Chorley mum Sue and Yodel team up to donate to children’s charity
In the true spirit of Christmas, a Chorley mother-of-four has donated the £500 she won from parcel carrier Yodel to the local children’s charity, Rock FM Cash For Kids appeal. The money was used to purchase a bounty of toys which will be given to children who may not otherwise get a present this Christmas.
Delighted by the special delivery, charity manager, Nikki Thompson said: “These gifts will go out to disabled and underprivileged children across the whole of Lancashire. People are so generous especially at Christmas and this year we anticipate helping around 12,000 children.”
Sue Johnson, of The Cherries, won the bounty of soft toys after filling in a customer feedback survey about her Yodel delivery service driver. It turned out to be the two millionth review on Yodel’s Have Your Say programme, and the carrier decided to mark the occasion by rewarding both the person making the feedback and the hard working delivery driver involved. Sue was delighted to hear that her glowing response had gained recognition for her regular delivery lady, Amanda Blamire, and then came the surprise of a box of wine and £500 cheque.
“I’m a stickler for good service and order a lot online,” said Sue. “People are so keen to give negative feedback to companies but Amanda is always such a smiley, happy person when she delivers my parcels, whatever the weather.”
Sue recalls it had been a particularly blustery day when she filled in Yodel’s online review which has been running since 2013. “It was a hideous day outside and blowing a gale but even so, there was Amanda on the doorstep, holding my parcel with such a smile on her face. She’s lovely and deserves this pat on the back.”
Straight away she insisted that Amanda keep the wine and asked for the cheque to be used to buy gifts of soft toys for her favourite local charity, Rock FM Cash For Kids. “They do so much for underprivileged children at this time of year so I’d much rather the presents go to them,” she said.
Amanda, who lives in Chorley and has worked as a self-employed driver at Yodel’s Preston service centre for 14 years, was happy to oblige with the important delivery request. About being the focus of the two millionth customer review, she said: “This is such a morale boost, especially for someone like me who’s self-employed. A lot of people don’t realise how hard the job is - delivering parcels in all weathers even in bad snow. It’s great to be recognised for this and means so much when a customer leaves a good comment.”
Yodel executive chairman, Dick Stead also put in an appearance to thank both customer and driver and mark the two millionth milestone. “We’re constantly listening to customers and using their feedback to develop and improve our service. When we launched the ‘Have Your Say’ feedback programme, we only had a 35 per cent customer satisfaction rate and now we’ve hit our highest ever at 86 per cent. Amanda and her colleagues play such an important role, and it’s fantastic that her great service prompted Sue to make this generous donation to such a worthy cause.”
Dick went with Amanda to make the special delivery of toys to the children’s charity drop off point in Marsh Lane, Preston, which were all gratefully received by suitably festive-clad volunteers.
