This time last week I woke up full of the joys of spring and the kind of thrill that comes with Christmas day, for I was expecting a very exciting delivery.  I leaped out of bed especially early so that I could walk the dog before any delivery man might be expected to arrive and settled down for a day of play indoors with my lovely son.  As lunchtime approached, the Yodel tracking service said ‘out for delivery’ so I held off putting Cub down for a nap because deliveries inevitably arrive when he is sleeping, the dog barks, he wakes, and then we have a more challenging afternoon.  Nothing arrived, and he had to sleep eventually so we settled down for a rest upstairs, fully expecting the doorbell to ring any time.  Nothing came, Cub woke and we created artwork downstairs, me keeping half an eye on the window in case I spotted an exciting van.  With the nights drawing in ever earlier, I needed to walk the dog again but held off with a sinking heart as the day turned to night, the sun set and still no van arrived.

After four o’clock I emailed Yodel asking what time the drivers delivered until and I got no reply.  I phoned PC World, cursed at the ridiculous number of buttons that I was required to press, cursed again as I pressed the wrong one, had to hang up and start again, swore a bit louder as I found I didn’t have the correct reference number and hung up again to go and find it.  Eventually I reached a human who informed me that deliveries were until five and to wait in until a quarter past.  To be on the safe side I waited until half past and phoned Yodel on a number that PC World had given me.  I spoke to a lovely lady who told me what I already knew, that the item was showing as ‘out for delivery’.  She assured me that she would message the local depot to ascertain the location of the delivery and that they would call me back.

I walked the dog in the cold and dark now, listening out for my phone in case they should call me but there was nothing.  I was pretty angry by now and extremely disappointed at both PC World and Yodel for their lack of concern at a day I had spent waiting around.  The following morning I called Yodel again and explained what had happened the previous day. I asked the young man on the phone if he could call the local depot and find out where my parcel was and when it would be expected, because we have swimming lessons on a Tuesday and I didn’t know whether it was safe to go.  The man on the phone told me he could not telephone the local depot and would again message them and ask them to call me. After breakfast the tracker was showing out for delivery again so I didn’t take Cub swimming and waited indoors again.

The parcel finally arrived at 3pm (so we could have gone swimming – infuriating).  However when I tried to plug it in, the two parts of the charger didn’t fit together.  Luckily I had another charger that did fit, so I used that instead, and tweeted PC World who gave me a customer care number to call for a replacement.  I didn’t bother as I had already wasted £5 in call credit trying to chase the missing parcel for two days and the numbers are all 0844/0845.

No apology was given by either company. I had paid PC World for named day delivery and it failed to honour the contract but this was not refunded.  Yodel didn’t respond to any calls, email or tweets and no reason or apology was given for my wasted time.

I am severely disappointed by the ‘service’ I received – it took the shine off my exciting new purchase and I will never use PC World, Dixons or Currys ever again.  It is appalling that such large company fail so badly to treat their customers with respect, and I suggest that they reconsider their delivery contract with Yodel, about whom I hear nothing but bad reports.

Have you received bad service from these companies? Or good? Either way, please feel free to comment below.

UPDATE: PC World apologised and have refunded me the grand total of £1.99. Err..thanks? Yodel have not responded.