Inpost "Parcel was refused" at Barry's - anyone else?

[fishboy]

Over the last week or so I've had the tracking info on a succession of Vinted / InPost parcels show "Parcel was refused" at Barry's Food Store. InPost initially said it was an issue with the store, but I visited the store and they said there was no issue, and they had received InPost parcels that day - I'll also highlight that I've never had a problem with picking up parcels there, which is why I always use them. 

I've contacted InPost three times now as I have four parcels which are apparently making a daily trip from a depot in Dartford and then back again after another "refusal". They just say they'll contact the depot, raise an investigation, etc etc etc and that I have to contact Vinted to get them to chase it up, which is basically impossible because Vinted have zero customer service. 

Just wondering if I'm the only one with this issue, or is it a wider problem?

[NicholasC]

Hi mate, i think there was an issue with all the machines in the area this week for some reason when i went to another inpost shop but i managed to pick up my parcel from the Ronnies shop on East Dulwich grove on that day since the nice lady took a photo and gave it to me. I would think that the issue is fixed by now but im not too sure 

[lilolil]

When I tried to send a parcel via in post from there, they told me that they didn’t have a contract with in post? I can see on the in post app that Barry’s is showing as active.

Have you tried ringing inpost? 0330 335 0950. I spoke to them a couple of times before when the locker wasn’t working by Family Stores and they were very helpful!

Good luck!

[fishboy]

I called InPost when I saw the first parcel had been refused twice, they said it was because the shop didn't have capacity / space. I went to the shop and they basically said that was BS, that they had plenty of space and showed me the parcels from that day's InPost delivery - they even went through all the parcels to see if mine was there. I called them again a couple of days later after the tracking showed the first parcel had been refused twice more, and two others had also been refused. They said they'd investigate and would send me an email (nope) and to contact Vinted. I called them again today after further refusals, again they said they'd investigate and for me to contact Vinted - they seemed to intimate that they could only do something if Vinted contacted them, despite me trying to explain that it is impossible to contact anyone at Vinted, let alone get them to chase up parcels.

Tbh I don't believe the tracking updates are based on actual events, it stinks of lost parcels that they just don't want to admit to, so just keep pretending they're trying to deliver them and update the tracking info. I can't think of any other reason this would happen. Although very odd if it is this, as all the parcels were sent from different places and at different times.

[Jenijenjen]

I had a frustrating (non) delivery experience with Yodel recently who I believe are now part of InPost. Fortunately the supplying company had some kind of customer service so got a refund

Totally agree with last paragraph, one of the excuses I was given for non delivery was bizarre. Delivery companies and suppliers offer delivery on a certain day and when they're unable to fulfil this they lay a false tracking trail. Think Amazon may also do this.

Edited December 1 by Jenijenjen

[peckhambog]

I likewise keep getting delivery attempted at Barry’s but unsuccessful on 28th and 29th. 
Still undelivered. 

[Earl Aelfheah]

I've had the same thing at other stores. I think the issue is more with InPost than Barry Stores. InPost have been becoming increasingly unreliable. 

Edited December 1 by Earl Aelfheah

[peckhambog]

Frustrating 

[fishboy]

Ok, latest news! 

Went into Barry's yesterday, spoke to a staff member (possibly manager) who seemed knowledgeable, he said that they DO refuse parcels from InPost / Yodel because they haven't got the space for the ~300 parcels the van turns up with! So the tracking info IS correct when it shows refused. He said he would call me when the van arrived so I could quickly go there and try to get my parcels. He didn't, but I did get a notification at 4.34pm that ONE of my parcels had arrived (the oldest one). When I went to collect it, that staff member wasn't there, and the others just shrugged their shoulders when I asked why they hadn't called me, and why the other parcels hasn't been accepted.

I then had a notification for another delivered parcel at 8.39pm. I've just been to collect it, but it's not there, and not on their system as being delivered. More shrugging of shoulders. 

I've just called InPost (tbf, at least they have a phone service and staff that are semi helpful) who confirmed that the parcel had been refused again, put the notification down to a mis-update, and that delivery will be attempted again today. Interestingly, they also said that the shop could only refuse TWICE, after which they MUST take delivery, but this doesn't seem to mean much in practice. 

What's not clear is whether, without me calling InPost, these refused parcels would be returned to the sender after X attempts. I've requested that mine are attempted until they are delivered, and apparently InPost have requested that mine are definitely accepted on the next attempt. We'll see later today.

But the main thing for me is that I seem to have gained clarity, that stores ARE refusing deliveries due to space restrictions (especially with the increased number of parcels at this time of year), and it would appear that most of the lockers are also full, so probably also causing refusals.

I'll be paying the small extra premium for home delivery from now on...

Edited December 2 by fishboy

[gebbjane]

I have been having problems with inpost as well recently (also Vinted parcels) one eventually showed up at Ronnies supermarket after 2 weeks of me trying to chase it.

 I currently have another delivery coming from Enfield area but looking at the parcel’s  journey  it went from Dartford to Swansea and back again and now they have been trying to deliver it to the lockers but they are full!  🤦🏻‍♀️

 I would have happily paid for home delivery but that option was not available! 
 

 

[Kathryn Almond]

I had an issue sending a Vinted parcel from Barry's using InPost. I now use Woodvale Supermarket instead.

[fishboy]

A quick update - my InPost parcels are being accepted sporadically at Barry's, but only one at a time and every few days, after many refusals - one was refused SEVEN times over about ten days - and several phone calls.

As a comparison, I had a message from Yodel that a parcel that was going to Barry's is being delivered to another nearby store, which is interesting...

[Howie]

I don’t think that this is a Barry’s-specific issue in the area. I’m constantly having parcels refused for delivery at the InPost lockers outside the Family Store on Upland as well as at the Esso garage by the Rye

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

The problem is not generally with the stores or drivers - who generally are doing the best they can and receive peanuts for each package. (Rumored that Evri will pay only 20-30p to a shop that receives/sends a parcel).

The problem is the business model of these courier companies that do not invest in infrastructure or depots, but just outsource everything and set "contractor" drivers impossible targets.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/08/christmas-parcel-delivery-drivers-driven-to-the-edge

[Jenijenjen]

I was in the post office yesterday and they were so overwhelmed by parcels, incoming and outgoing, they had to stop accepting Evri returns

[Dave 3]

7 hours ago, Dogkennelhillbilly said:

The problem is not generally with the stores or drivers - who generally are doing the best they can and receive peanuts for each package. (Rumored that Evri will pay only 20-30p to a shop that receives/sends a parcel).

The problem is the business model of these courier companies that do not invest in infrastructure or depots, but just outsource everything and set "contractor" drivers impossible targets.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/08/christmas-parcel-delivery-drivers-driven-to-the-edge

A staff member told me it´s around 10-15p. My guess they only do this to drive footfall since it seems like a huge hassle dealing with a hundred parcels a day

[Moovart]

What would be a really good idea is to have a sort of office with enough space to accept and sort parcels of the sort of volume required by new shopping practices 🤔

Oops!  Forgot!  We did have one in Sylvester road but Royal Mail shut it down and sold off the site.  Doh!!! Would have been so useful to have now. 

At least the Lordship Lane Post Office is staying open for the moment. Phew! 🤞

[ianr]

How much space was available there, and how does it compare with what they have at Highshore Road?  Are RM Parcels also having local difficulties with the size of the Christmas parcel stream?  

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

3 hours ago, Moovart said:

What would be a really good idea is to have a sort of office with enough space to accept and sort parcels of the sort of volume required by new shopping practices 🤔

Maybe this same office that deals with post could organise home deliveries. They could have the same people assigned to a certain number of streets every day so that they get to know people and addresses, and there's only one van a day that needs to do deliveries instead of 15 shonky Transits. 🤔

[Sue]

11 hours ago, Dogkennelhillbilly said:

Maybe this same office that deals with post could organise home deliveries. They could have the same people assigned to a certain number of streets every day so that they get to know people and addresses, and there's only one van a day that needs to do deliveries instead of 15 shonky Transits. 🤔

Surely that would just make the system even more complicated?

[Spartacus]

12 hours ago, ianr said:

How much space was available there, and how does it compare with what they have at Highshore Road?  Are RM Parcels also having local difficulties with the size of the Christmas parcel stream?  

Come now, you have seen the constant threads concerning poor post and deliveries since the Dulwich office closed and merged with Peckham

 Surly that alone tells you how it would compare to now as the whole system was way more efficient. 

But despite the complaints and warnings here we are!!

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

1 hour ago, Sue said:

Surely that would just make the system even more complicated?

We did fine for 300 years with the Royal Mail before the current "competitive" shambles was introduced. Now we have multiple companies with multiple vehicles making deliveries to the same streets every day, none of the workers are employees with decent working conditions or any job security, and consumers have to deal with x different distribution networks and apps and platforms and drop-off points...

https://postandparcel.info/12422/news/uk-royal-mails-monopoly-to-end-on-1-january-2006/

[Sue]

4 hours ago, Dogkennelhillbilly said:

We did fine for 300 years with the Royal Mail before the current "competitive" shambles was introduced. Now we have multiple companies with multiple vehicles making deliveries to the same streets every day, none of the workers are employees with decent working conditions or any job security, and consumers have to deal with x different distribution networks and apps and platforms and drop-off points...

https://postandparcel.info/12422/news/uk-royal-mails-monopoly-to-end-on-1-january-2006/

Yes, but how would you propose changing all that back to "the good old days" now?

[rjsmall]

I think that was related to letter delivery and not parcel delivery. I think the parcel delivery and drop-off options we have now (such as lockers and pickup / drop-off locations) are far better than they were twenty years ago. 

[NisaLocal Barrysfoodstore]

Hey,

We never intend to hurt the customer but thing is we are getting more than 300+ Parcels everyday and we don’t have that much capacity. 
we try to accept as many as we can but at certain point we need to send them back. We did complaint to Inpost and yodel about this situation but they are not responding to it. After the merger of this 2 companies- inpost and yodel it is all mess. 
Sorry for inconvenience.