Rachel Beddow, Principal Policy Manager for Postal Services and Telecoms at Citizens Advice, joins me to discuss customer research on delivery problems:
- Delivery issues that predate the COVID-19 pandemic
- Statistics on UK customers experiencing problems with delivery
- Which groups were disproportionately affected by delivery problems
- Delivery problems not limited to any one carrier
- Kinds of delivery problems experienced by UK customers - including people who were at home 24 hours per day!
- Why a delivery failure is only the beginning of a customer's delivery problem
- Difficulties in resolving delivery failures
- Public awareness campaigns in advance of 2020 peak season
- Spike in consumer complaints
- Factors behind delivery problems - more than just capacity issues
- Consumer protections not keeping up with the rapidly changing retail sector
- Lack of regulation of major parcel carriers in the UK
- Is parcel delivery an essential service? What does that mean for definitions of when a delivery is "late"?
- Current consumer protections in delivery
- Why some customers don't complain or try to resolve delivery problems
- How can consumers be made aware of their rights and ways to resolve delivery issues?
- What can carriers do without waiting for regulators to take action about consumer protections?
- Communications with the delivery driver to help ensure first-time delivery to disabled customers
- Using the available technology to improve the delivery experience for customers
- Delivery driver workload and meeting customer expectation
