After searching for months for sandals that I like, and won’t kill my feet, I bumped into the right ones at the start of Fall in a discount shoe store. They’re my hubby’s favourite shoe brand, Merrell. The big problem is they were a size 12 and I’m a cozy 7 ½. I began looking in stores in my area for the cute thongs. No luck. Once again:husband to the rescue! He can find almost anything : on the Internet, of course!
So after praying our credit card purchase would be safe, I settled in for the wait for delivery. We got a tracking number after a while and then as the delivery date closed in the annoyance started up again.
The hubby and I have been through various delivery services and have never found a way to be pleased with the methods they offer. I’m supposed to be getting a benefit when I pay extra for a courier driver to come directly to my house – aren’t I??
Please explain then why I can’t count on the company to find my door in the first place? Please explain why I sit on my bored butt ALL day and don’t get a call asking me where I am? Please explain what that message was from the gabbling kid who left a message at a speed that must have resulted from an extreme need to visit the men’s room! (Five replays later my husband caught the word “delivery” and part of a phone number). Please explain how after decoding the secret phone message I’m suddenly told to pick up something I paid an average of 24 dollars U.S. to have sent to my door?
To that rant and rave let me recount the other side of the coin.
Larry and I finally got a visit from a physiotherapist from the local government Home Care. She assessed the hubby’s condition for some stretching exercises he could have to improve his range of motion and perhaps cut down some of his spinal injury based spasms. Fine. Add to that the Personal Care Attendant learning the stretches to do for Larry and there are five of us on a lame little queen size bed. Larry is getting pretzeled up and twisted in several directions and lots of blah blah about “this is generally good” and “that’s tight” is floating around. Meanwhile the bed is rocking. (Ahem! Don’t go there!) I’m not overwhelmingly comfortable about this as I have just looked down and discovered that one of the legs on our metal bed frame has broken. Time to spend more money. Ugh!
After everyone vacates the bed Larry and I look on-line and find a similar bed frame at The Brick. Now, I’m not big on buying tons of furniture or heralding these guys for their brilliance at quality but what I can say is that The Brick people have delivery “manners.” My mother always told me to call people and tell them if you’re going to be late. My mother also told me you don’t show up without warning. And so far, The Brick never has. Have you dealt with them? Here’s the system. They call up the morning of the delivery and they give you “a three hour window” of when the delivery will occur. So far, all the deliveries I’ve had from the company have been on time and with polite workers who even take off their shoes before entering my home.
They are efficient at getting the items in and they set them up too! The heck with that “put it together yourself -we just deliver” crap! Two thumbs up!
So, I think you see where I’m going here. Now explain why the couriers can’t give me a “three hour window” or even an approximate day they’ll find my home? I understood when they’d never been here before and the street was brand new, but now the street is well known by these companies and in the day and age of everyone owning a cell phone WHY don’t they phone and say, “I can’t find your place!” (I COULD say because they’re male drivers but I won’t use that old joke.)
I urge all of us who are tired of not getting the courtesy of a general time window to phone the courier companies and complain. Let’s show them we can make a change. Call and complain. Get your time back. Look up your local delivery company numbers. The Voice goes to so many people in so many locales that I can’t cover all the numbers in this article or I would publish them right here. I’m dialing!
ADDENDUM: Ahem! Presto! Famous last words have hit! I just had my first very late delivery from The Brick:AND they gave me the routine about “we just deliver”. Look, this has NEVER happened before folks. I’m sending a copy of the article to the courier services AND the Brick Warehouse Head Office. Now I’m trying something for a first time. “I’ll never win the jackpot on the lottery! I guarantee it!” Hey, if I’m lucky I’ll be able to say those are famous last words too!
Laura Seymour first published herself, at age 8. She has since gone on to publish a cookbook for the medical condition of Candida. She is working toward her B.A. (Psyc).