It should be simple. Order something online, supplier gives the item to a courier who then brings it to your house and gives it to you. At least that’s how it should be.

I’ve found a courier that deserves a special mention here on Fidgetwith – Hermes.

Hermes use the strap-line “Makes delivery easy”. I hadn’t realised until this month it was making delivery easy for the driver and not the recipeient of the parcel.

“What is he talking about?” I hear you ask – well, in the last month, we have ordered items online on about five different occasions. Each time, the supplier used Hermes as the courier.

On each occasion, Hermes have made the effort of getting the the parcel from the supplier right to here at Fidget towers. But wait – instead of ringing the doorbell or knocking on the door to give us the parcel, the delivery person has made the effort to write out a card and put the parcel in the bin - FIVE times! On each occasion we have been in and awake. In fact as I write this, two other couriers and a postman have all knocked to deliver items.

Are Hermes couriers shy? Do they only employ Ninja’s to deliver parcels?

I decided to contact Hermes using the contact number on the card to make a complaint. Any luck? Nope – just an answerphone message telling me to visit the website. If it’s no use, why have a phone number on the card??

So I headed over to http://www.hermes-europe.co.uk/ and used the “Contact us” form.

The form has 4 options:

• New business enquiry
• Drop card received
• Parcel query
• myhermes

“Drop card received” seemed the perfect option so I chose it and carefuly completed the rest of the form – including giving all my contact details and details of the enquiry/complaint.

I had an email! “That was quick” I thought…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED E MAIL.  PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MAIL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello

Unfortunately because your parcel is from a retailer who we are delivering on behalf of we are unable, due to contractual reasons, to discuss this with you.

Please contact the customer service team of the retailer whom you placed the order with and we assure you they will contact us on your behalf if necessary.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause

Kind regards

Hermes Customer Services

What?? Wait a minute! They got me to fill out a form on the website, including an in depth message about the complaint and had no intention of doing anything with it??

I clicked “back” on by browser and the form was still completed so I changed the option to “Parcel query” – surely the form was not like the phone number – pointless?

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is an automated e mail, please do not reply

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We apologise, but are unable to deal directly with you regarding your parcel enquiry.

Please contact the company with whom you placed your order.

Thank you.

So there you are – Hermes have a phone number on the card which is useless apart from a message to use thier website, which in turn has contact form that is completely pointless. There are no working phone numbers visible anywhere or email addresses. It seems there is no easy way to make a complaint to Hermes.

US investigators have impounded an Air France jet which collided with a smaller plane at New York’s John F Kennedy airport.

The Airbus A380 superjumbo, the world’s largest jetliner, with a wingspan of almost 80 metres, hit the tail of a Comair regional jet, which span a quarter-turn on the taxiway. The incident was caught on amateur video.

A CNN correspondent on the Air France flight to Paris reported that he felt a “slight rumble akin to hitting a patch of rough pavement” as the superjumbo, with 520 people on board, was moving on the ground at about 8.15pm local time on Tuesday.

The correspondent said about a foot of the superjumbo’s left wing appeared to be damaged.

Air France confirmed the incident and said both aircraft had been “immobilised” pending an investigation. A spokeswoman declined to estimate the time and cost of repairs to the wing.

Air France, which flies five times a day to New York including one flight using the Airbus double-decker, will operate its daily A380 flight on Tuesday as normal, she said.

“This collision caused only material damage. The two aircraft have been immobilised and the passengers were given accommodation or placed on [other] flights,” she added.

Amateur video footage posted on Flightglobal.com showed the 70-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 operated by Comair rocking sharply to one side as the A380 wing flipped it into an almost 90-degree turn to the left.

There were no reports of injuries.

[Via Guardian.co.uk]