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DRW58



Member Since: 23 Feb 2013
Location: Perthshire
Posts: 167

Scotland 2001 Defender 90 Td5 SW Epsom Green
Dont you just love delivery drivers
SWMBO really wanted a new cooker.
She really wanted an AGA, but space, fuel options and a £10 grand price tag put paid to that gem of an idea.
Compromise a nice new Range Master was to be delivered today.
I asked when it might be expected and was advised ...we don't know.
I asked if I could get a phone call at work half an hour before it was to arrive so I could drive home and take delivery?
"We'll tell you an hour before" Thumbs Up
11:00 this morning phone call I'm at your house and there's no-one in, Mad
11:15 I'm there, the lorry's on the road at the end of the drive and the cookers on a pallet on the gavel 30 meters from it's temporary home in the garage.
The Driver gets me to sign the delivery note, says he couldn't get it any further up the drive, suggests I hitch a rope to the back of my "JEEP" jumps back in his cab and Bu**ers off!!!! Big Cry
I send the next ten minutes lashing a rope round myself and the pallet and damned near end myself dragging the foocker into the garage.
SWMBO returns home late from work, is nonplussed by my lack of enthusiasm to venture out to a freezing cold garage to view the offending cooker m'bob and doesn't even bother herself. Whistle
All that effort I tell you there needs to be the promise of some home baking in the not too distant future.
I've had better days.. it's all the drivers fault Jeep indeed....heretic.
TFIF Rolling with laughter
DRW I built a garage for my Mini
With a place for everything and everthing in its place.
Ten years down the line there's a Mini in there somewhere, and Censored all's where it should be!!!! Ho hum
Post #284430 22nd Nov 2013 9:58pm
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bpman



Member Since: 21 May 2008
Location: Oslo
Posts: 8069

2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 SVX Station Wagon Santorini Black
We used a 1/2 sized tractor and trailer for our esse cooker, but yes delivery drivers can be challenging
Post #284437 22nd Nov 2013 10:12pm
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22900013A



Member Since: 23 Dec 2010
Location: Oxfordshire
Posts: 3150

United Kingdom 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Keswick Green
Sadly this is the health and safety generation, the driver won't be insured to deliver onto your property, only to the kerb outside. This is certainly the case with palletised deliveries and this should have been told to you when the order was placed (probably in the small print mind you). The concern obviously is to do with liability should the driver injure himself on your land, cause damage to your property etc etc...that said, I did work for one outfit doing fridges and cookers and *some* of them were delivered and installed too. I suspect this cost a lot more then just delivering it though. 2011 110 USW
1973 Series III 1-Ton
1972 Series III 1-Ton Cherrypicker
1969 IIA 1-Ton
1966 IIA 88"
Post #284438 22nd Nov 2013 10:18pm
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bpman



Member Since: 21 May 2008
Location: Oslo
Posts: 8069

2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 SVX Station Wagon Santorini Black
^^^ that said where's the customer service

So many companies these day promise the world but simply don't deliver ( even some names from the forum )
Post #284441 22nd Nov 2013 10:22pm
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22900013A



Member Since: 23 Dec 2010
Location: Oxfordshire
Posts: 3150

United Kingdom 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Keswick Green
The driver can only do what he is asked to do by his employer. I have a mate who does pallet work and it is just a pain in the backside, has people wanting him to pull 1 tonne pallets up sloped gravel driveways with a pump truck. If they were to all spec moffatts you would see the cost for the deliveries shoot up, so they get no trade, hence no moffatts...but as with most things, you get what you pay for. My mate delivers to the kerbside and that's as far as he goes. 2011 110 USW
1973 Series III 1-Ton
1972 Series III 1-Ton Cherrypicker
1969 IIA 1-Ton
1966 IIA 88"
Post #284445 22nd Nov 2013 10:33pm
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DRW58



Member Since: 23 Feb 2013
Location: Perthshire
Posts: 167

Scotland 2001 Defender 90 Td5 SW Epsom Green
I hear what you are saying but what has happened to customer service or even just plain good manners and helpfulness.
There seems to be something wrong with what we as consumers have to put up with these days.
There's more emphasis on when it's suitable for the delivery company to make it to your door.
How many times do we have to take time off work to accommodate a trades person or delivery, when at the end of the day we are paying for that service.
When you go out for a meal there's an expectation that it will be delivered to your table at a time that suits you.
Not served fairly close to your table and twenty minutes before you get there.
Nor do you have to stay at the restaurant all day in the hope that the meal you have ordered will be delivered at some point, and if you inadvertently go to the loo when it was delivered, taken away again and should be back on your table some time tomorrow.
Collectively we got the cart before the horse on this one, and yet we all just lie down and take it. Big Cry
Ok rant over I feel a bit better now. Whistle
Have a nice weekend everyone....even delivery drivers...I know it's not your fault Very Happy Friends? Embarassed
DRW I built a garage for my Mini
With a place for everything and everthing in its place.
Ten years down the line there's a Mini in there somewhere, and Censored all's where it should be!!!! Ho hum
Post #284446 22nd Nov 2013 10:35pm
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bpman



Member Since: 21 May 2008
Location: Oslo
Posts: 8069

2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 SVX Station Wagon Santorini Black
Yeah - we know what you mean drw, have a good weekend,

You'll look back and laugh about the delivery

But we know about customer service.. Would you buy again from the same vendor? Rolling with laughter
Post #284448 22nd Nov 2013 10:38pm
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DRW58



Member Since: 23 Feb 2013
Location: Perthshire
Posts: 167

Scotland 2001 Defender 90 Td5 SW Epsom Green
How many cookers can one woman need?
She's not even looked at the one I bought her.
Range Master Sledge pulled by a daftie!!!! I built a garage for my Mini
With a place for everything and everthing in its place.
Ten years down the line there's a Mini in there somewhere, and Censored all's where it should be!!!! Ho hum
Post #284450 22nd Nov 2013 10:45pm
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bpman



Member Since: 21 May 2008
Location: Oslo
Posts: 8069

2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 SVX Station Wagon Santorini Black
Can I watch whilst you tell her these things ?

Rolling with laughter Rolling with laughter
Post #284451 22nd Nov 2013 10:47pm
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JJ



Member Since: 18 May 2009
Location: Winchester
Posts: 932

United Kingdom 1987 Defender 110 V8 Petrol CSW Corris Grey
" But we know about customer service.. Would you buy again from the same vendor? "

Only if the price was right.

The problem starts from the top and delivery drivers will do what the company demands, I have done a bit of agency work for John Lewis this year and the attitude is where would you like me to place this 3 piece suite ? of course it is priced accordingly.

They will deliver , install , remove packaging and the old appliance if you want , I am sure other companies will do similar if the price is right.

Have a good weekend , it sounds like you deserve a rest after your Herculean effort.
Post #284456 22nd Nov 2013 10:59pm
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JWL



Member Since: 26 Oct 2011
Location: Hereford
Posts: 3443

England 2002 Defender 110 Td5 SW Coniston Green
Be thankfull you didn't get the Aga, my ex decided she wanted a Rayburn in our last house, second hand it cost me just over a grand but it was tidy, a gas one as the house was on the mains. The crunch was the delivery, the bloke delivered it when I was at work, at least he did put it in the house, at the time you could back up to some patio doors and inside the lounge it went. I had to knock a doorway into where she wanted the kitchen, made the plinth set it up on there, it was a balanced flue so it was just a hole out through an outside wall. Two months after delivery and getting it all set up complete with the respective plumbing as it was the central heating boiler as well, we were all sat down for Christmas dinner when she announces that it would be a better idea if we actually moved the kitchen into what we were using as a lounge, the original part of the house Rolling Eyes
The damned thing weighed in at around 350kg and I became quite an expert moving it around the place by myself, it can be quite easy with two or three 4" round wooden stakes cut to the same width of the Rayburn and a couple of decent crowbars. A sheet of steel can help to slide the thing on as well.
Don't you just love those that keep changing their minds Rolling Eyes
Post #284463 23rd Nov 2013 12:11am
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JR



Member Since: 07 Dec 2012
Location: Auchtermuchty
Posts: 532

Scotland 1984 Defender 90 200 Tdi SW Coniston Green
22900013A, you mention delivery to the kerb outside the property, that's many of us in the country b*******d, I live close to the road ad it's still 100yds away; many other farms are much further from the road end!
Post #284529 23rd Nov 2013 12:39pm
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Egghead



Member Since: 25 Nov 2012
Location: Surrey
Posts: 255

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Java Black
Rangemaster treated us really bad. I've never know such a shoddy outfit - totally third world customer service. Never again. Never know why such an overpriced oven is so much more important than a Hybrid VGT Turbocharger!
Post #284598 23rd Nov 2013 5:23pm
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22900013A



Member Since: 23 Dec 2010
Location: Oxfordshire
Posts: 3150

United Kingdom 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Keswick Green
^^ I can only comment on what my mate tells me as personally I do not do pallet work. I would imagine farmers etc would have a delivery area which can be used. I think most of the work my pal does is housing estates so the pallet won't be too far from the house, I suspect with industrial areas or farms they will get it as close as they can.

The thing with all this is that it is price-driven. To keep prices down the driver(s) have to do as many drops as possible, this is why you have delivery windows of half a day, and kerbside/doorstep drops, and why they want to crack on as quickly as possible. This is because people want to pay £10 to have a pallet of Landrover parts shipped from Aberdeen to Bristol. Higher level service can be had but it comes with a higher pricetag, the big fridges and cookers I delivered a couple of years ago were ££££ to buy, and £££ for delivery on top. Add an industry (haulage) that is on its knees due to high fuel prices, mix in drivers hours regs and the need to turn a profit and it isn't difficult to see why we are in the situation we are in. Some odf the pallet firms bearly break even on each pallet they transport, hence the need to get as many done as possible.How long do you think it would take to do a dozen deliveries, all of them up driveways etc etc...you would run out of time on the deliveries alone, nevermind the driving.

I of course understand where the customer is coming from, but in my experience few understand the realities of running vehicles, traffic jams and breakdowns can send a planned route totally to pot. It simply isn't possible to give a to the minute delivery time, many times I have been only a few minutes from a drop, only to run into an accident or breakdown that has added hours onto that few minutes journey... 2011 110 USW
1973 Series III 1-Ton
1972 Series III 1-Ton Cherrypicker
1969 IIA 1-Ton
1966 IIA 88"
Post #284601 23rd Nov 2013 5:30pm
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diesel_jim



Member Since: 13 Oct 2008
Location: hiding
Posts: 6102

United Kingdom 2006 Defender 110 Td5 SW Epsom Green
Bought our rangemaster from Jewsons.

The driver even helped me carry (and drag/heave/lever) the thing into position.
Post #284653 23rd Nov 2013 7:53pm
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