Initial City Link > Reviews (144)

INTRO

I do nearly all of my shopping over the Internet - it is great for finding bargains without trekking round the shops for hours, you can often find unusual things, plus you get them delivered to your home. Simple! Most delivery services I have dealt with are happy to leave parcels with neighbours or to deliver to me at work.

I have rarely encountered any difficulties until recently when I had the misfortune of dealing with a couple of retailers who somewhat misguidedly think Initial City Link (hereafter known as ICL) provide a delivery service.

THE COMPANY

According to their web site (city-link.co.uk), ICL were founded in 1969 and pioneered same day and next morning delivery services. They are part of Rentokil Initial plc, although it would appear that Rentokil’s expertise hasn’t been used to rid ICL of bugs.

Their head office is in Hounslow, Middlesex and their distribution hub at Wednesbury in the West Midlands. They have 70 branches in the UK and also deliver to 25 European cities and New York.

THE SERVICE

ICL offer a next day delivery service, the cost of which varies (see their web site) depending on the weight of the parcel and the required delivery time.

The options are:
By 7.30am (Major Cities)
By 9.00am
By 10.30am
By 12.00 noon
Next Afternoon by 5.30pm
Next Day by 5.30pm

For the princely sum of £47.70 plus £1.85 per kilo, they will even deliver at a specified time, although I am extremely sceptical as to whether they are capable of this.

MY LOCAL DEPOT

My local depot is a round trip from home of just over 20 miles, which can be done in half an hour if the roads are quiet, but double this during the rush hour. It is open from 10.00am until 6.00pm during the week and 8.00am until 11.30am on Saturdays. They nearly always take a long time to answer the phone, but sometimes don’t bother at all.

BAD EXPERIENCE ONE

I ordered a scarf from fo.tv, which ICL tried to deliver in my absence. They left a card saying they would try again the following day, unless I rang them to arrange either a) an alternative delivery date, or b) to collect it from their depot.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get home until after 6.00pm, when the depot is closed so I rang the next morning as soon as they opened at 10.00am, only to be told that the parcel was back on the van. I asked why they didn’t put it through the letterbox, but they said they couldn’t leave it without my signature. They also couldn’t deliver to my work address, and couldn’t say whether any delivery would be in the morning or afternoon, only that it would be between 8.00am and 5.30pm. As I couldn’t get a day off work, I reluctantly agreed to collect the parcel on the Saturday morning.

The parcel contained a card for customer comments which I returned saying how unhelpful and inflexible ICL are. A couple of days later fo.tv rang me and I explained the problems I had encountered. They said that they had a lot of problems with ICL and very kindly refunded the delivery charge.

BAD EXPERIENCE TWO

My second ICL experience was about 3 weeks later when I ordered oil filled radiator, again from fo.

tv. A card was left to say they had attempted to deliver, but the office was shut by the time I got home from work. Another card was left the following day, so I called the local depot, who eventually answered the phone the second time I rang. Once again I had to make a trip to collect my parcel on the Saturday morning.

On arrival at the depot, I handed over my yellow ICL failed delivery card. I then waited for almost 15 minutes while they searched the warehouse to find my parcel. Even though I told them I was coming to collect it, they are apparently too stupid to have a separate pile for collections. There was another person there who had waited over 10 minutes for them to find his parcel, and a growing queue behind us.

When they found my parcel, they told me to be careful, as the bottom of the box wasn’t very secure. On closer inspection, it appeared to be damp. When I got home, I opened box and removed the top piece of polystyrene, at which point the radiator’s end panel containing the wiring fell off. I pulled the radiator half way out of the box, and both ends were severely bent. It looked as if it had been dropped from a great height or maybe run over! I repacked it and returned the customer comments card to fo.tv with a suitable note on both ICL and the condition of the radiator.

Once again, fo.tv were great. They rang me and apologised and arranged for the damaged goods to be collected. This meant taking a day’s leave, as ICL were unable to specify whether they would collect in the morning or afternoon. I am now waiting for a replacement plus a free gift from fo.tv for all the hassle, but they are waiting for more stock, and then I will have to suffer at ICL’s hands again!

BAD EXPERIENCE THREE

Last Wednesday I took the afternoon off work. When I got home my neighbour said someone had tried to make a delivery, he had offered to take the parcel but was told they needed my signature. When I opened the door, there was another familiar yellow card. I rang ICL, who didn’t know when the van would be back and advised me I couldn’t collect the parcel until the following day, which I agreed to do.

I finished work early on the Thursday to make the 20+ mile round trip to the ICL depot again. I handed over the card and waited for something to happen. After a few minutes, the ICL employee reappeared to inform me that the parcel (which needed to be signed for the day before) had been left securely at my address! By this time I was absolutely fuming, and also intrigued to see how secure my parcel was.

ICL’s idea of secure is quite different to mine. The parcel, worth £99, had been sitting outside my back door since 10.40am according to the yellow card. It was 6.40pm when I got home. Luckily, although it had been dull it hadn’t rained that day so at least my parcel was dry.

THEIR OPINION

I decided to let ICL know what I thought about their service, so went to their web site and clicked the ‘Contact Us’ link. I was asked to enter my postcode, which I did, only to be given the address & phone number of my local depot.

I did take the opportunity to peruse the site however, where I learned the following about ICL:

They are “one of the most successful express delivery companies in the UK”

What’s more, they provide “value-added services through high quality processes, innovative systems and responsive customer services”.

So everything’s all right then!

THE TRUTH

Maybe they should visit Ciao for the truth. Here they would learn that from 8 previous reviews they have a rating of 1½ out of 5. It is only this high because one previous reviewer gave them 4 out of 5 on the basis that they sacked his friend for not working hard enough!

THE SUMMARY

If you are home to accept delivery, ICL may well be OK. Unfortunately I can’t verify this as I have only dealt with them on 3 occasions, all of which have been unsatisfactory. They are unhelpful, inflexible and incompetent.

Despite paying for delivery by ICL 3 times (albeit 1 refunded) I have had to make several phone calls, drive over 60 miles (20 unnecessarily) and take a day’s leave to receive my goods, and am still waiting in one case. I certainly wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.

Thanks for reading.