Having spent the best part of two or three days per week on the phone over a three to four week period dealing with the five cocked up parcels debacle, we have, over that time, spoken to a few members of Interparcel staff numerous times and have got to know them. Since Interparcel is not brave enough to come out from behind the shield of that stupid and most ignorant corporate script programmed by way of some distorted notion of customer care all the time we thought that we would review this company in an alternative but honest manner that accurately reflects the reality of this customer's experience of dealing with this company. So here is our appraisal of the more memorable ones, written relaying the facts of the manner in which we have been treated using as little predudice as dealing with Interparcel this whole dreadful episode has permitted me to muster. It is given to you free of charge in order to help you identify with issues that have already affected your business.... Having worked three decades or more on front line public service, inluding six years in Emergency Control rooms you cannot disagree that it is fair to presume that I am qualified by experience to offer feedback on a professional basis you might find that arrogant but I find your lack of customer care dreadful and here's why: Let us begin with Simona. Every office has an unofficial self appointed Office Queen. You have Simona. Nice voice, well spoken, overly self assured, a person that without exception always know best. In terms of customer care that sense of never being wrong means that Simona does everything the oppostite way to how were trained and in turn, trained effective frontline staff. She fails to listen to customers, mainly as she is always correct of course. She enforces that by constantly interrupting and talking over the customer thus failing to hear anything of what that customer is saying, and thus ends up confronting the customer, preferring to argue with them rather than deal with the problem. She is underlines her superiority by talking down to the customer who then either has to back down and accept a continuation of the problem or to argue back. Simona's behaviours exacerbate problems, your problems are team problems and she is responsible, certainly in this case for making matters worse for everyone. Simona has delusions of adequacy. But never mind her it all began with another "team player" (NOT) but we have sadly lost note of his name. He is who we initially spoke to...his input was to give us a lot of waffle, it must have been near home time, so he could get us off the phone asap and avoid having to do anything. Avioding doing anything then naturally left the problem for his colleagues. His inaction leading to a call the next day where we spoke to the charming Laura and I shall quote her: "Yes, email all that into me and I shall deal with it..." We did, she didn't. Laura sat on that email for two days presumably as she knew she was going on leave for a week beleiving it would all be sorted by the time she came back. Well, her colleagues failed her before and after her involvement ironically as dodging dealing with the problem is the office etiquette!! Laura sets herself very low targets and fails to live up to them. A further eight days later, (yesterday) I got Laura on the phone and upon reading the case notes she was clearly somewhat shocked and embarrassed that this hadn't gone away. Gone away? Far from it she discovered, as without further ado I was soon passed to Chloe. Chloe. The only thing I will level at Chloe is that she could, like all of the people we spoke to, have got stuck in many days previously and avoided a lot of grief. Having said that, yesterday, upon my frustrated requests for help Chloe stepped up to the mark. Putting that monotonous and inaccurate company script aside and taking it upon herself to get stuck in and do actually so something practical to help contribute toward a solution to these problems. Chloe went straight into calling the affected customers and liasing with your contractor...but do recall that until all the goods are in the hands of the rightful owners the situation remains unresolved still...but Chloe is the only one deserving of brownie points. This will be refelected via the many internet reviews we are leaving for Interparcel. That single star is Chloe's star, it firmly belongs to here. Though I still have to reiterate: We are not yet out of the woods though (we're not home and dry yet, four of them are still not in the posession of their rightful owners)but her initiative evidences the need to promote Chloe into the role of the next member of staff to be appraised. Jim Bird. Associate Director...wooo. The man that can. Sadly not. He, like Simona fails to listen to the customer. To understand that there REALLY is an REAL issue becuase, he like Simona fails even consider the fact that most of the time if a customer is kicking up about a problem then there might actually be a problem!! That attitude in my experience reflects what he said to me "People always accuse my staff of lying"...yes Jim, because what your staff are telling people is inconsistent and it is not all due to what the courier tell you, there are untruths that are propagated IN-HOUSE and the attitude evidenced by Jim's statement tells me that you deal (evidently badly) with a lot of problems. In this case and every case both you (and your staff) must stop hiding behind the third party, this ultimately IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY Jim lad. Very noble of him to defend your staff and all but he actually let them down by dismnissing what a complaining customer is telling him. Even the mearest investigation may have helped identify the fact that we have a very real issue here and ultimately, dismissing offhand what a customer is telling him is the sign of a very poor manager. However it does fully reflect the ethos shown us by Interparcel as a whole. You see, in keeping with modern practice, we, in our business deal with our customers the way we expect to be dealt with by others...A refund by way of an apology, or a gift of some kind, something we have had to do due on this occasion due to Interparcel this f*ck up. Most companies do the same...even other couriers, one, a professional one, DPD refunding our carriage on two items just yesterday, another thing that contradicting fully what Mr Bird when he says "Couriers never refund post" You see, he too loves to adopt the cloak of invisibility over and above the cloak of responsibility. "Our terms and conditions don't specify a delivery timescale" which, as we approach week two of our parcels being out there in the ether insinuates that if this debacle continued for another week, month, year perhaps? Bravo Jim. His management skills fails once again when he fails, to understand that in the very basics of commercial law, that when a delivery is booked and money is accepted there is under UK Law a legal and binding contract made....having said that he we just in the business of contradiction in order to avoid even considering dealing with the issue. So get this: should I choose....I am still able to consider placing an action before a County Court Judge. Interparcel has throughout been firmly in breach of contract. Word of advice: DO NOT make the common mistake of falling in to the "but our terms and conditions you agreed to say this or that...." The carefully scripted opt outs in those will not hold up under commercial law. Think about it if you can, I have battled bigger fish than Interparcel under similar circumsstances and have won every time. So then, via Bird, a man of in a responsible postition in refusing to adopt some of the financial cost incurred by us, YOUR CUSTOMER incurred costs and inconvenience through no fault of our own. All due to INTERPARCEL FAILURES, despite attempts to shift the blame onto the courier. The sub-contract is between Interparcel and DX, we are not party to that...we have a legally binding contrast whether Interparcel, end of. At this point I feel the need to mention professional pride and if I were a director of Interparcel I would be ashamed at what this customer is about to write and has the abilitity to honestly do so: In hindsight, it would have been much easier, faster and a whole lot cheaper for us had we engaged another courier - YOUR COMPETITOR - to have collected these misdelivered parcels and deliver them as they should have be delivered as per the original deal. In terms of recompense...You guys are, by refusing to refund us a mere £40.00 and telling us to f*ck off, looking even more shoddy. The sum mentioned is not even the cost of a corporate lunch! This honest and factual review will I am sure more than balance that and the fact that it is written is entirely down to Interparcel's incompetence and lack of customer care. Throughout this whole ordeal, Interparcel staff and management have effectively told us, and we now have chosen to relay this to the whole world, that Interparcel feels that it is perfectly acceptable to miss deliver 80% of parcels and then mess about for a more than a fortnight...do you feel that is an acceptable level of service? We do not but we do strongly feel that it is our duty to inform other business users that Interparcel are not a company that can be relied upon and should be avoided at all times. UPDATE: (29/06/2018) are neighbour is currently as I write this, experiencing the exacly same Interparcel/DX curse. Interparcel are arrogant and learn nothing.