Why does Irish delivery take so long?

hhmmm? · 18-04-2020 3:31pm #1

Just a general rant here, maybe somebody can give me an explanation. Any time I order something from another country (UK, EU or international) I always get a tracking number. I don't choose who it is sent with and never pay extra for priority shipping. The tracking always updates every step until it arrives in Ireland. Rarely does it take more than 3 days to arrive in Ireland, even coming from outside Europe.
This is when the guessing game starts. It can then take up to 2 weeks for this package to arrive to me. Tracking number usually only updates the day it's being delivered.
Question is, how can something get to Ireland in 3 days then take over a week to be sent to my house in Dublin?

Dylan94 · 18-04-2020 5:09pm

hhmmm? wrote: »

Just a general rant here, maybe somebody can give me an explanation. Any time I order something from another country (UK, EU or international) I always get a tracking number. I don't choose who it is sent with and never pay extra for priority shipping. The tracking always updates every step until it arrives in Ireland. Rarely does it take more than 3 days to arrive in Ireland, even coming from outside Europe.
This is when the guessing game starts. It can then take up to 2 weeks for this package to arrive to me. Tracking number usually only updates the day it's being delivered.
Question is, how can something get to Ireland in 3 days then take over a week to be sent to my house in Dublin?

I have never once experienced this and I have multiple packages delivered weekly. 99% of the time once a package reaches Ireland it is delivered same day (in my experience).

tina1040 · 18-04-2020 5:12pm

That normally only happens with F#stway.
In my experience, others are normally only a day or 2 after issuing a tracking number.

hhmmm? · 18-04-2020 6:03pm

I have attached the latest tracking info. I understand we are in the middle of a pandemic but look at how quick it got to Ireland and look how long it's taking to get here. This happens every single time. Amazon, eBay, eglobal, AliExpress and personal orders from business suppliers.

blue5000 · 20-04-2020 2:44pm

I feel your pain OP, waiting 3 weeks for a small package of spare parts to come from the states. I suspect customs here can't cope with the amount of online shopping we are doing since lockdown. As well as this, the company who sent the parts were told that USPS no longer provides a tracking number to Ireland. At least you know yours has gotten here.

whiterebel · 20-04-2020 6:31pm

blue5000 wrote: »

I feel your pain OP, waiting 3 weeks for a small package of spare parts to come from the states. I suspect customs here can't cope with the amount of online shopping we are doing since lockdown. As well as this, the company who sent the parts were told that USPS no longer provides a tracking number to Ireland. At least you know yours has gotten here.

There is a "waiting for post from China" thread in online auctions, and a poster there was told long ago by An Post that they can take 4 weeks for delivery from arrival in Ireland. Not sure if that was just China, or anywhere outside the EU.

hhmmm? · 21-04-2020 9:42pm

The item arrived today. 24 hours from Newcastle, England to Ireland then 12 days to my house. Really takes the good out of it.

duffman13 · 21-04-2020 9:47pm

Some contracts get priority, stuff shipped buy amazon gets delivered immediately through An Post from my experience with everything else being placed on the back burner

Tbh we have an array of ****e delivery companies in Ireland in particular Fastway. I generally find if I get An Post/DHL/DPD I'll get it quickly, anyone else takes forever

Xterminator · 22-04-2020 10:12am

i imagine this has something to do with it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island

22-04-2020 4:52pm

And slivery razor thin profit margin,

RandRuns · 22-04-2020 4:58pm

Dylan94 wrote: »

I have never once experienced this and I have multiple packages delivered weekly. 99% of the time once a package reaches Ireland it is delivered same day (in my experience).

It happens me nearly constantly, and I get packages delivered weekly. Currently waiting on a package of parts delivered from China, arrived in Ireland 3 weeks ago, still waiting.
Last week I got a package delivered from the US that had taken 3 days to get from the US to Dublin, and 2 weeks to get from Dublin to my house. Both packages were delivered through An Post. This isn't a Covid-19 issue, it has been like this for years. It seems to be unbelievable that this is how slow their system is (as another poster said, Amazon deliveries arrive much quicker), and one wonders if it is a policy decision?

bmm · 22-04-2020 5:08pm

It seems with the cheap stuff coming from China ,An Post stores it up and delivers all at the same time for a particular area. Dunno why.

Mrcaramelchoc · 22-04-2020 5:10pm

If its from China good luck with that but any where else i would suggest you have a little more patience op.

hhmmm? · 09-05-2020 4:05pm

Another joke ongoing at the minute. Could have crawled to the package and walked backwards with it in my mouth and had it by now. Looking like 12th before I'll have it according to "customer care"

Antares35 · 13-05-2020 2:38pm

Does anyone have a phone number for DPD where someone actually picks up? We are waiting for two deliveries now, one over 3 weeks. No update on the status except to say it is "in transit" in Athlone for the last few weeks. A wall of silence from them of course. No response to FB messages or comments, no response to email. Sender has basically just said "sorry DPD lost your parcel" -

Isn't the first time it's happened either and am starting to get suspicious of all these parcels disappearing. Is there nothing we can do to get an answer?:(

blue5000 · 13-05-2020 2:55pm

hhmmm? wrote: »

Another joke ongoing at the minute. Could have crawled to the package and walked backwards with it in my mouth and had it by now. Looking like 12th before I'll have it according to "customer care"

Any luck?

Waiting almost 7 weeks now for a package from usa, China post never took this long.

Antares35 · 13-05-2020 3:16pm

37 minutes on hold with DPD now... yawn

obriendj · 13-05-2020 3:22pm

Antares35 wrote: »

37 minutes on hold with DPD now... yawn

Try a branch phone number. I got thru to someone last week. They couldn't really help but better than that hold music.

I tried contact them on twitter but no response.

Waiting 3 weeks as well.

Antares35 · 13-05-2020 3:27pm

obriendj wrote: »

Try a branch phone number. I got thru to someone last week. They couldn't really help but better than that hold music.

I tried contact them on twitter but no response.

Waiting 3 weeks as well.

Finally got through and the agent hung up

Perhaps I should start spamming their staff on LinkedIn :P

hhmmm? · 13-05-2020 3:58pm

blue5000 wrote: »

Any luck?

Waiting almost 7 weeks now for a package from usa, China post never took this long.

Arrived on 12th. It's a joke. I understand they are busy now but are they any busier than Christmas?

Cal4567 · 13-05-2020 4:05pm

My experience finds that it takes that bit longer because we are an island. Stuff arrives in London first, certainly if it is coming straight in from China.

A lot of UK suppliers don't put the correct postage on so it doesn't go airmail, but by ground. They see 'Ireland' and immediately default to 'Northern Ireland' which being part of the UK, is treated just like Wales or Scotland.

I am finding of about 20 deliveries, books for instance, one always never arrives, so a 95% success rate. My worse case from the UK was about 5/6 weeks once.

On the whole though, it has got quicker over the last 3/4 years.

Antares35 · 13-05-2020 4:17pm

The person I finally got through to at head office just hung up, or perhaps the call dropped :rolleyes:

Unbelievable.

johndoe99 · 13-05-2020 7:24pm

i was waiting on a package from London, i was supplied with track and trace, Royal Mail handled it first and got it from London to Dublin within 24 hours.

Then the track and trace switched to An Post stating they had received and sorted the package an hour later. Then nothing for 2 weeks, made numerous calls to customer service, all they could say was the same as the tracking page, no other help. After the two weeks its received to the Waterford depot and delivered same day.

All I can think of is that it was considered a Low Priority package because of the covid19.

In the current covid19 climate I am happy to wait longer, if it means urgent items are needed elsewhere.

Antares35 · 13-05-2020 7:42pm

johndoe99 wrote: »

i was waiting on a package from London, i was supplied with track and trace, Royal Mail handled it first and got it from London to Dublin within 24 hours.

Then the track and trace switched to An Post stating they had received and sorted the package an hour later. Then nothing for 2 weeks, made numerous calls to customer service, all they could say was the same as the tracking page, no other help. After the two weeks its received to the Waterford depot and delivered same day.

All I can think of is that it was considered a Low Priority package because of the covid19.

In the current covid19 climate I am happy to wait longer, if it means urgent items are needed elsewhere.

I don't mind waiting longer either - we are not unreasonable people. What I do mind is a wall of silence from them, and blatant lies about "attempted deliveries" on the status tracker.

And now, the option to pick it up elsewhere, for fifteen quid. Right, so we are going to pay you to carry out a service which you have already been paid for and failed to do. Profiting from your own f*ck up - it's all very Irish.

SPDUB · 13-05-2020 11:05pm

hhmmm? wrote: »

I understand they are busy now but are they any busier than Christmas?

Yes

Cal4567 wrote: »

A lot of UK suppliers don't put the correct postage on so it doesn't go airmail, but by ground. They see 'Ireland' and immediately default to 'Northern Ireland'

It's even worse than than because the RM realise it doesn't have enough postage so will put it aside until they have nothing else to sort and also as you say will then send it by the slowest method

Antares35 wrote: »

And now, the option to pick it up elsewhere, for fifteen quid. Right, so we are going to pay you to carry out a service which you have already been paid for and failed to do. Profiting from your own f*ck up - it's all very Irish.

What service is that ? I 've never heard of them asking for money for other delivery options or redelivery options

Antares35 · 13-05-2020 11:45pm

SPDUB wrote: »

Yes

It's even worse than than because the RM realise it doesn't have enough postage so will put it aside until they have nothing else to sort and also as you say will then send it by the slowest method

What service is that ? I 've never heard of them asking for money for other delivery options or redelivery options

To pick up at a designated pick up zone. It exists. They charge depending on weight. It's called DPD pickup.

BoardsMember · 13-05-2020 11:53pm

DPD has had my parcel sorted since 5th May in Ireland, still hasn't delivered. I wont be using them again. Another was due to be delivered Tuesday, no sign yet. Wont be using them again.

antodeco · 13-05-2020 11:54pm

DPD have out some of my packages "out for delivery" and then nothing. I ring up a few days later and they tell me they sent it back to sender because they didn't get a chance to deliver it. Very weird logic and they've been happy to charge me each time.

Also, I emailed them about a query. The replied back saying they can't find it on their system. I had to explain to them that they took 14 months (yes 14 MONTHS) to reply to this email and the package had long been delivered

Antares35 · 14-05-2020 12:04am

antodeco wrote: »

DPD have out some of my packages "out for delivery" and then nothing. I ring up a few days later and they tell me they sent it back to sender because they didn't get a chance to deliver it. Very weird logic and they've been happy to charge me each time.

Also, I emailed them about a query. The replied back saying they can't find it on their system. I had to explain to them that they took 14 months (yes 14 MONTHS) to reply to this email and the package had long been delivered

When I eventually got through to someone today, I was told that - "oh well we never physically received it" and I was like, "right, so the status in front of me that says "HANDED to DPD" is a lie?"

The problem is, there is a very good website where I source a lot of stuff and I tend to bulk buy, they are way cheaper than buying in store, and as a company they are fantastic. No exchange rate rip off, dispatch goods the next day, very fast customer services and quick to offer refunds where there are issues (in the past they have refunded me for stuff DPD stole lost, at their own expense). But, there is no point using them anymore if they insist on using DPD as a carrier because they just f*ck things up.

thenightman · 14-05-2020 12:31am

This is probably dependent where you live. I'd guess the further you get from Dublin the less capable the local sorting offices are able to cope with Christmas+ volumes of packages. I did the temporary Christmas work in the cavernous Dublin Mails Centre 7 or 8 years ago and they hired basically a whole new warehouse worth of staff to cope with the demand, and they also didn't have to split shifts back then cos of social distancing like they have to now.

My anecdotal example during lockdown it takes 4 working days from order to delivery through Amazon Prime and An Post, which is brilliant. I don't get texts advising of upcoming delivery anymore, but I'd imagine that's due to their systems being overwhelmed. Anything from ebay I usually use Parcel Motel for, cos they are quicker and cheaper than postage to Ireland directly, I ordered bits and pieces of networking equipment recently from Birmingham in UK and it took 5 days from UK to being in my locker. Was Royal Mail up until PM and they provided no tracking number.

Antares35 · 14-05-2020 12:35am

thenightman wrote: »

This is probably dependent where you live. I'd guess the further you get from Dublin the less capable the local sorting offices are able to cope with Christmas+ volumes of packages. I did the temporary Christmas work in the cavernous Dublin Mails Centre 7 or 8 years ago and they hired basically a whole new warehouse worth of staff to cope with the demand, and they also didn't have to split shifts back then cos of social distancing like they have to now.

My anecdotal example during lockdown it takes 4 working days from order to delivery through Amazon Prime and An Post, which is brilliant. I don't get texts advising of upcoming delivery anymore, but I'd imagine that's due to their systems being overwhelmed. Anything from ebay I usually use Parcel Motel for, cos they are quicker and cheaper than postage to Ireland directly, I ordered bits and pieces of networking equipment recently from Birmingham in UK and it took 5 days from UK to being in my locker. Was Royal Mail up until PM and they provided no tracking number.

I had these kinds of experiences with DPD pre-Covid and also at times that were nowhere near to Christmas. I wouldn't even mind waiting at this stage, if someone had the decency to pick up our call or answer our email and say "look, it will be another 2 weeks" or whatever. Fine. But to just lose stuff... :mad:

Some of the things we ordered were essentials for our baby who is due in 10 days - cot sheets, nursing equipment, my supplements (I am low on iron at this stage and really feeling the fatigue) and I just feel so let down by them. I really wanted to avoid going to the shops, pharmacies etc. but at this stage it seems inevitable I will have to heave my pregnant as* out and take the risk...

Why does Irish delivery take so long?

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