ParcelForce: I'm trying to help you fix your site ...

[Short link to this article if you need it - http://goo.gl/Cwkz7F - or retweet me]

[NOTE: Executive summary is in the  "Problem determination" and "Key Summary Points" at the end]

I recently had an exchange with ParcelForce (A dividion of the UK Royal Mail Group) regarding a package I was due to receive from them. I received an email from "PARCELFORCE WORLDWIDE <notifications@parcelforce.co.uk>" saying that my item was dispatched by "Express 24" and providing a tracking number and link. While this is far from the worst customer service example I've seen, it does warrant a post because of all the information and evidence required regarding the issues involved.

The tracking link is where the problems started. I clicked the link, and it directed me to tracking.parcelforce.net and prompted me to display a popup window. I've no idea why they need a popup given that the landing page is completely blank - why can't it just be inlined? I thought legitimate popups had died years ago! As normal, these are the options you get for popups (the exact look of this menu depends on your browser of course):

Now, as a security savvy person I tend to err on the side of caution, so I pucked the last option "Show 'http://tracking...'" to allow this one popup to appear. The popup duly appeared, but what I got was a spinning logo in the popup. The tracking information never appeared:

(Source image is actually the one at http://tracking.parcelforce.net/Pfw/patientez.gif - I don't normally like leaving animations in web pages but it annoyed me so I hope you can feel my pain!)

I tried with both Firefox and Chrome and hit the same issue, on both Linux (RHEL) and Windows 10. Here's a screenshot showing all three browsers with the spinning popup along with the version numbers:

At this point I posted the above animated GIF on my twitter account tagging @parcelforce. Here's how the conversation went when ParcelForce started replying:

SXA: Dear @parcelforce why on earth are you using a near-blank page with a popup which most browsers will block for your tracking links?
SXA: Of course now that I've allowed the @Parcelforce popup it's just displaying a spinning icon and not actually showing me any tracking info
SXA: If this parcel arrives and I haven't been able to find out in advance to ensure I'm at home I will not be amused @parcelforce
PF: @sxa555 I'm sorry to hear that, could you DM your tracking number please and I'll take a look for you. - Matty
SXA: @parcelforce It's now showing up between my tweet and your reply :-) Being sent by "Parcelforce 24" means it'll arrive tomorrow I assume?
PF: Could you send me the number? I'll check it out for you. - Matty
SXA: Broken again (spinning image in popup) while I check for updates. Has anyone found @parcelforce tracking reliable?
SXA: Once yesterday out of about 10 times @parcelforce tracking worked. Every other time this is what I get. It's a joke [spinning image from above included in this tweet]
PF: You should be tracking the parcel at parcelforce.com - Jonnny
SXA: Then why does your tracking email send me to parcelforce.net Jonny?
SXA: Take a look at the email Jonny @parcelforce - the URL at the bottom is from the blurred out tracking link from you

At this point it got a bit strange. I gave them a screenshot of the email along with the last message:

But it was the response that surprised me as it looks like the emails aren't quite sent by ParcelForce themselves, despite the parcelforce.co.uk domain it's sent from, and the ParcelForce logos ...

PF: This is because the company who sent this game us your email address to send you the details but this is our contract customers...
PF: tracking page he email with the details would usually be sent to the sender) - Jonny.
SXA: @parcelforce I can't understand what "contract customers" means. But surely on a parcelforce domain it's not a reference thte sender?
SXA: @parcelforce Bottom line - tell me who is responsible for the broken page at parcelforce.net that I was pointed to so I can complain
SXA: @parcelforce Thanks for the parcelforce.com link though - it worked but doesn't give me any more than out for delivery before 6)
PF: @sxa555 It's not broken Stewart, I can used this page fine and see the full tracking?
PF: Contract customers are customers who sent the parcel who have a contract with us
PF: @sxa555 The tracking will not give you any further information than this? We do not offer live tracking. - Jonny
SXA: @parcelforce Which page works for you? I did tell you the .com works for me - who do I contact about issues with the .net which still spins
PF:@sxa555 .net and .com both work for me. No spinning they just load up. - Jonny
SXA: @parcelforce I've sent my tracking link via DM. Can you tell me which browser version + OS you're using. Fails on all four of mine

I then had a brief exchange via DM where I gave them my direct tracking link from the email. The assistant said it loaded find on Google Chrome. I asked which version and OS and they said "Not sure to be honest. But I can advise this is the first time that anyone have complained about .net in all the years I have been working on Twitter. - Jonny"

SXA: I'm going to have to give up on @Parcelforce. Their assistants can't even figure out which OS and browser version they're using. Hopeless

[At some point around the time I posted that tweet another DM came through telling me the chrome version and verifying that it also worked on IE11 for them]

PF: @sxa555  I have supplied this information to you. Sorry but we do have to assist people with parcel enquiries. - Jonny

From the last response it was clear that there was no real interest in working with me to diagnose the problem with their site, so I gave up and decided to write this blog post instead.

PROBLEM DETERMINATION

I subsequently did some further investigation. If I tell me browser to permanently accept popups from the site then the information displays correctly (I'm guessing that at some point when I got it to work I'd done this in a private browsing session as I couldn't get it to work again on the day) However from my experimentation it seems slightly worse than that: Even when you say "always allow" the popup doesn't always work first time - you need to shut it down and reload for it to show the details. All of which is a complete usability nightmare.

If you look at the source for the popup page it's using HTML frames. One of which is called  SNP_mod_popup and is the one that starts with the spinning logo and should get refreshed with the correct information. I haven't gone any further into debugging why the popup doesn't work without the "always accept" option - I figured I'd leave something for the ParcelForce techies to do ...

KEY SUMMARY POINTS:

1. Don't use popups. Saying that, the fact that ParcelForce's .net page is listed as "© 2007"might go some way to explaining if it hasn't been updated in 9 years.
2. Don't have allow people to send out emails via your own domain which point to sites that aren't the ones you recommend (the whole "contract customer" thing was bizarre. Why does a customer/vendor-supplied email need to come from one of parcelforce's domains? Yes it has the sender reference on .net (see screenshots below), but couldn't that be combined somehow? If not, your IT infrastructure needs some work.
3. Don't say "You should be using parcelforce.com" and give the impression that parcelforce.net isn't something that you support if that's what the links in emails received by customers are being sent to. If there's an issue with your vendors, stop them from using it. When I started pushing for a contact for the .net domain, that was when they started responding to my regarding that site instead of pushing me away from it.
4. Stick to one domain. I had to take it on faith that parcelforce.co.uk, parcelforce.net and parcelforce.com were all legitimate and all were seen during this exchange
5. Why do you need two different sites to perform the same function anyway? Duplication of resources - although each is slightly different.
   
6.  Is it really true that no-one else has ever run into this problem? If so, I'm staggered as it's fairly easy to reproduce. Or is it the case that as with many online retailers, if a site doesn't work first time people just give up? Probably, although if a vendor has sent via Parcelforce they're a bit stuck and can't go elsewhere 
7. If you have the choice of courier, use DPD instead as their stuff just works and you can track your delivery far more accurately. This is 2016, the age of IoT. Not being able to say more than "It'll arrive sometime today" isn't really excusable.

(For completeness, the image on the left below is the tracking information from parcelforce.com, the one on the right from the popup at parcelforce.net - broadly similar information presented differently.)

ParcelForce: I'm trying to help you fix your site ...

[Short link to this article if you need it - http://goo.gl/Cwkz7F - or retweet me]

[NOTE: Executive summary is in the  "Problem determination" and "Key Summary Points" at the end]

I recently had an exchange with ParcelForce (A dividion of the UK Royal Mail Group) regarding a package I was due to receive from them. I received an email from "PARCELFORCE WORLDWIDE <notifications@parcelforce.co.uk>" saying that my item was dispatched by "Express 24" and providing a tracking number and link. While this is far from the worst customer service example I've seen, it does warrant a post because of all the information and evidence required regarding the issues involved.

The tracking link is where the problems started. I clicked the link, and it directed me to tracking.parcelforce.net and prompted me to display a popup window. I've no idea why they need a popup given that the landing page is completely blank - why can't it just be inlined? I thought legitimate popups had died years ago! As normal, these are the options you get for popups (the exact look of this menu depends on your browser of course):

Now, as a security savvy person I tend to err on the side of caution, so I pucked the last option "Show 'http://tracking...'" to allow this one popup to appear. The popup duly appeared, but what I got was a spinning logo in the popup. The tracking information never appeared:

(Source image is actually the one at http://tracking.parcelforce.net/Pfw/patientez.gif - I don't normally like leaving animations in web pages but it annoyed me so I hope you can feel my pain!)

I tried with both Firefox and Chrome and hit the same issue, on both Linux (RHEL) and Windows 10. Here's a screenshot showing all three browsers with the spinning popup along with the version numbers:

At this point I posted the above animated GIF on my twitter account tagging @parcelforce. Here's how the conversation went when ParcelForce started replying:

SXA: Dear @parcelforce why on earth are you using a near-blank page with a popup which most browsers will block for your tracking links?
SXA: Of course now that I've allowed the @Parcelforce popup it's just displaying a spinning icon and not actually showing me any tracking info
SXA: If this parcel arrives and I haven't been able to find out in advance to ensure I'm at home I will not be amused @parcelforce
PF: @sxa555 I'm sorry to hear that, could you DM your tracking number please and I'll take a look for you. - Matty
SXA: @parcelforce It's now showing up between my tweet and your reply :-) Being sent by "Parcelforce 24" means it'll arrive tomorrow I assume?
PF: Could you send me the number? I'll check it out for you. - Matty
SXA: Broken again (spinning image in popup) while I check for updates. Has anyone found @parcelforce tracking reliable?
SXA: Once yesterday out of about 10 times @parcelforce tracking worked. Every other time this is what I get. It's a joke [spinning image from above included in this tweet]
PF: You should be tracking the parcel at parcelforce.com - Jonnny
SXA: Then why does your tracking email send me to parcelforce.net Jonny?
SXA: Take a look at the email Jonny @parcelforce - the URL at the bottom is from the blurred out tracking link from you

At this point it got a bit strange. I gave them a screenshot of the email along with the last message:

But it was the response that surprised me as it looks like the emails aren't quite sent by ParcelForce themselves, despite the parcelforce.co.uk domain it's sent from, and the ParcelForce logos ...

PF: This is because the company who sent this game us your email address to send you the details but this is our contract customers...
PF: tracking page he email with the details would usually be sent to the sender) - Jonny.
SXA: @parcelforce I can't understand what "contract customers" means. But surely on a parcelforce domain it's not a reference thte sender?
SXA: @parcelforce Bottom line - tell me who is responsible for the broken page at parcelforce.net that I was pointed to so I can complain
SXA: @parcelforce Thanks for the parcelforce.com link though - it worked but doesn't give me any more than out for delivery before 6)
PF: @sxa555 It's not broken Stewart, I can used this page fine and see the full tracking?
PF: Contract customers are customers who sent the parcel who have a contract with us
PF: @sxa555 The tracking will not give you any further information than this? We do not offer live tracking. - Jonny
SXA: @parcelforce Which page works for you? I did tell you the .com works for me - who do I contact about issues with the .net which still spins
PF:@sxa555 .net and .com both work for me. No spinning they just load up. - Jonny
SXA: @parcelforce I've sent my tracking link via DM. Can you tell me which browser version + OS you're using. Fails on all four of mine

I then had a brief exchange via DM where I gave them my direct tracking link from the email. The assistant said it loaded find on Google Chrome. I asked which version and OS and they said "Not sure to be honest. But I can advise this is the first time that anyone have complained about .net in all the years I have been working on Twitter. - Jonny

SXA: I'm going to have to give up on @Parcelforce. Their assistants can't even figure out which OS and browser version they're using. Hopeless

[At some point around the time I posted that tweet another DM came through telling me the chrome version and verifying that it also worked on IE11 for them]

PF: @sxa555  I have supplied this information to you. Sorry but we do have to assist people with parcel enquiries. - Jonny

From the last response it was clear that there was no real interest in working with me to diagnose the problem, so I gave up and decided to write this blog post instead.

PROBLEM DETERMINATION

I did some further investigation. If I tell me browser to permanently accept popups from the site then the information displays correctly (I'm guessing that at some point when I got it to work I'd done this in a private browsing session as I couldn't subsequently get it to work) Except it seems slightly worse than that: Even when you say "always allow" the popup doesn't always work first time - you need to shut it down and reload for it to show the details. All of which is a complete usability nightmare.

If you look at the source for the popup page it's using HTML frames. One of which is called  SNP_mod_popup and is the one that starts with the spinning logo and should get refreshed with the correct information. I haven't gone any further into debugging why the popup doesn't work without the "always accept" option - I figured I'd leave something for the ParcelForce techies to do ...



KEY SUMMARY POINTS:

1. Don't use popups. Although the fact the.net page is listed as "© 2007"might go some way to explaining if it hasn't been updated in 9 years.
2. Don't have allow people to send out emails via your own domain which point to sites that aren't the ones you recommend (the whole "contract customer" thing was bizarre. Why does a customer/vendor-supplied email need to come from one of parcelforce's domains? Yes it has the sender reference on .net, but couldn't that be combined somehow? If not, your IT infrastructure needs some work.
3. Don't say "You should be using parcelforce.com" and give the impression that parcelforce.net isn't something that's supported if that's what the links in emails received by customers are being sent to. If there's an issue with your vendors, stop them using it. When I started pushing for a contact for the .net domain, that was when they started responding to the issue on there.
4. Stick to one domain. I had to take it on faith that parcelforce.co.uk, parcelforce.net and parcelforce.com were all legitimate and all were seen during this exchange
5. Why do you need two different sites to perform the same function anyway? Duplication of resources - although each is slightly different.
   
6.  Is it really true that no-one else has ever run into this problem? If so, I'm staggered as it's fairly easy to reproduce. Or is it the case that as with many online retailers, if a site doesn't work first time people just give up? Probably, although if a vendor has sent via Parcelforce they're a bit stuck and can't go elsewhere 
7. If you have the choice of courier, use DPD instead as their stuff just works and you can track your delivery far more accurately. This is 2016, the age of IoT. Not being able to say more than "It'll arrive sometime today" isn't really excusable.

(For completeness, the image on the left below is the tracking information from parcelforce.com, the one on the right from the popup at parcelforce.net - broadly similar information presented differently.)

Subway - why don't you care when your staff rip us off?

[Short link to this article if you need it - http://goo.gl/fDAozN - or retweet me!]

The most important thing about what I write in this blog isn't so much the fact that companies get it wrong in the first place. It's how they deal with things when they go wrong. An example I saw recently was this from KFC, where a member of staff had been fired by a store manager seemingly in a discrimanatory fashion, but the appropriate action was taken and the manager was fired and the employee offered another job.

Doing the right thing to compensate for their staff doing the wrong thing.

Now admittedly my experience with Subway doesn't count as discrimination, but in terms of doing the right thing when a staff member does something inappropriate (in this case misleading a customer) the experience of their service was not what I'd have liked...
I went into one of their branches in Southampton and enquired about the £5 "footlong sub and a drink" offer that many branches of Subway had - in fact it's still on their website (although it worries me that the "Veggie Delite" says "We do not guarantee a vegetarian product" especially when the same disclaimer doesn't appear on their product page (Links correct at the time of posting):

WTF? @SUBWAYUKIreland "VEGGIE DELITE" not vegetarian https://t.co/TUpvIRZABZ No disclaimer @ https://t.co/cOhy653xiH pic.twitter.com/8KS8cFyrMx

— Stewart X Addison (@sxa555) January 25, 2016

The response I got from the assistant regarding the £5 offer was "No, we don't do that any more". Fair enough - it wasn't up on the boards as it often is so I accepted that. I was in a bit of a hurry without time to go elsewhere so I ordered and paid the higher "non-offer" price. As I was leaving I spotted some leaflets offering what I'd asked for at £4.99. And that was an offer that seemed specific to the franchisee. So why didn't they inform me of that? Here's the leaflet:

The offer is listed on there as available after 8pm. I arrived a few minutes past 8 (I'm certain of this as I was trying and failing, to get somewhere else by 8, but needed to eat more than getting to my destination on time) and yet the assistant didn't offer me that deal, despite me enquiring about such an offer at the start. By the time I'd seen this leaflet the only staff member had disappeared into the back store out of site and since I was short of time I didn't chase him down. I did however, complain online at their request:

@sxa555 Hi Stewart, please get in touch with our customer service team directly on 08000855058 or https://t.co/q7K3SezO5Q thank you

— SUBWAY® UK & Ireland (@SUBWAYUKIreland) January 26, 2016

SXA> I visited the Shirley store at 2005 last night. I specifically 
SXA> enquired about the £5 deal for a footlong sub and drink that 
SXA> most of your stores offer only to be told "We don't do that
SXA> any more". I ordered anyway, was charged I think it was £6.99 
SXA> and paid with cash. I wasn't given a receipt.
SXA> SXA> While filling up my drink I saw some leaflets talking about a 
SXA> £4.99 offer of a footlong sub and drink, available from
SXA> 2000-0200 each day. See
SXA> https://twitter.com/sxa555/status/692007240870555648. I was 
SXA> in a bit of a hurry (running late which is in fact the only 
SXA> reason I arrived after 8pm)
SXA> and the assistant had disappeared into the back of the store
SXA> so I couldn't quickly speak to him. So the assistant seemingly 
SXA> chose to rip me off instead of giving me that offer when I'd 
SXA> specifically enquired. It is extremely disappointing to feel 
SXA> lied to and I think someone needs to have a word with
SXA> the franchise owner. I can also be contacted me on twitter 
SXA> @sxa555 - it was your account that pointed me at this form.


A reasonable reply was forthcoming:

SO> Dear Mr Addison,

SO>

SO> Thank you for submitting your comments regarding the Subway® 

SO> Store in Southampton, Shirley High Street.   

SO>

SO> I would like to thank you for bringing this incident to our 

SO> attention. Comments such as yours are very valuable to us as 

SO> they enable us to monitor the stores performances closely and

SO> we thank you for taking the time to write to us.

SO>  

SO> Due to the fact that the Stores belong to Franchisees we, as 

SO> the Development Office for the East & West Sussex, Hampshire

SO> and Isle of Wight region, do not operate the stores ourselves. 

SO> We do however, play a supervisory role to ensure that all

SO> stores are operated strictly according to Subway® standards. I 

SO> have therefore forwarded your comments to the owner of the

SO> store in question with the request to investigate the matter 

SO> immediately. The franchisee or a representative of the store 

SO> will contact you directly within the next 3 days.

SO> 

SO> I would like to thank you once again for bringing the matter
SO> to our attention. Once the Franchisee has been in contact with 
SO> you I will be glad to receive your feedback. Please let me know 
SO> if you need any further assistance or information in the
SO> meantime.

I felt quite pleased with this response - I had a contact that seemed keen to ensure the franchisee was behaving themselves and was willing to take feeback. All good so far. Then I got the response from the franchisee ...

SF> Dear Customer,

SF>

SF> Thank you for your email.

SF> 

SF> Let me begin by saying that I am deeply sorry for your 

SF> experience in this Subway store and I will do everything

SF> in my power to ensure this event does not repeat itself.

SF> 

SF>  Plan of action

SF> Due to the fact customer service, hygiene and quality are 

SF> Subways key focus, I have decided to ask management to

SF> re-train this individual via Subway University as i want to 

SF> ensure Subways high standards are demonstrated in every

SF> store in the UK.

SF> 

SF> I would again like to apologise for this matter and hope

SF> this experience has not provided you with a permanent

SF> negative perception of Subways products & services.

SF>             

SF> If you have any other issues you would like to discuss please 

SF> phone me on my business mobile

Where do I start? There is nothing in that reply that leads me to believe it wasn't a standard "cut & pasted" reply from a franchisee who doesn't care enough to respond to the specific issue - even the "Dear customer" at the start says they couldn't even be bothered replacing it with my name. Retraining a member of staff at the centralised "subway university" would appear to serve no useful purpose when the issue was the staff member not making an offer available that was franchise-specific, so the blame lies firmly on the door of the franchise owner, or the employee. "I'm sorry that my staff member misled you. I hope this hasn't given you a permanent negative perception". Well I'm sorry, but yes it has.

But the person in the Subway Development Office for the region would be interested in this behaviour from its franchisee, right?

SXA> Hi <name withheld>

SXA> You've said you'd be glad to receive my feedback once I 

SXA> received a reply. I'm sure you've had the chance to read the 

SXA> response I got from the franchisee.  So I would be very 

SXA> interested in hearing what your opinion of it is?

SXA> From my perspective, what I've received is very obviously a 

SXA> blatant "cut & pasted" answer that has been crafted in such a 

SXA> way that it has presumably been given exactly as-is many times 

SXA> before. And If it's been needed many times before so as to 

SXA> warrant having such a generic response available than that's a 

SXA> concern in itself. It therefore gives me very little faith 

SXA> that the individual will actually be retrained at Subway 

SXA> University as a result of my complaint, and even if I did 

SXA> believe it it would serve no useful purpose because the issue 

SXA> was them misinforming me about an offer which was specific to 

SXA> their franchise, not something that central training would 

SXA> address, therefore the "everything in my power" comment is 

SXA> utter drivel. The issue is purely the franchise owners 

SXA> responsibility, but since they've given a cut & pasted answer 

SXA> they probably didn't read my complaint enough to realise that. 

SXA> It's really quite insulting.

SXA>

SXA> I do appreciate that your branches are franchised but I would 

SXA> be very surprised if you considered what was said to be an 

SXA> acceptable response. If I was in your position I would be 

SXA> extremely disappointed. I would like one more piece of 

SXA> information from you if possible. Is the following a complete 

SXA> list of stores that the franchise that Sunny Khaira has any 

SXA> investment in as I wish to make sure I avoid dealing with him 

SXA> in the future, and will be actively disuadding others from 

SXA> doing so:
SXA>

SXA> 136 Porswood Road, Southampton

SXA> 109 Shirley High Street, Southampton

SXA> Central Train Station, Southampton

SXA> 165 High Street, Winchester

SXA> 4 Black Swan Building, Winchester.

SXA>

SXA> I presume the store in Eastleigh has nothing whatsoever to do 
SXA> with him (it seems more modern too, although that's probably 
SXA> because it is a relatively new store). I have regularly 
SXA> visited the Winchester High Street store and having acquired a 
SXA> subway loyalty card I was considering using that one a lot 
SXA> more. But I'll be heading to KFC or McDonalds instead now.

I received no response to this email. I have therefore avoided Subway since. I suggest you do the same, particularly for this franchise (addresses in the last email which I believe is complete although as I said I never got a reply confirming).