Courier delivery leaves customer climbing the walls

Hermes was the messenger of the Greek gods, and had wings on his heels - which may be how a courier from myHermes was able to leave a parcel on a customer's roof.

Benjamin Ward, of Hove, East Sussex, arrived home from work last week to discover a card telling him that he'd missed a delivery. But instead of explaining that the parcel was with a neighbour, the card read: "Stuck on roof - sorry!" Looking up, Ward saw the package wedged in a gutter some 20 feet up.

Ward posted pictures of the parcel and delivery card on Twitter - where they've gone viral, with more than 3,000 retweets.

The courier company has apologised, saying that the incident was "unacceptable". It sent the courier back to the house with a ladder to retrieve the package of clothes.

With the rise in online shopping, it's been boom time for courier firms, which are currently unregulated. But along with this has come a rise in complaints. In a survey from MoneySavingExpert last year, 30% of people who'd had goods delivered by myHermes said they were unhappy with the experience. Rival Yodel - used by Amazon for deliveries - is even worse, with 58% of customers rating its service "bad".

"One idiot delivered our parcel on Saturday and because we weren't in they left it inside our black outside bin... even though it's full of rubbish and it is written on the label to leave it with the neighbour?" writes one dissatisfied customer on the company's Facebook page.

"Package found by next door neighbour in their front hedge. Web site states package posted in letterbox. Hermes my be cheap but they are the worst delivery service," writes another. Others complain that packages have failed to turn up at all, and that the company fails to respond to messages.

Most of these new courier companies use self-employed drivers who are paid per parcel, rather than per day - meaning there's an incentive to skimp where possible.

If customers have problems with a delivery, it's best to go back to the retailer for help. Under the Sale of Goods Act, it's the seller's responsibility to make sure that items reach the purchaser within a reasonable time and in satisfactory condition. Since June this year, goods ordered online must be delivered within 30 days. And if you take a day off work to wait in for a scheduled delivery that doesn't come, you can claim for a day's lost income.

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