An East Lothian woman has vented her fury after claiming Evri 'dumped' her parcel where cars could easily drive over it.
In recent weeks, locals have hit out at the service, with a number of parcels delayed or incorrectly showing as 'delivered'.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Deborah Ritchie, 67, from North Berwick said she was 'fed up' with Evri and while some residents compliment the local Evri courier, she has been left unsatisfied after a 'several' parcels were either late or went missing. She said her latest delivery was the 'final straw' when she found her parcel in the middle of a lane outside her house.
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She said: "The lane is shared by four houses and it could have been run over by any of the cars, so they didn't come to the house, and I think that was the last straw for me because we had several unsatisfied dealings with Evri over the last couple of months, particularly over Christmas.
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"There was a missing box of wine with no explanation of. The supplier I ordered it from have sent out a replacement. And then my brother sent me a Christmas present, it was late and when it did eventually arrive it was damaged and there was a missing item from it.
"What was quite strange there, it actually had my brother's address on it but my name, so how it ever arrived in the first place - I have no idea."
Deborah went on to add that she understands that the couriers are likely under a lot of pressure to get as much parcels delivered and has sympathy of them. She also stresses that other people in the area are complimentary about Evri and have good experiences with the company, but also has seen a number of people missing parcels or it being delivered to the wrong address.
She said: "The communication is really bad and the quality on these occasions have been bad, that's not to say it is always bad and there are people who are very happy with the service.
"To be honest, it's putting me off putting in any orders to the places that use Evri because it's becoming too much of a hassle. And my brother who sent me the present has said he won't use them again. I think seeing parcels arrive at the depot but not arriving at the house is problematic, so I think there is a problem at these depots."
After speaking to Edinburgh Live, Deborah informed us that Evri had since been in contact and offered her compensation.
A spokesperson for Evri said: “We have contacted Ms Ritchie to apologise for her experience and offered a goodwill payment. We have clear standards about how and where parcels should be delivered and we have a number of checks in place to ensure correct delivery such as safe place photos and geolocation.
"Our local team have spoken to the courier involved about our required delivery standards to ensure this doesn’t happen again in the future.”
Regarding deliveries through Christmas, Evri has previously apologised for the delays.
Evri said: "During the Christmas period Evri successfully delivered over three million parcels each day despite increased volumes due to Royal Mail Strikes, staff shortages and bad weather which affected all carriers.
"We apologise to anyone that has experienced delivery issues in the area and want to reassure them that we have a strong team in place that is dealing with any delayed parcels. However, in the unlikely event that a parcel hasn’t been delivered within 10 days, we would advise customers to contact their retailer/seller who will in turn contact us if necessary.”
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