Packaged traveled around the world then gets lost by YODEL

I bought a Xiaomi mijia Camera for £200 from Gearbest.com about a month ago, this was a little treat for myself as it was coming up to my birthday & ive wanted a 3D camera for a while. I was a little apprehensive as it was the first item I had bought from this site & the purchase was £200. The purchase was made & I received a notification from Gearbest listing the item had been dispatched & would take around 20 days.

23 days on I contacted Gearbest asking for an update & they sent me the tracking number for Yodel. A little voice in the back of my head started whispering. I’ve had a couple of issues & have seen the bad press in the past about Yodel. I downloaded Yodels app & entered my details with the tracker number & the item was listed as not arrived. I kept checking on a daily basis & on 25th September, my bday, the camera was listed as at depot with an estimated delivery of 30th of September.

I thought great I would have a chance to use the camera on a family outing, as we were going to take the kids to the York Balloon Fiesta on the 30th in the late afternoon.

I kept checking the app then the estimated date changed to the 29th, even better. I have been on holiday from work sorting out numerous things I’d been putting off & the Thursday & friday, 28th & 29th respectively I was sorting my garage out & the only access to my front door is up the drive past my van, past the garage then down the side of the house to the door. My point is you would have to be the invisible man to get past without being seen. Well on the 29th I was on my drive with my van rear doors wide open where I was sorting some scrap copper out. I was there all morning until 1330 that afternoon. I checked the app that morning & it was still listed as at depot with an estimated delivery date of the 29th. By 12:00 I had just about finished sorting the scrap out & was hoping to weigh it in that day but Yodel had not arrived with my package. I checked the app & the package was listed as still being at the depot with an estimated delivery date of the 29th. I contacted Yodel using the app’s chat function & the customer services assistant confirmed on Yodels system that the package was still at the depot. I confirmed with the assistant that if the package had not yet been dispatched I would collect it from the depot. She confirmed the package had not yet been dispatched & I could collect from depot. It was 1330 by that time & still no delivery so armed with the information from the online chat with Yodels customer service assistant I travelled across Leeds from LS17 to LS27 about 12 miles one way. I thought I could pick up the package, weigh the scrap then pick the kids up from school at 1500.

I got to the Leeds Morley Yodel branch & was greeted my a young lady at the counter, she was in her late twenties early thirties so I thought this should be straightforward. I gave her my name, address & postcode on request, which she entered into their system then a puzzled look cam over her face, have you got a card she asked, to which I replied no & then I explained the app status & that her colleague had confirmed my package was still at depot, to which she still looked a little puzzled. She tapped on the key board then stated that she did not know where my package was? I asked in a polite manner, how do you mean you don’t know where my package is? To which she stated that all packages have to be scanned every day & my sisters package was last scanned two days ago. To which I replied, so what does that mean because your own app states it’s still at the depot & it’s been confirmed by your colleague which is why I’ve driven right a cross Leeds to pick it up. To which she just said I don’t know what to tell you, I don’t know where it is so we’ll have to do a depot search. I asked how long will that take? To which she stated they wouldn’t do one now & I would have to contact my supplier. This statement left me a little confused so I asked the obvious question, why would I need to contact my supplier? To which she stated without so much as skipping a beat in a very indifferent tone, your supplier is our customer, you are not, you are their customer so your supplier would have to contact us, so you would have to take the matter up with your supplier. A little perplexed by her comment I asked in a polite manner, tell me you’re joking? To which she said, no, their our customer not you. To which I stated, you have my details & my tracking number, I have photo ID with me so I can prove who I am & this confirm I am the recipient of the package regardless of who is your customer, your app, your colleague & you have confirmed the package is still at depot, but you will not conduct a search for it unless your customer, my supplier contacts you & chases you up for the location of the package? To which she replied, that’s the way it is.

I gathered my things from the counter & told her in a rather sarcastic tone, that’s great customer service my dear, just wonderful! Then I left.

I was beginning to suspect the worst given previous issues with Yodel & previous bad press they have had so I periodically checked the Yodel app to confirm the status of my package which kept confirming it was at depot with an estimated delivery date of 29th of September. After I had been to the scrap merchants & picked the kids up from school I jumped on the Yodel app & contacted their customer services on the on line chat feature. I explained everything above to the customer services assistant & that I wanted to make a complaint as felt the service from the counter staff at the depot was poor & I had wasted time & money travelling across Leeds to pick up the package. The customer services assistant escalated the issue & ordered a depot search. They took my mobile number then I was then told that someone from the depot would contact me after they conducted the search. Through out that evening I checked the status of my package on the Yodel app & as late as 2100 it was still listed as at depot with an estimated delivery date of the 29th.

Now the next morning of the 30th of September I checked the Yodel app & guess what? Go on guess. No not figured it out yet, the status of my package had been changed to delivered. Annoyed by this I was straight back on the Yodel online chat asking why the status of my package had been changed from at depot to delivered after I had escalated the issue of my package being misplaced by the depot. After the app had crashed a couple of times when I tried to up load screen shots of the status of my package as of 2100 the day before I finally got some further clarification from a third customer services assistant that apparently the previous customer services assistant that had escalated my issue had done so to the wrong depot by the assistant I was now talking to had escalated the issue to the correct depot,(what a joke). I was not content with this as I wanted answers so I persisted & pressed by asking how come the status of my package had been changed from at depot to delivered over night after the matter had been raised as an issue & escalated, I went further to point out regardless of what depot the matter had been escalated to the issue had been raised yet the status of my package had been changed after the fact which in my opinion was false advertising & gives their customer my supplier the impression that the package has been delivered which is false & contrary to what had been clearly identified by two yodel Staff that the package was still at depot & subsequently misplaced. After further exchanges the assistant confirmed to me that the status change log showed it was changed at 10:00AM the morning of the 29th of September. I challenged this for obvious reasons as this was clearly wrong as the status & my visit to the depot & the whole debacle had occurred at 1400 the afternoon of the 29th. The assistant could not give me an answer then told me someone from the depot would call me & ended the chat with me.

I contacted Gearbest & notified them if the situation & made it clear that the package had not been delivered contrary to the change made to the package status.

I’ve had a reply from Gearbest as follows:

-We are sorry to hear you haven’t received your items yet. However according to the shipping website the package has been delivered.

In order to resolve this issue, please kindly confirm the following information: Please check with your neighbors and family whether they have collected the item for you. Thank you for your patience and assistance.

I can appreciate Gearbest’s stance because Yodel has muddied the water, so to speak by changing the package status to delivered. It is my personal opinion that Yodel have done this deliberately to try & shift liability. It is a deliberate act on Yodels part.

It’s Sunday now so there’s not much I can do now. I have reiterated to Gearbest no delivery has been made & I have directly accused Yodel of doing this to give Gearbest the impression the package has been delivered, but it most certainly has not. I will see what Monday the 2nd of October brings, but as it stands I’m without a camera & out of pocket to the tune of £200…

Apologies for the long drawn out account but I cannot understand how a package can come have way round the world, pass through multiple hands, make it to the Leeds depot then go missing in Leeds?!