Exposed: the Hermes delivery staff throwing your parcels against the wall
thetimes.co.uk/article/expose…
Freelance couriers working for Hermes – one of Britain’s largest delivery companies – mishandle parcels, fail to complete next day orders and were told to lie to customers, an investigation by The Times has found
This month an undercover reporter worked for Hermes, which delivers online orders for retailers including John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Next, amid a surge in complaints about packages being late, damaged or lost
thetimes.co.uk/article/expose…
Managers watched as workers threw parcels to save time sorting them, sending many clattering into hard cages, against walls or on the floor
One manager admitted in the run-up to Christmas shoppers were paying for next day deliveries with no chance of these being fulfilled
Couriers were encouraged to mislead customers and “act stupid” if faced with complaints
Another worker suggested that the reporter should “tell them you started today”
Last night Hermes began a “full investigation”. A number of retailers that use the company for their deliveries said they were “alarmed” at the findings and have asked it for urgent explanations
The investigation’s findings include 👇
The disclosures come at a time of growing concern about consumers being failed by delivery services
Last month Citizens Advice ranked Hermes bottom of its delivery league table
In recent days Ofcom also rated Hermes lowest out of delivery companies for customer satisfaction
The reporter worked as one of Hermes’s 30,000 local couriers for about 17 hours, delivering or collecting 193 parcels
He worked from depots in High Wycombe and Watford
thetimes.co.uk/article/expose…
Hermes said it had launched a full urgent investigation into the findings but that it was confident the “vast majority” of allegations were “unfounded and do not reflect our business" 👇
📹 Read the full story and watch the undercover video
thetimes.co.uk/article/expose…
✍️ A Times Investigation by @pmorganbentley
thetimes.co.uk/article/expose…
@pmorganbentley 🔎 Inside the Investigation
After a training process that involved watching 11 videos on his phone, our reporter was given an eye-opening insight into one of Britain’s best-known delivery firms
thetimes.co.uk/article/hermes…
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