John Fricker

The parcel was delayed twice, the first delay being at Yodel's national hub for one or two days and the second time for a day because the delivery driver was running late with their deliveries and didn't have time to find my address.

RDDB5310BK DAB+/FM Radio: Useless user guide
What passes as a user guide for this product is a 58cm x 42cm sheet of paper with a diagram showing the controls and text in TWELVE languages in tiny, size 10 at a guess, font which does little more than describe the function of the controls rather than how to use them. I am still trying to work out how to use all the functions.

I ordered a mattress from Wayfair on 26 July. I was given a delivery date of 28 July and a DHL tracking number. I checked the tracking number on 28 July and DHL hadn't even received the parcel. I contacted Wayfair and I was informed that an investigation would be carried out and a replacement sent if necessary. I received an email from Wayfair on 2 August confirming that the replacement had been ordered and telling me to expect an email with confirmation of dispatch and the tracking number. I contacted Wayfair again on 3 August when no email had been received and I was told that the courier had not collected the parcel but it would be sent the next day. I had still not received confirmation of dispatch on 5 August so I contacted Wayfair again. This time I was told the mattress was out of stock but I could expect a mattress to be dispatched on 9 August! I have been already been waiting for the mattress for ten days and 9 August would be too late even if the mattress is actually delivered. I have wasted enough time 'chatting' with Wayfair's 'customer service agents' without getting a resolution and now I'm going to cancel the order. Wayfair has shown itself to be absolutely useless and unreliable.

eBay uses misleading delivery status terms.

When I've bought an item and the seller has merely booked a delivery service, eBay displays the misleading message "This item has been dispatched". Shouldn't that be displayed only when the item has been physically dispatched by being posted or handed over to a courier? I've had sellers book a delivery, resulting in the "item dispatched" message, only for them to renege on the auction and cancel after a few days.

When EVRi (formerly Hermes) acknowledges the receipt of an item at a Parcelshop with the tracking term "Carrier receipt" but the item hasn't been scanned into the courier's system, eBay displays the misleading message "The courier has the package" in its own tracking. I had a problem recently when a seller had taken an item to a Parcelshop and it had been mislaid and not scanned into the system by a courier. Only when I had opened an 'Item not received' case after a week did the seller find out what had happened by visiting the Parcelshop.

I have previously left positive reviews for Royal Mail but today, for the FIFTH time this year, the postman, possibly not my regular postman, has left items of post outside my front door without ringing the doorbell and being satisfied I am aware it is there. On a previous occasion I had to retrieve a letter and lighter items of post that had blown away. I have made complaints using Royal Mail's complaint webform and I have been told these have been referred to the delivery office manager but it is still happening. If anyone from Royal Mail is reading this, the reference for my complaint today is 220325-005535.

This five-star review of EVRi (formerly Hermes) has been deemed "suspicious" by Trustpilot's "advanced software" and deleted:

"At last a reliable regular courier and I have enough condidence to again order from sellers who use Hermes"

"For a period of several months last year Hermes had no regular courier for my area and the service was so atrocious I avoided buying from sellers who explicitly used the company.

Hermes finally found a regular courier who is both friendly and reliable and after several on-time deliveries I have enough condidence to again order from sellers who use Hermes. I just hope they treat and value him better than the lady who had reliably delivered to my area for eight years but was forced to give it up."

In the past I have had good cause to leave negative reviews for Hermes but I've found that Trustpilot's software censors reviewers who leave what it deems too many negative reviews of businesses from which it receives income and deletes ALL their reviews, even when the reviews are positive. I notice that other reviewers have have reported having their reviews promptly removed.

I have previously asked, without getting an answer, if the decisions of Trustpilot's "fraud detection" software are routinely monitored and if the details, including the proportion of positive and negative reviews for a paid-for profile like Hermes UK it removes, are in the public domain. A 'copy and paste' response won't provide an answer. It needs somebody to ask around. EDIT: Note that the 'copy and paste' reply to this review still provides no answer to this question.

Amazon seems to have removed any provision for customers to complain.

The Amazon tracking for the delivery of my order claimed the " Parcel was handed to resident". IT WASN'T. It was left on a table we have placed outside our door for parcels to be left as a COVID safety measure AFTER the person making the delivery has rung the doorbell and confirmed somebody is at home. It is NOT a designated 'safe place' and it is visible from the road. On this occasion the Amazon delivery driver DID NOT ring the doorbell. It was only by chance that I opened the door and found it.

On the positive side, the order was delivered the day after I had made it.

Please sign the petition on the Parliament website (Trustpilot won't allow links) asking the Government to establish a regulatory body and ombudsman to oversee the UK courier industry and resolve disputes if you are fed up with the attrocious service provided by some parcel delivery businesses. The regulation of the courier industry, much in the way Royal Mail is regulated, was recommended in the Citizens Advice damning report, 'Sorry We Missed You', on the industry. MPs will have to debate the issue if more than 100,000 people sign.

Please sign the petition on the Parliament website (Trustpilot won't allow links) asking the Government to establish a regulatory body and ombudsman to oversee the UK courier industry and resolve disputes if you are fed up with the attrocious service provided by some parcel delivery businesses. The regulation of the courier industry, much in the way Royal Mail is regulated, was recommended in the Citizens Advice damning report, 'Sorry We Missed You', on the industry. MPs will have to debate the issue if more than 100,000 people sign.

Please sign the petition on the Parliament website (Trustpilot won't allow links) asking the Government to establish a regulatory body and ombudsman to oversee the UK courier industry and resolve disputes if you are fed up with the attrocious service provided by some parcel delivery businesses. The regulation of the courier industry, much in the way Royal Mail is regulated, was recommended in the Citizens Advice damning report, 'Sorry We Missed You', on the industry. MPs will have to debate the issue if more than 100,000 people sign.

I have yet to receive a response from Trustpilot to my question asking if its "fraud detection" software records the proportion of positive and negative reviews for a paid-for profile like Hermes UK it removes and if this information is in the public domain.

I asked this question because the software has removed my negative reviews from the Hermes UK profile, and not reinstated them when I have provided supporting evidence, yet it has not deemed the same reviews posted in the Myhermes profile, for which Trustpilot receives no payment from Hermes. This raises reasonable doubt about the software being used to censor negative reviews in paid-for profiles.

Trust in Trustpilot demands transparency in the application of its "fraud detection" software but this transparency is lacking.

EDIT

Still no answer to my question about transparency in the application of the "fraud detection" software. Just the usual copy and paste response that avoids answering the question.

I discovered Danny Richman's excellent article 'Can you trust Trustpilot? – 9 million reviews studied' whilst seeking an explanation for Trustpilot's unrealistically generous (in my opinion) star rating for the parcel delivery business Hermes UK being so at odds with the ratings awarded by all other review sites. Danny actually used Hermes UK as an example of how an overwhelming proportion of invited reviews, predominantly positive, can skew Trustpilot's ratings.

I have had all my reviews of Hermes UK removed. I suspect this is because Trustpilot's fraud detection software has determined that too many adverse reviews of Hermes UK have come from my IP address. But all those objective reviews have been based on my multiple adverse genuine experiences of parcels being substantially delayed and lost by Hermes and they haven't been reinstated when I have provided evidence.

I have asked before if Truspilot monitors the operation of its fraud detection software. In particular I have asked if the software records the proportion of positive and negative reviews for a Trustpilot profile like Hermes UK it removes and if this information is in the public domain. I haven't received a response to those questions and I still can't find that information. If it isn't in the public domain, how can Truspilot's claim to be "committed to transparency" be taken seriously?

An eBay seller promptly dispatched my order using an unspecified 48h service, which turned out to be Hermes, on 11 August and it was claimed to be "out to the courier" on 13 August. But 48h has turned into nine days and counting. A collection by Hermes scheduled for 19 August still hasn't been executed two days later so it's looking like Hermes, once again, has no courier for my area.

UPDATE: Five days on both the delivery and collection still haven't been executed despite assurances from Hermes customer services. How could they when Hermes hasn't had a courier to serve my area since 13 August at least.

I have now had all seven reviews of Hermes, posted in its Hermes UK Trustpilot profile, deemed "suspicious" and removed, some retrospectively, by Trustpilot's "advanced software". That includes a 5 star positive review praising Hermes CEO Martijn De Lange's office for resolving a problem when the company's customer services people had failed. The software has effectively banned me from posting reviews of Hermes in the Hermes UK profile. This review, which I am confident is honest and objective, was the latest to be removed:

"The last tracking event for a parcel that Hermes should have delivered on Friday 13 August told me that at 08:21 that day it was "on its way to the courier". But it didn't reach a courier and wasn't delivered. Neither was it delivered on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or today. Additionally, a collection (a return not initiated by me) scheduled for today was missed. It appears that Hermes, having lost the generally reliable courier I had for eight years a few weeks ago, once again can find nobody to deliver or collect parcels in my area and undelivered parcels are piling up at the depot. It will be the fourth time this has happened with parcels previously delayed by up to twelve days."

The tracking number for the delayed parcel was provided to confirm the facts.

As a test, I have posted exactly the same review in the Hermes (without the 'UK') profile that Hermes hasn't claimed and makes no payments to Trustpilot for. That review is still there. If Trustpilot's "advanced software" is selectively removing reviews critical of Hermes from the Hermes UK profile that provides Trustpilot with income that needs explaining. Also, the transparency that Trustpilot claims it is committed to demands that it monitors the decisions made by the software and publishes the proportion of reviews of individual businesses it removes. Is that data available in the public domain?

The last tracking event for a parcel that Hermes should have delivered on Friday 13 August told me that at 08:21 that day it was "on its way to the courier". But it didn't reach a courier and wasn't delivered. Neither was it delivered on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or today. Additionally, a collection (a return not initiated by me) scheduled for today was missed. It appears that Hermes, having lost the generally reliable courier I had for eight years a few weeks ago, once again can find nobody to deliver or collect parcels in my area and undelivered parcels are piling up at the depot. It will be the fourth time this has happened with parcels delayed by up to twelve days.

UPDATE: Six days on both the delivery and collection still haven't been executed despite assurances from Hermes customer services. How could they when Hermes hasn't had a courier to serve my area since 13 August at least.

The last tracking event for a parcel that Hermes should have delivered on Friday 13 August told me that at 08:21 that day it was "on its way to the courier". But it didn't reach a courier and wasn't delivered. Neither was it delivered on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or today. Additionally, a collection (a return not initiated by me) scheduled for today was missed. It appears that Hermes, having lost the generally reliable courier I had for eight years a few weeks ago, once again can find nobody to deliver to my area and undelivered parcels are piling up at the depot. It will be the fourth time this has happened with parcels delayed by up to twelve days.

UPDATE: Six days on both the delivery and collection still haven't been executed despite assurances from Hermes customer services. How could they when Hermes hasn't had a courier to serve my area since 13 August at least.

Well done again Royal Mail. In the past week I've had a 2nd class parcel dropped off at a post office in Londonderry in the afternoon of 9 August delivered to my home in SW England in the morning of 13 August and a 2nd class parcel collected by my postman on 11 August delivered to an address in West Sussex on 13 August.

Trustpilot has now removed all my reviews justifiably and objectively critical of the courier Hermes claiming that its "advanced software" has detected "suspicious activity". Even when I supplied the requested evidence to support my last review it wasn't reinstated. Yet similarly critical reviews of two other couriers, DPD and Yodel, which actually took the trouble to respond when Hermes hasn't, remain on Trustpilot. What was "suspicious" about this review for example:

"If Hermes UK was rated on how its appalling "customer services" performs when things go wrong it would be lucky to rate a single star.

Once again a parcel sent to me by an ebay seller has reached the company's Plymouth depot but several days later still hasn't been passed to the delivery driver and is probably "lost". The last tracking event on 4 May informed me of a delay of 48 hours but on 10 May there has been no update. To make matters worse, Horrible Holly obstructs my enquiry about the delay being passed to a real person and merely repeats the tracking message.

I have no complaints about my local Hermes delivery driver but I have experienced problems with all other aspects of the company's delivery service and I now use Royal Mail to send items I've sold on ebay.

UPDATE: Much to my surprise the parcel arrived on 14 May, equalling Hermes' record of nine days delay for a parcel delivered to me. The tracking provided no clue about where it had been."

Excuse me for being suspicious that Trustpilot has succumbed to pressure from Hermes to remove and discourage critical reviews. I cannot believe that a company like Hermes, whose appalling performance has featured on BBC's 'Watchdog' and whose dissatisfied customers are being assisted by Consumer Action in legal action, has such a high Trustpilot rating. I now have concerns about Trustpilot's impartiality.

Thanks for your response Hayley but it does not explain why your "advanced software" deemed the critical review I quoted to be "suspicious". Perhaps Trustpilot should monitor if the software is removing very valid critical reviews, giving companies like Hermes an undeserved and misleading high rating. Having seen how it removed my reviews I find it difficult to trust Trustpilot.

Trustpilot has now removed another totally objective and reasonable review critical of Hermes UK. Even if this isn't the result of pressure from the company there is something seriously wrong with the "advanced software" that removes these reviews and that undermines trust in Trustpilot. Citizens Advice has published a report 'Sorry we missed you' containing the results of a survey exposing the failings in the delivery industry and calling for delivery firms to be penalised for their failings as the Royal Mail is. Contrast that with the positive reviews Trustpilot allows whilst removing critical reviews.