Tracking To Become A Bad Joke

(I order some clothes online from a very well-known brand, and since it took very long for my order to arrive the last time, I decide I can spare the five euros for next-day delivery. I order on Wednesday and hope my parcel will arrive just in time for me to wash the jeans before I go on a weekend trip the following week on Friday. Wednesday evening, I receive an email from the delivery service, saying my parcel will arrive on Friday. Thursday, another email comes in saying it will come earlier, on Thursday. But nothing arrives. Neither does it on Friday, so I decide to look at the tracking log. It says the parcel arrived at the distribution centre. I think maybe there was a problem and it will come on Saturday for sure. It doesn’t. Since then, the tracking log has sounded like a huge joke:)

Tracking Log: “Saturday: delivery address was not found.”

Tracking Log: “Sunday.” *they don’t deliver on Sundays* “Recipient was not encountered.”

Tracking Log: “Monday: 06:45 recipient was not encountered.”

Tracking Log: “10:45 parcel is being delivered.”

Tracking Log: “Tuesday: 07:23 recipient was not encountered.”

Tracking Log: “10:50 parcel is being delivered.”

Tracking Log: “Wednesday: 06:58 recipient was not encountered.”

Tracking Log: “11:03 parcel is being delivered.”

(It sounds very strange to me that they don’t meet me while the parcel is not even being delivered, despite me being a stay-at-home mom and being there ALL THE TIME. There is no way they’ve missed me. I call the service hotline of the clothing retailer and they assure me that the parcel is on the way and they will waive my delivery fee, since it’s clearly not the next day. On Thursday, still, nothing has arrived. The tracking log goes on the same way. I am very frustrated and call the delivery service. The service rep states that there must have been some kind of problem and he will have my parcel delivered to a station where I can pick it up on Friday after 16:00. I am at the station at 17:00, but the parcel is not. As soon as I get home, I call the retailer again because I am beyond frustrated. Now I think that they may have lost my delivery, but the rep tells me she spoke to them and guarantees me it will be at the station on Monday. Lo behold, it’s not. I call again:)

Me: “…and it was not there on Monday, either.”

Service Rep: “Oh, that’s too bad. I’m sorry. Let me have a look.”

Me: “I was thinking they lost it somehow.”

Service Rep: “Um, that’s very unlikely… Oh, it says it’s being delivered to you! Everything is fine.”

Me: “Yeah, it was being delivered yesterday too, and the day before and the whole last week! Just look into the tracking log. It’s a joke. A very bad one.”

Service Rep: “Uh… That’s weird.”

Me: “Yes.”

Service Rep: “Let me just look into that real quick.”

(After that, he was way more helpful, and cancelled the delivery order so the parcel would return to them… if it was still with the delivery company, which I highly doubt. He also gave me a coupon code for my next order, but I don’t think I will be ordering there anytime soon. I bought my jeans from another online store that uses another delivery company, and it arrived two days later.)