... But even I a seasoned complainer could not make a dent in the armour of Amtrak. So I have decided to write a review about them to warn others about using them.
Amtrak
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In their own words, Amtrak is a dynamic and innovative express parcel carrier supplying quality-driven ... Read review
Advantages: Absolutely None Disadvantages: Their Customer Service is Appalling if you can get through!!
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In their own words, Amtrak is a dynamic and innovative express parcel carrier supplying quality-driven overnight delivery and collection solutions throughout the UK and abroad.
In my words and based on experience, Amtrak are an extremely rude and unhelpful company who like to make the delivery of your parcel the most difficult and unpleasant experience of your life.
Their Telephone Service
---------------------------------- ...surly and unhelpful member of Amtrak staff? well it all comes down to my dear old mum and her love of documentaries . . .
The Customer Services
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Now my mum saw on the TV that if you continuously press a number on your telephone it will cut through the automated service and put you through to an operator.
Now I live in the Cambridgeshire area, and the gentleman who answered ... more
Now I am an easily irate person I admit it, and I enjoy nothing more than flooding the inbox of various companies that have annoyed me with sharp tongued letters of contempt. But even I a seasoned complainer could not make a dent in the armour of Amtrak. So I have decided to write a review about them to warn others about using them.
Amtrak ----------
In their own words, Amtrak is a dynamic and innovative express parcel carrier supplying quality-driven overnight delivery and collection solutions throughout the UK and abroad.
In my words and based on experience, Amtrak are an extremely rude and unhelpful company who like to make the delivery of your parcel the most difficult and unpleasant experience of your life.
Their Telephone Service ----------------------------------
Amtrak have a wonderful telephone service for you to ring if you miss the delivery of your parcel (can you hear the sarcasm already?) You ring their 0870 telephone number (yes my friends it costs YOU money to ring about Your parcel) and you are connected straight to an automated service, you are given 3 options the first is for deliveries (all well and good) you select it and you get . . . an automated service telling you that if you have missed your delivery slot an attempt will be made again the next working day between the hours of 08:30am and 18:00pm if you are still not at home, you then have 2 more days to collect your parcel from the depot detailed on your card before it will be returned to sender (like I couldn't have read all that off the card they left me!) and then you are put back on the loop with your 3 options. So we go for option number 2, we are again put through to an automated service before being put back on the loop and AGAIN for option 3, in no option can you actually speak to a human being!! But I can hear you all saying how did I get through to my surly and unhelpful member of Amtrak staff? well it all comes down to my dear old mum and her love of documentaries . . .
The Customer Services --------------------------------
Now my mum saw on the TV that if you continuously press a number on your telephone it will cut through the automated service and put you through to an operator. Now I live in the Cambridgeshire area, and the gentleman who answered the phone was from the Peterborough branch. Now the problem I had was that I had purchased a barbeque from a well known TV shopping channel (just can't help myself) and had paid an extortionate amount of money for the delivery. I was informed that my purchase would be with me within 5 working days and I had a card through the door saying I had missed the first delivery slot etc etc etc, no problems there, all I wanted was to re-direct the parcel to my place of work as unfortunately I am at work between the Amtrak delivery hours. I figured that as I was paying for the delivery, I had ID to prove who I was and I had a reference number that it wouldn't be a problem, then I speak to Amtrak customer service. . . Firstly I ask if it is possible to find out what time delivery will be as I could leave work, pop home recieve parcel and go back, no, they deliver between 8:30am and 6pm, well I ask if the parcel can be re-directed, no, only the sender can re-direct the parcel, well I ask if they could ring the driver and see what time he will be delivering, no, their drivers don't carry mobile phones. Then we hear a bit of paper shuffling and huffing then finally "your parcel will probably be delivered about 9am" (it was now 9:50am). I then get a bit annoyed and inform him that his unhelpfulness is the main reason I would not use Amtrak, he put the phone down on me!
Did I get my parcel? ---------------------------
The day in question, I was actually finishing early, I arrived home and 10 minutes later the door knocks and there are Amtrak with my barbeque! I had a word with the driver who rolled his eyes and said "He knew my schedule, and he knew you were my last drop, there was no way I was going to be here before 4pm"
The Complaint ---------------------
After this appalling display of customer service I wrote to Amtrak and complained, this was the response I recieved:
"Good morning
I am sorry you have not been satisfied with the service you received from Amtrak Ltd.
On this occasion the depot has followed the correct procedure though I do apologise for the attitude/customer service you received form the depot.
The procedure for the delivery of goods is to attempt delivery twice, hold at the depot for 48 hours before returning to the sender. Without the consignment number I am unable to check on our system to see the progress your goods made but it appears that procedure was followed."
Not very satisfactory and basically the same spiel they put on the missed you cards.
My opinion ---------------
I absolutely wouldn't recommend Amtrak to anyone, if they treat prospective new customers in this way, I hate to think how they treat existing customers if they have any. The telephone number on the card they put through your door is a joke, what is the point of having a phone number where you can't talk to anyone unless you know a secret code?!? The customer service staff at the Peterborough branch are extremely unhelpful, and the fact that I wrote a letter of complaint about it and recieved the response "as far as we can see our staff have followed the Amtrak rules " is unbelievable! and basically shows exactly what Amtrak are like.Thier prices are extortionate, my barbeque cost 30.00 to deliver, for that kind of money I expect exceptional service, I didn't get it. I do NOT recommend Amtrak at all, if you want an overnight service, look to the likes of Citilink, Lynx or the overnight parcel company whom I use at work on a regular basis.
Advantages: Absolutely None at all Disadvantages: No service offered at all except of robbing me of £6
...video of cowboy companies then AMTRAK is a safe bet - and should be quite amusing in the making. Ive "used" them twice via DABS who insist on using this pathetically incompetent company. If id have remembered it was AMTRAK the second time id have avoided them like the plague. Both times was an excruciating expericence, and wasted several hours of my time on their infuriating answer machine service (which is more of a hinderance than a service). Im ... ...there has since died of a tragic case of chronic incompetence. To add insult to injury they actually didnt even deliver the parcel...which i paid £6 for. They say they cant find my address but i live in the city in a well known area, on a well known street - truth be told, they couldnt be bothered to deliver it.
They basically just wait for you to get so brassed off waiting for your parcel that in the end you go to the depot and pick it up for yourself. ...
chill_king 04.05.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Amtrak
Advantages: None to note Disadvantages: Poor Service is an understatement
Utterly poor service, i could not believe the time it took them in order to deliver my parcels. I have now changed my parcel delivery company that I use to something that i had recommended from a friend. They charge cheaper rates and get here twice as fast. One of my pacakges turned up wet. and i dont just mean wet i mean soaked through. I had to take it to a 'local depot' in order for them to take a look at it and refund my item. As it was obviously ...
tubster011 23.01.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Amtrak
...to ask me to call Amtrak to tell them to hold on to the parcel (rather than returning to the sender in line with their policy) and we would try to collect during the week. Incidentally, our "local" depot doesn't open till 8.30 am which isn't exactly early, given you may want to collect before work. At least Royal Mail are open from 6am!
Anyway, needless to say I called Amtrak at 11.20 am, aware that they officially closed at noon. At noon I was ... ...and the Territory Manager.
However, I doubt they will ever contact me and it seems to me their 0870 number is a money-making scam.
Conclusion - we will certainly be more careful about finding out which delivery firms companies use and will steer clear of Amtrak in future. ...
heb2460 04.10.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Amtrak
Advantages: sitting in doors all day watching daytime tv ermmm make that a few days Disadvantages: poor service, a constant headache, and annoying customer services phoneline
...company who happened to use Amtrak as their parcel delivery service (only found this out when i had to go searching where my parcel has got too)
First Day:
The day started of well i was loking forward to recieving my new piece of kit. I waited and waited and waited........
I phoned up the company i had placed the order with who gave me Amtrak's Delivery Helpline then my day got worse!
When you call it you get four options 1- Redelivery:to listen ... ...speak to a human at Amtrak and guess where i found out how to speak to one here on ciao.
The way to get a Human: Ok heres how to get a human response which is not stated when you call just wait a few times for the robotic woman to say the four options and finally you will get to be passed to an advisor.
I spoke with the advisor telling her my problems and concern she didnt apologise she just told me that it will arrive around midday.
So there ...
alphadarknite 30.11.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Amtrak
Advantages: slick website Disadvantages: website lies; no drivers; no real apology when things go wrong
...online consignment tracker on the Amtrak website said that the TV was 'with driver' (i.e. in the van)... ALL DAY. Then at 6pm it said 'out of time'. I rang up the next day asking why the package wasn't delivered. (It only took a couple of minutes to get through, fortunately). The person at the Amtrak depot said "I'm sorry, we couldn't get a driver that day." This immediately raises two questions:
(a) How can a company claim to offer "next day delivery" ... ...package?
(b) Why did the Amtrak website say the package was 'with driver' when it was actually in the depot all the time? I've decided to pick the TV up from the depot (which is only a couple of miles away fortunately) because I don't trust Amtrak to be able to actually deliver it. dabs are going to refund the difference between the next day delivery charge and their standard delivery charge. Which is fine, but why do they actually use these clowns ...
rollerball_kid 26.04.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Amtrak
Advantages: Good service, can be trusted to deliver Disadvantages: Have put price up in last 2 months by a pound
After the disastrous AMTRAK experience, 6 weeks of knowing them turned into 2 years of hell. Letters, threats for money I did not owe, surly staff, etc. Finally they went bankrupt. I started using DHL services through Interparcel www,interparcel.co.uk and www.payperparcel.co.uk .
DHL have never missed a collection date, the staff are courteous and professional, tracking parcels very easy, depot staff go out of their way to help. I run a small mail order company and have used DHL for nearly 2 years. Only once was there a delay on a next day item, the depot manager phoned and explained the problem due to adverse weather conditions. They kept their word and delivered the day after.
If you want to send just one parcel or have several parcels to send as a small business then use the online booking for DHL via Interparcel ...
maiathebee 08.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of DHL
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Can't contact them
I arranged collection of a gas fire I'd won on ebay through these people. It was collected by Amtrak on the second attempt in December 2004. On the first occasion the Amtrak driver had apparently refused to pick it up because the individual named on his paperwork had popped out for a few minutes. The item was last heard of a couple of days after collection, when it disappeared into a blck hole somewhere en route.
I repeatedly tried to get through to Postvan and have emailed them on a number of occasions, with no reply. It took me over 2 hours of trying, and when I finally got through on the phone I just got referred to Amtrak's complaints dept.
Now, some 11 weeks after the consignment went missing I'm still waiting for a response to my compensation claim with Amtrak, and have received no responses at all to emails sent to Postvan ...
ta230hu 05.03.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of postvan.com
Advantages: Value for Money, Speed of Delivery Disadvantages: Hard to get through to
I have used this company on several occasions and have alawys found them very good on both price and service.
They use different carriers to pick up the parcels and I have had both DHL and Amtrak collect from me.
I know others have had problems however I have seen a lot of good comments about this service, I have to speak as I find and I have always found them very good.
The only thing is they are hard to get through to, however this may just be because they are busy.
I would recommend them for both domestic and International parcels.
I had a International parcel which I sent with them to the USA and it was there within a day much to the delight of my customer. ...
jetstar 01.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of postvan.com
