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Food delivered following ordeal

Talk about the power of the press!
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Food delivered following ordeal

This letter is to thank you and your reporter, Kevin, for expediting a Purolator shipment that had been delayed for unknown reasons somewhere between Calgary and Lake Cowichan.

The shipment consisted of two boxes of frozen homemade soups and stews from my daughter and son-in-law to help me through new rounds of chemotherapy. It cost $240 and delivery was guaranteed within two business days after drop off. At the time of payment, my daughter was issued a long receipt and it was not until she got home that she noticed that Guaranteed Delivery could mean up to four days, not the two she had been assured. She would not have left the food with Purolator if she had been told this at time of payment. Both the shipper and receiver phone numbers and emails had been given to Purolator.

We tried to track the shipment starting Wednesday morning using Purolator’s only phone number provided plus their tracking website. Purolator’s customer service personnel were unhelpful, and could not tell us anything more than we could see on the website. The boxes had arrived in Nanaimo and one was “out for delivery”. The second one was listed as damaged. According to Purolator’s website, the latest delivery time could be 9 p.m. Needless to say, by 9 p.m. Wednesday night there was no shipment received.

Thursday, we tried again to contact Purolator and were again told one of the two boxes was damaged and they did not know where the other one was.

In desperation and frustration, I called the editor of your paper and she transferred me to one of the reporters, Kevin. Within an hour of your paper somehow contacting Purolator, I received a call from the Nanaimo Distribution Centre. One box was there and reported as damaged but the other one was still missing. I said I expected a prompt update as to where it was and would be waiting by my phone. Within a half hour, I received a phone call from the manager of Purolator’s Nanaimo Depot. Both boxes were damaged and leaking product but they would be at my front door within two hours delivered by the manager himself. Talk about the power of the press! I cannot thank you enough for your help.

I also want to thank the Nanaimo Purolator Depot’s staff for their assistance in cleaning up what was apparently quite a big mess. When they opened the boxes, some of the soup had thawed and spilled. The lids had not been taped down. The boxes did not indicate which side should be up. The staff cleaned up all they could, placed the soup containers in clean plastic bags, put everything in new boxes indicating which side was up. The manager personally delivering the food was above and beyond what I ever expected.

The food has now been safely refrozen.

Again, thank you so very much for your assistance.

Carolyn Lloyd-Smith

Meade Creek