Yodels response to MoneySavingExpert poll
We are very disappointed by the results of the MoneySavingExpert poll but have serious concerns about its validity.
MoneySavingExpert’s poll is unverified and open to influence by parties with a vested interest in affecting the outcome of the survey. The results are inconsistent with the independent and verified feedback that customers are giving us on TrustPilot, which places Yodel ahead of all its main competitors*.
All TrustPilot ratings are verified by the customer who has to enter their parcel tracking number. Our primary concern here is that no such verification is required opening the survey up to people who may have never used a particular delivery service or to multiple votes from single users. The companies listed in the poll also offer very different services, meaning that it is not possible to draw a direct comparison between them.
CollectPlus, Yodel's click and collect network, came second from top in the MoneySavingExpert poll yet the collection and delivery service is performed by Yodel and shares a common customer contact centre. This disparity highlights our concern.
We have raised this with MoneySavingExpert but have not yet received a response.
Yodel is committed to listening to consumer feedback, surveying 6,500 customers every week, as well as proactively reaching out to consumers on social media and offering customer service via webchat, telephone, social media, feedback forms on our website and email.
We deliver over 135 million parcels per year on behalf of the UK's top retailers and between 1-24 December 2013 alone we handled over 14 million deliveries. When handling this volume of parcels, we inevitably encounter occasional issues and when these occur we apologise and seek to resolve them as quickly as possible.
We have introduced a number of major changes throughout the business to improve the level of service that we offer. Recent developments include proactive customer service on social media; improved online tracking; the introduction of a customer experience academy to provide consumer facing staff with a recognised qualification in customer service; and new geo-tracking software to pinpoint the exact location of every parcel every time it is scanned. However, we do appreciate that there is always room for further innovation and improvement of our service and we welcome the client and consumer feedback that we receive.
We have been enormously encouraged that the changes we have made are having a positive impact and this is reflected by the number of clients who joined us last year and have stayed with us because they judge our service levels to be as good as, or better than, the competitor carriers they used to use.
We continue to look at new ways of meeting and exceeding consumers' expectations and will continue to listen to feedback and survey shoppers as we develop our services.
* As at 10 January 2014 Trust Pilot scores Yodel at 4.5, ahead of a major competitor average of 2.8