Delivery to kerbside

[Peckham native]

What's with this new 'delivery to kerbside'. Why when I want to order something large/heavy/awkward do I have to accept 'We only deliver to kerbside, our drivers are not insured to enter your premises'. Is this the usual 'elf & safety rubbish.

I can just about accept that 'delivery will be between 8am to 6pm', I'm lucky I can work from home but how am I meant to have a couple of strong persons on hand ready to leap into action just when the uninsured nondelivery person arrives. When I order goods I give my house address not kerbside of my house.

This is discrimination against the elderly and lone home dwellers and I blame the internet (& I'm only half joking!)

[giggirl]

Just say no then PN. Let them know that they lost a sale because you couldn't make their terms and conditions work for you. Of course their delivery people can enter your house - they've been entering people's houses for decades.

[SeanMacGabhann]

I willing to bet that it?s nothing to do with H&S

I?m willing to bet it?s

a) Money related. If you don?t have to bother with carrying stuff inside you can save time and cut back on staff numbers

b) Insurance related. Some customer claimed they broke their precious blah and sued the company once too often

But an external ?elf and safety? directive? I?m not sure why people are so keen to go for this as the catch-all explanation for things

[DulwichFox]

Delivery Drivers have no obligation to enter your property.

Please read here

[louisiana]

This means they can operate lorries with just a driver. The lorry will have a lift and a pallet trolley, both operated by the driver. But the trolley only 'delivers' (moves) as far as the kerb. Money-saving measure. Which as you say, creates something of a problem when the driver has a 105kg package, no driver's mate, and he didn't even know what he was carrying (i.e. that it was heavy).

[Peckham native]

Yes thanks GG that's what I'm doing but unfortunately it now seems the norm with most companies.

I know it's an insurance/cost issue but that doesn't help get the items in my home! I will continue searching for a company with a bit better customer service. Funnily enough I had the opposite experience with Ikea a couple of years ago when a 2 man team happily unloaded a whole kitchen and stacked it all neatly exactly where I wanted it.

[silverfox]

This isn't a new policy Peckham native. It reminds me of the time Silver Vixen and I bought a big heavy cast iron bath from a poncey shop in Muswell Hill nearly 20 years ago. It was expensive and by the time the taps were added and the shower connection it was very expensive. When it came to totting up the bill there was the delivery charge and the man casually said that it will be kerbside delivery. I went nuts. "What? I'm spending ?xxxs with you and you're telling me your delivery drivers are just going to dump it on the pavement?" He realised he was within a gnat's goolie of losing his hard earned sale and got very defensive - there was no question of anyone dumping anything ... the drivers weren't employed by him... in fact if I had a word with the delivery drivers and gave them ?10 each they'd take it into the house for me. "But isn't that what I'm paying a delivery charge for?". In the end he gave us a discount and we paid the delivery men to help me take it up two flights of steps. Worryingly one of the delivery men was straining so much he had a nose bleed as he was struggling with it.

There was an occasion though that I regretted a delivery driver delivering to the house. After taking a day off work a delivery driver turned up one afternoon. I watched him take two mattresses out of the back of his van on his own. He tucked a corner of each mattress under his armpits and dragged the mattresses across the road to my door. Fortunately the protective plastic covering wasn't ripped. However, once inside my hallway there was a horrible pong - he'd dragged one of the mattresses through some freshly deposited dog poo!

[expat]

we bought a washingmachine dryer from John Lewis and they delivered in 2 floor up.

[Loz]

Yep, expat, two words: John Lewis.

Excellent service and they often price match.

[SimonM]

I had exactly this problem with a delivery of a "heavy" object - one driver, lift and pallet trolley. I simply refused to accept delivery and the seller came back to me a day later to say that, actually, the driver could put it in the house after all....

[giggirl]

This is very worrying since I'm just beginning a major refurb of my house. I hadn't even seen delivery as being an issue but since it is I'll be sure to only buy from companies that deliver into the house. I've recently had two heavy deliveries and on both occasions two delivery men turned up and went out of their way to do a great job. I bought a very heavy glass desk from Dwell (I can't lift it) and even with two delivery men it was hard work. I also bought some furniture from the Conran shop and that was brought inside with no fuss. Thankfully I'm a big John Lewis fan and I can't see John Lewis dumping things on the kerb any time soon.

I don't think kerbside delivery is acceptable. How are people going to manage who are less able-bodied? If delivery of heavy items costs more then, fine, charge more. Now I think about it I may have paid an extra delivery cost to Dwell for the desk. I'm OK with that. If the only option was kerbside delivery I would walk away and I would make sure the manager of that store knew why the sale had been lost.

[Peckham native]

I think it's normally okay with furniture but I'm coming across the dreaded 'kerbside' with things like flooring and tiles so definitely something to look out for when doing a refurb.

[louisiana]

Loz Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yep, expat, two words: John Lewis.

>

> Excellent service and they often price match.

I bought a kitchen from John Lewis, and they use a third party courier for that - but a brilliant third party courier that provides the same excellent JL service.

[giggirl]

I just had a phonecall from the Conran Shop (delivered to me last Tuesday morning). It was the shop - not a call centre. They wanted to check that everything was OK, that I was happy with the delivery service and that I was happy with my purchases (one of them was made to order). OK so Conran is towards the upper end of the scale but it's still excellent customer service. The other shop I bought from (Dwell) bent over backwards to find a delivery spot on a Saturday and I couldn't fault them.

Now I'm in the market for a new kitchen and a new bathroom (and tiles etc for both). Does anyone have any recommendations? I want a good product (obviously) actually delivered to my house (because I don't think that's too much to frigging ask!).

Px

[Jeremy]

As other have said, it either means the drivers aren't insured for heavy lifting, or there is only one guy.

I had a cast-iron fireplace insert delivered a few years ago, by default they just leave it on the road on a pallet. The driver implied that he'd take it inside in exchange for a tip... I found it cheeky in the extreme, so took my chances and dragged it inside by myself.

[expat]

Loz Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yep, expat, two words: John Lewis.

>

> Excellent service and they often price match.

I am not convcinced what this means. Does JL match their prices to others or do you think they are very expensive?

I am sure we could have payed less somewhere else and get the washerdryer delivered to the kerb. We would then have to

pay somebody to take it two floor up and plug it in, as neither my wife nor I am in a position to do it.

Prince is no gurantee against kerb delevery as Silverfox wrote:

>It reminds me of the time Silver Vixen and I bought a big heavy cast iron bath from a poncey shop in Muswell Hill nearly 20 >years ago. It was expensive and by the time the taps were added and the shower connection it was very expensive.

we paid the delivery men to help me take it up two flights of steps. Worryingly one of the delivery men was straining so much he had a nose bleed as he was struggling with it.

There was an occasion though that I regretted a delivery driver delivering to the house. After taking a day off work a delivery driver turned up one afternoon. I watched him take two mattresses out of the back of his van on his own. He tucked a corner of each mattress under his armpits and dragged the mattresses across the road to my door

[sophiesofa]

Expat, Loz is talking about JL's price match promise:

"Prices at John Lewis

Our online prices are the same as in John Lewis shops, although occasionally you may find a lower price in one of our shops if they're matching the price of a local competitor, or online if we have a johnlewis.com special offer.

Because of our 'Never knowingly undersold' policy, if our shops are matching prices nationally, then our online prices will go down (and up) accordingly. The prices in our catalogues are the same as in our shops at the time of going to press, but may be subject to change during the life of a catalogue.

We don't apply our shops' 'Never Knowingly Undersold' pricing promise to our online and catalogue prices, or price match any online or catalogue competitors. This is because we're unable to verify the availability and comparability of the goods and the standards of service and support that are offered by others. However, you can always be assured of the same dedication to competitive pricing and exceptional value you find in our shops. "

[sophiesofa]

Maybe I'm just naive but I'd like to think that a delivery driver, if met by someone who has no means to get the item into their home, would just take the extra 5 mins and get it into their home (if they can).

We did have 2 crates of very very thick rolls of turf (that I could lift and carry for 1 metre before dropping) delivered curb side and they really did mean curb side, just not quite our curb, 5 houses away! It was completely unnecessary though because we've had stuff on the same size pallets delivered to right by our gate so the driver was just being a bit mean.

[giggirl]

John Lewis is always my first point of call for anything my house needs. It's not just price - it's service and choice and basically it's an all round pleasant experience.

[sophiesofa]

Yes I agree and I do love JL. But some of it can be bought about 25% or so cheaper on the internet, which is a big difference for some things.

[expat]

Thank you sophiesofa

[Drxyster]

Deliveries this year. Comet, Bosch Washing machine,Beko Fridge Freezer and Electric Cooker all delivered to third floor flat. Dixons, Chest Freezer delivered to third floor flat.Graham Thomas bedding, double bed and mattress delivered to room of choice, assembled and all packaging removed.I am pleased to say I have never heard of kerbside deliveries.If any supplier only offered this type of delivery, they would not benefit from my custom.

[giggirl]

Well done Drxyster. Like you, I'll take my business elsewhere. I'm glad that the OP posted this as I wasn't aware it was an issue and I'm doing a lot of buying at the moment. Leaving stuff on the kerb is thumbing its nose at customer service. If it costs more money to deliver heavy goods inside of the home then I'm happy to pay, or at least to be offered the choice to pay. If the only service on offer is kerbside delivery then I'll go elsewhere.

[Applespider]

The other thing that a good company should do is offer to help strip the packaging off so that you can check what you're signing for and then offer to take all the cardboard/plastic away with them.

Admittedly I do work for John Lewis but even without the delivery driver knowing that, I once had a problem with a sofa that was just (i.e. a cm) too wide to go round a corner on the stairs. They, quite straightfaced, offered to take out a window and pulley it up to the second floor... Instead, I asked them to take it back and ordered a slightly smaller version.

[Peckham native]

As I said I think you're normally ok with furniture & white goods although if ordering on the internet always check the delivery information and also the terms & conditions.

I've found that most companies selling, for example, flooring (tiles, wooden floors etc) only offer kerbside delivery and this is sometimes hidden in the terms and conditions.

I used Waterloo Plumbing for my bathroom and they were great, storing all the items until I needed them (not much room in a one bedroom flat for a bath, toilet and sink).