Blacklisted by DPD Unfairly - @dpd_local

[Doodles1985]

Back in September my husband was at home with our 2 year old son and 5 months old puppy when suddenly a DPD driver walked into our property.  We live on a main road and the front door was wide open while he tried to take a picture of the goods inside.  My husband was shocked and furious which is understandable as open doors, main roads, puppies and toddlers don’t mix.  At the time we had a man in servicing the boiler so the front door was not locked.

 

My husband shouted at the guy to get out and the rude driver persisted with his attempted to picture  the package in the hallway even calling my husband “white boy” and telling him to shut up.  My husband ushered him out of the house and shut the door.  He immediately called the local DPD depot and raised a complaint to be told that someone would call him back.  This call never came.  We did not pursue this as no harm had to come anyone and DPD were obviously not interested.

 

Fast forward a few months and I was expecting a coin from the Royal Mint for the value of around £750.  The tracking on the delivery of this stated that coin had been delivered, then it said it had been delivered to number 2 (we are number 18).  Calling over and over again I was never supported by DPD as to where my package was.  The Royal Mint was informed it was delivered and I was invoiced £750 for the coin.  Try as I might to have this invoice removed from my name they would not budge as DPD said it was delivered.  It nearly got to court proceedings before the coin eventually landed back at the Royal Mint.  After that debacle I was frustrated, rejected another coin being sent and left it at that.

 

Again we move forward a few months and I am now expecting some gardening tools to be delivered that ordered from Amazon.  I had no details of the delivery but then I get an email from the seller advising me the items are on their way to them and I will get a refund.  I check the tracking information and once again DPD have returned the items. I thought this was odd but calling through to DPD offered no input as to why and they just told me to order them again.

 

A week later I take out a new contract with Sky for a mobile phone and on the morning I am due to get the delivery from DPD the goods are sent straight back to sky.  I was so puzzled at this point so I call DPD and ask them why. They inform me that there is no name on the parcel and due to the value of the goods there has to be a name.  I literally spend all day on the phone to sky speaking to various departments trying to get a new phone but they all inform me that I have to have a new order which means a new credit check.   I hate this idea because one credit check knocks your score by hundreds of points and takes months to build back up.  In the end they say they can send a new phone and to my relief they dispatch that night.

 

The next morning I wake to a message to say the phone had been shipped but was rejected by DPD and sent back to Sky.  I called DPD and was told they can’t tell me why and I must speak to sky.  I speak to sky and they tell me I have to speak to DPD.  My frustration is working overtime at this point and I have nowhere to go.

 

I remember I have a contact through work of someone at DPD who was trying to get my company to use DPD’s services.  She was incredibly helpful and confirms that my property has been blacklisted because the driver feels unsafe!!!  He feels unsafe!!!  He was the one who entered my home yet he feels unsafe???  My contact passes on my details to the exec helpdesk who proceeds to tell me that they are very sorry that all of this happened, they have retrained the driver however they will not remove the ban on deliveries to my property.  I ask why I cannot collect from a local drop box or shop but am informed they do not offer this service (although this is a service they promote as it saves the environment).  They say my complaint was called back but we didn’t answer however this is not correct as no call was ever received. 

 

To make matters comical is that the same driver deliveries to my husbands place of work and he collects/delivers regularly.  He doesn’t even recognise him let alone feel threatened by him.  The exec helpdesk have said sorry for their lack of transparency on the blacklist of the address and for the bogus reasons for rejecting my parcels.  They have said sorry for not following up the call more than once and they have said sorry that delivering to drop boxes and shops is not something which they do.

 

They seem to be very sorry for a lot of things but it does not help me fix this issue and it impacts any further online shopping as I must now always establish who the courier is before placing orders….which is quite a difficult thing to do!

 

Where do I stand with this because I still don’t know what the driver is even saying happened as nobody will divulge this.  They seems to have closed ranks and are taking the drivers word as gospel over the version of events which we are not able to defend.

 

The lies they have told so far to me and their customers (Amazon, Royal Mint, Sky) about the bogus return reasons shows they are not a truthful company.

 

 

How are they able to blacklist and not tell anybody and lie to everyone involved as to why.

 

If anyone else needs to complain to DPD use the following email address: execdesk.admin@dpdgroup.co.uk 

[The GodMother]

DPD are a law unto them self. There drivers based on my experience dont speak English or care about laws.

I have made several complaints about them and even been a witness to several incidents involving there drivers. Including a recent one where the driver was on the phone weaving all over the road pulled out on red lights and nearly taking the taxi out that my daughters a friends daughter and l was in. He would have hit us side on right in the passenger side my daughter was on if the driver of taxi was not so fast on the breaks.
Luckly no one was behind us.

 

DPD dont and wont care. You could try SAR and see if that brings anything up. 

[theberengersniper]

As far as I'm aware, although these delivery drivers wear DPD branded clothing and drive DPD branded vehicles, they are not in fact employees of DPD, rather they're self-employed contractors.

 

The reason I raise that distinction is it likely limits the clout DPD as a company has on the driver, leaving them unable (even if they were willing) to instruct the driver to deliver to you. In other words, if he says he refuses to deliver to your address, there's very little DPD as a company can actually do about it.

 

By way of experiment, would it be possible to speak to your neighbour and arrange for a delivery to be made to their address? If DPD do deliver to your neighbour, and assuming you're not having multiple parcels a week delivered, maybe your neighbour would be prepared to act as recipient for you. Of course, I realise that should not be necessary, but I don't see how you can force the issue.

 

I'm sure BankFodder or another regular will have something to say on the legality of their behaviour. I'd be interested to know if there's any legs in the argument that they've already accepted the delivery instruction at the point where the supplier arranged collection of the goods. So what is the legality of retrospectively backing out?

[The GodMother]

Oh that is a interesting point. 

More the fact as well the driver let himself in. I would assume that is illegal even with a door open.

The reason he does not want to deliver to you is because he broke the law and he is covering his backside. 

[Doodles1985]

Thank you so much for your replies, I have never posted on a forum before.  It is nice to feel like I have a little support as DPD have made me feel like I am in the wrong and that the issues have been my own doing.  Unfortunately the parcel I need to receive is a mobile phone and because it is a contract taken out with Sky the delivery address has to be the one taken out on the credit agreement.  I am no further forward and DPD have closed ranks and refuse the engage any further.  Godmother you are absolutely correct that him breaking the law has led to him deflecting the problem onto me to cover his backside.

 

Please could I ask what SAR is?  I welcome anyone with any other tactics I can use to try and force this.  Even if I don't get the decision upturned, as I cannot force them to change their mind, I want to make this as painful as possible for them so they know I am not just going to go away.  

 

It may sound silly that I can't have parcels but in this day and age of everything moving online this is only going to continue to be a headache in the future.

 

 

[The GodMother]

A Sar is a Subject Access Request. Its a legal request that you can make to obtain information regarding your data company holds eg Like Sky is meant to keep all records of the contact you have with them via letter, telephone, chat functions o the website and email along with contract info bills etc. .

You can write to a company and request they give you these details. This also might be called a GDPR request. Which is basically the same thing.

 

Have you  spoken to the Police about this. Even informally on 111. Maybe ask if it was legal for the guy to just walk in the house to see what they say.

 

Something else l am thinking is are you sure the door was left open. Not just slightly ajar.  Not saying your husband is lying.

[Doodles1985]

Hi, thanks for that.  I will certainly go back and request that from them.

 

The door was unlocked as we had a gas engineer in servicing the boiler. He was upstairs at the time but the door was not locked for his benefit.

The DPD driver opened the door and stepped inside the property which is at the point my husband saw him.  My husband ushered him out of the door and closed it.  The driver then continued to bang the front door as he needed a picture of the item in the house which he did not have the goods were now inside.  My husband refused and then immediately called the local DPD depot.  The rest is the rest with no follow up from DPD and us being blacklisted

 

I could call 111 but this was back in September so not sure if there is anything they can do. We never pursued this as aside from being very shocked no actual harm came to anyone or anything.  In hindsight had I had known what was happening in the background I would have absolutely done all I could to get this sorted out.

 

My other main gripe is the constant lying by DPD. It is not their policy to advise people they are blacklisted.  They just gaslight them and send them running around in circles not knowing why and whose fault it is that there parcels are not being delivered.

[The GodMother]

Hmm sounds like they are covering for him especially as he opened door and walked in. 

No need to report it just ask for advise re what they would class this as for your complaint. 

Clearly he has broken the law. I have a post regarding dpd where he tried to push his way in to a neighbours house and demand that she is in the living room holdìng the parcel. Dpd are known for doing this sort of thing. I have made several complaints about them and there male staff trying to force the way into houses past females.

One even tried it with me tho bad mistake as they thought l was alone. The guy could not see my 18 yr old Son upstairs, my partner coming threw from Kitchen and a friend at side of house. As soon as my partner and friend appeared he decided a picture on doorstep is fine despite our friend tecording the guy before he noticed him and the video being forwarded to dpd they have done nothing.  I know he still works for them as he delivered to me Tuesday. 

You need to kick up a stink tell them you want a copy of the complaints procedure. Maybe even policys on driver behaviour. 

[Ethel Street]

22 hours ago, Doodles1985 said:

 Unfortunately the parcel I need to receive is a mobile phone and because it is a contract taken out with Sky the delivery address has to be the one taken out on the credit agreement. 

 

Ask Sky to use a different delivery service because DPD won't deliver to your address (no need to explain why)? They probably use more than one courier company but in any case anyone can send a one off package via the Royal Mail Tracked service. 

[Doodles1985]

Hi Ethel Street

I have spent many hours on the phone to Sky who say it is absolutely impossible to use an alternative courier as it is a completely automated system.  I have request if I could collect from a Sky shop but they no to this also.  If I was to go into a Sky shop (if they have them) I would have to start a new order which means another credit check.  I am re-mortgaging in a couple of months and really don't need another check hampering my credit score.

DPD just don't realise the issues they are creating for me.  I am a customer of sky and sky use DPD therefore going forward I can receive no equipment from them.

I also had a package from Amazon which was sent via DPD and just returned. This was a cheap package and could have been delivered to a drop box where I could have collected at no "threat" to the driver.  Apparently DPD do not offer this service.....lies as it clearly states this as a delivery option if you are not going to be in.

[Ethel Street]

Although you've focused the thread on DPD you should also be tackling the people you are purchasing these goods from. If they sell them to you under a contract that says they will deliver them to you then that's what they have to do. If DPD will not deliver to your address then the supplier must find another way of delivering it to you or they are in breach of contract.

 

Sky cannot avoid their contractual obligation by saying it's an automated system and they only use DPD. They have to find another way to deliver the phone. It's obviously not literally true that it's "impossible" to send it any other way, they just mean it's a pain in the backside for them and they can't be bothered.

 

It's Sky who have a contract with DPD, not you. It's Sky who instructed DPD to deliver the phone, not you. So if DPD have not delivered it's Sky's responsibility, not yours, to follow up with DPD and either make them deliver or find another delivery method.

 

Sometimes when you place orders there's a space for delivery instructions or other information. Write in it "Do not use DPD for delivery, they do not deliver here". Occasionally that might result in someone refusing to accept your order, but as DPD would have sent it back anyway you are no worse off! Keep a screenshot of the instruction in case the seller uses DPD anyway and the goods get "lost" by DPD.