DPD delivery

Lagnal

Hi,

I live in Elmpark Green in the last building there. There is a security reception in the basement of the first building in the campus.
DPD Ireland doesn't deliver parcels to the apartments. They simply drop them all at the reception and if you see status "delivered" on their tracking website, it means that you must go to the security, collect the parcel and bring it home yourself. It is about 500m walk. Well, the distance doesn't matter but it is just to give you the whole picture.

Here is DPD's response to my complaint:
"I have confirmation that deliveries will continue to be dropped into the reception in future. This is how the depot deliver to your apartments.
I am sorry for any inconvenience caused by this matter."

The landlord, the famous IRES, don't care either that the subcontractors collect parcels they are not entitled nor authorised to:
"Take it up with DPD. It’s neither my concern nor my responsibility. "

I have lived in Ireland for over 10 years now. However, I am still getting amazed/shocked in situations like that. I think I can't adjust to treat these as normal and be able not to get affected. I get surprised, disappointed and I don't know what to do.

I was just wondering, what do you do? You all. Do you think it is correct and normal? Or that it is not important and it doesn't bother you because there are more important things in life? Do you humbly carry yourself the parcels you paid for home delivery thinking "well, it's only 500m, the driver probably was busy with his stuff"? Or do you do that thinking, "nothing can be done, I am just a customer"?
I simply... don't understand. To me some broader community approval of such practices must be present in society if they are so common. Hundreds live in Elmpark and if DPD does it here unchallenged, it probably does it everywhere it can and nothing happens.
Or are you getting surprised by things like that and complain about them somewhere - and always lose like me? Would small claims court deal with things like that? Or RTB? Can the landlord allow mistreatment of the tenants in the area it is responsible for with such ignorance?

I would like to know how other people deal with situations like that. I feel like I'm losing hope...

C3PO

What possible business is it of IRES? Your issue is with the supplier of the goods - they have the contract with DPD. From DPDs perspective it makes a lot more sense to deliver to one centralised location where they know there will be somebody to receive the goods. You have asked them the question and they have replied. So I guess you either live with it or just don't order from suppliers who use DPD as their delivery partner.

Personally I would much prefer that the goods are delivered to security as you describe - at least you can then go about your business without having to wait around for a driver who may or may not turn up at a specified time!

seamus

As C3PO says, this is entirely up to DPD and what they choose to consider "delivered".

In the strictest sense of the word, they have delivered the package as required to a private address (Elm Park being a private estate) and left it with a named person.

One could argue that the supplier themselves have failed to deliver the package correctly - if it went missing after being handed to security, then it would be entirely up to the supplier to rectify the problem.

So I would suggest that's one avenue you could take - alert the company you bought the goods from that DPD left your package with a 3rd party and not with the intended customer. They may then put pressure on DPD to ensure that the packages do get delivered.

You have to consider practicality though. You say it yourself; there are hundreds of apartments, no doubt behind gates and multiple doors requiring codes and key fobs to get through. There's a good chance that half of the time the DPD guy won't be able to get to the recipient's apartment and will have to put it back in the van and leave. At least with the current process, everyone's packages get delivered nearby.

Also, there's no way it's a 500m walk to the security gate. It's 250m at most, including distances down hallways and such.

If you frequently get packages delivered and this is a constant problem then my suggestion would be to include special instructions on every order that say "DO NOT LEAVE WITH SECURITY DESK", and invest in a fold-up bike or a scooter to assist you in the arduous trek to the security desk when the driver inevitably ignores your special instructions.

whippet

It’s like having a parcel motel service without the cost !

mloc123

whippet wrote: »

It’s like having a parcel motel service without the cost !

Exactly, somebody always available to sign for your package while you are work... whats the problem?

Lagnal

Well, it looks like that's it.
I'm a little bit surprised that only that kind of guys had something to say. However, it simply confirms my general opinion.
Just one more thing, next time before you start blah blahing you could check the facts. You have google maps, don't you? Although it doesn't matter at all - it is 500m.

Johnboy1951

The difficulty with specifying a package must be delivered to the addressee and not the security desk, is that the courier could mark it as undeliverable if it is too much bother to them.
Then you get a message to collect it from a depot or it gets returned to the sender.

DPD have done this to me ..... claiming they tried, but I know for certain that the house was occupied without break at the time.

I would certainly raise the matter with the supplier, and if you know of others who get the same treatment from DPD get them to do the same.

Your supplier has options and some complaints might well encourage them to change couriers.

In the meantime, I reckon that delivered to security desk is more convenient than no delivery at all, and a trip to collect from a depot or the package returned to sender.

coylemj

There is a certain element of futility when discussing anything to do with DPD because a lot of their drivers are freelancers so there isn't necessarily any consistency from one day to the next. They're even open to franchising out their distribution hubs, the one in Sandyford was for sale the last time i was up there a few months ago.

Johnboy1951

coylemj wrote: »

There is a certain element of futility when discussing anything to do with DPD because a lot of their drivers are freelancers so there isn't necessarily any consistency from one day to the next. They're even open to franchising out their distribution hubs, the one in Sandyford was for sale the last time i was up there a few months ago.

That probably explains a lot.

Nevertheless it is the sender who chooses them so objections to the sender might help in the long run.