There are some serious questions here on what happened to me and I believe to many others.
What I had experienced was the WORST delivery system. I've placed my order online with Homebase/Argos and requested Saturday delivery. I called them early Saturday morning to check if my order was dispatched which was confirmed by them.
3 pm I called again only to be informed to wait another 30 mins in case there is a delay. Waited but no sign of my delivery.
Called again (3.30 pm) only to be informed to wait another 30 mins as sometimes the delays occur until 4pm.
4.20 and no delivery yet so I called again. This time I was informed that there are 90% chance my order not be delivered as the driver may "run out of delivery times". WHAT???? Where did this come from?
When companies offer delivery services they should be able to track the order at any given time even if that means to store and make one simple phone call to the company and driver who deliver (not rely entirely on an online system). All delivery drivers (as all people nowadays) carry mobiles.
The story continues: the driver appeared on my door 10 am next morning (Sunday delivery??) with my order. Although I told him that yesterday after all this hassle and endless phone calls I had no option but to cancel my order he seemed confident that I can accept my order. Under these circumstances I accepted 3 out 4 items and emailed Homebase with the latest developments expecting some kind of answer and/or compensation.
I had a reply email which I copy
"Our third party carriers deliver our small items and their drivers are not issued with company mobile phones. We would also be unable to contact drivers by this method as it is illegal to answer a phone whilst driving.
I am sorry but we have not been informed by our carriers the exact reason that your delivery failed on the day arranged. The information you were told about the drivers running out of time is a possibility. Drivers only have a certain amount of legal driving hours and once they pass this, they would have to return to the depot and attempt delivery the following day. Certain factors such as weather or traffic problems are usually the cause of this"
Could someone answer me these simple questions?
1. Is it or not a legal requirement to inform the customers on their website that although delivery for a spesific day can be requested it is not guaranted?
2. Is it unrealistic to expect delivery drivers to communicate with their companies via mobile these days? (of course they can pull over and answer the call in order to comply with the law)
3. They only offered me refund of the returned item. What rights to I have from all this? I've waisted my time and energy and feel insulted by these weak excuses
Thank you