[Nexus 4 General] sidhaarthm:
TNT Collection - Depot Experience

Hey all,

So today I went to the TNT Depot in Croydon (Beddington Lane) to collect my Bumper which they tried to deliver yesterday (Friday). As expected, I did not receive any form of 'Missed Delivery' card from TNT while I was away. All I had on the online tracking was "Receiver not home. Follow up action underway." I do not know what that means - would they try to redeliver? would they try and get in touch with me? Nothing...

Anyway, it was a grim scene when I reached the depot around 1040hrs. There were few very grumpy looking people standing outside the main security entrace gate. I calmly approached one of them and inquired if they were there for collecting their Google goodies. They confirmed and suggested I speak to the man in the security block (right next to the gate). The security bloke seemed to be really hacked off for some reason and was blatantly rude to people. He just spoke very fast and was in a complete dismissal mood. Fortunately I fished out the tracking number from Google's Tracking email from my dumphone and passed it over to him with my name. He wrote that info on a sticky and passed it to another colleague who was working inside the actual warehouse. Mind you, at this time all of us were standing on the road in freezing cold unlike other courier companies/Royal Mail where there is a proper customer reception with knowledgeable people who have heard of two words known as 'customer service'.

Some of the people outside had been waiting for quite some time, including one very irritated soul who had waited over half an hour already! You gotta think how long it takes to fish out a parcel from a supposedly organised (pun intended) warehouse of TNT. Naturally, his patience was running thin and profanity was being used without hesitation. After a while an employee walks out with a package (N4 16GB) and asks for some form of ID from this poor soud who'd been waiting for about 40 minutes by that time. The package was on his wife's name and he had brought her passport along with some combined utility bills. The TNT employee apologized and said he is unable to hand over the 'high value' package to him because it is not addressed to him. The customer literally went ape**** at that point and lost it. The TNT guy only got more strict and explained that he'll get sacked if he handed over the device to him... I thought to myself 'so close, yet so far'.... So TNT takes the package back inside and the guy makes few frantic calls for his wife.. I understand that the TNT employee had a fair point, but was still disappointed to see a loyal Nexus fan go through so much trouble in front of my own eyes.. not sure what happened after that because I had received my bumper in the meantime (for those collecting, please ensure you've got one photo ID - Passport/DL + some form of utility bill or bank statement). I signed for my bumper and left that place without a single word. Also, TNT would be able to fish out your package much quicker if you provide them with the consignment number (found on TNT's tracking page when you click on the link which you find in the Play Store shipping email). If you provide them the actual tracking number that Google provides, they'd just take longer..

I had actually gone for this collection in a relatively good mood and I intended to have chat with the employees to find out as much as I could about the Google/TNT relationship with deliveries etc. Of course, as soon as I entered that thick tense environment, I just dropped the idea completely.

FYI - I placed the order for the Bumper on 21 Nov and got a shipping notice on	06 December 2012 21:33. I am also among the 1-2 weekers who placed an order for a 16GB N4 on 04 Dec 17:06:20 GMT - Wallet and PS shows order as Pending and no shipping notifications yet. Credit Card company has confirmed the charge but it does not reflect in the statement just yet. I have completed the XLS sheet though with my details. Here's hoping that all of us get our N4's shipped ASAP (without any further frustration/nightmares).

Oh, and the most important part - the N4 Bumper is just GREAT. Super light, well built and feels like a quality product. Wayyy better than any bumpers you would've seen for those fruit related sheep phones :p

Cheers.

SAM