I hate Citylink

**Rant on**

Citylink are a lot of bloody lying time wasting useless peons.

I already try to avoid their inept ability to actually deliver stuff on the actual days they say they will by not using any company which actually still uses them,but it seems Amazon actually is using them at times now for Prime. I was fooled by the fact they used DPD before - and they actually delivered something recently on a sunday and exactly at the time they said they will.

Looks like I will be avoiding Amazon Prime now and I am hoping they are not starting to use them more for normal deliveries.

**Rant off**

Lets hope its just an emergency courier of last resort for Amazon.

Lucky you. I had Yodel who threw my Amazon order, containing an ADSL modem, over a 9 foot wall into my back garden in December 2011.

Lets see what Citylink did today:
1.)Said the delivery would be in the afternoon duriing a certain time period(very late BTW)
2.)When said time period elapsed phoned them up
3.)Person said driver could not be contacted due to some fault but was running late and item would be delivered
4.)Then checked delivery number 40 minutes later. They had changed the details saying the order would be out today to saying it would be out tommorrow(!).
5.)By then CS had shut,so it was a delay tactic.
6.)Phoned Amazon and supposedly they had carded me 5 minutes AFTER I rang City link CS.
7.)I was in the front room at that point and none of the people in house heard anything. No card even.

Any company using them still is not worth my business IMHO.

DPD delivered part of my prime order on Sunday FFS. They have been late before sometimes but they have always made sure the item was delivered on the day.

Complain to amazon - they are usually guaranteed deliveries and you can get credit towards/extension your prime renewal for each time they miss it.

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Originally Posted by kalniel

Complain to amazon - they are usually guaranteed deliveries and you can get credit towards/extension your prime renewal for each time they miss it.

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I did and they were the ones who told me City Link had supposedly tried to deliver the package. Yet if you look at the timings its all very suspect.

Anyway I told Amazon that I could only be in later in the day and I could only accept delivery then and if not they can have the item back and I will buy it elsewhere. They said they would look into it.

Try using Amazon Lockers, much less hassle.

No waiting around, just simply walk up and grab your package when you want. Hell I had something that was delivered at 10am on Monday (Bank Holiday) there.

I like the new 'outside' 24 hour ones that are popping up at tube stations and car parks.

Nearest one is a slightly dodgy looking newsagents - how safe is it??

Having said that if Citylink cannot find where I live easily(its not that hard) then I hate to think how they could be able to navigate the city! ;)

*hittylink
Royal Fail
ParcelFarce

They all have nicknames from me.

Apart from DPD. They've never put a foot wrong, so I aint needed to think of a nickname for them yet :)

Yes, but at least with RM the depots are not usually that far away or hard to get too,and you can at least get it re-delivered to a post office. PF allows you to redeliver to a post office too.

City Link OTH not only fails for delivering stuff,but they seem to like telling porkies to protect their own backsides and their depots are usually in the middle of some industrial estate.

I had citylink deliver a surround sound system to glasgow for me. Next day delivery and it weighed 17 KG and cost me 14 GBP. Arrived in perfect condition and I was very happy with them!

City Link are probably the worst courier company down south IMHO and its the same experience with mates who call them ****tylink since they are that bad. Its not the first time they have lied about deliveries - lots of people I know have had similar experiences. Its been happening for years now.

Even on the Amazon website people are complaining about them:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/forum/deals/...x3545QTOMM2NTF

Unless I was living very close to a City Link depot I will making as much effort to avoid using them or any retailer which uses them primarily for delivery.

DPD delivered on time on a Sunday in a one hour slot.

City Link could not deliver in the late afternoon/night on a Tuesday in a 2 hour slot,which was not even a 2 hour slot if you look carefully.

Yet DPD has its depot much further away than the City Link one. That is how fail they are.

Plus they lied to my face over the telephone and lied to Amazon to protect their own backs.

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

Nearest one is a slightly dodgy looking newsagents - how safe is it??

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Rather, it's an electronically controlled locker system. The lockers open when you enter your code, so your biggest risk is being mugged I guess.

I really rate it, my biggest complaint has been hours of access (when in news agent) as for me that isn't an issue now, everything will be going lockers. Hell I'll pay like an extra £5 just for this convenience as my building lacks a concierge (well its not even 10 flats).

I have a City Link depot nearby so the troubles I have had with them, and there were many when Scan used them exclusively, were resolved easy enough. Since Scan has moved to DPD the service has been brilliant, the driver is even friendly when he gets here early and can't deliver the parcel because it is before the slot he was given. I was looking for another electronics retailer for a while when Scan used City Link, since they've changed to DPD I only check others for price comparisons now.

I must say that I wouldn't go so far as to avoid stores using them; they are welcome to use City Link so long as they give me an option not to use them. Amazon rarely deliver with City Link, most my items come via Royal Mail, Yodel or DPD. I tend to order loads through Amazon because my family have a Prime account with 4 of us buying things, worth the free delivery in some months and we don't even use the other benefits. Having said that I can't remember the last City Link delivery I got now, it must be years since I've seen one of their vans on the farm.

In short I also avoid City Link but not so much that I don't shop at websites that offer City Link as an option.

The problem is with my last Prime order,it was despatched in multiple parts - one by RM,one by DPD and the other by City Link. Since you cannot specify what company you can use for Amazon Prime deliveries,I have to avoid using it now. It also worries me for normal deliveries they might start using City Link in our area for bulkier packages which would mean I might avoid Amazon for anything which cannot fit throught the post box.

The only option is to start using the locker service more if I use Amazon for bulkier items,since City Link are frankly utterly useless.

Alternatively I could just use other UK retailers since many are a bit more flexible in what companies can be used. I don't want to be stung by "whatever courier of the week" Amazon might be using - its not worth saving a few quid over.

Being a day late receiving your item is not worth a few quid for sure, but I would imagine you complaining about City Link and having more issues with them would prompt them not to use City Link for your orders. I tend to order everything before 2pm when using Amazon, you can also choose a paid for delivery option which might take City Link out of the equation but I am not sure.

One thing to look for is if the Prime delivery came directly from Amazon, was fulfilled by Amazon or was from a shop part of the prime scheme. I get most of my stuff directly from Amazon if I can, otherwise I am careful about other shops. It might be other shops that use City Link rather than Amazon specifically which might help you to avoid City Link.

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

City Link are probably the worst courier company down south IMHO and its the same experience with mates who call them ****tylink since they are that bad. Its not the first time they have lied about deliveries - lots of people I know have had similar experiences. Its been happening for years now.

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Have you not experienced Yodel then? I think they make City Link look good.

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Originally Posted by Top_gun

Lucky you. I had Yodel who threw my Amazon order, containing an ADSL modem, over a 9 foot wall into my back garden in December 2011.

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Air mail?

Few years ago I'd have argued the opposite - City Link were pretty good and DPD were worse than useless. But I suppose any carrier agreeing to carry hard drives are asking for trouble..!

Fast forward to today, got an order from Scan arriving through DPD, fully informed all the way, even know the name of my driver before she gets here. Vast improvement.

Haven't had much experience with city link recently, but it annoys me that their nearest depot to me is a good 45 minutes away in the middle of nowhere.

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Originally Posted by Noxvayl

Being a day late receiving your item is not worth a few quid for sure, but I would imagine you complaining about City Link and having more issues with them would prompt them not to use City Link for your orders. I tend to order everything before 2pm when using Amazon, you can also choose a paid for delivery option which might take City Link out of the equation but I am not sure.

One thing to look for is if the Prime delivery came directly from Amazon, was fulfilled by Amazon or was from a shop part of the prime scheme. I get most of my stuff directly from Amazon if I can, otherwise I am careful about other shops. It might be other shops that use City Link rather than Amazon specifically which might help you to avoid City Link.

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The Prime order came in three parts and one of the parts was fulfilled by Amazon. The fulfilled by Amazon part came by DPD on a Sunday. The other bits were straight from Amazon using RM and City Link.

If Amazon are using City Link for bulkier orders,then I will avoid them. Many of the specialist photographic retailers and computer parts companies know use DPD or Royal Mail and in the case of the former if you contact them they can make arrangements for you using other companies. For example I bought a largish camera bag off Park Cameras and asked if they could use Royal Mail for a delivery instead of a courier as I could not be in reliably for that week and they changed it and I still got it quickly.

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Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix

Have you not experienced Yodel then? I think they make City Link look good.

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Yodel thankfully are not so common round here for whatever reason(luckily).

However,have you experienced City Link round this part of Kent?? Horrendous. They have not improved in years and still have the audacity to lie to my face over the phone. Yet their depot is much closer(if you can call it that) than DPD. So inept that DPD delivered on a Sunday on time and City Link could not even get the delivery done by 8PM on a Tuesday.

DPD and RM are far better.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

Have you experienced City Link round this part of Kent?? Horrendous. They have not improved in years and still have the audacity to lie to my face over the phone.

DPD and RM are far better.

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Friend of mine a few years ago ordered a laptop from Ebuyer just before Christmas. I think that was CityLink that was supposed to deliver it. Third one turned up covered in tracking stuff, the first two were stolen in transit.

So yeah, I get it that they aren't good and being lied to always sucks, but if you want something mishandled then I think the Yodel shot putting team are the favourites.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix

Have you not experienced Yodel then? I think they make City Link look good.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix

Friend of mine a few years ago ordered a laptop from Ebuyer just before Christmas. I think that was CityLink that was supposed to deliver it. Third one turned up covered in tracking stuff, the first two were stolen in transit.

So yeah, I get it that they aren't good and being lied to always sucks, but if you want something mishandled then I think the Yodel shot putting team are the favourites.

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Hermes do the same too it seems. However City Link have been known to damage items too.

I contacted Amazon CS and told them I expected City Link to deliver later on in the day when someone would be at home otherwise I wanted the order cancelled. Amazon said they forwarded my request to City Link. The CS operator also said that my feedback on City Link had been forwarded to the section which deals with deliveries,etc too.

So if any of you have had poor service with City Link and are using Amazon make sure you ring them and tell them. Hopefully it will mean Amazon will stop using them(or at least stop using them in their "worst" areas).

It's Hermes at the top of my hitlist currently. I've had 2 parcels recently just dropped over my side gate, one of them in the pouring rain. Thankfully neither were fragile and the one in the rain was in a plastic bag inside the very soggy box!

Citylink's depot isn't too far from me so I don't mind them so much. I did have trouble with them a couple of years ago, but it was during several days of snow around Christmas so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt around that incident.

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Originally Posted by Bagnaj97

It's Hermes at the top of my hitlist currently. I've had 2 parcels recently just dropped over my side gate, one of them in the pouring rain. Thankfully neither were fragile and the one in the rain was in a plastic bag inside the very soggy box!

Citylink's depot isn't too far from me so I don't mind them so much. I did have trouble with them a couple of years ago, but it was during several days of snow around Christmas so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt around that incident.

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Yet down the road in my neck of the woods they consistently are crap. Heck,they were crap in the other parts of Kent too.

Their service has never improved in all the years I have ever used them.

Compare that to DPD who have actually tried to improve their operation.

The previous owners of City Link ditched the company for £1:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22335092

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Rentokil acquired City Link in 2006, but City Link has lost money since 2007, including £26m in 2012.

It has struggled in the face of weakening demand for its services from small businesses.

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I wonder why??;)

Companies like Amazon are big enough to be able to absorb all the problems City Link passes onto them.

Small businesses not so much.

It gets better. So contacted Amazon last night and this morning to see what they could do about it and whether City Link could try and deliver in the afternoon so I could actually be there.

So in the morning they sent me an e-mail saying City Link had said the delivery would be here between 2.30PM and 4.30PM - some of you might predict what happened?

At 6.15PM still nothing and now they said on the consignment page they were "running late". Rang Amazon who said they will refund me if it did not arrive tonight.

So I decided to ring City Link again - and the CS person tried contacting the depot twice to no avail and he was quite surprised at what was happening especially when I said the depot was only 15 miles away. He was actually speechless TBH.

Now its 8.30PM and still nothing.

Absolutely rubbish company and sadly it means I will not touch Amazon Prime again and I will probably avoid Amazon for any items which won't fit through the post box now,since they are using this incompetent lot.

It is hard to understand how they have managed to get it so wrong, not just once but again today.

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Originally Posted by Noxvayl

It is hard to understand how they have managed to get it so wrong, not just once but again today.

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Well Amazon have lost a lot of future custom from me now for anything other than small packages which can fit through a letter box.

If they want to play their courier games,they can do with it others not me.

I certainly might need to decide against listing them for parts in any build threads, if they intend to use City Link, unless people know the risk of going with such a useless company.

Managed to get a refund now. Only problem is now I have not enough time to order from elsewhere online so need to buy the item in the shop with a 40% increase in price! :(

The thing to remember with City Link, is it's a franchise, like Subway... they all look & smell the same, but no 2 places are identical. Some of them are run by absolute creatures, whereas some will be semi-decent at delivering things. You sadly seem to be the victim of a creature-led establishment :(

That said, most of them ARE honking... diamonds in the rough and all that ;)

Just got another DPD delivery - the driver was spot on time.

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

Just got another DPD delivery - the driver was spot on time.

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I remember when Scan first switched to City Link very many years ago, I wondered who they were but found the service was excellent so was happy. Wonder what went wrong.

BTW,I used Amazon locker for my motherboard and even though it was delivered to a newsagent(who has no electronic lockers) it seemed to work reasonably smoothly.

erm, CAT, I don't think you'll have to worry about city link anymore
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30602326
City Link parcel delivery company goes into administration

edit

the other post wasn't showing for me. :p just ignore this post