A DPD driver has stolen a parcel left on our doorstep by another courier and, despite video evidence, DPD refuses to respond.
Amazon had already delivered my parcel, leaving it outside. Later in the day, a DPD driver tried to deliver a parcel to our neighbour and, on the way past our door, they saw and took our package.
It took many attempts to get this across to DPD agents, who were unable to understand why we were calling when we were not their customer.
After we sent the CCTV footage, the same driver returned the parcel, minus the packaging, and claimed he had tried to deliver it the day before, had noticed the packaging was damaged, and taken it back to remove it. This is demonstrably untrue.
Our emails to DPD have been ignored, the phone put down on us, and we’ve been passed uselessly around departments.
HT, Shrewsbury
The CCTV footage looks pretty conclusive. Your doorstep and your neighbour’s are on either side of a covered alley.
After ringing in vain on your neighbour’s doorbell, the DPD driver can be seen clocking the parcel already on your doorstep, gazing up and down, as though to check for CCTV cameras, then swiping it.
You have photo evidence from Amazon that it was deposited there by a different courier earlier in the day. Unfortunately for the thief, it merely contained a £14.99 pack of vitamin pills.
DPD’s insouciance is as depressing as the theft. The tale told about the damaged packaging when the item was returned is absurd.
DPD tells me the driver was dismissed after your complaint, but no one thought to inform you, or issue an apology. The company admits its communications were “poor”.
It says: “We take a zero-tolerance approach to driver theft and wish to reassure your readers that this experience is not in any way typical of the service our drivers provide.
“We have also investigated the customer service response and it is clear the depot team haven’t communicated as well as we would have wished, and we can only apologise.”
Theft of parcels from doorsteps is soaring – partly, perhaps, due to the cost of living crisis, and partly because many retailers switched to delivery firms during the Royal Mail strikes.
Royal Mail allows recipients to rearrange a delivery or collect from a delivery office if they are out, while some couriers will only deliver once and leave packages where they can.
In the year to June, claims for missing parcels went up by 59%, according to figures from the technology firm Metapack.
In general, if a parcel goes astray, the responsibility for its replacement lies with the trader who sold it. To reduce the risk of losing items, consider a tracked and signed-for service or an offsite locker, or ask a neighbour to receive it.
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