Sticks and Stones
Trucking|May 2017

Harsh words from disgruntled customers? It’s all in a day’s work

Bill Dean
Sticks and Stones

There’s a policeman in the back office waiting to see you.” Not the words I wanted to hear as I pulled my Hiab wagon into the yard. I was contracted to work out of a DIY store doing craned-off deliveries of building materials to mainly retail customers. “The store manager’s with him. Have you hit something again?”

I knew I hadn’t, but that was no guarantee trouble wasn’t looming. The work involved squeezing a full length six-wheeler down crowded and badly parked suburban streets to the drops.

Then I had to crane off unstable pallets of bricks etc over cars the customer hadn’t bothered to get moved, so there was always the chance of a bumped door mirror or worse. There was also the fact that my arrival, heralded by the shrieking “Warning. Warning. Vehicle reversing,” had every net curtain twitching to see the store’s logo and contact details. Store management also tended to throw credit notes like confetti at any complaint raised by members of the public, and word had spread. So, my wagon got blamed when damage had been done by someone else.

The best example of this occurred one Saturday. I had a wood delivery on a cul de sac. The customer, a pensioner, asked me if I could get it in his back garden, ready for his son to use the next day. It was quite normal to be asked for the crane to deliver over a house, into a garage or round corners. The store staff promised the impossible to clinch a sale.

This usually involved saying I would drive across grass verges, down alleys and jib two tons of plasterboard through a third-storey window. The difference between what a customer had been told I would do and what I could achieve was a flash point, and I got the brunt of their anger.

Bu hikaye Trucking dergisinin May 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Trucking dergisinin May 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

TRUCKING DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
Economic Certainty
Trucking

Economic Certainty

DAF’s HVO-sipping lightweight FTP chassis goes all-out for payload and fuel frugality.

time-read
5 dak  |
November 2019
Gold For J Mould
Trucking

Gold For J Mould

The life of the eight-wheeler can be harsh. Trucking went to hear how one Reading operator switched to Renault after a long and tough market-wide evaluation.

time-read
5 dak  |
November 2019
Step In The Right Direction
Trucking

Step In The Right Direction

How switching to alternative liquid fuels can help operators put the brakes on HGV emissions.

time-read
6 dak  |
November 2019
Leading By Example
Trucking

Leading By Example

Flogas drives forward carbon reduction with new Bio-LNG powered truck duo.

time-read
5 dak  |
November 2019
Trucking

Dearborn To Dagenham

Ford used to be a mainstay of the UK light/medium truck market – and in the 1930s offered three-tonners powered by the legendary Flathead V8.

time-read
5 dak  |
November 2019
Cost of traffic to UK business approaches £1bn
Trucking

Cost of traffic to UK business approaches £1bn

Cost of traffic to UK business approaches £1bn

time-read
1 min  |
February 2018
Motward Marks Anniversary With Top-Spec Tribute Truck
Trucking

Motward Marks Anniversary With Top-Spec Tribute Truck

Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire based Motward has celebrated 40 years in business with the purchase of a new Volvo FH16-750 tractor unit, which has become a lasting tribute to the company’s much-loved boss, Jason Tolhurst.

time-read
1 min  |
March 2018
The New Hotel Entrance
Trucking

The New Hotel Entrance

Slippery slope for this driver after his initiative is rewarded with a dose of the white stuff

time-read
4 dak  |
March 2018
Trucker Of The Year 2018
Trucking

Trucker Of The Year 2018

In association with Staveley Head, Trucking magazine needs your nominations as we look to crown the country’s best truck driver!

time-read
1 min  |
April 2018
Cat-Astrophe!
Trucking

Cat-Astrophe!

Feline shenanigans with clandestine stowaway of the furry variety

time-read
4 dak  |
April 2018