cieranc:
If I was late and it was my fault, I would apologise to the customer and explain why.
If I was late and it was the planners fault, I would apologise to the customer on behalf of the company and explain why.
My thinking is, no matter what beef I have with the company, the customer isn’t interested. They were given a delivery time and thats what they expect.
Me slagging the planner/company off to the customer is unprofessional and not in either parties interests.
Agreed.
Explain there were mistakes above, and you’re “just the driver”. They can’t come back much at that.
Apologise cos it won’t cost you anything but it may diffuse the situation. Today’s one-off load could be tomorrows 2000 tonnes, depending on the guy or who he knows…
We all know its bloody silly getting stressed over half an hour but its also bloody silly getting stressed because the customer is…
If he has that much of a beef about it, hand him the delivery note and ask him to write on there his reasons for being unhappy. That way the office will actually see it and maybe (!) act on it next time…
I always apologise if i’m late,with a smile - it costs nothing to be certious & polite, & in nearly all cases totaly defuses a situation, leaving everybody happy. And I can go through the day without that rottweiler chewing a wasp look!!
Muckaway:
A customer on Friday didn’t like it that one of our drivers arrived late and didn’t apologise. No fault of drivers, planner set an unrealistic time in which the Oxford city centre delivery was half hour late. Would you apologise if it wasn’t your fault? ■■■■ sure I wouldn’t I’d tell them it was office at fault for bad planning.
Am I reading this wrong?
A driver delivered late due to a planning ■■■■ up, the customer was irate because the driver didn’t apologise, who was he irate with? the driver or the planner?
If the customer is just complaining to every other driver, he needs to grow a pair, if the customer has complained to the planner, the planner should be the one apologising for the company failures.
On occasion I have been met by an angry customer who has asked me where I have been, they fixed your tyre 3 hours ago, you were only 30 minutes away then. I give them a guided tour of the vehicle, show them that the tyres haven’t been touched, the truck hasn’t broken down and that the time I loaded the trailer is on the notes, now please stop shouting at me, show me where you would like me to tip or sign my paperwork and I will take it away again. If it helps I would pass them my mobile and let them speak to my planner.
As a tipper driver, you have the perfect excuse to be holding a shovel
I always apologise if I am late, it normally greases the wheels and gets the load removed that much quicker. I also apologise if I turn up early and have never been told to come back on my booked time.
Civility costs nothing but is generally well received by the recipients.
waddy640:
I always apologise if I am late, it normally greases the wheels and gets the load removed that much quicker. I also apologise if I turn up early and have never been told to come back on my booked time.
Civility costs nothing but is generally well received by the recipients.
True, but why should we take the abuse because someone else has cocked up?
As a driver, I will always apologise, as I am the contact point of the company that I drive for.
As the owner of a small business, I use FedEx to carry and collect my goods.
They sent a shipment to Shangai instead of Slovenia in December. I had untold problems with FedEx, getting them to correct the mistake, nevermind the charging me for it!
I have not used FedEx since…The reason? No apology!
I was spending 4-500 a month with them…And the driver was a really good guy, but I was concerned for the future performance of my business.
waddy640:
I always apologise if I am late, it normally greases the wheels and gets the load removed that much quicker. I also apologise if I turn up early and have never been told to come back on my booked time.
Civility costs nothing but is generally well received by the recipients.
True, but why should we take the abuse because someone else has cocked up?
I always get my word in first, it then gives them no justification for making any complaint.
I may have been lucky and I agree that it should not be the driver that gets the grief.
If you get bad service in a shop you probably have a go at the first person you see, whether they are to blame or not, it is human nature. We are all guilty and don’t say you have never done it.
my standard reply is “if you have a problem,contact the office”,proper winds some of em up,does that.i had the lad at 3663 northampton going mad once,“im asking you",he said. "but ive already told you” i said whilst pulling the smugest most horrible grin i could muster “if you have a problem,contact the office”.
he then got his manageress out…“whats the problem" she said,"this driver will not explain why he is late" said the increasingly irate goods in lad,"why are you late driver" said the manageress,"if you have a problem,contact the office"at which point the manageress just told him to tip me. the goods in bod then snatched my paperwork and stormed off saying he would keep me there all day. at that point i felt instant rage,i could feel my eyes glaze over and my fist clench as i focused on the side of his head,however i knew all my good work would be undone,so i just turned and left his office saying cheerily "thats ok, give us a knock when you`re ready”…10 mins later…tap,tap,tap
Why do they think ‘Keeping you here all day’ will worry you? Most drivers are paid by the hour so IMO, they can keep me there all week if they want! My standard reply to that one is, “great, wake me up when you want me”. Ten minutes, they want you.
The customer doesn’t care about the internal problems in your company…he just wants the goods on time.
If you tell your company’s customer that your company has incompetent management, what do you think that does for your job security?
Manup, just say, sorry we’re 30 minutes late with this one, then tell the traffic planner on your return that you’ve apologised on the company’s behalf but you’d appreciate it if he didn’t put you in this position again because it’s not good for the company.
Takes ‘personal’ issues right out of it, but still lets the traffic planner know he’s got it wrong and that you’ve put it right for him.
The problem with the driver getting into a dialogue with the customer is that some truck drivers vocabulary leaves a little to be desired and can often do more harm then good. If somebody is polite to me than I return that politeness tenfold, likewise if they start a rant or a verbal attack as soon as I walk through the door. I return that too.
If a planner says do your best. I forgot this load, then I will pull all out the stops to get it there, if he/she doesn’t tell me, or tries to blame me for his/her incompetence I will be honest with the customer.
I remember some years ago picking a load up which was told was for Barrow in Furnace, it was on pallets, when I climbed up to sheet up I notice labels on them with a Glasgow address, I pointed this out to the fork lift driver who replied nowt ti dee wi me kidder see them in the office, I did in fact do that & the said Oh just ignore that, ok so I went about my job took the load back to the depot for the long distance man [I was a shunter], I informed the traffic office of my observations, & to be fair they did contact the customer, anyway the driver went to Barrow, stood there for 4 hrs only to be told he was at the wrong address & he should have been at Glasgow. The next time I went to load at this Factory I was told that I had not half caused some bother for the dispatch office, So I asked why & I was told that I should have told them about the address, I said you know bloody fine well that I did tell you lot dont blame me for your blunders, The firm I worked for said I shouldnt have got rilled with them & said bloody, & should say sorry, I dont bloody think so , I was never sent to load there again. Regards Larry.
I think there are different attitudes required for different issues. If you get a load that is going to be late because it was going to be done by another driver who had broken down, puncture etc, and you have been asked to take it but it means you have absolutely no chance of meeting the time, I would be quite OK in offering an apology as long as I wasn’t greeted by a ranting fool.
However, when it becomes normal that you are picking up a load at the same time it should be delivered 2 hours away for no other reason that your company takes work on that it is impossible to hit the time slot, no, I will be reasonable with goods in, but I won’t take any of the flack. If it makes the company look un-professional, that’s because it is and the planner should be the one getting crap not me.
