Courier woes

We get a lot of packages delivered by couriers so we have a fair bit of experience of how good or bad they are.

Recently, Amazon have been using Correos to deliver parcels from their facility outside Madrid. The charge for one day as opposed to three days is nominal but even when you opt for the normal delivery it seems to only take one day after Amazon have sent your parcel out. The post lady brings the parcels up to the house, often before 12am. To my mind that is excellent service.I'd give them 10 out of 10.

DPD in Britain becomes SEUR in Spain. The man from SEUR has been to our house many times,  so many in fact that we exchange pleasantries and shake hands when he arrives. With SEUR you get an email telling you that the package will arrive the next day. Then, more often than not, you get a second email giving you an approximate time for delivery.

There have been times when the man from SEUR has been delayed but even if takes him until 8pm at night, he still delivers on the day scheduled. I'd give them 10 out of 10 and a gold star.

We have also had FEDEX, UPS, TRAKPAK, HALCOURIER and a few others deliver parcels. All have been fine and have kept to their schedule. MRW, who have an office in Almoradi are reliable, even if their tracking is not great. They all get a provisional 10 out of 10 especially HALCOURIER who delivered my BBQ which came in a huge box and weighed a ton. I don't know how he lifted into and out of the van but he did. Oh yes and the one who delivered my electric bike which also came in a rather large box. He came from somewhere near Orihuela and brought the heavy box to the door.

The only courier we take exception to is DHL which is surprising because they are a German company.

On at least four occasions recently, we have had parcels delayed by DHL. The tracking shows that the package has arrived at Alicante, it then shows that it is out for delivery but nobody shows up. When you go back to tracking later there is some excuse given, "nobody was available to take delivery" or"delivery was rescheduled" (presumably by us) - none of these are ever true.

What I believe happens is that the delivery courier runs out of time and takes the package back rather than be delayed. It is very frustrating especially if we have stayed in waiting.  I'd give them 2 out of 10 and the only reason they get 2 is because we have never had an item damaged by them.