WIP: Tamsin's Equine Development Facility #6; mis-delivered(?) Amazon package

Last night I did the final bits (at this point) on the barded horses - blinkers, bits and ground colour. The washes will be done once the riders have been painted and attached. A couple of pics - not sure how well the metalwork will stand out on the group pics, so I included a close up.

As I had the metallic paints out, I also did a little bit of work on the command group figures, but only took close-ups of a couple of them:

This evening I will be cracking on with the non-barded horses. I need to do the tack, metallic bits, saddle cloths and decorations (plumes, tassels), plus the ground colour on the bases. Once they are done I'll move on to prepping and priming the riders, and painting up the command figures.



Mis-delivered(?) Amazon package

I ordered 5 books from Amazon last Saturday, opting for first class postal delivery. For some reason, Amazon decided to split the order such that one book would be delivered by Royal Mail, the other 4 by City Link. The one delivered by Royal Mail arrived safe and sound on Tuesday. I still hadn't received the other package by this morning, so I checked the tracking system on City Link's website which said it had been delivered on Wednesday. I checked with my neighbours and none of them had seen it.

So, I decided to call City Link to see what was going on. On my first call the automated system failed twice to "hear" my consignment number correctly then put me through to an operator, who may have accidentally cut off the call immediately after picking it up, and I was diverted to the customer satisfaction survey, first question "Using the buttons 1-9, how successfully was your issue resolved?". Hmmmm, my issue wasn't resolved at all, but it wouldn't let me answer "0", so having tried that twice, I hung up and immediately called them again.

Yet again, their automated system couldn't "hear" my consignment number correctly, but this time I did get through to an operator. He informed me that the driver had posted the package through the letterbox and taken a photograph of this.
"It's a white door, with the letterbox halfway down."
"Well, my door is blue with the number 29 at the top in brass numerals"
"Oh"
"The next house up, #35 has a white door, with "35" in blue at the top, and I think #17 also has a white door"
"ahhh, maybe it was delivered to them. Can you check with them and then call us back if they don't have it?"
"OK, but what will you do if they don't have it?"
"We'll schedule our driver to return and try to recover the package, but that won't be until Monday at earliest"
"OK, I'll check and call you back in a few minutes"

Having checked with my neighbours, it hadn't been delivered to either #35 or #17, so I called back. This time, thanks to a serendipitous coughing fit, I flummoxed the automated system and got put straight through to an operator. Only I didn't get put through as it was after midday when they close on Saturdays. Grrrrrr!!!!

So, I went back to the website and submitted a query/complaint, requesting in the "how would you like the issue resolved section" the following:
1. For the driver to attempt to recover the package from wherever he mis-delivered it and for them to arrange with me for safe delivery
2. Failing that, for City Link to obtain replacements from Amazon and arrange with me for safe delivery
3. For them to email me a copy of the photo allegedly showing the delivery being made.

If City Link fail to get me my books, then the complaint progresses to Amazon for using such a crappy company for deliveries.

I still can't understand why Amazon decided to split the order in that way. For previous orders of the same size, they have split the books between 2 Royal Mail packages which have both been successfully delivered. Whenever I've used the "super saver" option (ie, free delivery) which has been by City Link I've had no end of problems, which is why I always opt for first class delivery these days as that should be by Royal Mail (at least they *normally* deliver to the correct address and if they can't deliver it because the package is too big they will leave a card so that it can be collected).

On a brighter note, my subscription copies of Battlegames and Miniature Wargames both came in the post this morning, so I will be having a good read of them this afternoon.