Today I have a different kind of story for you. Not that I thought you needed to know this story, but as you read on, you will understand why a story like this needed to be out there.
I would have wanted to read a story like this as a seller and if I can help someone else choose another delivery service over EVRI, then I've done some good.
Last month (July), I sold a pair of Victoria Sponge cake earrings and I used EVRI as a delivery service. I would like to quickly add that I had only been using EVRI for less than a month then - I
always used Royal Mail. I chose EVRI to cut down on delivery costs for my customers, especially my international customers, thinking and assuming the service would've been that which I was used to. Moreover, with EVRI, all the deliveries are tracked independently from whether they are "Standard" or upgraded ones like "1 Day Delivery" which gave me a little peace of mind knowing that my customers and I would always be able to track the orders. With Royal Mail one has to specifically select the "tracked" service.
The parcel was going to a customer in the UK, which usually takes 1-2 working days, but the customer contacted me 7 days later, saying that the parcel hadn't arrived yet. Which is unusual.
Contacting EVRI (or not)
Being my first time contacting EVRI - I naively assumed it was going to be as straight forward as contacting Royal Mail - I went on their "Contact us" tab on their website and there I tried both ways of enquiring about the delayed parcel.
The Chat. The first time I tried the chat - yes, the chat. When I entered the tracking number the bot told me there was a delay and that they were going to "escalate". I then proceeded to leave my email address to get un update within 24hs. An email that to this day I have not received. I chose an email update instead of a call back at first, because that way I could share the message with my customer as well.
Telephone. Failing to get that email, I tried phoning them. I had to enter the tracking number again and leave a brief message describing the problem. Again, they repeated that they were aware of the delay of the parcel and that they would "escalate". I then requested a call back to get an update within 24hs, which I never got.
I tried the chat again a couple of days later to see if the any new information came up, and it was always the same message "we are aware, we will escalate" until a message reading "a new label was printed" appeared as well. Did that mean they found it? And why did they have to print a new label?
So, there was nothing else to do but wait a few more days to see if the parcel turned up. My customer was happy to wait a few more days and I promised her that if she didn't get it, I would send her a replacement using Royal Mail, not EVRI.
So we waited...
And then, the 1st August...
I get a message on Etsy from my customer and looking at the notification and the first few words of the message, I felt a sense of relief thinking that the parcel had arrived, that she'd received her earrings and that all of this palaver with EVRI was finally over.
But I was wrong.
My customer had received her parcel, yes. But when I opened the picture she'd taken of it I was more than horrified!
Have a look for yourselves.
So many things are wrong with this picture, I don't even know where to start.
Let's start with the envelope. If you've ever ordered from me before, you know that I use brown recyclable padded envelopes (I also used white in the past), but not plastic purple ones. I don't even like that colour, so I wouldn't even think of it. My customer even said that the envelope had ab Ebay sticker on it, what?! What happened to my original envelope? Why are my earrings being delivered in this envelope? Did mine get wet and they had to change it? Did a dog get to it? I guess I'll never know.
My packaging. I use very sturdy brown kraft jewellery boxes for packaging my items and I've sent them as far as Japan and the United Stated, even Reunion. But never have I seen them being destroyed like this. Everything from the box to the receipt appear to have been ripped, and mauled, and then put in a blender for extra effect. I can understand that a box might be slightly squished - a bigger box maybe - but not completely torn to pieces. And if you look at my business card, a piece has been completely torn off, it's not just bent or wrinkled. What happened? Was it delivered by Ace Ventura?
And lastly. My earrings. The earring post has come off one of the earrings, so it must've been under a lot of pressure. I was thinking something like...has someone bashed it with a hammer? I honestly can't work out what they've done to my parcel.
It's completely shocking to me that EVRI staff thought it was completely reasonable and acceptable to repackage my items after finding them in this state and deliver them to a customer that paid hard earned money for that delivery. And then even have the audacity to update the status of the order as "delivered" and that it was left in the customer's "safe place". They're right about that. It was unsafe in their hands.
I would've been ashamed to deliver something in that condition. I would've told my supervisor "I refuse to deliver this. I think you should contact both the sender and recipient, explain and apologise for the situation, and offer compensation for the damaged goods."
Moreover, today, as I'm writing this 21st August, I tried, again, to submit a claim with EVRI but it was impossible. This message appeared:
Your Etsy Inc. parcel was delivered to your safe place on 1st of August @ 13:17. As the parcel was delivered over 5 days ago, I'd recommend you contact them if you have any questions regarding your delivery.
Them, who? My customer? The seller (if this is read by a buyer)? What happened to "we'll get in touch with you within 24hs" EVRI? I shouldn't get in touch with my customer regarding your "delivery service", I should get in touch with you. But you made this impossible for your paying customers. You send them on a loop around your website without ever allowing them to get in touch with a real person or successfully submit a form to claim compensation.
If I then select "proof of delivery", I see a picture of where the parcel was left and if I then select "more help with this parcel", the next message is exactly the same one quoted above. Another loop, because the next options are "see proof delivery" and "ok thanks".
Even if I go through the FAQs, and into the damaged parcel chat, it's still the same chat. Still the same loop.
My next option was to contact EVRI through Instagram, because I really wanted to attach the picture so that they could see "proof of damage". I wrote a private message, I attached the picture and sent it. Only, they didn't get it because as Instagram claims:
This account can't receive your message because they don't allow new message requests from everyone. You can't message this account unless they follow you. To connect it may help to follow them.
So I pressed the "Follow" button. But I don't think that'll work. Do you?
So this is why I wanted to write this blog post, because their lack of customer service is completely unacceptable to me. I am thankful that I had already switched back to Royal Mail by the time all this happened - only tried it briefly - and that my gut instinct told me to go back to my trusted Royal Mail.
I'm not saying parcels don't generally get lost or damaged sometimes, of course they do. Of course it happens. But never to this calibre and I've certainly never experienced this level of lack of customer service and access to a straight forward way of submitting a claim or enquiring about the status of a parcel.
With Royal Mail, not only can you track a parcel, but if it's an international delivery, you can continue tracking through the local delivery service website, e.g: UPS, which I find so helpful. I find this also really useful if a customer wishes to contact UPS first, instead of me, as with the time difference, I may have already gone to bed and I would not see their message until the next day. I never had shockers with Royal Mail before. I've had the odd delayed or lost parcel, but in my experience it took a phone call where a nice lady advised me to submit a form - which was straightforward - because that would get the parcel "flagged" within the network let's say, and would get it moving again. And that was that. Easy.
I never received an explanation or an apology for what happened from EVRI, let alone the hint of compensation. Needless to say I do not recommend using EVRI and that I will never be using them again.
My pieces are extremely important to me. I put a lot of time and effort sketching concepts, sculpting, and trying different things until I have pieces that I love that I can sculpt for you too, to then send them through a company that simply doesn't care. I want my customers to enjoy shopping with me and receiving and opening their parcel should be a pleasant experience. Not what this poor lady went through. It makes my blood boil to think EVRI thought it was OK to deliver that. And I can't even complain! Double boil.
I always worry when I post my pieces, because they are my babies and I like my customers to receive what they ordered, in a timely manner, whole - with no missing parts, and with the packaging intact so that the unboxing experience can be a memorable one.
So, I'm back with Royal Mail, and it may cost a little more, but I have more peace of mind knowing that parcels can be tracked better, and that in the worst case scenario, I can submit a claim which is within my rights. As for the earrings, I remade them of course, and I sent them to my customer straight away and of course I posted them with Royal Mail.
Everything was good and my customer loved her Victoria Sponge Cake Earrings.
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