4vfPRPEXThQRRqm9_1Qc-3Rzi_Of0jQh-AsdOPP0fGE=s0-d)
I writing about deliveries that went wrong on Sunday:
Delivering a boat, a luxury one included, can be done safely by land. Only last week I delivered two boats for very happy customers, although I have no idea of the value, in these cases the customers insured the boats themselves for delivery.When deliveries go wrong…delivering by powerboatand that got me thinking about the other ways that deliveries can go wrong.Quite often the problem can be in the venue the item is being delivered too. Doorways can be too narrow for sofas and beds redulting in the removal of a window to get the item in the house.
Sometimes its climbing 7 flights of stairs with a very large sofa - a cup of tea is always welcome at the top!Pianos can be a pain too, I read about the piano they had to be removed from an upstairs flat by crane! I wondered how they got it in to the flat in the first place.
Informing your courier of potential venue problems is a good thing, it means they can plan with you how they can help, if they can help at all.If you do find you have to remove a window to get items of furniture in, a window fitter is a good option and doesn't add that much to the overall cost, a local one may even help out of hours so you don't have to take the day off of work.
For no obligation advice on preventing your delivery going wrong, just give us a call on 0844 884 3331 or 07816 528421Sarah
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Thinking about this blog post, I made earlier today:
PA consulting is the private sector company that has lost this round of confidential information. The transfer of further data to PA Consulting on the project has been suspended pending the investigation. This on the surface appears quite harsh, after DHL lost 25 million child benefit addresses, and as far as we are aware still delivering government documents.The Essex courier and parcel delivery company, Aug 2008Is there any tools or gadgets that could actually help the government?I found an interesting looking secure data pen on a blog by Don Cooke, who specialises in remote team working. This led me to think, why is the data being transported via a memory stick anyway? Why isn't it being encrypted and uploaded to the research companies? Don't tell me it's more secure this way...
Even if your courier is insured, what exactly is being insured? the replacement data stick? or the data on it? and how do you put a price on that data?
Is it time for the Data Protection act to be reviewed? a SME would get huge fines for non compliance, I think there should be some sort of fine to the government, perhaps suspend MPs expense accounts until they can get it right?
For confidential delivery services, with 100% success rate (so far) then look no further than your local West Thurrock and Dartford confidential courier company, Arrow Light Haulage.
Regards
Sarah![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uJZ2_hCxuPfE1Gigs0mW_p6qcBJmTmVlDt7sJQEvMZe8Lv8CfcqOuDDJEsNH0NpEvK2LR-9ihQRT2U7Dmw9Kq-bK-SU4LuNiOdIueVQbgVGt9taWI55iSpl8-BdopymscMKVHgEaxSLckaO_S4JaUM=s0-d)
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Image via Wikipedia London can be a very time consuming exercise for a courier company! At certain times of the day it can take you 2 hours to go 10 miles! This means most courier companies like to collect ordrop their goods as early as possible.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vZqzSPr-Esek2HjcnfyIEW31E7keSCR9XknwaCFf8nOu4S6J7r_VE0pT6Xv_9pOh5NE2NvUUfH3_oS4h73VtX_SFWtQLXCt7_caSYCZeF1C1qjvMTCI_SBq_ePVZbXbABA72yOoIDs5J05Ew3Hztxs=s0-d)
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I recently conducted two pieces of market research independently of each other, about how people source their couriers. The idea being from the results, I would determine where to focus the advertising budget for the business this year.
The first piece I surveyed a cross section of the business community about how they sourced a courier. In the second piece I asked new customers how they found our services.
The results I think are quite interesting.
92% of people in the first survey said they would use the Yellow Pages to source a courier should they need one. They would ask around for recommendations second, after they had used the Yellow Pages.
In the second survey 75% of our customers found us through a search engine on the Internet. The rest came from a mixture of leaflets and recommendations. Not one mention of a telephone directory, on line or offline.
This confirms my belief that advertising should be a mix of mediums and not focus on just one specific area.
What was also interesting was the business community clearly stated they did not buy on price alone, every customer who used us in the second survey stated we had the best value for money service. The whole package that we offered was better than just getting a price, the care in delivery was exceptional.
Quoting one customer.... 'You delivered a glass display cabinet over 300 miles without breakages. Upon collection your driver dismantled it, wrapped it and then at my delivery address, carefully unwrapped it and re-assembled it. It looks perfect. No-one else would do the job as the cabinet was made of glass and not easily transportable without breakage. I really liked the way you worked on transporting the cabinet rather than telling me how hard, how difficult and it couldn't be done. I will definitely use you again. I don't know why more retailers don't use you, you certainly are a well kept secret.'
Boy, that was good to hear!
2 people are required to load a motorbike safely, but one person can unload it.
The same for a scooter or Vespa type vehicle, and a quadbike can take up to 4 people to lift it on, and 2 to unload it.
Firstly the bike is lifted on to our vehicle via a tail lift. The bike is moved so the front wheel faces the rear shutter of the van. Close the shutter (with yourself still inside), apply the front brake, push down hard on the suspension. Your assistant will will strap the bike to the floor hook, wrapping it around the handlebars and then securing it to the other floor hook, making sure its extremely tight.
Release the brake and with another strap, secure the passengers hand grip. This will stabilise the bike ready for transportation. It doesn’t need to be covered as its securely strapped.
To do it any other way risks damage to the indicators and the engine.
You will need a transit sized van or above.
If it seems to much hassle, give us a call, we happily transport Motorbikes, Quadbikes and Scooters throughout the country and to France or Spain.
Regards
Kevin
(07816 528421)
Essex and Kent Courier and parcel distribution
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