Greyhound delivery dispute frustrates Edmonton customer

An Edmonton mother spent 10 days calling Greyhound Courier, trying to trace the bunk-bed she had ordered, and says when it finally arrived, the driver demanded extra cash to bring the bed to her suite, then drove away with it when she refused.

Francine Wiwchar, 30, ordered the Riddle loft-style bed from SD Furniture in Abbotsford, BC.

The company fell weeks behind on its delivery date, she says. When the bed was finished, the company promised to send it overnight via Greyhound. The company wrote "Door to Door" on the shipping order.

When Greyhound’s contract delivery driver arrived at Wiwchar’s Edmonton condo, there was a dispute over what "door-to-door" meant.

"I said, I'll buzz you up. Please bring it upstairs to me because I'm at home with an infant," said Wiwchar. "He said ‘No, that's not my job, you’ve got to come down here to get it.’ I went downstairs and found a 50 pound box."

Wiwchar’s building has an elevator, but she says the driver insisted on leaving the package at the front door, leaving her to drag the heavy, 2 metre-long box to her suite.

The box only contained the bed rails. Wiwchar says she spent the next ten days on the phone, first with Greyhound’s American call centre, then with the Greyhound depot in Edmonton, trying to find the rest of the bed.

Greyhound contractor wanted additional cash

Once Greyhound located the bed, the delivery was made by the same contractor, with an identical result.

"I asked him to bring it up (and) he told me ‘No it's not my job.’ I said yes, I spoke with your manager, it is your job. Please bring it up."

Wiwchar says the driver said that he would do it only if she gave him some cash.  She refused, and says the courier kept her box and drove away.

"I’ve never experienced such poor customer service before," she said.

"This is 100 per cent wrong, because she paid me. It’s our responsibility to get it into her place, that’s why I wrote ‘door-to-door,’" said Paul Gakhar, shipping manager for SD Furniture.

"She paid me (the) shipping price already — $112. This never happened before. I ship a lot with Greyhound."

Go Public got involved and the next day an apologetic Greyhound manager delivered Wiwchar’s bed.

Scott Wright, the senior director of Greyhound Courier Express Canada, also apologized. 

"On behalf of Greyhound I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this created," he said.  "It's certainly our goal to deliver packages is a timely fashion and meet our customers' expectations."

Wright said Greyhound is investigating what went wrong, both in the shipping delay and the delivery.

Wright said that the company plans to bring in a computer tracking system this year, but the only way to trace Wiwchar’s bed was to physically look for it.

Ron Mycholuk, Public Relations Manager for the Better Business Bureau in Edmonton, said, while Greyhound Courier only has a C+ rating across North America, it has a very clean record locally.

"We’ve only had 4 complaints in 3 years, all delivery issues."

SD Furniture said it will refund Wiwchar’s $112 shipping costs.