General: LONG RANT Burlen Ltd Service

[adarvasi]

Las January 17, I ordered a couple of catalogs, 2 piston springs and a black plastic damper from Burlen Ltd, they charged me £31.50 for shipment. The package was ahipped on January 21 via GB Post, the wrong tracking number was provided, a couple of days later, after complaining about the tracking number, the correct one was sent, and I discovered to my surprise that the parcel was in Denmark... not exactly the most direct way to Mexico!

I called Burlen and I mentioned my surprise with this development, the customer service representative (not particularly friendly or empathic) told me that it was out of their control, but not to worry!

So I told him that the same day that I order the material from them I had orderd a heavy sweater from Ireland, the freight via FedEx was US$35.00 and I received it in THREE days. His answer was that their method was to send via GB Post, so I suggested that customer service was important and perhaps they could check a more efficient way to ship to foreign destination. “I’ll pass your comment to the directors” was the answer.

As of now the tracking says that the parcel is still in Denmark.

I will never, ever again do business with this company

End of rant

[simon roberts]

Normally great service,but what I can say is a lot of parcels are in the wrong places at the moment....I get at least 10 a day...some via strange places!!!
I put it down to a virus....you choose which one😜

[adarvasi]

Originally Posted by simon roberts

Normally great service,but what I can say is a lot of parcels are in the wrong places at the moment....I get at least 10 a day...some via strange places!!!
I put it down to a virus....you choose which one😜

What it’s hard to understand is why they don’t use a more efficient and less expensive shipping method that will do a better service for the client.
The parcel appears to be still in Europe, then if and when it gets to Mexico, I can wait another month to get delivered 😤

[IainG]

Hi
It has just taken 3 weeks for a 1st class letter to get from Derbyshire to Cornwall.

So there are isolated problem areas everywhere

Iain

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by adarvasi

Las January 17, I ordered a couple of catalogs, 2 piston springs and a black plastic damper from Burlen Ltd, they charged me £31.50 for shipment. The package was ahipped on January 21 via GB Post, the wrong tracking number was provided, a couple of days later, after complaining about the tracking number, the correct one was sent, and I discovered to my surprise that the parcel was in Denmark... not exactly the most direct way to Mexico!

I called Burlen and I mentioned my surprise with this development, the customer service representative (not particularly friendly or empathic) told me that it was out of their control, but not to worry!

So I told him that the same day that I order the material from them I had orderd a heavy sweater from Ireland, the freight via FedEx was US$35.00 and I received it in THREE days. His answer was that their method was to send via GB Post, so I suggested that customer service was important and perhaps they could check a more efficient way to ship to foreign destination. “I’ll pass your comment to the directors” was the answer.

As of now the tracking says that the parcel is still in Denmark.

I will never, ever again do business with this company

End of rant

I assume you mean southern Ireland/Eire when you mention it? That is still in the EU, however we (the UK) are not. That's probably cause number one. Next is the fact that depending on size etc of the package, there are many different possibilities for how it's sent. If GB Post is the most cost-effective way to get your catalogs etc to you, unless you selected expedited delivery at checkout then it would default to the most cost-effective.

That enters probably cause number two.

Not being in the EU any more (but even when we were), certain things take a very strange route. For example, i bought something privately from Sweden a few months back. It went from Sweden into Germany before finding its way here. Another package i bought from Sugarland TX (Rock Auto as if you didn't guess!) left Texas and was flown direct to Germany going completely past the UK on its way.

It was then unpacked and put on another plane (or maybe a road shipment) to London Heathrow where HMRC (our version of combined IRS and AFT and covers other things too) levied an Import Duty of 20% of the invoice value. On the day i bought it, the exchange rate meant it was under £15, on the day HMRC checked the price, it was something silly like £15.08 so i was charged - if it had been under £15 i wouldn't have been charged!

As you can see, things are neither logical or consistent with postage/shipping. Just to reassure you though, Burlen Services are a very good company to deal with. Also bear in mind that once the package has left their premises, they have no control how the courier chooses to ship it round the planet to you. As long as the courier gets it to you in the time allotted on your sales contract, it's down to the courier, not the seller, how it happens.

As for the mistake with the tracking number first time round, mistakes do happen occasionally, it was corrected and the parcel should be with you soon. Something i have found when buying stuff from overseas is that when parcels go through non-English speaking countries, the tracking gets a bit hazy at best.

I suspect you may have discovered this already though.

[adarvasi]

Dave, this was really an experiment... that didn’t go the way I expected. I can get, as I have always done, my parts from VP Autoparts, Moss Motors, IPD, etc in the US without any hassles in 2 or 3 days. I have bought a couple of things in the UK from Rob Henchoz at Amazon cars and it worked fine.
The point is, and may be I am expecting miracles, that companies can change their ways in order to adapt, and try to accommodate the clients (as I do with mine) especially in the UK after Brexit, survival among competitors is the name of the game, and “this is the way that we have always done it” may not be the correct approach.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by adarvasi

Dave, this was really an experiment... that didn’t go the way I expected. I can get, as I have always done, my parts from VP Autoparts, Moss Motors, IPD, etc in the US without any hassles in 2 or 3 days. I have bought a couple of things in the UK from Rob Henchoz at Amazon cars and it worked fine.
The point is, and may be I am expecting miracles, that companies can change their ways in order to adapt, and try to accommodate the clients (as I do with mine) especially in the UK after Brexit, survival among competitors is the name of the game, and “this is the way that we have always done it” may not be the correct approach.

I would guess that Burlen Services don't send that much to the USA and/or Mexico so in fairness they're probably not set up for the most efficient way of doing it. As such you may have been not only their first Trans-Atlantic customer since Brexit but possibly the first for some time from your part of the world.

Last time i used them i was working about 10 minutes drive from them but that was 25 years ago, i know others have used them since by mail order and been happy so perhaps you were just unlucky this time or maybe they just aren't set up for that kind of export.

[Burdekin]

There’s a lot of mess with Brexit, COVID and post at the moment. We use Royal Mail to send to Australia and never had an issue. Burlen have also been top notch whenever I use them. To suggest they change their courier because of your one issue at this time is totally overreacting.

[Army]

My last order from VP went through Germany too (on its way to Holland)

Even if there isn't an air transport element in the delivery it seems as though the same distribution system is used (which I guess kind of makes sense)

[adarvasi]

Burdekin, I am not over reacting at one issue, I am suggesting that if can be sent in THREE days at a lower cost instead of who knows how many weeks, will provide better customer service. Perhaps if you were at the waiting/receiving end you may see my point. I rest my case