Belfast Live has been contacted by dozens of customers this week who say they are facing long waits for orders to be delivered
One of the UK’s biggest dedicated parcel delivery companies has apologised to local customers amid reports of lengthy waits for parcels.
Belfast Live has been contacted by dozens of customers from across Northern Ireland this week who say they are facing long waits for orders to be delivered by the parcel firm.
The company has issued an apology for the delays and says parcels are processed seven days a week at the site. They added that extra resources have been recruited to help in advance of the busy Christmas and Black Friday shopping period especially for online sales.
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Evri opened a new site at Mallusk, Co Antrim as part of a £1.3 million investment in late September. As part of the deal, the courier company said it had created 650 new jobs, across Northern Ireland, including 50 new jobs at the depot, with a variety of roles such as warehouse colleagues, drivers, supervisors and managers.
The delivery giant said the new Northern Ireland facility offers it “a strategic advantage” of dual access to both the UK and European markets.
At the time, Evri said it had also created 85 permanent courier roles throughout the region, including Belfast, Craigavon and Strabane while a further 515 temporary Christmas roles would be needed to support the organisation’s peak period.
Responding to customer complaints this week, a spokesperson for Evri told Belfast Live: “We’re on track to deliver over 900 million parcels this year with the vast majority being delivered successfully on time.
“Customer satisfaction is at the heart of what we do and we’re very sorry that some teething problems at our new site have slowed a small number of deliveries. The local team are working hard to deliver all outstanding parcels by the end of the week.”
Despite the claims, many frustrated customers have told us they have been waiting several weeks for parcels to arrive.
One told us: “The situation is out of control and something needs to be done. Customers like me are just left hanging when we try to contact Evri about it. We cannot speak or communicate with a human in any way shape or form, whether through their website or by phone or email,
“I fear there will be a lot of unhappy people this Christmas and I fear for the children the most who’s unsuspecting parents will order things from sellers who use Evri and their presents will not arrive on time. That breaks my heart.”
Another said: “As a Vinted customer, I currently have four parcels which are in limbo somewhere in the mass of Evri’s logistical system, which is absolutely frustrating. The Evri telephone number is impossible to get through so I have given up on this too.
“I have checked with my local Post Office in Lambeg, which is to receive my parcels, and they are telling me that people are waiting and waiting for deliveries which are simply not moving out of the Mallusk facility. They too are being left unnotified of what is happening and can only apologise to customers.”
A third added: “I have had parcels from October which have apparently been sent to Northern Ireland for delivery but have just disappeared. Two raised investigations. Asked for a call back and nothing. Just the same email from the same person.”
“I was due to receive a package before 10th November and now they’re saying it could be 8th December. No reason given and now I hear it’s a province wide problem,” said a fourth.
A fifth customer said: “Out of the last five deliveries I’ve been expecting from Evri, I’ve received two. We’re now six weeks away from Christmas and if things don’t change, I imagine that there are going to be a lot of very sad and frustrated people, waiting for their parcels.”
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