Amtrak? Going bust?! SURELY NOT!

*Gasp*

Jesus, the amount of fun I had with those guys. They were the worlds worst couriers, why dabs even thought of using them god only knows.

I need to phone up and find my parcel... oh wait, no phone number... anywhere... oh here's one... ah, you can't actually talk to anyone... Bugger...

They were crap, and this can only be good news for dabs customers.

A bad company gone bust - woo yay! They were one of the main reasons that I stopped buying from DABS.CON

They also use HDL (Home Delivery Network) who suck ass. They leave parcels at random houses, sometimes on random streets, they take signatures from anyone in the general vicinity of your house and they never ever post a card to say where they've just left your £1000 consignment.

At least 3 times I've had to follow up a week later to say "where's my order then", only to find that someone 5 houses away signed for it and has just been waiting (presumably hoping that I never find out) with it in their kitchen.

Unfortunately Amtrak going bust probably means that HDL will get the opportunity to mess up even more Dabs deliveries.

Eh...

Bagged, I'd imagine.

I consistently had trouble with them and they were very awkward about getting my stuff to me.

It's a shame to see lots of people losing their jobs, but some of those 1000 people were the ones making life hard for me.

I stopped using Dabs years ago, main due to their awful courier system. It was always Amtrak in my area, and as we all know Amtrak are the bottom feeders of the courier market; they wouldn't take alternate instructions, they wouldn't leave without a sig, they wouldn't deliver on Saturdays...

Also, these days, the Dabs website is so slow, it's like navigating through a river of treacle.

To be honest I'm surprised that Dabs are still going.

I always held Amtrak in rather high regard.

well I can only speak of shitty place where brother worked, you get crap pay, are forced into overtime, in fact you sign to say you wont refuse it, then they work you upto 18hrs a day, and give you 20 hrs work to do, insist you meet impossible deadlines so you have to break speed limits, and i know in york we often see crashed vans, wonder why....

no they need to really look at there way of doing things and sort it out.

you cant blame the drivers, the problems is with the depot bosses, who wont tell their bosses to ... off

Have to say Amtrack were great for me. Order from dabs previous evening, normally on my door by 9am. The driver even figured out that quite often I'd be in the office in the garden and would come round if I didnt answer.

At all the rage against dabs here, I've always found them very professional and all my orders have been delivered VERY promptly. Weird.

I used to use Dabs all the time and spread the word of just how good they were , prompt delivery and outstanding prices.

However , Long before BT took them over, all the reasons for selecting them automatically, have gone.

Delivery to Ireland can take weeks and the value just isn't there any more.

I rather used to like the Dabs points and collect a travel mug every now and again.

BT, a company rather fantastic at turning diamonds into smooth bits of beach glass.

The coat , it's for Amtrak.. ( BT would need a family sized tent with a hole at the top )

I love amtrak since they effectively guaranteed me a buy now pay in a year deal with dabs, after they lost £200.00 worth of registered ram for my server board. their mistake meant I was able to shoehorn 8GB into my mobo for a year, since they apparently "lost" my ram, when delivering it to my door. DABS caught up with me in the end mind, but it was nice while it lasted at 0% interest...

shame to see people losing jobs, but if we all want our free packaging then i suppose someone has to provide the kind of half arsed service companies like amtrak and Home Delivery Network continue to 'provide'...

I stopped buying from Dabs when they started using Home Delivery Network. Unbelievably poor, enough so that I will never shop with Dabs again until I hear that they have changed their delivery service.

Least I suppose they live up to their name, they deliver to the home, just not necessarily the right one.

I've used Dabs for business many times, and their 1-3 day delivery service normally turns up the next day - even for orders made late in the day. This is to London though, so the delivery network around here is probably better than average. They even managed to get the right address, unlike some other firms I might mention who confuse us with the offices down the road.

Perhaps business accounts get better service than residential orders.

Amtrak (round here at least) were a bunch of absolute amateurs. Parcels turned up days late (even on 'next day' delivery) and were often damaged.

I also wonder (along with a previous poster) WHY someone chose to name their company after the American nationalised passenger rail operator. Is there a 3rd-rate courier firm in the USA called "British Rail"?

Although most courier companies are terrible, Business Post have to be the worst. I'm assuming everyone rejoicing at this either missed that Business Post were taking over the deliveries or have never had the misfortune of using them.

BillyG, to remind us that there's always something worse (balmer).

but everything I've ordered from Dabs (quite a lot) as always arrived next day -- EVEN when I've only paid for the 3 day delivery service.

Perhaps they're more efficient when dealing to always-open business addresses.

It doesn't make sense for people to order things and expect them to be delivered to a house that might be empty.

and you wonder WHY service is crap - its because the mega high fuel prices mean there is no money to be spent on customer service...

get real people - and wake up and smell the nu labour feck up of everything...

paris - cos she is dumb enough to vote labour

This is the company that puts everything (last thing I bought from then was an SD card) into an 18"x12" cardboard box, and then charges £7 surcharge to send said box of air to Northern Ireland and/or remote corners of Scotland?

Why am I not upset to hear they've got problems in the delivery department? Couriers have their place, but so does ye olde humble Royal Mail, at 26p to anywhere in the UK.

Thank god for that. Citylink in our area will actually leave parcels with next door (my great aunt) if I'm out, know that she's in her 80's and will go to her back door with the parcel because she never uses the front door. Amtrak refuse to deliver to me unless they carry the box into the house through the front door because "it's a requirement of credit card orders". Why, for God's sake? Especially as it's dabs4work, and I'm ordering off a county council invoice only account? No wonder if they employ muppets like that.

Amtrak & Business Post. Really folks you are not improving by much.

Service, is about the same. (shite) Although this is true for all the lads, DHL, Citylink, FedEx. because they all underpay, undertrain and over work their staff.

From the side that matters to the customers: BP do have a reasonable home delivery service if the sender fills in the despatch info properly (we never do this because we can't be arsed and only care about my final point)

In my experience are a bit cheaper than Amtrak.

IT angle icon because Business Post wrote their consignment software using FoxPro and...well seriously, FoxPro?. [Flame on]

I'm happy with DABS, and Amtrak were reliable to me. DABS have improved might I add, on a service that was damn god anyway. As for delivery times, card is left, you go and collect it, same as 95% of all other parcels I get delivered from couriers!

Couldn't agree with you more about Dabs, their customer service has been abysmal for a long time now. I remember once to get a refund I guessed the email address of the CEO so I could complain to him to get my money back (this was back before he was out attacking women). It took nearly 2 months to process the refund...

Of course, Micro Direct is 50 times worse than Dabs, and I wouldn't use them again ever because even if something is faulty they won't give you a refund... until you take them to small claims court anyway!

Oh yes they are! I stopped using them (pre BT) when Dabs refused to take back an order incorrectly supplied simply because they had no record that it had been delivered! Yes it was Amtrak, but as I policy I boycott any company that I have to write registered post letters to and then threaten with the small claims court. Dabs never had the courtesy to acknowlege that they or their couriers might just have made a mistake. Fools.

As for Ebuyer wanting proof of your address/passport, I would suggest that you probably wanted your first order delivered to an address other than the cardholder's address. GOOD for them! It's a simple security policy that works - unlike the idiots at Dell and Misco who delivered againt my cloned credit card (Thank you Shell).

Let's be careful out there ....

Royal mail/parcel force is about right for small stuff...BUT BEWARE...do not get heavy items mailed by them.

I had a laser printer delivered and informed them of the size and weight.

(It clearly takes 2 people to lift the box as it is large.)

SO, the postman turns up at the delivery address and asks the person accepting it IF THEY WILL HELP HIM LIFT IT OFF THE VAN. She refused as she wasn't strong enough, (quite right to as well, as if he had of dropped his end the insurance wouldn't have covered the damage because she would have been helping to bring it in from the street??).

The postman took the huff.(they don't like delivering non-letters generally)

He then dragged it from the back of the van and deliberately let the other side of the box slam down onto the concrete road with a crunch(there is no tail lift on postoffice vans-remember)......he then dragged the box up the small path (they don't use the trolley things that proper delivery drivers use).

Then out of spite he ROLLED the box numerous times over the doorway into the office hearing it smash about inside, despite there being signs on the outside of the box saying "FRAGILE, THIS WAY UP ONLY, GLASS INSIDE"(glass=optical laser drum).

Once i heard about this i complained to royal mail, who then sent out a form to fill in and said it might be months before someone comes to inspect the damage for repair etcetc, heard nothing from them, and couldn't be bothered chasing it up as i had learned they were useless by then. £150 lost)

SO don't use royal mail/parcel force for heavy/big/fragile stuff. They are rubbish at that.

The only two couriers I use are CityLink (UK) and UPS (international). I guess it is luck of the draw, since CityLink in my area are superb. Always the same guy (unless he's on holiday) and he is more accurate than the atomic clock - always 8.30am on the dot (regardless of the level of service I use)! When I order from companies, I ask them which courier they use. Point black refuse if they say home delivery network which really is a POS.

talking of bad names........

dabs????

They are both here although FedEx only deliver within the M25 London orbital Motorway or they did.The main courier Co. in the UK are Securicor/Omega ,TNT

Bussiness Post also there are probibly thousands of pureley local Co that use any thing from motorcycles to 40' semi's and anything inbetween sometimes they are subcontracted to the big players.Chopper cos there is probibly a Co.using one

Bit out the loop mate.

DHL own Securicor/Omega (long time ago now) all the vans are rebranded

FedEx now own ANC and I believe have also rebranded.

yep... I'm sad.

.. they bill your card and misplace your delivery before it's left the depot.

Then try talking to them. If you can.