How services work in former Eastern Bloc

[davkol]

I've just bought a keyboard from another member who also resides in the EU. They sent me links for tracking the package (from ForeignPost and EURODIS) and everything was fine… until it was supposed to be delivered.

The courier (from unknown logistics company) supposedly tried to deliver the keyboard on both Monday and Tuesday mornings. I was there together with a bunch of other people on Monday but didn't hear/see anything. There was nothing in the mailbox either.

I stopped by the post office (Czech Post) on Tuesday and asked if they had anything for me. They didn't, and so I asked if they could check, whether they were actually ForeignPost's partner company. The lady at the counter tried to convince me that of course they were, but refused to fact-check it.

I went home and checked multiple major companies' tracking, but none accepted the tracking codes.

I checked the tracking again next morning and found an EURODIS' partner on their website: some obscure company I had never heard of before. The tracking code worked on their website. Cool. So, I e-mailed them what I had done thus far, and if it was possible to have the package delivered to the office, at a different time, or simply get it in person.

I almost immediately got a reply that they'd "punish the courier" (literally) and that they could deliver it to a different address, but couldn't guarantee when. Thus, I insisted on picking it up in person. They agreed and texted me yet another tracking code.

The depot was supposed to be on the outskirts of the city, (based on the address they listed on their website) right next to a university research facility, only 2.5 km away, and so I thought I'd walk there during the lunch break. I did walk there, accidentally got lost on the way, but nothing serious. There was no such company, though, despite a banner on the main road. I had to hurry back to get lunch.

I rechecked the address again on Google Maps and a local map app. The coordinates that they provided were in the middle of a field. Oops. The address showed up in three different places on different streets in only two map services. Double oops. I googled the company name and found outdated ads from when they were hiring… there was a different address on the same street. I checked it on Google Maps again and got something that looked like a depot.

Second attempt. I went to the other address for a change, but there was nothing, only greenhouses of the research facility. Then I managed to find a janitor, who told me that the logistics company had moved to yet another street. I did finally find the depot there… A couple of managers gave me the package (hurray) and when I told them how I couldn't find the depot, they responded that "yeah, customers have been telling them for a few months already and perhaps they should think about updating the website".

That's former Eastern Bloc for you.

[scottc]

Hah. What an experience. At least you finally got it through being persistent. That's the most surprising part to me.

[davkol]

That isn't new either.

Before Xmas, Czech Post's courier decided to skip delivery in the village, where I lived, because he thought he had too much work anyway, and falsely filled tracking information. I reported that my packages weren't showing up… it took another week to find them (although I must say I've been lucky and hardly anything got lost over the years) and I got reply to my report a whole month later too, when it wasn't relevant at all.

[hansichen]

Sadly such things can happen in every country, in Germany we have a lot of issues with overhauled or foreign delivery men too. Once we ordered something online but canceled it after some time due to delays. The seller's internal communication was not really working so they still shipped it and they told us that we should decline acceptance. On the day of delivery nobody was at home so we put a paper on our door where we said that we decline acceptance. As we came home in the evening we couldn't find a thing so we assumed that everything went like planned.
After several days we were wondering that the store is not answering so we checked tracking again and it said delivered. We then checked our garden and found the package in a smaller box in a corner in the rear of the garden where we store some wood for the winter time.
So the delivery man couldn't read our paper on the door because his German was too poor, then he just went through the door into our garden and searched for a place to store the package, he then chose a closed box where we don't even look into in summer and then he didn't even leave a notice.

[davkol]

Two months later, I got another package through the same carrier.

They failed delivery—again—without leaving any sort of a notice in the mailbox. The courier was there, though, because they wrote "no doorbell! big doge" (except in Czech) on the package itself.

They haven't updated the depot address/coordinates on their website either, although I e-mailed them about it another couple of times.

This time, a guy in the depot tried to convince me that I couldn't just get my package there… had to repeat it, like, five times to get him to realize that I could in fact pick it up.

[stratokaster]

I’ve been to Czech Republic only once, but in Ukraine (where I lived for 11 years) everything and everyone - from banks to medical centers to transport companies to mobile carriers - are way more customer oriented and willing to please than in Ireland (where I’m currently residing).

[vometia]

I’ve been to Czech Republic only once, but in Ukraine (where I lived for 11 years) everything and everyone - from banks to medical centers to transport companies to mobile carriers - are way more customer oriented and willing to please than in Ireland (where I’m currently residing).

I've little experience with companies outside of the UK, but given the broad similarities with Ireland that doesn't surprise me. Far too many organisations won't do anything without a formal complaint being made, which gets a bit tiring. As a general rule, it seems the more managers they have, the worse they are.

[davkol]

At least the formal complaints aren't ignored, I hope.

To expand on that, I've heard that if you file a complaint here, and someone actually happens to act on it, you can expect revenge from involved workers: like deliberately destroyed or lost mail. Luckily, that hasn't affected me thus far.

[vometia]

They are often ignored: it depends on the effectiveness of the complaints system, but often there's no censure for the person involved so nothing gets done. Some organisations also like to play chicken to see at what point you'll give up, so I have taken it right up to the government regulators before: I think they keep a note as those organisations seem less likely to mess me about, although the regulators' remit and powers have been systematically eroded over the years.

And yeah, I guess before complaining it's best to do a "risk assessment": like it's probably not worth making a fuss in one of the large chains of food outlets as I imagine there's a significant chance of someone gobbing in your food.