macliam

Yes, I know..... yet another complaint about deliveries.

However, this is a particular issue. Recently, I bought two related items on ebay - one on ebay.de and one on ebay.co.uk.

In both cases I used my full postal address - and also supplied a "safe place" (the local Taberna in my locality) and a Portuguese mobile number because we live in the countryside, (but only a click and a half from the IC1)..... this has always worked before (at least half a dozen times). The German vendor organized his own delivery, the UK one used ebay's Global Shipping Programme.

The German delivery tracking provided updates of every movement........ until the package left Madrid for Portugal. Then nothing. Four days after leaving Madrid, out of the blue, a van from Montemor pulled up with the delivery. Why four days? Who knows....... why no tracking updates? Because... Then my wife asked why they had not called us.... shrug. However, successful delivery.

The UK purchase didn't start well, but eventually I got tracking which showed the item arrive in Portugal...... via an email, in Spanish, from "Sending Transportes Urgentes". Then the item went to "Montemor" and then "out for delivery....for two days! Then I got an update from ebay saying the item had been delivered. Whoopee...except, no it hadn't.

The Spanish company provided an inline comms facility on their site (to which they have not replied), but no direct email or telephone number (except to head office in Madrid). No indication of the local courier used. Many calls and emails to ebay has absolutely no result..... until I discovered that the courier address was different to that I supplied. Someone had transposed my address details and excluded my locality as well as the "safe place" and contact number. Instead of my locality, they had used the postcode, which gave the post-district name (a village 8km away) and they used that as my locality. So now we have a package addressed to a village 8 km away, no contact number or other detail. Hardly surprising it failed to arrive!!!

When this was pointed out, ebay immediately closed the case and issued a refund..... great, except I still need the item! There is another on ebay (and only on ebay) but it too says it would use the Global Shipping Programme. Three guesses why I'm not jumping for that one......

BillBullock

Why do your experiences sound so familiar? Because there are so many things that could go wrong with a delivery, even if you provide all that information in your delivery address. There are very few delivery companies that know how to provide a reliable and workable service. I have put my house location on Google Maps, so if you search for Casa Cavalinha, the location appears on the map. However, when I ask delivery drivers why they did not Google the house name instead of insisting on meeting me at a local landmark, they reply "I don't have Google Maps or a Satnav". I give up.

macliam

I've got used to picking up my deliveries from the Taberna (which is all of 50 metres from the IC1)...... in fact the German delivery was the first that actually came to my house. But then, they wanted a signature......

However, the idiots working for ebay didn't even log the Taberna or the contact number provided.......and changed the locality to another village! This is a first..... and I think it's because a Portuguese address doesn't fit correctly into the Spanish website...... it recognizes the postal code (hence the use of the postal district village in place of my locality) but not much else. The problem here is that it seems that all communication is all one-way, so even if I saw the error, there's no way to get it corrected.


It was somewhat amusing (and frustrating) to have the sub-continental ebay rep insist that the item had been delivered to "The white house on the hill" rather than Monte da Casa Branca, but missing that the next part of the address was also completely different from the ebay version. It also seems that ebay require no proof of delivery from the courier (instead they asked me to get a "proof of non-delivery" - eh????) they also suggested I report the issue to "the police" and get a form with "badge number", "Officer name" and "State" on it - can you imagine my local GNR rushing off to investigate a missing parcel?

I'm thinking of asking someone I know with a shop in Ourique to let me address the next purchase there............

liveaboard

Sorry to hear you're still having these troubles.
I think it's improved a little in my area; we lost one just before Christmas, I could almost copy and paste your story. We waited too long and couldn't get a refund, it was signed for by Jose Silva [AKA, John Smith] somewhere unknown.

It seems anyone can call them self a courier company and start accepting parcels for delivery.
With the razor thin margins and cut throat competition, it just makes sense to cut costs by not bothering with frivolous activities like actually delivering.

A couple of years ago, one young driver put my GPS numbers into his smart phone and came right to the house [I put them in the address just for a laugh].
I never saw him again. Anyone with the brains to do that will soon find a better job.

Still, most have been getting here; companies that ship to the EU a lot use courier companies who actually deliver.
Others just use the cheapest offer.

Fredbargate

These deliveries are not limited to Portugal

macliam

You mean the problems? A quick scan of the net brought up the couriers "public" facebook page and it is full of complaints from within Spain..... with even deliveries within Madrid taking 3 days. It gets a rating of 2 out of 5 stars and the "helpdesk" (available as a freefone number in Spain) described as rude and aggressive. Imagine making and international call to them!

As has been said, it makes you wonder how ebay and others choose their couriers..... presumably by cost only.

Fredbargate

Yes the problems.
All postal deliveries into Gibraltar have to go to the customs office where you collect them and pay duty so no work for the postmen.
Couriers sort the customs duty out and you collect them from the couriers office which cheaper and quicker than them delivering, and of course fairly close.
However it is the delivery to Gibraltar that is often poor.
Occaisionally I have stuff delivered to Spain because many companies have no idea where Gibraltar is, refuse to admit it's in Europe let alone in the EU.
Recently I had a parcel delivered from Germany to the Alcadesa Manina in La Linea. It was tracked all the way to La Linea where the local agent swore blind there was no such thing as a Marina and returned it to Germany.

Also why is it that the most urgent things take longest.

Some years ago when I used to work I could get goods from Manchester to Gib in less than 24 hrs by DHL, They then changed their route to include Seville. Total disaster ever since.